A/N: So, next chapter is ~1/4 done. I think I can get it posted before Christmas, so that's what I'm gonna aim for!

And if I write more than that, well, who's gonna complain? We'll see how it turns out!

…also in today's news, I thought I had all of next week off for the holiday but it turns out I only have three days off so I'm sulking.

I SWEAR SHE SAID A WEEK AAAAAAA-

*cries*

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy!

Papa comes home exhausted, all but stumbling through the door and onto the couch.

Every request for training dies on Ino's lips as she sees her father melt into the furniture, pure exhaustion lining every inch of him.

Carefully, Ino moves forward until she can sit next to him.

"Daddy? Are you okay?"

Papa glances over at her question, a slight smile lighting his face. "Oh, Ino… I'm sorry flower, I was going to teach you today…"

Ino chews at her lip- her papa's exhausted, she can't just say what she wants to, she knows that's not fair-

"What happened…? Some sort of emergency?" she asks tentatively, half-expecting her father's oft-given answer of confidential.

So it's a bit of a surprise then, when he answers.

"Aaah, Team 7 brought me a mess again, as usual. I think they're alright, though it took more work than expected…"

Ino fights not to squeal. "Sakura's back? I haven't seen her since our Team assignments! Oooh she's had Sasuke-kun to herself for so long- I need to catch up-!"

"Ino- wait-!"

Ino almost stops, but-

Sakura.

And Sasuke-kun. She barely pauses enough to throw on her shoes before darting out, feet turning on pure instinct to Sakura's house.

She hasn't really… well.

They're rivals now, so she can hardly be expected to visit Sakura anymore, but-

Somehow, she didn't expect that getting their teams would mean never seeing Sakura again.

But there's always something and Sakura doesn't even try to talk to her and-

She expected the boasting, at least, about being on a team with Sasuke-kun, expected Sakura to come by the shop and buy flowers and gloat and then Sakura didn't and Ino was-

Maybe angry, a bit, that it felt like once she had Sasuke-kun Sakura was too good for Ino, didn't even try to pretend at their rivalry because she'd already won-

Ino's been avoiding Sakura, really, is it, because Sakura's been avoiding her.

But-

But then Sakura's team - S̶a̶s̶u̶k̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶m̶ - didn't even participate in the Chunin exams, not even in the first test, and-

Ino's not worried.

She isn't.

It's just- a little odd, is all.

And sure, the exams turned out to be really scary and the final exam's going to be worse because she won't have her team with her for it but-

Ino has a feeling that something is wrong with her friend rival, and she's tired of waiting on Sakura to come to her.

So she'll just have to figure it out herself, and then maybe tell Sasuke-kun aaaaaall about the exams later, because she got to participate and Sakura didn't and Sasuke-kun will want to hear everything-

Ino grins sharply as she knocks on the door to the Haruno household, rocking eagerly onto the balls of her feet.

The door swings open, and Ino leaps forward, hugging Sakura's mom. "Hey Haruno-san! I heard Sakura-chan's back from her trip! Do you know where they went? I hadn't even heard they left, my dad just came home from helping them with something, I haven't seen Sakura in aaaages, is she here? Did she take a bath, am I interrupting-?"

Haruno-san's fingers brush gently over Ino's shoulder, hesitant. "Th-they're back in the village?" she stutters out, voice wavering in hope and-

Oh no.

"Um… y-yeah? Daddy said they'd brought trouble back and he'd been helping them and- oh no, he told me to wait but I just ran out anyway- Is- Is Sakura-chan in the hospital? Ohmygod I'm so sorry I didn't know I should have-"

Haruno-san's arms come around her, tight and warm as she's wrapped up in a hug, and Ino eagerly returns it.

She's always liked Haruno-san's hugs.

She didn't miss them when she and Sakura became rivals.

She didn't.

"Aah, it's alright Ino-chan. Things have been… really complicated, I guess, I'm sorry- I thought your father would have told you. Why don't we go talk to him, ne? He'll know where to find everyone, I'm sure."

Ino nods, stepping back from the hug. "Yeah! Just because she got put on a team with Sasuke-kun doesn't mean she can avoid me forever! Let's go!"

