16. Unwilling
Watch out.
S T R O N G
L A N G U A G E !
Her sensei taught her to hide her emotions from her enemies and become a ruthless killer in their eyes. Intimidate them. Make the opponent second-guess their actions even if it were just a split second. The slightest hint of hesitation is all Ino needed to swoop in and take the enemy out. But, as Ino faced her opponent, she didn't know if she wanted to fight back or bow to him, begging for mercy.
She needed to fight back, of course. She needed to fight for all the women he raped and slaughtered and ensure herself that she didn't end up like them.
Ino sent the man her coldest glare and the cockiest smirk she could conjure. "You really think you're going to kill me?"
"I'm guessing you haven't heard of my previous victims, hm?"
When Ino locked eyes with Hidan, she already knew he saw past her confident disguise and noticed her hesitation in her own actions. She was the unfortunate soul that would be hacked to pieces because she wasn't confident in her own actions and thoughts. Ino's smirk dropped.
"I always kill my targets," he bragged while he inspected the blades of his weapon. "Just because you're a ninja doesn't make you special, you know. But, because you are a ninja, I'm just going to have more fun killing you." He killed all those innocent women. He raped those women and left them for dead. She knew what those women experienced during their times of excruciating pain. Ino knew their thoughts of wanting to die at that moment.
That was then Ino knew she needed to fight back, strive for survival. Asuma taught her that, and he would be disappointed in her if she buckled down with defeat. He didn't train her to become a failure. Ino clutched her kunai and took in a deep breath.
Hidan charged, swinging his weapon at her face. She ducked under the scythe and listened to the ear-piercing screech as the blades scrape against the concrete walls. Ino lodged the kunai into his abdomen. Then, she ripped the weapon out of the new wound and aimed for a new target, his heart. Before her kunai could reach his bare chest, he sprang out of the way.
Ino wiped the beading sweat at her hairline and then sucked in another deep breath. Where is Shikamaru when I need him? Ino thought as she eyed Hidan, who glared at her as he prodded his new wound. He scrutinized every move. If she took a step to the side, he immediately adjusted to it, making sure she stayed in his line of sight.
From the corner of her eye, Ino noticed a flash of pale yellow dart across the roof and spring onto the neighboring wall of a skyscraper. The second she looked away, Hidan came swinging. Ino quickly back-pedaled, dodging the blades by millimeters.
Hidan cried in surprised pain as her clone came from behind him and wedged a kunai in his right shoulder, causing him to drop his scythe. Ino watched him kick her clone in the chest, dispelling the clone.
"You bitch!" Hidan's deadly glower zeroed in on Ino. He picked up his scythe with his left and awkwardly threw the weapon at her. Ino quickly sent chakra to her feet and climbed onto the wall. She ran across the wall as the scythe followed her every step.
Suddenly, Ino couldn't control her chakra, and she slipped down the concrete wall, hitting the ground hard. She quickly curled into a ball and covered her head as a rain of punches and hard kicks fell upon her. "I'm going to hack you to pieces! And you know the best part, Blondie? You'll be fucking alive while I'm doing it!" he cried as he continued to supply the hard jabs, which left Ino breathless and on the verge of unconsciousness.
Through the pained tears running down her face, she noticed Hidan pick up his scythe, which he dropped to beat her half to death. The barrage of punches ceased as his scythe disappeared from her sight. She rolled onto her back the moment he raised his weapon over his head. "I'm done playing these fucking games! Die already!"
As Hidan began the motion to chop her into pieces, Ino closed her eyes, ready for impending death.
She'll never see her family again, and they would live life wondering what happened to Ino. Mom will run the flower shop by herself, and Dad wouldn't have a partner anymore. Sakura wouldn't have a roommate, and Shikamaru won't have a friend to talk to when he couldn't sleep.
The pain never came. She heard Hidan grunted and cursed, causing Ino to open her eyes. Her eyes met one of the blades hovering millimeters above her face.
"Ino, are you all right?" She recognized Shikamaru's voice anywhere. "Sorry I couldn't come sooner," he said from behind Hidan, who, thankfully, stood paralyzed due to Shikamaru's shadow technique.
Ino kicked Hidan's scythe out of his hands and retreated behind Shikamaru. She wanted to collapse to her knees and sob into her bloody hands, but she couldn't considering her rapist and the murderer of three innocent women stood before her. Also, Shikamaru stood there. So, Ino balled her shaking hands into fists and kept her tears back.
"You damn punk, what the hell did you do to me?" Hidan bellowed as he struggled to move. A finger couldn't budge thanks to Shikamaru's binds on Hidan's shadow. Ino turned to leave, but Hidan stopped her. "Bitch, if you leave, I'll find you! I can't stop chasing until you're dead. You will die, Blondie!"
"Hidan, that's enough. You're attracting too much attention." A cloaked man materialized on the roof of the Pub, startling the two Konoha shinobi. Ino turned to face the mysterious man in order to guard Shikamaru's back. Ino squinted to see his face, but the cloak's hood along with the darkness masked his face. She, however, saw the man lift a hand and point to her and Shikamaru. "Konoha, release him," he commanded.
