Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Show Me, Touch Me, Catch Me ❯ Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me. I make no money writing this story. I still enjoyed writing it, though, so I hope you enjoy reading it!

Additional Disclaimer: I do not own Yahoo, or make any profit from it or its mention herein.

Show Me, Touch Me, Catch Me

By: ladygizarme
Beta: sasukeskyuubi

A/N: Sorry for the long delay! If you read my Gravitation fics or livejournal, you knew I wouldn’t be able to update for awhile. Those of you that didn’t know, sorry again! I just didn’t have time to update all my stories before I went MIA (and I really don’t like the idea of updating with JUST a note. It’s so disappointing to the reader, IMO.) Anyway, here’s the next chapter, hope you enjoy it, and please review! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. If you reviewed on TONFA, I should have replied in the reviews already. AFF and MM responses coming at the end of the chapter.

Chapter Two:

Ino’s heart pounded, her long, blonde hair cascading over one shoulder, her arms braced on the bed as she pressed her lips to Sakura’s. It was soft; an offer; a gift. She felt dizzy, her heart racing and breathing forgotten, surprised at her own actions, acutely aware of the shocked stillness of the girl beneath her. It lasted only a handful of seconds before she pulled away, the soft sound of kiss-moistened lips pulling apart accompanying the action. For a moment afterwards, she continued to hold her breath, wary of Sakura’s reaction, sure that breathing would crumble the surreal atmosphere.

“Happy Birthday, Sakura,” she finally said simply, her lips only a breath away from the pink haired girl’s, not daring to open her eyes yet. She breathed shallowly, tasting the mint from Sakura’s toothpaste-scented breath on her tongue with each exhalation her friend made.

When at last Ino opened her eyes, it was to bewildered green eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness, just like the numbers on the nearby alarm clock, in the aftermath of Ino’s bold action.

She waited for Sakura to say something–anything–but Sakura just lay there for what seemed an eternity, blinking up at her. Still dizzy from consciously controlling her breathing, anxiously waiting for Sakura’s reaction, Ino finally let her arms relax and fell back to the bed. She laid on her back, breathing naturally again, staring up at the ceiling and wondering what she had just done.

Sakura still hadn’t said anything, and Ino felt the unbearable heat of tension and embarrassment lingering in the space that now separated their bodies on the bed. She couldn’t take it anymore, but didn’t know how to begin explaining herself to the silent girl, so Ino fled the bed–albeit rather calmly compared to her inner haste–to gain some breathing room. Leaving the room, she headed for the hallway bathroom, closing the door behind herself before turning on the light and staring at herself in the mirror.

As she stared, she gave in to the overwhelming urge to lick her lips. Her hand immediately rose to her mouth afterwards, fingers touching her lips lightly. The taste of Sakura’s lips lingered on her own, tasting slightly of mint and the strawberry gloss Sakura had been wearing all day. Ino closed her eyes and took a deep breath, ignoring the urge to lick her lips again.

Of all the times she’d had this inexplicable urge to suddenly kiss her best friend, why had she chosen tonight to actually act on it? She’d never intended to act on it at all. It was just a crazy whim, brought on by their closeness and her empathy for her friend’s heartache. That must be the reason, Ino decided.

Feeling somewhat sorted out, Ino left the bathroom. She waited in the hallway a few moments, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness before padding softly back to Sakura’s room. A glance at her friend told her Sakura had fallen asleep, and Ino felt relief at not having to explain what had happened tonight. Quietly, she tiptoed across the room and got back into bed, hoping she didn’t wake Sakura as she did so. Keeping an appropriate distance between herself and the pink haired girl, Ino turned to face the window, her back to Sakura’s, and tried to sleep as well.

Long after Sakura’s parents returned home and went to their own room after peeking into Sakura’s, sleep finally came to Ino.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~ ~~~~~*

When Ino kissed her, Sakura had no idea how to react. In fact, she was so caught off guard she didn’t even think about reacting until it was already over, and she was left blinking dazedly up at her friend’s almost expectant blue eyes. She knew Ino was waiting for a reaction, but Sakura couldn’t seem to give her one.

Her first instinct–to pull her friend’s lips back to her own–was suppressed not only by Sakura’s nearly-paralyzing shock, but also by her common sense which told her that reaction was unacceptable. After all, Ino had only been trying to comfort her. The kiss didn’t mean anything more than that, and such forward reciprocating actions would give her friend the wrong idea; possibly even make Ino regret her own actions in the first place. So Sakura remained immobile.

She knew Ino was probably upset with her lack of reaction, yet Sakura couldn’t help but feel a weight lift from her chest when Ino left the room minutes later. The span between Ino’s kiss and Ino leaving had felt like an eternity, almost suffocating her with uncertainty. What should she do? Say, “Thank you”? Ino had said, “Happy Birthday,” after all.

Even once Ino left, though, Sakura continued thinking about it. How could she not? It kept playing through her head, provoking sensory reactions as she remembered. The slight dip of the mattress as Ino leaned over her; the warmth from her body; the light, lingering scent of her perfume; the clean, sweet smell of Ino’s hair as it fell, curtaining them from Hinata’s view (if she were to wake up); the feel of soft breasts gently touching her own through their pajama tops as Ino leaned closer. And, most importantly, the tender press of soft lips against her own.

That last memory alone was enough to send a strange pang through Sakura’s chest–the same pang she’d felt while Ino was kissing her. It was this pang that confused Sakura most of all.

