Gerimis

Location : Konoha Mall

Ino was just coming out of the ladies restroom when she heard the smash of glasses and panicked shouting of a nearby female. She rushed into the mall and searched for the source of the commotion. There were not many people at the mall so she easily located the source of terror, the jewellery store. Calming herself, she assessed the situation, while pulling a set of keys and a fork from her bag. She threw her bags aside to free her hands. She could see the security guard already slumped at the side while the salesperson in the jewellery store crouched in fright.

She could see three burly men about 6-7 feet tall in the jewellery store, all dressed in black . She noticed that the men look almost identical in built and started plotting attacks in relative to their size and what they were doing currently. The first and second men were busy shoving trays of jewelleries into two black bags, and the third guy was standing with his back to her. Ino, cracked her knuckle and placed the keys in the bunch in between her fingers, so they would protrude in between her fingers when she fists her hand. Then, the third guy turned around and Ino could see a girl in his hold squirming to escape with a gun aimed at her head. The guy barked orders to the few people in the mall to not interfere. Ino changed her attack plot slightly and nodded to herself as she waited for the guys to pack the jewelleries in the bags and make their escape. In this situation saving the hostage is top priority.

In less than a minute the men took what they could and started escaping. The third man dragged the now panicking hostage in his hold towards the exit, making sure his counterparts leave first unscathed. But then the hostage somehow managed to bite hard on the man, causing the man to yell from surprise and whipped the gun on her head. The hostage fell lifelessly onto the floor and the man kicked her aside. Ino recognized the girl and her blood boiled instantly.

The robber started running away but was stopped in his tracks when a dart hit his chest. At the same time Ino had started running towards him, she delivered a kick to the man's guts and he bent over, she swiftly kicked the men's knees from behind and he was now kneeling on the floor. She quickly bent down and grabbed the man's hair and proceeded to punch him, she punched him once, but he was now flailing helplessly.

"Ino, enough!"

She looked up and saw Sai approaching her. When did he arrive? She turned to the robber and as his head lolled in her grip, she let go of the man and he fell down with a thud. She instinctively wiped her hands onto her skirt.

"I shot him down with one of Pein's sleeping beauty concoction, he should be unconscious now. Attend to the hostage now."

She nodded to Sai and proceeded to the check the unconscious girl's pulse, people in the mall were beginning to crowd around her. Nodding to Sai, they each took each one of Naruko's arm and slung it on their shoulder and lift her up. The security guards have appeared and Sai nodded to them and they proceeded to approach the terrified jewellery store's employees and help clear way for them. One security guard helped escort them to the lift as they make way to the cinema.

Naruko opened her eyes as she felt her head warmed by a flow of something soothing. Her eyes fluttered open and at first she could only see brightness in front of her, instinctively she closed her eyes and scrunched her forehead from the harsh rays. Harsh because she was just regaining consciousness.

The second time she opened her eyes she saw a porcelain skinned being in black hair looking directly at her. He or she was wearing white and for a second she thought she was in heaven. She closed her eyes and thought "Are you an angel coming to get me?"

She tried moving but her body was held down by someone. The warm flow of soothingness continues to flow into her pain, gradually making her sleep.

"Sleep Naruko." A voice ordered her.

The flood of warmth, like love, like calm flooded her and she lost herself to sleep. She felt exhausted and in a fleeting second was glad she at least died in soothingness.

Sai pulled into the mall's drop off point and exited the car, leaving the car's door ajar, Sasuke got out of the passenger's seat and moved into the driver's seat. He had to play passenger today because he didn't bring along his probationary driver's license. But the least he could do is practice his parking skills after dropping off Sai.

As Sasuke closed the car's door, Sai placed a hand on top of the car's roof and bowed a little to speak to Sasuke.

"Red, Itachi's going to be so proud of you when he knows you backed his car into a wall today," he said with that not so genuine smile of his, the one with none of his teeth showing.

Sasuke ignored Sai's remark and placed the gear into drive mode so he could proceed to park the car at the indoor parking lot. He pressed the brake and looked to the car's right and left for anyone crossing the road. Seeing no one and no car, he stepped on the gas pedal but just before his foot touched the pedal he hear Sai's shout.

Sasuke quickly stepped on the brake and parked the car, he turned his head back and saw Sai on the ground wrestling with a black clad man. The man sprayed pepper spray on Sai and Sai shielded his face. Another guy a few metres from the black clad man, went down to pick up a bag and ran off. Two security guards ran after the running man.

