Sakura had not seen Gaara in two days. Once or twice she went to the ocean, and walked along the banks, hoping maybe to spot him wandering around his house. But his house was always dark, his windows were broken, and the shutters banged in the wind.
She went to Kakashi-sensei and asked if he'd seen Sasuke. Kakashi shook his head no. She asked Naruto if he had seen Sasuke around. "Mm-mm, Sakura," Naruto frowned.
Today was her fourth time going to the ocean. This time she invited her friend Ino Yamanaka with her. "You know Sakura, it's been a while since we've actually hung out together," Ino smiled.
"…yeah." Sakura admitted she never felt friendly with Ino as she did now. "Say…" Sakura and Ino said at the same time. "Oh, you first," Sakura grinned. "No, no. You," Ino grinned back. Sakura winced. "NO---YOU." A vein popped out on her head. Ino's smile turned into an arrogant smirk. "I insist, billboard-brow, you first." The name-calling started to crack out.
"INO YOU PIG!" Sakura thrust herself wildly at Ino. They both rolled in a catfight straight in the water. Sakura sputtered and picked herself up. Ino coughed, and Sakura held out a hand to pick her up.
They both looked at each other for a few seconds, then started to laugh. "I'm sorry," Ino said. "Me too," Sakura replied. "What I wanted to ask was---have you seen Sasuke lately?" Ino confessed.
"…oh. That's what I wanted to ask you," Sakura said solemnly. "I seriously think something happened to him," Ino frowned. "I have a feeling it's something to do with the sand guy," she continued.
Sakura looked up at Ino. "Maybe…" she said.
The two walked, hands around shoulders, until they reached Gaara's home. "I wonder who lives in this dump," Ino criticized. "Oh, the outside may look like a dump---but wait till you see the inside," Sakura said.
"How do you know?"
"—UH. I peeked through the window before," she lied.
"I wanna see," Ino said. She looked through the window. "Ugh---I can't see. There's a piece of paper blocking the window." Ino complained.
"Really!?" Sakura exclaimed. Ino backed away from the window. "Yeah…" she raised an eyebrow. "Haaaaaa---!" Sakura raised her fist and smashed the window. Dust exploded from each corner. Ino hacked. "Wow…looks like this place has been abandoned…" she sneezed.
Sakura grabbed the paper. In quiet words, she began to read the paper to herself.
If you are looking for the owner of this house…give up! Haa, I've killed him…don't even bother looking. If you'd like to see him, maybe you can stop by and look at my puppet collection.
"Ohmigod…" Sakura gasped. "Sasori---!" she growled. "What's that?" Ino scrunched her nose. "Oh, no-one…nothing." Sakura shrugged it off.
At night, Sakura slipped on her kunoichi uniform. She slipped a few pocket knives in her sack, and put her headband on.
Tonight would be the night---where it all ended.