And now.. Here she is in the hospital room, the curtains closed and the light blocked, the environment gave her a cold and solitary feeling, she sat up and buried her face on her hands and cried, "Stupid Ino.. You were so close.. Pathetic" she cried. Then someone entered the room slowly; Ino immediately dried her tears, "leave me alone!" she snapped. After risking everything, leaving everything behind in the end she comes home as a looser, her mission failed. She felt the person sat beside her an embraced her. it was a woman, she smelled so good, she looked back and saw the lady in pink. She was so beautiful, her eyes, her lips her smile her long wavy brown hair. "You were so brave" She said, "Who are you?" Ino asked as they parted. "Ryumi Mikagure, I am from Konoha Myself," she said. Ino looked at her. She wore a black sleeveless and on top of it is a salmon pink off shoulder that was up to her diaphragm. She also has a salmon pink skirt with a long trail. She also wore nets on her arm, black fingerless gloves and heeled training boots.
"I failed" Ino said looking at the closed window ad curtain. "When… Itachi left.." Ryumi began, "I didn't know what to do.. He left everything in such a mess…" he didn't tell me anything about his problems but I know hat he was going through. Then the next thing I knew is that he was gone", "Itachi.. Sasuke-kun's older brother? What did you then?" Ino asked looking at Ryumi sounding a bit more interested. "I cried.. And cried and thought about quitting as a ninja… I cant live without him, I love him, he was my best friend and perhaps even more.. But he too was a rival, we rivaled for grades and quarreled a lot only to realize we've fallen for each other.. That's why I did my best to keep up with him, I don't want to be left out and separated from him.. But I figured I won't see him if I quit on everything.. So I decided to run after him… I became a missing nin and looked for him… I traveled, I learned a lot and become stronger" Ryumi said recalling her adventures. "I did what exactly you did…I went through everything you are going through" Ryumi said fixing Ino's hair. "Did you see him…" Ino asked a bit hesitant. There was a pause… "After searching for six long years… I saw him.." Ino was amazed as she looked at Ryumi with admiration. "We met… and.. Well enough about us.. We were together when we followed you and Sasuke. Turned out that he was going to get Sasuke himself" Ryumi said as she stood up by the window. "Ino.. You didn't fail" Ryumi said as she opened the windows and pushed the curtain on the side. The light blinded Ino for a second then to her surprise, she was on the ground floor and there outside were everyone… with Sasuke!.
"Because of you we were able to bring him back… " Ryumi said smiling at her, Ino jumped out of bed, still feeling a bit worn out. "Ino!" Chouji cried, Ino waved, "You okay?" Sakura asked, "Yeah" Ino answered a bit teary. "You were so troublesome" Shika said, "And you too!" he snapped at Sasuke. Sasuke folded his arms a crossed his chest with a "Hmp!" Ino and Sasuke looked at each other. Sasuke smiled so did Ino…
After that, Ino started acting strange, even with Shika and Chouji. She was still the popular girl but not the vain one, her movements were feminine and graceful, her way os peaking became demure and lady like including her actions and she often wears her hair down. Whenever team 10 would pass by Team7, Chouji and Naruto would fight about food, Sakura would talk to Ino and Shika would tell Sasuke how annoying girls are, but every now and then Sasuke would look at Ino and she would catch him looking at her and then they would get startled and look somewhere else.
This was very obvious to Sakura and Shikamaru. One time, Sakura confronted Sasuke about this, "You like her ne?" she asked cheerfully, Sasuke looked. "I won't be mad, just be honest", "…Yeah…" Sasuke answered blushing. "Yapari…" Sakura said as she turned around. "I told myself to stop liking you if you liked someone else…" Sakura said as she looked at the clear, blue sky. "It just started to feel different about her" Sasuke said hesitantly. "Like whenever I see her, I would just feel warm and like there is something inside me" "Butterflies?" Sakura asked, "Dunno.. I think about her all the time… when I was away, I did missed you guys and I miss someone who will just grab you from behind and ride on my back and then I saw her.. I don't know what is happening to me" Sasuke ended embarrassed and blushing. "You should tell her how you feel.." Sakura asked, "And make a fool out of myself?" Sasuke asked, "Iie.. She feels the same" Sakura said, "Really?" Sasuke asked, "Yeah, you should talk to her!" Sakura advised beaming at Sasuke, Sasuke smiled and embraced her, "thanks so much!" Sasuke said happily and jumped through the fence.
Sakura still savoring that moment caught up with her senses, she can't help but cry a little, "there.." She said. "You're free…"
And where was Sasuke going? To Itachi of course, he saw him there by the Nanko River, "Niisan" he said, Itachi looked at him, "Doshte? You looked weird" Itachi remarked with his cold voice. "I need help" Sasuke said…. After several minuets of talking Sasuke thought of a plan, "Let's go home" Itachi said, since Itachi and Sasuke rebuilt the Uchiha's territory, they live together now. Itachi may be Akatsuki, and Orochimaru may still have his seal on Sasuke bur they'll worry about them later. The important thing is now..