Ino stared at the same rose for more than hour allowing the stem to twiddle in her fingertips. She was so absorbed with this flower that she hadn't noticed Sakura standing near her tugging on her sleeve to get her attention.
"Ino, hey, Ino!" yelled Sakura as she continued tugged on Ino's uniform on her family owned flower shop. Sakura realized the Ino wasn't going to budge so she started lightly pinching her arm much like a child would to annoy a sibling.
Ino turned her head around upon feeling the barrage of pinches from Sakura. "Hey, let go. You'll damage my good looks." She placed the rose on the counter and began to rub her arm. "You know you could have done things a bit more gently."
"Well," huffed Sakura, "I've been trying to get your attention for the last fifteen minutes. Lady Tsuande gave me this day off from training so we could hang out. I thought we could grab some dango and hit the stores." She finished her last word with a smile hoping that it would rub off on her friend.
"It's ok. I tend to ignore a certain someone who a huge forehead." Ino teased Sakura by giving her a small raspberry before breaking into light giggles.
"Hey! You know I can kick your ass with just this one finger." Sakura replied and placed her index finger on Ino's forehead. "So, I would watch it if I were you Ino-Pig."
Ino slew away Sakura's finger and turn her attention toward her wrist before lifting her gaze toward Sakura. "I'm not sure if I should go with you Sakura."
"Ino.." whispered Sakura.
"After all, you just threatened violence to your supposedly best friend." gasp Ino before breaking into giggles.
Sakura smiled at Ino glad that she was at least pretending to be in high spirits. She wanted to say how sorry she was and just hold her until everything felt right again. Yet, she didn't know when that time would be herself. Everything changed ever since Sasuke left and now with Naruto in danger she was worried for him and everyone. She became so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't hear Ino yell at her to get her attention.
"Oh, sorry Ino. I was just over thinking about stuff." Sakura trailed off as she glanced at Ino slightly embarrassed.
Ino stared at her before putting her arm around Sakura and leading her toward the exit. "You said something about dango and shopping?"
Sakura smiled and nodded her head quickly.
"I like to go and maybe we can run into Sai and the gang." Ino smiled for the first time after Asuma's death and this time it wasn't a front. Arm and arm the two friends left the store heading toward a day of much needed bonding. Inoichi smiled at his daughter and Sakura. He was happy that she had such good friends in her life and that the will of the fire hasn't burned out.