"Stop him, he robbed a store!"

Sai had managed to headlock the guy he was wrestling with and called to Sasuke.

"Immobilize the other. I'll handle this."

Sasuke nodded to Sai and immediately ran after the running guy. The man was now at the end of the parking lot which was surrounded by a six foot wall. He threw the bags over the wall and followed suit, now the guy is out of sight. Sasuke, backed a few metres and ran forward towards the wall switching on his Sharingan. He gained momentum, flowed chakra into his hands and climbed the wall as quick as he can. Upon getting on top of the fence he searched around for the man, who was throwing bags of his loot into an unmarked black car. The man saw Sasuke jumping down the wall and shouted.

"Now Now!"

The car sped off, with the passenger's door open. The man ran along beside the car, jumped in and slammed the passenger door shut. Sasuke jumped down and ran after the car. He flowed chakra into his legs, and his speed increased enabling him to pounce onto the car's back bonnet. Being dragged behind a car driven haphazardly through a city was not on his menu today, so he climbed onto the car and managed to reach the rear car window. Using extra chakra he flowed it into his fist and smashed the rear window and climbed inside. The man sitting at the back started

The driver shouted, "Get the f**k off, you s** of a b****."

Sasuke managed to kick the crotch of the man sitting on the back seat and the man bended over in pain. He open the car's door and kicked the man out, and he placed himself behind the driver's seat. The driver turned in horror at his partner being incapacitated and accelerated the car without noticing that he was about to drive into a wall. Sasuke, grabbed for the man's head and switched on his level 1Beta-Genjutsu protocol. He looked into the driver's eyes and willed the man to press the brakes. The man braked and the car came to a stop, only a mere inches from hitting the brick wall.

When the car stopped, Sasuke who was not wearing a seat belt was driven forward by inertia and his head slammed onto the front window. Bouncing back after the hit, he fell back onto the passenger seat and groaned in pain.

In a few seconds as pain engulfed his head, Sasuke composed himself and pulled open the car door and got out. He glanced at the dazed driver in the car seat and palmed his forehead, feeling for any injuries. Feeling nothing, he walked away and was stopped by a man in black jacket.

"I'm an off duty police office, are you hurt son? Wait for the ambulance before you go."

Sasuke shook his head and began escaping the scenario but the man wrapped his hands around to stop him.

"You look bad, and we need you stay for questioning."

Knowing that no way he is not to be inspected by any unauthorized person, he switched his genjutsu and stared into the policeman's eyes. The policeman looked into the mesmerizing swirl of his Sharingan and let go of his hold on Sasuke's body.

"I will forgot I ever see you, now go on and I'll take care of this."

Sasuke walked away leaving the man in a daze. He broke into a run towards the back alley panting heavily. That was fun.

Naruko blinked a few times, realizing that she was looking up at white walls and white lights and that she was in fact lying down. She got up to sit down and realized that this time no one was holding her down. In fact she was alone. She eyed her surroundings and recognized that she she was lying in Kakashi's office, on Kakashi's desk. Feeling embarassed although there was no one around her she got down on her feet. Standing up she felt a slight spin in her head and grabbed for the desk's edge to steady herself.

Just then Ino walked in with a taller male, in light tan skin and jet black hair.

"Naruko, you shouldn't be standing up."

"What happened?" Naruko croaked. "Was I hurt?"

"You were hit on the head by a bad guy, but you are all good. Ino healed you," Sai said.

Ino continued, "But you need to rest for a few days. Come home with us, I'll take care of you tonight."

"Heal?" Naruko questioned the confusing word. How quick she caught on the word in her dazed state, she didn't know.

"Oh, I patched you up and put some ointment I took from the first aid kit," Ino explained with a too cheery smile on her face."

Naruko let Ino's word sink into her "Oh thank you. Well… maybe for the better. I almost forgot that… Iruka's not here." The thought somehow made her sad and she looked away at her hand which was still grabbing the desk.

Looking at the younger girl's solemn expression, Ino said. "Well, stop wallowing. I'll cook a special ramen recipe for you tonight," Ino said.

Naruko jerked her head up at the word ramen and looked at Ino, "You got me at ramen! But before we go, who's him?" She said eyeing the tall male.

"Oh I forgot, he's my fiance. He's sending us home but he isn't staying, he needed to send his teammate back anyway."

Sai gave Naruko a nod. Ino looked at Sai and at back at Naruko "Well, let's get reacquainted at the house. I am starving."

