Inspired by Seether's song, Love Her.
"Ino, why do you do this to yourself?" Sakura asked her one day with a soft quavering voice, her jade green eyes shining in sorrow and confusion. She was close to crying, and did not care if it showed. The platinum blonde looked at her with dead eyes, face so slack it was startling. "Why do you think Sakura?" Her voice was as empty and dead as her eyes, and that was what finally sent the tears rolling down Sakura's fair cheeks. "There are other ways to get money!" She exclaimed shakily. "This is steady income. I can depend on it, and it's something that will always be hiring. So quit your crying, and let me borrow your sweater. I need to hide the scratches."
"Ino…" Sakura wiped away her tears and bit her bottom lip, silently retrieving the red-violet sweater Ino requested from the closet. She couldn't help staring at the scratches the blonde was talking about, thin angry wounds that were slightly swollen covering her arms, back, and neck. The scratches left by a man who bought her friend for a night and used her to his heart's content. Ino took the sweater and slipped it on, zipping it quickly. "Thanks." She raised her cerulean eyes to Sakura's and they were no longer dead, now they glimmered with gratitude. She was truly thankful, just for the measly sweater.
"You're a good friend." She told the pink haired girl, leaning over and lightly kissing her cheek. "Now I have to go, I'm meeting a client." Sakura's heart tightened in her chest as Ino pulled away but she was unable to speak, let alone stop her friend from going. She gently touched the cheek that Ino had kissed and started to cry again.
Three months later Sakura was shopping in the bookstore, when Ino walked in. She greeted Sakura with a smile (a pitifully false smile, Sakura could see right through it) and the two girls embraced. It was a quick friendly embrace, and the pink haired girl wished it would have lasted longer. She wished she could have held onto Ino and never let go, but of course she couldn't do that. "Hi, it's been awhile! How are you?" Ino asked brightly, still feigning a cheerful smile, though in her eyes there was some real happiness. It was faint and barley there, but she was pleased at running into the best friend she hadn't seen in months.
"I'm good, very good. How are you?" Sakura asked, her own smile a false one now. It pained her to see through Ino's facade, to see the suffering that lurked beneath the pearly whites. "Oh, pretty good. I heard you're seeing someone…Naruto Uzumaki, right?" Ino asked. She vaguely remembered the male from high school. "Yep, that's him," replied Sakura. She wished Ino wouldn't have brought him up. Sakura liked Naruto, she truly did. And she was seeing him…But she didn't love him. Not like how she loved the blonde woman who couldn't love her back.
"Good to hear, he was always a nice guy, even if he did skip class all the time." Ino said pleasantly. Sakura nodded. "Yeah, he's great. Are you seeing anyone?" She instantly wished she could take back the question, feeling her heart break as Ino's mask fell away. Ino looked down and hugged herself, Sakura not even certain if the other girl noticed that she did so. "I'm sorry." The pink haired female murmured, reaching out to her friend. Ino stepped away from the touch and looked up Sakura again, her blue eyes wavering in discomfort and shame. "I have to go." She turned quickly and did just that, and as much as Sakura wanted to go after her, she found that she couldn't.
Five months later Sakura lay awake in bed, listening to the deep and even snoring of the sleeping man next to her. Naruto. He was even cuter when he was asleep, and that made Sakura smile. She'd been uncertain about letting him move in with her, but now she was happy she had. She really liked him, and he was just about the best boyfriend a woman could ask for…Of course, Sakura didn't particularly want a boyfriend. She wanted Ino Yamanaka. She always wanted Ino Yamanaka. She was hopelessly in love with her, but being in love with Ino was like being in love with a dream, or a fantasy. Dreams and fantasies are great things, but they could never come true.
So Sakura tried to love Naruto, he did love her after all. He'd proclaimed it four months ago, and just after she'd asked him to move in. She appreciated him, and thought she could love him, one day. She sure as hell was going to try…A muffled thumping noise in the living room caught Sakura's attention. She sat upright in bed and held her breath, listening hard. After a few silent moments, the pink haired woman was sure she imagined it. She nearly laid back down, when she heard another sound.
Although most women would wake their male sleeping partner upon hearing something suspicious in the house, Sakura did not. She got up silently, especially careful not to wake Naruto. She wasn't sure why she didn't wake him, it was just a feeling. A feeling that doing so would be wrong. So she crept to the door on her tiptoes, opening it without so little as a creak, and then shutting it just as soundlessly.
