A/N: Thank you guys so, so much for the positive feedback, favs and follows for chapter 1! A special thanks to Kaara for letting me use her Ino art as the cover for this fic! Check out her stuff guys, she's awesome :D Also, this fic is heading a bit more into AU territory since it takes place in the future and the manga isn't finished.

Mental health questions in this chapter come from anorton .com.

Rating: M for language, violence (of the Torture and Interrogation kind), mentions of mental health/depression, and adult situations. Some ~*~drama~*~ in this chapters because who doesn't love some drama?
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. If I owned Naruto, there would be a lot more Ino scenes.

And So

Chapter 2: Pain is the Great Equalizer

Ino was in such a foul mood that even Ibiki felt bad for the man currently being interrogated.

They had recently been hired by the Daimyo of Fire Country to extract information from one of his ex-bodyguards that had gone rogue. The man swore up and down that he had fallen in love with a girl from Wind and ran away to be with her but frankly, Ibiki didn't care about the details. They would get the truth out of him one way or another. Ibiki personally preferred "or another"—that way was much more fun.

It was no secret that Ibiki was grooming Ino to eventually take over as head of T&I when he either died or retired, whichever came first. Many people vocally disagreed with his choice, especially the more conservative ANBU and Intel members. Ino was a woman, young, and highly emotional. Did she really have the chops to take the reins from Ibiki? It was an ongoing battle but Ibiki held firm. He had never folded to the pressure of higher ups before and he wasn't about to start now.

Ibiki had decided to let her fly solo on this particular interrogation since she had insisted in doing so and who was he to deny his favorite disciple? It would give him a chance to catch up on some paperwork and maybe even watch his favorite soap opera Icha Icha Syndrome. A ghost writer had taken over for Jiraiya after his death and continued the series which eventually became a hit television drama. This week Sakuya-chan was going to find out if the father of her baby was her former teacher or classmate. Ibiki couldn't wait.

A polite knock at the door followed by the appearance of Yamashiro Aoba was unexpected but not unwelcome. As one might imagine, not many people came down to interrogation.

By choice, anyway.

It was rare to see a ninja who knocked on doors (why bother knocking when one could just poof from place to place?) but Aoba was a smart man and had been a shinobi of Konoha long enough to know the consequences of suddenly appearing behind Ibiki without notice. The last ANBU who had tried that needed a blood transfusion, two kidney transplants, and six months of emotional therapy with Shizune to recover. "I'm here to pick up the files Tsunade-sama requested."

Ibiki gestured for him to sit while he went through the file cabinet. Aoba hesitated only a moment before taking him up on the offer. He didn't want to be impolite but this place also scared him shitless. There's no shame in that, Aoba told himself, but put on a brave face. "Long time no see, Aoba. How's the wife? Still in the Cipher Division?"

Aoba heard a low whimper followed by what sounded like Mommy from the next room. "Ah, well, you know her. She'd rather die under an avalanche of books than on the battlefield so she'll probably be decoding until the end of time." Low, pained moans reached their ears. "I heard Ino-chan is getting engaged," Aoba said conversationally. He hadn't been present for the party since he had been on a mission but his wife had gone and reported back the big news.

"Those are forbidden words," Ibiki chuckled. "She's not too happy about it." Aoba felt very sorry for the person who made Ino unhappy. Like her father, she was a friendly, kind person most of the time but when you pissed those Yamanakas off, there was no telling what they would do.

The woman in question popped her head outside of the interrogation room, startling Aoba, much to his embarrassment. There were splatters of blood on the side of her face and jacket but none of it seemed to be hers. He silently prayed to whatever deity listening that he would never end up here. Aoba would easily choose death over getting interrogated by the people in this division. "I'm going to need a few more minutes, Sensei."

"Take your time. Do a thorough job," Ibiki handed off the files to Aoba and Aoba was immensely proud of himself that his hands stayed steady.

A wet, gurgled scream echoed through the building and then nothing.

"Do you want to stay to watch-?" Ibiki turned back to find Aoba long gone. Alone again, he lamented. But at least he had Icha Icha Syndrome and the sound of a good interrogation to keep him company.

