Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Something Unexpected ❯ Breaking Up is Difficult ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and do not make money off of this fic. Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto, give him love...buy his works.


CHAPTER 1 BEGIN
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“Ino-pig, get up!” Sakura howled at her drunk friend, adding hissed words into the blonde's ear before trying to physically pry the girl away from the bar, “We are still on a mission.”

“Shut up Forehead, I'm not done yet,” came the slurred and slightly angry response. Sakura gave the bartender a sheepish grin to tell him that she was sorry for her friend's behavior.

Sakura was done messing around, Ino's playacting had gotten way too far out of hand. While Ino had been trying to get information out of one of the bar's regular frequenters she had also found herself winding through half of a sake bottle. Sakura knew that the man had only left to use the restroom and when he came back he would continue to liquor Ino up in the hopes that she would come home with him and keep all the naughty promises the blonde made in order to secure important intelligence. Sakura flung Ino over her shoulder and made haste.

“Hey, what about the cute guy!” Ino objected.

“Oh yeah, he's cute…if you like the evil lackey type. Actually, scratch that. He wasn't even cute Ino, he had a lazy eye,” Sakura said shaking her head as she found her way out of the bar and to the rooftops, making their escape.

“I could have overlooked that…I mean did you see his ass? All muscled and sculpted and…I need to throw up,” Ino admitted. Sakura ground to a screeching halt and dropped Ino onto the roof of the building they had landed on. Looking far too green and dizzy, Ino pulled her hair back and appeared like she would hurl any moment. Sakura shook her head at her friend, knowing that most of tonight was a result of a bad breakup between Ino and Shino. Those two were never right for each other, but Ino had tried to stick it out until the very end.

Sakura rubbed Ino's back and took charge of holding the blonde's hair out of the way as Ino purged her body of most of her stomach's contents. It was utterly disgusting, but what are friends for?

 

“The guy in the bar wasn't right for you and neither was Shino,” Sakura said handing Ino her water flask so she could rinse her mouth out.

“So I wasted two years on something that wasn't good for me? That's just great Sakura, thanks for the advice.”

 

Sakura watched as bitter tears danced in Ino's eyes, but the other woman fought them back and swished some water in her mouth and spat it back out sloppily. “I just wanted…”

“You didn't love him,” Sakura interrupted. Ino glared at the pink-haired kunoichi, but had no rebuttal. It's difficult to refute something when it was the truth.

“I just wanted to be happy. Is it too much to ask for to be content in life?” Ino struggled under a heavy heart and wet tears. She could no longer contain the river than was flowing out of her, that damn lazy-eyed man and the alcohol being the final straw that broke her. The blonde couldn't ignore the pain any longer.

“Not at all,” Sakura whispered running her fingers through Ino's hair. “Let's get back to the inn...it's going to be a long trip back to Kohoha in the morning.”

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Sakura played with her drink while listening to Ino drone on and on about the latest town gossip. Whenever the blonde wanted to ignore her own life's problems she immersed herself in everyone else's instead, and Ino used the Yamanaka's flower store as a springboard to her obsession with the latest whispers to travel among the Konoha grapevine. Sakura usually loved to hear the juicy tidbits that her friend wrangled before ninety-nine percent of the town knew, but after three days straight of enduring Ino's so-called distraction Sakura was about to lose her mind. Sakura nearly missed a hilarious story about Kakashi in the process of daydreaming about being elsewhere, but made Ino repeat it in the hopes that she could use it for blackmail.

“Do you think that it's true?” Ino asked Sakura, referring of course to the Kakashi related scandal.

“I would assume so, he does like those kinds of things,” a devious smile crossed Sakura's lips while shock graced Ino's features.

“He's so quiet though, so reserved…”

“He reads porn in public, what's so reserved about that?” Sakura interrupted and Ino gave a small shrug in reply.

 

Sakura knew very well that not many people had insight into the real Kakashi as she did, but she never imagined the level of ignorance that most of the town allowed themselves with respect to the copy-nin. In the years since they had merely become teammates, rather than teacher and student, Sakura had found out many other things about the man that she knew were better left secret. It made her smile to know that she was one of the privileged few to be able to witness the reality instead of the illusion.

