Dedicated to all those Ino and Shikamaru Fans. And for those of you that hate the Ino and Shikamaru couple, stick around for next chapter. Ja ne!

-Chapter 7-Something's Changed

--But something's changed around here, what am I missing? I don't think I know where we are. Something's changed around here, why do I get this feeling I'm in the dark?--

--

Sakura bit the end of the pencil in her hand as she walked down the familiar paths of the market place. Her eyes had no need to watch were she was going, she knew this area by heart. Her mind was allowed to wonder, her thoughts on the obvious, Sasuke took up most of her time, just like it used to the first year that he had abandoned them.

Already, within four days of capturing him and he had found someway to get ninjas to rebel. What kind of powers does he possess to be able to provoke such a reaction out of them? And if he is as powerful; being able to destroy Orochimaru like he did then he must be pretty damn powerful; does that mean he'd use that power against them?

The anger that had reflected in his eyes back in the cell block, the way he had raised his hand to strike her, his eye wide with his sharingan; Did the Sasuke she had loved even exist anymore? Everything was pointing toward the answer she didn't want to face.

Sakura shook her head. She was such hypocrite. Telling Naruto to forget about him, telling him that Sasuke's nothing anymore. All these words sounded great and were probably true, and she can say them as loud as possible to anyone who wanted to listen, but at home, in bed, when everyone else was asleep, she dreams only of him. Kami, how much could a person actually hate themeselves?

She cried out suddenly when someone rammed into her shoulder. Her world spun as she tumbled along the floor. Sakura looked up just in time to see TenTen, cursing, grab her katana from her pouch, "It's me, calm down." Sakura quickly shouted before the female had time to throw it.

The brown eyes were on her and the woman smiled, standing as she dusted herself off, "Gomen, Sakura-san."

"Me too. I should have looked where I was going. What's going on, you look pretty pissed off."

TenTen sighed angrily, distressingly, rubbing her neck in agitation as she glanced behind her. She bit her lip before she grabbed Sakura's hand and led her around the corner and behind a fence. "I don't talk about my personal life often but I need some advice."

"I might not be able to help. Don't really have much of a personal life myself."

She bit her lip again, her eyes straying to the skies and all around. "Then just a friend to talk to. Just please, I don't want my problems yelled over a microphone."

Sakura shook her head with a light smile, "Come on, TenTen, it's me. Not Ino." Her brows knit however when the female seemed ignorant of her humorous comment and leaned roughly back against the fence, sighing out heavily.

TenTen lifted her chocolate eyes over to Sakura. "You've known about Neji and me."

"Hai." She smiled, "For the past two years." Sakura leaned against it too.

"I'm not asking for anything." She leaned her head back staring up at the bright sky. "I know better then that, and plus I'm not…anyway…I just wanted to be introduced. To the family. His family." Sakura nodded. "And he, every time, he says Iie and turns away from me, without giving me any reason." The woman took out a small kunai and began fiddling with it as more thoughts began to disturb her. "For the past couple months, he's been distant. More so then usual. And when I question him, which, by the way, I'm not a nagger. I don't nag. I understand his space, he understands mine; but he ignores me, like I'm not even there sometimes. I figure he's mad about me wanting to be introduced. But family is important and I just don't understand. And he won't explain anything." She stalled herself from her rant and slammed the knife into the wood behind her. She gazed up, faking a smile, "It's really getting to me."

Sakura giggled. "I see that. This is the first conversation we've ever had about him." TenTen nodded, looking off into the distance. "All I can say is you know him. Better then anyone. Why won't he introduce you?"

She looked down, "Because I'm a peasant." She mumbled, Sakura laughed which made her smile. "It's funny but I'm serious. I have no parents, I live by myself, and I've got no pure blood running through my veins."

"He doesn't believe you're a peasant."

"I know." She sighed again, ripping the kunai from the fence pointing it at her, "Let me tell you something, the Hyuuga clan is very, very messed up. Neji's part of the slave family, but even he can't get involved with a lowlife like me. They have expectations for him."