Ino marches out, though she does pause to wait for Haruno-san to come out-

Huh? Is that Sakura's dad?

It's not like Ino's never met the man, but… only one or twice, back before she and Sakura were rivals.

And yet there he is, walking up with his wife looking both eager and worried and-

Something really big happened with Sakura and her team, didn't it…?

What Ino doesn't understand is why her daddy never said anything.

Even Haruno-san thought he would so… what's going on?

No way am I leaving without answers now!

Ino leads the Harunos eagerly back to her house, fully prepared to pester her father into answering no matter how long it takes. Her rivalry is on the line! And Ino's not going to lose, not to- to that billboard brow!

"I'm home!" Ino calls as she steps inside, slipping off her shoes.

"Ah, Ino-chan," her father starts, sounding so relieved- and then he freezes, turning the corner and making eye-contact with Sakura's parents.

Definitely something big, Ino confirms, eyes narrowed, as her dad sighs. She almost feels guilty for how his shoulders slump, but she's hardly going to take it back now when she knows something's wrong, so she crosses her arms and stares at him.

"Daddy? What's wrong with Sakura-chan?" she asks, eyes watering, and the tears are easy to fake when the concern is so real-

They're rivals, after all.

Of course she's worried.

Her dad slumps even more. "I really… can't tell you most of it, flower. But they're fine-"

"I want to see her."

Papa scowls, though Ino thinks it's not really directed at her. "I can't do that-"

"We'd like to see our kids, Inoichi-san." Sakura's dad says, voice not quite cold but definitely angry and what-?

Kids?

Did- Did Sakura-chan get-

No. No way.

She wouldn't-

Not with Sasuke-kun-

Not without-

Did- did something go wrong on a mission-?

Is that why-?

The tears aren't fake anymore, and Ino will admit she's panicking.

"Daddy- daddy what happened to Sakura-chan what happened why- what's wrong what happened- I need to see her I need- I- I-"

Her dad's suddenly there, arms wrapped around her and Ino needs to calm down, she can't get her dad to let her see Sakura-chan if she's not calm-

"-Ino, flower, she's safe, I swear she's safe- it's complicated but she's fine I don't know what you're thinking but I assure you she's fine, shh, shh-"

Ino stutters. "H-he said kids, it's been months, I h-haven't seen- not once- a-and there were those rumors about their first mission- what happened- what h-happened-"

Her dad freezes, whole body turning to a statue, Ino still cradled in his arms, before he sags.

"Oh Ino, no, no, nothing like that- we'd have told you- I'd have told you, we wouldn't have separated you if- it's just… it's classified, flower, and I can't speak about it without Hokage-sama's permission. Alright?"

If he weren't holding her up, Ino thinks she would have collapsed.

She's okay she's okay she's okay-

But why can't I see her?

Ino curls deeper into her father's arms.

"I need to see her- I need to daddy I need- I need to see her-"

"I can't believe you didn't tell her anything- has she spent all these months thinking Sakura didn't care anymore…?" Haruno-san murmurs worriedly, and Ino trembles slightly.

Something's wrong-wrong-wrong-

Ino extracts herself from her dad's hug, hastily wiping her eyes as she steps between Sakura-chan's parents.

She knows what confidential means, knows she can't just ask her dad to break his vows but-

But this is Sakura.

Her best-friend-turned-rival.

If something's wrong-

She has to try.

And Ino knows something is very very wrong.

Nothing she says can sway papa. She can't see Sakura at all, because Sakura is tied up in something big and confidential and-

She asks about Sasuke-kun.

Same answer.

After a long moment and a lot of dithering, she asks about Naruto. He's loud and annoying and really Sakura-chan deserves much better (but not Sasuke-kun. He's hers!) so his crush is irritating but-

Papa hesitates, then shakes his head. "And let you harass the boy into telling you everything? Ino, confidential means confidential. I'm sorry."

Ino stomps up to her room and slams the door, ignoring her father when he tries to talk to her.

She's not really angry, her dad's T&I, she's known what confidential meant since before she could walk.

But pretending to be angry will get him to leave her alone for a little while as she plans, because.

Her papa's T&I. And Ino is absolutely incapable of letting something go once she's curious.

