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When they came for Sasuke, they came for her, too.
The clock on the counter of the Yamanaka flower shop read 10:19 pm. Ino groaned. She was supposed to have locked up four minutes ago, but she'd gotten distracted trimming the orchids. Maybe she'd take some over to Lee tomorrow. Then again- it wouldn't do to interfere with Sakura's chances with him, especially now she was finally giving him a second thought.
She yawned widely, since no one was there to see, and went outside to flip the sign from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSED'. But as she reached for the sign, something pricked at the back of her mind. Ino withdrew her hand and glanced back towards the dark streets.
There was no one there.
Shaking her head at her overactive imagination, she sighed and turned.
There was a soft thump from behind her, and then hands grabbed her. She twisted instinctively, as Asuma-sensei had taught her, but this was no ordinary thug. They'd had some kind of martial arts training, she realized, even if they weren't ninja. Her hands were dragged behind her and her shoulder twisted horribly. Pain exploded in her arm and she let out a cry.
Then a hand went over her mouth, and she tried to bite, but a wet wadded cloth was pressed over her mouth. A strong-smelling chemical overwhelmed her when she tried to breathe, and she realized too late that it was probably some kind of knock-out juice.
Too late she tried to scream.
Father, she thought desperately, her vision going dark around the edges. In her drugged state, she forgot that her father wasn't at home. The T&I division was called in to deal with the aftermath of the invasion and interrogate enemy prisoners. Someone. Help me.
No one came.
In a darkened street, a dark figure lifted the limp body of Ino Yamanaka. With a glance around, the figure hurried to a dark alley. From there, they bound her arms and legs and gagged her. Then, slinging her carelessly over one shoulder, they took to the rooftops and darted away.
--
When Ino woke up, she hurt all over.
Her head throbbed and her mouth was dry as sand. She opened her eyes only to be blinded by a bright light and the blurred lines of shadows. Her stomach rebelled, and she retched. Every movement hurt deeply, and she felt like she'd been stuffed in a barrel and rolled down the Hokage monument. Her arms and legs were numb and cold.
She blinked, trying to force the world back to clarity.
The surface she was resting on was hard, smooth, and very cold. Was she inside? Where? She could only dimly remember what she'd been doing, what had happened to her. She was too cold to shiver and too terrified to cry. If this was a nightmare, she wanted to wake up.
A few minutes passed and her vision became clearer. She was staring at a smooth stone wall. Her arms and legs were bound tightly behind her, but her head was free and she could crane her neck to see around her.
Ino was lying on her side in a small stone room. One wall of the room was barred and a wide hallway lay in between her room- some kind of jail cell- and the one across from her. She couldn't see anyone in the other cell, and trying to look over her shoulder triggered a burst of pain. She must have injured it when they captured her.
Footsteps echoed from down the hall, growing louder.
Heart thumping, she lay down and closed her eyes. Was it better to pretend to be unconscious? She didn't know, she tried to remember whether Iruka-sensei had ever taught them what to do if they were captured. She couldn't remember. Cold sweat trickled down her back.
"…successful, I think. While the loss of the curse seal bearers is unfortunate, Kimimaro did manage to secure you both Sasuke and the Yamanaka girl in one day."
Ino's breath caught in her throat. Sasuke? Then as she realized: Is he here? I have to- have to find him; we have to escape-
"Hm," replied a cold, raspy voice. "Kimimaro? Is he still-?"
"I think he should have one more use in him. It was a close-run thing. If the reinforcements from Suna had arrived any earlier, we might have lost him."
"That pleases me. It would be a shame to have to relocate to the northern hideout. Kimimaro is useful in many ways, for all his body is failing. What of our new subjects?"
"The Yamanaka girl is in the next cell, Lord Orochimaru. As you ordered, she is undamaged. I would recommend giving her a day or two to allow her system to flush the chemicals-"
The first voice broke off abruptly as the other- Orochimaru?- began to laugh lowly.
"What is it, my lord?"
"I would expect a medic such as yourself to be able to see as much for himself, Kabuto."
"What- oh. Of course. My apologies, my lord. Her medication was clearly not strong enough. She may have some resistance to the sedative I used."
"We know you're awake, little Yamanaka. Why don't you greet us politely?"
Ino thought she might throw up again. She opened her eyes, because the game was clearly up. She twisted to look over her shoulder and saw two figures in the hallway.
The first was a man with ash-grey hair and thick round glasses. He looked vaguely familiar, but Ino was sure she would have noticed the cold, detached glint in his dark eyes. He was clearly a shinobi, and he stood with careful poise, like a cat about to pounce.
The other was entirely unfamiliar. He was corpse-pale, with a narrow, angular face and hollow cheeks. Strange markings slanted from his yellowish eyes to his nose, and long black hair fell around his shoulders. He too must have been a shinobi, but his stance was oddly weary. Unlike the first man, he looked worn, almost sickly, despite the sharing the other's predatory air.
"Who are you?" Ino croaked. She wished she could have spat the words defiantly, but her voice was thin and hoarse. She was desperately thirsty.
"You may address me as Lord Orochimaru, if you like." The black haired man sounded indifferent. "I don't imagine we'll be having many conversations."
"Why did you bring me here? What did you do to Sasuke?"
The man in the glasses smiled. It was terrifying. "You'll be… assisting Lord Orochimaru in his research."
