My last update feels like it was forever ago, so I sucked up my drippy, runny nose and finally finished this chapter. If there are errors, I apologize in advanced. Also, it's a shorter chapter, but the next chapter is longer, so I hope that makes for this chapter. Have a good read.
14. Monster
When Ino opened the door, Minako greeted her by clutching Ino by the collar and shaking her viciously. "Where have you two been? Sachiko was worried sick!"
"Minako, stop lying!" Sachiko shouted from the counter as she wiped down the counter even though no one worked the counter at all that night. Jin and his germ phobias… "You were the one worrying!"
"Shikamaru and I got lost." Technically, it was true. When they heard sirens wail in the cave, signaling the citizens of Section 2 to leave the premises, Shikamaru and Ino ignored it and continued to sit in the grassy patch for several awkward minutes of silence. Finally, when they heard the gates slam shut, they knew they couldn't go downstairs and cause a ruckus, so they climbed the tall fence and bounded from rock to rock, running along the cliffs.
With her tight yukata clinging around her ankles, Ino had to pull up the skirt and hold onto it as she bounded and leaped. Running around and releasing the chakra she kept in for months felt great on her deprived body.
Shikamaru assured Ino he knew the way back to Section 2. However, he didn't announce they were lost until they reached the harbor, and only then did he turn around with an embarrassed grin and said, "I screwed up." With a huff, Ino turned around and led them in the correct direction. The trip took about an hour to run through the mountain peaks, another hour to walk through the crowded, still partying streets of Section 2, and then they circled the streets as they tried to find the pesky pub, which was near the point of invisibility with the flickering blue sign turned off.
Shikamaru waved at the girls. "I'll see you later," Shikamaru said, smiling at Ino before dismissing himself. Ino waved and watched the door shut with a quiet thud.
"Are you two dating?" Minako blurted.
If it were someone other than Minako, Ino would have been surprised by the question. However, being Minako, who devoted her life to romance and soap opera-like drama, Ino paused at the stairs and shook her head with a warm smile on her face. "No," Ino said and before Minako could bombard her with any more questions, she scurried upstairs.
Sachiko sat in her bed when Ino slipped through the door and quietly shut it. Sachiko glanced from her book to Ino then went back to her book, obviously disinterested with the arrival of her roommate.
As Ino gathered clean clothes to change into, Ino noticed Sachiko's scarlet yukata clumped in the corner, which reminded Ino about Hiromi's comment about her roommate's family. For the past two weeks, Ino occasionally thought about it, and the thought always left her annoyingly curious.
What happened to Sachiko's parents? Thinking about her friends back in Konoha, she knew all the stories. Did her brother kill their parents? That's definitely a possibility. Did her parents parish while trying to seal a humongous, tailed demon into an infant? The chances of that ever happening (again) had to be a one in a million.
"Did you have a good time?" Sachiko, once again, looked up from her novel with inattentive eyes. "I'm a little peeved Shikamaru stole you for most of the time."
Ino shrugged and tried to ignore Sachiko's last statement. "I've been to better festivals."
"What did Shikamaru want?"
Ino held back her sneer. "He tried to convince me to go back to Konoha. The usual, you know," In said as she finished gathering her clothes. "He's stubborn."
"Like you."
Ino hummed at the comment and left the room to change in the bathroom. As she changed, Ino ran her fingers over the faint scars that smoothed over after long weeks of smearing lotion on the rough, healing skin. Her shoulders' scars that criss-crossed along her shoulder blades were only visible in the light, thanks to the healing. The rings on her thigh still felt craggy, and the skin turned an ugly color of brown. No matter what Ino did with those scars, nothing worked.
"Sachiko, can you answer me something?" Ino asked when she returned to the room. Sachiko sighed and closed her book, after folding the corner of a page to mark where she left. "When Minako and I went shopping, a storeowner said something about your parents. I was wondering what happened to them."
The other woman chuckled and set her book on her nightstand. "Was it Hiromi that said this?"
"Er, yes."
"She's an old family friend, just so you know."
Ino nodded. Everything makes sense now that she cleared that up.
"Right now, we're split up. My brother, who is a ninja, received ordered to Amekagure for some stupid undercover mission," she said as she shook her head in disproval. "It was stupid because he just came back from Konoha."
Ino, subconsciously, made a disdained frown. "We're not on friendly terms with your shinobi."
"What?"
"Nothing." Ino almost punched herself in the face.
"A few weeks after he left, my mother died of a heart attack or something like that." Or, Ino thought, her brother could have returned and while her mother slept, he slipped some poison into her water or her breakfast. Ino's theory about her brother killing Sachiko's family seemed better the longer Sachiko explained her family. "My father doesn't know about my mother's death because he's been at sea for the past three months, and usually, he writes a couple weeks before coming back, and I haven't received any mail, so he's either lost at sea, dead, or the fishing season is longer than usual."
