Who Am I?

Chapter 31: Bonds

The moment they were back at her home, Ino whirled on Sai, staring him down. She'd been holding back her irritation the entire time during their meeting, and the fact that her head was pounding wasn't helping, either. Sai's choice to withhold information from her was beginning to aggravate her. How could he have not told her about wanting to get Hinata involved? Had he forgotten that Hinata was her assistant--no, her friend? She'd spent the entire car ride brewing more and more, and the angrier she got, the more she knew her plan was going to go out the window.

"Ino?" Sai could see the tension in her body, a tender hand reaching out. She slapped it away, gritting her teeth as she stared at him. She wasn't sure why, but she was beyond angry. She knew who she wanted to talk to when she was like this; unfortunately, that person was nowhere near. No, she was far away, hidden somewhere that Ino couldn't find her, and the longer things went on, the more she felt like nothing was being done about it.

"Don't 'Ino' me," she snapped, taking a step closer to him. "What the hell has been with all of the secret-keeping lately, huh? What, I'm not good enough since I got smacked on the head and had my brain rattled a little?" Feeling left out was one thing, but to feel like Sai had practically abandoned her when it came to their investigation? Hell, she was probably the one who wanted Sakura back the most of all of them!

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sai was... confused by Ino's sudden outburst. He hadn't meant to leave her out of the investigation; he'd wanted to avoid burdening her with too much at one time. She struggled to recover her memories, and he figured adding more to her plate was a bad idea.

"Oh, you don't, do you? Oh, no, just the fact that you brought the only other damned friend I have into this after my best friend's been labelled a murderer and a fugitive?" She scoffed and shook her head at him, turning away for a moment before turning back at him. "No, as always, you just went ahead without thinking of including me, was that it?"

Sai could tell now that he'd screwed up in his decisions, but he also knew what Ino was going through. He'd gone through the same struggles as a child and even as a teenager, wanting to know where he came from, what kind of person he was, everything. He'd been a boy with no past, shuffled around and feeling like his life had no meaning without it. It'd taken far too long for him to get past it.

"Ino, please, listen to me," he coaxed, his expression softening as he reached out to grasp her shoulders gently. Ino could feel her hands balled into fists, the urge to hit something rising. She raised a hand, fighting between the desire to slap Sai across the face and punch him in the nose. His hand reached up, catching her wrist before she could strike.

"Let go," she demanded, though he ignored her requests. Even as she tried to pull free, he remained firm, not allowing her to escape. She raised her other hand to strike, but he was much quicker than she was, catching it with the same firm grip on her wrist. She tried to pull away again, demanding he release her, but she felt her resolve waning. She just hung her head, feeling defeated. She hadn't wanted to strike him, but she was overwhelmed and feeling lost. A sob choked her, and her arms went slack in his grip.

Sai didn't miss the change in her demeanour, slowly bringing her wrists in and against his chest before he pulled her in for a hug, ignoring the growing sensation in his chest. It wasn't a feeling he could explain because he'd never experienced it; all of this was new to him, but now wasn't the time to be confronting it.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to overwhelm you," Sai explained as he ran a hand over her hair. "Ino, I... I know what you're going through on some level. I spent years like this, not knowing who I was, and the last thing I wanted to do was overwhelm you with more information. I did not mean for you to feel as if you were left out of things." He'd been worried about her since what had happened.