"I've wanted a Yamanaka for a long time," agreed Orochimaru. "The older ones usually have a preset suicide jutsu on hand in case they fall into enemy hands. But a young girl like you- you'll be ripe for the picking. I'm most interested in your clan techniques, you know. Detaching the soul from the body without having to subsume the soul of the host- well. I find it fascinating."
He eyed her with a distant expression.
"Lord Orochimaru, we should proceed. Your new host body is not a perfect fit. You will soon require rest."
"A pity," he replied, seeming almost wistful. "I would have liked to start on the experimentation immediately."
"I'll have her moved to Lab B and prepared for the procedures."
"What procedures?" Ino demanded. "What are you doing to me?"
They didn't even glance at her.
"Good. I wish to begin as soon as possible."
"Of course."
They turned and walked on. As the sound of their footsteps receded, Ino slumped back onto the stone floor. Her ears were ringing. Entirely unbidden, hot tears welled up in her eyes. They stung against her cold skin. She wanted to curl in on herself, but her arms and legs were bound behind her back.
She was alone.
--
As Kabuto had promised, she was moved from her cell.
Maybe an hour had passed when more footsteps heralded the arrival of two armed shinobi in dark cowls and Sound headbands. They stopped outside Ino's cell and the lock fell open with the sound of scraping metal.
The first held her down while the other adjusted her bindings. Ino wanted to laugh- she couldn't have fought back if she'd wanted to. She could barely move.
Her leather bindings were switched out for metal shackles on her legs.
They hauled her up and tried to make her walk. Her muscles shuddered in protest and she screamed as sudden agony in her calves made her collapse on the stone floor. She hadn't moved in days, it felt like, and every muscle in her body seized in uncontrollable cramps.
"Don't play with me," growled the first. "I've seen all the tricks you prisoners try."
"Whatever," argued the second. "If she won't walk, just carry her."
In the end, that was what they did.
They also slipped a blindfold over her eyes, but otherwise they didn't seem too concerned about an escape attempt. Either the security was lax around here, or escape attempts were so futile the guards didn't have much to worry about. Ino could only hope it was the former.
After maybe ten minutes of walking, they arrived.
Ino was dumped in some kind of soft chair- maybe a bed with an elevated head?- and a kunai was once more held to her throat as her bindings were adjusted. There was a clink as metal cuffs snapped shut around her wrists and ankles. Then her chin was forced back as a leather band was belted loosely around her throat. So I can't strangle myself, she guessed.
They left without taking off her blindfold.
Ino was alone again.
She was pathetically glad for the softness of the bed, but the darkness felt as though it would swallow her. She tried to distract herself by thinking of flowers- orchids, lilies, daffodils, tulips, chrysanthemums. Once she'd asked her father why he'd named her Ino, instead of something pretty (like Sakura). He'd laughed and said it was a tradition and that she would be beautiful no matter what name she had. She'd pouted and stormed off.
Ino desperately wished she were home in her room over the flower shop.
But no, she was alone, and there was nothing but darkness and silence and the soft pain of her bruises and her wrenched shoulder. She almost wondered whether she would be left in the darkness forever, with no one to hear her cry.
"Are you the Yamanaka?"
Ino flinched.
The voice was soft, too soft. It was a male voice, but it sounded as though it was almost too weak to sustain itself. It was quiet, but not cold. That was good- Ino wasn't sure how much more coldness she could take.
"My name's Ino," she said, voice rough. "And honestly I'm starting to resent being called by my clan name."
Then there was silence, and Ino wondered whether the other person had lost interest or wandered off or fell asleep or died or gotten offended or whatever. The darkness was suffocating.
"Do you dislike your clan?" asked the voice.
"Of course not," she said, irritated and bemused at the same time because what kind of a question was that? "Who are you?"
"Kimimaro Kaguya."
Ino wasn't expecting an answer so quickly. She rallied. "Are you a guard or a prisoner or what? I can't exactly see for myself."
There was a cold silence.
"I serve Lord Orochimaru," he said, and his voice was quiet but less open than it had been. "As will you."
"Sure," she said, and almost smiled, because she knew she would never bow to that vile man, who looked at her like she was an insect, a butterfly pinned neatly in his collection to be inspected and admired as a beautiful corpse. The man who came after her, the man who came after Sasuke, the traitor.
"Your Mind Transfer jutsu is of great interest to Lord Orochimaru. Consider yourself fortunate to be able to serve in such a way." His voice turned bitter. "Would that I could do the same."
"Yeah, I'm sure you'd love be dissected for Orochimaru's research," she snapped. Maybe silence and darkness was better after all.
"It seems unlikely. My intestines are beginning to liquefy. I have perhaps a few weeks to live, if Kabuto continues to treat me."
He sounded almost disinterested in his self-diagnosis.
Ino couldn't help but grimace. "Don't you care that you're going to die?"
He stayed silent for a long moment. "Perhaps," he admitted. "But I completed Lord Orochimaru's final mission. I found his new vessel. My work is done."
"Why do you care so much about that guy anyway?"
"I had nothing. He gave me a reason to live." Kimimaro's voice was distant. "To serve him is to have a home."
"Yeah, well. I had a home." Ino's throat tightened. "He took me away from it."
"Yes," he agreed unabashedly. "That was Tayuya's mission. She did well in securing you, although she lost to Nara in the end."
"Nara?" Ino tried to sit upright and jerked against the leather band around her throat. "Shikamaru Nara? What happened to him? Is he all right?"