Shikamaru chuckled at the order. "How do I know he won't attack?" he questioned.
"I assure you he won't attack. He is under my control."
Ino interrupted Shikamaru from responding. She stepped forward, looking at the cloaked figure. "He will, however, come after me in the future, yes?" Ino asked as she continued to squint at the masked man, trying to see his face.
He answered in monotone, as if he were bored with the subject. "Hidan's mission is to execute the woman he left alive."
"Damn straight, and I'm not getting paid until you're dead!"
"No asked you to speak, Hidan."
"Excuse me?"
"Call off his mission, or we'll be here for a while," Shikamaru said as he tightened his stance and increased his hold on Hidan's shadow.
"If we stay here any longer, I'll kill every person in this building, which is unfortunate considering the Pub is very popular tonight. I've never seen so many people here before…." He's been to the Pub before. Ino scavenged her brain for memories of a cloaked man sitting around during her shift. She'd remember if someone in a cloak showed up since no one wore a cloak. Maybe he didn't wear a cloak when he came to the Pub, which made the process of discovering his identity truly aggravating.
Ino nudged Shikamaru. "Let him go, Shikamaru." The thought of Sachiko and Minako dying in her place wasn't right, and if they died, Ino couldn't live with the thought that two more innocent women died. No, thinking that everyone in the building was endangered churned Ino's stomach. She couldn't have that.
Shikamaru glanced over his shoulder. "If I let him go, there will be no further harm to anyone in this village, then."
"Done," the man quickly said. "Now, let him go."
"However," Shikamaru continued with a chuckle. "I don't trust you. If I do let him go, how do I know you won't kill the villagers?'
"I wouldn't do such a thing," the mysterious man assured. "At this moment, genocide wouldn't bet he smartest idea. I do sense other shinobi coming in, don't you? I have a feeling they're ANBU."
Ino broadened her senses and tracked the low chakra levels of three people stalking through the streets and bounding along the rooftops of the skyscrapers as they closed in on their designated site. Ino wondered, thinking aloud, "If we hold Hidan, we've caught our murderer, and Cloud doesn't have to worry about their people being killed." If they waited a few minutes longer, ANBU could take Hidan away for questioning and ultimately, due to his past deeds, executed.
"You catch Hidan, yes, but you have me to worry about. If you turn in my comrade, then I will kill everyone on this street. I believe we have a proposition now. Let go of Hidan, and I will let the villagers live. I, nor Hidan, will touch a single hair on these people…ever. Turn him in, however, and I'll hill everyone."
"The ANBU won't stand for that," Ino rebutted.
"Fine, turn Hidan in, but don't blame me when everyone dies before the ANBU arrive. I don't understand why you're arguing, Ino. Give me Hidan, and everyone lives."
Was Hidan's arrest worth the lives of one-hundred people? He killed innocent women, and Ino assumed he killed several more people before those three women. Then again, if Shikamaru releases Hidan and he goes off, he'll only be after her.
Peeking through the small window in the door, Ino noticed Minako trudge downstairs in her P.J's. She rounded the corner to go to the kitchen for her nighty glass of water before bed. Ino sighed and glanced at Shikamaru, who struggled to main his jutsu. He couldn't keep the technique up any long. Once again, she sighed. "You promise nothing will happen to the people here?"
"I promise."
"But, you can't promise that you won't come after me?"
"No, you're wanted dead."
Ino winced at his words as she nudged Shikamaru, who released his technique and almost collapsed, but she supported his weight as he began to fall back. She listened to Hidan grunt as he was granted the ability to move again. He placed his weapon on his unwounded shoulder and walked past Ino. "You'll see me again," he promised before vanishing in the shadows, along with the shrouded man.
"We let him get away, Ino," Shikamaru mumbled as he set himself on the ground. He wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve.
"Would you rather have innocent civilians die?"
"No, but now, they're after you. What do they want anyway?"
Ino shrugged and lied, "I have no idea." Hidan, the man who…took advantage of her, needed to kill Ino the first time around, but considering she still lived, she threw off someone's plans. She couldn't guess what those plans were, but knowing she is wanted dead meant those plans can't be carried on until she died…. At least, that is what Ino thought.
She sensed the Kumo shinobi draw near the pub as she saw Minako come out of the kitchen. Ino saw Minako glance out the window and paused there to stare at Ino, who imagined she looked like she just wrestled a tiger. Minako set down her water and stepped outside, closing the door quietly behind her. "Ino, what happened here?"
For the first time, Ino acknowledged her surroundings. The dumpster sported a giant dent from his punch, and the walls crumbled due to the scythe constantly banging on the concrete as Hidan whipped that thing around, and blood stained the dirt she stood on. Next to the blood, she noticed a clump off white strings littered along the ground. Ino gathered the strings, which felt soft between her fingers, and held them at eye level. Dropping the "strings", she reached back to grab her hair but instead, she grabbed air.