"TenTen, first of all, I've never known Neji to explain things. So maybe you're expecting a bit too much. And maybe the reason he doesn't want to introduce you, is not because he's thinks you're a peasant, but because he thinks they'll make him stop seeing you."

"And that thought just makes me angry. He's almost eighteen, for Kami's sake, he should be able to do whatever the hell he wants. If it wasn't for that damned juin jutsu, I'd rip them all to pieces." The female exhaled heavily pushing her back from the wall and pacing for a moment, "Oh, Oi, I heard what happened. With Sasuke and everything. Everyone was pretty surprised to see Naruto at the Hokage temple." Sakura smiled but it soon lost its fever. TenTen noticed, "That bad, huh?" Sakura smiled once again, nodding and she was thankful when the weapon's specialist knew to drop the subject, "Well, I'll see you in an hour, I guess. All of us together again, this should be fun." It was a sarcastic smile she gave before waving goodbye and disappearing from sight.

Sakura sighed and shook her head.

PAST

Ino squealed when she shut the door, her lips were so wide with a smile, it appeared painted on. But she giggled happily and flung herself on the floor, rolling up in the soft mattress and stared at the ceiling. She continued her joyous giggling, playing with the strands of her short blond hair.

Sakura looked to TenTen. TenTen looked to Sakura. Sakura looked to Hinata. Hinata looked to Sakura.

"What happened?" Sakura dropped to the floor, Ino's happiness quickly rubbing off on her.

Ino rolled to her stomach, her hands holding up her head and her feet swinging happily in the air. She bit her lip with a smile. "You'll never guess." She giggled again.

"Come on, come on."

She squealed for a second time, holding a hand to her mouth to try and stop herself from telling her dirty secret but she suddenly blurted out, "Shikamaru kissed me!" She buried her head in her mattress as she screamed.

"Nani!" Sakura yelled rolling the female over to look at her face, "Kiss, kiss??"

"On the lips!" She revealed with another soft scream.

"Kami!" Sakura laughed, never having seen her best--enemy-- so happy before. "How? Was it good? Did he sweep you off your feet, tell me!"

"Yosh, Yosh, Yosh." She sobered and sat up, fixing her appearance to a calm and collective female, but her smile broke out on her face again. "My team always eats breakfast together. It's a tradition. And afterwards we usually go for a walk and try and find a good place to watch the clouds. Of course I never stay to watch the damn clouds, that has to be one of the most boring things in the world. I mean, really, who watches clouds, he's so damn lazy--"

"Ino focus!"

"Gomen, gomen. So on our way walking, Choji, who may I remind we just got done with breakfast, was hungry again so he told us to go and he'll catch up in a minute. So we continued to walk. Really silent, it was getting to me, and I started daydreaming, about Sasuke-kun of course, and me, being the dumbass that I am, trip on a rock or something and fall. I went to grab Shikamaru so I wouldn't fall but he just fell on top of me instead. He mumbled his damn 'Mendokuse' but he didn't get off, we kind of just stared at each other for a while and suddenly he kissed me. Just like that!" Ino slammed her back on the ground to stare at the ceiling, her smile so wide.

Sakura came into her view. "What was it like?"

"It was amazing!" She squealed. "I mean like, it was slow at first, he was so unsure of what he was doing and then after a few seconds, when I did not pull away, he got really into it. Ahh…it felt so wonderful. And wet. But wonderful."

"Did he say anything to you?"

"Iie," she sighed, "He helped me up and then Choji came and said something about the boys sparring and they left." She squealed again, "Oh, kami he's so damn cute and such a good kisser. I never knew how much I liked him before. You can go after Sasuke, Sakura; I got my own man to get." Sakura and Ino both sighed as their daydreams took over their thoughts.

"How fickle." TenTen's evil voice shattered their sunshine and the two females gazed over at her.

"What was that?" Ino quickly bit, instantly defensive.

"I called you fickle." TenTen sarcastically smiled. "And if you don't know what that means. I'll break it down for you. You are a yariman."

"You little ama!" Ino snapped to her feet. "Who the hell are you calling a yariman?"