Sakura ran a finger over her mouth lightly, until her lips began to numb slightly from the repetition, tingling in a not-completely-unpleasant way. That irrational urge went through her again; the one that made her imagine the kiss not ending there, but continuing with Sakura taking the initiative the second time around. She bit her lip, a hand coming to rub confusedly at her chest as the thought increased the strength of her heart-pang. Then it changed a little, turning into a thrill that chased through her body as her imagined kiss increased in intensity. Her nipples reacted, and a familiar tingling warmth made itself known between her legs, making her shift and press her thighs together in an attempt to suppress it or find some relief–she wasn’t quite sure which. She squeezed her eyes shut tight as if it would make the image in her mind’s eye go away, but of course it didn’t really help.

The sound of the bathroom door opening in the hallway brought Sakura’s awareness back to her surroundings, and a slight panic ran through her at the thought of Ino coming back. Her thoughts were still a jumbled mess of confusion, and she still had no idea what to do or say when Ino returned. So, to avoid all confrontation, Sakura decided on the coward’s way out–she pretended to sleep, closing her eyes, regulating her breathing as best she could, and attempting to look as naturally relaxed in sleep as possible.

Apparently it worked, because Ino seemed extra cautious when getting into bed, and said nothing to Sakura as she laid down. Sakura continued pretending, grateful that at least Ino wasn’t upset with her, because she wouldn’t have come back to the same bed if she was. Feeling relieved at this realization, Sakura slowly allowed herself to truly relax, and was asleep within minutes.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~ ~~~~~~~~~*

Sakura awoke in the morning with memories of dreams still in her head. She didn’t remember all of them completely, but vague, broken images of her dreams through the night came to her when she tried to focus. There were memories of her birthday–the presents she had received and the fun she had had with her friends. There were memories of Sasuke–the horrible events of the night before, Sasuke’s announcement that he was leaving, and her failed kiss. There were dream images of Sakura’s kiss succeeding, closing her eyes before planting her lips on Sasuke’s, only to open her eyes to Ino’s face in the place of Sasuke’s. This image once again sent that strange pang through Sakura’s chest; the one she couldn’t quite place the meaning of, but it nearly gave her goosebumps.

Then, adding to the weirdness, there were ludicrously vivid memories of a dream where Sakura was in class at school, sitting next to Ino, who was a lifesize, talking plushie pig in a cheerleader outfit. The Ino-pig leaned over to Sakura, as if to kiss her, when Sasuke suddenly came into the classroom, dressed as a samurai. Without a word to anyone, he drew his sword and ran it through the Ino-pig. Stuffing flew all over the classroom and Sakura screamed, crying for someone to get her a needle and thread before Ino died. When she looked around to demand from Sasuke why he’d done it, he was gone.

The memory of that one made Sakura sit up and shake her head harshly, wishing she could forget the dream (nightmare?) and the horrible, gut-twisting feelings that had come with it. Not only had she felt confused and scared, but also guilty. After all, what was she doing kissing Ino when she so loved Sasuke, and he had only just left the night before? What would Sasuke think of her betrayal? Clearly her subconscious had answered that question.

Sakura shook her head again, dismissing thoughts of fear and guilt. The dream wasn’t real, and Ino’s kiss was only meant to comfort her–nothing more. Sakura hadn’t really betrayed Sasuke at all, so why was she worrying?

With a sigh, Sakura got out of bed. Ino and Hinata had apparently already woken and left the room, so Sakura stretched, and went about her morning routine. She met Ino coming out of the bathroom, fresh from a shower and wrapped in a towel. Sakura stopped short of bumping into her nearly-naked blonde friend and gave a startled apology, quickly skirting around her and into the bathroom, hoping she didn’t seem too awkward.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~ ~~~~~~~~~*

Ino woke that morning much like she always did when over at Sakura’s: curled up around a pillow at the edge of her side of the bed, while Sakura lay face down right next to her, having moved about so much during the night that she inevitably pushed Ino practically off the bed. Despite the fact she often was pushed around during the night by the pink haired girl, Ino smiled at this bit of normalcy. It was nice to wake up with Sakura right by her side, and almost made her forget her actions of the night before, and the panic they made her feel.

“Oh, good morning, Ino,” Hinata’s voice greeted her as the pale eyed girl sat up from her spot on the floor.

Ino smiled. “Morning, Hinata.”

“Did you want the shower first?” the brunette asked as she stood and folded up her bedding.

“No, you go ahead,” Ino replied, waving her off. She usually let Hinata go first because the other girl took less time getting ready than Ino did.

Hinata nodded in thanks and left the room, carrying her overnight bag with her. Ino used the short amount of time Hinata’s shower took extricating herself from Sakura’s bed without waking the pink haired girl. By the time Hinata returned, dressed in a grey, pleated skirt and lavender blouse, Ino already had a towel and was waiting for her turn in the bathroom.

Half an hour later, Ino emerged from the steamy bathroom, hair blow dried and body wrapped in her towel. She’d forgotten her change of clothes in Sakura’s bedroom. She almost ran right into Sakura when she walked out, but her friend stopped in time before they collided.

Sakura seemed slightly skittish as she went around Ino into the bathroom, but she was apparently still talking to Ino, and made no mention of the mishap from the night before. Ino decided if Sakura brought it up, she would try to explain herself, otherwise she would act as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. If she was lucky, Sakura would just classify it as a strange part of Ino’s friendship with her, and think nothing more of it. All Ino wanted was for things to be normal between them again, not awkward.