Kimimaro was silent for a long moment. "It can't do any harm to tell you," he said at last. "Shikamaru Nara was part of a party in pursuit of our team. He fought Tayuya and killed her. I believe he survived, although I am not certain."
"You were pursued?" Ino's heart thudded in her throat. "Who? How many? Do you know their names? Did you kill any of them?"
"The main team was made up of genin from Konoha," Kimimaro's voice was clinical and detached. "An Akimichi, an Inuzuka, and a Branch Hyuga. I did not fight them. I do not know whether they survived."
Ino's stomach clenched for Choji. He could be dead. And maybe Kiba and even that Neji, for all he tried to kill poor Hinata.
Kimimaro took pity on her and continued. "I fought two genin- Rock Lee and Naruto Uzumaki. Although I escaped, I'm certain both survived."
So.
Shikamaru was alive, probably. So were Naruto, and Lee- who by all rights should have been stuck in the hospital. Did Tsunade manage to heal him? It didn't matter. He was probably back there already if he'd been fighting Sound Nin. As for Choji and the others...
No, she couldn't be sure. And if she didn't know they were dead, she could still hope.
"Was there anyone else?" she whispered. "In the team?"
"No. I escaped narrowly as reinforcements arrived from Suna. The others perished."
From Suna? But weren't Konoha and Suna enemies? Was it an ambush, or could it really be that Suna had sent aid to an inconsequential group of genin on a retrieval mission? She couldn't imagine it.
But if that was all, that meant Sakura was safe, and Shino and Tenten and Hinata. At least she didn't have to worry about them. The small mercies in the world suddenly seemed far more beautiful.
"Thank you," she said, and meant it.
"I have no reason not to tell you," he said mildly.
"But you don't have any reason to tell me, either," she pointed out. "But thank you. At least I can have hope for my friends."
They lapsed into silence again.
This time, though, the darkness was neither so huge nor so strangling. Ino could breathe evenly, and the cold seemed lessened. The throbbing of her injured shoulder kept time with the beat of her heart, and she remembered that she was still alive.
--
"Kimimaro? Are you still there?"
A ragged cough. "Yes."
"Is it all right if I ask you a few questions?"
Silence, but for the hum of machines, answered her.
"Where'd you live before Orochimaru?"
After a pause so long, she was sure he would never answer, he rasped, "I was born in the Land of Water."
"What's it like there?"
"There is much bloodshed." He sounded pensive. "And fog covers the entire land."
Ino shivered. She wondered how many people had to die for someone like Kimimaro to describe it as 'much bloodshed'.
"Isn't there anything nice there?" she asked. "What about your family?"
There was another long pause. At last, Kimimaro replied coolly, "They were bloodthirsty fools. They attacked Kirigakure and were slaughtered in a single night. I wandered the land alone until Orochimaru found me."
Ino winced, repulsed. "Don't you care that they died?" she demanded.
"No," he said flatly. "They were given life and chose to abandon it in a moment of bloodlust. They had no reason to be alive."
"Don't you think life has value?"
"Everyone is given life for a reason," he said slowly. "Everyone has something important to accomplish. The quest to discover that reason… is the only freedom we humans have been given."
"What's your reason to live, then?"
"To serve Lord Orochimaru," he said without hesitation. "Until my dying breath."
"Anything else?"
"No."
"I never thought about a purpose in life," she mused. "To become a great kunoichi. To win over Sasuke. To protect the village. I don't know."
"You are acquainted with the Uchiha?"
"Since I was a kid. We used to-" her voice caught in her throat. "We used to climb the old apple tree behind the academy. When we were small. I don't know. Four, maybe five years old? He was so sweet back then."
Kimimaro didn't respond.
"All of us- well, not Sakura until we met in the academy. But me and Shikamaru and Choji and Sasuke, Kiba and some of the other kids. I used to send them out to pick flowers in spring."
"Flowers?"
"Yeah. Konoha has the most beautiful flowers, you know. Anemones and crocuses and hyacinths. We used to steal those from people's gardens. And daylilies in the summer, and wild roses, and daisies and phlox and peonies. Have you ever popped a snapdragon? We used to get impatient and pop them too early."
"There are lilies in Water Country."
"I'll bet. Lilies like the water. White lilies symbolize purity, you know."
"Why?"
Ino thinks about it and shrugs, accidentally jerking her injured shoulder. "I don't know. Probably because they're mostly white. Orange lilies symbolize hatred and revenge. I guess orange is just an angrier color."
Kimimaro didn't reply, so Ino kept going.
"Tiger lilies symbolize wealth. Only rich people ever seem to buy them at our shop, though. I used to wonder why they wanted them, since they had money already. Are there tiger lilies in the Water Country?"
"I have never seen one."
"They're pretty. Bright orange, of course; they bloom during the day, so some people call them daylilies."
"Water Country has white lilies."
"White? Well, lily of the valley means sweetness. They're beautiful flowers. They smell sweet, too, and most lilies don't have much of a fragrance. They're really poisonous, though, so I guess some sweet things are more dangerous than they look. Some people call them maybells."
It was soothing, talking about flowers. Ino remembered sitting in her mother's lap, listening intently as her mother's low voice told her all these stories that she'd learned from her mother when she was a little girl. Smooth hands that smelled like fresh soil sifted through piles of flowers, trimming and arranging and patting down earth.
"Red spider lilies mean 'never to meet again,'" she said. "There's a legend about two lovers- I don't remember it exactly- but they were separated and swore to meet each other again after being reincarnated, but they couldn't."
She sighed.
