The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

62: Breakthrough

[OP: "Dear Wormwood" -The Oh Hellos]

Ino was in trouble for a few horrible seconds, but then it was as if a hand inside the mindscape somehow shoved her forward.

(How ,when she was being squeezed like a stress ball, she wasn't sure.)

Then the red and black images seemed to break into pieces like a genjutsu would. 

The feeling of something being wrong didn't pass away, but the feeling like there was fire on her skin did decrease substantially.

She felt as if she was gasping for air thought she wasn't actually breathing there.

The air around her was black again..and then it was white.

Well, Ino thought maybe it was just blank, but white was how it looked in her mind.

And Ino thought that she was kind of getting more solid...as if the whiteness was being wiped away.

Ino pushed at it and her hand went through till she touched something.

She knew by the feel that it was a person and that it must be Sasuke.

Sasuke himself didn't even know what was going on, but he looked up sharply.

Ino hoped her voice would work, and then she heard herself speaking--and it sounded strangely muffled, since there was no air to bounce through:

"Sasuke? Can't you hear me?"

Sasuke seemed to flinch. "Who's there?"

Ino frowned, he was staring at her, wasn't he?

But then she saw his eyes were...red...they seemed red only, she didn't see the patterns.

She l if saying I didn't see her...maybe he only heard her.

"It's... me...Ino," she said. "Can't you see me?"

"I see nothing," Sasuke's voice sounded strange too, too quiet and still to be normal.

"Oh..." Ino decided not to tell him something was wrong with his eyes. "Well, I'm here...inside your mind...I don't have control though. Something's going on..." she remember that Shine had told her to stick to the question of: "do you want us to help you."

She had no idea how long this breakthrough would last, so she should hurry.

"Listen, there's no time. We're trying to get you out there. You want us to help you right?"

Sasuke didn't answer her.

Unclear if he had heard.

"Hey," she reached out and tapped him and he flinched. So he could feel her at least. "Come on, you want help right?"

"This is a new trick," Sasuke said, moving away very slowly as if it pained him to move. "Pretending to be someone else. I suppose the twist is that you'll turn into a something disgusting or horrifying in another minute. Just get it over with then, don't waste your time."

Typical Sasuke, even under the influence he was still cynical...

Ino wanted to slap him--and so she did.

Maybe her slap felt different than the dream's pain had, because Sasuke seemed to be more startled than hurt.

"What--" he began.

"I'm real!" Ino insisted. "I got through, just for a second. But I can't stay for long...this genjutsu will push at me again...They said to ask you if you wanted help. If you say you want help, it's easier to end this. Please just say yo do, we're both in danger right now."