"I'm looking right at ya!" TenTen straightened, tightening her hold on her kunai that she had recently been playing with. "You just said you were thinking about Sasuke and then you go and kiss another boy! That's how being a yariman starts! You go from one boy to the next!"

"So what, I like two boys at the same time."

"You never liked Shikamaru."

"How the hell do you know? I don't talk to you unless I absolutely have to."

"Oh, now you like him. When it's convenient. Yariman!"

"Take that back!"

"Or what!"

"I'll kick your ass!"

"Like you could!"

"You know what! You're just jealous! Because the boy I like actually kissed me! You couldn't get Neji to touch you with a ten foot pole!"

"Neji is my teammate!"

"Oh yeah, use that excuse. It must be awfully hard lying right next to him in an empty tent; I bet that's all you dream about!"

"I'm not a sick pathetic little girl like you!"

"That's it! If you want a fight, I'll give you one!" Ino pounded her way out of the room and TenTen was right after her.

Sakura looked to Hinata. "We have got to find the boys, they have to stop this." The female nodded and activated her byakuga.

--

Naruto groaned painfully when his arm was stabbed by the chakra filled fingers of the Hyuuga. It fell limply at his side and he held it protectively. But he had a smile on his face. He had managed to piss off his opponent, mission accomplished. Naruto was quick to put up a hand in surrender when Neji tried to attack again. The boy stalled and narrowed his activated eyes. But relaxed anyway and the veins on his temples sunk back into his skin.

Neji didn't bow; he was still too pissed off at the blond to treat him nicely. It should be against the rules to talk about ones' teammate. TenTen and Lee were off limits. He crossed his arms, gritting his teeth as the blond brat grinned at him and bowed. "I was joking, Neji." He assured. "I don't know if TenTen is a good kisser." His cheeks were red as he said this. "Gomen." He apologized before skipping over to Sasuke who was battling with Shino and Kiba.

Shikamaru and Choji had come too late to spar so were now busy staring up at the clouds.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, "Are you winning!"

Sasuke dodged the frontal attack of Kiba, while dipping underneath the line of bugs from behind. He rolled in the grass, popping to his feet and slid to his left. He caught sight of Naruto and growled, "Baka." completely forgetting for the moment about the dog that jumped on his back and bit his shoulder.

"Great job, Akamaru!" Kiba laughed and snapped his fingers. The dog quickly ran to his master.

Sasuke held his bleeding shoulder and glared at Naruto. That boy always distracted him with his constant ramblings. "That's enough." He ordered going over to Naruto who had taken a seat by the two lazy bums of the group and kicked the blond.

"Itai. What was that for, teme!"

"Dobe." Sasuke mumbled sitting down next to him. The three others followed his movements and lay down in the grass. After two hours in the hot sun they were ready for a nap.

"Man, we should have invited the girls. They're going to get mad at us if we keep counting them out." Naruto sighed.

"Hinata angry…" Shino looked to Kiba. "Is a scary thing." The beast master laughed his ass off when everyone screamed obscenities at the bug owner.

It was quiet for a while. The boys laid there without much said between them. It was Shikamaru however that broke the silence. "I kissed Ino."

"Really Shikamaru?" Choji questioned. The genius nodded in response.

"Suge." Naruto put in, and the other boys nodded in agreement.

"Neji! Shikamaru!" Sakura's voice yelled from afar. Sasuke and Naruto snapped to their feet at her discontentment. She dropped to her knees, huffing and puffing with Hinata copying her movements, her eyes deactivating.

"Nanda?" Shikamaru yawned heavily.

"It's TenTen and Ino." That bolted all of the boys up to their feet. "They're battling each other."

Neji instantly activated his byakuga, his gaze filtering through the many areas of the village until he found them nearly all the way across. "They've started." The whole team quickly followed behind Neji.

"What got them to fight?" Shikamaru questioned.

"TenTen kind of started saying stuff and Ino took it quiet personally."

"So it's your onna's fault." Shikamaru met Neji's back glance glare. Don't get the two boys wrong, they had no problems with each other. But one teammate is battling someone on another team, it gets personal. Especially if they were battling just because one was mad at the other. If it was under normal circumstances, like a competition then they would keep their noses out of it and wait for a victor. But it obviously wasn't that type of circumstance.

