Chapter 26

Leaping down into the garden and alighting on the branch of a sturdy tree, Ino beckoned Shikamaru to follow. He landed quietly beside her and peered intently at the side of the house.

"If we're going to follow, we had better be quick and as quiet as possible," he told her softly, "We don't know when she'll be back."

Ino nodded and dropped down to the ground running quickly across the untidy lawn and around the side of the house where Sakura had traveled. She pushed aside the branches and stepped over the leaves as silently and hurriedly as she could, Shikamaru not far behind. Emerging on the other side, Ino glanced about the area nervously. There was no doubt that Sasuke's house had been empty and unkempt for a long time, as the garden she saw was almost a jungle with weeds.

"Oi, Ino," Shikamaru muttered grouchily from behind, "There's Sakura's bag."

Following his gaze, Ino saw Sakura's bag lying on the porch in front of the back entryway. Listening carefully, Ino made sure that Sakura wasn't nearby before quickly sneaking up to the bag and opening the flap.

"What are you doing, Ino?" Shikamaru hissed from behind her, running up as well, "This is risky; she could find us at any moment."

"Be quiet for a minute, will you?" she hissed as she peered at the contents of the bag.

A cell phone, a first aid kit, an ophthalmoscope, bandages, a wallet, and two large medical textbooks were inside. Reading the titles on the spines, Ino observed that they were about the human eye. This was getting stranger by the second… The contents of the bag didn't take up much of its total capacity and quite a lot of space was left over.

"Ino," Shikamaru whispered to her, "Footsteps."

Quickly Ino shut the bag and both leapt back away from it, taking up a hiding spot within some bushes. Peering out carefully through the leaves, both of them saw Sakura exit the house with a number of items held in her arms. Kneeling down on the veranda, Sakura laid the items gently on the ground and opened up her bag.

At that moment, the cell phone within Sakura's bag began to ring, and she pulled it out quickly and answered it.

"Moshi moshi," she said cheerfully, then nodded, "Mmhmm… Alright, let him know that I'll be there soon… No, I'm not too far, just picking up a few things and I'm just packing up. In the meantime, can you see to it that he is showered off and fed? I don't think he's had anything to eat since lunchtime yesterday. He was unconscious after Tsunade-sama dealt with the problem that came up… Thank you, Maeko. I'll see you in a bit… Okay, goodbye."

Noticing nothing out of the ordinary, Sakura placed the cell phone back into her bag and began to put the items she had collected from Sasuke's house into it as well. She put them inside with a delicate touch, like she did not want to damage anything. From the distance that she and Shikamaru were at, Ino found that she couldn't tell what most of the items were, but clearly recognized two folded sets of

 clothing, the emblem of the Uchiha on the back of one of the garments.

Sakura finished packing up the bag, and after closing it, slung it onto her shoulder. She closed the door to the house and locked it carefully before heading back to the side of the house, carefully making her way back through the underbrush with ease. Ino and Shikamaru waited until she was completely gone before straightening up.

"Well, that was strange," Shikamaru commented, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "You were right, she has been acting oddly."

"I told you!" Ino replied in a feisty manner, "She was mourning Sasuke for the past couple of days, then she disappears to the hospital for a while and is suddenly back into her regular

 attire. Then she comes here carrying a couple of books on the human eye of all things, takes a bunch of Sasuke's things and receives a phone call from the hospital talking about someone who hasn't eaten since yesterday! It doesn't add up!"

Shikamaru closed his eyes, "The books on the eye could be related to the phone call, but neither of them seem related to her change in mood over Sasuke. This is certainly troublesome."

"What do you make of it?" Ino asked, putting her hands on her hips, a confused expression on her face.

"I have a theory…" he pondered quietly to himself, "But even to me it doesn't entirely fit. We're missing too much information. Shouldn't you know what she's talking about over the phone? I thought you were a medical ninja too."

"I am, but I work at the pharmacy! I don't know much about what happens in the hospital, I just make the medicines. Anyways, are we going to follow her some more?" Ino asked stepping out from behind the bush and into the yard, "We'd better hurry if we don't want to lose her."

"No, she'll be going back to the hospital and we'll have a harder time following her," he replied boredly, "I'm going back."

"Don't leave me behind!" Ino exclaimed, rushing after him, pushing the brambles aside.

Shikamaru shrugged as the both emerged on the other side. Ino sighed at his laid-back attitude, wondering how on earth he managed to stay so calm and carefree all the time. She was just eating herself wondering what Sakura was doing with Sasuke's things, and Shikamaru didn't seem remotely interested.

"We should ask around, shouldn't we?" Ino asked, coming up beside him, "Maybe other people have noticed Sakura acting strangely."

"I don't really care," Shikamaru replied, now that the interesting part was over. He looked up at the sky, "And now all the clouds have cleared away. This is so troublesome… I'm going to go find Naruto and Chouji."

"Naruto!" Ino exclaimed happily, grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the main gate, "That's a good idea, Shikamaru! We'll go ask Naruto about Sakura!"

"Eh—nani?!" Shikamaru grunted in confusion, "Why do you think he would know anything?"

"He's Sakura's teammate! He should notice if she's been acting strangely," she replied with certainty.

"Team Seven has been split up for years now, Ino. Naruto and Sakura haven't been on a mission together in ages," he told her irritably, "Not to mention it's Naruto—he would be the last person to notice anything strange."

"Oh, it can't hurt to try!" and with that last statement, Ino dragged Shikamaru over the fence with her, not allowing him another moment to argue.

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