Ibiki did so love his job.

"So you ran away from home," Kurenai watched with mild interest as Ino dragged two duffel bags into her house. She was impressed that Ino had consolidated her massive wardrobe into two containers but she supposed desperate times called for desperate measures.

Predictably, after the two duffel bags came three potted plants, a lovingly worn stuffed pig plushie that had seen better days, and another massive luggage that was at least three times as large as the duffel bags. "I didn't run," Ino grunted as she struggled to pull the luggage labeled "shoes" past the doorway. "I'm relocating until everyone come to their senses."

Ino had cajoled, begged, and threatened suicide until Kurenai agreed to let her stay over but the dramatics really weren't necessary. Kurenai liked having Ino around. Her daughter worshiped the ground she walked on and Ino was a good cook. This was a game that everyone won. "Isn't it common for people from affluent clans to have arranged marriages?"

From what Asuma had told her about his own clan, arranged marriages were only natural. Clan leaders wanted their children to marry the best possible partners from within the family so that the jutsus would stay secret and there would be no power struggles. Asuma had, of course, given the middle finger to that particular tradition… and just about every other Sarutobi ritual. Kurenai smiled when she thought about her late, rebel husband. He had easily accepted his status of black sheep of the family and, Kurenai suspected, secretly reveled in the infamy.

"But not like this!" Ino scoffed. "This is a conspiracy."

Ino really needed to stop hanging out with Ibiki. He thought the convenient store not having his brand of cigarettes was part of a conspiracy. "So, who did you-?"

Her question was interrupted by the sound of her daughter's enthusiastic call of "I'm home!" from behind Ino, who unearthed yet another potted plant for Kurenai's living room.

"Saki-chan!" Ino trilled, as if she hadn't seen the little girl in a thousand long, lonely years. Kurenai estimated it had been about two weeks.

"Oneechan!" The four year old launched herself into Ino's arms. Kurenai could practically see little pink cartoon hearts and sparkles surrounding the two. "You haven't been by in forever!"

Ino cradled the littlest Sarutobi, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I was busy with work. Forgive me?" Saki nodded emphatically. With her sweet personality and Asuma's features, Ino didn't think it was possible to love another kid more.

"Ino," Iruka's warm voice finally piped up after Ino and Saki's beautiful reunion. He walked the younger academy shinobi-in-training home after class when their parents were busy or on missions. Nothing had changed since the days Ino was in class, she thought. Same old Iruka-sensei with his same old smiling face.

She balanced Saki on her hip and gave Iruka a slight bow of her head. "Long time no see, Iruka-sensei."

There was that Iruka-sensei smile, all knowing and sweet. Familiar. Calming. "You've been working hard with Ibiki. Good job, Ino." Ino blushed a bit. Even after all these years, it thrilled her to have her academy teacher compliment her. "Congratulations on your engagements, too."

Kurenai slowly turned her head over to the people crowding her doorway. "'Engagement… s'?"

"It was so great to see you Iruka-sensei!" Ino said brightly, shoving him out of the doorway quite rudely. He barely managed to stutter out a goodbye before the door was slammed in his face. "I'm sure you're very busy shaping the minds of our youth so we won't take up anymore of your time! Bye!"

Kurenai was so busy processing Ino's multiple(?) engagements that she didn't seem to notice Iruka getting kicked off her property. "Did he just say engagements? As in more than one?" Kurenai was going to need a drink. A strong one.

"Are you getting married, Ino-'neechan?" Saki asked innocently, brown eyes wide.

"Let's have dinner!" Ino put Saki down and ignored her bags in favor of heading into the kitchen. "My treat since you're letting me stay here!"

Kurenai poured herself a glass of whiskey. It was happy hour somewhere, right? "Oneechan, you're staying here?! Yay!" Bless children with their tiny attention spans. Saki might have forgotten about this marriage talk but Kurenai hadn't. How could Ino be engaged to more than one person? How many people was more than one? Were they all Yamanakas? She had so many questions.

