Ino awoke to a dark room. This no longer scared her like it once might have, and she immediately turned to check on Sakura. Whenever Ino woke up in the middle of the night, assuming she didn’t have to go potty, it was always from Sakura. It had gotten to the point where even if Sakura made no sound Ino would often still sense it and wake up anyways.
This was one of those times. Sakura was staring at the floor, gaze far away. Moving slowly, Ino asked, “Sakura, is it ok if I hug you?” A nod. Ino wrapped her up. “Was it a bad one?”
Sakura shook her head no, then stopped and nodded, then stopped again and said “I… I don’t know.” Talking seemed to ground her and she returned Ino’s hug. “I’m ok Ino, thanks.”
Nodding Ino went and grabbed her writing kit and flicked on a lamp. “So,” she said cautiously, “both bad and not-so-bad huh?”
“It was just you and me talking.” Sakura said quietly. “But everything felt so sad… And you and I really looked sad.”
“That’s it?” Ino said, wondering why Sakura looked as shaken up as she did.
“No…” Sakura said reluctantly but didn’t continue. Ino waited patiently. It felt like the silence became deeper with each passing second. As if the depth of the silence was a harbinger of the coming information.
“You were talking to me.” Sakura finally blurted out, like it was the only thing she knew for sure. “Before I was sad.” She said as if trying to convince an obstinate Ino. “I couldn’t hear but I looked confused for a while, and then mad and like I didn’t believe or understand what you said.” Her voice sounded far away. “We argued for a while, I didn’t get most of it. But right before it ended I heard...” She hesitated briefly again.
“You said ‘I’m telling you. They are all dead. The whole clan’.”
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