There were many women out there with Kakashi-based fantasies, and it was these women who often followed him around trying to capture the elusive nin's heart. She chuckled, because Sakura knew that it was hopeless to ever think that Kakashi would ever fall in love…he was too dedicated to his work and too inconsiderate in his relationships. It was nice to know that according to Ino last night had broken his dry streak that was making him grumpy as of late.

It had been nearly half a year since Kakashi had taken a new lover (or at least since Sakura was aware) and she had noticed how it had been affecting him. Sakura growled to herself…he was so much more of a tightass when he wasn't getting laid. Hopefully, tomorrow's training would be much less strenuous with his sexual frustration out of the picture…maybe just to be nice to Sasuke, seeing as it was him that supposedly cured Kakashi of his long bout of undesired celibacy. Sakura always knew that her ex-sensei liked it both ways, but out of morbid curiosity she would go find Sasuke later to pester some details out of him.

 

Sakura knew that such a feat would be difficult seeing as her teammate was always so standoffish since his return (in an overly quiet and brooding way), but Sakura was so grateful that Naruto had finally drug him home. It had already been two years since Sasuke's return. Things were finally starting to feel normal again, almost like they had been before. Sasuke and Naruto were even back to trying to kill each other on a daily basis (in their playful yet completely life-threatening way) as each tried to prove who the stronger rival was.

 

Sakura was pulled away from her thoughts when Ino began pointing emphatically at some person that had just entered the bar and tried to hide behind Sakura. Glancing at the doorway she saw Kiba standing there with Hinata…and where there were two there would probably be…

“No, there he is,” Ino hissed, ducking below the table in an attempt to disappear. Shino joined his teammates as they surveyed the bar for a place to sit.

“You can't hide from him forever, you know,” Sakura told her friend while simultaneously pulling Ino back into her seat.

“I can damn well try!” Ino grumbled trying to escape Sakura's grasp.

 

Sakura really did feel bad for the blonde when she noticed the extreme look of panic that had settled on Ino's face, but Konoha wasn't that big and it was inevitable that she and Shino would see each other. Sakura couldn't keep her grasp on the blonde as Ino wriggled free and ran to the bathroom. Sakura let Ino go, knowing that she probably just needed a moment of alone time to calm down and recollect herself. If her friend didn't return in five minutes she'd go and check on her.

Shino and Kiba wandered over to a group of slightly younger kunoichi and started flirting. Well…Kiba flirted and Shino just reaped the benefits of having a notoriously popular playboy for a friend. Sakura shook her head at the two and downed a good portion of her drink, glad that Ino wasn't there to witness the particular development involving Shino's quick rebound. “Sakura…” a quiet voice interrupted her thoughts.

Sakura turned around to see the shy Hyuuga heiress standing behind her, eyes fixated on her shoes. “Hi, Hinata. How are you doing today?” Sakura asked.

“I'm doing well, I was just wondering…well…how is Ino?” Hinata fidgeted with the hem of her coat while asking the question.

“Do you want to know, or is this information for Shino?” Sakura asked her friend. The pink-haired kunoichi didn't like the fact that this breakup had made some people take sides. Shino seemed so unaffected by it, and Sakura was sure that he never said a single angry word to Ino when they called an end to their relationship, but it had caused a rift all the same.

“Both,” Hinata admitted sheepishly. “He is very worried about Ino, but doesn't know how to approach her to see if she is doing okay.”

Sakura glanced up at Shino, catching his eye (well, locking gazes through his dark glasses). He gave her a nod, and Sakura responded with a tiny wave. It was hard to distance herself from her friend, but it was understood by both of them that Ino needed Sakura; therefore, Shino and her had to maintain the semblance that they were not on speaking terms. Sakura turned to Hinata to answer the question, “She will be fine, Ino knows that this is the right thing, but I think she's just a little hurt by the whole situation.”

“So is Shino,” Hinata whispered. “He would never say so, but it shows.”

