Title: Haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds?
Chapter: 12 – Cadet Blue
Author: Killaurey
Rating: T
Word Count: 4,441
Summary: AU. The night before they're assigned to Genin teams, Sakura wakes up with Ino in her mind—and she can't leave.
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. It's Kishimoto's and I just play with it. Part 12 of ? Unbeta'd.
Sakura wakes up, in bed, and completely uncertain what time it is.
I'm getting really, really tired of that happening, she thinks, pushing herself up. As she rubs sleep from her eyes, she takes stock of how she's feeling.
Ino's still sleeping. Her presence a soft, drowsing thing in the back of her head.
Maybe she's keeping the other Sakura in there company, Sakura thinks and then shudders away from that thought.
Sakura leaves both of them be.
A peek outside her window tells her it's early evening, with the sun starting to go down.
There's no one waiting for her outside of her bedroom, so she heads to the bathroom and once she's refreshed herself, Sakura lingers on the landing, taking a seat on one of the armchairs there, and studying the railing the stairs leading down.
She can smell something cooking, which tells her it's almost dinner time. She could go down or she could go back to her room but she feels... she doesn't know how she feels.
And this is probably the closest I'll get to a tiny moment of privacy.
She doesn't want to spend it in her room. She's kind of tired of her room. She's tired of a lot of things, really, but she's not sure how to feel about them either.
It's weird enough having my best friend in my head, temporarily-permanently. But it's even weirder to have another me in there who is, apparently, over-protective? I don't know a lot about that sort of mind stuff but, if there's someone in there who is over-protective, doesn't that mean there's a reason they're there?
Sakura mulls over that.
Her life is really pretty boring. She loves her life, with all of the daily tediums. She misses her parents fiercely. She even misses the routine of going to the Academy.
I can't think of anything for anyone to be over-protective about.
And she doesn't feel bad about not knowing that, either. It's just weird, to think that something or someone believes she needs protection enough to exist in the back of her head. Another her. What does that even mean?
You're thinking loudly, Ino says, still with a sleepy edge to her voice.
"Yeah, well, there's a lot to think about," Sakura says.
Ino's laugh is as reassuring as it is strange to have it pressing on the inside of her thoughts.
Sakura wonders if Ino sounds the same, despite not having her body, because she's used to having had her body and when that line of thought makes her want to roll her eyes, she gives it up instead for all the ones she doesn't want to deal with.
"Queen of sandcastles," she mutters, mostly to herself. "Hail the Highness of Making Mountains out of Molehills."
And spilled milk and making everything a tempest in a teacup? Ino asks. What are you brooding about now?
"Everything," Sakura says, leaving the armchair and going back to her bedroom to brush her hair. She'll be able to see Ino, if she looks in the mirror while they talk. "And nothing. I kind of want to hit things, since I can't think of anything or anyway to make this better."
Ino considers that. Sakura listens to the way her thoughts twist and shift and finds, as she combs out the tangles in her hair, that it's kind of soothing to do that. She's not really reading Ino's mind back, but it's-there.
In a weirdly tangible way.
She probably shouldn't find it as comforting as she does.
I don't think they'll let you train tonight, Ino says, a bit regretfully. But tomorrow, I think you might be able to get a chance to hit things. Daddy did say we'd be having lessons and training now that I'm awake.
"That was before the whole 'Sakura has a whole other Sakura inside of her that's apparently over-protective' though," Sakura points out. "That can't be normal."
Ino hums a little. It's the theme song to a stupid show they'd watched together years ago.
"Stop that," Sakura says. "I know that normal's overrated, according to you, but I rather like it."
There's nothing wrong with being normal, Ino says. But, like, who says your definition of it has to stay the same? Me being in your head is pretty weird even for my family but, like, the rest of this is all fairly normal. To me.
"What, living in seclusion and being under heavy guard at all times?" Sakura asks.
Yes.
"What, really?"
Yes, really, Ino says, and Sakura can't deny the truth of it coming from the way Ino is right now. She's not even sure they could lie to one another without it being a glaring, obvious, discordant note. It hasn't even been, what, a week? This is nothing.
Sakura combs back through the days. It feels like it's been for forever, and she's been either asleep or feeling like garbage for a lot of it, but...
"I think we're on day three," she says. "Maybe four. So not even a civilian work week yet."