Ino opened her mouth to console Sachiko, but Minako burst through the door with a floral apron wrapped around her petite body. "Who wants cookies?" she yelled. "I just took them out of the oven."
"No one wants cookies at two in the morning, Minako," Sachiko griped.
Minako ignored her and said, "They'll be done cooling soon, so don't fall asleep!" then she left.
"So, when you father comes home, what'll you tell him?"
"Mom's dead, and she has been for a while now. I can't lie to him and say she's on a business trip when she's a stay-at-home mother. He'd figure it out eventually, right?"
Sachiko's response reminded Ino of the world she left and its belief of how one should not create close relationships with others due to its hazardous occupations. Shinobi danced on the border of life and death, and anyone close would feel intense loss when the shinobi happened to teeter into death. Thankfully, Ino had yet to endure the intense emotions of losing a loved one, and she hoped it stayed that way.
"Can we please stop talking about my family? It's getting me depressed," she said with an embarrassed smile.
"Yeah, but one more question."
"Hm?"
"How did you get your scar?"
"Oh, this?" Sachiko rubbed the ill-defined scar that ran down from the corner of her mouth to her chin. "Yusuke, my brother, decided to use me for training one day, and he promised he wouldn't hit me…. I haven't forgiven him yet."
"Cookies!" Minako kicked open the door with a plate full of cookies in her hands.
Shikamaru wandered through the deserted streets late in the evening—or early in the morning, he guessed. It surprised him no one still partied until the sunset rose like people did in Konoha. Back home, people set off fireworks at six in the morning, which were followed by a loud "WOOO!" If Shikamaru went to specifics, those jerks were drunken men named Asuma and Genma, and sometimes Kakashi, who Genma forced out of bed to shoot off fireworks and piss off everyone in the village.
Streamers and lost children's toys scattered across the sidewalks as he continued to walk through the silent village. The clock read five-thirty AM when Shikamaru decided to flop out of bed. He couldn't sleep when he arrived at Jin's house.
He never slept these days. He just thought too much. Sometimes, he thought about his current problems, or random, hypothetical scenarios popped into his head. When that happened, he slipped out of bed to wander around, not caring about the time. In Konoha, he went to Ino because she lived the closest out of his friends, and she surprisingly listen him—probably because she was too tired to talk, so she half-heartedly listen, and sometimes, she supplied him with decent advice.
Shikamaru walked past the Pub, wandering if anyone would be awake. He could go wait in the kitchen until Ino woke up, so he could talk to her. Jin gave him a key for the place, but still, waiting in the kitchen seemed creepy and somewhat…stalkerish.
The wind began to pick up, whistling as it passed through to tight alleyways and buildings. Shikamaru turned around to walk back to Jin's house, but then paused when he thought he heard a distant scream echo from the Pub. 'Must be the wind', Shikamaru thought and continued to walk.
"Ino, wake up."
She felt warm air brush her cheek as the voice spoke. She felt the pressure of the person's hands pushing down her mattress as the person leaned over her. Ino wanted to keep sleeping. What did this person want?
"Ino."
"Go away," she mumbled. No one will ruin her sleep.
"Ino."
"No."
Ino undoubtedly recognized the voice, but she couldn't put a face to this deep voice. Could it belong to Konan or Takao? She couldn't remember what their voices sounded like. If it happened to be one of them, why would they be in her room? It had to be an emergency if they needed to come into her room and wake her up.
A dim figure hovered above Ino as she gradually opened her eyes, letting them grow used to the dim, morning light. As her eyes adjusted, she peeked over at Sachiko, who slept with her back turned to Ino, and she quietly snored with a slow, calming rhythm despite the person talking in a normal, projected voice. Sachiko usually was a light sleeper.
The person above her wore a black coat with a pattern scattered along the black fabric, but she couldn't see because of her blurry, tired vision. She noticed the pale skin of the person, and he held something in his hand, but she couldn't see the object.
Her eyes trailed up the black sleeve of the person.
The insane grin gave the identity of the man instantly. Ino's eyes widened as she watched him raise a kunai to her throat, pressing the cold blade against her jugular. She felt the blade slide across her skin and warm blood spill down her neck.
She sucked in a deep breath and screamed.
"Ino!"
Sachiko wrapped an arm around Ino's shoulders, sitting her up as she screamed for what seemed like no particular reason. Ino pressed her fingers against her throat and looked around the room. Where did he go? No blood strained her shirt, and most certainly, no blood spilled from her throat.
"Are you okay?" Sachiko took the panic-stricken Ino into her arms.
"I'm fine," Ino mumbled.
What happened?
Can I say that I have clue where I've been for the past month. I always thought my last update was like a week ago until I logged in today and found out my last update was April 22. Holy moly? Where have I been for the past month?
Anyway, thank you for everything!
Next update will (unless I decide to get lost again) be next weekend.
Muffin likes reviews.