So here's the next part, thanks for the reviews! The story of what happened is revealed, still don't know if I did a good job… or if you expected it of if you were waiting for more, if I disappointed you, I am sorry but I tried my best, that I can tell. So now I PROMISE, next chapter will say everything, hope I don't get emotional writing it.
So read read read if you feel like it!
Disclaimer: The second I own this amazing story I will let you know.
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"Kakashi?" Asuma asked as they took the elevator to the third floor, the door opened and they found themselves in a waiting room, again a nurse behind a desk and behind the desk a long corridor with doors and medic nins running around, they were on the operation floor. Kakashi was still not saying a thing, he walked to a table on the corner of the waiting room, not many people was there, Shikamaru wondered where was Gai and Lee, it looked like Neji was having the same thoughts as he used his justu to detect them.
"Gai sensei is with lee behind that wall along the corridor." He said looking at something Shikamaru couldn't see. Neji refused to sat on the table, Kakashi and Asuma were looking at the two kids, Shikamaru had his fits on his pockets ignoring Asuma's eyes, pleading him to sit. "They are waiting besides a room… a little waiting area, why are we not there?"
Kakashi sighed and again motioned them to just sit down, reluctantly Shikamaru did so, knowing they would win nothing if they didn't, Neji with his arm crossed did too. Asuma almost smirked, almost, these two kids were intelligent, cold when get into action, if it had been Naruto and Ino hell would had arrived, at the thought of his student he returned his eyes to Kakashi.
"What happened, Kakashi? Are the girls alright? Is Ino okay?"
Neji wanted to kick Asuma for just caring for Ino, but then again Tenten had never been his responsibility. Right now it was his.
Kakashi looked at the three of them and sighed, passing a hand over his mask and then he started talking.
"We were working in the outskirts of Konoha, helping a friend of mine build his fence, it's a huge house and a bigger garden so it would take a day or two, the girls were working outside as I caught up with him on some other business, he being a ninja retired had a lot to say to me, after all."
They all nodded, not knowing why this was important but Kakashi felt like he needed to explain himself.
"Im not sure how it happened, but it was around four, more or less, when he started feeling sick, I thought It was just the age, besides he was sick at the moment and he thought that too as we kept on talking, fifteen minutes later it was clear something was off, it wasn't right the way he was coughing , I decided to take him out and give him some water and his pills so I could take him to the hospital, I haven't even decided to act on it when four ninjas barged in through the window, we were on the third floor, I didn't even hear them coming." Kakashi didn't want to make the story much larger than it already was, so he shortened it. "I fought them, killed two as the other two ran away. Irashi was pretty bad right then he was of great help, but as I told you we was already having trouble with his own body."
"The girls? Did they notice anything?"
"They were too far away… on the other side of the place, they didn't know, and the ninjas looked confused and angry when they saw me there with Irashi, so I could tell they were expecting company." Shikamaru guessed Irashi was the retired ninja, he was listening intently, something might help for later, he had learned that over the years. "I was glad of it, the ninjas were strong, incredible strong, trained assassins, I was afraid if being faced they would have been too much for the girls, it took us twenty minutes to get rid of just two of them."
"They were there to kill Irashi…" Neji assumed, he wasn't angry anymore but it was clear he was having a hard time listening to stories instead of getting straight answers. "Is he a special ninja or something?"
Asuma sighed and relaxed a bit, talking was helping him. "He was supposed to take the place of Hokage after the fourth died, but he refused leaving Sarutobi on the charge again, Irashi always served Konoha and did good, he was extremely powerful… but he never intended on taking such a high rank."
"To be considered Hokage we can bet on it." Shikamaru said with a sigh. "So they were there to kill him, but why? If you say he's not only old but weak, what about the other two?"
"As I told you." Kakashi said leaning on the chair. "People is not only strong at abilities, but also knowledge." Kakashi wasn't sure anymore if he had told that to the girls, to team seven or to anyone ever, but he didn't stop to ask. "They where there for two things, a weapon and the knowledge to make it work, I realized that the other two must have gone to search the house looking for that."
Asuma looked at him. "And what did they get?"
Kakashi sighed and looked terribly old. "None of it. Irashi died a few minutes after killing the second, I supposed there goes the knowledge and whatever the weapon was we might never know."