Right. The weirdest thing about this is the whole... being inside of you thing. The rest of it isn't particularly weird to me.
Sakura makes her bed, if only so she has something to do while she mulls over that.
"Does this sort of thing happen often?" Sakura asks. "Not the skipping town on your body and taking up residence in mine, but the rest of it. The hiding?"
Often enough, Ino says.
"Can you explain why?" Sakura asks. "I don't remember things going down like this before. I mean, I remember the lock-down that happened when Hinata was kidnapped, but even then... I was little more than a toddler, so I don't really remember that. Even the Uchiha Massacre was... well... it was terrible and awful but it was also contained. I remember being scared, because it was scary, but not really worried about my family because... we weren't Uchiha. My family didn't evacuate or hide or anything for that."
Now, though, she wonders what Ino had done during that whole situation. Had the Clans been on total lock-down? It had been before she and Ino had become friends, so despite wracking her brain for a memory, she can't even recall if Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji and the others had been in class the next day or not.
It's strange to think about it. The idea that the civilian populations had been carrying on like normal while the shinobi clans had been in hiding.
A stark contrast between their existences, she supposes. It's unsettling.
It makes the part of her that wants to rewind time the most, back to when her homework and the next day of classes were her biggest concerns... it makes that part of her want to howl like a wolf at the moon in protest.
But the moon isn't even out yet and there's no denying this is her present.
Most incidents never make it into common knowledge, Ino says, once Sakura has finished making the bed and has moved onto seeing if there's anything in the closet she can organize.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot she can organize with the handful of clothes she's been given.
The Uchiha and Hyuuga situations were different. One was the elimination of an entire section of town, including the bulk of our police force, Ino continues. The other was a hostage situation that the enemy publicized deliberately to force the Hyuuga's hands. Most situations do not get... talked about like that.
"So, this sort of thing happens a lot more often," Sakura concludes, which kind of makes her want to start screaming.
Well, not the me being in your head bit. But we're shinobi, Sakura. We kill people. We keep secrets and steal treasures and destroy lives all on orders. Of course people want revenge. And a lot of those people are shinobi too.
Sakura wants to protest that blunt and ugly description of the job she's chosen.
She hadn't become a ninja to kill people.
Ino seems to have no problems following that thought, though, and there's a wave of perplexity that washes over Sakura.
Why did you become a shinobi? Ino asks. Being technical about it, I never became one just to kill people either, but that's... that's what the job is, really, when you dig down underneath.
Sakura takes a seat in her mostly barren closet, thinking about that.
"In the Academy," Sakura says, "they talk a lot more about protecting people and doing good."
Well, yeah, Ino says, like that's obvious. And we do protect people and we do good-for our village. Not for everyone else.
"I guess I never really thought about it," Sakura says. "Like, I know there'll be enemy nin out there but… I guess I didn't consider that the enemy nin could just be other ninja from other villages out on a mission totally ordinary for them."
Konoha does not have peace treaties with all of the villages, Ino says. We have ceasefires. Not peace treaties.
Sakura's not stupid.
She knows there's a difference between the two of those things.
Still, she wrestles with the question that's there, now, in the words that Ino doesn't say.
"So if we encounter foreign ninja," Sakura says slowly. "And–it's not, just… in passing…"
That depends on several things. If there's foreign ninja in the confines of Konoha, then they need to have ID and have been processed at the gates. If they're questioned and get violent–they get taken in. If it's in one of the major cities or something in Fire Country, then keep an eye on it. A lot of times they'll just be escorts, especially if they're out and about openly wearing their forehead protectors. Escorts are fine. It's the ones we can't see that are dangerous and, if found… well….
"We have ceasefires, not peace treaties," Sakura repeats.
Right, Ino says. So if it comes to a fight, one side isn't walking away. Corpses can be hidden, which means the ceasefire wasn't broken. There's no proof. If there's no proof then it's fine, everything's fine.
Sakura shivers. "And outside of Fire Country?"
Depends on the situation, the where, when, and why, Ino says. No village goes about murdering every foreign ninja they come across in their travels. That would be psychotic. But if one village has a team that starts a fight, well, our standing orders are to be the ones to finish it.
Sakura doesn't ask about survivors. She gets the impression from Ino that, obviously, there would be none.