Sakura stayed on her tiptoes, quiet as could be until she reached the living room. Her heart shattered into pieces all over again at what she saw there, The woman she loved was on the rug, trembling with sobs and hiding her face in her knees, which were pulled tightly to her chest. Her thin arms hugged the knees, dotted with discolored bruises and cigarette burns. "Ino." Sakura whispered, tears pricking her own vivid green eyes. The shaking blonde looked up at the whisper of her name, facing Sakura with one bloodshot blue eye. The other was darkened and swollen shut. "S-Sakura…I'm s-sorry. I know I sh-shouldn't be in here. It's just that I…I…" She was unable to even finish her sentence, choking on sobs.
The pink haired woman crept closed and kneeled down across from Ino, wrapping her arms around her. The contact sent daggers into her heart. She'd always wanted Ino in her arms, but never like this. Never when the beautiful blonde woman was shaking so hard she couldn't speak, so full of pain Sakura could practically feel it seeping through her skin. Not when she had a boyfriend sleeping in her bed. "You don't have to tell me the details, I can see what happened for myself," Sakura told her gently. "You don't have to talk about it Ino, and it's okay that you're here. You know you're always welcome here."
Ino drew a shaky breath and her trembling ceased. "Oh Sakura," she said, looking at her friend in despair. "I can't do this anymore."
"That's a good thing," Sakura murmured soothingly. "It's a bad job. You shouldn't be doing it anymore."
Ino shook her head, her tangled blonde ponytail lightly brushing against her exposed and battered shoulders. "No Sakura, I don't mean the job. I mean everything. I can't do it anymore." Her voice dripped with misery.
The pink haired woman tilted her head. "What are you saying?" She asked, starting to worry more than she already had been.
"I'm so ashamed. I'm ashamed of everything. You know I never wanted to sell my body. But I had to…I had no choice, I needed the money. I've been with so many men, so many men to make a living. Those sickos look at me the way lions look at baby gazelle and when they're done having their way with me, they throw crumpled bills in my face!" Ino continued on, her voice rising shrilly, though luckily not loud enough to wake Naruto. "But I can't blame them. I can only blame myself, because I put myself in this position! I felt it was my only option, but it doesn't change the fact that I let myself become a…A prostitute!" She spat the word with venom, the open cerulean eye glinting with disgust. "It's bad enough that they fuck me, but then they go and hurt me too. They leave scars on my back and bruises on my face. Everyone in town can see me for what I am, and they're appalled by me. Sakura, you're truly the only friend I have left…My best friend." Ino's tone softened slightly and she gazed at Sakura with sorrowful affection.
Sakura was still holding Ino and now she tightened her arms around her, firmly and defensively. "That's right, I am your best friend. Which is why I should have protected you from all of this. I didn't and I regret it, but I can now. Quit this terrible job, and we'll leave town. We'll get out of this city where everyone gossips about you, and we'll got somewhere new. We'll both start all over, and everything will be okay. I'll take care of you, Ino." She smiled hopefully at the other woman in the dark.
Ino was smiling now, a strange smile of sweet agony that Sakura would never forget. "No. It's too late to do that. Sakura, you're happy here. You do have a good job, and you have Naruto. Taking off to a whole new place and starting all over wouldn't be good for you, because you've got everything going for you here." Ino slowly slid out of the pink haired woman's embrace. "And I can't start over, it's too late for that. I wake up every morning, I see myself in the mirror and I am disgusted. I hate what I do, and who I've become. I never wanted to sell my body, Sakura. But I needed the money. I needed it to live, but now I don't…I don't want to. I'm too ashamed to want that."
Sakura blinked. She slowly tilted her head. "Ino…I don't even know what to say." In truth, Sakura wasn't even sure what Ino was saying.
The blonde woman stood and wiped away her tears, smiling gently to Sakura with pain and gratitude. "It's okay, you don't have to say anything. I'm going to go home now." The pink haired woman stood, confusion clouding her gaze. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I don't think you should be alone right now." Ino nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I'll be okay, I promise." She took one of Sakura's smooth hands in both of her bruised ones and gave it a good squeeze. "Thanks Sakura, for always being there."
Sakura smiled softly at Ino. "Don't thank me, it's what best friends are for."
Ino giggled then, a jingly sound Sakura hadn't heard in forever and would always remember. "Of course." The blonde dropped her hand and padded across the carpet to the door. Sakura followed. Their goodbye was short, a quick one-word exchanged between both parties. Sakura still wasn't convinced Ino should be going home, but didn't think persuading her would do any good. So she simply let her leave and went back to the bedroom, silently slipping under the covers next to Naruto.
Two days later Sakura was in a funeral parlor, looking down into the open casket of Ino Yamanaka. The beautiful neck Sakura had always longed to kiss and caress was marred with a hateful rope burn. Sakura stared at it with faded jade eyes. Dead eyes. Her face so slack it was startling.