Insomniactic
Ino lye under her silk, warm sheets on her crescent-shaped bed as she tossed and turned recklessly. She sighed heavily many times, increasing her anger more and more each passing minute.
'Ugh. I can't sleep,' she thought to herself with irritation. The clock read 11:55PM.
Climbing out of her warmth, her bare feet touched the cool, wooden floor as she stood up to stretch and go for a comforting snack. Quieter than a mouse, Ino tip-toed down the set of creaking stairs and into the small, comfortable kitchen. Exploring the fridge, she picked out a precooked bowl of ramen and simply heated it to perfection. Grabbing one pair of chopsticks, she then headed back up into her sanctuary of a room.
'Maybe ramen will calm and relax me, making me sleep,' she thought positively to herself. She shoved the noodles into her mouth, slurped the broth, and sighed with satisfaction.
'Ahh. I feel a little better now, but still not tired,' she thought in disappointment once more. The bowl clanged accidentally against the tabletop of her nightstand, she cringed her face and "shh!"-ed the bowl to stop clanging. Once it did, she sat on her bed and lye down on her back on top of the sheets that were once warm, but now just room-temperature. While lying there, Ino dozed into deep thought, closing her eyes, as if she were trying to dream.
"Why can't I sleep?" she questioned. With one final toss, she faced her windowsill. She looked at it long and hard, studying it's characteristics. A thought crossed her mind,
'Maybe I could tire myself by training a little bit!' she thought quickly. Soon enough, her clothes changed, her shoes were on, and she was already out in the alley way within a minute's time.
Ino sprinted to the training grounds and despite the fact she was there in record time, she was not alone.
"S…Sakura?" she questioned to the shadowed figure, sitting in the middle of the field.
"Oh, it's you, Ino-pig," Sakura responded sourly. Ino grinned.
"Billboard brow," she muttered under her breath.
"So what are you doing out so late? It's past midnight," Ino asked with curiosity.
"I could ask you the same question," Sakura replied with an attitude.
"What's with you, Sakura?!" Ino said rather loudly. Sakura turned to her and yelled with rage,
"And what are you gonna do about?!" Ino took a step back and examined Sakura as she stood up. Left shoe torn open, shirt sleeves cut and ripped, zipper broken, face all cut up and scratched, and one partial black eye.
"What happened to you, Sakura?!" Ino called to her in shock. Sakura clenched her semi bloody fists together.
"I've taught myself a good lesson. I have thought for sometime that I've made too many mistakes and I should have been hurt, not anyone else. This is my own revenge on myself," she spoke with a shake in her voice.
Ino looked at her in disappointment.
"Fight me, Ino. I must know that once, I can defeat a rival, an enemy, a bitch," Sakura called sternly.
Ino growled at her cockiness.
"If that's how you want it, bring it on, show me what your made of!" Ino demanded.
Sakura's frown turned into a grin, followed by a smile. Ino stood still, guarding herself from Sakura's first move; however, Sakura wasn't moving.
"C'mon, billboard brow!" Ino shouted. Sakura slumped forward and then stood her stance straight.
"Okay, you asked for it."
As her eyes showed determination, her strength showed weakness. Ino still stood her ground as Sakura suddenly picked up major speed. Ino jumped a little, shocked in a way. A slight breeze blew through her hair and against the back of her neck, making her skin crawl. She looked all directions, being aware of Sakura. Suddenly, Ino's head throbbed in many places. To the left, right, top, back, sides, her whole head throbbed with pain.
"Ugh!" She screamed in pain, dropping to her knees and clutching her head in the process. Sakura stood in front of where Ino draped over herself in pain, chuckling the slightest bit. Ino glanced at Sakura and took a big jump upwards, driving her fist into the bottom of Sakura's jaw. Sakura flew into the air away from Ino and crashed into the ground with a loud 'thump.' Ino sighed heavily to ease her aching head, which actually calmed her down and helped a little bit. Sakura climbed to her feet once more and wiped her bloody mouth with her beaten fist. She glared and Ino; Ino glared right back at her.
"What's the matter, Ino? Couldn't handle a little pain to your head?" Sakura taunted with a heavy breath.
