Okay, because I've been making a 'Second Step', this is technically no longer a oneshot. I doubt that I'll stop on the second one, either.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I honestly don't wanna try to spell out who does.

Sakura smiled as she walked towards where she knew the Yamanaka Flower Shop would be, going through several flowers in her mind to try and decide which would be the best for her mother. Her birthday was tomorrow, but Sakura didn't have enough money for an actual gift for her. Besides, her father was already taking her out to dinner, so Sakura didn't really need to get her anything fancy. She had decided on getting her a flower or two.

However, for all she knew, the pinkette could accidently get her mother a flower that had something to do with sadness. Or even worse, hate. Would her mother really know the difference? Even if she didn't, Sakura wanted to be able to tell her what the flower meant once she gave it to her.

The fact that she was going to the Yamanaka Flower Shop reminded Sakura of Ino and her more recent feelings for her. A few weeks ago she had confided in Naruto about them, and he had been surprisingly supportive of her. That was shown by his constant encouraging her to go and tell Ino how she felt. She still hadn't got used to that whenever it happened.

Walking into the shop, all Sakura had to see was a bit of platinum blonde hair instead of a more golden shade to know that it was Ino tending to the shop instead of her father. Turning on her heel, Sakura began to look over several types of flowers that were set off to her left. She found herself looking at lilies, then what seemed like lilacs, then an odd yellow flower that Sakura couldn't put a name to.

"Listen up, Ino-pig," The pink-haired girl started, carefully touching a petal of the odd flower. "I'm looking for a flower or bouquet for my mother, since it's her birthday today. I need the perfect flower, as well as to know what it means. Any suggestions?" She asked.

When she didn't receive an answer right away, Sakura pulled her bright green eyes away from the unknown flower to look at the girl that she had just finished speaking to. "Uh, Ino...?" She muttered, walking towards the blonde with some worry on her face.

Ino had the left side of her head pressed against the top of the counter with her arms hanging down by her chair. There was a small pool of drool on the counter by where her opened mouth was, which made Sakura smile with amusement when she saw it. Her platinum blonde hair was loose from it's ponytail, something that Sakura had honestly never seen before.

Concluding that Ino was simply sleeping and not ignoring her, Sakura frowned slightly and placed a hand on Ino's shoulder. Ino had never been asleep while at the shop as far as she knew. That fact made her both curious and concerned as to why this time was any different.

"Ino. Ino-pig, wake up," Sakura called, shaking the platinum blonde until she let out an annoyed groan. "C'mon, you're at the shop. Your dad won't be very happy if he catches you," She told the half-asleep ninja, which seemed to get through to the blonde, since she grunted and hauled herself off of the counter to sit up in her chair.

Ino casually wiped her mouth and blinked several times to get rid of her blurry vision, gazing around the shop before actually looking up at Sakura. "Mhm...Forehead, wha' d'you want?" She drawled, reaching behind her and pulling the elastic out of her hair in order to put it back in nicer.

"A flower for my mum," Sakura replied, placing her hands palm-down on the counter in front of Ino and leaning on her arms with a concerned frown. "That can wait for a bit, though. You never sleep on the job," She pointed out, looking sternly at Ino for an answer.

The blonde tilted her head back and closed her eyes, running her fingers through her hair before gathering most of it up at the back of her head. She calmly put it back into a ponytail, flicking the several strands of hair that she always left out of her ponytail out of her face. "I don't," She agreed, somewhat aware that she looked tired from the way that Sakura was eyeing her suspiciously.

"But you were just asleep," Sakura continued slowly, like she was speaking to a child.

"I was," Ino nodded, rubbing her right eye tiredly, despite the fact that she wanted it to look like she was completely awake to Sakura.

Frowning slightly more, Sakura remained silent for a few moments, quietly thinking of a way to get a good response out of Ino that wasn't simply two words. After glancing down at the top of the counter that Ino had been resting on just a few moments ago, her mouth twisted up into a smirk at the idea she thought of.