 

Sakura knew that it was true. Though her bug-nin friend seemed to be unaffected by the world entirely, he did care about Ino…he just didn't love her. Hinata lowered her voice even more, trying to keep the words she was about to share between only Sakura and herself, “He considers her one of his closest friends, I know that he misses that.”

Sakura sighed, why were these things so difficult and why did they take so long to resolve? “Do you think they'll be able to be friends again, Hinata?”

Hinata nodded and gave a slight smile, “I do believe that they will.” Before returning to her teammates the Hyuuga girl added one last thing to their conversation, “Shino wishes for you to watch over Ino and make sure she's alright.”

“He should know that I'm already doing that,” Sakura replied, waving at her friend as she left. Sakura couldn't help but feel a bit like Shikamaru as she swirled the drink in her glass and thinking about how troublesome everything was. This was only one more reason that she avoided relationships like the plague…too many things can go wrong.

Ino finally returned from the bathroom, dabbing her eyes with a towelette. Sakura didn't ask her friend if she was alright, because she already could see that she wasn't. “Are you hungry?” Sakura asked, “Because I am starved. Let's go get something to eat, maybe something disgustingly laden with calories and a desert that is too sinful for words.”

Ino attempted a smile, “Yeah, that sounds nice.” The two left the bar without even a glance at the bug-nin and his compatriots.

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It was Shino's version of having an all out panic-attack, as he tapped his foot and would pace back and forth every now and then. For such a stoic and calm man, these small idiosyncrasies were cause for alarm. These days it was very difficult to capture Sakura without Ino by her side, but he knew that Ino was working in her family's flower shop today and Sakura had just finished training with her team. That is why he was at the gate to the training area, waiting for the pink-haired woman to pass through.

 

Kakashi walked by him first, looking tired and sore. This was followed by a very pleased and smug looking Sasuke and a very injured (mostly to his pride) looking Naruto. There was no doubt that Kakashi had probably broken up the latest attempt to best each other by the two younger male members of team seven …it was an epic rivalry and pity the idiot (or ex-teacher) that tried to stop them.

Kakashi noticed Shino and stopped to give him an acknowledging nod and tell him that Sakura was not far behind. Shino continued waiting. After a few minutes Sakura came through the gate grumbling, she also sported a large gash on her arm that was bleeding fairly heavily. “Sakura,” Shino said, getting her attention.

She looked surprised, almost as if she wasn't sure that he was really there, “Oh, hi Shino.” She stopped long enough for him to make his way over to her and then began walking again with the bug-nin trailing not far behind. “I hope you don't mind talking on the run, I have to go get this stupid thing healed before I bleed to death.”

Shino was sure that Sakura would do no such thing from an injury like that, but it was serious enough that he knew that she did need to make her way to the Konoha hospital. The rag that she had pressed against the laceration was soaked with blood and he noted that it had probably stopped being absorbent a while ago. Shino looked through the pockets of his junin-vest and found an extra dressing. Grabbing Sakura gently by the shoulder and pulling her to a stop he lifted her bad arm above her head.

“A med-nin like you should know better,” Shino lectured as he pulled the old rag from the wound and firmly pushed the new one down, holding it and her arm in place as they continued their journey to get Sakura healed.

Sakura smiled at him, she did know better...more specifically that she needed to keep the injury elevated, but she didn't have the strength. It had taken both her and Kakashi to rip the two idiots apart during their latest skirmish and she had been thanked with a kunai to her arm. Shino continued to prop up her arm and apply pressure as they passed the residential district of Konoha and entered the area where shops, restaurants, and (most importantly) the hospital was.

 

“So why were you waiting?”

“Needed to know how Ino is,” he answered curtly.

Sakura hadn't expected anything else and nodded at him. “She's doing okay, it's been almost three months, so I think she's finally rebounded. She even had a date last week that didn't end in complete misery.”

“With who?” Shino asked. His voice had an edge of concern to it, and Sakura knew that it was his way of being overprotective of his estranged friend and ex-lover.