"Sometimes people get away," Sakura points out.
Yes, Ino agrees. And sometimes we let them get away too. There's a lot of different scenarios.
"Is that all stuff that you know already?"
I don't know everything but, well, yeah. I've been trained.
"But they don't teach that in the Academy," Sakura says, not as a question so much as a… statement.
No. It's not needed in the Academy. Pre-Genin and Genin aren't usually going to be in the position of having to make a choice like that. That's why we have sensei.
"If sensei teach it," Sakura says. "Then why do you know it already?"
I'm one day going to be the head of my clan, Ino says, after a long silence. Same with Chouji and Shikamaru. We're not just Clan children, we're future Clan leaders. All Clan children know more than the civilian children, just through osmosis and paying attention to what going on in their families, but some of us are being taught specifically because of who we'll be when we grow up. I can't change that, Sakura.
"I didn't ask you to," Sakura says, though she sighs a bit because, well, she hadn't asked Ino to but her questions definitely hadn't been purely about how cool it was Ino had known things she didn't.
There'd been a lot of envy and resentment tangled underneath the underneath.
"Sorry," she says.
You're not, Ino tells her. But it's okay.
Sakura wonders if it ever gets tiring, hearing one thing one way and another another way and having to respond correctly and not creepily all the time.
… She's glad she's not a mind reader.
Her stomach growls.
We should go eat, Ino says.
"Are you able to talk to everyone else too? I know you were able to talk to your dad just fine but, like, this morning I was our voice at breakfast." Sakura says, glancing at Ino in her mirror.
She knows they're only going down so she can eat.
Ino will continue to marvel at not feeling hungry and how weird it is. It's a strange counterpoint to the rumbling in Sakura's belly.
It's also strange how Ino isn't actually thinking about it but at the same time Sakura knows. She wonders how much Ino is picking up from her, the same way, and doesn't ask.
Ino doesn't answer that non-question either—though that could just be because she's answering the one Sakura actually asked.
Yes, Ino says, though she hesitates a moment before continuing. Though that's not going to help you feel anything but more left out than you already were. If they're talking directly to me, then they won't be talking to you. You'll just… be there.
Sakura takes a few moments to absorb that.
It hurts.
It hurts a lot actually, but she's still ferociously glad that Ino is brave enough to tell her that, when she asks it.
"I mean…," Sakura says, once she's managed to get past that first wild rush of hurt feelings. "I mean, I think I'd rather you get to voice your own opinions and talk to them directly, even if it means they're ignoring me. It would hurt my feelings worst to have them talk to me just to talk to you so… this way, if someone talks to me, I'll know they actually want to talk to me."
And Ino shouldn't have to dim herself just so people bother to notice Sakura. Sakura knows that much.
It's why she tried so hard in the Academy to become a rival that could out-shine Ino.
Sakura has never expected anyone to dim themselves for her—and who would?—but out-shining someone…
That can be a goal.
If it makes you feel better, both Dad and Aunt Yoshino seem to like you for you. Dad's always liked you and Aunt Yoshino is enjoying having another girl around to train. Dad says she always wanted more than one kid but, well… Ino delicately trails off there.
Obviously, for whatever reason, that hadn't happened.
"Then I just have to win everyone else over," Sakura declares.
Ino's feelings twist uncomfortably in the back of their shared head. I mean-
"No, I know that some of them won't," Sakura agrees, cutting Ino off. "But, like, that's the point of a goal. It's supposed to be hard and impossible but not so far out of reach that I can't dream of it."
…That explains a lot of things, Ino says, after a moment, though she doesn't elaborate on just what it explains.
"Anyway," Sakura says, deciding to leave that alone for the moment. "I think I can, at the very least, get Shikamaru and Chouji to treat me like a human being, if you want a normal, realistic goal."
Ino laughs. That one, I think you can do. All right. Race you down the stairs?
"How?!" Sakura giggles, but Ino's still laughing and it's wonderfully ridiculous, so Sakura caves after a second. "You know what? You're on!"
Later, much later, once the girls have gone back to sleep and the boys have been banished to their room—ostensibly to do the same but, not having the same immense pressure on their bodies and minds to do so and, so, probably aren't—the adults sit in a warded room, and Yoshino sips her tea in the silence after the recital of the current state of events.