Hinata had already gone down to breakfast apparently, so Ino had the bedroom to herself. She found her clothes folded in her bag and put them on, after putting her hair up in a high ponytail to keep it out of her way. She was just finishing up her makeup when Sakura came back into the room, wrapped in her robe.

Ino watched Sakura’s reflection in the mirror as she sided up to Ino at the dresser, opening the top drawer and grabbing a bra and a pair of panties. When Sakura closed the drawer, her eyes naturally moved up to the mirror, only to catch Ino watching her. Blushing slightly, the hand clutching her undergarments clenched to Sakura’s chest, her other arm crossing that one, almost as if she wished to cover herself despite already wearing a thick robe. Surprised at the self-protective gesture, Ino averted her eyes, instead gazing at the vase of flowers still perched on the dresser top.

Suddenly feeling guilty for having such a reaction to her best friend, Sakura followed Ino’s gaze to the flowers. Feeling a comforting warmth at the tangible reminder of their long and close friendship, Sakura smiled warmly.

“Ino…” she began, unsure what to say, but feeling she should say something to apologize for her closed-off behavior.

Ino’s eyes flitted back to Sakura’s face, meeting the warm green eyes that accompanied a matching soft smile.

“Sakura, about last night…” Ino started hesitantly, realizing she wouldn’t be able to avoid the confrontation she was dreading.

In that moment, Sakura realized how silly she was being–wondering whether Ino’s kiss had been intentional or unintentional; purely platonic comfort or something more. She already knew Ino liked boys. Her blonde best friend had had several on-again off-again boyfriends since conceding Sasuke to Sakura in middle school, and gossiped about boys all the time. Sakura, of course, was straight–felt nothing more than deep friendship for the blonde girl–and in love with Sasuke. Therefore this whole kiss situation and resulting awkwardness was utterly ridiculous. So, Sakura cut off Ino’s attempt at explanation with a raised hand, relaxing her formerly uptight posture.

“It’s okay, Ino,” she said, her smile turning bright with confidence. “You were just trying to comfort me, right? I just wanted to say ‘thank you’.” Then she gave Ino a sisterly hug like the ones they’d always given each other. “Thanks for being my best friend, Ino,” she said in a soft, heartfelt tone before turning into her walk-in closet to get dressed.

Ino bit her lip as she watched Sakura turn her closet light on and close the door after herself. ‘That’s right, just a comfort,’ she agreed silently.

Minutes later, Sakura came back out, dressed in a pretty pastel green dress. Having calmed down from her earlier discomfort, she now felt free to give Ino’s outfit the once-over, and nodded in approval of the tasteful jeans and blue, ribbed cotton T-shirt that actually covered her midriff.

Any time Ino spent the night on a Saturday, she would also usually go to church with Sakura’s family on Sunday morning. Ino’s family only really went to church for Christmas and Easter, though, so Ino wasn’t really used to dressing for it, and most of the blonde’s clothes were more on the inappropriate side when it came to Sunday service. Especially at times like this, when they were going to Hinata’s church rather than the one Sakura’s parents (and usually Sakura, out of habit) normally attended.

A lot of times, Ino would forget to bring proper clothing and have to borrow some of Sakura’s. Sakura was glad to see Ino was well-prepared this time. Not that she minded sharing her clothes with Ino, but it was always a bit disheartening to see the way Ino filled out the bust of her clothes in a way Sakura thought she probably never would herself.

“All ready?” the pink haired girl asked her friend, who was now sitting cross-legged on her bed, digging around in her bag.

“Just a sec,” came Ino’s slightly muffled voice as she leaned down to peer into the large, black tote. “Ah!” she finally exclaimed in triumph, pulling out a small perfume bottle and spraying some on herself before tossing it back in her bag and getting up from the bed. “Let’s go,” Ino smiled.

Then the two girls headed downstairs for breakfast with the rest of the household.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~ *~~~~~~~~~~*

Two hours later found the girls socializing with their friends after church. Hinata’s church was near her home uptown, a bit out of the way of most of their friends from school. However, as Neji lived with Hinata’s family, and Kiba went out of his way to convince his mother and sister to come to this church, Ino and Sakura never felt too out of place during the times they would come here with their darker haired friend.

Of course, there were sometimes awkward moments when Hinata’s father would survey her small group of friends with what seemed an air of disapproval, but he never voiced his negative opinions, if he truly had any. They figured it was due to them not complaining about the condition Mr. Hyuuga had set for them–that condition being that Hinata could stay over on Saturday nights only if her friends came to church with her in the morning.

Ino didn’t always go with them, but Mr. Hyuuga never said anything as long as Sakura was there. Sakura didn’t really mind. She pretty much zoned out during church usually, because it always seemed to be the same thing over and over. When she went with Hinata, she tried to put a conscious effort into paying better attention, though, and sometimes found the sermon enjoyable just because it was different than the usual. Plus, she had to admit, it was nice to get a break from Lee following her around her usual church, making embarrassing professions of love and the springtime of youth. At those times, she was just thankful Naruto wasn’t there to get in on the act, as the blond boy didn’t attend a place of worship.

The sermon was over by now, though, and Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Kiba were standing together outside, talking and waiting for their parents. They talked about their plans for spring break and the current events project they were supposed to finish during the break, avoiding any topic that might bring up the unpleasantness of the night before. When Neji came over to their group, they knew Mr. Hyuuga would soon follow, and said their goodbyes as their respective rides came to gather them. Kiba left with his sister, and Ino went with Sakura and her parents back to the Haruno house.

