Who Am I?

Chapter 23: Turning Point

The rest of Ino's day went without question, leaving her evening with little to nothing to do. Now that she had a free evening, there was one thing that she wanted to take care of before anything else happened: she had a bunch of boxes still left at Sakura's old house that she wanted to retrieve and sort through. There may have been valuable information in them she could use toward Sai's case; Ino had filled most of it with various knickknacks from her childhood, things she had stored there when she was staying in an apartment and couldn't fit into her condo. Firing off a quick text to Sakura to let her know that she'd be stopping there to pick those things up, Ino met Sai just outside her office, smiling at him.

"Hey, I have to head to Sakura's old place to pick up some things, if you want to come. I could use a hand with it, and... well, it would also allow you to walk through the old crime scene from her case. It's, um, been cleaned up since then, but I'm sure it's better to go there than it is to look at it in photos. Come on." Ino beckoned for Sai to follow. He made quick work of cleaning up what he was working on to follow her, pulling up his phone to go over the case details to refresh his memory. He let Ino drive as he read, feeling confident by the time they reached Sakura's house that he knew enough about the details. Ino wasn't looking forward to going over it, but if it were necessary to follow Akatsuki, then she'd deal with the discomfort.

Reaching the front door, she pulled out her keys and unlocked the door, leading Sai inside. Despite attempts to clean it up, Ino could still see the faintest stain on the carpet left; the average person wouldn't notice it, but she could. Part of her wished she'd never seen the crime scene photos; they might not have been burned into her mind so well if she hadn't. She could only imagine how Sasuke felt, having been there when it happened.

"Where are the boxes you are looking for?" Sai asked.

"Downstairs somewhere. Let's grab those, and then I can sort of walk you through what happened. I wasn't there, but... well, let's just say I've seen enough and heard enough right from Sakura that I can give a pretty detailed account." The only people who could give a more detailed account would be Sakura herself or Detective Uchiha. Sai nodded at Ino and followed her inside, frowning at the smell; it seemed the place hadn't been stayed in, as the air seemed kind of stale. They made their way down into the basement, hauling a couple of boxes up and back to Ino's car, loading them in the back. After a couple more trips, they had only one box left, which prompted Ino to lead Sai back to the house.

"Just one last box left," Ino confirmed, "So we can go through the scene as you wanted, and then I'll grab the last box, and we can go. Sound good?"

"Yes, that will be fine," Sai replied with a nod. He followed Ino to the front step, observing her body language; he could tell that this alone was difficult for her to do. He could only imagine the toll it would have taken on Sakura to have come back here. He couldn't blame the doctor for not wanting to live here any longer, despite the beautiful neighbourhood and the house's condition. It was challenging to come back to somewhere that had led to so much fear and pain.

"So," Ino began, taking a deep breath. "Sakura came in the front door, as usual." Ino opened the door, walking into the front doorway. "From the vantage point of the front door, she wouldn't have been able to see him, but upon entering, Hidan met her with the gun." She moved Sai to stand where Sakura would have been, then moved to where it was believed she was shot from, based on the evidence and testing. "He shot her from here, not quite point-blank, but close." She mimicked a gun sound, making a finger-gun as she pointed at Sai and pretended to fire.

"After that, he..." Ino took another deep breath, wishing she didn't have to recount these details. It was bad enough reading the written testimony from Sakura, let alone reciting it. "According to her, he said things about her... her eyes. It was beyond creepy. He was a sick, sadistic killer, and based on what happened, we believe that if Detective Uchiha hadn't shown up, he would have sat there and watched as she bled out. And he would have enjoyed it. She said... that he was smiling, that he laughed, that he seemed to enjoy watching her gasp for breath. Regardless, Detective Uchiha showed up, and from his account, he heard the gunshot from down the street where he was parked. We asked why he was there, and supposedly Sakura had forgotten some papers from a case they were working on, and he'd come to bring them to her." Ino had mild suspicions behind the detective's reason for being there, but she did believe he was there for a good cause rather than a malicious one.

