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ᗰOᑎᔕTEᖇ	By : Sessakag Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Naruto/Hinata Views: 44706 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 51
- 52
- 53
Chapter Fifty-Two
Reality

May 25, 2010

A woman was screaming, wailing a horrendous melody grating her ears. Ino wanted so desperately to cover them, to block out the painful ringing but…
She couldn’t move.
Her body felt heavy.
Her mind detached from the world around her.
People were yelling…shouting at each other….bellowing at her…
Their words were indiscernible, muffled and garbled. She couldn’t hear them…but the clatter of the blade dropping from her hand to the pavement below reverberated, louder than the shattering roar of a lion. Piercing the thundering circus around her.
She was shaking.
She didn’t know how she knew…
She couldn’t feel it.
Stiff, tense, her head moved mechanically on her neck, sweeping the scene from one side to the other. Her eyes felt stretched wide, beyond their capacity, and yet, she couldn’t really see anything around her…or rather, she couldn’t process any of it.
There was no fire…
No attack…
No broken buildings, running villagers or rampaging jubokko…
Konoha was intact and peaceful, disrupted only by the surreal circumstance she found herself in the midst of; kneeling as she was on the paved road behind a house in the residential district, hands bathed in the blood of an innocent…
“Sakura…?” she whispered, her confused gaze finding the woman she’d known a lifetime, “Sakura…?”
She didn’t know what she was asking. Her lips were moving without her dictation and the only name they could form was Sakura.
She was lost…
So lost.
“Oh god Ino,” Sakura wheezed, her ashen face the same pallor Ino had only seen on a corpse, “ohmygodohmygodohmygod…”
Shell shocked, the pinkette stumbled forward, steadying herself with a quaking hand on the blonde’s bloody shoulder as she knelt ungracefully, painfully jarring, on the asphalt. Ino could only stare as her friend reached towards the child, healing chakra flowing from her palms. Her arms were shaking, her lips trembling, emerald orbs wide and haunted. Beneath the trance of the macabre world teeming around her, Ino could only watch the strange scene before her. She traced the little figure, all bloody and broken. Noting the wine colored stains in her pretty pink dress. Lingering on the glinting chestnut curls framing a cute pixie face splotched in carmine droplets.
Vibrations pinged her ears.
Talking. Harsh words.
Whispers. Horrified gasps.
Sobbing. Unfathomable anguish.
Rage. Explosive venom.
They drifted about her, these blazing sensations, their force and fury great, yet unable to pierce the numbness wrapped around her consciousness.
A man landed next to the two kunoichi.
Dazed blue eyes moved to the figure.
Green vest…
Leaf headband…
Shinobi…
“Sakura-san, what in God’s name-”
Another figure emerged, from where, she didn’t know.
Grey flak jacket…
Lion mask…
Anbu…
Two more appeared, same vest…
Different masks…
“T-take her,” the medic commanded, her once steely confident voice broken and wobbly, “back to containment-I can’t…I have to-I need one of you to stay and h-help me deal with this…”
Her bestie spoke between great gulps of air, her chest rising and falling quickly, painfully; the last few words wheezing from her lips.
Ino didn’t fight the restraining hands wrapping tightly around her arms.
She didn’t blink as she was lifted from the cold hard ground.
Nor did her dilated eyes shift from the little figure lying disturbingly still, nestled within a scarlet puddle on the pavement as she was whisked away.
xxxxxx
“What do you remember?”
Arms crossed and leaning against the wall nearest the window, Naruto and kyuubi tuned their attention to the man on the hospital bed. Eyes burning with compassion and concern, Hinata sat next to her weary teammate, her pale hands enveloping one of his. Hours after the well wishers and happy visitors had been ushered from the room, a select few remained to hear a first hand account from Shino. The Hokage himself, Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata, and Shibi Aburame remained. Exhausted, a bit dizzy and sluggish, the former shinobi had been cleared for an interview surrounding the mission that had carried him so far from Konoha and the events leading up to his injuries.
Naruto was certain the slumping of his shoulders, the hollowness in his eyes, and the slouched posture in his form had more to do with the crushing news he’d received.
Three hours before Kiba had come banging on their door, Shino had roused from his coma.
