Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Show Me, Touch Me, Catch Me ❯ Chapter 3

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 BP, Redi-Med, or Tokio Hotel, and I make no profit from them or their mention herein.

Show Me, Touch Me, Catch Me

By: ladygizarme
Beta: sasukeskyuubi (only partial, cuz sk has schoolwork and I’m impatient)

A/N: Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed last chapter! Even those of you that felt the chapter fell flat, I appreciate your comments. Those of you that did enjoy chapter two, thank you for telling me. I’m glad I could at least please some of you. I hope I’m able to do that with this chapter, as well. Please leave me your comments to let me know.


Chapter Three:

School started back up and the news of Sasuke’s sudden transfer to Japan quickly spread through the gossip of teachers and students alike. Most of the student body, particularly the girls, were beyond shocked and dismayed at Sasuke’s sudden disappearance. One might even describe them as being heartbroken, though Ino couldn’t find it in herself to believe any of them had been as emotionally-attached–and therefore truly heartbroken–as Sakura was. After all, no girls outside of their small group of friends had ever been close enough to Sasuke to actually call him their friend; and even of their tight-knit group, Sakura had no doubt been the closest to Sasuke–after Naruto, of course. Despite this, however, Ino was glad to see that after the breakdown Sakura had suffered that first night, she hadn’t had another since. In fact, other than the obvious sorrow in her eyes when Sasuke was mentioned, or the occasional bouts of quiet melancholy Sakura would have when reflexively looking towards a seat where Sasuke should have been, the pink haired girl seemed to be holding up much better than her fellow female classmates.

A walk through any one of the hallways normally frequented by students could find at least one huddle of girls comforting each other over the raven haired boy’s absence, and a trip to the girls’ room would find at least one girl crying in relative privacy more often than not. Though the female population seemed to be the most bereaved, there were at least a good handful of Sasuke’s former classmates of the male persuasion that were more than sour over the Uchiha’s sudden transpacific move as well–particularly those from his soccer team, and the student council, of which Sasuke had been Vice President.

Of course, there were many boys that were happy to have the Uchiha gone–especially the ones who had felt personally offended by Sasuke’s mere presence in the school, due to Sasuke’s popularity with the girls and the high grading curve he tended to set in class. There were also those that didn’t really care either way, and though it was admittedly rare, there were a smattering of girls that counted themselves in both of these groups, also.

No matter what the opinions were, though, the rumor mill inevitably flooded with gossip and speculation on the mysterious circumstances surrounding Sasuke’s transfer.

The general consensus amongst the teachers seemed to be that it was disappointing to have one of their best students suddenly and unexpectedly withdrawn from their classes just as the last term began. Though, if one listened intently, a few hushed, unfavorable remarks could be heard from select members of the staff, particularly those that taught classes Sasuke and Naruto shared, or those that had been shown up by Sasuke’s intellect and haughty arrogance in the past.

Ino just happened to be a person that listened intently. After all, you didn’t become known as the school gossip queen if you didn’t know what was going on around your school–with everyone. Ino had no shame over the label, either, because she felt it was nothing to feel shame over. At least she admitted it, was her opinion on the subject, and it wasn’t like she made up cruel rumors about anyone anymore, and she never gossiped about her friends. She had matured past that sort of thing a long time ago–back when the clique of girls she’d been friends with during her feud with Sakura had started spreading lies about Sakura, thinking they would gain favor with Ino because of it. Ino couldn’t understand their reasoning, and had ended up publicly embarrassing the table-full of her “friends” during lunch one day in order to exact retribution on Sakura’s behalf–despite the fact that at that time they’d still been on the outs.

That wasn’t the point right now, though. So, getting back to the matter at hand…

It was Friday of the first week back to school, and Ino was early to Biology–an occurrence that wasn’t completely unheard of since she had a free period beforehand, but which still happened rarely due to her general dislike of the class and detest of the teacher. Not wanting to actually go into the classroom so early, however, since the teacher, Mr. Danzou, also had a free period before this class and she didn’t particularly want to be alone in a classroom with the mean old man, Ino leaned against the wall next to the door to wait. While doing so, she noticed voices inside. It sounded like Mr. Danzou was talking to another teacher, though Ino couldn’t recognize the other person’s voice. Feeling bored and beyond curious, Ino leaned closer to the door, putting her ear as close as she could without actually leaning against it, and listened intently to the conversation.

“Well, good riddance,” the old teacher’s gravelly voice growled after a mumbled utterance from his companion. “I always knew that boy was no good.”

“Really, Danzou, what does that have to do with anything? His father had to go to Japan, of course Sasuke would have to go with him,” the more muffled of the two voices said.

Realizing the teachers were talking about Sasuke, Ino’s already-piqued curiosity grew tenfold. Even if she’d gotten over her crush long ago, she still had a personal investment in anything concerning the boy who had become her friend. Plus, with Mr. Danzou’s badmouthing of Sasuke, Ino’s hackles had risen and she made a silent oath to get some kind of dirt on the teacher once she’d gleaned as much as she could from this conversation. No matter what their personal flaws, she wouldn’t put up with anyone dissing her friends.

