Hi! I'm currently on a roll. I love InoSaku so much, and there are just so many situations to set these two up against.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
WARNING: GIRL ON GIRL. I don't even know why I have to say this lol.
Sasuke POV
Uchiha Sasuke was well aware of his popularity within the 'Teenage Girl' demographic of Konoha. To him, it was simply a fact of life. He could live with it, and he could live without it. To be honest, the latter was preferable as it would allow him to study and train in peace, without having to deal with a mob of frilly girls who claimed to love him, but didn't know a thing about him.
Two prominent contenders, his own teammate Haruno Sakura and her sworn-rival: the mind-grappling Yamanaka Ino, were all ways neck-in-neck when it came to vying for his affections. He would slip away, unnoticed, the moment the two girls began their verbal barrage against one another. Almost all the time, he hoped they would be too distracted by the argument to notice he was gone.
Such was daily life. Training while Naruto barked at his every movement, politely – yet exasperatedly – tolerating Sakura's exaggerated kindness, and outright ignoring Ino's unmitigated flirtatiousness.
Until one day, he noticed, it all just stopped. It didn't happen all-at-once, Sasuke inferred. It seemed to have been a gradual process, and was only noticeable now that everything added-up.
"Sasuke." Ino casually walked towards him, no trace of frill or flirting in her voice. "Have you seen Sakura?"
He discreetly raised an eyebrow. She was looking for Sakura? "Mm. She passed me by just a moment ago, heading towards Ichiraku Ramen with Naruto." He said plainly.
"Thanks!" She said with a simple smile, already on her way to the direction of the ramen shop.
He watched as she walked ahead of him, picking up her pace towards her goal. Sasuke was, in fact, headed towards the ramen shop to meet with the rest of Team Seven, but it seems Ino no longer held interest in where he was going and whether or not she could walk with him towards it.
When he arrived at the shop, he was surprised to see Ino wedging herself between Sakura and Naruto. Sakura threw around the usual insults, and Ino obligingly gave her retorts, but there was a sort of giggling mirth between the two girls, and none of the typical malice. Sasuke smirked; Naruto was moping after being displaced from Sakura's side.
"Sasuke." Naruto grinned with a mouth full of noodles.
"Ah! Hi, Sasuke!" Sakura smiled politely towards him as Ino gave him a nod in greeting. Immediately, the pink-haired girl resumed her conversation with Ino, a small dusting of pink settling on her cheeks as she spoke. He observed that Sakura no longer supplied his name with –kun, but he wasn't exactly bothered. It was just out of character.
He broke his chopsticks the moment his food arrived, and ignored Naruto's rambling on being Hokage to observe the two kunoichi to his left. Ino's eyes brightened as she animatedly told Sakura about whatever bright idea it was that Shikamaru thought of, and in a moment of clumsiness, the slice of meat trapped within her chopsticks slipped free and fell – only to be caught expertly by Sakura.
"Hey! Don't steal my food, Forehead!" The blonde nagged. To Sasuke's surprise, however, Sakura only rolled her eyes before lifting her chopsticks up to Ino's mouth, feeding her the escaped slice of beef and smiling. Ino obliged, playfully biting down on Sakura's chopsticks so as to steal them away from her hand. Sakura quickly retrieved them from the grip of Ino's teeth and lightly jabbed them at the blonde's nose, which scrunched up in protest.
Confused at the friendly affection, Sasuke shrugged it off and turned his attention towards his food.
"—and then I'll have coolest looking carving on the mountain, right beside old Sarutobi-sama's!"
"Mm." Sasuke agreed on autopilot. Curiosity got the best of him, and he snuck another glance towards Ino and Sakura. Girls were such confusing beings, he declared in his head. One minute they're at each other's necks, the next they act like best friends.
He was surprisingly pleased to find that neither Ino nor Sakura bothered to pay him any more attention than they were showering on to each other. Perhaps they had decided to call their rivalry quits and mend their friendship? That was good, he supposed, even if their affection for him was collateral damage.
He finished up his soup.
The next time Sasuke would pause to think about Sakura and Ino was during training with Team Asuma. The two girls were highly distracted, and Kakashi-sensei seemed to be observing them – with Sharingan on, no less – as intently as he was. Perhaps it was a best-friend thing, Sasuke thought, when while in the middle of a spar, Ino felt the need to hold Sakura in a grapple, roll about in the dirt, and pin both of Sakura's arms to the side, smirking in victory as she straddled the pink-haired kunoichi. Sakura only grinned, suddenly twisting with chakra-enforced strength. She threw Ino off, hard. It seemed that it was harder than she intended because she gasped the moment Ino's head hit the ground with a 'thud'. Sakura was kneeling beside Ino in an instant, and she immediately took the injured girl's head on her lap, stroking it affectionately. Ino, despite her discomfort, smiled in what looked to Sasuke like contentment. He raised an eyebrow as Ino intertwined her fingers with the ones which Sakura ran through her hair. Sakura whispered an apology.
"You owe me later, then." Ino grinned slyly, gently poking at Sakura's nose.
"Don't get greedy, Ino-pig." Sakura only scoffed in reply.
Sasuke felt pleased as he confirmed his suspicions. It was settled; Ino and Sakura had given up rivalry and re-established their friendship. Satisfied with his skill in deduction and inference, he returned his focus on the spar only to see that Shikamaru was observing the scene between the girls as well; and he looked twice as smug as Sasuke was.
"Naruto, baka!" An irritated Sakura yelled as she knuckled the yellow-haired boy. "For the hundredth time, no, I'm not going to grovel around for Sasuke to come with me the festival."