With his father at his side, he’d learned the devastating reality he was to face day after day. Naruto wondered if they could have given him more time before laying it out the harsh reality, a few days to orient himself before pulling the rug from his feet…but, the Jinchuuriki knew why that wasn’t a reprieve Shino had been granted. Even if the doctor hadn’t revealed the tragedy that was his ruined chakra network, his body would have. Being in tune with one’s self was a fundamental concept ingrained in every ninja. Knowing your baseline, physically, spiritually, was taught as early as Academy days. A seasoned, detailed orient shinobi like Shino would realize there was something horribly wrong the moment he woke.
Transfusion to maintain his failing chakra system were mandatory.
Since rousing, he’d already been through three chakra transfusions and would continue to receive them every hour on the hour until the meds kicked in fully.
That alone was enough to warrant a prompt explanation.
Most compelling of all, a reality no one could shield him from was the painful realization that his insects were gone. Shino, who loved his creepy crawlies more than anything would feel their loss the moment he opened his eyes.
No…
There was no grace period for the injured civilian.
“From the time you arrived in Suna,” Kakashi continued, “start there.”
“I remember…bits and pieces, my recollection is fuzzy, even missing in places, but I can remember my initial arrival. I was uncomfortable beneath the heat, but as I traveled, I felt a discomfort that was not a consequence of the scorching climate. There was something strange,” his dark brows crinkled, brown eyes far away, “in the desert…”
Naruto straightened, rapt cerulean gazed fixed on his friend.
“Which region of the desert? What area?” Shikamaru probed.
The furrow in his forehead deepened.
“The Desert of No Return.”
The Hokage and his adviser shared a telling glance.
“What do you mean by ‘something strange in the desert’?”
Glassy eyed, deeply troubled and puzzled, Shino’s face telegraphed an internal struggle with his memory and maybe…something more disturbing.
“My insects-”
Discomfort, deep sympathy filled the room as the abrupt cut off resounded. Hinata gave the trembling hand within her grip a tender squeeze, sadness, benevolence bringing a watery sheen to her pearlescent gaze. Naruto’s own chest ached, barely able to watch the heartbreaking pain etched on the wounded shinobi’s face.
Composed.
Stoic.
Reserved.
Impassivity mimicking the mannerisms denoting a robot.
Those were the adjectives, the description he had always assigned to Shino and his father, but in that moment, their shared yet voiceless grief was so profound, so all encompassing it hurt his goddamn soul to stand witness.
“Take your time, Shino,” Kakashi solemnly remarked, his dark eyes burning with a profound understanding and unvarnished compassion.
Several moments passed, time in which his lover spoke quietly to the broken man on the bed, her gentle hands stroking his hand, several tears tracing her cheeks. Shino listened but spoke not a word. Jaw clenched so tight Naruto feared it would snap; his head nodded here and there as her melodious words flowed over him.
“My insects…” he began again, his voiced hushed, eyes painfully dulled, “began behaving strangely at the border. There was a low frequency, nearly indiscernible pulsation beneath the sand disrupting their ability to…communicate with me. To follow commands.”
Strain lined his face.
“I remember…crossing the border but, not of my own volition. It was as though I had been placed under a trance.”
He trailed off, lost in thought, dark eyes glazing once more.
It had to have been 504. What else other than that fucking tree and that fucking song could be responsible for Shino’s experience. Site 9 was below that forbidden desert. It was the only explanation that made sense in given the circumstances.
“You entered the Land of No Return in a trance like state,” Kakashi prompted, “how far were you lured? What were you lured to? What happened after?”
“Nothing.”
Naruto blinked.
“Nothing?” the Hokage repeated.
“I walked a few feet beyond the safe zone before the lure snapped and my senses returned. I retreated the moment I regained control of my body. I then traveled the outskirts and found tracks I believed were distinct and may belong to Shukaku. I sent word and began to follow the trail.”
His story was…
Anticlimactic to say the least.
While he was happy that 504 hadn’t gotten its sticky limbs on his friend, the tale left him a bit disturbed and in need of more detail. Strange enough that Shino was effected by the song, but for nothing to have come of it other than a few steps into the desert?
It seemed odd to him.
Really odd.
“Did you notice anything different about yourself as you trailed Shukaku?” Shibi questioned, “any changes to your chakra network specifically?”
“No. Throughout my surveillance and leading up to the rendezvous with the Anbu, I was unhindered and unchanged.”
Surprising…
With Shukaku effected by 504 and Shino being in close proximity to the tanuki, Naruto thought maybe the bijuu had picked up something from his visit near site 9 and thus was the source of Shino’s chakra network being turned into swiss cheese.