"How did you learn those things?" asked Kimimaro, and he sounded curious.
She paused in surprise- she hadn't thought he was still listening. "My family owns a flower shop. My mother is very frail, so I'm in charge of looking after it whenever I'm free. I've always liked flowers, though."
Silence.
Then-
"Do you think you could tell me more?" Kimimaro asks.
She talked for a long time. About Konoha; about flowers; it didn't matter what she said. All that mattered was that she didn't have to think much about the darkness and the cold. She didn't know whether he was listening, but she did know that she felt less alone.
--
The door was unlocked with the sound of grating metal and a clank as the key fell into place. Then there was a creak and footsteps as the door was pushed open.
"Kimimaro," said a voice Ino recognized as Kabuto, the man with the glasses. "We're upping your dosage of medicine. Lord Orochimaru seems to want you alive as long as possible- he may have plans for you."
There was only silence.
Kabuto laughed coldly. "Well, don't get your hopes up."
Then the footsteps got louder as Kabuto approached Ino.
An ice-cold hand grabbed her wrist. There was a sharp prick- a needle? Ino squirmed, but felt suddenly weak. Fatigue washed over her, and moving her muscles seemed like too much of a chore. Her thoughts felt scattered and unfocused. Her fear faded, replaced by a feeling of distance, as though she were disconnected from her body.
The blindfold was pulled from her head.
She squinted, trying to make her eyes focus. Whatever Kabuto had injected her with had to have been some kind of sedative.
She was in a bed- a hospital-style cot- in a room that was dark even to her eyes. Her eyes drifted to a table on the side of her bed, where silver scalpels and surgical tools lay neatly aligned on a clean cloth.
She wasn't alone.
In a bed on the other side of the room lay a figure who could only be Kimimaro. She realized, looking at him, that he really was about to die. His skin looked almost grey and he was thin. His head was covered- he must not have been able to see her, either- and seals for stasis and healing were painted in ink all over. The cloth covering his head was pasted all over with seals. Wires snaked around his body, connecting his chakra centers to the seal matrix.
She was pulled from her thoughts as Kabuto reached up, a pair of scissors in his hands. Coolly, he gathered her bangs in the other and sheared them off in one snip of the scissors.
She wanted to protest, but the sedative made her sluggish. "Don't," she tried, but the words came out in a slur. "Don't."
Kabuto ignored her, tossing the cut hair in a waste bin.
There was another prick in her arm, and a mask was slipped over her mouth and nose. She barely had time to think of holding her breath before her eyes lost focus and she drifted away into unconsciousness.
Ino woke up to the smell of rubbing alcohol and a haze of green light. There was an odd disturbance in her chakra, as if it were all swirling around one point. Her stomach was twisting again, but she didn't feel hungry, though she hadn't eaten since the night before she was kidnapped.
When she squinted into the light, she realized it was Kabuto. His hands were swathed in green light- chakra- as they lingered over her shoulder.
"What'r'you doin'?" she slurred, and realized to her horror she was drooling. "Shtop it."
"Don't struggle," he warned her. "I'm healing your shoulder. They tore some of your muscles bringing you in."
Ino remembered that, though hazily. "What'r'you gonna do t'me?" she demanded.
Kabuto shrugged, as if he didn't know why she wanted to know. "Your family techniques, of course. Lord Orochimaru has always had an interest in how you transfer your minds between host bodies."
"I won't-" she tried to say, but he was done healing her arm.
He reached up towards her face. She flinched back, but he ignored it, wrapping a long bandage around the choppy remnants of her bangs.
"Unfortunately, you have to be conscious to give up your family techniques," he informed her. "You don't, however, have to be in one piece. If you cause trouble or struggle I can cut off as many of your toes as it takes for you to learn to behave."
Ino swallowed. Her throat was dry.
They want my family techniques, she thought. Our secret techniques. No one outside the Leaf knows those. They're my family's precious treasure. I can't just let them go without a fight.
When she was young, her father had told her a story. In quiet, serious tones, he'd told her about her uncle. Inomu Yamanaka was just eighteen when he'd been captured by the enemy and tortured for information on the family techniques. He'd stayed strong. By the time he escaped with three broken ribs and a leg mangled beyond healing and stumbled into a Konoha patrol, he'd kept the secret safe for three months. He was a hero, her father had told her.
She should struggle. She couldn't just let Orochimaru-
As many of your toes as it takes, echoed Kabuto's cold, crisp voice in her mind, and she was numb with terror again.
She was weak.
She didn't want to fight. She was terrified of that voice. She didn't want to lose her toes. She was scared of pain. Losing toes was permanent. She could never be a ninja again. It would hurt, and they wouldn't stop, and she'd just have to keep fighting and keep fighting and there would be more and more pain, and she wanted to curl up and run away because this couldn't be real, it couldn't be happening, not to her.
If I were a real ninja, I'd wait until they let me alone, then I'd bite off my tongue and choke on my own blood. They can't learn anything from my corpse, since it isn't a real kekkei genkai.
She swallowed.
I can't do it now. Kabuto's a medic; he could heal me right away. I have to wait.
I'll lose my nerve.
I'll betray the village if I don't.
But what about Sasuke? Even if she managed to kill herself, she'd be leaving Sasuke here without an ally. He couldn't kill himself- the Sharingan was a bloodline. Who knew what Orochimaru could do with his genetic material. Besides, you could transplant the Sharingan. They needed to escape alive.
Or maybe I'm just a coward.