"Eh?!" Naruto looked confused, and then cracked a sheepish grin. "Say, say, does that mean you're going to let me take you as a date to the festival?"
Sasuke didn't know whether he should be amused or alarmed at Sakura's surprising strength – but the way Naruto was turning purple from the chokehold told him he should probably be more of alarmed.
"I already told you, Naruto, I don't need to find a date anymore!" She huffed, a vein popping out her forehead.
"Eh? Then who're you taking?"
"Ino." Sakura said simply, and whatever deeper meaning it might have held flew right over Naruto's head and he shrugged it off with a simple 'oh'. The yellow-haired boy disappeared the moment he saw Iruka-sensei in the distance.
Sasuke shook his head, feeling slightly superior for having been perceptive enough to realize that something should have been wrong with that fact. He wondered if anyone else saw the oddity of Sakura and Ino seeking each other's company. Once again, his theory of Sakura and Ino rekindling their friendship was affirmed. They most likely found different boys to fawn over, and not the same boy this time. He nodded to himself, yes – that seemed right.
Later that day, while he was walking to the center of the Village, he noticed Shikamaru looking quite awkward in a festival kimono. Recalling the smug look on Shikamaru's face, Sasuke reckoned that he probably knew a thing or two of Ino and Sakura's reconciliation – he was, after all, Ino's teammate as well.
"Yo." Shikamaru said lazily the moment Sasuke was within earshot. They weren't exactly close friends, but there wasn't anyone else to talk to.
"Mm." He grunted in response.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as a small smirk settled on Shikamaru's mouth. "So, no Sakura today?"
"She's with Ino, I recall." He replied in a clipped voice.
"Of course." Shikamaru's smile broke into a grin.
"It seems they've decided to be friends again, for everyone's own good."
Shikamaru scowled, looking at him with an incredulous expression. "Seriously?"
"What?" Sasuke frowned.
The other boy only sighed, scratching at the back of his head. "What a pain. Never mind, for a smart guy you're pretty dense."
"What do you—"
"Ha! I told you we weren't going to be late!" A girly voice cut through their conversation. Both Sasuke and Shikamaru turned to see Ino dragging an irate Sakura by the arm. "Come on, now, stop sulking." The blonde girl poked at Sakura's cheek, and it seemed the latter was unable to resist a little grin.
"Fine, fine. You win. We made it." Their run broke, and slowed down to a walk. "Oh, hey, Sasuke, Shikamaru-kun." Sakura smiled their way.
Ino held Sakura's arm as they walked side-by-side towards the two boys. Sasuke greeted them with a customary grunt in return, and Shikamaru simply nodded.
"So where are you two off to?" Shikamaru asked with a teasing edge, earning an eye-roll from Ino.
"To the bonfire, of course, where else?" Sakura answered.
"I don't know. Knowing Ino, a secluded alley or somethi— Ow!" Shikamaru coughed out, gripping his side where Ino's elbow had crashed into. "Can't take a joke, woman!"
"You make me sound like such a sleaze!" The blonde whined.
"I don't know, Ino-chan," Sakura drawled out teasingly. "You act the type."
Ino raised an eyebrow at her pink-haired friend. "Well you never complained."
Sakura rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the blush that found its way to her cheeks. The Uchiha kept silent, trying to decipher the obvious display of… flirtatiousness?
"Yes, yes, whatever, let's get going, I wanna see the opening fireworks!" Sakura pulled on Ino, sliding her hand down Ino's forearm and intertwining their fingers when their hands found each other's. Sasuke observed, in great detail, the way Ino turned to look at Sakura. There was an unspoken softness in her eyes, as though the fireworks could wait, and for now she just wanted to look at Sakura. He wondered how anyone missed it; it was so plain in his sight.
"Uhm. Sasuke?" Shikamaru's voice cut in.
"Mm?"
"You know, staring at Ino and Sakura flirt with each other with your Sharingan is kind of sleazy."
Sasuke had spent the majority of the festival with Naruto and Shikamaru. He felt light, in his heart, although he would never admit it. He took his time walking home, not at all feeling intimidated by the late hour and the dark, empty streets. The perks of being a shinobi, he supposed. He was just about to turn a corner when he caught something brightly-colored flash at the corner of his eyes.
Frozen in place, he saw two figures – he recognized them as Ino and Sakura – sitting on one of Konoha's rooftops. He could feel a small blush work its way up from under his collar as Sakura wrapped an arm around Ino's neck and nipped at the blonde's ear. In reply, Ino pulled back and grabbed a handful of Sakura's collar, pulling her in for quite a passionate kiss.
When Sakura brought a slim hand to run across Ino's collarbone, a small 'click' echoed in Sasuke head… and everything made sense. The loving look on Ino's eyes, and the reciprocation Sakura had for her. The intimacy and bickering, and the complete disinterest for Sasuke… of course, how could he have missed it? Even Shikamaru's exasperation at his 'denseness' made sense now.
Feeling ashamed for watching, and putting out the Sharingan which had subconsciously activated as a result of trying to see more clearly, he looked away and walked home.
Maybe he'd ask about it tomorrow.
A few houses away, a conflicted Hyuuga Neji did everything in his power to shut his Byakugan off.
Hehe I know it's kind of crack-ish, but I really do adore these two, and you I don't think you have to hate Sasuke to love InoSaku. Hope you liked it, and please do leave a review! I'm on a roll for these two, I really, really love them so much right now.