Clearly that wasn’t the case.
“What happened before you made it to the meet up location? Along side your current injury, your esophagus sustained extensive damage. Do you remember what happened to your throat. Were you attacked? Perhaps consumed something while foraging that may have caused the trauma?”
Silent contemplation, concentrated memory sifting brought another long pause in the debrief.
“I cannot remember. My memory ends two days before I was to trade off with the Anbu. I was near a stream refilling my canteen and then nothing. My memory beyond that is blank.”
“And that’s all you remember?”
Another pause, quiet contemplation before a slow, nod answered the Hokage’s question.
“Shukaku, any actual siting beyond the tracks?”
“Once, on the final stretch of desert leading from Suna. He burrowed beneath the sand before I was able to make contact. Following that sighting, I have only seen tracks; sand prints, trees toppled in his wake, reports from the few villages he’s passed through.”
Sharing a glance with his fiancée at the news, Naruto felt a knot unfurl from his stomach.
Shukaku was out there somewhere, stomping around like a zombie, but alive.
“Then I suppose that all for now. We’ll have a Yamanaka take a look into your memory. Perhaps its locked away from you, but accessible to them.”
They spent another half hour with Shino after the debriefing ended and the Hokage along with his adviser and Shibi, left. While it was hardly the way the desired to tell him, his dark eyes studying the sparkling diamond on her finger had announced a pretty significant event that had taken place in his absence. Muted, melancholy and so deflated it nearly brought the blonde to tears, Shino expressed his happiness, his approval for their impending nuptials. Inquiring when the big day was; and so, they spent a few minutes talking about the wedding plans with him. By the time his next transfusion began, Shino not only seemed extremely tired, he seemed…uninterested in further conversation.
He’d always been a bit quiet, but this was different.
He was seeking solitude and told them so following his transfusion.
Reluctant to leave him in his current state, in the darkness that seemed poised to swallow him whole, the compassionate Uzumaki and his equally compassionate wife-to-be, enfolded him as long as an embrace as they dared, whispered words of encouragement and offers to help anytime, anyway before parting with their friend.
They traveled from the hospital fairly quiet for several minutes before coming to the decision that they should probably get back to preparing for their rapidly approaching union. They still needed to pick out tuxes, still need to go cake testing, and still needed to confirm minor and major details. With the heaviness in their lives, Naruto was more than a little disappointed that the overwhelming joy they usually felt when running wedding errands remained absent throughout their ripping and running.
Their return home was just as solemn.
Dinner no lighter.
By bedtime, all he wanted was to lie down, wrap his arms around his woman, and shut the world out.
And even in that, life’s many trials and tribulations reared their ugly head.
“Naruto-kun…”
Drowning in one of his shirts, her pretty lavender eyes holding tenderness and stubbornness, Hinata patted his side of the mattress, entreating him to take his place beside her.
He sighed, the exhale ending in a pout.
“I don’t want to take the chance of hitting you again.”
Giving him a soft look that warmed his insides, Hinata stroked the spot designated for him as she spoke.
“Remember back when I was sick?”
How could he forget?
That simple ‘cold’ had ravaged them both. Her physically. Him emotionally.
“I woke you up in the middle of night with body blows and a slap to the face with my thrashing around.”
He shrugged.
“So?”
“So its not something to beat yourself up about, Naruto-kun. Neither one of us meant to hit each other. When we’re asleep, we’re not exactly in control of what happens. You knew that when I struck you that night, and not once did it deter you from sleeping beside me. This is no different. I’m not afraid to sleep next to you,” she told him softly, before giggling, “I hit you, you hit me, call it even.”
He frowned.
“That’s not funny, dattebayo. I don’t care about you hitting me, I care about me hitting you.”
Disapproval turned her lips down.
“I care about hitting you too.”
“Well yeah, I know you do, sweetheart, I’m just saying, the time you hit me doesn’t feel like the same as when I hit you last night. Its buggin me, dattebayo.”
He sighed, ruffling his hair with another frown. He sat down at the edge of the bed, eyes finding hers as he spoke.
“I don’t know how to explain it but, its just…not right, ya know. I don’t care why it happened. I can’t stand that it did happen and I damn sure don’t want it to happen again. I’m just…trying to make sure you’re safe, dattebayo. I don’t want you hurt.”
Her frown deepened and that succulent bottom lip jutted out as she wrapped her arms around him, craning her beautiful face up for his viewing pleasure.