She couldn't stand it, second-guessing herself. The instant she decided to kill herself and be done with it before Orochimaru could learn anything, she envisioned a rescue team from Konoha coming, only to find her limp corpse strapped to a bed.
I'll wait, she decided. Just a little longer.
--
"Why did you help Orochimaru? You don't like bloodshed." she asked Kimimaro. She didn't lift her head. Now she knew what he looked like, she didn't need to see him again- sallow skin, thin frame, rasping breaths. "Did he threaten you?"
There was the sound of a shallow breath.
"I would never serve anyone for such a pathetic reason," his said, voice thin but still managing to sound contemptuous.
"Then why?'
"I had no reason to live after my clan was destroyed. Lord Orochimaru gave me that."
Ino frowned, and protests rose to her lips. But as she thought about it more, she shoved them down. Who was she to judge another person's reason for living, after all, when she couldn't even say what her own reason for living was? Kimimaro didn't believe in protecting the same things as her, but he did believe in protecting someone. That meant they were similar in some ways.
Instead of saying this aloud, she asked, "Is there anyone else you care about? Besides Orochimaru?"
He took a long moment to answer. Ino listened to his breathing, thick on the inhale and raspy on the exhale.
"There is… someone."
"Yes?" Ino prompted.
"A comrade. Much like me, he is afflicted by a powerful bloodline. He can be dangerous sometimes, and must be kept in confinement so he doesn't attack anyone. But his heart is kind."
"He's your friend?"
"I am responsible for keeping him confined. He worries frequently about losing control and hurting other people with his power. My bloodline allows me to match him in strength when he loses control."
"You know, you're kind too. In your own way."
"Kindness is just another form of weakness," he said, but his voice lacked conviction.
"I don't think so. You're worrying about this friend of yours. People are stronger when they fight to protect the ones they care about. It doesn't matter that you're protecting him from himself, you're still fighting for him."
There was a long pause.
"I… do not know what will become of him once I am dead," he confessed quietly. "Whether he will remain locked in a cell forever, as I once was."
"You were in a cell? Orochimaru?"
"No." His voice was cold and Ino knew she'd said the wrong thing. "My clan."
Oh. Oh, no.
"I see," she said in a small voice. "Your friend- what's his name?"
"Jugo."
"What's he like?"
He's clearly too tired to be suspicious. "As I said, he's kind. He loves animals and nature. And flowers, like you. To have him spend the rest of his life in a prison- would be cruel."
"Do you know what will become of him?"
Kimimaro sighed softly. "No. He will most likely be kept restrained in his current location. He is far too valuable to Lord Orochimaru to be let alone."
"And you still think Orochimaru's worthy of your loyalty? You know he's using you, and Jugo, and all of his other minions just to- just to-"
Kimimaro laughed dryly. "To accomplish his own ends, yes. As we use him, to give our lives some meaning."
"People shouldn't use each other, they should protect each other."
Kimimaro laughed again, and then coughed. Still, his voice sounded a little warmer when he replied. "You're naïve. You have always been protected, so you wish to protect others."
"I'm a ninja," she corrected him, but without heat.
"No. You will be a ninja someday. But today, you're an innocent. You're like an orchid raised by a caring gardener. But you don't know that outside of your small garden, the world is a much more painful place."
Ino laughed at that for real, and was a little surprised to find tears rolling down her cheeks. "Oh, I don't know about that," she said. "I've been kidnapped by my village's worst traitor, and my secret family techniques are going to be forcibly extracted to be used against the people I love most. I think the reality of life has kicked in by now."
Kimimaro was silent for a moment. "You're right," he said. "I'm sorry. A garden is a wonderful place."
"I should kill myself, you know," she said. "Before Orochimaru can pull my family techniques from my mind."
"Why are you telling me this? I might try to stop you."
"I don't know."
"Do you seek reassurance? Or are you afraid to kill yourself, and you wish for someone to dissuade you?"
Ino laughed mirthlessly. "I don't know. Maybe."
"I don't wish for you to die," he informed her.
"Yeah, I know. Not before I tell Orochimaru all he needs to know, right?"
"No. I want you to tell Lord Orochimaru the secret to your family techniques. But I have taken comfort in your presence. I should like to continue speaking with you, for as long as I still live in this world."
Ino smiled. "Whether I live or die, I think I'm happy to have met you, Kimimaro Kaguya."
"I'm happy to have met you as well, Ino Yamanaka."
They had spent a few minutes in companionable silence when there was the sound of the lock creaking and the door scraping open.
"You will cooperate."
"Never."
"You don't get that option. You can either break now or break later. One way or another, we will get our answer."
"I don't care," she said. "Cut off my toes, cut off my fingers, I don't care. I won't tell you any secrets."
"Then I'll kill Kimimaro."
She blanched at that, shooting a glance across the room to the limp form of the person she now thought of almost as a friend.
"I don't care," she said, hating the way her voice trembled. "I already know he's about to die. Besides, he's works for Orochimaru. He's my enemy. I'd kill him myself if I could."
Kabuto only smiled. "I don't believe you."
"Well, you should. He fought my friends Naruto and Lee. Tried to kill them. He deserves to- to die." Her voice almost cracks at the end, but she holds herself together.
Kabuto's voice was amused. "Prove it, then."
"What?"
"Can you kill him yourself? If you can, I'll give up. You can go home, even. Sasuke stays, of course, but you'll have proven you mean what you say and we can't break your spirit."