They jumped over roofs and over trees until they came to the empty space and TenTen and Ino were clear ahead. TenTen's scrolls were out before her and she swung around, unleashing several weapons, Ino dodged the best she could but this was not her forte. She was a mind controller, if the opponent didn't stay in one spot long enough then she really had nothing to go on. Expect basic battle skills. But TenTen was a distance fighter, so even that idea went out the window.

Ino jumped though her leg still got hit with a shuriken. She groaned in pain and quickly ripped it out to throw it right back where it came from. Her anger was surely clouding her judgment. She had no idea why she was fighting TenTen. She knew better.

The weapon's specialist took out a large dagger and ran to her. Ino had two knives, one in each hand and stood ready to defend herself, ignoring the pain that shot through her leg.

And then Shikamaru dropped down in front of her and her eyes were wide in question. TenTen stalled when the man clasped his hands together preparing a jutsu. She narrowed her eyes but was suddenly surprised when Neji jumped before her and quickly took his stance, one hand out in front of him, the other pointed to the sky.

Shikamaru grumbled, "Mendokuse, Ino. Why the hell are you fighting?" He nearly whispered before calling out to the opposite couple, "Tell her to back off, Neji."

"She fights, I fight." He stated harshly deepening his pose.

"No one's fighting." Sasuke demanded standing in between the opposing teams. "Take your teammate and go." When no one moved Naruto came to stand behind him, back against back, daring anyone to oppose them.

Choji went up to his team, "Come on, let's go eat." He tugged on Shikamaru's and Ino's arm. It was Ino's cry of pain that tore Shikamaru's eyes away from the gaze of the Hyuuga and he kneeled down beside her.

"Mendokuse, Ino." He mumbled lifting her up, one arm wrapped around his shoulder, the other around Choji's.

Neji deactivated his eyes and waited for everyone to clear away before turning to TenTen whose gaze on him had been felt since the moment he dropped down. She said nothing however and he broke the silence. "Let us train."

TenTen sighed heavily as she stared back at him. Her brows were knit, confused on why he had intervened. She wanted to tell him she was strong enough to take care of herself, that she didn't need him to interrupt. And though it was anger that she projected, she had to bite her lip to hide her smile. That movement had meant something. Maybe he actually did see her as a girl.

--

Sakura was grateful that the two females came back to their right senses. But as her eyes darted between Ino, who sat beside her, and TenTen, who sat down the table on the opposite side, she noticed that the tension hadn't faded. Sakura eyes lowered to her lap, her brows knitting when movement to the right caught her attention. She smiled softly upon seeing Ino's and Shikamaru's legs intertwined. She bit her lip with jealousy. However, her negative thoughts were taken from her as she glanced to her other side. Sasuke sat next to her, his thigh brushing against hers every once again as they ate dinner. He wasn't doing it on purpose she knew but that didn't mean Inner Sakura wasn't screaming in her ear, making her so nervous she barely ate.

"You are a messy person, Naruto." Shino mumbled trying to move away, leaning over Hinata as she tried to eat.

"You eat as fast as Choji." Shikamaru mumbled, glancing at his best friend, the over size ninja smiled with a mouth full of food even while some rice fell off his cheek.

"I'm still hungry." Naruto declared ordering another round for himself.

"You're paying for you, Naruto. I will not pay the bill again." Sasuke informed him, glaring at the blond child when his blue eyes caught his own.

"That's just fine. I don't need you to pay for me. I'll pay for me and Sakura." Naruto stretched his head up over Sasuke and smiled, "It will be like a date!"

"Duck, Sasuke-kun." Not needing to be told twice, the Uchiha lowered his head just as Sakura's fist flew at him and hit Naruto right in the face. Said boy's body collapsed over Shino, his head resting in Hinata's lap. Her face blanched and blush over took her features before she collapsed on Kiba.

"Hinata. Oi, Hinata." Kiba tried to shake her gently and Akamaru barked and licked her faced.

