Chapter 2

It was still dark when Ino, Sakura, Kakashi, and Asuma arrived at the entrance to the Forest Of Death, Ino nervously adjusted her backpack while Sakura muttered silently to herself.

"Good luck you two and try not to get yourselves killed," Kakashi said, smiling under his mask.

"I can't believe that I have to spend two weeks here dodging death with you," Sakura said angrily.

"I feel the same way, Sakura," Ino replies flatly as the pair continued deeper into the training ground.

After walking for forty-five minutes Sakura and Ino found a place to set up camp,

"What's wrong with you, Ino-Pig?" Sakura inquired, hoping to get a rise out of the blonde.

Ino kept silent, she just turned over on her side, facing away from Sakura,

'What's going on here? That's usually all it takes to get Ino all fired up for an argument.' Sakura thought to herself.

After getting a few hours of sleep, Ino and Sakura awoke and had breakfast, a heavy tension hanging between the two girls.

Ino is now hard at work sharpening her kunai and her kusarigama, not saying a single word to Sakura.

"Come on Ino, why won't you talk to me? Tease me, insult me, tell me how you're going to win Sasuke over." Sakura all but begged.

"Begging doesn't suit you, Sakura." Ino says without looking up.

"I don't get it Ino, yesterday you were all into fighting with me like always, but today you're all cold and distant."

"Don't worry about it, Sakura. It's my problem, it doesn't concern you."

"I-I thought that we..." Sakura began, but Ino cut her off mid-sentence.

"Were what? Friends? You said that you were going to be my rival until you won Sasuke's heart."

"You said it too, Ino." Sakura counters.

"Yeah, and I was a fool for saying it." Ino says before putting her weapons away and standing up.

"Where are you going, Ino?"

"To a river to bathe." Ino says harshly, the pinkette blinks in surprise, she'd never seen Ino act like this before.

"Don't follow me." Ino snapped.

As Sakura watched Ino walk away from her, she couldn't help but wince at the sudden tightness that she felt around her heart.

"Stupid Sakura, she's only doing this so she can impress that arrogant loser... If she wants Sasuke, she can have-." In mused, but was interrupted by the sound of leaves rustling.

"I told you not to follow me, Sakura," Ino said in an annoyed tone.

No answer.

"Whatever," Ino said before standing up and stepping out of the river and drying herself off before redressing.

"This isn't funny, Sakura," Ino said, growing more upset with each passing second, suddenly a giant centipede lunged out of the undergrowth, Ino screamed as she stumbled backward and fell, badly twisting her right ankle as she went to the ground. The giant insect, at least eighteen feet long wrapped itself around the terrified blonde and began squeezing.

Ino felt the intense pressure of the centipede's girth as it continued applying pressure to Ino's midsection.

Ino coughed up blood and was dangerously close to passing out when suddenly Sakura appeared, delivering a chakra infused punch to the centipede's head, causing it to release Ino and disappear back into the bush.

With the threat taken care of, Sakura turned her attention to the injured blonde,

"Hang on Ino, I'll treat your wounds," Sakura says, opening her backpack and fishing out her first-aid kit. Ino staggered to her feet, swaying as she righted herself.

"I...don't want your help, S...Sakura," Ino said in a raspy voice.

"Come on Ino, if you don't get those wounds treated, you could...die," Sakura says, not wanting to think like that.

"You shouldn't care, I mean...after all you're only doing this for your precious Sasuke." In wheezed before falling to one knee and once again coughed up some blood.

Sakura was horrified at what she was seeing, Ino was gravely injured and refusing to let Sakura treat her injuries and for the life of her, Sakura didn't understand why.

"J...just go to your precious Sasuke and stay away from me," Ino says as she clutched her injured midsection, Sakura looked at the blonde with tears in her eyes, Ino was wrong... Sakura wasn't doing this to impress Sasuke, in fact, Sakura had actually decided to stop pursuing him two years earlier because she realized that she held feelings for someone else- Ino.

Sakura looked at Ino with tears in her eyes, she had thought about revealing her secret to the blonde, but thought better of it.

"Fine, if you want to die here Ino, go right ahead. I won't stop you." Sakura said sadly.

Sakura picks up the first-aid kit puts it back in her backpack before heading back to the campsite, this surprised Ino.

'She's leaving, Ino thought as fear gripped her.

"W-Wait, you're leaving?" Ino asked.

"Last I heard, my help wasn't needed or wanted, " Sakura said as she kept on walking,

Sakura's words stung, Ino's eyes watered.

'She's really walking away.' Ino thought as it began to rain.

Ino could see the drastic change in Sakura's posture.

'She's got something heavy weighing on her mind.' the blonde deduced.