In the car, Naruko eyed the other male already sitting beside her in the rear passenger seat.

Ino got into the front passenger seat and turned to Naruko, "Naruko, this is Sasuke. He'll be joining us for dinner."

Sasuke looked at Naruko and nodded. He was paler than Sai, with bluish blackish hair and scratches all over his forehead and arms. Naruko eyed his injuries and Sasuke glared at her, Naruko suddenly realized that she was being impolite grinned sheepishly.

Sai eyeing their interaction from the rearview mirror told his comrade, "sleep now Sasuke, it helps with getting better."

Sasuke upon hearing Sai, nodded and closed his eyes. He shifted his body a bit for comfort and folded his arms on his lap. Naruko locked her eyes onto Sasuke's hands and eyed the flawless skin marred by the angry scratches.

The car began moving away and Naruko looked away at the darkened sky welcoming her home to Ino's house. Her pain had subsided leaving her feeling lightheaded, soon Naruko was closing her eyes too.

It was 8.30 pm when they arrived at the walk up apartment block where Ino rented. Upon entering her apartment, Ino walked directly into her bedroom and pulled out two towels from her dresser. She came out and threw one at Sasuke who stood in the entryway. Sai was closing and locking the door after them.

Naruko eyed the single lady's apartment décor, minimalist and full of flora inspired items at first glance. The living room wall was covered with rose wallpaper, a white or beige sofa covered in rose throw pillows, there were vases of flowers here and there, the welcome mat also has flowers on it. Her eyes came upon a surface of white wall without flower wall paper, it was instead full of pictures in frames. She eyed a 4R photo and came closer to inspect, it was a picture of Ino and Sai seated side by side but looking at different directions. They looked younger than Naruko and the setting was in a restaurant maybe. Their facial expression looking not so happy, and what caught Naruko's eyes was that Sai had his head bandaged and Ino was blushing madly. Sai looked paler than Ino in the picture.

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Ino asked Naruko as she approached the girl.

"Oh, just this," Naruko pointed at the particular picture.

"That was a candid photo of the first time I met Sai," Ino had an amused smile on her face. "He called me ugly, of all the names in the world… and I knocked some sense into him."

Naruko taken aback could only mouthed "Oooo."

Ino put a hand on Naruko's shoulder, "But look at us now. Friendship and time changes everything." The older blonde wrapped her hand on Naruko's wrist and dragged Naruko towards her bedroom and pushed the towel into Naruko's hands. "Use my bathroom, look for any shirts and sleeping pants in the middle drawer, I think you can fit my stuff. The bathroom's behind that wall." Naruko nodded and disappeared behind the wall.

Ino went back to the living room and saw that Sasuke had already disappeared into the guest bathroom. She approached Sai who stood looking at the picture on the wall. Feeling nostalgic? she thought.

She approached the man from behind and wrapped her arms around her fiancé's waist and landed her chin on the man's shoulder. Sai held his hands over Ino's and they stared at the wall of pictures holding pictures of their past. They stood there for a few minutes soaking the moment in.

"Bad day huh?"

Sai sighed. "No, good day." She's finally here and I sense that her chakra is weak, but we can work on that. I have to take her to ROOT soon as requested by Danzo. He would be mad if we delay this any longer."

"Yes, I know. But she's too normal for ROOT, not even CHUNIN. Can't they clone or something?"

They heard a door's knob being twisted and Sai continued, "She is Minato's progeny therefore she is ROOT's best bet. We have to send her back for a check up, you know that they can't do anything without her consent.”

Just then Sasuke appeared from the hallway wearing a black shirt and black pants. Sai waved at him and turned around towards Ino and pulled her into a hug, "and we are hungry my love. Let me help you cook something up."

Ino turned to the side to see Sasuke walk by, he ignored the couple and continues to walk past the couple straight to the living room. He plopped himself onto the couch glanced at Sai and glanced at the coffee table, taking a chic magazine from under a coffee in front couch and started flipping through the pages.

"Ramen for us three and tomato soup for Red," Ino looked back at Sai and planted a quick kiss on her beloved's lips.

“Babe, if she makes it to the programme, I believe she already has someone she can confide in. Don’t you worry too much ok.”

Ino looked away at Sai as the guy headed to the kitchen. Danzo's too strict with this DNA thing. I think Miss Senju can help us. She smiled determinedly at Sai who was now out of hug and already rummaging the refrigerator for ingredients.