Who Am I?

Chapter 9: Truths

Sai followed behind Sakura in his own vehicle, opting for it just if he needed to leave promptly; this way, neither he nor Sakura would be stranded. It wasn't long before they'd reached the step, Sai parking behind her and quietly following. He just had to hope this would work; he knew very little about Ino, but the way she'd talked about Sakura made it clear to him that Sakura was a very important person to her. If Sakura could get Ino to come out and talk, perhaps that would mean better things. He had to be sure they were on amicable terms if he was going to ensure her safety.

"Okay," Sakura began as she stood before him, hands on her hips and looking commanding despite her smaller size. "First, you'll wait out here. If she doesn't want to talk to you, then you will not come in. I will talk to her, and I will ask her to consider talking to you. First, I need to know exactly why you want to talk to her." Exactly why? That was going to be difficult, but he would try.

"Well..." He thought a little more. "I would like to clarify some misunderstandings about the particular... incident which occurred over the weekend. I believe that Miss Yamanaka misconstrued my actions, and I wish to clarify that the intentions she believed I had were not those that I had intended. That is all."

"Right. Okay. Wait here," Sakura instructed. Nodding, Sai took a seat on the front step and pulled out his phone, opening it to check his messages. He'd wait for a message from Sakura or for someone to retrieve him from the front door before entering, as instructed.

––––––––––––––––––––

Ino had heard footsteps at the front, making her way down to the living room as she waited. She could hear voices; one of them sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite make them out from where she was standing. It wasn't until there was a knock on the front door that she could recognize the voice.

Sakura... What was Sakura doing here? Oh, right–she'd likely become suspicious when Ino wasn't at work, especially since normally they would have talked about their respective weekends. Well, if Sakura wanted to gush, it might be good to hear something positive. Ino wasn't really in the mood for gushing; frankly, there wasn't much to gush about.

She quietly moved toward the door, unlocking it and stepping away. Sakura was smart; she'd figure out that was an invitation to come in. Ino returned to the couch in the living room, setting down the wine bottle she'd retrieved on her way down to investigate and working to uncork it.

"Okay, start talking," she heard Sakura demand as her friend started to take the wine bottle from her. Ino protested verbally but let her; at this point, the wine was to keep the hangover at bay more than anything.

"I don't... really know if I want to talk about it," she said honestly, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself as she sunk back into the corner of the couch. "You at least look like you had a great weekend. Tell me all about it because you know I'm dying to hear." Deep down, she was, but she was finding it difficult to convey that. Watching Sakura's expression, it was clear the pinkette wasn't buying it either.

"Oh, no. You don't get to hear a word about that until you tell me what's going on," Sakura scolded. Whoops. It looks like she wasn't as convincing as she'd hoped. "You never miss work. You never call in sick unless you're basically dying and can't leave the bathroom because you haven't kept a lick of food down." Ouch, did Sakura have to remind her of that day? That was a day she never wanted to remember. She'd been far too sick to function doing anything that day. It had been the worst.

"I don't even know where to start, Sakura," Ino said honestly. "It's... so complicated. So very, very complicated."

"So, start at the beginning. You were supposed to be going on a date with Sai, so start there." Sakura had a point; that was a part she could talk about. It still left a sour taste in her mouth thinking about it, mostly because she was upset it had been some stupid ruse on Sai's part to get information out of her.