"You were drooling, too," Sakura teased and immediately got the reaction she had expected to get from her former best friend.

"What?! I did no such thing! Get your facts straight, Billboard Brow!" Ino cried out with a scowl on her face, standing up from her chair and slamming her hands down on the counter. Unfortunately, her right hand hit the one spot on the counter top that Sakura had made sure not to touch.

The pink-haired girl laughed at the absolutely horrified expression on Ino's face when the blonde lifted her hand from the puddle of drool that she had slammed it into. Too grossed out to speak, Ino silently walked away from the madly giggling Sakura and into another room that Sakura assumed was the bathroom.

"I told you so, Pig!" Sakura called, only giggling more when Ino came out with an even more noticeable scowl on her face, some paper towel in her hand. "Hey, that makes me wonder," Placing a finger on her chin, Sakura took on a look of exaggerated thinking. "What were you drooling about, huh? Who were you drooling about?"

While Sakura had continued to tease Ino, the blonde had wiped up the drool on the counter that was obviously her's. Her blue eyes were narrowed with annoyance the whole time, not letting up even after she had thrown the paper towel in the garbage.

"Maybe Choji?" Sakura suggested. She couldn't help bugging her former best friend. She just made it so easy sometimes. Maybe this time she should've kept that comment to herself, though, after what Ino did next.

Making an offended sound, Ino rounded the counter and started to advance on Sakura, making the pinkette start taking steps back to keep a safe amount of space between her and the angry Yamanaka. "Forehead...!" She growled, looking almost like an angry lion stalking towards it's prey.

"Calm down, Ino! Seriously, I was just joking!" Sakura held her hands up in front of her defensively, her bright green eyes wide at the slightly taller girl. "C'mon, be-" The door to the Yamanaka Flower Shop had been slammed in her face and locked. Lucky for her, though the door was glass, so she could see the smug look on Ino's face before she turned and wandered back to her seat.

"Oh, come on! I'm sorry, alright?" Sakura lightly banged on the door, turning her mouth up slightly when Ino simply stuck her tongue out at her in response. "Let me in! I need a flower for my mom!"

"Should've thought about that before you opened your mouth!" Ino called back, crossing her arms over her chest with her smug expression still intact.

Sakura pressed her palms against the glass and stared at Ino, forcing her eyes to water. She stuck her bottom lip out and made it tremble to complete her sad puppy dog look, which made the blonde roll her eyes.

"Forehead, that may have worked when we were kids, but not now!" Ino blinked when Sakura didn't get rid of the pathetic looking expression and just continued to stare at Ino sadly.

Don't- No, Ino. You stay down on the chair. Damn it! Ino cursed in her head when she found herself standing up from her chair and walking towards the door. She couldn't hide the smirk that replaced her frustrated frown when Sakura looked at her hopefully, if a little suspiciously at the chances of this being a trick of her's.

"So, what flower d'you think my mum would like the best?" Sakura asked after flashing Ino a grateful grin when the younger girl let her in. "I don't want something too expected...Sorta unique, so I know she won't be expected it."

"Well, there's always that flower," Ino nodded towards the odd flower that Sakura had been looking at earlier. "The Bird of Paradise. It basically means magnificence." Turning her head slightly, Ino held up a hand to silence Sakura before she could say anything. "No wait, that flower there. The Azalea. It means 'take care of yourself for me'."

"What about that one? That's a carnation, right? My mum's favourite," Sakura pointed to a yellow carnation, watching as an amused look crossed Ino's face. "What? Is it's meaning that bad?"

"It means disdain or rejection," Ino stepped towards the carnations and pulled out a single white one, grinning slightly as she held it up to her nose and sniffed it quietly. "The white one is what you want. It's a woman's good luck gift."

"You people sure know your flowers," Sakura smiled and took the white carnation from Ino when the blonde presented it to her. "How much do I owe you?" She asked, fishing through her pocket.