"He didn't tell you?" Shikamaru asked paying a lot of attention to his only eye, Kakashi's eye looked into his.
"He did, tried at least, but whatever that weapon was, as I said, we might never know." Kakashi's silence bothered Shikamaru, it was like he was hiding something, Naruto's sensei eyes then darted to Neji. "The other two managed to escape, when I tracked them after realizing Irashi was really gone I found only one of them, that one was fighting Tenten, who had ran to the mansion to tell me something, I don't know what but when she ran to the second floor she found the man running and her being a ninja fought him noticing something was terribly wrong, I told her to run away when I caught on her and took her place at fighting the man, I told her to give advice to Ino and Hinata as I fought him and told her to look for one more ninja missing, she did…
His eyes traveled along the table and he was lost in thought. "However… walking and fighting down the corridor I noticed a broken window, the fourth ninja escaped breaking the window, I realized it, I thought that the girls could take him…
Kakashi just took a big gulp of air, he was still shaking at the thought of Irashi being dead. He had been his friends after all.
"The third ninja did as his partner and jumped down the window minutes later, I followed him and ran to catch him before he too found the girls. When I did I noticed the only one standing was Hinata, between Hinata and me we finished him off, didn't kill him, Im not sure Hinata had ever killed anyone" He eyed Neji and he shook his head. "So we took it as a prisoner, I sent my dog to give word of this, a couple of jounin came ten minutes later, took him prisoner and Gai and I rushed with Ino and Tenten to the hospital."
"What happened to the other one?"
"I don't know… I couldn't find him, I sent a team though, to search the whole place and look for any trace of him."
Neji and Shikamaru were quiet for a minute, leaving a ninja alive was really really bad news. Shikamaru had a thousand questions about that, but right now he couldn't care less about that ninja missing.
"Yeah, but that does not explain what happened, did they attack them? Or him? The one who got to run away." Shikamaru wondered out loud, the whole story was quite explanatory, but he still didn't get what had happened to Ino. Kakashi sighed.
"Before they entered… the ninjas, the ones who wanted to kill Irashi saw them working on the fence, for some reason they didn't want to kill them, maybe they thought they didn't represent a match worth fighting… they would lose time and surely Irashi would hear the noise eventually, they wanted to do this fast and quickly."
"Maybe" Neji decided. "So?"
"So they just took Hinata's bag" Kakashi said matter of fact. "and put poison on her juice while they worked, unaware of their doings, fast and clear— it was some kind of venom, the girls drank it all... when I found them on the floor I thought that they had either fainted because of shock, thing I knew it was not, or either the ninja who had run away had out smarted them, that seemed more logical to me. That fourth ninja had passed over them and ran. Hinata looked pretty shaken when I arrived catching the third assassin and that's the version I went for, whatever the case I didn't have time to ask. Hinata and I fought him for quite a while before we got a chance on him. When my dog was coming back Hinata had just ended telling me that they both had just collapsed… she never saw other ninja besides the one we fought. That's when I got really preoccupied, all the time we fought I thought they were only out of energy."
"So the fourth is still missing." Asuma noted.
Kakashi nodded.
He saved the part when he noticed both their heart beats were so low he thought they were dead, thanks Hinata that told him they were still alive, but barely… and that's where she noticed something running through their veins, making their chakra a little bit blueish than normal thanks to her blood trait. She gasped, she had seen this before, her eyes had widened at the fast speed the venom had attacked, cause now she knew, they had been poisoned.
"The second she told me I got a grip of Ino and made a double to carry Tenten, half way here Gai found us… and the rest you know. I decided to take care of them before going for the left missing ninja"
They were quiet for a while before Shikamaru dared to ask.
"So? Are they alright? We've been asking that question for a while now and we still don't know." Shikamaru's face was unreadable, but Asuma knew he was just faking it, one part of him was glad Kakashi had broke one of the rules of being ninja and instead of following the enemy he had taken care of the two kunoichis first.
"Rell us everything you know." Asuma hurried him.
Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, he wasn't prepared for this, they weren't his pupils, he always knew how to act in front of Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura, a part of him was glad Sakura wasn't on this team today, otherwise she might be dead and that was a burden he wasn't ready to bear, he looked at both kids knowing one of them will surely never be the same, tiredly he answered what he knew at the moment.