“Didn’t you hear?” Danzou spoke again. “The wife didn’t go with them. She’s still here, as well as the older boy–Itachi. Seems pretty obvious to me that Uchiha got himself in some trouble and now his father is relocating him to hush it up.”

Ino’s eyes narrowed to slits and her teeth grinded as she clenched her jaw. Though rumors about Mrs. Uchiha still living here had been circulating all week, the general gossip opinion had been that perhaps Sasuke’s parents were separating. Now, though, Danzou was making Sasuke out to be some kind of juvenile delinquent! Where did he get off–

“That’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?” the voice that Ino had quickly labeled as the more reasonable of the two men asked then.

“Nonsense,” the crotchety old man insisted. “After the deviance I’ve witnessed from that boy–him and that Uzumaki boy–I’m surprised it took this long–”

Despite Ino’s usual thirst for juicy gossip, she’d had just about all she could take for the moment. Therefore, before Danzou could continue his malicious words, she chose that moment to finally open the door and enter the class. All discussion stopped as the two men looked at her, the older one giving her a glare as he opened his mouth–no doubt to berate her for showing up before the bell for the previous period had even sounded. However, before he could growl a word at her, the bell did sound and Ino couldn’t help but smirk as Mr. Danzou’s deep-set scowl turned from her onto the speaker affixed to the wall above the door, right beside the clock.

The other teacher in the room–who she now recognized as her freshman homeroom teacher, Mr. Umino–smiled at her both gratefully and apologetically as he excused himself for his next class, leaving her alone with the hateful Danzou. Ino did her best to ignore the glare her Biology teacher sent her way as she sat at her usual desk, waiting for the seats around her to fill up, though she couldn’t help the unpleasant shiver that briefly crawled up her spine before the door opened again and students began filing in.

When every seat but one was finally full, Ino found herself unconsciously turning towards that empty seat. As she did so, she noticed Naruto on the other side of it, also gazing sadly at Sasuke’s former seat. A new, different kind of shiver went through her body when she noticed that look, chilling her with melancholy in empathy to the emotion plainly written on the blond boy’s face. That wasn’t the only reason goosebumps were now raised on her arms, however. No, the real reason was because she recognized that look. It was the same one Sakura had been wearing all week. As Ino realized this, she found herself frowning in thought. Why was that so significant that it sent a chill through her? Naruto was Sasuke’s best friend, after all, of course he would still be sad he was gone.

Somehow, though, Ino thought there was a key point she was missing, but what could it be? Before she could put more thought into it, however, Mr. Danzou started addressing the class about the fetal pig they were going to dissect that day, and Ino’s nausea distracted her completely from her previous ruminations.

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

“I swear, he’s a complete sadist!” Ino exclaimed, having just finished telling Sakura about the horror that was fetal pig dissection.

She and Sakura were currently in P.E., leaning against the hard, cold, concrete block wall while they watched their classmates and waited for their turn on the floor. The padded gym mats that usually hung on the wall were currently spread out over the floor under the various gymnastic equipment that was set up for class. Most of the girls were doing cartwheels or tumbles, with the occasional simple vault off a springboard, but there was also a mid-height balance beam and parallel bars for the more ambitious girls.

“He didn’t even warn us ahead of time! Just sprung it on us! If I’d known I was going to be expected to cut open a baby pig today, I wouldn’t have bothered going to class,” Ino continued in a huff, crossing her arms under her chest.

“That’s probably why he did it that way,” Sakura remarked, despite the fact that she totally agreed with Ino, both in the ‘Danzou-is-evil’ department and in not particularly liking the idea of cutting open a baby pig. She was so glad the teacher she had for Biology had opted for the newer curriculum that involved interactive virtual dissections on the computer.

“Ugh,” Ino groaned disgustedly. “And now I have gross stuff all over my favorite Tokio Hotel shirt because, for some reason, Naruto couldn’t wait for me to get my smock on before he started cutting the poor thing open, but once he made the first cut he started freaking out and flailing his arms around…” Ino demonstrated Naruto’s actions for a slightly-amused Sakura. Ino rolled her eyes at the memory. “Danzou deducted grade points for that, and because Naruto made the cut wrong. By the time we were done, it ended up looking even more mutilated than it would have. I swear, I don’t know how that boy hasn’t flunked that class by now–”

Ino suddenly cut herself off, realizing that Sasuke had probably helped a lot in that department. Even if Danzou apparently loathed Sasuke, Sasuke had still been the top student in their class, and Naruto was his table partner due to alphabetic seating.

Sakura seemed to realize this, too, since she suddenly got quiet with that sad, thoughtful look on her face. Ino felt a twinge of déjà vu at seeing that look, but before she could grasp at the memory it evoked, Sakura was called onto the mats by their teacher, Ms. Mitarashi.

