On The Road and On The Mend

Kiba's team arrived in Suna after two days travel double time. They recognized Karin had several days lead on them and wanted to make up ground however possible. Traveling from Konoha through River and then Wind country they had kept a general lookout for signs of their target but with no luck. Tired, dusty and hungry they checked in with the chuunin on duty at the hostel Konoha maintained in Sunagakure for shinobi in transit. She assigned them bunks and lockers and showed them where the showers were.

After stowing their gear there was some brief bickering about whether they should clean up or go eat first. Exhausted, Ino raised one hand, "You two do what you want, I'm taking a shower." She'd been to Suna a couple of times before and wasn't concerned about finding something to eat on her own later. As she turned to walk away, Shino raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Kiba. The Inuzuka just sighed and shook his head.

Shino was both puzzled and concerned. Based on the previous mission the three had worked on together he knew that there could be friction between them and Ino. Especially between Ino and Kiba. But this was non-stop and off the charts. And it did not make sense. He had attributed a lot of Ino's prior testiness to her overall concern about Shikamaru's well-being. Shikamaru, however, was now safely back in Konoha. Yet she and Kiba continued to pester each other endlessly.

When Ino returned from the women's showers she saw that her two new teammates had followed her lead. They were now waiting for her near their bunks freshly showered and in clean uniforms.

"Took you long enough," Kiba commented.

"Whatever," Ino sighed then catching Kiba looking at her in what she assumed was an appreciative manner she said, "Take a picture, it'll last longer." Kiba just chuckled and looked away.

"For dinner what about..." Shino started to make a suggestion.

"Let's go get barbeque," she stated not even opening it up for a discussion as she was walking out the door. It was Kiba's turn to look at Shino and shrug as the two followed her.

After a filling meal they checked in with their missions desk and were somewhat surprised to find a message with the Kazekage's seal waiting for them. It was from Kankuro and requested a meeting at the administration tower as soon as they were able. They went back to the hostel to discuss their plans in private.

Kiba was chafing to pick up Karin's trail. Scent markers remained for quite some time as long as there was no rain whereas chakra signatures did not leave a trail. He assigned Ino to go to the meeting while he and Shino along with Akamaru tried to determine what path Karin had taken on leaving Suna. Besides, he reasoned it would give him a break from Ino, if only briefly.

Ino registered at the check-in station in the administration building and was promptly called back to Kankuro's office. After greeting each other he shared with her the message he had received from Temari. "Anything else you would like to add?" he queried after they had discussed Temari's notes. "Anything you think we should know that Temari may not have been comfortable sending in a message?"

"No," Ino responded thoughtfully. "No, she's outlined the situation pretty well. Karin is wanted for attempted murder of a fellow shinobi. As for Hyuuga, at it's core it is an internal issue with one of Konoha's clans but..."

"But it could affect us all," Kankuro finished for her.

Ino nodded. "And we appreciate your help...with both issues."

Kankuro passed her the reports his team had prepared about Karin's movements and her last known sightings. "We have had teams looking for her but no luck yet. It appears she left the same day we sent Neji to the wedding."

Kankuro paused then continued "And what do you suggest I do about Neji? What is his level of involvement in...something that affects Suna?"

This question gave Ino a start. For the first time it struck her in a very real way that Neji, of all people, could be involved in something that would actually get him arrested in another country. Depending on what happened Kankuro would be well within his rights to detain him if he had evidence that Neji was involved in something illegal within Suna's borders.

She cleared her throat, wishing she was more adept at diplomacy herself, "We don't have any evidence that he has actually done anything. So, at this time the best thing for all parties would be to...keep him away from those who might convince him otherwise."

"For the time being, I'm inclined to agree," Kankuro acknowledge, re-rolling the scroll. "But I want to make it clear that if he's broken any of Suna's laws or harmed Suna's interests I won't hesitate to act." He held her gaze with his own piercing one.

Ino simply nodded. No matter how comfortable they all were with Temari and her brothers Suna was still a foreign country. It was one thing to discuss the Hyuuga problem around the Nara dinner table or in the conference room with Dad and Kurenai and the others. It was entirely different to stand here in a conference room in the Kazekage tower discussing it with Kankuro whose interests may not entirely match their own.

Ino admitted to herself that Neji could be fucking up and getting himself into a type of trouble such that the Hokage could not act to assist him. Worse yet to think it might be that she would not act.

"Shikamaru! Temari-chan is here to accompany you to physical therapy!" Mom's shrill voice woke him from the nap he'd tried to sneak in after lunch.

He realized he was living in hell. Like, real, physical hell. Yes, the day he had kissed Ino goodbye his life had gone straight to hell.

Apparently that afternoon there had been some big meeting. Temari had been in attendance. She had dropped by the hospital to see him and encountered a still-flustered Kaori who had once again been unsuccessful in getting him to complete the full course of prescribed exercises. There were undoubtedly some patient confidentiality issues that had been violated in the conversation between the two but the long and short of it was that Temari was onto him.

And she was pissed.

She had swept into his room and for a brief instant he was glad to see her. Then he saw the look in her eyes.