She was inclined to be skeptical. To her surprise, though, Kabuto proved as good as his word. He uncuffed her and even helped her to stand. He pressed a razor sharp blade into her hand and led her over to Kimimaro's bedside.
Ino held the kunai in an unsteady hand.
"How do you know I won't attack you?" she asked suspiciously. "You're giving me a knife. I'm your prisoner."
"Please." Kabuto was all bared teeth. "Don't make me laugh."
Point taken.
"How do I know you'll keep up your end of the bargain?" she demanded. "What do I have to go on?"
"Nothing at all," he replied smoothly. "But I thought you'd like the chance to kill him- your enemy with your own two hands."
She swallowed.
She looked down at Kimimaro. He was limp. His breathing was rough. His skin was so pale it was gray, and his ribs stood out against his slim frame.
"Of course," she said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. "But don't you need him? Isn't he important to Orochimaru? He's a ninja, isn't he?"
Kabuto shrugged. "He'll die soon enough. You're just saving us the effort of looking after him. His medicine is an inconvenience, and he provides little use to Lord Orochimaru in his state."
Ino grimaced. "You're all monsters."
"Yes." Kabuto smiled. "And I grow impatient. Kill him, or I will do it for you."
How had she ever thought he was harmless, back in the Chunin Exams? She'd pitied him, even, a poor genin having to take the exam year after year, yet lacking any significant talent or abilities that would get him a promotion. She'd felt superior to him, even just a little, knowing that she would surely get chunin someday for her clan connections alone. He'd seemed cheerful, but pathetically so. Now she wondered how he'd ever managed to hide his razor sharp eyes under such a thin veneer of weakness.
She glanced back at Kimimaro.
Could she? Probably. Kimimaro was too weak to even talk for a long time. She knew all the points where you could stab someone with a kunai to kill them swiftly- she'd known that since she was eight. But even if she missed those, she could stab him just about anywhere and he'd bleed out quickly enough.
Yeah, right.
"Screw you," she said at last. "I'm not killing him. You win."
Then, suddenly, hoping Kabuto wouldn't react in time, she swiveled the knife and stabbed at herself. It was probably hopeless, but still, she had a chance and so she had to try to use it however she could-
Kabuto grabbed the wrist of the hand with the kunai. Without missing a beat, Ino twisted, knocking a plate of metal tools off of a tray. She scrabbled for a scalpel with her other hand. She found one, and stabbed it at the medic. When he dodged, she twisted and slashed at his thigh. He lashed out with a hand coated in green chakra and cut the scalpel cleanly in half, the sharp end skittering across the stone floors.
But the cut was crooked, and the handle Ino held was sharp enough. She flipped the handle and stabbed towards her head. Kabuto caught that wrist too, but not before she scored a sharp cut up the side of her face. She hissed against her will as he twisted her arms behind her back. She yelped; pain bloomed again in her shoulder.
"That was a very stupid move, little girl," Kabuto snapped. "I'm beginning to get annoyed."
She didn't answer. She refused to.
"Stop," came a weary voice.
Ino snapped her head up. Kimimaro?
"I'm rapidly losing my patience," said Kabuto. "I hope you have something helpful to say, Kimimaro."
"Let her go."
A thin arm reached up from his blankets and pulled the seal-inscribed cloth from his chest. Kimimaro sat up, resting heavily on his hands. He looked younger than Ino would have guessed. His brow was dotted with red and his eyes lined in the same color. His hair was white, and fell near to his shoulders. His face was contorted with the effort it took to sit upright.
The medic raised an eyebrow. "You can't be serious."
"I'm quite serious. Let her go."
"Why?"
"If you give me a chance to talk to her alone, I could convince her to cooperate. I know what I'm doing."
Kabuto gave a skeptical glance at Ino. "Or you're trying to save your own life by reducing your value as a hostage."
"If my death would serve Lord Orochimaru, I would not hesitate to sacrifice myself. You know this. I have little time to live in the world regardless. You may trust my judgment in this matter."
Kabuto held his gaze. "You think you could fight her off if she decided to attack you?"
"She has proven already that she will not."
"And if she attacks you and subdues you to escape?"
"She is a genin of a few months. Weak as I am, I'm fully capable of defeating her."
The medic adjusted his glasses. They gleamed in the low light. "I'll return in fifteen minutes. If you can't convince her by then, we'll continue as planned."
"I understand."
Kabuto shoved her to her knees. "You'll be shackled and blindfolded. I'm leaving a guard at the door. Don't think of trying anything, brat, or you'll lose more than your toes. Kimimaro, if you need help, call the guard. Don't take chances with her."
"Of course not," he agreed.
Ino was shackled again and blindfolded, as promised. Kabuto locked the door from the outside, and she heard him giving orders to the guard outside the door. She heard his receding footsteps in the stone corridor.
A few moments passed in tense silence.
What do you have to say to me?" she demanded. "You can't convince me to betray my village, whatever you might say."
"I know," he admitted softly. "I don't believe I can convince you."
His voice sounded close.
"So what, then?"
"We don't have much time."
She felt a tugging on her blindfold. It fell away, to reveal Kimimaro leaning over her. She blinked- his face was still strange to her, though his voice was both familiar and comforting.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Helping you escape."
Ino stared. "Why?"
"Why didn't you kill me?"
"I'm not a murderer."
"As you said, you are a ninja, not an innocent."