"Yo," a new voice said from the doorway. Kiba had done the classic "knock and walk"—knocked once on the door and then came in before anyone had actually let him in. It was a very Kiba-ish move. Obnoxious as it might have been, it was better than him completely knocking the door down, which he had been known to do in the past. "Going on a mission, Sensei?" he toed one of Ino's bags with his sandal. Akamaru woofed politely in greeting and took a seat in the corner.

From the kitchen came a loud crash. "Ino-'neechan!" Saki cried. "You dropped the pan!"

Kiba's smile turned positively feral, all teeth and mischief. "Oooh? Sensei has a visitor."

Ino finally surfaced, frying pan in hand. Saki squealed in delight and immediately ran to go pet the ever patient Akamaru. "What are you doing here?"

"Can't a guy go visit his old Sensei?" Kiba leered. "Fiancée Ino."

Ino raised her frying pan menacingly. Kurenai quickly poured another glass of liquor. This was going to be a multiple drink sort of night. "I never agreed to that!"

Kiba shrugged and made himself comfortable on the couch. He had already unzipped his flak jacket and was helping himself to the snacks Kurenai had laid out. "You could do worse than me."

"I'd rather marry your dog! He at least has good hygiene," the blond pursed her lips together, trying to keep herself in check though she was visibly shaking.

"What're you getting so worked up over? You didn't mind my 'hygiene' that time in Kiri—"

"WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT!"

"Kiba," Kurenai finally put her glass down. She was his former teacher. A role model. A wife. A parent. She had to be the anchor of sanity in this sea of chaos. Also, her daughter didn't need to hear about any debauchery in Kiri. "Are you saying that you and Ino are engaged?"

"Yeah—"

"No!"

Kiba munched thoughtfully on his snacks. Ino hissed at him like a feral cat. "Yeah," he said again. "But I'm not the only one. Shikamaru's old man, Chouji's old man, Chouji and Shikamaru picked a bunch and decided to let Ino choose from one of 'em. There's also Neji, Naruto—"

"Shut UP!" Ino launched her stuffed animal right at his face with deadly precision. "JUST SHUT UP! I forbid you to talk any further!"

Kiba laughed and laughed, backing away towards the door (taking the snack bowl with him, what the hell, Kiba?) when Ino started throwing the kunai strapped to her leg at him. She had good aim and he would have liked to keep his manbits in tact to maybe consummate their new found relationship sometime. "Bye, 'niichan!" Saki said brightly. "Bring Akamaru around again to play!"

"Good riddance," Ino muttered when he was finally gone and settled back into the kitchen, grumbling all the while.

Kurenai let this new information process. In summary: Ino had not one fiancé chosen for her but multiple fiancés. Her father and his friends had kept with tradition while giving her a little breathing room.

Multiple fiancés. One of them was Kiba.

One. Of. Them. Was. Kiba.

Kurenai poured herself another drink.

I better make this one a double.

Ino was very glad she had her work to throw herself into and forget for just a little while that her life was in shambles. She was the talk of the village: Who would Yamanaka Ino marry? Who was she banging this week? Would she become the wife of the next Hokage? Was there going to be some sort of fiancé exam to see who would win her hand?

People had taken to betting to see who she was going to wind up with and it just made her sick.

She knew that Shikaku, Chouza, and Chouji had good intentions. Chouji loved her more than anyone and wanted the best for her. Shikaku and Chouza loved her but also wanted what was best for the clans. Her father abstained from participating since he didn't believe she was old enough to be considering marriage but really he wasn't ready for Ino to be considering marriage. She wasn't sure where Shikamaru fit into all of this. He probably just wanted to avoid confrontations and work and so went along with this scheme. At the end of the day, he just didn't care, she believed. He cared for her life and her well being as one of her closest friends and teammates but anything deeper than that and he was quick to run away.

Typical man.

Her next assignment was unpleasant, maybe even more unpleasant than her marriage woes but like any good interrogator, she welcomed the pain.

"I'm here to perform your weekly mental health evaluation, Sasuke-kun."

"Have you heard voices no one else could hear or seen objects or things which others could not see?"

"No."