She waits until papa leaves for work again, and sneaks out.

The Uchiha compound is empty (and maybe a bit spooky, but Ino's not going to say anything about it), and Naruto's apartment is… a disaster. Just stepping into it makes Ino feel like she needs a shower, she doesn't even want to know why Kiba knows where Naruto lives.

It's obvious no one's been home in a while.

It looks like it's been longer since Sasuke-kun was home than Naruto, though, and that-

The only way that makes sense is if whatever happened to Sakura and Sasuke-kun didn't happen to Naruto.

Ino wants to be angry at Sakura. Clearly she did something with Sasuke-kun, to get ahead of Ino.

Ino tells herself this, over and over.

…so why is she still more worried than angry?

Sakura did something, she had to have done something to Sasuke-kun, that's all, that's all it can be because-

Because-

Ino goes back to Sakura's house.

She shouldn't, because her father said it was confidential, but-

Ino can talk Sakura's parents into telling her, she knows she can-

S̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶s̶l̶i̶p̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶m̶i̶n̶d̶s̶,̶ ̶q̶u̶e̶s̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶c̶i̶v̶i̶l̶i̶a̶n̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶p̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶-̶

Ino shouldn't do this. She knows she shouldn't do this - she's a genin now, and she knows that means she can be arrested and tried for breaking a Classified restriction like this but-

She has to know.

She has to.

She slips in through Sakura's window - it's late enough they're probably asleep, and Ino can't be seen standing on the doorstep, or someone might talk to her dad-

And it's not the first time she's snuck in like this, anyway, she still remembers that time Sakura got grounded and Ino snuck her sweets and played quietly with her, getting shoved under the bed when Sakura's mom came to check on her-

She feels like a thief.

Creeping through Sakura's room, so different from when they were friends but still so undeniably Sakura-

Then through the hallway, and down to the other bedroom-

Her hand hovers over the doorhandle, and Ino questions, just for a moment, if she really should-

But she's come this far.

And Ino can't leave without knowing what happened to her f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶ rival.

She opens the door, slipping into the room with a shinobi's grace, eyes focused on the bed-

Only one person-?

An arm slams against her throat, pinning her back against the doorframe, and suddenly she remembers that Sakura's dad is a retired shinobi himself-

She squeaks, pushing a little at his arm, and sags in relief when he lets her go.

"Ino-chan? What are you doing here so late?" he asks, stepping back to give her space as Ino gets her breath back.

"I-I snuck out. Papa won't tell me w-what happened to Sakura-chan and-" She needs to stop babbling, needs to sound serious and maybe then someone will explain-

She catches a glimpse of concerned eyes as Mr. Haruno glances away, back towards his wife.

"Oh. I… I don't know, Ino-chan. We could get in a lot of trouble…"

He runs his hand through tangled pink locks, shifting away from her, and-

Ino hadn't really thought too much about it, that she wasn't the only one who would get in trouble for this but-

But she's come too far now.

"If I used my clan jutsu, and entered your mind… you're basically civilian, you couldn't get in trouble for that…" Ino offers, tentative, because for all that she'd considered it as an option-

She'll get in so much trouble-

Sakura's dad looks at her, face drawn and concerned, and-

He probably knows how bad that would be, for Ino, but-

"She's my friend," Ino admits, and as much as they're rivals, they're still friends - they have to be, and Ino's not going to deny it anymore- "I need to know. Please. I don't care how much trouble I'm in, b-but I need to know and no one's t-telling me anything-"

"Oh sweetie," Mrs. Haruno starts, slipping from the bed and wrapping Ino in a hug, "I know you're worried. We don't know much ourselves though… something happened just after the chunin exams started and we haven't been allowed to see them since…"

Ino latches onto the information with a vice grip. "Them? So… there's another kid…?"

Mrs. Haruno sighs. "C'mon," she offers, leading Ino to the bed, her arm never once dropping from around Ino's shoulders, "It's… it's a bit complicated."

Ino quickly finds herself tucked between Sakura's parents on the bed, biting back her impatience as they gather their thoughts and try to figure out what to say.

She's so close.

She's not going to make them change their minds by being rude and rushing them.

