Ino leaned her elbows on the bar, quietly watching the other patrons as they laughed and touched and enjoyed the company of their partners. She narrowed her eyes, wondering just how many of these couples were shams. Wondering how many of these men had other women. How many of these relationships would end like hers did.

Probably half.

Probably more than half.

Tonight, Ino hated men, thanks to the cheating sonofabitch she had just wasted eight months on. It had only been a week without him, and while her life felt lighter, she was still hurt, angry and definitely wasn't looking forward to paying next month's rent alone. She sighed and glared at the Karaoke station in the corner by the dance floor, thanking her lucky stars it was unused. Karaoke drew crowds and right now, she hated those too.

She was just envisioning the particularly gruesome murder of a young man who was unlucky enough to look a little too close to her ex when someone got her attention.

"You don't look happy, honey."

Ino looked away from her fantasy to face the bartender. She was tall with bright eyes and a nametag tucked into her black v-neck that said 'Temari'.

"I've seen better days." She answered truthfully.

Temari clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Well girlie, it's ladies night so whatever you want, half price as standard and lemme know if can get a song going through these speakers, just to see a smile."

Ino did smile at that. "Thank you." She had forgotten that Thursdays were ladies night. "In that case, I'll have a long island iced tea for me and another for someone I'm meeting."

Temari nodded and snagged a couple bottles from the shelf behind her.

"And," Ino added tentatively, "Do you have anything by Spinnerette?"

The bartender gave her a cheeky grin. "Good choice. I'm Temari, what's your name sugar?"

"Ino." Pleased, Ino opened a tab and watched the drinks being prepared. As they were placed before her, the music faded and Temari fiddled with an MP3 player before the harsh vocalist could be heard over the speakers in the bar.

'C-c-come babe, I never needed you so bad,'

She didn't notice the man sauntering up to the bar till it was too late.

"Hey beautiful," he began.

'You were born on a full moon, but baby, I'm the only one howlin.'

Mood instantly soured, Ino closed her eyes.

"Where have you been all my life?" He continued.

Ino raised her gaze to the ceiling. "Hiding from you."

To her frustration, the man she had yet to actually make eye contact with laughed.

"You know, I think that dress is terrible, why don't you take it off? I've got something more fitting to a woman like you at my place, if you're interested."

As into turned to face him, she caught sight of the bartender, who was watching the situation closely with an fiercely hateful look. The man was old enough to know better, but young enough to easily put a scare to. Furious, Ino leaned into his personal space and told in him a low, serious voice, "If you ever try to give me fashion advice again you will be leaving here in fucking pieces, do you understand me?"

He blinked slowly at her, as if he was wondering if he had misheard.

Temari leaned an elbow on the bar in front of the intruder, "Hey sweets, it's alright. I've seen more strikeouts than you could imagine. I'll keep you safe if you want to hang around long enough for a drink to wash down all that shame and sexism, but I gotta let you know her girlfriend's gonna come back from the bathroom any minute and she's a little," Temari cupped a hand around her mouth for emphasis, "Possessive, if ya know what I mean."

"Um...No. I'm just...I gotta go." He mumbled a nervous goodbye and briskly walked towards the door.

"Come back when you learn some respect!" she called, her cackling laughter following him as he stiffly exited the building. She pushed the drinks toward Ino with another cheeky smile. "I love those college types. Can't think with the right head long enough to save themselves the embarrassment of getting rejected. Hope that joke didn't bother you, but I think his face was worth it even if it did."

Ino smiled at her. "Not at all. That was pretty forward, the way you...kicked him out. Is the owner, like, feminist or something?"

Temari pulled out a bottle of vodka a poured a double. "Hmm, I couldn't say. The owner's my brother though. He had me come back from where I was training in Phoenix to help him run this place with the promise of free drinks and free reign. So." She shrugged, and sipped.

"Training?" Ino frowned, wondering what anyone would want to train in Arizona for. Certainly not a marathon.

"I was an MMA fighter. S'why my nose is crooked, in case you noticed." She winked and tilted her chin so that Ino could see the curve.

"Whoa, really? That's intense! You couldn't even tell your nose was broken if you weren't looking for it." Ino paused. "Temari, what's the worst pickup line you've ever heard?"

She smirked and considered, her teal eyes playfully flicking upwards in thought as she took another drink. "Well...male or female?"

Ino frowned. "I guess I hadn't thought of that. Let's stick with male; I don't really have anything against women."

Temari winked. "Yet."