Ino watched as Sakura tucked her T-shirt into her gym shorts before she swung herself up onto the balance beam and stood, her form near-perfect as she straightened her legs and pointed her toes, taking a couple steps across the beam. Then Sakura bent forward at the waist, her arms reaching down, hand bracing her weight firmly on the beam before slowly starting to raise her legs off the beam, above her body. Ino stared, entranced and maybe just a bit jealous of Sakura’s perfectly-balanced movements. Jealousy wasn’t exactly a new thing when it came to Sakura; after all, she and Ino used to take gymnastics together when they were younger, but Sakura had always been better at it than Ino, who much preferred dance. The jealousy was barely a blip now, though, compared to the other feelings that were surfacing much quicker lately, and Ino soon found herself admiring the line of Sakura’s body as she bowed and arched and straightened again in a handstand.

The noise of the other girls in the gym faded to barely a buzz as Ino’s focus zeroed in on Sakura, watching her walk across the beam on her hands now, her muscles taut as she kept her body straight above her. As she watched, Ino couldn’t help but be drawn to Sakura’s legs. The way Sakura’s toes pointed, arching her foot; the way her slender ankles sloped down to gently-curving calves; the way her thighs somehow managed to look both muscular and feminine due to her gymnast-like build; the enticing curve of her bottom which could just barely be glimpsed before disappearing into her slightly-loose gym shorts, which had fallen victim to gravity. Unconsciously, Ino bit her lip as the fabric moved again, revealing just a little more.

Sakura turned around when she reached the end of the beam, hand-walking back the way she came. Ino bit her lip a little harder as she noticed Sakura’s arms becoming a little shaky. It had been awhile since Sakura had taken gymnastics as a child, and even if she remembered everything she’d learned, her body wasn’t as used to it anymore. Halfway back across the beam, Sakura stopped and slowly, shakily brought her legs back down to the beam. When she regained her footing, she gradually raised her upper body to a standing position, taking care not to move too quickly and give herself a head rush.

Sakura started walking forward again, doing a little hop as she prepared to dismount, but before Ino could finish watching, Ms. Mitarashi was suddenly obstructing her view.

“Yamanaka! Are you deaf? It’s been your turn for two minutes now. You’re holding up the line, get moving!”

Ino blinked rapidly at the realization of how distracted she’d been watching Sakura, and hurriedly moved to the edge of the mat before running towards the springboard, vaulting off it to do a sort-of somersault in midair, and landing on her back with a slight bounce on the more cushiony mat in front of it. By the time she got back up, Sakura had already dismounted, been praised by Ms. Mitarashi, and then given the job of spotting for the other girls on the balance beam.

Ino walked over to where Sakura was standing, giving pointers to the tiny girl currently on the beam. One more spotter couldn’t hurt, right? When Ino got to her side, Sakura turned and smiled briefly at her, giving Ino a good look at her prettily-flushed face. Getting that all-too-familiar urge to take Sakura’s face in her hands and kiss her, Ino quickly turned her attention back to the girl on the beam.

“You were really great up there, forehead-girl,” Ino commented nonchalantly.

“Thanks, Ino-pig,” Sakura replied, a smile evident in her voice.

Ino’s eyes slid to the side quickly to catch sight of Sakura’s smile, and suddenly wondered if it was just her imagination, or if Sakura’s cheeks actually looked a little redder than they had before Ino had complimented her. Averting her eyes once again, Ino tried to think of a topic to talk about that wouldn’t leave her feeling moony over Sakura at every turn. Before she could come up with something, however, Ms. Mitarashi called her again.

“Yamanaka! What do you think this is, a party? Stop distracting Haruno with chitchat and come get back in line!”

Both girls heaved sighs and rolled their eyes at their slave driver of a gym teacher, and Ino gave a wave to Sakura as she walked off to get back in line for the springboard.

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

After school, Ino waved goodbye to Hinata as she got in the car with Neji and Tenten, and went to meet Sakura and Naruto in their usual spot on the gym’s back steps. She found the two of them sitting quietly, waiting for her–something that she found just a bit disconcerting, but decided not to comment on. She could easily guess what was affecting their mood–the same thing that had been affecting them all week–and didn’t feel the need to drag the topic out at the moment.

Ino just wanted to get home and change as quickly as possible. Her shirt stank from Biology, and though she’d considered just wearing her gym shirt the rest of the day, she didn’t want to wear her gym shorts as well, and the shirt didn’t look right with her slightly-ruffled skirt and black, knee-length leggings. The fitted, babydoll style of her Tokio Hotel shirt worked much better than the boring school T-shirt she wore for gym. Plus, her gym shirt had her name written on it in permanent marker, which was so not cool.

When they noticed Ino, Sakura and Naruto both stood with easy smiles that, though they weren’t quite as bright as usual, were still genuine. She smiled back, and the three of them left the school grounds together, walking towards Sakura’s house. Usually, when they got to the BP on State Blvd., Ino would split from them since her house was in a different direction from Naruto and Sakura, who lived just around the corner from each other. Since it was Friday, though, Ino kept walking with them to Sakura’s house.

