A/N: Warning for descriptions of gore/death.


The dawn air was crisp and fresh as the group of four arrived at the ruins of the village.

Ino stared openly at the destruction, her horror coloring her voice. "What… what's happened here?"

Shikamaru's lips pressed grimly together. "This is what Konoha has done."

Most of the houses were completely destroyed, save for a few - and as the scouts welcomed them in, their feet kicked at debris and broken pieces of stone. The faces of the people there were haunted with the chaos, their eyes rimmed with dark circles and a pallor about them. One person glanced their way for a moment before doing a double-take, their singular eye widening in what looked like disbelief... but they couldn't be sure, as the man turned and quickly walked away.

Ino drank it all in with quiet despair, her guilt and shame evident in her face. "Kami-sama, forgive my lack of judgement. Never have I been so wrong, never would I ever have imagined that Konoha would do… something so horrible!"

Tears gathered in her eyes when she noticed several bodies near a hole at one edge of town, blindfolds across their eyes and their hands clasped together. They must have been new, given the incomplete graves near them. They were next to a large patch of previously-upturned earth, marked with a stone. A mass grave.

Her stomach did nauseated flips and she blinked back the wetness in her eyes. When Shikamaru grabbed her hand, she looked up into his concerned eyes.

She tried to smile. "I- I think I'll be fine."

He didn't seem convinced. She wasn't, either.

Itachi stopped beside a building, halting the group. "Please wait while I fetch Ayame-sama," he told them before he disappeared into the doorway, past the curtain hanging from the top of the frame.

Shikamaru squeezed her hand and she weakly rested her forehead against his shoulder.

"I don't know what I was thinking," she admitted quietly to him. "I… I feel so awful ever having thought that invading Morino was the right thing to do."

"Better that you atone for it now that we're here," he soothed.

She nodded. It made her feel a bit better, but the sight of the gates to the village torn open, leaving a gaping hole and twisted hinges in their wake, haunted her mind's eye even when she closed her eyes. Vaguely, she thought, "It must have been way worse when they arrived."

After a moment, Itachi reappeared, this time with Tsunade in tow. Her eyes were kind as she scanned both of them, and as Ino straightened up to look at her, she beckoned to them. "Please, come in. We were just having a morning meeting over breakfast."

The two nodded and followed her in, Kisame and Itachi bringing up the rear.

As soon as they walked upstairs and entered into a room and a girl in pink looked up, her eyes widened and she stood from the table.

"Ino, Shikamaru," she breathed.

Ino frowned, confused, as the girl rushed to Shikamaru to hug him.

The boy seemed to have put it together immediately though, because he pulled back and stared at her in disbelief. "You- you're alive? But how?"

She just laughed wetly, gripping his hands tight. "It's a very long story best saved for when we have the time, but- oh, am I so relieved to see you here and safe!"

Then she turned to Ino, and her soft gaze made a memory resonate with the girl. It took a moment of racking her brain for answers before she reached for the blonde's hand, and immediately it clicked. Youthful peridot eyes and pale mauve hair framing a thin face seemed to warp in her mind's eye, and what was left was...

Fresh tears pooled in her eyes as she regarded her best friend with a flabbergasted gaze, reaching up to gingerly cup her lightly-freckled cheeks. "... Sakura?" She breathed.

"Surprise," the girl responded with a weak smile. "I'm alive."

"You-" Ino could feel warm skin beneath her hands, the other girl's tears dampening her fingertips. "How? Sasuke- Sasuke-kun saw you die!"

She shook her head.

"Where's Hinata, then?" Shikamaru asked, and Ino felt her breath catch in her throat again.

"She should be arriving soon," Tsunade reported. "I had Karin fetch her as soon as we received word that you were near."

He nodded.

"So wait, you- you're here? And alive? After all this time?" The blonde demanded. "And Hinata-"

"She's here too," Sakura responded with a shaky laugh. "Alive and well."

The blonde's knees began to wobble until they gave way, sending both of them to the floor. She gripped Sakura's shoulders hard, her hands shaking with the effort of keeping her grip.

She didn't know how to feel in that moment. Relieved, scared, angry - but she settled on crying tears of joy out of seeing her best friend again, in the flesh and safe.

"I got the summons," Hinata suddenly called up the stairs, and Ino's grip tensed again. "Are they here?"

"They are up here," Shizune called, her gaze soft as the Hyuuga entered.

Shikamaru beheld her with a worried face. "Hinata, you're… you're here."

"Shikamaru-san, it's been too long." The girl regarded him in relief as she hugged him.

"Hinata!" Ino breathed, looking up with blurred vision. "You're here."

"Oh, Ino," the girl's face softened and she knelt beside her to hug her tight. "I'm so sorry I made you worry."

"You- you idiot, you scared the hell out of me!" Ino weakly chastised, hugging her back just as hard as she began to sob. "When I got the news that you'd died… I thought I was all alone again. I was so- so terrified."

"You're here now, and so are we," Sakura soothed, joining the group hug. "And I promise you'll never have to go through that again, so long as we're together."

"You're one to talk, Billboard Brow," Ino sniffled.

Hinata froze at that. There was only one person that Ino ever gave that nickname to, and all this time...

Slowly, she turned to stare at the rosette with an unbelieving face. "... Sakura?"

"I'm surprised it took you this long to figure out," she chortled, brushing her own tears from her eyes.

This caused a fresh round of tears to well up in the Hyuuga's eyes this time, and she collapsed into her arms weeping openly, both out of sadness for what had happened, and of relief of having her friend back.


A/N: Sorry that this didn't get uploaded yesterday. I had wifi problems, but they're solved now! I hope.

Please tell me what you thought.