Hidan must have cut her hair when she ducked under the scythe…. That bastard!
"Is everything okay?" An ANBU jumped from the roof of the pub, which caused Minako to squeal and cling to the door handle.
"Yes," Shikamaru responded, answering for Ino. "At least for the most part," he added when he watched Ino gathered her hacked blonde locks and chanted incoherent lines that sounded like, "Why did this happen to me?"
Shikamaru couldn't imagine what happened to Ino before she went missing. Considering how bad those two men wanted her dead, she must've caused some serious issues with the wrong people. What did she do that made those men want her dead?
"You're the shinobi from Konoha?"
"Yes. You're here for surveillance, I presume?" Shikamaru asked. He wondered when the Raikage would send the ANBU squad after Shikamaru sent numerous letters to him, asking for a surveillance team right away. "Keep an eye out for a man in a black cloak and a silver haired man wielding a scythe. The latter shouldn't be difficult to spot." He glanced at Ino, who curled into a ball and appeared to be crying over her lost locks, and wondered if she wanted him to tell the ANBU those men were just here. "Those two were just here a few minutes ago. I'd like you to track them the best you can."
"Cloud ANBU are famous for our tracking abilities."
"Then, don't disappoint me," Shikamaru said, turning his attention towards Ino.
"Before I go, Lord Raikage told me to inform you two to go to the investigation department tomorrow. From there, they'll explain what they want."
"Understood," he said, then walked up to Ino and carefully placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ino, are you okay?"
"No!" Ino cried, throwing her cut locks into the air. "I want that asshole found! I want him dead!"
"Hello! Can someone freaking give me an explanation?"
Minako and Sachiko gawked at Ino and Shikamaru after Ino's explanation of her story with Shikamaru's added details from his side of the story, like when Tsunade called him to his office that Sunday morning and giving him orders to immediately leave the village to go find Ino. As Shikamaru spoke, Ino listened intently since he never informed her about his story to this situation.
Ino reported her times of receiving the mission and surveillance of the Pub, noting nothing happened until that night she met Hidan for the first time. She lied and told the four that they fought each other, but he escaped before she could apprehend him, and she spent two weeks searching for him.
Leaning against the counter with a mug of coffee in his hand, Jin chuckled at the girls' reaction. Shikamaru smirked as Minako's jaw dropped when Ino pulled out her hitae-ate and her various weapons from her backpack she hid the Jin's office.
Minako's shocked daze ceased as she suddenly jabbed a finger in Jin's direction. "You knew about this, Jin!" she accused. "Are you kidding me?"
Minako couldn't be that upset by Ino being a shinobi, right? Ino stopped tying her hitae-ate when Minako focused a glare on her. Maybe she was pissed….
"I hired her, stupid," Jin said, chuckling even more as Minako crossed her arms and pouted like a child. "Don't be mad about Ino being a shinobi. She has been spending the last five months here trying to protect your life. You don't want to end up like the other three, do you?"
"No."
Ino never wanted to receive a letter from Jin stating Minako or Sachiko went missing and turns up murdered like those other women. The thought agitated her nerves. Ino knew what she needed to do to prevent them from being kidnapped and murdered, and the idea opposed to her goals.
Interrupting Jin in the middle of his chuckling, she said, "Because those two want me—"
Konan lugged himself into the main room, rubbing his tired eyes with the side of his fist. His coal hair stood at the top of his head, pointing in all directions as if he tossed in this sleep throughout the night. "Have any of you seen my toothbrush?" When he caught sight of Minako, he stomped over to her and leaned in close. "I swear, Minako, if you took my toothbrush to clean the toilet again, I will—"
Minako slapped a hand on his forehead and pushed the taller man away from her. "I didn't take your damned toothbrush this time, Konan! Oh, and get this! Ino is a shin…shinbee…. She's a ninja!"
Konan laughed at the news as he walked out of the kitchen, rubbing his hand along the red mark that formed on his forehead. "Right," he said, chuckling lightly, "That's almost as believable as me being one."
"As I was saying," Ino continued after she waited for Konan to leave the room, "I'm leaving. After last night, I decided I should back to Konoha. Then, you all will be safe."
From the corner of her eye, she saw Shikamaru turn his head to watch her face from the corner of his eye. Ino kept her eyes on the three people in front of her. A sullen tension swept over the room as Ino's news sunk into Minako and Sachiko. Jin nodded his head and sipped his coffee, knowing her decision beforehand. A pang in her chest caused Ino to feel terrible about leaving the crew to protect themselves, but leaving could benefit everyone. Ino wasn't much of a risk taker—well, she couldn't remember if she was back in Konoha, but as she sat in the kitchen of the Blue Pub, she wasn't—so taking the risk to move back to Konoha was a big risk Ino wasn't willing to take.
Ino has finally complied and decided to return home. Further information shall be given upon arrival.
-Shikamaru
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