Author's Note: Hello everyone! I know I've been absent for a while. My life has done just about everything it could to keep me from writing. But even if I'm only writing a sentence at a time (seriously, this chapter and the next chapter of my Sweetheart story that I'm still working on have partially been written even partial sentences at a time) I'm still working. I don't want to leave any of this undone. And I have everything planned out to the end, plus some of the next couple chapters written already.
For those of you still reading and interested, here you go!
Chapter Twelve
Ino was at Sakura's door much earlier than the pinkette would prefer, but she'd brought her two cups of her favorite coffee and some delicious pastries so she cut her some slack. That, and she knew waiting until mid morning must have been a difficult task considering how worked up Ino was about the whole situation. The blonde was a natural early riser so the fact she'd kept herself away until after ten was a miracle only explained by their close friendship.
Still not quite awake enough to talk - the medic was the opposite of a morning person - Sakura went to her room to change out of her pajamas while Ino took charge of the kitchen. Unsure what exactly she should wear to complete their objectives for the day, she put on a muted pink top and khaki capris. She ran a brush through her short pink locks and trudged back to the kitchen where she sat down at the table with a yawn.
Taking the first cup of coffee in her hand, she sipped at it, savoring the feel of the liquid as it slid down her throat and warmed her stomach. After a few more sips she looked up at Ino who was bringing over some fruit she'd just finished slicing. Noting her revealing purple clothing, Sakra cocked her head in question.
"Ino, weren't we supposed to be spying today? Don't you think that's a little conspicuous?"
Ino flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder with a flair and shrugged.
"I figured if I was anything less than my usual fabulous self it would look suspicious, right? Besides, I'm a long range information gathering specialist in the field. We'll be fine."
Sakura's lips quirked up at her best friend's lively attitude. It was Ino's confidence and caring that had endeared her when they were children and although she'd matured, she was still that same person she cared for.
"Alright then, since you've given this so much thought, why don't you tell me what you have planned so far?"
Blue eyes gleamed and Sakura took another large drink, preparing herself for what was to come. As the caffeine began to take effect, she sat back to listen, munching on a pastry in the meantime.
"Well, based on what I heard yesterday, it sounded as though Hinata and Sasuke had been training just before or around lunch time for the last couple of days. So, first things first I think we should observe what we can of their training and see if we can tell anything from there. After that, I figure we can either 'accidentally' run into them or maybe find Naruto depending on how it goes. What do you think?"
Sakura nodded carefully. The plan was simple, but it wasn't like they were in a life or death situation. It was adaptable and should work fine. She only saw one major flaw.
"That works for me, but how do you propose we observe them without their noticing? If they're training Hinata will likely be using her Byakugan and her range is pretty crazy now. How are we supposed to be close enough to hear or see anything without her seeing us? It's not like we can waltz up and tell them we wanted to watch because obviously if this thing is a secret they won't give anything away if they know we're there."
"Good point! I, uh, actually had an idea for that. It's a little something I've been working on."
Green eyes narrowed, instantly suspicious at Ino's nervous tone.
"Ino, what are you planning?"
"Oh, it's nothing crazy! I just thought this would be a good test run for a jutsu I've been developing. Figure I can kill two birds with one stone and all that," she laughed and darted her eyes to the side as she popped a piece of fruit in her mouth.
"Ino, you have to tell me what it is. I'm not agreeing to anything until you do. I used to let you experiment on me when we were kids and I just wanted to make you happy, but not after that last time! I was randomly blacking out for a week after that! I fell into that cart full of berries and had to pay for the damages and then I blacked out after my mother asked me to clean the kitchen and she thought I was just being lazy and napping and she grounded me for a month! Tell me or it's not happening."
The blonde pursed her lips, realizing she'd been caught. She could be sneaky around almost anyone, but she could never lie to Sakura. Though she supposed that was a good thing. Lying to your precious people was not a great habit to be in, even as a shinobi.
"Well I've been working on projecting my mind along with someone else. I do a lot of intelligence gathering and always have to relay what I see to Shikamaru. But he's always asking me questions about things I don't usually notice so I thought it would be
"Isn't that dangerous? Hasn't your clan tried something like that before? Wasn't there a big scandal because a Yamanaka tried that on his teammate and then they couldn't quite disconnect and they got into a huge fight after one of them found out through the connection his wife had been cheating on him with that teammate? And another time they tried it they randomly switched bodies for the next two months before your grandfather was able to set them straight. I've read all the medical reports."
"Yeah," Ino nodded eagerly, sitting forward a bit in excitement, "but I think I'm actually on to something. I studied the notes on those cases and I think I figured out what they were doing wrong."
"Yeah, but have you actually tried it out?"
"Um, not exactly, but you're totally the best person to try it on! What's the worst that could happen?"
"Ino, I just told you two possibly bad outcomes. You do realize if we stay connected you can't do anything gross with Sai? I refuse to be there for that. It's bad enough listening to you talk about him like that."
