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She paused right outside the building, looking up it. It was a building that had become so familiar to them, especially her. After all, it had always been Kakashi and Naruto that had often landed up in it. Usually, she would have smiled at the memories, but today it was different. It was a different person she was visiting today. Someone she had not seen for ages. Two years to be precise. She hesitated, unsure of herself. Closing her green eyes, she took a deep breath and walked into the building.

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He gave a small smile, watching the pink haired girl heatedly questioning the intern. It would have been really funny, except she was pretty known for her super strength and she might lose her temper even more and punch the poor intern.

“Sakura –“ he called out, his hands still stuck in his pocket. “Sakura –“ he called louder to be heard over the commotion. She paused in her sentence, looking up.

“Shikamaru –?“

“This way –“ he motioned, walking ahead knowing that she’d follow. News spread fast after all and it would not be long till his friends would try and get his room number. Of course, he being a prisoner and all, that meant his room number had to be kept a secret.

“Go easy on them next time,” he sighed. “You know our regulations –“ He looked at her from the corner of his eye. She nodded embarrassedly, looking at the ground. He stopped in his tracks. “I hope you remember that you’re not allowed to tell them the room number. As much as I understand that you want to see him really bad, you still have to –“

“I know! You don’t have to lecture me –“ she replied. “I just – want to see him –“

He sighed yet again, “women are so troublesome –“ slapping his face with his hand and pointed to the door on the right with his thumb. “He’s not going to be like what you expected,” he said with a slight frown. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you –“ and with that he walked off.

She leaned her head against the door, her hand resting on the handle. All the different emotions were running through her. ‘Should I be angry or upset or happy?’ she wondered. ‘What am I hesitating for?’ she chided herself and pulled the door opened.

“Sakura – chan“

Her eyes widen in surprise, for a moment she had believed it had been Sasuke that had called her name. The blonde guy stared at her with his piercing blue eyes waiting for a response. “N-naruto,” she stammered, blushing embarrassed at actually believing Sasuke was awake. Her eyes slid to the pale figure beside Naruto.

“He’s not going to be awake for you to talk to him Sakura-chan,” Naruto sadly said. “I wish I could do something but you know –“ he trailed off. The thick silence hovering about them as they both stared at Sasuke’s unconscious figure with different expressions, Naruto frowned wondering how he should go about removing Sasuke’s seal. Sakura however though still worried, was flooded with relief. He was really here and hopefully would be back to his old self so she thought. A woman’s single hope sometimes was never the most realistic thing to hold onto.

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She watched patiently, watching the slight figure breathe and wondered if she should wait for the figure to wake up. As she hesitated, the brows of the sleeping figure furrowed and the breathing hastened. She sighed flopping her head on her arm, how boring could it be waiting for someone to wake up anyway. All of a sudden, the door pulled open. She instinctively pulled out a kunai, ready to fight and froze, unsure how to react. The sleeping girl wasn’t a prisoner but she wasn’t exactly free to leave either.

“Oh Shikamaru – its you. And – you,” she sighed, returning to her seat. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her in puzzlement.

“Perhaps Kotetsu?” she replied uncertain.

“I doubt he’d be seeing her anytime soon –“ Izumo said glancing at the sleeping figure. “She sure slept a lot – looks like bad dreams too.”

“Well, any idea what happened?” she questioned.

“That is the point why you are here, isn’t it?” Izumo rebuked. Shikamaru glanced at Izumo with a perplexed look. Izumo had always been the calmer one of the two, it was definitely out of character for Izumo to attack Ino with such words. She sighed, twining her fingers into her long blonde hair. “They do say that some things are easier to extract from the person when he is still unconscious,” Izumo continued not bothered with their reactions.

“Izumo-san I hope you understand what you are trying to do. Can you imagine –“

“Ino –“ Shikamaru interrupted, placing his hand on her left shoulder. “You know that we have to do what we have to do.”

The blonde sighed yet again and reluctantly did the seals for her skill.

A dark hallway of numerous doors route before, each looking like the other, with much hesitation she paced the hallway trying to figure which door to open. Each was an entry to part of a memory, something important or perhaps significant. Sometimes it was there but the person might not have remembered or was aware of it. She bit her lip, there was no point wavering here, she could only try each door until she got the correct scene. Summoning her courage up, she opened the closest door.

