Her Destiny

Ino's Wake-Up Call

Talk of attempted suicide.

When Ino was brought into the council room, she knew that something was wrong.

When she turned to her father, only to see that he couldn't even meet her eyes, she knew it was bad.

But when she turned and saw a fuming Hokage, she knew that she wasn't going to walk out of the room unscathed.

"You requested me, Hokage-sama," she stated.

"Yes Ino. It has come to this council's attention that you have been mistreating a former member of the village," Tsunade hissed.

"What are you talking about?" Ino scoffed.

"Sakura Haruno."

Without really thinking, Ino scoffed, before snarling, "She's the reason Sasuke-kun left. She was too weak."

Before she even had the time to process the situation, she was face down on the table in front of the Hokage, face mashed into the wood.

"Your pettiness could have gotten you killed girl, and now Sakura is gone because you couldn't take the time to hear her out," Tsunade snarled.

Ino blanched. "What?"

"You heard me just fine. She is gone. Shikamaru, Hinata, and Neji have gone with her."

"How is that my fault," Ino screeched. "She didn't deserve to be here anyway."

"On the contrary Ino, you are the one that doesn't deserve to be here. Do you realize what you've done?"

Ino stayed silent.

"You just forced four of our best shinobi out of the village over a petty crush on a boy that couldn't even bother to take his sensei's advice and look underneath the underneath. Sasuke Uchiha is a nukenin. A man so hell bent on revenge that he doesn't care who he hurts to get what he wants. The trail of bodies that follows him is proof enough."

"But," Ino started, only to be cut off again, this time by her own father.

"You denied her entry into the flower shop, Ino. The one place that she could come to talk to me off the record, and you took it away from her. She bottled it up, and you know exactly what that does to a person's mind. And then you go and tell her to kill herself? It's a wonder that you are alive after pulling something like that," Inoichi snapped.

"You're lucky that Ugly caught the four of us, Ino-san, or else you would be dead," Sai said, his voice deep and sinister.

"But she's the reason Sasuke is gone!"

"No she isn't. She's the reason this village is still standing, and you just drove our best protection out of the village over a boy."

"Did you know that Sakura was suicidal, Ino-san?" Sai asked, his voice dark.

"W-what? No she isn't!" Ino exclaimed.

"you would be amazed what a person can hide, if they don't want anyone to know about it. If it weren't for Shikamaru, Hinata, and Neji, she probably would have killed herself months ago."

"In your anger over Sasuke, you never bothered to take a look at your old friend, to listen to her. Her parents were murdered while on vacation in Grass Country over a year ago. She went to you, to talk, but you wouldn't even look at her, let alone talk to her. She would attempt to speak to you, she even brought me along a couple times, fearing what you might do, only for her to find out that you had blocked her entry to the shop. When you told her to kill herself, she took it seriously. She didn't leave her bathroom for two days, and even though she looked the same as when she entered, it was obvious that she had tried. The scent of blood was strong in the bathroom. All four of us sat outside that door for two days, waiting for her to come out. It's the only reason she didn't follow through. She wouldn't leave us alone. She talks about it sometimes, saying that if it weren't for us, she would be long dead."

Ino's face was draining of color at a rapid rate.

"As of now, you are stripped of your rank as a shinobi. You are a genin, and you will only be allowed D-rank missions for the next year. If, and only if, after that time, you can act like an adult, then you may ask to sign up for the chuunin exams. Until then, you will be on your own. Let this serve as a reminder, Ino, of just how badly you have acted, and hope that Sakura and her friends don't do something to hurt this village, or I will hold you personally responsible."

Inoichi would not meet his daughter's eyes. He couldn't believe what she had caused, over a boy of all things.

At that moment a hawk flew through one of the windows, carrying a letter.

"That's Neji's summon," Sai stated.

Tsunade snatched the letter from the bird's leg before looking at said bird, waiting for it to say something.

"Greetings, Hokage-sama. I am Gin, Neji-sama's personal summon," the bird stated.

"Hello, Gin," the Hokage smiled. "Do you have news?"

The bird bobbed its head. "yes, hime. Neji and his friends are safe. They do not wish to be followed. The four also said to tell Sai-sama that they miss him, and hope this finds all of you well."

"Very well, Gin. Thank you."

With that the bird hopped over to Sai, gave the boy an affectionate tug to the sleeve of his shirt, and then disappeared out the window.

"Since when has Neji had a summon?" Hiashi asked.

"He and the other three have had various summons for quite some time now. Shikamaru holds the deer contract, Hinata holds the tiger contract, and Sakura holds both the owl and the wolf contracts. Neji obviously has the hawk contract and Sai has the Lynx contract" Tsunade explained, looking at the letter in her hands.

The Calligraphy was beautiful, but even if Sakura's was better than average, this wasn't her writing.

"That is Hinata's handwriting," Hiashi observed.

Tsunade looked at it with newfound interest. Well that explained the fantastic handwriting. "I wonder why she wrote the letter," Tsunade mumbled, opening the letter.