“Shikamaru. I didn't think that she'd actually date him seeing that they are teammates, but it seemed to go okay.” Sakura couldn't help but notice the very slight slump in Shino's shoulders, which she realized was a sign that he felt the dejected sting of the realization that Ino was actually moving on. “I think that they might actually make a go of it, he's liked her forever despite how much he gripes about her being so troublesome.”

Shino didn't make anymore disconcerting gestures to let Sakura decipher his feelings, he only held the door open for her as they entered into a tall white building and was greeted by a virtually empty waiting room for patients. “At least you don't have to wait long,” Shino said, obviously avoiding what was bothering him.

Sakura allowed a small chuckle, “Yes, I suppose that is a good thing.” They checked her in with the receptionist and an older female doctor promptly saw Sakura, doing a thorough job healing her colleague and then lecturing her for allowing such an injury to occur. Sakura smiled with a nod as she thanked the older med-nin for her assistance.

As the two were leaving the hospital, Shino turned to Sakura and with all seriousness asked, “Do you think she'll speak to me?”

Sakura thought about it silently for a few moments, knowing that she wanted to be sure that the answer she gave was correct. Sakura didn't want Shino to be hurt by Ino if she still refused to speak to him, but also wanted to give him hope that there was a chance for the two to regain their friendship. “I think so, Shino. I know she misses you, and she has Shikamaru…so yes, I think that you should try and speak with her.”

Shino nodded at his friend, “Thank you Sakura, I appreciate it.”

 

Shino walked Sakura back to her apartment, listening to her very humorous recount of Sasuke and Naruto's most recent conflict. Shino smiled at her as she told him goodnight, it was times like these that she liked the fact that he was wore the standard issue jonin vest…it made his emotions much easier to discern.

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Ino heard the little bell that was hanging above the door chime as a customer entered. Her parents were outside tending to their greenhouse, thus the blonde was left to run the shop by herself. This was never an easy task, because when working alone you had to do everything…care for the cut flowers and potted plants, run the register, put together flower arrangement orders, and be the salesgirl that convinced customers to buy. Ino liked it better when her father and she both worked the store front together, that way Ino could focus on arrangements and tending to the plants' needs. When she worked with her mother the two would clash as they tried to do the same tasks, but her father was content working the register and was a magnificent salesperson.

 

Ino had yet to turn her attention to the customer, and remained focused on finishing a large arrangement for a wedding that would take place the next day. In order to excuse her inattentiveness Ino shouted, “I'll be right with you,” to the customer to let them know that she wasn't completely neglecting them.

The person waited patiently, watching as Ino skillfully planted dried sprigs of baby's breath into various places and stood back to admire her handy work. “It looks nice,” a familiar voice told her. Ino looked up and saw that it was Shino that had come in.

With no outward signs of surprise Ino took in a long calming breath (because inwardly she was completely freaking out) and whispered, “Hello Shino, it's been a long time.”

He nodded at her and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper that had a few things scribbled on it. “I need an…African Violet bush. Something small and potted,” he told her while reading the information off of his paper.

Ino realized that he was here for business reasons only and put on her best saleswoman face and grabbed an order form from the nearby counter. Yamanaka's store was the only decent flower shop in Konoha, so of course he would come to them if he needed flowers.

 

“We are currently out of stock since it isn't the correct season, it will be two or three days before I can have one in. Importing it might be a little pricey, is that okay?” Shino nodded and Ino continued, “We will give you a call when your order comes in.”

“Do you need me to fill that out?” Shino asked, pointing at the order form.

“No, I know…” Ino realized that she had been presumptuous, “Is it for you or do I need more information?”

“My information is fine,” he replied.

“Then I know it and can fill it out for you, like I said we'll call you when it comes in.” Ino focused on filling out the form and waved goodbye.

Shino nodded one final time and stepped out of the store, and after exiting let out a small sigh. “I guess it could have gone worse,” he muttered under his breath.

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Kiba was on the prowl again, flirting with all the available kunoichi's and even a few civilians. He must be hard up for some action, Shino thought to himself, he never goes for civilians. Kiba didn't really like any woman that wasn't a ninja. The dog-nin had said on more than one occasion that he found them to be too soft and a bit whiney (unable to hold their own in bed). Kiba couldn't be accused of discriminating against powerful women…in fact, he craved them. Kiba's current obsession was finding a way to get Sakura in-between his sheets. Shino usually tagged along when Kiba was chasing girls, picking up one here and there when he needed to, but tonight he refused to accompany his friend on his current quest.