Fire licked her black sandals. Shocked she leapt back a step. Though she had not been looking for this memory, it was interesting. Countless of bodies littered the scene, the fire rampaged the house, somewhere further down a little boy stood over an even younger girl. ‘Is that –‘ Ino wondered, walking over to take a better look. The girl hugged the lady fiercely as she cried.

“Hey little one, you must remember the jutsu mother taught you,” the boy said. He slumped near her coughing. Blood dribbled down from his mouth. The girl looked up wiping her tears away. All of a sudden, a black blur ran towards them. “NO!” the boy yelled trying to get up and run towards her.

‘A black wolf?’ Ino thought, catching a glimpse of it as it paused to grab the girl.

“Onisan! Help!” she screamed frailing between its mouth. Ino hurried to catch up with the wolf; the boy had collapsed behind, his body heaving for breaths. He punched the ground angrily, his body too tired to continue. The girl slammed her head heavily into the tree as the wolf sprinted through the trees and then the scene faded into blackness.

Ino blinked, finding herself back into the row of hallways. Something was happening to Ameki for the neat corridor was starting to spiral. Forcing herself to focus more, she hurried down opening the doors until she found the correct one.

“Ino –“ she frowned, pushing herself off the table that she had fallen asleep on.

“Ino –“ he called her again, waiting for her to impress the information she had gathered into her mind. His eyes flickered over to the trashing girl.

Izumo shook Ameki trying to get her to break from her trance. She screamed then fell heavily into Izumo’s arms. Silence reigned in the room, neither Shikamaru nor Izumo was sure what had happened. Most Yamanaka clan members, like Ino, have often refused to intrude into the people’s mind hence not much is recorded.

Ino groaned, her head throbbed viciously, she sunk her head into her hands trying to use some of her medical jutsu to heal the pain away.

“Well -?” Izumo impatiently asked. Satisfied with her work, she looked up. She shook her head slightly, a sigh of relief rushed out of Izumo upon seeing it.

“She doesn’t have the answers, she definitely was not the one who caused it –“ she hesitated unsure if she should mention it. “definitely not, because she passed out before whatever killed those men. Why, I have no idea, however –“ she continued, silencing Izumo’s efforts to interrupt her and deflecting Shikamaru’s deepening frown by focusing her gaze on Ameki. “I did see a scene she witness that was similar to it.”

Izumo clenched his fist unconsciously, he wanted to believe that Ameki was completely innocent. The torment on Kotetsu’s face was a little too much to bear, after all they had been friends since they had been toddlers, almost practically brothers. Kotetsu was torn between looking after someone who is his adopted sister and hating someone who killed his mother. All his confusion could finally be solved with her proving to be entirely innocent, that was his reason for telling Ino of a similar scene a number of years ago.

“To say she did not do it might be true,’ she softly said, relenting a little to glance at her comrades. Shikamaru, the genius, would have figured what she would have been referring to, but with the sight of his puzzlement, it probably was not true. Izumo on the other hand, had horror on his face, eyes widened at her. “But whether she did it consciously or not is another thing.” Ino closed her eyes briefly recalling the scene she had seen.

“Ameki? Where are you?” the lady called out somewhere behind her, the sun had set ages ago and all she could hear around her was just the night crickets humming.

A sudden loud thud behind her, made the little girl swivel around, her small hand clutching the kunai that she had stole from her adopted brother’s pouch. “Who’s there?” she called out into the overwhelming darkness, her voice barely breaking the cricket’s hum. Scared, she clutched the hand that was holding the kunai, willing herself to stop trembling.

“Hello – do you remember me?” a honeyed male voice answered. He stepped out from the shadows, looking very casual as though he was not afraid of such an approach. Perhaps he was not and he might have been so acquainted with death that he did not fear death either. Her heart pounded loudly, she may not have recognized him but there was something familiar about him.

Still she bravely asked in a loud clear voice, “Who and what do you want?”

“Such brave words from such a trembling creature,” he sneered. He heaved a sigh dramatically, “I’m so hurt you forgot me, maybe you’d remember this –” He flashed some seals. Her eyes widened, taking an involuntary step back as she searched back and forth for something. The wind shuddered, the leaves spinning wildly and consolidated, forming a black wolf.

