Who Am I?

Chapter 13: Protection

Once she had a free moment, Ino made her way down to the lowest level of the building where Sakura worked, chewing her lip as she was in the elevator. She hated going down here. She was convinced the place was haunted; after all, why wouldn't it be when it frequently stored dead bodies? Ino would have been deeply surprised if not a single ghost had taken up residence there. There had to be at least one. There was no denying it!

Startled as she heard the elevator ding, the blonde scuttled across the floor in the direction of her friend's office, breathing a sigh of relief as she could see Sakura was there. Sakura had mentioned something about looking at apartments today, so Ino wouldn't have been surprised if she was gone for the afternoon doing just that. It would have been just her luck to have to sit down here and wait for Sakura.

"Ino?" The pinkette called curiously as Ino rushed into her office. She locked the door behind them, not entirely sure that would keep a ghost out, but if it worked, well, it worked.

"Okay. You, me, quick talk." No, she wasn't going to stay down here for long! Besides, they had to keep their conversation short and sweet. Ino would give her the full details later when they were at the hotel.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got time," Sakura replied with a gesture to the couch; Ino took a seat on one end, her friend sitting beside her on it.

"Okay, so, short version of what's going on. I'll give you the full details later, but they're, um..." How exactly was she supposed to explain this? "You know how I said I might be gone for a little bit?" She had mentioned that this morning, after all.

"Yeah, I remember," Sakura said with a nod.

"Well," the blonde continued, "essentially what's happening is I'm being moved to protective custody for a bit. At least until this case blows over. There's, uh, more details than that, but I don't want to talk too much about them, at least not around here." She mentally promised that she'd give Sakura the full story later; at the hotel, Sai and the rest of the officers assigned to them could better ensure their safety with the knowledge they had. "Anyway, tonight I have to stay in a hotel, and I want you to come with me, just for tonight. I can't bring you to the safe house, but Sai said it would be fine if you stayed at the hotel with us. Just for tonight." Ino could see Sakura's hesitation; was she going to have to beg? She really didn't want to, but if she had to, then she would. Sakura staying in her office wasn't the deep reason that she wanted her to come along, after all.

"Are you sure?" Sakura queried. "I really don't mind staying here tonight. I managed to get an apartment situation figured out, so I'll be moving my stuff into that over the next few days, anyway. One night won't hurt." Oh, what a selfless little dummy. Of course, she would prefer to stay in her office; heaven forbid she burden anyone with her problems. It was sweet most of the time, but it wasn't healthy for Sakura in many situations.

"Sakura," Ino begged, hands reaching to grasp Sakura's firmly as she stared at her with a pleading gaze. "Please. I'm not asking because I don't want you sleeping in your office... although the prospect of you sleeping in this weirdly haunted, morbid area of the precinct does creep me out a little. I'm asking you because I want you there. I want my best friend. I want her to be in the know about what's going on because I trust her and because she's the most important person in the world to me. Please." There it was: Ino wanted to have the comfort of her best friend nearby. Preventing Sakura from sleeping in her creepy haunted office was just a bonus.

"Okay," Sakura relented after a pause, much to Ino's relief. "I'll come. But if things get hinky, Sai's priority is to protect you, not me, okay? Got it? Got it. I have all the stuff I need with me, so I'll meet you upstairs..?"