Ino was lazing around in the flower shop. There weren't many customers at this time in the day, so she didn't really have to do anything.

A shinobi shunshinned into the store.

"Hello, welcome to Yamanaka flowers! What can I get you today? Any special occasion?" She asked, faking cheerfulness.

"Miss Ino Yamanaka?" The shinobi asked, watching Ino carefully. "The Hokage would like to see you."

Confused, Ino followed the unknown shinobi to the Hokage's office.

"Ino!" Tsunade exclaimed, knocking over another pile of work to be done. "How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks. Why'd you call me?" Ino asked. She noticed that Tsunade wasn't completely drunk today, a surprising occurrence.

"You saw Sakura, yes? She came back to the village?"

"Yup. It was very strange. She wluldn't tell us anything. She came back with, like, Tenten and this cute guy. Looked like Deidara, from the Akastuki, but with short hair. And I remember Tenten acted very strange about her palms, kept jumping out the way and using chopsticks in a weird way."

"Who's Tenten?" Tsunade frowned. "Oh well, ignore that. How was Sakura acting?"

"Also pretty weird, now that I think about it."

"When did they leave?"

"Uh..." now it was Ino's turn to frown. "I never forget stuff, but I really can't remember. I can't remember anything from the past two days."

That was extremely suspicious. Ino had trained under Tsunade for a while too, but Tsunade had never seen her forget anything. Be a mess, yes. Come late to every lesson and meeting, yes. Loving sleep, yes. But forgetting? That hadn't happened.

"Nothing... from the past TWO days?" Tsunade asked.

"Yup." Ino replied. "That's real weird."

"Who was that Deidara guy you were talking about?"

"Oh, I don't know." Ino replied, "I don't remember anything about him at all."

Tsunade mused for a second, mulling over what Ino had said. It was all very suspicious. "Bring Inoichi." Tsunade ordered a random shinobi.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." He replied, leaving the building immediately and returning to the Yamanaka house. A few minutes later, Ino's dad arrived in.

"Hello," he said, "Why am I here?"

"Does your daughter forget stuff often?" Tsunade interrogated.

"No, she's a smart, resourceful young lady." Inoichi said, "Why?"

Tsunade pointed toward Ino. "She doesn't remember anything from the past two days. I need you to look at her memories, just in case. It's all a very strange business over here."

Inoichi couldn't refuse an order from Tsunade, so he apologised to his daughter, and began his jutsu. Ino understood, and allowed Inoichi into her memories (taking care to direct him there and only there, not to any other place in her mind).

Indeed, her memories were completely blank, not just forgetfulness-blank, but blank slate. It was as though the last two days hadn't existed for Ino. Inoichi exited out of Ino's mind, and told the Hokage what he had seen: "Her mind is blank. It's been wiped."

Tsunade thought for a second. "I've been fearing the worst, and it's true. It's unlikely that you would've done this, so I'll assume someone from out of the village did that."

She paused, "What was that Deidara-looking guy's name? Wasn't he in this office?"

"His name's Deidei." Ino answered. "What's wrong? Why are you sober? And why are you worrying about this?"

"The only person I know that has the qualifications necessary to wipe your mind in that way is Uchiha Itachi, Sharingan wielder. Killed all his family." Tsunade replied to Ino's questions. "He's part of the Akatsuki. Which would match with the Deidara-looking guy - Deidei - and also why Sakura was so secretive."

"Surely there's some other solution? I mean, Sakura would never join the Akatsuki. Why would she?"

"I don't know. It was a training journey? That must play a big role... she always did want to catch up with Naruto and Sasuke."

"So, you're saying there's no other way this could've happened?" Inoichi seemed less impressed. "As respectful as I possibly can be, but you were drunk almost the entirety of the time that Sakura was here. Are you sure it's the Akatsuki?"

"What others would you suggest, Inoichi? Anyone else outside of Konoha who can do this?"

"Well, I don't know anyone outside of the village bu-"

"You mean that you could've done this? You did that?"

"No, of course not, Hokage-sama. But someone else in the village could've."

"Who?"

"Kakashi has the Sharingan too."

"Are you accusing Kakashi? An ANBU member? You're on dangerous territory here." Tsunade had a twisted smile on her face. "Face it, it's the Akatsuki." Even though Tsunade was merely going on a hunch, she wasn't gonna give up.

"No, no, I'm not accusing Kakashi but... what are the chances of it being the Akatsuki?" Inoichi said. His tone conveyed the unlikely chance that it would be the Akatsuki. "Are you saying your precious student is part of a terrorist organization known for having killed thousan-"

"Shut it. I'm Hokage. I'm Sakura's teacher. I have the right to spy on my student if I wanna." Tsunade frowned, angry, "Bring me a talented ANBU shinobi, and then we'll see who's right."

Inoichi bowed, and left. Soon thereafter, an ANBU shinobi appeared in the Hokage's office.

The shinobi was Hatake Kakashi. Tsunade offered him a bottle of sake (which he courteously refused), then told him his mission. 

"You would like me to spy on your student?" Kakashi reiterated, surprised. 

"Yep!" Tsunade smiled. "I made a bet with Inoichi that I'm right, and I goddamn am."

Kakashi accepted the mission, in his cold, emotionless ANBU way. He bowed, then sprang out of the window. He summoned Pakkun. The gruff little dog barked, sniffing out Sakura's scent, following it. Kakashi followed Pakkun. 

Soon, they arrived to a suspicious-looking hideout. Kakashi resisted the urge to sweat-drop at the obviousness of the boulder as a hideout entrance. 

He knew it was dangerous to enter, but he kept following Pakkun into the hideout as carefully and quietly as he could. 

Now if this isn't an Akatsuki hideout, my name isn't Kakashi. He thought to himself, as he scanned the hideout's solid earthy walls and long tunnels. Occasionally he found a door, and he'd peek inside, only to find it completely empty and redundant. Where on Earth could Sakura be? 

Finally, Pakkun stopped at a door. "There she is." He growled at Kakashi quietly. Then he poofed away. 

Carefully, Kakashi opened the door. It was a fairly large room. On each side, a bed lay, and a dresser. To the left, a closet; to the right, a bathroom. Straight in front of Kakashi and the doorway, two scythes were in their proper places. One side of the room - the left - was clean and orderly, the other messy and had stuff lying on the floor. The floor was covered by three carpets. Two on either side of the bed, nice and fluffy for when people got up. The third carpet was the biggest, at the foot of the beds, stretching across most of the room. On the beds, lay two girls. One had long brown hair, left down while she slept. The one on the bed to the right had pink, short hair. The carpet was covered in pink clothes and Akatsuki cloaks.

Kakashi's eyes widened. 

"So, you've decided to sneak into our hideout, now did you?" Came a voice behind Kakashi. "Too bad for you. That was a very bad idea, now wasn't it?"

///

Sorry this was short, I just couldn't resist a cliffhanger! ψ(｀∇´)ψ next one will be longer, promise (✿╹◡╹)