"Um. Excuse." The softness of a female's voice cut off the group's laughter and Naruto sprung up looking at the front of their table. The woman was covered in a bulky cloak that hid her features. "Are you the team from Konoha?"

"Who's asking?" Naruto stood with his chest puffed out, his voice suddenly too manly for his short stature. Sakura rolled her eyes and punched him in the stomach lightly and his chest caved, his voice returned to normal, "That hurt, Sakura-chan." He groaned childishly.

The female giggled and her nimble hand rose to cover her mouth. "You are cute." She whispered. Her hands lowered back her hood, finally revealing the goddess underneath. The boys nearly gaped openly at her beauty while the girls turned their sharp gazes to their teammates to make sure no unwanted expression was on their face. Her hair was the color of violet and her skin complexion was so delicately white. She had the smallest nose, the fullest lips and thin cheeks. Everything Sakura and Ino hoped one day to be. Her eyes however were what caught their attention. Her pupils were two lines that formed in the shape of an 'X'. The female bowed lightly, "My name Raikou. I am the granddaughter of Raikage."

"Well, what are you doing here?" Naruto questioned.

The female smiled and giggled softly, "Such impatience." Sasuke pulled him down to sit, ignoring the glare he received. "I understand your mission was to retrieve what Raikage has lost."

"We cannot speak about it with you." Sasuke told her, turning back to his food.

Inner Sakura screamed, 'You tell her, Sasuke'

"I understand, Uchiha. I however wish to speak about it with you. My sister, brother, and I do not wish to return to Kumogakure. Gomen nasai, but your mission is in vain. Return home, I beg of you." She bowed softly before lifting her hood and turning out of the small dining area.

The group looked to each other for a moment before quickly getting up and going after her. Naruto ran in front to stop her, "Wait, you're what we're getting?"

She raised her violet brows, "The mission asked for the Trinity, did it not?"

"So what if it did, how are you a Trinity?"

"The Trinity came here on our own free will, and we do not plan to leave."

Sasuke stepped up, "If we don't take you, our mission fails."

"I understand, Uchiha. Gomen, that he made you come all this way. I cannot go home."

"Well why not?" Naruto folded his arms in front of his chest in a pout.

Raikou smiled brightly and leaned down, giving Naruto a kiss on the top of his head "You are a brave one; do not let anyone tell you different. If you must have answers," She sighed softly and her 'x' gaze went to Hinata, "Use your power and find us." With a flash of light the woman promptly disappeared.

Neji narrowed his pale eyes, the veins protruding on his temples and he searched with Hinata beside him. "How did she get so far?" Hinata questioned when she spotted them.

"There are three there now. Their chakra readings are immense." The two Hyuugas led the way to the opposite side of the village, coincidently the same battlefield Ino and TenTen fought earlier.

Three figures with bulky cloaks stood in front of them as they climbed the hills. Raikou lowered her hood with a smile. The one beside her, the brother, also lowered his hood and bowed softly. The girls in the team stopped in their tracks as they gaped at his gorgeous features. He had the same hair and skin complexion, but instead of the curls Raikou wore, his hair was cut at the shoulders and straight. He could pass for a female in some light but he had a masculine jaw line and a sharp nose, with thin lips.

The last female revealed herself and she looked exactly like her sister except her hair was braided and hung over her right shoulder, falling down past her hip. Naruto's mouth fell open and stated the obvious, "You're triplets?" He screeched.

"A man of observation." The male of the three chuckled. It was suppose to be a nice sweet innocent joke but of course the blond took that as an insult.

Naruto glowered, "Jerk." He mumbled, folding his arms over his chest childishly.

The third female folded her arms, a bit childishly just as Naruto, "This is what he sends to get us?"

"Arashi, be calm." Raikou whispered. The said female however just rolled her eyes in annoyance and flicked her braided hair behind her.

The male of the group stepped up closer, his height nearly a foot above them so they all had to look up to him. He stood in front of Sakura and grasped her hand, "You, onna, are a delight on the eyes."

"Oi! Don't touch her!" Naruto nearly screamed, pulling Sakura roughly behind him.