It was somewhat of a tradition that they hang out after school on Fridays, though they didn’t follow the tradition religiously. Sometimes it would be just Ino and Sakura, with Naruto instead going with Sasuke to his house, the boys splitting from the girls a street away from Sakura’s house. Sometimes it was the four of them altogether. Sometimes their other friends came, too, if they had a ride home.

Ino heard Naruto and Sakura sigh at the same time, and looked over at them as they stopped walking and looked at each other in astonishment. They blinked at each other wordlessly for a moment before Sakura gave Naruto a small, sheepish smile, the blond boy mimicking her expression with the addition of his hand rubbing the back of his head.

“It’s weird walking home without him, isn’t it?” Sakura asked then, broaching the topic aloud for the first time since they’d silently realized and grieved the change in routine that Monday.

Naruto’s hand paused at the back of his neck before his arm dropped back to his side.

“Yeah.” He sighed again.

Ino suddenly felt very annoyed that the topic of Sasuke had been brought up. As much as she’d been thinking all week that it would be better if Sakura would just talk about it, now Ino’s thinking couldn’t be farther from that opinion. In that instant, she just wished Sakura could forget about Sasuke altogether. After all, Ino was here still, and Ino was the one who was her best friend! Sakura still had her, and she wasn’t going anywhere. As soon as that thought stampeded through her mind, however, Ino immediately felt guilty. What a horrible thing to think about Sasuke, wishing that the boy she’d been friends with had never existed, or would at least be quickly forgotten.

Wasn’t she being selfish, when if it hadn’t been for Sasuke, she and Sakura’s friendship might never have been tested and come out better–stronger–for it? If it hadn’t been for Sasuke, lots of things might have been a lot different. Still, Ino couldn’t help the jealousy she felt over Sakura’s continued torch for Sasuke. Not that it mattered much, she reminded herself, since even if it weren’t for Sasuke, Sakura would still be unattainable to her. It was a painful truth, but she had to keep that in mind in order to work through this sudden rearing of the ugly, green-eyed monster within her.

“But let’s not let that get us down!” Naruto’s suddenly loud, boisterous voice declared, pulling Ino abruptly from her reverie.

She looked past Sakura at Naruto, seeing him holding up his fist in determination.

“He’ll be back before you know it, and then things will go back to the way they should be,” he told Sakura, and to a lesser extent, Ino, confidently.

Sakura nodded her head at him, Naruto’s tenacity energizing and infectious, then she turned to Ino to share with her the smile she’d given Naruto. At that smile, Ino felt her former irritation melt away until only a puddle was left, and she couldn’t help but return the smile to her friend, reaching for Sakura’s hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. No matter what happened, they would all support each other. No matter what happened, Ino would always be there for Sakura.

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

The weekend passed with Ino again busy in her parents’ flower shop. Her father had left that Friday for some sort of florists convention, and there was a rather large order for a wedding that her mother was working on, leaving Ino as the only one available to handle the shop. Because of this, she didn’t get to see Sakura again until school on Monday. Now it was Friday again.

Not much had changed in school since the previous week. Though the teachers had adjusted rather quickly to Sasuke’s absence, most of the students were still in a bit of a frenzy over it–especially the rumor mill. Stories about why Sasuke had left were still circulating like wildfire, growing increasingly ridiculous the further they traveled through the grapevine. They had started seemingly innocent enough–Sasuke’s father had been relocated for his job, so of course his family had gone with him. Then came the information that Mrs. Uchiha and Itachi were still here in town, and speculation arose that Sasuke’s parents were separating or even divorcing. Others that didn’t want to believe such a thing about perfect Sasuke’s perfect family suggested that since Sasuke was such a genius, their school just hadn’t been enough of a challenge for him, so he’d transferred in order to get a better education. These explanations were normal and even plausible, however the satisfaction in these sorts of answers quickly fizzled out and the stories became more extreme.

The latest rumor was that Sasuke had been caught having sex with some girl (slut, the fangirls insisted), and was now being sent to military school to cure him of his promiscuity. Some versions of the story even claimed that Sasuke had gotten a girl pregnant, though people couldn’t seem to agree on whether the pregnancy was still in effect, or if Sasuke had gotten caught during the process of going with the girl to get an abortion. Ino wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, but this latest tale had quickly become the most popular and widely-accepted, and soon Sasuke’s admirers began a witch hunt to find the slut that had caused precious Sasuke to be taken away from them.

That, Ino supposed, was why she now found herself in her current situation: trapped against a row of lockers, body aching, knuckles sore with one finger possibly dislocated, lip split and bleeding, hair being pulled, clothes and body being scratched at as the friends of the girl she’d been punching ganged up on her.

“No! Ino!” she heard Sakura scream over the sound of the other girls’ taunts and scathing remarks concerning her virtue, or lack thereof. “Get off of her!”