This is no dark and comfortable library or the kitchen with its homey touches. This is, stripped of all pretense, a war room. They're not at war, of course, but it's a secure, private place to plot and plan and share sensitive information.
The wards thrum against her chakra like the pulse of a heart.
Inoichi has his game face on, which tricks none of them into believing he's fine. He'd glowered at her, when she'd given him his drink–medicated–but he'd taken it.
Yoshino allows him to pretend he's fooling them, since he did that much.
Shikaku and Chouza sit at opposite ends of the table, both sprawled out and eerily similar in pose for two people so completely different.
Well, she supposes, they've been stuck with each other for a long time.
"So," Chouza rumbles, "we have several different problems. Conflating them will only complicate things."
"They could be related," Shikaku says, with the air of a man who'd argue as the devil's advocate without pay.
"They could be," Chouza agrees, which takes a bit of the wind out of Shikaku's sails. "But we don't know that."
Shikaku sighs. "If it is all connected…"
He trails off there and Yoshino knows it's because he's not sure, yet, if he wants it to be or not.
"At the moment," Yoshino says, "there's little to be done about Ino-chan's physical situation. Her body is safely preserved and hidden away. Her mind is well anchored and thriving in Sakura-chan. We have teams out looking for Tsunade-sama. I think we can leave that matter be, for now."
"As for who it was that killed her…,"
"We're still looking into it," Inoichi says. "Mui and Kazuma thought they found a lead earlier. They haven't reported back yet."
Yoshino nods.
"So there's nothing we can do for Ino-chan right now," Yoshino says. "Other than make her and Sakura as comfortable as possible while living in the same body. I think we need to start team training."
They haggle over this for a while, since it will, even if they try and minimize it, have Sakura being privy to Clan secrets outsiders aren't usually permitted to know-but then, this is hardly a standard set of circumstances-and eventually settle on a compromise that no one is exactly happy with but everyone can live with.
It'll do.
"The boys will be thrilled," Shikaku says dryly.
Yoshino laughs.
"As for Sakura-chan," Inoichi says. "With Ino's on standby, I think we need to look further into what's going on with her situation."
"I took the liberty of ordering Wami, Ringo, and Soseki to review all records they can locate regarding unsolved cases," Shikaku says. "From the last eleven years. Sakura's parents told us three years but..."
Shikaku trails off.
"I wanted to cover more ground," he says. "Her entire life. Inoichi, I'd like you to talk to the Academy about her performance there. I'd do it myself, but you'll be less conspicuous about it."
Inoichi looks weary. "I can do that," he says.
"It's too bad none of the teachers are currently of our Clans," Chouza murmurs. "That would get us a more honest review of what's going on without having to deceive our children's teachers."
"We do what we must," Yoshino says. "Though, I would hope that the Academy's Chuunin would realize that someone was going to come asking questions in any case. Just to cover all bases and see if there had been anything suspicious prior to the attack."
"That's as good an excuse as any," Shikaku agrees. "Gets their thoughts moving in the right direction. One odd thing remembered means more is likely to be."
"Don't try and teach me how to do my job," Inoichi says, grimacing as he sips his tea. "I know that."
Shikaku just shrugs, not taking it personally.
"There's rumours of a memorial being planned," Chouza says.
"By who?" Inoichi asks.
Chouza grimaces. "The kids in their class," he says. "Ino-chan is a popular girl and her friends are upset."
"Idiocy," Shikaku mutters.
Yoshino agrees with him, though she also understands the way the children are attempting to find a way to make sense of their unexpected loss and the grief that brings with it.
"That hasn't been sanctioned by anyone, has it?" she asks. "We don't need a memorial or the idea of one gaining too much traction. Someone dying and then showing back up again, alive, happens now and again, but if the Clans wind up making a big deal out of it, then it's going to have political blowback on us once Ino-chan is alive and well again. Besides, it's generally poor taste to make a spectacle out of someone's death when the family doesn't want it."
Chouza frowns like he's seen a fly in a bowl of soup.
"I haven't heard anything about official approval or clan involvement," he says. "It really might be just a handful of kids being sad and wanting to be sad together."
"Which, while not ideal, as they've been told to be careful of an enemy being in the village," Inoichi says, "we can't actually stop it if some of their classmates want to meet up and drink tea, eat cake, and exchange memories."
