Chapter Twenty-Two

Ino moaned as her consciousness slowly returned and her fingers twitched involuntarily as she tried to regain feeling in her sluggish limbs. The steady beeping of a heart monitor broke through her foggy mind and she carefully forced her eyes open. The room she was in was dark and the bed beside her was empty, something she found mildly comforting seeing as she'd always been one to have her own space. She was about to settle back into her hospital bed, which was surprisingly comfortable, when the memories of the last week finally sunk into her head and she bolted upright in bed.

That turned out to not be one of her best ideas, and Ino couldn't stop her groan as she pressed her palm to her pounding head and leaned back against her pillow. Waiting for the ache to subside she glanced around for any signs of the time, wondering just how long she'd been out. Squinting in the darkness she managed to read the clock on the wall above the door. Eight o'clock. But was that in the morning or the evening? And of what day?

Against her better judgment, Ino swung her feet over the edge of the bed and padded her way to the window. Pushing aside the heavy drapes, Ino flinched and squinted at the brightness of the mostly set sun. With one answer in hand, Ino looked around the room for another. A chart was hanging from the corner of her bed and she vaguely recognized it as the chart that held a patient's medical information, like what medications they were being prescribed at what time. Padding back to her bed she picked up the chart and scanned it until she found a date up at the top corner.

Her eyebrows lifted as she noticed it hadn't even been a full day since she'd met with Ichigo in Moegi's body. That must have been some sort of record because she'd never heard of anyone in her clan recovering their soul so quickly after missing a body. Then again, her father had always said that she was unusually talented in their clan jutsus. Maybe it had something to do with that?

Regardless, now that she knew where and when she was, Ino had a pressing urge to get back in the game. She didn't know whether or not Ichigo had been able to deliver her message, and if so to whom, and she wanted to make sure that what she knew got to the right people. She knew that Sasuke trusted Natsui completely and she didn't want that to end up being the boy's downfall.

Besides, Shikamaru was probably worried sick.

With those thoughts firmly in mind, Ino slipped out of her hospital gown and shimmied back into her clothes. She cringed at how dirty they were but did her best to ignore it. She didn't have time to worry about it. There were people that needed her help.

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Arai carefully slipped a small mirror around the corner of the hall and tilted it so she could see. To her relief she found that Falcon really was asleep and she felt a sudden surge of disappointment. If an ANBU member was so lax that he would fall to such a simple trick then it was obvious that they were lacking in discipline and training. Once this was over she'd make sure Yotaro put his men through their paces.

Slipping down the hall, Arai stepped over the unconscious man and pulled a thin wire out of the pouch on her belt. She made quick work of the simple lock and slid the door open with ease. Once inside she locked the door again, though it would hardly keep out someone who was determined to get in. She was proof of that.

Hikari was sleeping soundly but she wasn't nearly as pale as Arai had expected. She was hooked up to a heart monitor that was beeping steadily and had a single I.V. running into the back of her right hand. Her bruises were already mostly healed and she looked extremely peaceful.

Something wasn't right here.

Stepping up to the foot of the bed, Arai grabbed the medical charts and flipped them open. She wasn't well versed in medical jargon but she knew the names and uses for basic medications. The handwriting was unfortunately atrocious, more like scribbles than anything, but Arai somehow managed to make out the name of a medication she knew. It was an anesthetic meant to be administered through an I.V. Her eyes darted up to the bag filled with clear liquid. Were they keeping her under on purpose?

Pulling the medical sheets off of the clip board, Arai folded them and stuck them into her pouch. That done, she crossed to the head of the bed and carefully removed the I.V. from Hikari's arm. She pressed some gauze against the small wound and taped it down before pulling off Hikari's blankets and carefully sitting her up. She propped several pillows behind her friend's back and crossed over to the window.

Arai opened the window but it stopped about a quarter of the way. That wasn't a surprise. Many shinobi would sneak out of the hospital as soon as they were able so the head medic had these specialty windows installed in rooms where the more troublesome patients were kept. Though in this case Arai expected the window was being used to keep people out rather than to keep Hikari in.

Fortunately, Arai new the secret to these windows and she soon had it open the whole way. Reaching into her pouch, Arai withdrew a nylon cord with a small anchor on the end. She leaned far out the window, gave the rope a twirl, and let it fly. The anchor latched onto the railing of the roof.

Pulling back into the room, Arai pulled off her black shirt and pants to reveal another set beneath them. It was already dark and the shadows were deep, but Hikari's white hair and hospital clothes would still glow like a beacon. She made quick work of changing her friend's clothes before tying Hikari's hair back and covering it with a black bandana. Satisfied, Arai extracted another cord from her pouch and used it to create a harness to strap Hikari to her back.

