Sakura’s feet pounded the ground as she ran, faster than she ever had before, and faster than she ever would again. She was trying to forget what had just happened, but she couldn’t get the image of the shocked, scared and downright sad Ino out of her head. She knew that if Kakashi found out, he would kill her, no questions asked, but she couldn’t risk going back and speaking to Ino. That was the way her life had to be, not speaking, only hearing, never seeing, never speaking, never going back. She sighed quietly, and continued running, further from the scene but closer and closer to the place that might just be the death of her.

Meanwhile, Ino was just coming round. She became acutely aware of something wet and sticky running down her neck, and something cool and light moving back and forth over her face, that quite frankly was beginning to annoy her. She opened her eyes slightly and could see and blurry face, hanging over hers, watching her.

“Sakura?” she asked quietly.

“No. Neji.” The blurry face said, sounding patient, but Ino could detect a hint of annoyance in his tone. Upon hearing this, Ino’s eyes snapped open. She could see that Neji was holding what looked like a scrap of cloth that he had been waving gently back in forth over her face, in an attempt to make her come round. His lilac eyes were full of concern.

“That was some fall you took-what happened?” he asked. That explains the stuff running down my neck, she thought to herself.

“Ino? What happened to you?” Neji asked, definitely sounding impatient this time.

“Well, I was walking along the street, when someone dressed in all black ran into me. They didn’t stop, so I called out to them, to find out who they were, and when they turned round it was…Neji, it was Sakura!” she exclaimed. A look of shock passed over Neji’s face, before he sighed.

“Ino…they aren’t coming back, I’m sorry, you saw the bodies, remember…you were there when Kakashi brought them back to the village, you were there when they were buried…I’m sorry Ino,” he said, handing her the cloth he had been holding. Upon closer inspection, Ino could see that it was a piece of the fabric from Neji’s clothing. He must have torn a bit of if off when he found her. She assumed it was for her head, so she began to dab at the area where it most hurt, and pretty soon the whole piece of material was saturated.

“Here,” Neji said, tearing another few pieces of material from his clothing. He held one piece to her head, checked it after a few moments, and seemingly satisfied, took the other piece, the longer piece and very gently tied it around her head, knotting it at the back of her neck, much like her forehead protector, only further up. Ino smiled.

“I have to go,” Neji said briskly, standing up.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Ino asked helplessly.

“They aren’t coming back, I’m really sorry Ino, you know its true. I’m really sorry.” he said quietly, turning and walking off. He paused momentarily, as if to say something else, but almost imperceptibly, shook his head and kept walking, leaving Ino sitting on the ground.

Neji walked quickly away into the night. Ino was clearly delirious. He himself had helped Kakashi carry the bodies of team 7 into the village. He remembered it quite clearly, it had been himself and Rock Lee, who had been completely devastated. Neji had been heartbroken as well, although he would never have admitted it, he had always admired Sakura from afar. He remembered Lee had barely been able to stand up, he was in such a state. He had helped Kakashi dig the hole, and he had watched as Kakashi lowered the bodies one by one into their respective holes. Everyone had been crying over the loss of the Uchiha boy, and the joker of the village, Naruto. He had missed them as well, and although he had never really liked either of them, he was sad that they were gone. Ino couldn’t have seen Sakura this evening. It was impossible. He sighed again, and kept walking.

Ino was sitting on the ground, still thinking. She was positive she had seen Sakura, and no-one, especially not Neji was going to change her mind. She wanted to see Sakura again, to speak to her. There was only one thing she could do. Wait. Keep watch and wait. And that is exactly what she would do.

Sakura was inside the Hokage’s lodgings. She had only ever been here once, and that was back when the fourth Hokage had ruled. What was his name again? She couldn’t remember, it seemed like so long ago, all she really remembered was his hat. Back then the lodgings had been basic, barely any decoration, only the official seal of the Hokage here and there, to show it was inhabited by anyone important at all. However, now that Tsunade had taken over, the place was almost full to the brim of ornaments and things that Tsunade no doubly considered important. Sakura edged her way around a large vase, full of huge purple flowers, and a statue that Tsunade probably thought tasteful. Sakura didn’t. She knew exactly where the scroll would be, she had seen it last time she had been here, it was kept in a special embellished cupboard, but the only problem was the fact that the Hokage’s bed chamber was right next to it, and Tsunade had never been know to sleep a whole night in her life.

Neji was still thinking about Ino. She had seemed pretty positive that it had been Sakura and after much consideration he was beginning to believe her. Although he had helped with the burying of the bodies, he had never actually seen Sakura’s face, only Naruto’s and Sasuke’s, Kakashi had said that Sakura had been so badly tortured that most of her body was being held together by the bindings she had been wrapped in. But what if it hadn’t been Sakura? What if it had just been a puppet, or worse, someone else’s dead body? And what if Kakashi wasn’t the hero that everyone thought he was? Which would also explain why he was the only one who had made it back alive that day… Neji had to speak to Ino, and fast.

Sakura had made it to the room of the scroll without disturbing anyone. Now for the difficult part…actually getting the scroll, which was much easier said than done. She tried opening the door, and was immensely surprised when she found it swung open under her grasp. Maybe Tsunade was so confident that no-one who tried to steal it would make it back out of the lodgings alive that she left the room open all the time. Maybe. Or maybe it meant that someone else had been there before her…

She stepped into the room, and quickly made her way to the other side of the room, where the door to the cupboard was situated. This was the worst part. She examined the door for a moment, from about two feet away, trying to work out if there were any hidden traps that would cause problems. When she decided that there weren’t any of these, she crept closer and closer, until she was touching the door, of which she took the handle and pulled slightly. Again, it opened outwards easily enough. Sakura inhaled deeply as she saw what lay within the cupboard. There, in front of her, was the Elder Scroll, the scroll that everyone knew existed, but only the lucky few ever saw. And Sakura was about to steal it.