He already knew it was gonna be his downfall.
“Oiiii, Hinata, I thought I told you pouting was my thing,” he chided, his own lips pursing.
Opal, adorable kitten eyes gazed at him, a silent plea swirling in lavender. He sighed, the arms around his middle expanding and contracting along with the inhalation and exhalation.
“And she using those pretty puppy eyes,” he grouched to himself, “alright, Princess. I’ll shut up about it, but just know I’m not happy about it.”
She grinned, smiling like a love sick ninny.
Despite the stress in his gut about sleeping next to this glorious creature, his own lips stretched into a goofy, equally love sick grin.
Giving her a infatuated peck on the lips, he let another huff leave his lips.
“Why you gotta be so goddamn cute, woman?”
She laughed, face luminous with hilarity and joy, cheeks flushed with happiness and embarrassment.
What a enchanting combination for the enchantress in his arms.
xxxxxx
“Who…” Sakura swallowed hard, her knotted stomach heaving, “do we know…her name. Who her parents are?”
She could look at the little girl lying on the gurney. If she turned her sore, red rimmed eyes to that tiny form she was going to lose it. A frail, tenuous strand held together her sanity. She wasn’t grounded, the world around her was laden in mind numbing surrealism she was ill equipped to handle.
She was a shinobi.
She was doctor that witness death frequently.
Both demanded strength in mind and body.
Endurance and calm under pressure.
But right now, in this moment, in this situation, she felt like a traumatized innocent just experiencing the harsh realities of the world. Woefully, pitifully unprepared for the rapid, horrendous sequence of events that were all to often a feature of life rather than uncommon occurrences.
Training.
Experience.
Her own inner tenacity implied she should be handling this nightmare calmly, collectively, nearly dispassionately.
That her hands were supposed to be steady, not shaking.
Her insides settled, not queasy and twisted.
Her heart beat steady, not racing a thousand miles per minute, pounding harder than hammer on a stubborn nail.
Didn’t matter that she’d seen terrible things in her life, had done terrible things in her life.
This was different.
This was her friend. Her best friend.
And yet…Ino had…
To a child-
“No.”
The answer to her question startled the frazzled jonin. For the first time since she stepped into the room, Sakura met the dark eyes within the Anbu’s mask. She knew her emerald depths looked haunted, but the ones peering back at her held the dispassionate detachment she longed for.
“We’ve secured the witness, and searched their memories before wiping this incident. The child does not belong to anyone present at the scene.
“Memory wipe?” she repeated hollowly.
“Per Hokage-sama’s orders.”
A pregnant pause filled the room. Sakura stared sightless at the far wall.
“Right…” she whispered, “of course. Where’s Ino now? Has she-”
“Sedated and contained. She’s scheduled for another round of purging, comprehensive evaluation and further treatment.”
“And her memory of the…incident.”
“I am unable to give you an answer. Her current mental state may not be stable enough to risk tampering with her memory. For now, Hokage-sama has ordered the first three steps for Ino Yamanaka. Following treatment, a final determination will be made regarding her memories.”
Sakura nodded, swallowing the sick in throat.
It’d be better if she never knew…what she had done.
God…
Sakura herself wanted her own memories removed.
How was she supposed to be alright after…what had happened…
How was she supposed to look her best friend in the face knowing what she knew?
Reliving that day over and over again every time she looked into those blue eyes.
xxxxxx
May 29, 2010

“Naruto-kun.”
He stopped and turned, reaching out a hand to the female striding towards him. His fellow jonin continued on, though a few called a greeting to his fiancée before they left. He kissed her mouth, then laced their fingers as they followed after the crowd, the pace far more sedate.
“How’s Shino today?”
Naruto hadn’t had a chance to visit again in the last two days. Between training sessions with his genin, pouring over site 9 and details about the Akechi lab; dubbed site 10, sweeping the village for any sign of that buzzing abnormality,
With a sad sigh, Hinata shook her head.
“His father says he’s been having nightmares. They’re awful…so awful that he…he screams,” she said quietly, “and…he’s always clawing at himself…his throat, his stomach…like there’s something inside him that he wants out bad enough to dig through his skin. I think…maybe something did happen to him out in the desert. Those injuries, his nightmares…”
Naruto felt the same.
“Did the Yamanaka take a look at him yet?”
She nodded.