"It started back with the final test - where the jonin-sensei decides if they want to keep the team." Sakura's dad begins, face drawn in what Ino thinks is worry. "Kakashi-san used a genjutsu on Sakura, and when she broke out of it, she… wasn't Sakura anymore."

Ino bites her lip on an exclamation, unwilling to interrupt, but-

But-

That can't-

She clenches her fists, she never knew patience could hurt so much, and eventually he continues.

"Sakura was still there, apparently, your father learned. Trapped in her mind somehow, and nothing he did could get her out. The person in control of her body's a young man named Natsu, and he's as trapped as Sakura is - he and some friends were trying to defend from a powerful jutsu and he somehow got thrown into Sakura's body, and he's been looking for a way home ever since. He's- he's a good kid. Surprisingly skilled at your family's techniques, once he got the hang of them- he often takes Mebuki and I into their mindscape so we can talk to Sakura-chan. We're not supposed to tell anyone about Natsu. I think the official story, if we get questioned, is that once Sakura reached puberty she started questioning her gender and we're simply accommodating her… But like Mebuki said, we haven't been allowed to see Sakura or Natsu since just after the chunin exams started…"

Ino reels.

Sakura- got possessed?

She tries to imagine it, Sakura trapped in her own head, as some boy runs around in her body-

Ino shudders, curling into herself. "There- there has to be something we can do-"

Mrs. Haruno strokes her hair, and Ino leans into her. "It's not that simple - and Natsu isn't a bad kid, he- well. He could pass for Sakura's brother, really. He's fierce and determined, and so empathetic - sometimes, it's almost like Sakura just shed all her insecurities and found her own will of fire as you shinobi say…" she trails off with a smile, then glances back at Ino, fingers still stroking her hair, "And then he says or does something even Sakura at her most confident would never do, and I remember he's his own person, but… He fits, you know? There's… a space here for him, in this family, if he wants it… and you know what the biggest proof is?" Mrs. Haruno's grin widens, and Ino just barely bites back a question of since when were they trying to prove this "Natsu" was related to them- "Him and Sakura, their hair is the same shade of pink!" her voice lilts, teasing, as she taps at her head knowingly and-

Ino thinks about it, Natsu, and Sakura-chan, and their… situation.

And Ino knows that long-term possession is hard, because bodys tend to reject spirits that aren't their own if they linger too long.

She also knows that Yamanaka don't have that problem with each other, because being family helps, it reduces that strain, the closer the better.

But even if that's true-

It doesn't help Ino find her friend at all.

She curls her legs up onto the bed, only remembering at the last moment that she still has her shoes on.

"Sorry- sorry-"

"It's fine," Mrs. Haruno offers, "I can't imagine how hard it is to find out like this. We honestly thought your father would tell you something, at least, and it must have been so painful, thinking Sakura didn't want to see you anymore…"

Ino sniffles. "I just wanna talk to her…"

Mr. Haruno slumps. "We do too… Natsu's… a good kid, really, but he's also fairly high-strung and- I'm pretty sure that fire in the jonin apartment district was his fault. It happened just after he stopped coming home. I just- worry that he's getting into trouble, but they won't even let us talk to him and it doesn't really help…"

"Yeah…" Ino agrees, leaning into Mrs. Haruno. This is-

It's a lot more than she expected, and Ino doesn't know what to do with it all, and Sakura's probably somewhere in T&I and even if Ino knew where the offices were located she absolutely can't go looking, she's already going to be in so much trouble when her papa realizes what she did and-

Ino wants to see her friend again. She wants to call her names and get called names in turn and make fun of her for being on a team with Sasuke-kun for so long and still not being able to make any moves and-

And Ino can't do any of that.

She can't even hug her.

She-

Ino's never felt so useless.

Curling up in Mrs. Haruno's arms, she cries.

Tomorrow-

Tomorrow she'll come up with a new plan.

For now she just wants a piece of her friend. Just this much.

Sakura's mom hugs her fiercely, a gentle hand resting on her back that must be Mr. Haruno, and at some point, Ino falls asleep.

They're still curled up on the Harunos' large bed the next morning, when Inoichi Yamanaka knocks on the front door with sharp finality.