"And yet he did not fire a shot at the assailant?" Sai asked, feeling mildly suspicious. Why wouldn't he have tried to take down the assailant? He would assume that the primary objective would be to follow the assailant and capture them. "He, in turn, allowed the suspect to escape, which led to further injuries when he returned to finish the job while Sakura was in the hospital. I believe that had he followed the suspect, then Detective Uchiha  could have prevented such an assault, and Hidan would likely be alive and in police custody."

Ino stared at Sai, looking dumbfounded. "I... What exactly are you saying? That the detective screwed up? Or did you forget to read the rest of the information? You know, like Sakura's medical report?" The blonde was at a loss for words. While, in theory, that was a logical way to surmise Sasuke's handling of the situation, there was no question that he'd made the right decision.

"Yes, I did take a look through her medical report, but--"

"How can you be so insensitive?" Ino asked bluntly. "If you read the medical report and used half your brain to understand the extent of her injuries, then you would have figured out that based on her condition when they loaded her into the ambulance, had Detective Uchiha not stayed to help with her injuries, Sakura would have died." Ino could feel her blood boiling in her veins; it had been scary enough to almost lose her best friend. She couldn't imagine the shape she'd be in if she had lost Sakura that day.

"I did not mean it as insensitive," Sai tried to explain, feeling himself floundering. Why was she so... upset all of a sudden? These were unfamiliar emotions, and he was now in foreign territory once more with the blonde. He watched as she turned her back to him, inhaling sharply before she turned around, an exasperated look on her face.

"Go. Just--go, and wait by the car. I'll grab the last box. I just... I can't even look at you right now." Disgust wasn't the right word for what she was feeling, but neither was anger. She didn't know how to describe it. She stomped down the stairs, grabbing the box roughly and taking a few breaths to calm herself. When she did, she realized something smelled off. Something like... rotting eggs? Definitely not a natural smell, and not the kind of smell you'd pick up in a basement.

Sai exited the house slowly as Ino walked away, shaking his head and making his way to the car. He'd screwed up with his words again, and he'd clearly upset Ino. He was going through the ways in his head to rephrase his statement and perhaps ask for her advice as to why she was so angry. His people skills were terrible when it came to social situations. Interrogations and questioning he could handle, but when it came to interacting with people on a social level, he was nothing more than a bumbling buffoon.

Having realized what it was she was smelling, Ino was running out of the house in an instant, forgetting the box that she'd gone to retrieve. She was internally cursing herself for not picking it up sooner; she'd attributed any strange smells to the staleness of the house. She was just coming out the front door, yelling at Sai to duck or get behind something just as the place exploded behind her. Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion; she felt a force at her back tossing her into the air and knocking her on her feet, then a pinching sensation in her abdomen. Everything was spinning around her, and her ears were ringing as the evening sky was slowly coming back into view.

Sai watched everything from afar, his heart dropping. The sound caused his ears to ring, prompting him to duck down behind his car to shield himself from the blast. Ino's warning had been enough for him to do so, but upon standing up, he saw where she'd been thrown from the explosion. It was only then that he understood why Ino had been so angry at him. Instinct pushed him to rush in her direction, seeing the sight before him; parts of her long, blonde hair had been singed in multiple places, and it appeared that part of the door frame from the front door had blasted off, impaling her in the abdomen. It was a severe injury.

"Miss Yamanaka?" Sai said quickly, checking her over for injuries. She was in bad shape, and he could tell she was in and out of consciousness. His hand was already fumbling for his phone, dialling for emergency services as he did his best to staunch whatever wounds he could. He was lucky she was far enough away from the house; if she were any closer, it would pose a danger to the both of them, but she wasn't in a condition he could move her safely without potentially causing her further injury.

"Ino, please, answer me, talk to me," Sai begged, hands pressing down around where the wood had pierced her. He didn't dare move it; one thing he had remembered was that puncture wounds such as these, particularly deep ones, should never have the implement that caused the injury removed. He couldn't remember why that was important, just that it was.

"Please, Ino. I am sorry for what I said, just please, please be okay. Please..."