Hurricane Temari had arrived.

"What the hell is this, Nara?"

Clearly it had been a rhetorical question because she never gave him a chance to answer. She called Kaori back in and armed with the exercise sheet they ruthlessly put him through every one on the list. Temari studied every diagram carefully so that she could be sure to correct him when he did ones wrong.

He had been discharged that afternoon and Temari had been there when they handed him the crutches. She'd walked him back home and to add insult to injury, told Mom exactly what had been going on.

And Mom was pissed.

So now he was at the mercy of those two.

And it was hell.

But in a weirdly...good...kind of way.

They micromanaged his schedule, from medications to physical therapy appointments to carefully measured walks of prescribed distances each evening. He really didn't have to think about anything, just show up and do what they said.

Everything Mom was cooking consisted of all his favorites. He didn't even have to ask. His father had never been a fan of salmon but it was his favorite. He found salmon was making frequent appearances either at breakfast, lunch or dinner in one dish or another almost everyday.

The first couple of nights had been really rough. The pain from the swelling after the surgery seemed more pronounced and noticeable in those late night hours. Maybe it was just because his mind dwelled on it. Maybe it was because they hadn't sent any of the good morphine-based pain relievers he'd been on in the hospital home with him, only some pretty standard stuff. But Mom was there every time he woke up and had the correct dose of all his medicines ready right on time.

As a night nurse Mom was pretty sweet. Her voice was always soft and gentle then. It reminded him of the times when he had been little and really, really sick with fever or flu. When he would wake up in pain the look on her face would be one of pain, too, almost as if it hurt her to see him hurting.

As for the days, the best thing about them was Temari. Just the fact that she was there. A lot. She rearranged her schedule so that she could go to every PT appointment with him. She was at the house most evenings and she would accompany him on whatever distance walk the schedule called for that day.

At his appointments she would watch him like a hawk and cluck at him like a mother hen if she felt he was shirking in any way. But if something really did hurt him she could tell and she had that same look of pain that his mom did. Almost as if seeing him hurt caused her pain, too.

As for Dad, he would wander in occasionally to check on him and they played a game of Shougi or two whenever both their schedules would permit. But when Mom or Temari would call to him that it was time for him to do something, Dad would just chuckle and shake his head.

So yes, if being surrounded by family nagging and encouraging him to get better was hell, then he was living in hell.

And he was also extremely...happy?...satisified?...relieved?...to find that Temari fit right in with that family.

Karin paused and surveyed the location she intended to camp for the evening. The place was level and somewhat sheltered by the juncture of two rock formations. It was a short distance from one of the last oases in Wind country so water and some date palms were nearby. Judging it good enough she went back to the spring and filled her canteens then collected a few fruits before returning to the camp site to set up for the evening.

She was at the edge of Wind country, near where it bordered the Land of Rivers. She had a decision to make. Her destination was Otogakure or what remained of it. More precisely, the base where she had spent so much of her time with Sasuke, outside of the actual village of Oto.

But to get there directly would require her to pass through the Land of Fire again. Or she could take the longer route, bypassing River country and Fire country entirely and turning north to go through Amegekure and on to Oto.

Konoha shinobi must be onto her by now. If they weren't they should be. She could tell that Neji was getting suspicious of her. When he had gone two days in a row to check the status of other shinobi at the missions desk that's when she knew he was doubting what she was telling him. She wasn't sure if he had informed Konoha about her, or they had informed him but either way he was losing some of his credulousness for her story.

But what she had told him about that bitch cousin of his had been true! She just hadn't told him...all of it.

God, she hated that little Hyuuga whore! She had taken everything that was hers! Her Sasuke! Her baby! And if Hinata was going to steal everything that belonged to her, destroy the family she and Sasuke were making then Karin would make damn sure to destroy Hinata's own family. The whole damn clan.

It had been so easy to feed the story to Neji. She never once had to tell him an untruth but was careful to always tell him exactly what he wanted to hear. Stupid Hyuuga. So proud of their eyes but so blind in every other way.

She needed to get back to the base, to their home, where she and Sasuke had fallen in love. She'd been there several times over the years, especially the last couple, collecting a few things that reminded her of him. Once she was there she would be able to think more clearly. Being in that place that was so important to the both of them would help clear her mind. She would be able to focus then and try to figure out where that little bitch had convinced Sasuke to take her.

She only needed Hinata for a little while. Only long enough for the baby to come. Once the baby was here Sasuke would understand. After that, well, they wouldn't need Hinata anymore.

A motion in the scrub brush ahead caught her attention. In the twilight it caught the attention of an owl overhead, too. A small desert rabbit was cautiously nosing around for something to eat. The owl tucked its wings to dive but Karin sent a chakra chain underneath the earth, popping up around the rabbit and looping around its neck.

She tightened the chain to suffocate it and the owl, sensing it had lost, veered off.

Karin watched the little creature struggle for breath, tugging against the chain, its hind legs kicking uselessly. Fortunately with the chain around its throat she didn't have to hear it shriek. As she watched the light go out of its great, soft, beautiful eyes she thought how much they reminded her of Hinata's own.