Benji looked up at the jangle, but the shop was still empty. He got out from behind the counter and went to the door, looked around and, seeing no one, shrugged and went back inside.

"Hey baby!" Ino grinned at Benji's surprised look from her seat behind the counter.

"Hi Ino." Benji replied, hiding his happiness at seeing her. He was sure now he had somehow inherited Sakura's state of mind.

"I thought you were all ninja-y." she said, winking, "And I snuck up on you so easily."

Benji shrugged, "I knew it was you, so I didn't worry."

"Ha!" Ino laughed, and jumped over the counter to hold him in a headlock. "Admit you're a liar and I'll let you go!"

"You're worse than Sakura!" Benji squealed.

Ino let him go and grew serious. "Speaking of whom, have you heard from her lately?"

"Just last week." Benji said, "She's heading into the mountains, so I probably won't be hearing from her again for a while."

"Oh." Ino propped herself up against the counter and twiddled her thumbs. Benji watched her for a while, but it seemed that was all she had planned.

"Hey Ino…"

"Sure you can come stay with me! I get lonely too, now that all my lovers have left me." Ino interrupted. "If you need help bringing anything over, just ask."

"Or you could just read my mind." Benji muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Aw, don't be like that. You know you love it." Ino gave Benji one last parting smile and left before he could reply.

"Do I really?"

It was chance that Sakura found him at last. If she hadn't been paying attention to the scenery, she might never have found him.

She was lying in the back of a cart going through the mountains when she noticed something out of the ordinary. Where all the other mountains were capped with snow, that one was covered in what seemed to be sand. It looked like someone had dumped a beach on the top of the mountain.

Sakura jumped out of the cart, filled with new energy and thanked the driver quickly before running towards the mountain.

Though she ran quickly, it seemed the mountain didn't get any nearer, and when she got to the base of the mountain it felt all of a sudden, as though she had been running in place for hours and suddenly got to the mountain. (hehe, Monty Python for you)

She stared up the cliff face, and was surprised not to feel daunted at all. "But really, what's a cliff, when faced with what I'll find up there?" she asked herself, hoping to every god she could think of that she would find what she hoped to find at the top.

And so she started the climb, not even considering resting for a night at the bottom before going up. The climb upwards didn't feel so long anyway, and even that took too long for her.

But when she made it to the top and saw him sitting there all alone with his back turned to her she didn't rush towards him. She didn't move. For the longest time in her life, she just stood there, watching him. What a fool she'd been, spending all this time chasing after him without even thinking about what she would say when she did find him.

Her knees buckled before her mouth opened. She realized in that moment how far she had come, without resting and without eating. She had a sudden irrational thought that she was going to die now, just when she had found him. Before her rational mind had time to push the thought out of her head she blacked out.

Benji woke up in the middle of the night. No matter how accustomed to it he became, it never stopped getting on his nerves. It was just so ridiculous.

Sakura thought it was great. She would look at him and then at Gaara meaningfully, though never so that Gaara could see. Once she had whispered to him, "I think he likes it too."

He stared at Ino's ceiling and tried to be mad at her for leaving him alone for so long.

When he heard irregular breathing in the other room he sat up and looked around in the dim light. It was coming from Ino's room .

He stood by her door for a second and prayed she was alone in there before opening the door.

"Ino?" He could see a lump on her bed, and the moonlight reflecting off her long hair splayed over the pillows. She lifted her head to look at him and waved him over.

"What's the matter?"

Benji sat on the edge of her bed and looked at her. She might have gotten away with pretending she hadn't been crying if her cheeks weren't so wet and the moon so bright.

"I was going to ask you that very question." He said.

"I miss her."

"You love her don't you?" Benji said, and as soon as he said it he wished he hadn't, because he was sure they were true. Sometimes he wished he was the type who thought longer before speaking.

Ino smiled, "And you can't even read my mind." She patted the space beside her and Benji moved to sit next to her. "You miss her too."

Benji nodded.

"I don't know what it is about that woman," Ino mused, "She's so insecure herself, to the point of being a freak," she laughed then, softly,"and yet when ever you're around her you feel better about yourself. She makes you feel… right. Safe." She looked at Benji, "You feel it too don't you?"

Benji nodded.

"And now that she's gone…" Ino lay back on her bed. "Do you want to sleep on the bed with me tonight? Even with me, it'll be more comfortable than the couch."

"Ok, but no molesting me in my sleep." He said and lay down beside her.

"I'm a pervert, but I'm not a pedophile." She said indignantly.

Ino turned her back to Benji and closed her eyes.