Characters: Ino, Sakura, Sasuke
Summary: Sasuke was always more important to Sakura than he was to Ino, it seemed.
Pairings: onesided SasuSaku; slight onesided SasuIno
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
"Then I guess we're rivals, from now on." Glaring at her half-heartedly—Sakura can sense the sheer insanity of this as much as Ino but doesn't know how to stop it—Sakura leaves, walking away into the ruddy sunset.
But he can't stand either one of us! Why can't we still be friends? Why does Sasuke have to get in the way? Ino wants to shout. Her mouth won't work, and she knows Sakura won't listen.
She's made up her mind.
Ino has long since retreated to her clan's small compound, hiding out on the back porch again with her knees pulled up to her chest and her back against the wall. The dark scowl on her face is enough to keep her father or any cousins who happen on her away. They all know better than to try to talk to her when she looks like that.
What the heck is wrong with her? Sakura, what on Earth…
A knot forms in her throat and Ino realizes that there are tears burning at the edge of her pale blue eyes. She shakes them away angrily; she hasn't cried in years and she isn't about to start now. But the knot won't go away and it still hurts.
She can't begin to fathom why Sakura seems to think there can only be one girl obsessed with Uchiha Sasuke.
Ino had it all planned out. Yes, she has a crush on Sasuke but what she picked up (and long before Sakura, apparently) is that Sakura has a crush on him as well. A much stronger one, as far as Ino can tell, and Ino respected that. Since it was obvious that Sakura had stronger feelings for Sasuke than Ino, she was willing to just keep quiet about her own crush and let Sakura pursue Sasuke.
At least, until Sakura found out, and forced the issue.
Who says we can't still be friends? Why do you get to decide that a boy's more important than the two of us, together?
Ino swallows the knot, and her eyes narrow. She doesn't even like Sasuke all that much. Yes, she thinks he's cute, thinks he's handsome, but his personality is grating.
However, that doesn't matter anymore.
Ino rests her head on her knees. If Sakura wants a rivalry…
It still hurts, though.
She doesn't understand why Sakura had to decide it had to be like this.
After all, Sasuke's just a boy. Isn't he?