Chapter 39: Puzzle Pieces

Ino’s room was deathly quiet. They had been sitting there for probably 10 minutes, and if someone had seen them through a window, they might have believed the two were paralyzed. This was lucky, tragic situation aside, because it meant when Hush came skittering into the room and up her arm Ino didn’t have to worry about anything they might’ve said being overheard. “You, are a very good boy!” Ino whispered to him, as he danced around on the back of her hand. Ino had practiced setting hush out in the hall and having him come inside when he saw someone. It usually worked.

Ino waved to catch Sakura’s attention. Pointing towards the hallway, she made a sneaky walking motion with her index and middle fingers and cupped her other hand to her ear. Then she rolled her eyes and said, “Gosh I hope Sasuke is ok. He must be so scared!”

Sakura caught on pretty quick. “He’s all alone, now isn’t he? I wonder if he has family friends he can go to. Or maybe he needs to be consoled by kids his own age…”

Ino gave her a ‘really?’ eyebrow and received an exasperated eye-roll. Sakura tended to overdo her acting. “Who could have done something like that?” She said after a moment. “I mean… that was our village’s entire police force, right? So that means we’re all at the mercy of whoever did this, doesn’t it?”

The question wasn’t quite so play-pretend as she had meant it to be. “No,” Sakura said slowly. “The Uchiha were the civilian police force. We still have the ANBU to protect us. Although to defeat all of the Uchiha… I don’t know.” She glanced at the hallway meaningfully, but Ino wasn’t done yet.

“I don’t think that’s totally true… I mean they definitely looked after the civilian sector, but I’m pretty sure they were involved in investigating shinobi too.” Ino said, now completely serious.

Sakura looked at her for a second and then shook her head and started to cry gently. Ino sat with her and cried a bit herself. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was crying about, but it didn’t matter. The important part was the release of the brain chemicals her parents had told her about, as it would allow her mind to reset. After a while Sakura gestured towards the hallway again and looked at her.

Ino shrugged and said “I’m gonna get a glass of water, do you want one?” The hallway was empty when she went out, which wasn’t a surprise. Frowning, she tried to think of a way that she and Sakura could talk in private. Her dad would certainly have to go help with the investigation, but her mom could spy on her just as easily. They would have no way of knowing for sure. And especially with what had just happened the village would be on lockdown. There was no way they were going to be left alone in a park for two hours.

Ino heard sound coming from the kitchen and made up her mind. Sakura’s parents were their best chance, but they needed a good reason for escaping. Fuyumi turned to her as she entered, asking, “How are you two holding up sweetie?”

Ino said, “fine” in the tone she knew would communicate not fine. She looked down at her feet for a few moments before looking up and saying, “Mom do you think we could go to a training ground or park or something? I don’t think either of us wants to sit inside with our thoughts right now…”

Fuyumi nodded sympathetically. “I know what you mean sweetie. Unfortunately, most public recreation areas are off limits for the next few hours or days.”

Perfect. “Maybe we could go to the library? Would that be safe? Then we could look at books and stuff.” Ino had a pretty good timid voice, having spent most of her waking moments with Sakura for the last few years.

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Her mom nodded, but Ino caught something in her posture. Her dad must have passed on his suspicions. “I’d be happy to take you and Sakura-chan. Go get ready and we can leave in 15 minutes.”

Welp. Usually when they went to the library Kizashi and/or Mebuki took them, which is what Ino had been counting on. Pushing it would only prove her parents’ suspicions correct though, and she did like going to the library anyways, so she gave a small smile and said, “thanks mom,” before going to tell Sakura.

When she got back to her room it looked like a hurricane had gone through it. Scrolls were everywhere. Sakura was scanning them all frantically, and for a second Ino thought to criticize her on overreacting, before the reality of the situation came crashing back and hit her over the head like a hammer, complete with a dizzy spell.

Sakura has been having prophetic dreams and we have been recording and cataloging them for two years.

“I can’t find anything about this in here.” Growled an obviously frustrated Sakura. “Not one mention of—”
“Sakuraaaaa!” Ino called out in a tone completely inappropriate for the situation. “My mom’s going to take us to the library! Let’s get our stuff together and get ready to go, we’ll leave in 10 minutes.” Ino’s face was grim and disapproving, despite her excited-careless-child tone.

Sakura was scowling at her in a way she rarely did. Ino could tell she was about to put her foot down, so she pre-empted her with a growl of her own. “I would be happy to involve my parents in this if you’d like.” Sakura froze. “I’m trying to get us to a place we can speak.” Ino whispered, giving her a consoling look. “We’re going to have to be patient.”

Sakura nodded, a grim look on her face. She glanced around the room, grabbing a few select scrolls and stuffing them into her bag. Ino caught her shoulders and looked her in the eye. She was shaking.

“Sakura,” Ino whispered as she pulled the stiff girl into a hug, “I’m panicking too. We’re going to get to the bottom of this I promise. We’ll sleep at your place tonight ok? So we just have to be strong for the next few hours.”

Tears were gathering in Sakura’s eyes and Ino hugged her again, letting Sakura cry for a few minutes, until she heard her mom calling from the foot of the stairs. She grabbed a handful of scrolls herself, and the two of them looked at each other one last time, steeling themselves.

“We’ve got this shit Sakura.” Ino said with a wry smile, and a laugh escaped Sakura’s lips, her seven-year-old friend’s profanity never ceasing to surprise her.

“Yeah. We’ve got this shii—haahaha.” The two of them giggled at her inability to get the word out before holding each other’s hands, grips firm, and walking out into a new and grim world.

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