"Yet," Ino chuckled.

"From a guy...it must have been...'Do you know CPR? 'Cause you take my breath away'. It was like it was right out of a shitty 80s dating guide."

"Ugh! Do not resuscitate."

Temari slapped the table and laughed so hard it drew attention from nearly everyone in the bar. "You're fuckin funny; next drink is on me."

Ino tried to keep the color from her cheeks as she said, "I'm serious! How many times do you think that actually works? Say, out of a hundred."

"The pick up line?"

Ino facepalmed, "No, CPR!"

Temari gave it some thought, "Probably...eighty? No, lower than that. I wanna say sixty, but from the look you're giving me I'll wager...twenty."

"And what would you wager?" Ino asked, surprising herself at the unintended innuendo.

Temari laughed loudly, "Nothing to you! Your cocky little face is clearly telling me I'm wrong. So tell me," she leaned forward again, her chest brushing the bar. "What do the stats say?"

"Eight."

"Wait, eighty percent? So I was right?"

Ino was about the shake her head but was interrupted when a lovely young woman rushed into the dim lighting. Her cheeks were flushed from exertion; the same soft pink color of her damp hair. She fussed at the bottom of her charcoal gray button up dress as she hurried up to the bar.

"Sakura!" Ino stood to embrace her long time friend.

"Hey!" she said as she kissed her cheek. She pulled back to look at Ino's' face, keeping their hips together and a hand on her forearm. "Sweetie you look great. I love you, you're gorgeous, and you're going to have to tell me who does your hair these days. That jackass doesn't know what he's missing out on."

Ino laughed, her conversation with Temari having distracted her entirely from the unfaithful ass she had called her friend to discuss in the first place. She sat back down but her friend remained standing.

"I must have ran three blocks in that rain; the foot traffic was so bad the cab couldn't get any closer. Gosh I'm thirsty, is this your water?" But before Ino could stop her, Sakura was already taking a sip, and choked on it. Through her fit of coughing she managed to get out, "Damn Ino, when did you start drinking straight vodka? Party!"

Ino could barely contain her amusement. "Actually, that's Temari's."

As she gestured to the bartender, Sakura's mouth fell open. "Eh?! I'm so sorry! Ino usually has a water with her drinks, I'm such an ass!"

Looking pleased, Temari turned to Ino, "I can see why you don't have anything against women."

Sakura had her head in her hand. "That is just like me, isn't it? Walk in on a nice conversation with your new friend and make an ass of the situation. I'm sorry. But, I do need to pee before I make this worse by wetting myself. Well," she gestured at her damp clothes. "More than I've been wet already. Be right back!"

After Sakura had excused herself with an embarrassed smile, Ino cocked her head towards Temari, "What did you mean?"

Temari shrugged. "She's damn sweet to you. And pretty cute when she's flustered, too."

"I guess I've never noticed," Ino chuckled. "We've been friends since grade 1."

Temari made an impressed sound before leaning forward again. "So, was I right the first time?"

Ino raised an eyebrow.

"Eighty percent!"

"Oh god, no. eight percent."

Temari's mouth fell open. "No! You're messing with me."

Ino shook her head playfully, tossing her ponytail in the process. "Nope. Only eight percent recover fully. At least, in the study I heard about."

"Wait, that's recover 'fully'," Temari smirked, "What does everyone else have? Bruised boobs? Issues with-"

"Broken ribs, hemorrhaging, lung collapse, all that good stuff."

Temari blanched and pulled from the bar. "No shit!"

Ino nodded.

"How do you know all this? Are you a medical student?"

Ino laughed, "No, well, yes, but NPR did a whole thing on it a few months ago. You could probably find it if you wanted to. That one's the doctor." Ino jerked a thumb casually in the direction of the bathrooms.

"Who's a doctor?"

Ino turned to see her friend looking much more dry than when she left. "Apparently you are." Temari clicked her tongue approval, looking her up and down again.

Sakura scoffed. "I'm not quite there yet. Still just an RN."

Ino shrugged and sipped her drink again. "Close enough."

Temari wiped absently at a stain on the bar . "Ino here was just telling me how wrong I was about CPR."

Sakura laughed good naturedly. "Still Ino? That broadcast was so long ago!"

Ino pouted, "Don't make fun of me! That really changed my perspective on things!"

"And you've been in medical care for how long?"

"Hey! I-"

"You know," Temari interrupted, "Now that I think about it, how is it that I could have been so wrong about CPR?"

"Bad television."