It was the last day of the weekend, and Ino would spend as much of it as she could with her best friend, before her spring break became domineered by helping out at the flower shop.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~ ~~~~~~*

Spring break passed quickly and, before Sakura knew it, it was Friday and beginning the final weekend before school started again. She hadn’t done much during her break; it almost felt like a waste, really. It had rained every day since Sunday and, having no car and parents who worked, Sakura didn’t particularly feel like going out in the rain just to get out of the house when she didn’t really have anywhere in particular to go.

She’d hoped to spend most of her vacation hanging out with Ino, but had found out Monday that Ino was helping in her parents’ flower shop all week. Wednesday, when the rains had let up for a couple hours, Sakura had walked the twenty minutes to the shop, hoping to at least hang out with Ino for a bit there. Since it had been rainy, it probably wouldn’t be that busy. Unfortunately, she’d been mistaken, as an influx of orders for Easter flowers had begun that day and Ino and her mother had been very busy scheduling deliveries and calculating their inventory to make sure they had enough for all the orders.

She’d offered to help, and ended up helping Mrs. Yamanaka do inventory in the coolers and greenhouse in back, while Ino handled the register in the front of the shop. Mrs. Yamanaka had deemed this the best delegation of tasks, since the inventory would go quicker with two people, she needed to be personally involved with the inventory to make sure her records were straight, and Sakura wasn’t as skilled as Ino in flower arrangement and the language of flowers so it was better for Ino to be on register. The idea to spend some of the day with Ino had essentially been a bust, and Sakura finally deemed the day a failure when, as she was walking home from the closed shop, it started raining again.

She hadn’t been back to the shop since, though she at least got to talk to Ino on Instant Messenger after dinner most nights. It still wasn’t the same as hanging out in person, though.

Neji and Hinata had gone out of town with their family and wouldn’t be back until after Easter, meaning Sakura wouldn’t see them until school started Monday. Tenten wasn’t someone Sakura usually hung out with, unless she was also hanging out with their whole group of friends–or at least with Neji, who was dating Tenten. Lee, convinced Neji was sneaking off for some special training, had vowed not to waste a moment and spend his entire break training as well, so he would be ready to take him on in their next martial arts class. Sakura was just glad he would be too preoccupied with training to hang around professing his love and devotion to her with outrageous promises of physical feats that held dire consequences if he did not accomplish them. Lee was a nice enough guy, but he was way too intense for Sakura most of the time.

Shikamaru couldn’t be bothered to go anywhere when the rain clouds could just as easily be watched from his bedroom window without him getting wet. Chouji, who lived next door to Shikamaru, was perfectly happy to keep him company, fully stocked with snacks to keep their rain cloud-watching energy up. Shino was too busy with some sort of bug experiment that he couldn’t afford to leave unattended, not that Sakura particularly wanted to spend her spring break with the bug enthusiast; Shino was alright, but Sakura found his bug obsession a bit creepy and usually avoided being alone with him. His strange habit of giving lectures on his interests, in the form of one-sided question and answer conversations with himself, was also a bit off-putting.

Kiba had been around to her house a few times, but they’d only hung out on the porch listening to music most of the time, since he’d brought his huge dog, Akamaru, and neither Sakura nor her parents had the appreciation for the smell and mess of wet, muddy dog that Kiba seemed to have. She’d suggested he leave Akamaru at home, or at least tie his leash to the railing so they could hang out inside, instead of on the porch, where rainwater occasionally splashed on them from where it struck the edges of the covered veranda or when a gust of wind came. Kiba had adamantly refused the suggestion, however, saying he already had to make it up to Akamaru for abandoning him for Sakura’s birthday party.

So much of Sakura’s spring break had been spent finishing up her homework and burning off calories with her DDR (and the aerobics video Lee had gotten her–sans the green leotard/orange socks outfit, of course–which she would never admit to watching in public, but was actually pretty fun).

Now it was Friday, and Sakura was looking forward to the afternoon. Today was Ino’s last day of work and she would be spending the weekend at Sakura’s again. So, when the bell rang at 1pm, Sakura was excited, thinking Ino had been let off early. However, when she opened the door, she was met with the smiling face of a completely different blond than she’d been expecting.

“Naruto!” she exclaimed in surprise at the grinning boy.

“Hi, Sakura! Great day, isn’t it?” he commented, eyes squeezed into happy crescents, his grin never wavering.

A pink eyebrow rose at this, giving an exaggerated look around Naruto to note that, yes, it was still pouring buckets outside. She also couldn’t help but notice the drenched state of Naruto’s hair and clothes.

Noticing her extended silence, he opened his eyes to see her looking back and forth incredulously between him and the sheets of rain falling behind him. His hand automatically went to rub the back of his neck, pausing as he felt how soaked his hair was.

“Er…” he began, chuckling sheepishly.

Sakura rolled her eyes and smiled. “Come on in, Naruto,” she said, standing aside against the open door. “Leave your shoes on the porch,” she ordered before Naruto’s raised foot could come in contact with her pristine entranceway.

By the time Naruto got his shoes off, also removing his wet socks, Sakura had retrieved a stack of towels from the upstairs closet. She handed one to Naruto, then proceeded to cover the chairs and sofa in the living room, knowing Naruto would sit there without thinking about his current state. Having known the boy since fifth grade, and being friends with him since sixth, she’d become accustomed to Naruto’s frequent lack of both common sense and etiquette, and it hardly bothered her anymore beyond a minor annoyance.