"I couldn't kill you," Ino said miserably. "Someone else, yeah, but not you. You're kind, I know you are. You don't revel in bloodshed. You care for your friends. You love flowers. I know you've done terrible things, killed people, worked for Orochimaru of all people. But I can't kill you. Why can't I kill you?"
"You can't kill me for the same reason I'll help you to escape," Kimimaro said softly. "I care about you too much to see you suffer."
Ino swallowed.
"We don't have much time," Kimimaro said. "In just a few minutes, Kabuto will return. If he sees you gone, he will kill me as a traitor immediately."
"Are you a traitor?" Ino asked. "All you've said is that you'll help me. Do you plan on escaping too?"
Kimimaro shook his head. Ino watched the fringe of his hair sway. "I believe myself loyal to Lord Orochimaru. I don't think allowing you to escape will hurt him greatly. He has the Uchiha for his next host. He will be mildly inconvenienced by being unable to learn your techniques, but it will not weaken him."
Sasuke. "I can't escape without Sasuke. He's a comrade."
"Don't waste your time on him," Kimimaro said coldly. "He left Konoha of his own accord. When the team came to retrieve him, he fought Naruto Uzumaki himself."
The words held a note of truth, but Ino didn't want to believe it.
"He wouldn't. Naruto and Sasuke argued, but anyone could see they were best friends."
Kimimaro shrugged. "Perhaps they were, once. All I know is that if you go to Sasuke you will be captured and your family techniques will be lost. Kabuto will persuade you, through torture or threats. Perhaps Orochimaru will use your friend Sasuke as a hostage next. If you couldn't kill me, would you be able to kill him?"
She shook her head. "Of course not. But-"
"Come. We don't have a great deal of time. I can get you out of this room, but the rest you'll have to do on your own. Are you ready?"
She hesitated. "Are you sure you won't come?"
He shook his head. "I owe Lord Orochimaru my life. I will not betray him without facing the consequences."
"But you'll die."
"Yes," he admitted. "I will. But I am glad to have lived as long as this, and speaking with you I was content. None will mourn me or remember me, but I have left my impression upon the earth."
"I'll always remember you," Ino said, hating herself for her weakness. "I swear."
Kimimaro smiled, and Ino realized he wasn't much older than her. Fifteen, maybe? Fourteen? Too young to die, in any case.
"Thank you," he said. "Now let's begin."
Kimimaro was as good as his word. He undid the leather strap around her neck and helped her to sit up.
"But the shackles-"
The white-haired boy just shook his head and held up his hand. From the tip of the finger, something white gleamed in the low light of the laboratory. In one quick movement, he cut the shackles from her wrists. He leaned down, and when he lifted his head again, the shackles were gone from her ankles as well.
"What was that?" Ino demanded in a whisper.
He shrugged. "My bloodline. I can rearrange my osteoclast and osteoblast cells to move my bones and change their density. But hurry, you need to stand up. You'll have to move and get your blood to circulate properly again."
She nodded, and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"I can call the guard in, but I can't fight him on my own," Kimimaro said flatly. "I'm too weak to stand any great chance against a trained ninja right now."
Ino smiled wryly. "Don't worry. I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Just give me a few minutes to prepare. I'll give you the signal. Can you stop the guard if he tries to move?"
"Yes," he said.
"All right, then. Let's get started."
--
The guard at the door was named Tomoe Shiba.
She'd been with Orochimaru since she was eight years old. Now she was fourteen. She wasn't strong enough to have been given a curse-seal mark, a fact she had resented bitterly for years. But she was strong enough to have survived six years in Orochimaru's service- no mean feat for a child of her age. She wasn't formally trained, but she'd taught herself to use chakra a little- just enough to dispel genjutsu by disturbing the chakra flow to her brain.
She deeply disliked Kimimaro Kaguya, and that was why Kabuto had given her the job.
"Guard!" came a thin cry from the other side of the thick stone door. "Help! She's escaping!"
Standard protocol was to first send out an alert of an attempted break-out before going in to deal with it.
But Tomoe Shiba was so deeply jealous of Kimimaro's status and ability, she couldn't resist the temptation to be the one to save him- Lord Orochimaru's favorite, once upon a time- from being overcome by a weak Konoha genin. She wanted to see him taken down a peg. She wanted to rub it in his face that she was stronger, that Orochimaru should have chosen her instead.
So she unlocked the door and entered.
Immediately she saw what was wrong- Kimimaro wasn't being attacked at all. The girl was out of her shackles, but she wasn't attacking. Instead, she was sitting on her bed, still in concentration, her hands forming a seal-
Tomoe opened her mouth to scream.
Kimimaro seized her, shoving his hand over her mouth. She bit down hard; her jaw ached and she found she couldn't even pierce his skin. Curse that bloodline. She struggled-
And then the Yamanaka girl said "Shintenshin no Jutsu."
There was a foreign presence in her mind suddenly. It didn't just push her away; it subsumed her. She reached for control of her arms and legs, but was summarily brushed away. The other presence layered itself over her own consciousness, containing it, stifling it. It was as though she couldn't breathe.
Against her will, her body walked over to the bed where the Yamanaka's body now lay slumped. Her arms reached out and picked up the girl's body, moving it to the end to the bed. Then her legs turned and bent, sitting down on the side of the bed. Her own voice came out of her own mouth, but carrying different inflections.
"Quick," said her voice. "Tie me up."
Kimimaro bound her obedient hands with a thick leather thong; another on her feet. He gagged her and put a hood over her head, then leaned her back and tied something loosely around her neck.