After that exclamation, Ino knew Sakura had rejoined the fight she’d previously been the victim of before Ino showed up and defended her. There was too much movement, too many girls pressing in on her, so Ino couldn’t actually see Sakura anymore, but she could just imagine how Sakura was most likely clawing her way through the small mob, trying to reach her.

“Sakura, just get away!” Ino called out to her, grabbing a handful of someone’s hair to hold their head still while she aimed a punch with her other hand. The girl had just called Sakura a slut, after calling Ino a whore.

Before Ino’s fist could connect, though, the girl was pulled out of her grasp. Ino barely noticed the yelp the girl made as her hair was yanked from Ino’s grasp with the force of being pulled away as Sakura’s worried face suddenly filled her vision.

“Are you stupid, Ino? I’m not leaving you here on your own!” Sakura told her friend vehemently as she grabbed Ino’s wrist and pulled her away, the two of them running through the halls together, away from the vicious girls.

Ino’s body buzzed with the surge of adrenaline she’d been fighting under, her mind numb with it as she simply ran, allowing Sakura to lead both of them wherever she wanted. When they finally stopped, Ino realized they were in a girls’ restroom in B building–a restroom that wasn’t used very frequently due to its poor maintenance (the lights were dim, the mirrors were missing, and only one of the stalls still had a door–and it wasn’t the stall where the flush worked).

Ino leaned heavily against the door, panting harshly, only realizing Sakura was still holding her wrist when the pink haired girl finally let go so she could turn the deadbolt beside Ino’s head. Then Sakura, too, sagged back against the wall, swallowing to try to wet her throat, so dry from panting and hoarse from yelling.

Ino looked over at her, still feeling slightly numb and more than a bit dazed after what had just happened. She stared at Sakura, not really realizing she was, watching the hard rise and fall of Sakura’s chest as she tried to get her breathing under control, her throat moving as she swallowed, her head thrown back as she stared almost listlessly at the ceiling. Ino’s gaze moved to Sakura’s face, seeing the bright red coloring that had bloomed around her left eye and cheekbone. It would be a bruise by tomorrow, and Ino frowned, biting her lip as she felt tears forming in her eyes.

Why did they have to do that? Why did they have to attack Sakura? If they knew her at all, they would know that Sakura would never do the things they’d accused her of. She could even understand why they would be able to believe those things about Ino herself, though it wasn’t true about her, either. The way she dressed and talked openly about sexual things didn’t exactly make her seem virtuous, even if she actually was–mostly. But Sakura… Sakura was anything but slutty. In fact, Sakura was probably the second most virtuous girl in school, second only to Hinata, who couldn’t even admit to having a crush without blushing and stuttering.

Sakura’s head rolled against the wall slightly to look at Ino, and the listless look in her dulled green eyes suddenly changed, her eyes becoming brighter with lucidity and obvious concern. Then her fingertips were gently touching Ino’s cheek, which the blonde belatedly noticed was throbbing with a dull pain, that pain growing gradually sharper as her former numbness drained away with the last of her adrenaline.

“Ino…” Sakura began, such worry in her voice that it reawakened that feeling in Ino that she’d been repressing–that special feeling she had for Sakura, so strong that it crashed through her like a tidal wave, making her tingle all over as it filled her with a hope she knew was foolish.

“I’m sorry,” Sakura finished shakily, her eyes closing as she leaned over to Ino, putting her arms around Ino gently; tenderly. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered again.

Ino felt the tears gathered in her eyes spill over as she, too, put her arms around her friend, ignoring the aches in her body as her muscles protested any action. She heard Sakura sniffle and tightened her arms around the pink haired girl–just for a moment, not wanting to aggravate any injuries Sakura may have.

“It’s not your fault. Don’t you dare apologize,” Ino told her softly, but with conviction.

Sakura pulled back, ending their hug but letting her hands rest lightly around Ino’s shoulders. A soft, still-apologetic smile tilted her lips before her lower lip was pulled between her teeth. Ino found herself staring at Sakura’s tempting, soft-red lips and quickly averted her gaze to Sakura’s eyes instead, only to find Sakura’s eyes trained on her lips. That ridiculous hope bloomed in Ino’s chest again, and her eyes flitted back to Sakura’s lips, only to have that hope replaced with disappointment as Sakura pulled away completely.

Sakura turned away, pulling some paper towels from the dispenser on the wall and wetting them with cold water from the sink. She folded the towel, carefully squeezing the excess water out, before she returned to Ino and used the paper towel to dab carefully at Ino’s split lip. Ino hissed at the contact, but quickly quieted as she watched Sakura concentrate on her wound. Sakura’s entire attention was on her and Ino didn’t want to discourage her.

“Sorry,” Sakura said, her eyes flitting quickly up to Ino’s when the blonde hissed in pain.

“It’s okay,” Ino barely managed to say, trying not to move her lip too much.

