Day 46:
Is the cure love?!
It's a dumb thought. It's also the only explanation Sakura has.
They're halfway through their stash of patches, there's an unopened letter from Tsunade sitting in the corner of the room, and they're both sprawled on the mattress together, totally nude, but none of that is the weird part.
The weird part is that, despite being patched-up for four days now, Sakura still has no idea what Ino means when she talks about being at the parties, and the oceans, and the amalgamations of human existence, and the flowing rivers. Ino keeps trying to explain it to her, but it's too abstract. Sakura can't wrap her head around it. Still, Ino maintains that she has to be feeling it. That's what the Rapture is, she insists – water in an ocean. But Sakura doesn't feel it at all.
The other weird thing is that the weakness apparent in Ino's body from the third day hasn't manifested in Sakura to any detectable degree. Her chakra writhes in her body while on the drug, almost as if it's trying to wriggle from her skin like a molting snake, but she finds it fully intact between patch-ups. Ino's chakra reserves degraded constantly over time and never seemed to fully stabilize.
In fact, Ino seems to get getting better. At least mentally. She's no longer itching to run back to the parties. It's something she credits to Sakura, but Sakura herself isn't sure if she can accept such an answer – not on a scientific level, at least.
If only they could make all these meaningful things actually mean something. In some ways, being on the same plane of thought makes deduction easier.
"It's like…" Ino will say, and then she gives her a look. Not any look in particular, but somehow Sakura understands it anyway as if she'd finished the sentence aloud.
In other ways, though, it's not as helpful. She should be replying to the letter on her desk – Tsunade is going to worry. Soon enough, someone will come looking for them and be understandably disgusted by their pitiable condition, but work is hard, and love is easy, and they spend a lot more time having euphoric sex than doing any productive thinking.
It's okay, though. Sakura is sure they'll figure it out eventually.