Sure enough, Naruto finished rubbing his hair with the towel and followed Sakura into the living room, slinging the damp towel around his neck and plopping right down on what was apparently his favorite chair without thinking twice.

“So!” he said as he sat down.

“So…” Sakura repeated promptingly.

“So…” Naruto said again, seemingly getting nowhere. “Did you… get that current events homework done, yet?” he finally asked.

Sakura hmphed to herself. She should’ve known. If Naruto wasn’t asking her out, he was asking to copy her homework.

“Yes, I did, but you can’t copy it, Naruto,” she answered firmly.

“Aww, come on, Sakura! Give me some credit, at least. Of course I don’t wanna copy it!”

She looked at him skeptically.

“But can’t you help me a bit with mine?” he asked.

“Naruto, it’s just a current events project, what kind of help do you expect me to give you? I can’t do it for you.”

“Well… for one thing, I can’t decide on a theme…”

“So, just look at the latest headlines and pick one! It’s not that hard…”

“You know my mom doesn’t get the paper!”

Sakura rolled her eyes again at the blond boy. “The library has copies of the newspaper.”

Naruto blushed, “Well, I’m not allowed in the periodicals room anymore, since that accident with the microfiche.”

Sakura groaned. How could she forget?

“Well, you have an internet connection, Naruto. I’m sure even you can figure out how to find the headlines on Yahoo!”

“Okay…” he admitted reluctantly. “But what about other sources, and hard copy? I don’t have a printer. Usually Sasuke lets me use his, but…” Naruto bit his lip, avoiding Sakura’s eyes now that the taboo subject had been brought up. He hadn’t meant to…

Sakura felt that pang of hurt in her chest that came with the mention of Sasuke, the sadness that accompanied it immediately following.

Of course, she knew Naruto usually worked on things like this at Sasuke’s. In fact, his pattern of working on such projects at Sasuke’s was the main reason Sakura had ever been inside of Sasuke’s house in the first place–the three of them had been grouped together for a science project in sixth grade, and Naruto had invited Sakura to Sasuke’s before the raven haired boy had a chance to protest.

Two weeks and several project hours later, Sakura was a welcome guest in the Uchiha household, with Sasuke’s mother even inviting her and Naruto over for dinner once the project was done. Since that time, Sakura had been to the house numerous times, though Sasuke rarely invited her over unless it was school related or their other friends were also invited. Even so, any time spent with Sasuke was time well-spent, in Sakura’s opinion, and she’d gotten comfortable with the custom of grouping with Naruto and Sasuke anytime there was a group project in a class they shared.

It was never boring–the numerous fights between both she and Naruto, and Naruto and Sasuke certainly saw to that. But, despite that, it drew them closer together and, by the end of sixth grade, they’d finally become good friends. At least that’s how Sakura felt. It had been a welcome feeling to Sakura during a time when she and her best friend hadn’t been on speaking terms.

Group projects didn’t happen that often now that they were in high school, but Naruto and Sasuke had grown so accustomed to the routine of working together that it must have become second nature to just head to Sasuke’s whenever there was a big project to do. She supposed they probably figured she could work on her own since she was the top in their grade and had no shortage of resources for doing her own projects at home, and that was probably why they didn’t invite her along anymore. Still, Sakura had felt sort of left out when that happened, no longer having an excuse to invite herself along and the boys seemingly forgetting her entirely.

“Sorry, Sakura,” Naruto said suddenly, having finally looked at her and seeing her eyes clouded over in bittersweet memory.

Sakura shook the thoughts from her head. “No, it’s okay. We can’t tiptoe around the subject forever, right?”

Naruto nodded. “So does that mean you’ll help me?” he asked hopefully.

“Okay,” Sakura agreed with a sigh, and led him to the computer setup next to the kitchen.

She got Naruto started on a few different sites, then took his wet towel and left him to it and returned to the math homework currently laid out on her desk in her bedroom. Not twenty minutes had passed, however, before Naruto came looking for her in her room.

“Hey, Sakura,” he called, causing her to turn in her chair.

“What is it, Naruto? Did you find everything you needed already?” she asked, though she was skeptical.

“Yeah. Well… almost,” he admitted. “But I need some ideas for how to present it before I start printing things out. Can I see how you did yours?”

He gave her his big, bright blue, puppy dog eyes and, though she wasn’t as easily swayed as some by that weapon of his, she decided it wouldn’t do any harm to show him hers as an example.

“Okay, just a sec,” Sakura answered, getting up to get her backpack from her closet.

Naruto hopped onto Sakura’s bed, looking around the room as he waited for her to rummage through the bag to find her project folder. He’d been in her room a couple times before, but it had been awhile and somehow he’d managed to forget how much pink she surrounded herself with. It was so different from Sasuke’s room, which was dominated by blue and black with the occasional red, and no real frills to speak of. He supposed it was a girl thing, as his mother occasionally decorated with touches of pink, but nothing like Sakura’s room. She had a pink pillow, pink sheets, a pink and green comforter, pink pig sitting atop her pillow, pink cushion on her white desk chair, not to mention the numerous pink accessories atop her dresser. At least there were the splashes of green and occasional red to damper the pink, he supposed, but still… he would never be able to live in a room this girly. Well, he was a guy, after all. He shrugged to himself.

While he was examining the overabundance of pink, his eyes landed on the rare bit of black in the room: the picture frame from the present Sasuke had given her the week before. He hadn’t actually seen the picture that night, though he’d definitely seen that picture before–several times, in fact. Seeing it now, he couldn’t help but smile. That had been a fun day; and an eventful one. So much had happened since then, too. Thinking about it now sort of made his heart hurt, but he still smiled with the memories.