"Forgive me, I did not know." The male took a few steps over (while Sakura pounded Naruto in the ground) to TenTen and grasped her hand, "You, onna, are a delight on the eyes." He kissed her hand softly. (Sakura gaped openly with jealous rage.)

Raikou shook her head, her cheeks red with embarrassment. "Kaminari, please refrain."

"Gomen, sister, I could not help myself." He said without taking his eyes off the woman, "I have a passion for non-pure bloods. I find them to be the most unique."

The female named Arashi put her hand out, her brother still being ten feet away from her, pulled an imaginary line and yanked him back to stand beside her. He glared at her but she just smiled sarcastically.

The group faltered, Sakura narrowed her eyes, "How did you do that?"

Raikou smiled softly, "Forgive our musings. I am afraid we have had little time being out in the world and do not behave as properly as we should at times."

Sasuke could care less to their reasoning. "We have to take you back. It is our mission. Had we known you were people, we would have denied the mission. It is too late now."

"No one said you were people." Naruto added. "They called you three 'it'.

"Hai, I understand our grandfather must have confused you. He does not see us as people. He sees us as a weapon." The triplets turned their bodies around and undid their cloaks. The females wore backless dresses and the male did not wear a shirt. They lowered their cloaks to reveal the kanji symbols that decorated their entire backs. Raikou had the symbol for bright, Kaminari for unstable, and Arashi had the kanji design for destruction. The symbols reached from the top of their shoulders down to the beginnings of their hips. "We were born with these markings. They were a gift to our sato, however a curse for us." They lifted their cloaks back over their bodies and turned to face everyone once more.

Kaminari continued, "For twenty-two years we were kept in a room on the third floor of the Raikage's building. Our parents were only allowed to see and hold us through the electric bars that covered our prison."

"A nice prison." Arashi added with a sarcastic smile. "Beautiful really. Everything we could have wanted. Except we weren't allowed to leave."

Naruto sat down, and the group actually followed his movements, "How did you get out?"

The two siblings turned their eyes to Raikou, whose gaze was off in the distance for a moment. "A wonderful man saved us." She giggled slightly looking down at Naruto. "You remind me much of him with those eyes of yours." Naruto blushed looking down to the grass and picking at it. "Iwagakure came for a conference with our Raikage. The man had lost his way and happened upon us. He came again and again."

"Just to see you." Arashi added with a bit of bitterness.

"He was filled with dreams and hopes and wanted me to be by his side. He didn't care about our powers, or our principal. He just wanted me. So one day he helped us escape and fled to Iwagakure with him. He was the Tsuchikage's son so Iwagakure went to war against our homeland. I became his wife and this became our home. We have been free for the last five months and it has been the most wonderful time."

"Where is he?"

Her smile suddenly faded and she looked down at Naruto. "He was killed a month ago. And ever since our grandfather was been trying to get us back. Which is odd…He was not upset to lose us. He feared our powers, the reason he kept us chained. Tsuchikage allows us to stay here since it was his late son's greatest wish." Raikou came over and kneeled down in front of Naruto, grasping his hand, "My grandfather must have said some awful things to you. Please forgive him, he is too corrupted with his views to act the way a kage should."

Raikou got to her feet and stepped to Hinata, looking down upon her. "Gomen nasai, that my grandfather--"

"Iie." Neji interrupted, stopping her, ignoring the questioning gazes he was receiving.

Raikou smiled however knowingly and she went to the back of the group where TenTen and Neji sat. She knelled before him. "A shugosha, are you?" Her hand reached up but Neji pulled back, eyeing her as if she were a threat. "Can I please see it?" She whispered pleadingly. He eyed her suspicious but his eyes told him she wished no ill will. Neji momentarily glanced back to his teammate; TenTen's eyes were on him. Taking only a few more moments, he untied his forehead protector and let it fall from his face. To his shock, her lips were pressed up against before she pulled away with a small smile. "One day, when you find love, this will no longer matter to you. I assure you of that."

Raikou went back to her siblings and faced them once again. It was Kaminari who spoke, "So please understand, we do not want to go back."