Kiba of course assumed that it had everything to do with the fact that Ino was always around Sakura, and badgered Shino about it, trying to convince the bug-nin that he had to get over the past and make up with Ino. Kiba didn't mean romantically, but just hoped that Shino would bridge the gap between him and his ex. Kiba didn't do this out of pure friendly concern though. Kiba always picked up more women with Shino (who was dubbed the dog-nin's wingman), because the bug-nin would balance out the stupid things that would slip out of his mouth unconsciously from time to time. Shino had a way of staying quiet until necessary and then saying the most insightful things at just the right moment. The ladies loved that, and it would help that Shino was friends with Sakura. Kiba poked at his friend and gave him a pouting puppy dog look, “I don't wanna lose this one Shino, she's hot!”

“She's your friend, idiot, if anything happens between you two she probably won't want just a one night stand,” Shino told Kiba, hoping that he would drop the subject.

“Yeah, well I don't think I'd mind waking up and banging that body,” Kiba said with a stupid feral looking grin that was met with a glare from Shino. “I'm going over there, are you coming or not? Ino's not even with her tonight.” Shino shook his head no and Kiba shrugged at trotted over to Sakura's table.

When Kiba sat down in the seat across from Sakura's he gave her a big incisor filled smile and even chuckled very quietly. Sakura wasn't sure why he was acting so strange, so she just welcomed him, “Hi Kiba, how are you?”

“Great. How `bout yourself?” he quickly countered.

“Tired, I just got back from Suna and it was a long trip. Naruto and Sasuke decided that challenging Gaara in a friendly practice match would be fun. I ended up having to expend way too much energy healing those stupid bastards and now I feel spent and I ache,” she complained. Normally Sakura wouldn't be so candid when a man came and sat with her, but it was just Kiba. She felt bad all the same and added an amendment to her fore-conversation, “I'm sorry Kiba, I don't mean to be such a downer.”

“That's all right,” he told her, his eyes locked on hers as he stood. “I bet those two idiots are a tough bunch to handle.” He snuck behind her and placed large, strong hands on her shoulders and began to massage. Kiba could feel the tension in her muscles and moved a little lower to work a knot out of her shoulder blade. “Does this help?”

A little shocked at the initial contact, Sakura soon felt herself melting into the relaxing fingers of her friend. “Mmm, yeah…definitely better. And it was three idiots, Gaara gets counted in that bunch of morons.”

“They actually injured the Kazekage?” Kiba asked with a curious tone.

“Yes, they double teamed him and nearly beat him, but after they hit him two or three times Gaara used his absolute defense until Naruto and Sasuke started fighting each other instead of him. It was a good tactic and gave him the win,” she told Kiba.

“If only they would realize that working together is better than fighting, right Sakura?” The last part of Kiba's statement came out almost as a purr, especially when the dog-nin said her name. Kiba's hand crept further down and he rolled his thumbs in soothing little circles on the small of her back.

Sakura couldn't help but to feel like a pile of jelly under Kiba's ministrations, she always went around healing everyone, but no one ever really paid attention to her. Though Kiba didn't lace chakra into his fingers like she would have, it still felt like magic. It was nice to have someone actual realize that she gets tired and sore sometimes too. Sakura leaned forward on her bar stool and laid her head on the table. “Thanks Kiba,” she told him.

“No problem, just don't fall asleep on me,” he chuckled as he looked at the very content kunoichi laying on the table using her arms as a pillow for her head. “It's too bad that we're not somewhere more private, I'd give you the full-body treatment.”

Sakura laughed, “That isn't a come-on is it, Kiba?” She meant it completely as a joke, but when she was met with only silence as a reply she reiterated her question, “It isn't, is it?”

“What if it was?” he asked quietly while moving his fingers back up to her neck and caressing her softly.

