Who Am I?

Chapter 26: Memories

Sai waited by Ino's bedside, idly checking his emails and searching on the files she'd sent to him while they were out in a secured location. He was going over every ounce of evidence they had; their information had linked something here, but it was something they'd yet to identify. Her mother was missing, she was in the hospital, and her father was nowhere to be found. It was almost like before when they'd gone under the radar only to resurface with entirely new identities. Was this what Ino's parents had planned? Were they responsible for what had happened at Sakura's house?

Were they responsible for more events than anyone had expected?

Sai was snapped out of the trance he'd been in by a nurse entering the room, standing from his seated position on the cot as she approached. Another doctor followed the nurse, who escorted him out of the room, leading him down the hall and into another room where they could talk privately. Sai caught the last name on her white coat: Dr. Senju. He recognized the name from somewhere, but where?

"I'm Dr. Tsunade Senju," she introduced, producing a hand to shake with Sai's. "Ino seems to be pulling through. We're going to take her off the ventilator for now and keep a close eye on her vitals, but her status is looking better. We think by morning she may be awake, but depending on how medicated she is, she may not be fully lucid." The doctor pursed her lips, looking uncertain.

"From the expression on your face, I assume there is more?" Sai wanted to know. No, he needed to know. Whatever Ino's condition was, he needed to be aware of it. He felt a strange sense of desperation that he'd never experienced before.

"After the scans we did, we noticed that there was some head trauma. It's to be expected from a situation like this, but my primary concern is what kind of damage happened. She coded in the ambulance on the way, as I'm sure you remember, so... between that and her head trauma, it's possible there's... permanent damage." Sai didn't like the sound of that. Head injuries could mean a lot of different things, none of which were good. Permanent damage could be minor, temporary things like mild amnesia, or it could mean years of physical therapy. The most he could hope for was the former if there was any lasting damage. That would be the best-case scenario.

"Okay. I'll stay with her. As with before, any requests come through me and no one else." He paused, chewing his lip. "Not even other ROOT personnel. Only myself." He had to be firm on that. The more he was looking at the scenario, the more he could tell that ROOT was involved, and the less information he wanted to be open to them. Dr. Senju nodded at his request, sweeping out of the room and leaving Sai to return to Ino's bedside.

By the time he reached Ino's room again, the nurse had removed the tube from her throat, and she seemed to be breathing on her own. That caused Sai to sigh with relief; it meant he could take a moment and lay down to get some rest. He knew he wouldn't be of any use to the investigation if he weren't sharp. He signalled for the nurses to keep an eye on the door, settling down on the cot and closing his eyes to release a soft breath. He was asleep within moments.

As Sai was asleep, his mind started to wonder; first, they were incomprehensible dreams that made no sense and were insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Then he could hear someone yelling.

"SHIN!" Sai's voice was loud and filled with desperation as he ran through the wooded areas. He was frenzied, trying to follow the trail of blood; in one hand, he held a bloodied knife, and over the other shoulder was a gun far too large for any child to be handling. Blood had soaked his clothes; some of it was old and dried, and some were fresh splashes of red. He was following a trail of blood through the trees, his breath coming in heavy pants and making small puffs in the cool air.