"Right now they are being treated and they both are pretty bad, I wont lie, I thought both were dead by the time we reached the tower, the venom expanded incredibly quickly, their bodies lasted longer thanks to the fact they hadn't use much chakra since the trade started, so they had energy to fight it… still—taking the amount of time it took me and Gai to bring them to the hospital and then getting Tsundae-sama… they only got worse, Hinata was telling us all the time they were alive, she could see it but—even Gai was starting to doubt her. Ino was cold by the time we finally reached here" Kakashi looked so exhausted, like if he had run hundred miles, maybe he did. "One of them is with Tsundae right now and the other with other medic nin… it looks like one was the one most injured because of the venom… she had twice than the other, Tsundae could only work with one… so she choose the one that looked that— she took the one with more chances with her."
Kakashi looked as Neji and Shikamaru stiffened, he could almost read their minds… if Tsundae was taking care of either one of them, she was going to be alright, they believed Tsundae was kinda like a god that could cure and heal anyone… but what about the one that was with the other medic nin? There were good medic nins yes, especially here in Konoha, but no one like Tsundae. They were genious, smart ninjas, so they didn't look over the part of "with more chances" one of them could die.
"Who?" Asuma asked tired of not having straight answers. "Who did Tsundae choose?!"
Kakashi looked at Neji in the eye and then at Shikamaru kinda feeling sorry for him.
"She chose Tenten."
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Shikamaru's world stopped. He couldn't register the words fast enough. Tenten? She chose Tenten?! Over Ino?! Shikamaru spaced out and tuned the world around him as pain started to climb on his body, he could hear Asuma and Kakashi arguing over something as Neji placed his hand on his shoulder, if he ever said anything Shikamaru didn't hear it. Shikamaru didn't register when he had shaken his hand off. Tsundae would save Tenten…. And let Ino aside?! Just like that?!
Ino… would Ino die? Kakashi had said that Tsundae had chosen the one who had more chances with her, what did it mean? That she was gone? That she was dying just across the room because Tenten had more chances?! That Tsundae had decided that Ino was dead anyway and saved the one with more chances was beyond him. She was the Hokage, he respected her and worked for her all this years without complain, and now she had decided to let Ino on her own to fight just because some stupid chance? Some stupid math calculations of who could make it? Stupid chances and stupid math! He couldn't think straight, pain exploded in his chest. All this time he had worked to keep Ino safe and now she was fading!
Fading and he could do nothing only blame himself.
It was a pain he had never experienced before, so raw, so real, and right then and there he wondered if he was dying.
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Asuma was in shock for a second before he started demanding Kakashi for a clear explanation.
"What do you mean Tsundae choose Tenten?! What happened to Ino then?"
"I don't know… all I know is that they have been inside for about an hour now."
Asuma wasn't listening. "Ino, what about her?"
"She's with another medic nin, I told you Asuma, Tsundae took Tenten and walked away with her, Ino—"
"She was left behind? Just like that?" Asuma didn't know how to react to all this. "Surely she wasn't! I need to see her."
"Relax! She's—"
"Don't say she's fine cause that's not true." Asuma glared at him, ready to kick him in the face for letting his pupil, his little girl, his almost daughter get injured like that, Ino had never, ever, been close to death on his team, yes, she has escaped from it more times than he would like to acknowledge, she had get injured too, badly, but never this, never this near to be gone. "And don't say she's dead because I won't believe it."
Kakashi sighed and placed both his hand on the air, surrendering "All I know is that she's being take care of, she wasn't left behind!"
"If Tsundae made a choice… Im not sure that's true."
Asuma glared at him for a few moments before he pulled out a cigarette ignoring the huge sign on the wall that said otherwise, he didn't speak to Kakashi after that, he looked around Neji was no longer there, he noticed amused cause he didn't hear him leave, surely to find Hinata and hear the rest of the story, Kakashi had left too after a minute when he was called on the reception on the first floor.
"Kakashi-san your other pupil is here, Uzumaki Naruto." The nurse said with an annoyed look on her face. "He claims that if you don't go down to let him in, in a minute he will throw the door down."