Shikaku grumbles but, as he doesn't bother verbalizing any of his displeasure, Yoshino just rests a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll deal with it," she says. "Make sure it stays at the cake and drinks at a tea house level. That won't gain much traction or attention and, if they're supervised, they'll be safe enough."
Shikaku glances at her hand.
"I won't let my involvement be known," Yoshino says. "Do you have the class list handy? I'll see whose parents I have connections to and work from there."
That gets her a faint smile from her husband. She smiles back, since he'd had the good sense to not point out how stupid it would be for her to openly do something about this.
"It could be a good thing, in any case, to have this move ahead," she says briskly. "If the killer catches wind of it, they may show up to hear what people are saying. Inoichi, would you?"
He looks like she's asked him for the moon, which Yoshino doesn't begrudge him since he's dealing with a million little distractions. They always are, the Yamanaka.
She is very grateful she's not a Yamanaka even if, in theory, mind-reading would be a handy skill to have.
"I'll look at the list with you," Chouza says. "If we can subtly steer the memorial to a tea house one of my Clan own, it'll be simplicity itself to slip a couple of Yamanaka into the mix as cooks or attendants."
She nods.
Some of their restaurants and cafes are openly owned by the Akimichi. Others, though, are not. She doesn't need to say that it would have to be one of the latter.
"I'll permit that," Inoichi says. "Just let me know when and where."
"That's the school and the memorial taken care of," Shikaku says, looking at Inoichi. "We have people looking into the murder angle. Do we have anyone running a comprehensive look into the backgrounds of the Haruno? You said split personalities are usually due to trauma, which in Sakura's situation implies abuse at home."
Yoshino nods.
Inoichi frowns and she understands this one. Sakura is Ino's best friend. Has been for years. Sakura has stayed over at Inoichi's house, her mind winnowed through and her existence deemed acceptable for Ino to be friends with, close enough to have sleepovers.
It's hard to imagine abuse having been missed.
"I don't have anyone running that," Inoichi says. "Though Wami and a few others are still pouring over the memories picked up from the visit you did. Coordinate with her. I don't think I'm the right one to run that branch of the investigation. I'm too close to Sakura and she's under my personal protection now."
They're all quiet at that.
He won't use the word 'daughter', but that's...
That's essentially what it is. A Clan Head's personal protection isn't lightly given.
"I'll handle it," Shikaku says. "I'm the most invested in solving this aspect of the mystery anyway. Until Sakura was known to have a mental issue, it was a backburner thing compared to Ino's murder. Now it's not, but it was mine first."
"Sharing is caring," Yoshino says lightly.
"Quiet, woman," Shikaku says gruffly, capturing her hand.
Yoshino leans one hip against his shoulder and smiles down at him.
"I think that's everything we can do for now," Chouza says, after a moment. "Spend a few days looking further into everything, see if we can't put together enough pieces to get another point of view, and then reconvene?"
Yoshino knows this question isn't really for her, for all that she's here and had taken control of part of the meeting.
Inoichi and Shikaku agree with him, though, so she keeps her mouth shut and her own counsel until Inoichi has excused himself-with the promise to return in the morning to do what he'd meant to do today for the girls-and Chouza has promised to check in on the current investigations.
Then it's just her and her husband and, well, that's never something Yoshino will complain about.
"You're taking on a great deal," Shikaku says.
"I know," she tells him. "But you menfolk are too conspicuous. If one of you took over the memorial, everyone would know. And the village and the Clan need you too much for you to be one of the primary teachers here."
Yoshino sniffs, lifting her chin haughtily. She does not let the smile that wants to escape to show. Not even the slightest bit. It's all well and good, that they've sorted things out for the boys and girls, but now... this is a different game they're playing now.
She just has to tell him.
"Besides," she drawls, in her most insulting tone of voice. "You'd just make a mess of it anyway."
Shikaku is strong and fast when he wants to be. A blur of shadow and man and she finds herself pinned between him and the side of the table, his hands holding her wrists.
"Mouthy women ought to know their place," he tells her.
Yoshino smiles coyly up at him, tossing her hair with a defiant little shimmy.
"Oh?" she says archly. "Maybe for a real man. I wonder where I could find one of thos-"
It's his mouth that cuts her off and it's his shadow that locks the door.