Sakura moved the wet napkin from Ino’s lip to her forehead, her own forehead creasing in a frown of concentration and anger as she dabbed at a couple bleeding scratches Ino had received during the hair pulling. Then she pulled away again, looking Ino over for more injuries.

“How’s your hand?” the pink haired girl asked, seeing the telltale red around the knuckles of Ino’s right hand.

Ino held her hand up and looked at it, flexing her fingers open and closed slowly and painfully. Despite the pain, nothing seemed to be broken as far as she could tell–not that she was an expert or anything. Her middle finger did seem a little swollen, but it still bent properly and didn’t look to be at a weird angle or anything, so she hoped it would be alright.

“A little sore, but I’ll be fine,” Ino concluded, but this only made Sakura frown more.

“We should at least get it looked at by the nurse,” Sakura concluded, staring at Ino’s swollen finger critically. “You should put a cold compress on your lip, too,” she added, her eyes again on Ino’s split lip.

“And you should get one for your eye,” Ino said, her fingertips ghosting over Sakura’s purpling cheekbone.

Sakura flinched a little at the touch which, despite being feather-light, really stung now that she was aware of her own injury. Ino pulled her fingers back quickly, watching Sakura in concern, but Sakura quickly ignored the pain and smiled at Ino.

“That too,” she agreed with a short nod. When she looked at the door, though, her expression became apprehensive. “Do you think they followed us?” she wondered in a hush.

“I don’t know,” Ino replied, her voice in the same hush. She put her ear next to the door, listening intently.

Sakura watched her anxiously for a moment before she mimicked the action, the two of them facing each other, their attention completely on the task of listening for noises outside. Ino couldn’t hear anything, though, and when she glanced at Sakura, green eyes met blue before the pink haired girl shook her head to Ino’s silent question. Ino’s uninjured hand lifted, resting on the deadbolt as she again looked at Sakura in question. Sakura nodded, and Ino turned the lock. Ino cracked the door open and they looked out cautiously together.

Normally Ino wouldn’t act so timid, but she and Sakura already had injuries from the fight, and she couldn’t stand the idea that it might happen again–especially so soon, if they ran into those girls again. Ino felt she’d done a pretty good job of holding her own in that fight, considering there had been about five or six girls ganging up on her, but by now they would have had time to regroup, and possibly get more people to bring with them. If that happened and she and Sakura were attacked again, Ino worried how much worse their injuries might be. It wasn’t something she wanted to risk right now.

The two girls crept out of the quiet building–which was empty due to school having been over for about twenty minutes now–and looked around quickly when they got outside. There was no one around outside, either, and they hurriedly ran over to the main building. The side door, which they had come out of, was the closest to them. Neither of them thought it would be a good idea to return the way they came, though. This end of the building was usually deserted, and there weren’t even any classrooms close by until at least halfway down the hallway.

“Let’s go in the gym door,” Sakura said quietly.

Ino nodded her assent and they walked around to the back of the building. The stoop they usually met Naruto on was empty, and Ino briefly wondered if Naruto had given up on waiting for them. The thought left her mind quickly, though, seeming unimportant at the moment as Sakura tried the door and sighed in relief when it opened.

The gym was empty, and they ran across the wooden floor to the central entrance hallway. The halls outside the gym were empty, also, and Ino was starting to feel a bit apprehensive again, wondering if the other shoe was going to drop any time soon. While she was glad those girls didn’t seem to be around anywhere, if there were other people in the halls it would make her feel a little better. At least then there would be witnesses, right?

They passed the cafetorium and then the principal’s office, finally coming to the nurse’s office. The light was on inside, but when they walked in the nurse was nowhere to be seen. Ino thought it was probably for the best, so they wouldn’t have to explain the state they were in. Even if those girls deserved to get punished for what they’d done, somehow telling on them to the teachers sounded too childish, even if it technically was the right thing to do. Besides, Ino could only identify a few of the girls, and there were probably more where that came from once the first group got in trouble.

Sakura went in search of the cold compresses immediately, while Ino searched for antibacterial ointment and bandages. The office was well-organized, so it wasn’t hard to find what they were looking for, and soon Sakura was cracking an insta-cold pack and wrapping it in a wet paper towel for Ino. Ino had just finished cleaning and treating the scratches on her arms and was inspecting her sore finger again when Sakura held the cold pack to her lip. Ino put her hand up to hold it in place, her fingers sliding across Sakura’s in the process before Sakura pulled her hand away. Ino immediately missed the contact, but Sakura was still close, keeping Ino’s awareness of her heightened; her senses alert as she suddenly noticed how comforting the warmth of Sakura’s body heat was, how calming her breathing was now as she reassessed Ino’s other injuries.

While Ino held the cold compress to her lip, using her injured hand so the cold would hopefully also help the swelling of her finger, Sakura dabbed some ointment on Ino’s forehead and put a large bandage over the cuts there. She noticed a rip on the shoulder of Ino’s shirt, and pulled at the material to reveal another set of scratches, which she then tended to. Then Sakura looked at Ino’s hand again, one finger raising as if wanting to feel how swollen Ino’s knuckle was, but never actually doing so.