“Okay, Naruto, here it–” Sakura stopped abruptly as she saw Naruto’s smile, his gaze settled on the picture from Sasuke. Coming to stand by her dresser, she set down the folder she’d brought out of the closet, picked up the picture, and brought it to the bed, sitting down beside the blond boy.

“That was a fun summer, wasn’t it?” she asked him wistfully, smiling down at the picture behind the cracked glass–she hadn’t been able to replace it yet. In the reflection, Sakura watched Naruto’s smile spread to a grin.

“Yeah,” he answered. “Remember that day?”

“How could I forget?! It was the hottest day of the summer and Sasuke’s pool was being repaired, so we were hanging out in your backyard, dying from the heat. Sasuke said it was too hot to be out and that we should do something inside, but your air conditioner was busted!”

“Yeah,” Naruto piped in. “Then Sasuke, that jerk, said he was gonna leave just cuz he couldn’t handle a little heat!”

“Naruto, it was 100°F even in the shade! I was two seconds away from walking back home, too, if I hadn’t already been melted into a pile of inert goo.” Sakura reminded him. “Anyway, he didn’t leave because you suddenly ran into the house, swearing you knew the perfect way to cool down.”

Naruto snickered. “I’ll never forget the look on Sasuke’s face when he turned around after that water balloon hit him right in the back of his head.”

“I bet your mom will never forget coming outside to check on us and seeing Sasuke pinning you to the ground, spraying you point blank with the hose!”

Naruto’s tan face grew a little red at the mention of Sasuke’s revenge. “That traitor, she thought it was funny!”

“It was!” Sakura insisted. “Then, of course, Akamaru got excited and jumped into the mix, and everything escalated from there!”

They laughed together, remembering how, one by one, their friends had been pulled into the water fight. By the end of it, all the kids were soaked, as was the yard, which was also littered with water guns and balloon pieces.

“Mom took a lot of pictures that day,” Naruto told Sakura.

She looked surprised. “Is that where this picture came from?”

Naruto nodded.

“Hmm,” Sakura smiled down at the picture again, thinking about the effort Sasuke must have gone through to give this picture to her, even going as far as to get a specific picture from Naruto’s mother.

Watching the reverent way Sakura traced her thumb over Sasuke’s face, Naruto couldn’t stop himself from voicing, “Y’know, I was kinda jealous that night, when Sasuke kissed you.”

Sakura’s eyes widened a little at his admittance. She knew Naruto had a crush on her, but she’d never really thought about her interactions with Sasuke making Naruto jealous.

“But,” Naruto continued before she could reply. “I was also happy.” He turned to smile at her. “He doesn’t always show it, but Sasuke really does think of you as his friend. So, I’m glad he was kind to you before he left.”

Sakura’s eyes widened more, and then her eyelids lowered as she smiled. “Me, too.”

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*~~~~~~~~~~*

Later that afternoon, after Naruto had already printed what he needed and left, Ino finally came over after working her last vacation day at the flower shop. Sakura was so happy to see her again after the long, rainy, boring week that she greeted her friend at the door with a big smile and promptly dragged her inside.

“Come on, Ino-pig, no time to lose. We have a whole spring break to make up for!” she exclaimed as she pulled Ino through the house and down to the entertainment center in the basement.

The two girls had already kept each other caught up on what they’d been doing throughout their spring break, since they’d been talking over the computer almost every night, so they chatted idly about what they’d done that day as Sakura found the tape she’d made of that week’s American Idol so they could watch it together. Even though they’d already watched it separately and talked about it over IM, it just wasn’t the same as watching together and being able to gush or gossip about the performers and their performances.

“Oh! You’ll never guess who came to the shop today,” Ino exclaimed as Sakura sat beside her on the sofa, tape in the VCR and remotes at the ready.

“Who?”

“Mr. Sarutobi,” Ino answered. “He bought a dozen red roses!”

Sakura gasped. Mr. Sarutobi was Ino’s homeroom teacher. “Did he say who they were for?”

“Of course not, but you know they’re for Miss Yuuhi.”

“Of course!” Sakura agreed. “He’s always finding excuses to go to the Art Room. Plus he blushes every time you mention her, and they’re always sharing those meaningful looks in the hallway.”

The two girls giggled together over the romance of their teachers being secret lovers, and sighed, their chatter dying off as their thoughts turned inward to their own romantic ventures–past, present, and future.

“Well, enough about that,” Sakura declared moments later, bringing them both out of their reverie. “Time for some Idol!”

Sakura turned the TV on and pressed play on the VCR remote. After Idol was done, they turned it to MTV to watch some of the Spring Break programming. The show that was on at the time had one of the intern VJs out on the boardwalk of the beach they were at, seeing what people would do for twenty dollars. The girls were often switching from laughing to groaning in disgust at some of the things people were willing to do–on camera, no less! It was all very entertaining, until the very last segment.

Two girls were stopped by the VJ and asked if they would kiss for twenty bucks each. They agreed, and proceeded to kiss for the camera. It was a little awkward at first, but soon they were kissing as if they’d had tons of practice together. Sakura and Ino both felt a tingling heat coursing through their bodies as they watched the girls’ tongues come into play, the camera zooming in on them as they did so. Ino gave a covert sidelong glance at Sakura and saw that her pink haired friend’s eyes were wide, her hand clutching the remote in deathgrip as if she wished to change the channel but couldn’t in her shock.