Then the presence was gone.
By the time Ino's spirit found her body again, Kimimaro had already knocked the guard out cold. They might have gagged her, but they'd known since the beginning that if she thrashed around too much, she could make a great deal of noise. Kimimaro had suggested killing her. Ino had refused- he was already complicit in one crime. Why make him shoulder the blame for another, and make a death sentence more likely still?
"That will hold her," he said with satisfaction. "Now go. Kabuto will return soon."
She nodded. Then she hugged him fiercely. "Thank you."
He stood frozen for a moment. Then he raised his hands and tentatively hugged her back. "I should be thanking you. You made my last days enjoyable. But you have to go. Now."
Ino nodded, brushing away a few contrary tears. Then she spared one final glance at Kimimaro Kaguya, and left. Her heart twisted as she closed the door to the laboratory behind her. Orochimaru was not a merciful man. She knew better than to think he would survive to see dawn.
--
Two weeks later, Ino Yamanaka returned to Konoha with a broken arm, hair cut short, and a long scar down one side of her face. She was barefoot and her clothing in tatters. She hadn't eaten in two days and she was dehydrated. She had been gone for a month in total.
In her absence, her disappearance had caused a minor international incident.
Some, within and without Konoha, had suggested that she'd left on purpose to go and join her former classmate Sasuke as a traitor to the Hidden Leaf. Her father, her mother, and those who knew her had vehemently argued against this and believed that she had been kidnapped for her family techniques.
The Hyuga had latched on to this theory, and Hiashi Hyuga was requesting that an official inquiry be presented to Kumogakure. Other members of Konoha had argued that there was no evidence of Kumo's involvement, and that the Hyuga were still sore over the placatory actions after the attempted kidnapping of their heiress some years ago, and that they only argued this hoping to have their vengeance. Trackers had been appointed to detect her, but the trails had been cold for a while before anyone had discovered her absence, and the efforts failed.
The Hokage had refused to declare open conflict with Kumo with so little evidence. Certain militaristic factions of the Konoha shinobi forces chose to interpret this action as weak-mindedness, a fear of conflict.
Among her friends, there was less finger-pointing and more sadness.
Shikamaru returned from the Sasuke retrieval mission shaken from seeing his comrades fall, only to find that the one teammate he'd assumed was safe was gone without warning, maybe forever. Choji had awoken from his three-pill-induced coma to find his best friend having a crisis of confidence, his sensei feeling guilty, and his last teammate vanished in the night.
Sakura was crushed. She'd lost her best friend (as much as they both tried to deny it, they'd never not been friends) and the boy she loved in the same night.
Once, someone made the mistake of suggesting that Ino had run away to follow Sasuke within her earshot. Sakura had beaten that unfortunate person- a chunin just a few years older than her- within an inch of his life. Choji had started crying.
And then they found her.
A month after Ino had vanished, a border patrol encountered a girl at the edge of Konoha's forest territory. She claimed to be the missing Yamanaka heir. While the members of the patrol were inclined to be skeptical of her claim, they took her into custody and began treating her wounds, and sent word to the Hokage.
The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade Senju, sent her personal aide to attend to the girl and verify her identity. Only when a positive confirmation had been received did she inform Team Ten that their teammate had been recovered safely. Shikamaru, who had remained stoic for the last month, had broken down crying at last. Asuma swore loudly, grinning as widely as anyone had seen him do in a long time. Sakura had gasped, then hugged the nearest person- it happened to be Naruto, who was too happy to be embarrassed at being touched by his crush.
The team had brought Ino in two hours later. Shizune had already set her arm and was working on healing it. She was met at the gate by her friends and her parents.
She walked back into Konoha on her own two feet.
"A garden is a wonderful place," she whispered. "He was right."
Only Shikamaru heard her. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask.
She was still young, and she recovered quickly. In less than a week she was almost entirely healed, though not quite fighting fit. The hospital kept her for further monitoring. Kabuto had used sedatives that were illegal in Konoha, and they weren't sure whether she would suffer residual effects. Her teammates hovered around her, doing more harm than good. Choji offered her food every few minutes, 'to keep her strength up', but the attention warmed her. If Shikamaru noticed that she looked like she was crying sometimes, he never brought it up around her.
One day, she asked Shikamaru for a favor. He acquiesced readily, only throwing in one or two complaints. When she told him what it was, he frowned like it was a puzzle he couldn't solve.
"Please," she said.
He rolled his eyes. "Of course."
That afternoon, the three of them went to the memorial stone in the Hidden Leaf Armed Forces Cemetery. Choji, as gentle as ever, helped her to walk. Beside them, Shikamaru carried the flowers she'd asked him to fetch for her.
When she reached the memorial stone, she knelt down.
Shikamaru handed her the bundle of flowers.
"You asked for red spider lilies," he said cautiously. "Why?"
"Why do you think?"
He frowned. "Sasuke?"
She shook her head, smiling weakly. "Nope."
"Who, then?"
Ino didn't answer. Instead, she lit the incense on the edge of the stone and watched the smoke disperse in the wind. Somewhere out there, Kimimaro's corpse rested. Would he go unmourned? What would happen to the friend he had worried about? Would he be locked in a cell for the rest of his life, as Kimimaro had feared? She didn't hate herself for escaping alone- but she wished Kimimaro could have died peacefully.
He wasn't of the Hidden Leaf, and he wasn't a hero. But he would have no marked grave, and this would have to serve.
Never to meet again.