Kakashi chuckled a little but the happiness didn't reach his eyes. "Im coming, im coming."
Before he left he put his hand on Asuma shoulder said an apology and finally left the table, leaving both student and sensei alone, Asuma was taking a huge amount of air before turning off the cigarette, now finished and started another too much of the disgrace of the nurses attending the families nearby giving information, he turned to look at Shikamaru he was looking at his hands that feel limply on his lap, Asuma decided that at least he had to make one thing right today.
"Hey, kiddo, are you okay?"
Shikamaru turned to look at his teacher and shrugged, his eyes fixed on the table.
"She will be alright, we know Ino… stubborn kid, she'll be alright." Shikamaru nodded and sighed a little, Asuma could see a storm of thoughts and feelings was rushing through him so he gave him a minute or two to collect himself, finally, feeling kind of confident Shikamaru looked into his eyes, if he looked confident his eyes gave him away.
"Where's Chouji? He needs to know, to be here, Ino will be pissed if he's not crying on her bed." Shikamaru said with a sigh, Asuma laughed a little.
"You are right. C'mon lets go and find him."
Shikamaru wasn't feeling like going anywhere but stay there, close as possible to know the news.
"Or—" Asuma said with a little smile noticing his uneasiness. "We can ask Hinata to do us the favor, since she has done everything she could and she probably deserves some sleep."
Shikamaru wondered where his friend was, seeing that Sakura was the one who saw it all and Chouji was supposed to be with her but said nothing as they reached across the hall, in a very little waiting area was Gai with Lee and Neji, none of them talking, just looking at the ceiling and then at the door that said none of them could cross, on the other side was Tenten with Tsundae, he couldn't see them, but he knew and that made his blood boil.
Shikamaru thought waiting here was even worst, all team Gai seemed quite relaxed but still gazed at the door giving them away, of course. He was having a hard time breathing. Tsundae is taking care of Tenten. He decided to push that thought away, Ino was taking care of too, just across the hall in the other room, he would go there the second he talked to Hinata.
Asuma went to talk to Gai, Gai stood up and started to say something that didn't stopped Asuma's worries… injured, venom… close to death. Shikamaru tuned all of it out, he didn't think of anything, he wouldn't until he heard Ino was going to be fine, so politely he asked Hinata if she could look for Chouji and now that she was at it send message to Ino's parents, just in case they didn't know. He looked down the hall, nope, no one waiting at Ino's little waiting room.
Shikamaru felt an urge to run there.
Hinata smiled a little and squeezed his hand before leaving, Shikamaru stood up and lazily walked to the Ino's waiting room, he wasn't going to move from this spot. He decided. Not till Ino walked out safe and sound. A few minutes later or hours later Shikamaru couldn't tell Naruto's blond hair appeared, Shikamaru waved at him exhausted, Naruto hurried to him as he balanced his weight on one leg or the other.
"I just heard…"
Shikamaru just looked at him and Naruto understood, he didn't want to talk, however he still needed to say something to him, he opened his mouth.
"I don't wanna know, Naruto, save it."
Naruto scoffed at him. "Its important."
"I bet it is…" Shikamaru sighed as he looked at the ceiling. "Have you seen Chouji on your way here, or Hinata for that matter?"
Naruto sighed and with his hand on his pockets he sat beside the guy, Asuma was still talking to Gai he supposed cause he wasn't there waiting with him, maybe he had gone to retrieve Ino's parents and Chouji himself.
"Yeah… kind of."
Shikamaru looked at him. "You did? Where is he then?" He looked over the blond shoulder just to see if Chouji was really not there.
"Well you see, Hinata found out first and when she came here to tell you Sakura found her first… and Sakura told us to not tell you but I believe you should know… that— well, after all that is happening…" Naruto was having a hard time. Shikamaru just glared at him hard, Naruto gulped. "Fine! Fine I'll tell! Chouji is in the hospital too, room 267 if you were wondering."
Shikamaru's eyes snapped open he wanted to mutter something but couldn't, his mind was refusing to work lately it seemed, Naruto smiled sadly at seeing his expression.
"Told you it was important."
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And off I go as to write the next chapter, I am getting exited! Finally! I shall not make you wait any longer though, review if you feel like it?
-Juliet'lovestory-