"Have you been depressed for weeks at a time, lost interest or pleasure in most activities, had trouble concentrating and making decisions, or thought about killing yourself?"

"No."

"Have you had nightmares or flashbacks as a result of being involved in some traumatic event?"

"No."

"Have you given in to an aggressive urge or impulse on more than one occasion that resulted in serious harm to others or led to the destruction of property?"

"… no."

Ino put down her clipboard and studied the man sitting across from her. She had never imagined that Sasuke would be back in Konoha. She didn't think he ever wanted to come back. It had taken helping Naruto to defeat Orochimaru-in-Madara's body and ending the war to get the approval of the villagers to allow him back. It didn't hurt that Naruto had saved Konoha at least a dozen times and they all kind of owed him. Tsunade always had a soft spot for Naruto and allowed Sasuke to come back with certain restrictions. He couldn't leave the village for missions, he would be under constant surveillance by ANBU, and he had to submit to weekly psychological tests given by Ibiki's department. If he broke any of these rules, he would be killed without hesitation.

There would be no second chances, Sakura had told Ino solemnly.

She wondered what Naruto had said or done to get Sasuke to agree to all these things. Perhaps Sasuke realized that he had nothing left in this world outside of the village. Maybe he really did love Naruto and Sakura and truly regretted what he had done. Maybe he was tired of running and plotting revenge and living for nothing but empty dreams of death and destruction. Whatever the case, nearly four years later, here he was: A citizen of Konoha, if only in name.

Returning home wasn't easy. The villagers put up with him but did not trust him. He spent a lot of his time in his apartment or doing odd jobs around the village when he was allowed. Sometimes he helped at the academy because Iruka could never turn a former student away, no matter how bad they were. Naruto was Hokage-in-Training and before he settled into the life of a leader was off every week doing S-rank missions. Sakura was training hard at the hospital and saving lives. They couldn't watch out for their ex-teammate every second of the day and Sasuke wasn't the type to seek out company. It was probably a lonely life.

"Liar," Ino said lightly. Sasuke's eyes widened a bit in surprise. He was still ridiculously handsome, even more so at twenty than when he was twelve. Too bad he was a village deserting asshole who had almost gotten Chouji—and the rest of the village—killed. She wasn't like Sakura, who was still clinging onto her ideal vision of Sasuke. She wasn't like Sakura who was still madly in love with him despite everything. Ino lived in the real world. She saw him for who— what he was. "These questions are bullshit, anyway. You're not crazy."

"Tell that to your department."

She twirled the pen in her hand. "Narcissistic personality. Suffers from both an inferiority and superiority complex," Ino narrowed her eyes. "Stop me if you've heard this one before."

Ino understood Sasuke. When Asuma had died, Ino had eagerly gone along with Shikamaru and Chouji on their revenge mission against Hidan and Kakuzu. Even if they were doing the village a favor, she wasn't doing it for Konoha. Ino had wanted blood. She wanted her pound of flesh. They had taken something from her and she wanted to return in kind. Sasuke had lost everything and Konoha was to blame. Although Root had disbanded and Danzo was dead, Konoha couldn't pretend their hands were clean. They had helped to make Sasuke into what he was.

"Naruto and Sakura will never see you for what you are," she crossed her legs comfortably. "You know that." Sasuke stayed silent. "They are nice people with good hearts who will always see the best in people."

"I know that."

Ino leaned closer. "Don't fuck this up, Sasuke. Don't hurt this village. Don't hurt our friends. Do not hurt Sakura," her voice was deadly calm; it was her interrogation voice that was a million miles away from her usual cheerfulness. It was her "I will wreck your life so hard your ancestors will feel it" voice. "Interview over. See you next week, Sasuke-kun," the usual Ino was back, all smiles and humor.

Sasuke said nothing but watched her with renewed interest. Maybe he thought they were birds of a feather—two people pretending to be something else, something palatable for the sake of the people who cared about them.

"Remember what I said, hm?" she tapped her finger against her nose. "Don't forget that not everyone is as nice as your old teammates."

