Chapter three:

The great escape and hard feelings

The clock finally stuck twelve am, and the blond girl was just getting ready to jump out her window. Hating this height, it didn't seem to matter to her at the moment. She had left a note on her bed for her father to find, and had slung the backpack onto her back. She jumped down from the open window, landing on the ground with a light 'thump'. She ran off towards one of her team mates homes, taping a letter to his door. The letter read:

'Dear Shikamaru,

I'm sorry but I'm going to prove myself worthy of being on the team, don't try to find me you'll have no luck. Please tell Asuma-sensei that I am sorry too, I'll be back in a month or so.

Love,

Your team mate Yamanaka Ino' And that was all,

the letter was then taped to his door and she turned. She sighed, thinking about where to go and finally decided that some other village will do for now. She walked forward, seeing two familiar people ahead of her. She hid behind a tree, not wanting to be seen by the two. The two happened to be a pink haired girl and a raven haired boy, listening to their conversation Ino was. The night Ino had planned to leave the village, another certain raven haired boy had also planned on leaving too. The raven haired boy, happened to be her crush and the pink haired girl, her rival. She wondered what was going on, but went wide eyed when the pink haired girl now known as Haruno Sakura, admitting her feelings to the raven haired boy, now known as Uchiha Sasuke. Her hands balled into fists,

'How dare she! Admitting her feelings before I had the chance!' She thought,

hearing that the boy was going off somewhere to get more power in order to defeat his betraying brother. She then glared at the ground,

'What's so great about forehead girl! She sure as hell doesn't have the looks, and what guy likes smarts in a girl anyway?' She thought,

sitting on the ground and sighing. That was it, Ino had, had enough of being here, Sasuke probably only liked Sakura because she was strong. She nodded, knowing what she had to do and ran towards the forest of death.

"I'll prove I'm strong, prove that I don't need anyone to protect me." She whispered,

breaking the chains off the gate with a kunai. She stepped into the forest of death, smirking some and closing the gates behind her. How long was she going to be in there? Who knows, but she wasn't going to come out until she was strong. Once morning had stuck, two people from the village were missing, Uchiha Sasuke and Yamanaka Ino, were reported missing. But, Sasuke had a witness and that witness had told her own sensei about where he had gone. Ino on the other hand, only left a note one for her team and the other for her father. Shikamaru, was actually beginning to worry, where could have Ino gone? That question was on everyone's mind, well not everyone, just the people that knew the blond girl. The question was even in the young pink haired girl's mind, even if she was Ino's rival, it didn't mean she couldn't worry about her ex-best friend. Shikamaru took a look at the letter again, thinking of places Ino would go.

"Did you check all the shops?" He had asked the pink haired girl,

Sakura nodded, with a light sigh. Shikamaru just looked at the letter again, that was all they had left of Ino at the moment. He had gone to her house this morning, asking her father if she was anywhere to be found and got no luck whatsoever.

"Ino..where are you?" He whispered,

looking at the ground for a moment, as an idea s tuck the genius. It took him a month to remember that, Asuma-sensei had said that she needed to become stronger, that's probably what she was doing. But, that also meant she went into the forest of death alone, without him.

"I know where she is." He said,

looking at the three people in front of him. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and her other team mate Chouji. All three of them looked at him confused, having no idea where the blond would have gone, they left it up to him. It had already been almost a month after Ino's disappearance, finally Shikamaru had come to a conclusion of where she was. This time, it was defiant.