“It took some time since so many have been sick while helping Ino, but two of them went through his memories. Just like Shino, they see bits and pieces after the…trance part happens. They see him traveling to different places but its so brief its barely even a memory. Just flashes of landscapes, sunlight or the darkness of night. Then, a complete black out two days before the rendezvous until he woke up at the hospital.”
His frown deepened.
“They don’t see any sign of repressed or hidden memories, just…blankness,” she gripped his arm, upset splayed on her pretty face, “Naruto-kun, I think he may have had contact with the Otsutsuki, or maybe 504, it did something to his chakra network and his memory.”
“I think so too, dattebayo,” he replied, “it doesn’t make sense for him to have gone out there and have all this happen after. I’m sure Kakashi-sensei is thinking the same thing.”
She nodded.
“Though he hasn’t come out and stated so directly, Hokage-sama seems to be treating this as an encounter with the Otsutsuki. I brought my concerns to him before I came here and he told me that my suspicions are within the realm of possibility, that he’s already informed Shino’s father to notify him immediately if he remembers any instance of being in the presence of an Otsutsuki or 504.”
“Then we’ll have to wait and hope Shino can remember what actually happened,” Naruto grouched.
“Unfortunately.”
“Any word on Sakura-chan and Ino? I thought Ino was getting better, at least that’s what Choji said, but I haven’t seen her since we brought her back from Suna, and now Sakura-chan is missing too.”
Hinata shook her head as they took the hall to the left.
“I haven’t seen them either. I looked for Choji to see if perhaps he knew what was going on, but he’s been out on a mission since the day he told us he heard Ino was beginning to recover. Since then, I haven’t seen either of them. Maybe they’re still purging despite the upturn in her condition, and if she is finally clear, I’m sure she’ll have some…psychological recovering to do as well.”
He hummed his agreeance as they neared the meeting room.
Ino would definitely need some time to recoup. He had just started sleeping without waking up swinging his fists. Last night was the first time he’d slept until morning. While he held hope that his night terrors were beginning to subside, there was no guarantee that they had. Maybe it was just his fear of hurting his lover that kept his body from acting out physically. He couldn’t really remember his dreams when he woke up, and the fact that Kurama hadn’t said anything about them also drove him towards optimism.
“Well, hopefully she’s doing better, and we can see her soon, dattebayo.”
“Hopefully.”
They stepped inside the room, took their seats beside each other and listened in.
‘He knows what we have done.
He knows the horrors we have committed.
The atrocities we forced upon Sylvana’s daughters.
He is angry.
Angry that we have not presented him with our harvest. Angry that we have gained power that threatens his own. Angry that we evolved while he lay dormant.
He craves his own harvest, and he intends to have it.
And what better essence to harvest than its source.
What better being to harvest than Sylvana herself…’
xxxxxx
June 2, 2010

She was drifting in darkness.
Awash and coasted inside a steady stream radiating warmth. A steady drum beat reached her ears, vibrations slid over her skin.
There was a pulse around her, soft and lulling, quiet and thundering.
So familiar, this staccato beat.
She hated it.
She couldn’t stand that rhythmic thumping.
Like a pounding heart near on the brim of exploding.
It reminded her of them.
Of that insatiable hunger eating away at her insides. Feasting, gnawing, tearing apart her insides. Their pulse beating wildly as they consumed her. She remembered those endless days, those never ending nights.
The slow trickle that was time within that caccon. The torment flaying ever corner of her being, a constant hellish pain that permeated her soul until she couldn’t feel her body anymore. Losing that connection to her physical form had not stopped her from feeling them. Nothing could stop her from experiencing their invading presence.
Their movements, their ravaging teeth. Their gluttonous consumption that could never be sated.
Emptiness that could never be filled.
She remembered the fight leaving her, her resistance slowly morphing into…acceptance.
Elation.
She remember reasoning that she had to feed them, that the fodder; they needed her.
She remembered smiling through the pain.
Bloodied lips stretched as agony shredded her rib cage, smile growing even wider as they tore throuh her chest.
‘This was as it should be,’ she’d thought.
She was among them. She was of them. She was the fodder. This was natural. To eat and eat and eat.
This pain was beautiful.
This horrendous torture an honor.
This chewing frenzy beneath her skin was the most delicious agony.
She hadn’t wanted to leave. As saving hands tore her from that cocoon, Ino had fought to stay, hanging on with every ounce of strength she had to no avail.
And that’s what scared her the most.