She screamed, cupping her mouth with her hands to stop screaming but failing. The gunmetal kunai fell uselessly to the ground, as she clutched her head rocking herself back and forth.

“Ameki?” a lady landed beside her looking worriedly at her. Ameki stared at her, her silver eyes widening even more but without recognition. She skitted away from the newcomer like a plague screaming, this time the wind howled angrily, the Wisteria petals from the tree formed two silver wolves.

The man grinned, muttering to himself. “I’ll be back another time, for now. Good bye, my sweet prey.” He bowed, his wolf fending off the wolves.

“Ameki! Wake up!” the lady yelled, as she dodged and spun from the frenzied wolves. Ameki, who had stopped screaming, could only stare blankly at her as the lady got ripped apart.

Ino looked at Izumo who stood, pale face staring out at the window upon hearing what had happened.

“A man who has the same technique has her, she screams when she sees a black wolf –“ Shikamaru pondered, recalling Kotetsu mentioning that she was not only adopted but had burns on her.

“Its not just that Shikamaru –“ Ino said and narrated on how she had see that might have happened before she arrived at the Hidden Leaf village.

“Why didn’t she just tell us about it?” Izumo growled.

“There may be many reasons, judging from how she started trashing and how Ino described the ‘hallway’ started to distort after she saw that memory, it probably might have been a memory she wished she forgotten or even had willed herself into forgetting it.”

“Water –“ Ameki rasped, tugging onto Ino’s hand.

“You’re awake,” Ino said with a small smile as she handed her a cup of water. Izumo and Shikamaru exchanged glances wondering how much Ameki had heard.

“I feel like a ton of bricks had hit me on the head,” Ameki muttered. “Did they manage to take Sasuke?”

Ino shook her head, “they were found – ripped apart.” Ameki gulped audibly, the water slipping on herself. Her hands reached back as though grabbing something.

“what is it?” Ino asked, reaching over. Before Ameki could reply, Izumo pushed her forward, pulling up the shirt to where her fingers were reaching. They gasped, a clear fully formed picture of a flower, a Magnolia. It was as though someone had tattooed it into her skin.

“Is this what you like to do to girls?” Ameki asked wryly.

“What is the meaning of this?” Izumo demanded, ignoring her sarcastic remark. “It looks as though –“ he fell silent; none of them were willing to continue his sentence.

“It’s a burn mark,” she replied. “And it looks like either one has unlocked the memory I kept away cause I can remember it so clearly again –“ her words trembled faintly. “It’s the mark of the next clan leader.”

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“Aniki –“ the younger boy called. Tsukishi glanced back at him motioning him to continue. “Its about Tsubaki, she’s alive.” Tsukishi jerked violently, causing the wolf that they were riding on to jolt. He swore vehemently then apologized to the wolf with seemed to give him a sardonic smirk.

“Are you dumb Tsumero? Its obvious she’s alive!” he hollered at him, his fists clenching tightly of the thick fur of the wolf. “Honestly, did you lose your brains with that moronic ninja?”

“I meant – its confirmed she’s alive and I know where,” the boy called Tsumero replied patiently. The wolves halted in their running, though panting, their eyes gazed at Tsukishi with curiousity, waiting what he’d do. “She’s in Hidden Leaf village –“ he answered the hanging unasked question.

Tsukishi looked at Akara with a pained expression. “Ara – don’t go giving me that look –“ Akara dryly said. “Something happened during the fight and god knows where Tsukishi went –“ She disembarked from the wolf and went off in her own direction, casting a faint smile. Tsumero raised an eyebrow.

“We’ve been teammates for ages even though we bicker a lot, we’re best of friends,” Tsukishi explained.

“I didn’t asked,” Tsumero laughed, climbing onto the other wolf.

“Where did you hear from this?” Tsukishi asked quietly, he wanted to see his long lost sister for ages, but they had many false alarms and for many years then the question whether she was really alive hung over them like a looming executioner’s axe waiting to snatch their hopes away. Without the real clan leader, they had no hope of getting revenge, getting what they had lost back. Now it seemed they might actually be able to accomplish it.