Finally the VJ said, “Okay, okay, that’s enough. This is a family show, you know…”

The girls on the TV looked at him in a mixture of question and slight embarrassment, until he said, “Well, not really, but our time is up.” Then he laughed and they laughed along with him.

The girls were given their twenties, and then the segment closed out with them grabbing each other and returning to their kiss, playing it up for the camera. Then it went to commercial after a brief overview of what was coming up in the next two hours of programming.

The atmosphere finally broken, Sakura gradually released her tight hold on the remote, glancing over at Ino sheepishly.

“I can’t believe they did that in front of the camera!” she declared to her blonde friend.

“I know,” Ino said uncertainly, her thoughts preoccupied with memories of their kiss the week before.

“And right there in the middle of the street, with people all around,” Sakura continued, shaking her head in disbelief.

Ino shrugged. “The people probably don’t care. It’s all college kids on spring break, anyway.”

“Yeah, but… it’s so wrong!”

Ino suddenly felt angry. “I kissed you, was that wrong?”

Sakura blushed, feeling scolded. “No, but that’s different!”

“How?” Ino challenged, unsure why she was suddenly so upset, but still feeling adamant about this nonetheless.

“Well… because! Because you didn’t use your tongue, for one thing! But mainly because you didn’t do it for money or attention, you did it to make me feel better. That makes it different,” Sakura finished with a determined nod of her head.

Ino took this in for a moment. “If I’d used my tongue, would it have been wrong?” She wasn’t sure what made her ask that, but she couldn’t take it back now.

Sakura blinked at her. “Why would you use your tongue?”

Ino sighed, “I don’t know.”

Sakura bit her lip. “I don’t know, either.”

Even Sakura herself was unsure whether she meant she didn’t know why Ino would use her tongue, or she didn’t know if it would have been wrong.

Neither girl was sure what to say to each other after that, so they simply let the TV distract them for awhile until Sakura’s parents came home and it was time for dinner.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~ ~~~~~~~~*

During dinner, Mrs. Haruno engaged the two girls in a conversation about their plans for the next day. Ultimately, they decided to go to the mall and hit the Easter sales. After dinner was done, they helped clear the table and then everyone sat down together to watch a movie. The Harunos were so used to having Ino over after so many years, it was like the blonde girl was their second daughter, and they enjoyed spending time like this with the two girls.

After the movie was over, Sakura’s parents retired to their room for the night, leaving the two girls in the basement with the next movie they’d decided to watch. As the night continued, the tense conversation from earlier was entirely forgotten and things were normal and comfortable between them again.

Once they finally decided to go to bed, Ino went to the bathroom to change while Sakura changed in her room. When they were younger, they used to change in the same room, thinking nothing of it, but when puberty had started, Sakura in particular had become embarrassed about her body (so much more so than she’d been about her slightly large forehead) and insisted they change in different rooms now. Ino had thought it was rather silly, as they both had the same body parts, but Sakura was her friend and she respected her wishes, albeit with the occasional teasing. Of course, not long after that, they’d had their falling out and it hadn’t mattered anyway, but when they made up again in seventh grade, they’d gone right back to their routine as usual.

As they got into bed, Ino felt relieved as there was no hesitation on Sakura’s part. It seemed things really were still normal between them, despite Ino’s actions the week before. Even so, she couldn’t help but notice the pang in her heart that came with the realization that Sakura really had thought nothing of it. The kiss, despite being a spur of the moment comfort for Sakura, was no less real to Ino. Try as she might to convince herself otherwise, deep down, Ino knew this was true. However, she knew Sakura didn’t see it that way.

Ino knew she should just be happy to have her best friend’s continued friendship, but that tiny, seemingly insignificant kiss had opened the floodgates to emotions Ino had been repressing and lying to herself about for some time now. So as she lay down, Ino closed her eyes and regulated her breathing to imitate sleep until Sakura had fallen asleep herself. Then, once the pink haired girl was slumbering, Ino inched closer to her friend, being careful not to wake her as she wrapped an arm around Sakura’s waist and finally fell asleep.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~ ~~~~~~~~*

In the morning, the rain that had been falling all week had finally stopped, and the first rays of morning light were peeking through the part in Sakura’s curtains when Ino awoke to find Sakura had turned into her embrace at some point during the night. Now she was cradled in Ino’s arms, one of her arms resting over Ino’s side, the other curled up by her face only inches away from Ino’s. Ino stared at her pink haired friend’s peacefully sleeping face, wondering at the small details she noticed when she let herself take the time to study Sakura up close.

She marveled at the way the early morning light touched Sakura, highlighting the different shades in her hair and making her light lashes look almost blonde as the sunlight hit them. Sakura had a tiny sprinkling of freckles across her nose, and one just at the top of her cheekbone, near her eye, all of which normally went unnoticed in their daily lives. Ino smiled, thinking it was cute, but stilled when she found herself wanting to do something silly–like trace them with her finger and kiss Sakura’s nose. As she lay there very still, Ino suddenly realized she could faintly feel Sakura’s breath hitting her face, making wisps of her blonde hair tickle her cheek as they moved with the breeze. It gave her pleasant chills, goosebumps springing up over her arms and wherever that faint breath hit her skin.

As the beam of light slanting across Sakura’s face moved another millimeter and hit the seam of her eyelids, she began to stir, closing her eyes tighter against the invading light. Ino’s heart began to race as Sakura tried to move her left arm to rub her eyes and found it trapped beneath Ino’s arm, draped over her side. Ino reluctantly pulled out of their embrace, giving her friend use of her limbs once again as her right arm had also been relatively trapped between their bodies.