"Don't worry about it. It's on the house," Ino waved her off with a bored look on her face, raising an eyebrow when Sakura look at her with a stern expression on her face. "Oh no, what did I do?"

"Ino, come on. How much is it?" Sakura asked, this time in a much firmer tone than before. There was no way she was going to let Ino give this to her for free, especially if Ino was going to pay for it herself just so it didn't seem suspicious when the shop was short a flower.

The aforementioned girl smirked, amused at how...responsible Sakura was, before slowly walking towards her former best friend, making her hips sway noticeably.

Sakura blinked absently, watching the blonde suspiciously. She found her lips twitching slightly when Ino placed her hands on her shoulders and leaned forward. However, right as Sakura shut her eyes, Ino leaned more to the right so that her mouth was almost touching Sakura's ear.

"Your mother's birthday present from me is that her daughter doesn't have to pay for her gift. Wish your mum a happy birthday for me," Ino purred before stepping away from Sakura and sauntering back to her desk, leaving a brightly blushing Sakura behind her.

The pinkette opened and closed her mouth, trying to find something to say. What had just happened? Well, that was a stupid question. Of course she knew what had happened. Ino's flirtatious side had come out to play. Sakura just never had it directed at her before.

Wait, Ino hadn't found out her 'secret', had she? After all, the only way she could have ever found out was if Naruto told her, since he was the only one that Sakura had actually told. The boy was surprisingly understanding, so Sakura knew she could always confide in him if she ever had problems like that.

"Ino, Naruto didn't tell you anything about me, did he?" Sakura asked cautiously, and immediately smacked herself mentally as soon as she asked that. There was no way Naruto could have told Ino! Really, she had to have more faith in the boy, especially if he had kept her sexuality a secret for so long.

"No, why? Was he supposed to?" Ino asked, resting her elbows on the table. She clasped her fingers together and set her chin on top of the backs of her fingers, raising an eyebrow at Sakura.

"Nope. Just checkin'," Sakura waved Ino off with a sheepish grin. "Well, I guess I better be going. Gotta give this to my mum an' all," She turned on her heel and started walking towards the door, but stopped herself from actually opening the door when she heard Ino clear her throat with the purpose of getting her attention.

"Hey, d'you wanna get some ramen sometime later?" Ino asked, frowning slightly when Sakura turned her head to look at her over her shoulder with a sly grin.

"Are you asking me on a date, Pig?" Sakura gasped, putting a hand over her heart in a mock gesture of surprise. She really couldn't ever pass up a chance to tease her former best friend, especially when it embarrassed the taller girl.

"What? No!" Ino's eyes widened and her face went beet red at how Sakura seemed to take her invitation to go get ramen. "All I meant was that we hardly ever spend time together anymore, and-"

Sakura cut her off by laughing at how quick Ino was talking, shaking her head with amusement afterwards. "You make it so fun to bug you, Ino," She smiled, placing her hand on the door. "I'd love to, Pig. How's around four sound?" She asked.

"Four's good," Ino ran her finger through the part of her hair that wasn't in a ponytail, managing to fight off the redness in her face. "Meet ya' there?"

The older girl smiled and nodded in confirmation. "Sure. Seeya 'round." Turning back to the door, Sakura pushed it opened and began to walk back to her house, finally letting a rather goofy-looking grin appear on her face. Even if Ino didn't necessarily consider it a date, she thought of it as a 'first step'.

Really, it left her feeling a bit giddy on the inside. What would happen on their day out? Should she try and make a move on Ino? What would Ino think? Was Ino really as straight as they come? Despite all this, Sakura told herself exactly what she was going to do after she gave her mother her gift.

She had to go tell Naruto!

Well, there ya' go. Yeah, they do seem out of character to me, but oh well. Maybe I'll do better next time. Oh, and I really don't know if Ino's shorter than Sakura, but I do know that she's younger than her by a few months.

- Flower Cynic

EDIT: Alright, I was wrong. I went back and changed it so Ino's taller than Sakura. Thanks, erhsdrg!