Knowing that their time was limited, Arai reached outside and grasped the anchored cord before she carefully climbed out the window. She used chakra to glue her feet to the hospital wall and held onto the cord to keep herself balanced. Slowly and carefully, Arai climbed to the roof where Yotaro was impatiently waiting.

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Ino backed into an alley and leaned against the wall to catch her breath. She'd barely crossed half the distance to the academy but she was already exhausted. Apparently prolonged absence from one's body took a heavier toll than her father told her. Then again, he did say something about at least a week of rest before they were back in action. Unfortunately, Ino didn't have a week. She didn't even have a couple of hours.

She was about to round the corner when several chakra signatures touched her senses and she came to a halt, plastering her back against the wall surrounding the Sakura Niwa. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a small compact. Officially it was for checking her face but it was more often used for jobs like this one. Her face was perfect anyway.

Poking the mirror around the corner, Ino tilted it carefully so it wouldn't reflect the nearly set sun. She spotted three Uchiha lounging against the wall of a department store opposite the Garden. To anyone else they looked like a couple of friends just hanging out, but Ino knew better. Uchiha don't just 'hang out'. Ever.

They were waiting for something, that much was obvious. Ino just had no idea for what. Or, more likely, for who.

From the far side of the street a figure appeared but was too far away for Ino to identify. He walked sedately but with an authoritarian presence that made Ino want to stand and salute. The group of Uchiha he was approaching did exactly that. He stopped several feet from them, outside of the halo of the streetlamp that turned on just behind the group. They were speaking in low tones and Ino inwardly cursed her luck. She had no doubt that whatever they were saying was incredibly important but there was no way she could get closer without giving herself away.

Well, there was one way, but it was insanely dangerous. Still, danger seemed to be her status quo lately so what the hell?

Flashing through the familiar seals, Ino aimed her hands at the Uchiha furthest to the back. Hopefully he wasn't important enough to be questioned directly. 'Shintenshin no jutsu!' Ino thought, not daring to say it out loud, and then she was in.

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Arai hauled herself onto the roof with a huff and was annoyed to see that Yotaro wasn't there yet. He was the one who insisted that she get Hikari out a.s.a.p. and yet he didn't have the common courtesy to be at the rendezvous sight on time. Men.

Hikari shifted in her sleep and Arai took that as a good sign as she carefully untied her friend and lowered her onto the roof. Arai wasn't a medic by any stretch of the imagination but she was well versed in first aid. Checking Hikari's pulse, Arai nodded in satisfaction that it was coming out of its deep rest state and into a more normal rate. Hopefully she would wake up within the next hour or so.

This, of course, confirmed Yotaro's suspicion that there actually wasn't anything wrong with her physically. Kenta must have ordered that she be kept in a drugged sleep in order to keep her confined to the hospital for what was doubtlessly his own nefarious reason. Prick. Did Arai ever mention that she hated her brother? Passionately? Well she does.

A suppressed chakra signature brushed against Arai's senses as someone else landed on the hospital roof. Arai stood and turned, her hands planted on her hips as she opened her mouth to scold Yotaro for his tardiness. She froze in utter horror. It wasn't Yotaro.

"Now what do we have here?" Yamataro Makoto said with a demonic grin on his lips. "If it isn't my own little ghost girl. How kind of you to bring her to me."

Makoto stepped forward and Arai took a hasty step back. Her foot brushed against Hikari's leg and she tensed. She couldn't run away, Hikari needed her. She dropped into a stance that she saw Itachi take a million times and willed her limbs not to shake. All she had at her disposal were her lessons from the academy and the few tricks she managed to glean from the shinobi around her. Because of her ban, Arai hadn't been able to learn any higher jutsus or even graduate from the academy but she did her best to stay in shape and practice the basics. She was probably in mid to upper genin level but that wouldn't do her any good against Makoto. He was a jounin before his incarceration and an ANBU on top of that.

The best Arai could hope for would be to hold him off long enough for Yotaro to arrive. Hopefully he wouldn't kill her in the meantime. Unfortunately, Arai had no faith in that.

End Chapter Twenty-Two

Kaliea: Hello everyone! I'm not dead, I promise! I know it's been years since I last updated this fic and it will probably be longer still until I update again but I just wanted you guys to know that I haven't abandoned my stories. I'm almost done with my bachelor's degree (only two weeks left!). After that I'm moving across the country and then I have to find a job to save up to go back to school for my master's so the time I have for leisure writing will still be pretty much non-existent. Thanks so much for being so understanding and for supporting me after all this time. You guys are awesome and without you I would never have the fortitude to continue. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!