"You have to face him!" Naruto snapped to his feet. "Come on, we'll go with you and protect you! You have to make him see it. Family shouldn't be separated. Don't you miss your kasan and tosan?"

"With all our hearts."

"Then come on! We can go together and face him!"

"It's not so easy." Arashi suddenly bit. "He is our Kage. If we go against him, we go against our sato. But if we pretend to be captives of war, we will still be able to go back when Raikage dies.

"And just let him get away with how he's treated you! That stupid! You guys have powers now, you're not helpless."

"Our powers are deadly, we are not killers."

Sakura bit her lip before she spoke up, "Protecting yourself does not make you a murderer. It is unfair that you have to live this way. And it is unfair to this sato that you use them as a scapegoat."

"Could you kill a family member?" Arashi bit, glaring down at the pink haired kunoichi.

"Hai." Sasuke suddenly answered, his eyes glaring deadly, daring her to say anything to go against him.

Arashi stepped up to the Uchiha and knelled before him. He straightened himself in his nervousness when her hand rose to his face. "May I?" She whispered but he was too confused on what she wanted to deny. Her hand rested against his cheek. It was only seconds later that she nearly screamed, shoving herself away and going to the protection of her brother's arms.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as the triplets held their heads in their pain.

It was quiet for a few minutes until finally they collected themselves together. The male Kaminari spoke to his sister, "Why did you do that? You had no right."

Arashi glared at him, pushing out of his grasp. "I just wanted to know if the rumors were true. It's not like I broke the rules."

"What happened?" Sasuke demanded snapping to his feet with fisted hands.

Raikou bowed, "Gomen, Uchiha Sasuke. My sister is a curious creature. She had no right. Gomen nasai."

"What happened?" He bit harshly.

"I read your memories." Arashi told him. "Do I need to say more?"

Sakura watched him with remorseful eyes as he lowered his gaze to the ground. How she desired a power like that. Being able to see all that he saw and to share his pain would be one of the greatest things for Sakura, no matter how horrible she knew it had to be.

Raikou leaned down to be even with Sasuke face, his gaze meeting her threateningly, "Stay with your friends. They will help ease this hurt in your heart." He threw his eyes away, stuffing his hands in his pockets and leaving the group without another word.

Sakura watched him, almost begging herself to get up and go if Naruto hadn't touched her arm. She nodded dejectedly and just looked after his retreating form.

"We will write a letter and send it with you. And another, if you would be kind enough to give to our parents. We can not go with you. Maybe one day when we are strong enough to go against the Kage, we will go. But I will not allow you to help us. In doing so, you will put your village in danger as well. Arigatou, Konoha shinobi."

--

It was quite late in the night, the boys knew it but none of them were asleep no matter their lack of movement or chatter. They feigned sleep until Shikamaru got up with great care as not to wake anyone up and shut the door behind him.

It was the cue. The boys sat up and quickly formed a circle; expect for Neji of course who was sound asleep with his back to the whole thing.

Kiba was the first to whisper, "Who thinks he'll do it?"

Naruto was very glad to actually understand where this conversation was going (Kiba had been kind enough to explain what 'it' had meant to him a few hours prior to this situation). He put a bunch of coins in the sock. "Definitely."

"I don't think Ino will." Shino put his money in the opposite sock.

"Shikamaru doesn't fail at anything. Unless he gives up." Choji put his money in with Naruto.

"Which is likely." Sasuke added but his money was put into the 'yes' sock. He shrugged when Naruto questioned him, "He's still a guy."

"That's why he will." Kiba smirked mischievously putting in his money with everyone else. Akamaru barked and nudged a coin with his nose to be put in with Kiba's.

Words:

Juin Jutsu- Cursed Seal-- Yosh- Okay--Yariman- Slut--Shugosha-Protector--Itai-Ouch

The Trinity-- Raikou- Lightning--Kaminari- Thunder--Arashi-Storm--

Author's Note: The Trinity will come back in the future so just be aware of them. They're so important, someone dies protecting them!! Bet you can't guess who!

NEXT TIME: PRESENT: Sakura meets up with Ino and team. PAST: The downfall of the very short relationship between Ino and Shikamaru