Sakura was really close now, Ino realized. Even closer than she had been before, now that Sakura was leaning towards her again, so close to her face. Ino again found her eyes drawn to Sakura’s lips, before sweeping her gaze over the rest of Sakura’s face. The skin around Sakura’s injured eye and cheek was puffy with swelling now, and Ino used her concern over Sakura’s injury to distract herself from other, unneeded thoughts and urges.

“Don’t forget to put that other cold pack on your eye,” she reminded Sakura.

Sakura seemed to have zoned out a bit while inspecting Ino, but Ino’s reminder brought her back, blinking a bit as she registered what her blonde friend had said.

“Yeah…” she said a bit distractedly, turning around to get the other compress from the counter.

Ino breathed a sigh that was a mixture of relief and regret as Sakura’s movement created more distance between them. Sakura didn’t notice, however, not only because of the compress over Ino’s mouth, or her distraction with putting her own compress on her face, but because the nurse chose that moment to return to her office.

“Oh!” Miss Shizune exclaimed in surprise as she noticed the two girls already in the room. “Miss Haruno, Miss Yamanaka, what are you doing in here?” she asked, then noticed the compresses on their respective faces and the bandages all over Ino. “What happened to you two?!”

Ino tried not to groan as the school nurse discovered their battle wounds and Sakura ended up telling Miss Shizune what had happened. As much as she loved her friend, sometimes Sakura was a bit too much of a stickler for the rules. Sakura’s confession led to the involvement of the principal, Ms. Senju, who in turn said she would need to write up an incident report and then contact everyone’s parents.

As she and Sakura were each filling out their own forms on the “incident”, Naruto walked into the principal’s office.

“There you are! Jeez, I was looking all over for you! I was about to give up and just go home on my own, y’know?” he told them, before noticing the cold packs still held to the girls’ faces. “Holy shit, what happened to you?!”

“Uzumaki, language!” Ms. Senju exclaimed threateningly, interrupting the phone call she was on with Sakura’s mother just to yell at him, and making Naruto flinch as if anticipating a hit.

“Uh… sorry… but seriously! What happened?” he asked again, his eyes wide and curious.

“Stupidity,” Ino answered with a huff as she carefully wrote on her report, the action a little awkward due to the makeshift tongue-depressor-and-gauze splint now wrapped around her swollen finger, forcing her to hold her pencil a bit funny.

At Naruto’s confused look, Sakura elaborated, “We were attacked by a group of Sasuke’s rabid fangirls.”

“What? Why?!”

“Have you heard the rumors going around about Sasuke?” Ino asked him.

“You mean the one about Sasuke leaving to become a ninja in a secret branch of the Japanese army?”

As Ino’s face twisted into a look of incredulity, Sakura giggled, blushing as a snort escaped her in her sudden amusement.

“What?!” both girls exclaimed incredulously in unison.

“Who came up with that one?” Sakura added.

Naruto just shrugged, and Ino shook her head to dismiss it altogether.

“No, the one where Sasuke got caught getting a girl pregnant and got shipped to military school,” Ino explained.

“Ehh?! That’s ridiculous!” Naruto exclaimed then.

“And the ninja one isn’t?” Sakura asked dryly, one eyebrow raised.

“Hey, at least the ninja one is cool. That one’s just stupid.”

Ino had to admit, he was right on that point. She would never say so aloud, though. Before they could continue their conversation, however, Ms. Senju hung up the phone and clasped her hands together on her desk, gaining their attention with just that simple action and a meaningful look.

“Sakura, your mother is on her way to pick you girls up. Ino, since your mother can’t leave the shop yet and your father is still out of town, Mrs. Haruno is going to take you to get your finger looked at. It’ll be about fifteen minutes before she gets here, so I suggest you sit out in the waiting room until then. Do either of you need anything from your lockers?”

They both nodded. Sakura had been in the process of opening her locker when the girls had come up behind her, and Ino hadn’t even gotten to her locker before she’d pulled Sakura out of the fray and punched the girl that had hit Sakura.

Tsunade nodded at their answer. “Shizune will accompany you, then,” she said as she stood from her desk and led them back out to the waiting area, where Shizune was hovering in the doorway between the office and the infirmary. “Go with them to their lockers, will you?” she asked the nurse.

“Of course. Come on, girls,” Miss Shizune said as she walked out into the hallway, Sakura and Ino right behind her after dumping their used up cold packs in a nearby trash bin.

“Hey, hey, wait for me. I’m coming too!” Naruto called out, catching up to them quickly.

The halls were quiet and empty, save for a couple kids that passed them on their way out of the detention room, and the shuffle of papers that could be heard from one classroom where the door was open and a teacher was still inside.

“So, you still haven’t told me what that crazy rumor has to do with why you two are so beat up,” Naruto commented, his naturally loud voice resounding in the empty hallway.

