Purple
Summary: I don't remember much from the first time I went to Ino's house, but for the sleepy way she said, "I'm glad I met you, Sakura," right before she fell asleep. SakuraIno.
Rated: T
Word count: 528
Her purple nail polish glittered in the sunlight. I noticed it right away. My parents told that I wasn't old enough for nail polish yet, so when I saw hers, I found myself a bit jealous. And I couldn't help but notice how pretty it looked against her pale blonde hair when she ran her fingers through it.
When she saw me admiring her nail polish, she instantly told me that if I came over to her house, she would paint mine whatever color I wanted. Then she told me her name was Ino. I thought Ino sounded much better than Sakura, a name that nearly a quarter of the girls in my primary school class had. Later, when I told Ino this, she said that those other Sakuras were just fakers because none of them looked as much like a sakura flower as I did. I learned to like my name a little more after that.
After our parents talked a while, mine agreed that I could spend the night over at the Yamanaka house on the condition that I mind my manners and be a proper guest. I readily agreed, eager to get to know this smiling girl with the purple nail polish.
I don't remember too much from the first time I went to Ino's house, it was so long ago, but for the sleepy way she said, "I'm glad I met you, Sakura," right before she fell asleep.
That, and the fact that my mom never said anything when I came home with Ino's favorite color on my finger nails. I think she was just happy that I'd finally found a friend.
The first time I stayed over at Ino's after we rekindled our friendship, I'd realized that we had both changed. We were older, we were shinobi. We had been on missions and had seen our first glimpses of battle and had felt the ache of our first losses. Many more were to come, but the loss of our Hokage, so elite in our minds, had made our lives real.
I held her that night as she cried as she had for me when we were younger. I tried not to pay attention to the way my nipples tightened at contact with her soft skin and she pretended not to notice.
It wasn't until later, as I held her after Asuma's funeral, that I began to understand what it all meant.
Now, we are at war. We have seen blood and battle, we have seen our friends, kids our age and younger, die right in front of us. I have tried to save the lives of soldiers and have succeeded sometimes, but I have also failed.
I don't know if this war is even winnable against an enemy so strong, but I know we will keep fighting until every last one of us is gone. I don't know if we'll even be here tomorrow, but I do know that, right now, Ino is kissing me. Her lips are soft, her skin is on fire, and her grip on my hair is so tight that it should hurt, but somehow, I've never been happier.