Her desire to remain in endless suffering at their hands…
Terrified, Ino clawed her way from darkness, straining for consciousness, her blue eyes snapping open the moment she crested.
Blinding light and a stark white ceiling filled her vision.
Her gaze darted left then right, sensations slowly unfurling along her senses. Warm sweat slicked her skin, her dry tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, fear coiled in her stomach. She felt tired, anxious and wired…strangely…disturbingly, her heart was unbothered. Slow, stead, eerily calm to her ears, the beat in her chest was at odds with the potent emotions racing through her mind and body.
A door opened, snapping her from her quiet daze.
Turning tired eyes to the forming entering the room, recognition of who it was came to her frighteningly slowly.
Sakura…
It was Sakura joining her in the sparse, hospital room replica.
Their eyes met across the room.
Ino stared, watching the kaleidoscope of emotions flutter within her regard before they settled abruptly.
There was something in her glittering eyes.
A terrible gleam.
A brokenness that hurt her own heart.
“Ino do you-”
Her bubble gum haired friend stopped abruptly, her lips trembling, a fine sheen to her green eyes. She looked pale…sickly. A hair from losing what little composure she held. Feeling oddly detached, the blonde felt her eyes, even her mind begin to wonder. Tracing the lines above, Ino moved her eyes along the creases between the square shaped patterns.
Down…
Intersecting cross…
A shaky breath reached her ears.
Up…
Intersecting cross…
Left….
“Ino,” her friend sniffled.
Right…
Left…
A second trembling exhale.
This wasn’t like her.
Sakura was clearly upset.
More distressed than she’d ever seen her before. She was supposed to feel a resounding ache in her own chest for this woman fighting tears. She was supposed to ask her what had upset her so, what she could do to help shoulder what must be a terrible burden on the medic nin’s shoulders, and yet, the pattens above held her attention with an intensity so at odd with their inanimate unimportance.
Down…
Intersecting cross…
Left…
Intersecting cross….
“Ino…” she called softly.
With more effort than it should have taken, the sluggish Yamanaka turned her gaze to her friend.
“Do you remember what happened…last week?”
Last week?
What day was it?
“I don’t…remember anything. I don’t remember today. I don’t remember yesterday. I can’t remember anything after I was pulled from the fodder,” the blonde droned quietly.
Blue orbs swiveled to emerald.
“I don’t know what you mean by last week Sakura,” her brows crinkled, a measure of unease fluttering through her lagging mind, “how long have I been awake?”
That sickly pallor returned to her friend’s cheeks.
“Almost two weeks ago, a team of Yamanaka managed to break through the fodder’s hold and you were…calm enough to forgo further sedation. Do you remember that?”
Ino strained for the memory and found it.
“Yes…” she murmured, “I spent time in intensive therapy, Yamanaka style of course.”
Those hours had been grueling, but so necessary. As much as she hadn’t wanted to speak about her feelings beneath the fodder’s repugnant presence, she had to. Emotional trauma was bad, holding in emotion trauma was crippling.
Psyche 101.
Never allow trauma to fester.
Confront it, acknowledge it and purge it from your mind.
She’d cried, yelled, agonized, and wept until she felt empty and more rung out than an old rag. Then she talked about her fear, her terror and listened to the rationale provided to combat each one. She’d learned the truth of what happened to her, what had come out of her mouth on that tape at site 9, and while it had been beyond scary, beyond overwhelming, knowing exactly what happened had given her much needed relief.
She wasn’t in the dark, playing the guessing game.
Inserting horrific answers in the voids she couldn’t fill.
She was educated and aware of everything that took place at site 9.
“And after?” her friend asked, her voice strangely hoarse, “do you remember…being released?”
Sunlight caressing her skin.
Sky blue than the vivid ocean.
Busy streets, the happy sounds of village life.
“I think so. We…we walked around the village right? We were going to that cafe…on the way there, we were walking…” her brows crinkled as she tugged at the memory, “we were walking…”
Sweat beaded her skin, discomfort flayed her skin.
They were walking and…?
“I…I don’t know,” she wheezed with a shake of her head, “I don’t know what happened, I don’t know.”
She was shaking again, her pulse felt as though it was thundering but the slow pounding in her chest contradicted the adrenaline coursing through her.
She was out of sync.
Physically. Mentally.
“Sakura,” she whispered, turning burning, desperate orbs to the stressed woman next to her, “I think…something’s wrong with me.”