Sakura shuddered at the thought. She loved her teammate and she was glad that Ino was so happy, but she would never quite get over their initial meeting and mission together. And he still said the creepiest things.
Ino pouted for a moment, before saying, "Fine. I understand. If I'm willing to risk being affectionate with my sweetie then you know I'm confident about it, right?
"And, if I start randomly blacking out again you are going to be the one to explain to Tsunade that you experimented on me and that's why her head medic is basically incapable of working emergency and trauma until you get me back to normal?"
The blonde started to sweat at that thought and Sakura finally felt like she understood the stakes.
"Okay then," the pinkette said as she downed the last of her coffee, "Let's get this show on the road!"
Almost a half an hour later, Ino and Sakura had decided on the most likely training ground based on the direction Ino had seen Sasuke and Hinata walking from the day before and places Sakura knew Sasuke preferred to train. The man was a creature of habit so narrowing things down hadn't been particularly difficult assuming he wasn't going out of his way to hide his time spent outside with the Hyuga.
This was a big assumption, but considering Sasuke had stopped eating at a particular restaurant just because they had changed the garnish on his preferred dish, she was pretty confident that he would frequent one of his usual spots. If not, then that in itself was pretty telling and would be the point in which they would corner Naruto and grill him for all he knew.
"I think we should stop here," Ino said as they came to a particularly dense wooded area. "This is enough outside of Hinata's usual training range that she shouldn't see us even if she decides to go a little extra and our bodies should be covered. I'm not worried about anyone asking what we are up to because we can always tell them we're trying out a new jutsu, but we don't have anyone to watch our bodies to make sure no one does anything creepy. What do you think?"
"Are you sure we're far enough away? Hinata's range can definitely reach further than this."
"Yeah, but she doesn't do that unless she's specifically focusing on training her distance. And when she does that she goes outside the village so she doesn't invade anyone's privacy. I got her training range from Kiba and I trust him on it."
Sakura looked at her friend suspiciously.
"You didn't mindwalk him for that, did you?"
Ino looked offended. "Of course not! I can't believe you would accuse me of such a thing! What have I ever done to make you think I would do something like that?"
Sakura opened her mouth and held up her hand to start counting off all the times Ino had used her mind walking jutsu for gossip, but Ino stopped her.
"Fine, fine. Well I haven't done that in at least a few weeks so calm down. Besides, Kiba's a solid guy, but he's kind of a horndog so getting information out of him isn't too hard if it's nothing classified. I just flashed a little cleavage and snuck it into a conversation."
"What would Sai say if he knew?"
"What do you mean? It's a perfectly legitimate shinobi tactic. And besides, if he gets jealous then he gets a little possessive. And a possessive Sai is a passiona - "
"You know what? I'm sorry I asked," Sakura said, holding up her hand to stop her friend. Gross, gross, gross.
"Psh, you need to start getting some so you can appreciate my stories more."
The pinkette let out a sigh. "Isn't this partially about my stagnant love life? You know, to find out if the guy I've been in love with for years is actually seeing someone?"
Blue eyes widened and then softened. Ino was so excited about her new jutsu she hadn't recognized Sakura's brave front about what they might find. She placed her hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Yes, absolutely yes. And whatever we find out today, I'll be there with you for it. If we need to have a spa day and a drunken movie night in we can do that. Or I can get you all dolled up so you can go seduce him. Whatever, really, you know I've got your back!"
Sakura smiled at her best friend.
"Okay, then you should probably do your thing before I realize what a terrible idea it is and change my mind."
"Yosh!" Ino shouted, fisting her hand into the air. "All you need to do is let me touch your forehead. Shouldn't be hard since it's so giant." The blonde stuck her tongue out and Sakura pouted.
"That's not how you get someone to let you experiment on them, Pig."
Ino shrugged and then her face turned serious. She took a deep breath and made a few slow, careful hand signs before touching Sakura's forehead.
Then, everything went black.
We get back to Naruto next chapter. And things start going pretty quickly after that. I'm going to try to update this and my Revenge story (for those multi shippers out there) once a month from here on out. If I can get things out quicker, I will, but based on what my life looks like right now I wanted to give myself a realistic deadline. So even if it takes a little time, I'm going to try to be consistent with this story and the Revenge story until they are complete. I'm still working at Sweetheart, but everything about it is more intensive (longer chapters, more complicated plot, more emotional and character development, etc) so it takes a lot more concentration which is hard to get with two little ones and a demanding job. But you guys have been amazing and I want to get this out to you. Even (as I mentioned in my other story) if only one person is still reading.
I'm also going to try to update my Author's profile sometime this week and keep it updated if anything is going on keeping me from writing so you guys know. Sweetheart isn't on hold per se, but it's definitely the one I have the least opportunity to get to. That's why I want to be consistent with these so I can get them finished and focus as much as possible on that one.
Anyway, let me know what you thought and thank you for sticking it out. I hope to hear from you!