Chapter 5: The Conservation.

Ino walked towards Ichiraku's, not sure what to think. Why wanted Makoto to talk about the necklace? And why couldn't she do that when they were with their students in the forest? Was it something what had to do with Shikamaru? After all she was a Cloud kunoichi.

'But what if Shikamaru isn't dead?' she asked herself, 'nobody saw him dying, he went missing but there hasn't been any proof yet that he's dead. We all assumed that he's dead because he didn't return.'

She stopped walking and looked up at the moon, who was shining a mysterious light on her platinum blonde hair. If it was true that he was still alive she knew that nothing could stop her from going to him. She also swore that she would torture the ones who had taken him from here until death.

But the chance that he was still alive was very, very little and the thought dwelled off. But somewhere deep inside her remained hope.

Ino continued walking towards Ichiraku's, but after five minutes she stopped again. What if it Makoto was really going to tell her that Shikamaru was still alive?

Don't be ridiculous, probably Makoto just want to have a nice chat. And once again Ino continued walking and this time without thoughts.

But the thoughts returned when she saw Makoto standing before Ichiraku's with a deadly serious face. Ino tried to act like nothing was wrong and walked towards Makoto to greet her.

"Hi Makoto, what's up!" she said happily.

"Stop it Ino, you know why I want to speak you, don't you?" she replied cold.

"I guess it's about this afternoon?" she replied trying to stay calm, but she was sweating heavily.

"That guy on the photo in your necklace, it's Nara Shikamaru, isn't it?"

Ino's face froze, "What do you know about him." she said with an icy voice.

"Let's continue our conversation inside, it's getting cold."

Ino walked inside and took a seat beside Makoto. "Can I help you?" said the woman behind the counter.

"Just a plain bowl of ramen and some Sake." said Makoto.

"The same." said Ino.

They waited until their food was served and then continued their conversation.

"Before I tell you what I know, you must swear that you tell it to no-one else." Makoto started.

Ino swore that she could see a certain fair in Makoto's eyes.

"I swear."

"Ok." said Makoto. Before she continued talking she looked around her to secure no-one was nearby.

"First tell me what you know about Nara Shikamaru." asked Makoto.

Ino decided not to argue about the question, "Well almost anything, he was my boyfriend."

"He died, didn't he?"

"How do you know?" Ino replied immediately, "and how do you know him in the first place?"

"Well, it might be quite a shock but he isn't dead." Makoto said very soft.

Instead of surprise a certain anger raised within Ino. "How the hell do you know this all, and why are you telling, isn't this something like telling your village's secrets?"

"I don't care anymore about my village." Makoto replied.

"But still that doesn't make anything clear."

"You know the feeling of being alone, don't you?"

"Of course." replied Ino who was getting nervous. "I've been alone for the past four years."

"It eats you slowly, it hurts more than any physical pain and without noticing it yourself it drives yourself crazy." said Makoto.

"How?" Ino didn't finish her question when she saw Makoto's eyes, she'd recognized them immediately. It where the same sad eyes that looked back at her whenever she looked into a mirror.

"You also lost someone precious?" Ino asked.

"unfortunately yes, my husband. He was being killed before my eyes by some Sound nins."

"How did you recover from something that horrible?"

"The same way you did." Makoto replied.

"But I still don't get why you're telling me that Shikamaru is still alive."

"After I'd experienced that pain, I promised that I would try to guard anyone from that pain when I had the chance, even when I had to betray my village for it. When I met you I could immediately see that you suffered the same pain. When I saw the photo in your necklace I recognized Shikamaru. And you're reaction to the loss of your necklace told me enough."

Ino could see that tears were streaming over Makoto's face and before she knew it she was also crying.

"You're name is Yamanaka Ino right?"

"Yes." replied Ino.

"One day I had to pass the prison, and I passed his cell,and he kept saying your name."

"But how you'd remember, you've probably come across hundreds of names in those four years?"

"I don't know, but the day after I passed the prison I looked up some information about him, I really don't why, maybe it was fate."

"Why didn't you let him out after you had read about him?" asked Ino.

"He would never get away unseen, and why would you do anything when you're sure it's going to fail?"

Ino looked down at her bowl of ramen, afraid to ask her next question, not because it was a weird question but because she was afraid of the answer.

"You want to know if we can free him, don't you?" asked Makoto.

"Yes, knowing he's dead is horrible, but knowing he's alive and that I can't see him is even worse."

"Well, the chance is minimal, and we need a lot of preparations but there's some hope."

Ino's crystal blue eyes lit up. "Even the smallest amount of hope is enough for me." But suddenly Ino realized something. "But where are you going to live if the mission succeeds, people probably will find out that you helped me."

"I don't really care." said Makoto.

But Ino knew she did. "Hey, you just brought me the best news I've ever had, and you're going to help me to rescue Shikamaru, there's no way I just let you live on the streets. I'm going to secure you can live in Konoha after this whole thing.

"Ino do you realize that the mission might fail and we might get killed?"

"I prefer to die tomorrow than live a life without him." she answered resolute.

"I'm glad that you didn't think that earlier." Makoto answered.

Ino's body filled with hope when she thought that maybe someday she would Shikamaru again, his warm hands touching her body, his deep brown eyes looking down at her, his lips touching hers. At that moment is still seemed like a dream. 'Some dreams come true.' she told herself, 'Don't forget the maybe Ino.' she told herself.

She turned back to Makoto, "I don't think there are words for the hope and happiness you've just brought me."

"Don't worry, you can think of them during the mission." replied Makoto.

I hope you liked it, I really tried hard to describe Ino's feeling proper.

(You all might have noticed that the 'I prefer to die tomorrow than live a life without him' comes from Pocahontas.