Eyes softening, Sakura reached for her hands, infusing her with comfort.
With strength.
“I’m scared Sakura.”
“I’m scared too, Ino,” she replied, “but…we’ll get you through this. I swear, it’s going to be alright…you just…you need help, okay?”
Ino swallowed, alarm bells ringing.
The way she said that…
“Sakura-”
“Lie back down,” the pinkette instructed quietly, “I’ll give you a quick physical and then the Yamanaka will be here to examine you, maybe have you go through another purge if necessary.”
Her stomach churned.
“Sakura, I don’t want-”
“It’s alright, Ino,” she soothed, turning for the bedside table, “I know its hard for you to…deal with being touched. I have a mild sedative that’ll help you through this. It’ll keep you calm long enough for me to finish my exam. Don’t worry.”
Though she couldn’t see it, Ino gave a relived nod.
Caresses…
Strokes to her skin…
She couldn’t stand it. The sensations were too much like the slither beneath her flesh. It was maddening, not being able to stand such contact, almost as much as it was having to endure it.
Sakura turned, needle in hand.
Ino once again traced the ceiling patterns, dimly aware of the alcohol swab circling a small area on the fatty portion of her upper arm.
The small pinch of needle piercing her flesh barely registered as a sensation.
After what she’d endure with the fodder, this was less than nothing.
Calmness seeped into her veins, spreading rapidly with each pulse of her veins.
That fact that she had to go to such links…that she couldn’t handle a simple touch with a freaking the fuck out shamed her to no end.
She felt weak.
Pathetic.
What must her friend think of her?
What would Sai think when he-
Her jaw tightened.
“Sorry, Sakura,” she whispered.
“What are you apologizing for? This…none of this is your fault okay? None of this…you didn’t ask for any of this, you didn’t want any of this…it just…it just happened okay. It’s not your fault.”
Hearing a tremor in that threadbare proclamation, she turned her gaze back to her friend. There were tears in her eyes, a heartbreak swirling within her depth.
An echoing ache bloomed in her chest.
“Let’s get your exam done,” the medical nin said, wiping at the moisture.
Nodding, Ino relaxed as her physical began. Cold hands touched her skin. Though she felt weepy and shaky, Ino found it in her to joke.
“Jeez, billboard brow,” she sniffled, “you couldn’t have warmed your hands up first?”
Quiet laughter.
“Sorry, Ino-pig, somehow, warming my hands up before making sure you’re not suffering some undetected side effects from that disgusting alien parasite that lived inside your head for far too long, didn’t cross my mind.”
Dry humor twisting her lips, Ino closed her eyes as strong hands carefully palpitated her limbs.
“Point taken.”
The examination was thorough and impersonal, working meticulously from the tips of her toes and up. Sakura bent, flexed, and moved her joints around, her motions sure and careful. Ino held back a snort when she found her ribs, the soft brushes tickling her. Sakura moved on fairly quickly, centering on her abdomen next. She pressed down on her soft underbelly in several places.
Middle.
Upper left and right.
Lower left and right.
She paused at her chest, her palm flat over her sluggishly beating heart for several moments before moving on.
She cupped her jaw next, turning her head one way then the other.
She slid along, then down her delicate jaw, her thumbs brushing her carotid artery.
Slender fingers wrapped around her throat…and squeezed.
Jolted into panic, Ino’s eyes snapped open as she gripped the wrist connected to the iron hands strangling the oxygen from her lungs.
Terrified baby blues clashed with empty emerald.
Desperate nails dug into flesh, wide eyes staring in disbelief at the woman she’d know her entire life, the person she felt closest to, squeezing the life from her.
xxxxxx
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, please don’t forget to review!
Now for some announcements, lol.
So as we near then end of Monster and head towards its follow up, I realized something…I’m pretty sure I’m going to need another part after that. Sooooo, um, this is gonna be a trilogy. I’m calling this series ‘Metamorphosis’.
I feel like its an appropriate label for what I have planned.
Also, I wanna give the chapters titles considering the next fic will have them, so I’ll be going back and assigning them to old chapters and continue the trend in new chapters. I can never just leave things be, lol. Always wanting to improve upon everything I do. Perfectionism is a bitch sometimes but it’s gonna be more of a bitch if I don’t do it (this note is old, lol. I actually already did it. Took a whole day and omg was I so done afterwards)
That’s all for now
Laters
Sessakag~
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