Ibiki did everything for a reason. He had sent her here to teach her some sort of lesson. Maybe it was a tale of caution that if she delved too deeply into the traitorous world of T&I, learned too many of the village's dark secrets, then...

Ino turned back to Sasuke's apartment. He hadn't moved an inch since she left. If Ino didn't know better, she might have felt sorry for him.

Was this a cautionary tale or was it a glimpse into her own future?

Friday nights were reserved for girls' nights, every week, every month, without fail, unless one of them was on a mission. Every Friday Tenten, Sakura, Ino, and Hinata got together to discuss love and life and complain about everyone they hated (Tenten, Sakura, and Ino mostly did the complaining while Hinata silently listened) and it was the best therapy a kunoichi could wish for. Tonight it was just Sakura, Tenten and Ino, since Hinata was off on a mission. They were holed up in the corner of the bar closest to Kurenai's house, huddled together in serious discussion.

"So, are we going to discuss how Ino is engaged to every eligible bachelor in Konoha or…?" Tenten nodded a thanks to Sakura, who refilled her glass with beer. News traveled fast, Ino thought wryly. Tenten's ANBU work kept her so busy, she was almost surprised that Tenten caught wind of the situation.

Almost surprised, since no one loved gossip more than Tenten. She had probably gotten carrier hawks to give her updates while she was hiding in some trenches on an S-rank assassination mission.

"Not every, just a few," Ino waved her hand. "Kiba, Neji, Naruto… maybe some distant cousins…"

Sakura choked on her wine. "Naruto? Are you serious?"

"I didn't get a choice in the matter!" Ino put her hands up defensively. "What's the big deal? It's not like any of them will go for it." Though it would serve Shikamaru and the others right if they all decided they wanted to marry her. No doubt Shikamaru thought that none of these matches would work out and thusly would manage to avoid both Ino and her father's wrath.

Tenten tapped her chin. "But doesn't Neji's dad like you? He was seriously impressed with your skills in the war. Maybe he likes you enough to overlook the fact that you're not a Hyuuga."

"No way! If Neji is going be the head of the clan, he has to marry within the clan to preserve the Byakugan, right?" Ino's eyebrows furrowed in worry. They had this discussion/argument nearly every other week since they were teenagers. Tenten always had feelings for Neji but had given up without a fight because of his inevitable political marriage. Ino wanted Tenten to fight for her love but Tenten was a realist. She had zero clan backing, no lineage, no prestige. It wasn't going to happen, no matter how much she had wanted it.

"Maybe he's confident that his obviously superior genes will override yours," Sakura said dryly. Ino threw a crumpled up napkin at her.

"This is so frustrating," Ino groaned. "Shikamaru and Shikaku-ojisan are masterminding this whole thing. They think I'm going to just lie down and take this! Damn their genius."

Sakura looked thoughtful. "You may not be a genius but you're manipulative and cunning—"

"Gee, thanks."

"—and sometimes that can beat pure genius. I'm sure you can think of a way out of this. Just be your usual devious self."

Sakura was right. Ino was manipulative and cunning. That's what she did for a living! Shikamaru might have been able to read a thousand moves ahead but there was one thing he always had trouble predicting: Ino's feelings. "That just gave me a great idea."

"Uh oh," Sakura and Tenten chorused.

Ino ignored them. "I should get along with the fiancés! All of them."

"All of them?" Sakura squeaked.

"All of them."

"Oh, Kiba," Ino slinked over to the table inside Yakiniku-Q where Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were sitting. She had done a little recon and found out that they were having lunch there together.

Perfect.

Ino was sporting a skirt so short that it could have passed for a hair band. "I've been thinking about what you said."

"What I said?" Kiba's attention was immediately on Ino's bare legs. That skirt, if one could call it that, had to be illegal. It was a weapon of mass destruction that could give a man a heart attack without fail. Ino put her arm around Kiba and leaned in intimately. Shikamaru and Chouji gaped openly. Shino watched with mild interest. "I say a lot of stuff."

"About how I could do much worse than you," Ino pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek. Chouji choked on a rib. Shikamaru continued to stare. Shino moved on to stirring his tea. "Let's get along… fiancé."

Checkmate.

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