Sakura sprang up and looked Kiba right in the eyes, “Kiba! What in the…” but she wasn't sure what she was asking or if she was objecting or even if she wanted to object.

Kiba moved in very close to the young woman, pressing his chest against her side and whispered into her ear, “Do you want to come back to my place?”

“Kiba, I'm not looking to get involved in anything serious right now,” came the quiet answer from the kunoichi who trying desperately to ignore the warmth that was seeping into her body from his.

“Even better. How about I just give you a great night of fun and I promise a full-body massage comes with the offer.” He almost growled this part and Sakura could hear the lust in his voice, hell, she could feel it on her hip as he pressed it against her.

Sakura was tempted, oh was she tempted. The pink-haired kunoichi took lovers few and far between, and it had definitely been at least a full calendar since the last one. The few men that had made it onto her list were people that she was acquainted with, but no one that she really fell very hard for. There had been Kakashi, who had graciously given her one heck of an eighteenth birthday present. Sakura always laughed when she thought of that, because it was clear that he was just waiting for that day. In fact, the weeks that led up to her birthday she could almost feel the sexual tension rolling off the man. Kakashi was her first, Choji had been her second. Choji was very sweet, and had been the result of Ino setting them up together. She had actually dated Choji for four months, but they both agreed that they weren't right for each other and moved on. She still loved hanging out with her ex, and every once in awhile would visit him when it had been too long and too far between men.

The next on her list she was quite proud of, because she had been the illustrious woman to be the first to bed Sabaku no Gaara. She still laughed at the memory of Gaara's very first attempt (which wasn't bad by first time standards), because the look of shock that washed over his face when he came was the most priceless thing that Sakura had ever seen. The last on her list was Shikamaru. Sakura was sure that it was a subconscious move to get closer to Ino (or make Ino jealous, Sakura wasn't sure which), but the relationship hadn't gone very well and she found herself muttering how troublesome he was more than he did to her. Naruto had tried, but she couldn't go halfway with Naruto…or Sasuke. She knew if she started something with one of them (which Sakura had thought about on many occasions) it wouldn't be casual…it would be for keeps. She wasn't ready for that, so she would just abstain, or visit Choji or Kakashi when she was desperate. The kunoichi wondered if she should pencil Kiba into the number five slot.

“Nothing personal Sakura, but I kind of need an answer,” Kiba murmured into her ear, catching it in his mouth and biting it lightly. After nipping her, he decided that suckling her earlobe and neck would be a better course of action. Sakura could barely think, her nerves were on sensation overload due the lack of such temptations for an extended period of time.

“You won't get weird with me afterward?” she queried. It was almost a guy-ish question to ask, but she did value her friendship with Kiba. She didn't want to do anything with him that would change that.

“No, absolutely not,” he said into the fleshy part of her throat before moving up to her mouth and kissing her tentatively. It was soft at first and inviting, but steadily factored in Kiba's growing need as it deepened and nearly plunged his tongue into her throat.

Sakura pushed him away and tried to catch her breath to speak. Damn, he was a good kisser. Kiba looked hurt, because he had misinterpreted her breaking the kiss as a no. Sakura smiled at him, panting a bit. The kunoichi leaned up to his ear and whispered to the dog-nin, “I think that people are starting to stare at us, let's take this back to your place.”

 

Kiba's face lit up as he laid some money down for her tab and nearly drug Sakura out the door, barely able to keep his hands off her as they went. Sakura sighed to herself…they'd be lucky to make it to his apartment at this rate, so she stopped him and performed a high level transportation jutsu that landed them right in the middle of Kiba's living room.

“Damn you are hot when you go all ninja…” Kiba growled as he bit down hard onto her collarbone. Sakura gasped and realized that she had just agreed to sleep with Inuzuka Kiba, a man whose skills in the sack were nearly legendary among the kunoichi of Konoha...and Suna…and, well a lot of places. She almost feared that she wasn't going to be able to keep up, but that's the thing with highly reputable lovers…they usually know just the right things to do so she let Kiba take the lead. She knew she was in for a very long and very exhausting night, tomorrow's training was going to be pure hell.

END OF CHAPTER
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