Still not quite fully awake, Sakura stretched, arching her back and making her night shirt ride up just above her navel. Ino’s heart refused to return to normal as she drank in the sight of those scant few inches of skin being revealed above Sakura’s soft green boxers. It was ridiculous, really. It was only skin, belly skin no less, and nothing to get excited about…right? She’d seen Sakura’s belly before! Unmindful of Ino’s inner thoughts, Sakura continued her actions, stretching her legs out, her red painted toes peeking out from the edge of the bed covers as she wiggled them. The action made Ino smile, and distracted her into letting her heartbeat return to normal.

“Good morning, Ino,” Sakura finally greeted her friend after she’d finished stretching and lay still in the bed once again.

Seeing that Ino was distracted, smiling amusedly at her previously wiggling toes, and feeling suddenly mischievous, Sakura suddenly turned and lunged at her. Holding Ino down bodily, she pulled Ino’s shirt up and blew raspberries on her freshly exposed belly.

“Aah! Sakura! No!” Ino squealed, laughing as she bucked beneath the other girl, trying to escape both the attack and the inviting warmth of Sakura’s body pinning hers.

It was so surreal to her that something like this could be invoking those barely-suppressed feelings in her again. Something so childish–they’d done this to each other as kids! Yet here she was, feeling heat spread within herself as Sakura’s warm, moist mouth blew on her bare skin. Ino could barely think straight enough to chastise herself for it, and instead gave herself over to her laughter, hoping it would distract her from her less innocent urges.

After a couple minutes, Sakura finally got lightheaded and let Ino up. Both girls sat up, cheeks rosy from laughter and exertion, hair completely tousled, bedclothes thrown haphazardly around them from their struggle. They giggled together softly as they caught their breath, and then Ino leapt from the bed and ran for the door.

“Race ya to breakfast!” she called as she ran for the stairs.

She was determined to leave her silly thoughts about kissing Sakura’s prettily-flushed face behind her, and have a normal day together.

TBC
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A/N2: Once again, sorry this took so long. I am trying to keep my lj updated now, so any news about delays and reasons for them can usually be found there. This is a key factor in my attempt to make my A/Ns shorter and more relevant.

If anyone would like notified when I update this story, please tell me so in a review and leave your email address.

On that note: Review Responses! (I won’t do this every chapter)

sasukeskyuubi: Firstly, thank you for beta’ing this fic as well, and for your support of the pairing even though you’re not normally an Ino fan. (Actually it’s kinda funny to me… you HATE Sasuke, but you support my NaruSasuNaru. You don’t care much about Ino, but you support InoSaku. lol) Secondly, I love hearing all the things you love. You know I do, so keep it up. ^_~ And I totally agree about Sasuke and the head kiss thing, and I’m glad you think so cuz that’s what I was goin’ for. :p Thirdly, the letter… you’ll just hafta wait and see. *locks lips* muwahahahaha

Allence: Thank you for the review, I’m glad you enjoyed the first chapter. As for the letter, my lips are sealed for the time being. >=D

Vevee: Glad you liked it. Nope, not a one-shot. Definitely gonna be a few more chapters. I foresee ten at least, possibly more. We’ll see… I’ll finish it as quickly as time and inspiration allows. ^_^

Ani Rayne: Glad you decided to venture over and found something you liked in my fic! I don’t often read het, but what story is the SakuIno hinted in? You should DEFINITELY spin it off! There’s not enough stories with them as the main pairing, seriously.

RandiRidiculous: Thanks for the review. I’m definitely continuing, and they will get together eventually. Of that, I can assure you. So please keep reading. ^_^

Rot Engel: Thank you for reviewing, I’m glad I could put a smile on your face! Hope you continue to read!

ShingamiLoH: Continuing! Thanks for reviewing!

Deadberserker: Um… thanks, I guess? I’m not sure what about the characters lacked personality, but it was only the first chapter so I will try to work on that… As for Akamaru, Kiba can still be Kiba without Akamaru hanging around all the time. There was a reason for it anyway, but I guess I can understand where you’re coming from; they are usually always together… Hopefully you’ll stick with the story and watch the development.

devils_prodigy: Updated! Thanks for reviewing.

cookie dough: Thanks so much for the thoughtful review. I agree on several of your points and do plan to make this a more thought out story than just going straight to the smut. Luckily I have some real experience in these matters, so it shouldn’t be TOO hard… I do, however, want to try to keep them in character as well, and not just project my personality or experiences onto them, though that is sometimes hard. The only way to get better is to practice, though, so I’ll do my best with this! I do understand what you mean about focusing on them rather than background characters, but sometimes I will mention something that seems insignificant, but later turns out to be key to the plot. Please bear with me in this. I hope you continue reading and reviewing!

Duelingk: Thanks for your review. Hmm..it seems I need to really work on the characterizations. This is my first InoSaku, so hopefully they will get better as the story continues. Writing it as AU does make it slightly harder to keep them in character, but I really wanted to write them in this setting. I know the AU highschool setting is very cliché and overdone, but I personally haven’t read any InoSaku AU highschool fics, and wanted to read one. When I couldn’t find what I wanted, I decided to write it myself!

That’s it for replies, I think. I’m so not doing individual replies every chapter, but there were quite a few people that reviewed with points I wanted to address, so I decided I might as well answer everybody!

Thanks again for reading and reviewing!

*heart*

~ lg