Ino rolled her eyes. “Dummy,” she said, though there was no malice in it. By now, she should be used to how thick Naruto could be, but it was still annoying.

Naruto glared at her until Sakura answered, “Some girls that believe that crazy rumor decided the girl Sasuke was with must have been me or Ino. So they attacked us.”

“What?!” Naruto gasped in surprise, his feet stalling in his shock. “They beat you up because they thought Sasuke slept with you?”

Naruto didn’t seem to be able to wrap his mind around the new information, his body frozen in place the entire time Ino and Sakura finished walking to their lockers a little further from where Naruto stood. The girls got their things from their lockers, putting their jackets on and heading back towards the principal’s office. Naruto finally came back to his senses as they passed him, and he caught up with them again, shaking his head as if to clear it.

The three of them waited in relative silence, no one feeling all that talkative after the recent revelation, and several minutes later, Mrs. Haruno was walking into the office.

“Oh my goodness, girls!” she exclaimed when she saw the state Sakura and Ino were in.

She rushed over to them, wrapping her arms around both of them briefly and pulling back quickly when Ino tensed. Her body was still incredibly sore.

“Ino, I spoke to your mom and she said it’s fine to take you to Redi-Med, so we’ll go there first. You girls ready?” she asked, standing back up and adjusting the purse strap on her shoulder.

They both nodded, standing and pulling their backpacks over their shoulders as they prepared to leave.

“Thanks again for calling me, Ms. Senju,” Mrs. Haruno said to the blonde principal. “I can’t believe something like this happened!”

“I completely agree, Mrs. Haruno. Rest assured, I’m going to make sure this matter is resolved properly. I won’t allow this type of thing to happen in my school and go unpunished.”

Sakura’s mom nodded. “Well, come on, girls,” she said, putting an arm around Sakura as she led them out of the office.

“I guess I’ll see you guys later,” Naruto called out behind them.

The three women paused to look back at him, seeing him standing just outside the office, smiling with closed eyes, a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh, Naruto, did you need a ride home?” Mrs. Haruno asked.

“Umm…” he said, scratching his nose as he debated what answer to give.

Mrs. Haruno smiled at him in that way that sort of reminded him of his own mom. She held her arm out beckoningly.

“Come on, kiddo, we can drop you off on the way, okay?”

He grinned genuinely then, nodding his head and jogging up to them, his thumbs hooked into the straps of his backpack.

The three teenagers followed Sakura’s mom out to her red minivan and climbed in. Sakura offered Naruto the front passenger seat, since she preferred to sit with Ino and she knew he wouldn’t mind the extra leg room. Minutes later, the blond boy was waving goodbye to them as he jogged up the path to his house, and then they were on their way to Redi-Med. Just as Ino was losing herself in that lovely feeling of basking in Sakura’s nearness, Mrs. Haruno got their attention again with a question.

“So why was it, exactly, that those girls ganged up on you two, anyway?”

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

That night, Ino lay in bed staring blindly at the brace on her finger as the events of the day played over and over in her mind. Every time, the images in her mind sped through the fight as if it was on fast-forward, and conversely they slowed down when she got to the parts where Sakura was hugging her and tending her wounds. That oh-so-familiar pang gripped her heart again, and she closed her eyes as her good hand clutched her shirt above her chest. It seemed, no matter what she tried to tell herself about it being hopeless, no matter how much she tried to ignore it, this feeling of being attracted to Sakura–of loving her as more than just a best friend–would not go away.

In fact, it seemed to be growing.

TBC

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

A/N: Oh my, I’m so sorry this took so long to update! I have no real good excuse, other than lack of inspiration for getting the chapter actually started. Finally, Thursday, I randomly opened up the story file and just started writing… before I knew it, I had 6 pages. Then my eyes were too blurry and I finished the chapter Friday at 16 pages. O.o

If only my muse would visit me on my terms instead of following its own whims, eh? I’d be able to update 3 stories a week, which would mean a new chapter every other week for all my stories! That would rock! Yeah… if only…

Anyway, so obviously this chapter we got more of Ino, and a bit more Ino/Saku interaction. I hope it isn’t too boring. I’m trying to stick to scenes that are plot-important rather than just filling space/time. Even so, I worry about it getting boring before things finally heat up.

Oh, also, I changed a couple minor details in the first two chapters. Nothing important enough to need to reread them, but I thought I should mention it anyway. I’ve changed Sakura and Ino’s conversation about Sakura turning sixteen first, realizing that with American school calendars and birthday cutoff dates, Hinata would have to be older since her birthday is in December. Also, I’ve added a sentence about why Sakura didn’t hang out with Tenten during her spring break, since my former plan to explain that in this chapter ended up getting thrown out the window due to my time-skippy-ness. (For those of you that care, Sakura doesn’t really hang out with Tenten unless she’s with Neji, because Tenten’s dating Neji.)

Ugh, long a/n. I’ll stop now.

Thanks for reading (and reviewing and rating)!

‘Til next time…

*heart*

~ lg