Fury was building within Ino. She growled in anger while she ripped out a kunai and a shuriken, crossing them together, then releasing them. Sakura dodged them both, but just barely. She couldn't stand straight, her own damage to herself was sinking in.
"So now what are you gonna do?" Ino shouted, slightly angry. Sakura scoffed at her and disappeared. Ino looked around curiously.
'She has to be somewhere around here,' Ino thought to herself. As Sakura's hand touched Ino's shoulder, immediately Ino's reaction was to grab her wrist and throw her away from herself. Her reaction did take place; however, Sakura knew that was to happen. As she flew over her shoulder, Sakura grabbed Ino's long, blonde ponytail and pulled hard enough to send Ino flying with her. They both grunted as they hit the ground simultaneously. Ino sat up straight and curiously looked at Sakura as she lye on the ground, seeming to be blacking out. As Ino climbed to her feet, she soundlessly walked over to where Sakura lay, peaking down at her face in the process. Sakura's eyes flinched as the slightly opened. Her emotion-less face turned into a slight grinning smile and with one quick move of her arm, Sakura in a split second had her hand around Ino's throat. Ino coughed up a spit wad of blood from the previous blow, along with the current suffocation.
"Now what are you going to do?" Sakura sinisterly growled toward Ino. She squirmed for a kunai on her thigh and held it up to Sakura's throat as well.
"I could ask you the same," Ino came back at her, pressing the slightest bit of the kunai against Sakura's neck. They both trembled in each other's grasp and free will. With a heavy sigh of guilt, Sakura let go of Ino's neck. She dropped to the ground, along with her kunai that was once in her hand.
"Sakura, I can't take this," Ino began.
"This is just ridiculous, why are we fighting?" She questioned with her voice shaking.
Sakura stared at her blankly.
"I'm…not sure, Ino. But one thing is for sure, I want to win," Sakura stated, starting to move towards Ino slowly. Ino stood once more and turned to walk away; however, something was holding her back.
"Ino, don't run from what you can see," Sakura said in a low voice as she tugged on Ino's arm. Ino tried to pull away, but Sakura only tightened her grip.
"Tonight, not only am I going to win, but everyone else will," Sakura said to her as she pulled Ino so close she started to shake and tremble in nervousness. Right in Ino's face, Sakura announced the most star-stricken thing she's ever heard,
"I'm going to kill myself."
Ino's eyes widened so much it hurt when warm tears poured out of their crystallized blue pools of color.
"Sakura?! WHY?!" She shouted into Sakura's face; however, it was too late.
Sakura had taken the dropped kunai and placed into Ino's hand as she turned her around; therefore, pulling her close had caused the kunai to enter into Sakura's stomach area. She placed Ino's hand onto her own large forehead with the kunai pointing on the tip of her skin. Ino struggled and shook tremendously, but the kunai was stuck, like glue, on her hand. Sakura's grip tightened once more and she scanned Ino's facial expression, which her cheeks flooded with a shade of light pink and drenched in warm tears.
"I'm sorry, Ino."
With that said, Sakura commanded Ino's hand to drive the kunai into her forehead. Ino bawled and screamed as she felt Sakura's grip loosen and finally let go. 'Thump' went her body onto the ground, which under and all around her was a dark crimson pool of blood. Ino stared at the scene; she bursted into even more tears, screaming, throwing her head around, dropping to her knees helplessly.
"Sakura!" She screamed louder than a lion's roar. Her hands shook so much, she couldn't concentrate. As she felt them and examined them, Sakura's blood stained her tone of pale skin. She cried even harder and scratched the ground, ripping apart everything around her. With one finally scream, Ino crawled back behind a bush and slowly, so very slowly, and climbed to her feet without correct footing. She raced home, jumped into the shower, leaped right into her bed, and threw her sheets over her head.
'Sakura…Haruno…my once and only true best friend…is…dead,' she thought to herself boundlessly. With that in mind, Ino didn't sleep a wink as she read the clock ; 4:07AM.
By 6:00AM, her pillow was drenched in cooled tears. Her eyes dried and wide open, she stared at the ceiling for hours on and thought,
'I killed Sakura Haruno.'