Ino and Temari looked at Sakura.

"What do you mean?"

Sakura stole a sip from Ino's drink ("Hey! You're drink is right there!"), "Bad TV. Think of all those stupid cop shows and hospital dramas that are constantly using CPR, with a success rate of almost 100%. Its ridiculous. And false. So how did you manage to bring up CPR, Ino?"

Temari was the one who laughed. "I think I did, actually."

Ino shared the story with her, and Sakura laughed.

Temari leaned forward on the bar again, looking amused. "So tell me ladies, do you have a go-to rejection line? One that works at least most of the time."

Sakura pondered the question, but Ino smiled. "Absolutely!"

That earned her a curious glance from Sakura. "I didn't know that!"

Ino nodded, pleased with herself. "Its really simple and you can pretty much use it at any point in the conversation. All you have to do is wait till they finish talking and tell them, 'That is the creepiest thing I've ever heard. Boom, shut down."

Temari looked dubiously at her. "I don't know...that really works?"

Ino nodded seriously, "Oh totally! Nobody wants to be told they're creepy. That word is like penis repellant."

"No way! You'll have to show me sometime!"

"It would be my pleasure." With her right hand Ino finished her drink and with her left she tossed her hair back. She smiled warmly, relaxing into the feeling of the buzz. She rested one dainty white cheek in the palm of her hand and playfully pulled at the edge of Sakura's dress. "Whaddya say pretty lady, is it time to get some Patrón?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows in surprise, but a smile tugged at the corner of her lips, "I didn't realize it was going to be that kind of night."

Ino just laughed, "I'll call the girls!" She stepped away to make her phone calls.

"Did I hear that you ladies need some tequila?" Temari asked, sliding a list of the house selection towards Sakura.

Sakura turned to her with a dubious look. "Apparently. Tequila is Ino's dancing juice. Two shots of Patrón?." Ino waved her hand at Sakura from across the bar. "Oh, make it three. No, four. Oh boy..."

Temari winked, "Sure thing sweetie."

Ino swaggered back to the bar, wrapping her arm around Sakura in a half hug. "Hinata and Tenten were with Neji, studying at 12th Avenue, so they'll be here really soon."

"Neji too?"

Ino waved a hand, "Oh no, no. This is girls night."

"Ladies night." Temari chimed in with a wink. "Here's two shots, I'll get the others for you in a minute."

Sakura waited till Temari left to give Ino a singular look, "So, I'm gonna sound super gay when I say this but I don't care; Tenten has a great body.

"HA! With as many years as she spent on the track team, she better have a great body! I think she'd be pissed if she didn't."

Sakura groaned. "I think I'd be pissed if she didn't."

"...Wow."

Sakura looked sheepishly over at her friend. "Ahem. I'm just kidding. It's just...she's so muscular! You've got to appreciate it. It's like if women played football, we'd check out their muscles too!"

"Women DO play football," Temari chimed in. "It's called-"

"Powderpuff?" Ino interjected with enthusiasm.

"No," Temari said with a bemused expression, "It's called rugby."

Sakura pulled out her phone and started a search. "Oooh, rugby girls."

Temari laughed and moved to help some new arrivals at the other end of the bar.

Ino nudged her with an elbow jokingly, "Um, Sakura. Is there something you're trying to tell me?"

"That its been forever since I had sex?"

"Sakura!"

Sakura glared at her friend. "Oh shut up, women are beautiful. So are men." She looked back down at her phone. "Especially ones that play sports."

Ino scoffed at her friend, slapping at the phone. "Put that thing away before Hinata sees you being shallow!"

"I'm not shallow! I'm human." She waggled a finger in front of the blonde's face. "We're genetically programmed to be attracted to things like that."

Ino shrugged, feeling suddenly irritated once again. "Maybe that's why I'm out a roommate."

"Oh!" Sakura's face fell, "Ino don't say that! That pig bastard lost the best thing he'd ever had when he cheated on you. Don't you dare blame his idiocy and obvious issues on yourself. Cheating is one hundred percent their fault. Okay? And besides, you and Tenten have a pretty similar shape, she's just taller."

Taken aback by the vehement response, Ino was struck silent.

"Um...I'm sorry," she said after a while. "I guess I'm just still a little grumpy." She shyly scratched the back of her neck.

Sakura accepted the apology and sipped her drink as an almost awkward quiet fell between them, broken only when Sakura was surprised when a strong, feminine arm fell around her shoulder.

"Hey pretty lady, you come here often?"