Special thanks to FiReWoRxXoX for the lovely review. I appreciate it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


Sakura let out a long but quiet breath, glancing up from her book when the phone rang. She had just been laying on her bed practically all day, too worried about going over to Ino's to ask if she had found her swimsuit. The worry came from the fact that Ino had basically run away from her yesterday. It wasn't the best feeling in the world to get.

"Sakura speaking," The pink-haired girl said after sliding off the bed and picking up the phone. "Who is this?" She examined her nails with a frown, wondering who could possibly be calling her at the moment.

"Naruto," The voice on the other end answered. "How did it go with Ino yesterday?" He asked before Sakura had any time to ask why he could be calling. His tone practically screamed eagerness.

Sakura stared ahead of her, her mouth changing to a hard, thin line. "I think I scared her away," She sighed, closing her eyes. Okay, Naruto, what could you say to cheer me up this time?

Naruto stayed silent for a few moments, like he was thinking carefully about either what he was going to say next or what he was going to do. "Oh, I have an idea!" He said happily. "Let's get everyone together and have a sort of party thing!"

Smiling slightly, Sakura twisted the cord of the phone around her finger. "Hey, we can all go swimming. Like, to the beach," She suggested, laughing lightly when Naruto exclaimed 'Yes!' right away.

"I'm gonna get Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino to come to. Sakura, you gotta try again! I mean, if she really didn't notice you when you were wearing those shorts, she definitely is in a swimsuit!" Naruto encouraged the pinkette persistantly. "I think you're exaggerating when you say she ran away. Maybe she just needed to go?"

"Naruto, she forgot the elastic that goes in her hair," Sakura said, casting a glance at the aforementioned elastic sitting on her dresser. "If she needed to go, she wouldn't have been in a big enough hurry to forget that."

"Either way, you're gonna get your chance to try again. 'Kay, I'm gonna go give Shikamaru a call, and he can bring Chouji and Ino along with him. Should I invite Kiba's and Lee's teams?" He asked.

Sakura clicked her teeth together. "Maybe some other time. I doubt Neji would want to come, Lee likes me, and Hinata would probably have a heart attack," She pointed out, feeling guilty that she had told Naruto to basically forget about inviting them.

"Ah. And we don't need Lee following you around when you're trying your luck with Ino," Naruto said, obviously understanding the reasoning behind Sakura's excuse for Lee not coming. "Alright. So head on down to the beach with your stuff and I'll call Shikamaru."

Sakura nodded, a small smile still on her face. "Got it. Thanks," She said gratefully before ending the call, setting it down on the table that was in the corner of her room. With her smile growing in size the more she thought about what would happen at the beach, Sakura walked to her dresser, opening up each drawer in turn until she found her two-piece swimsuit.

"Swimsuit, towel, sunscreen, sunglasses..." Sakura muttered her list out loud, finding each item after she said it's name. I hope Ino does come. We were supposed to go swimming today, but...I don't think she would have come if it was just me. Maybe, maybe not...

Sakura placed her things on the bed, trying to decide if she had forgotten anything or not. Jeez, I forgot about Shikamaru and Chouji! Hopefully Naruto can keep their attention focussed on him while I talk to Ino. This is gonna be harder than I thought.


The beach was relatively deserted. There were a few people down by one end of the beach, so Sakura went as far away from them as she could without going into a bad spot, like where there was too much shade or too much sun instead of being about even. That was the kind of spot Sakura had in mind when she settled down on the sand, laying out her towel and taking a seat on it to wait for the four other people she was expecting.

Just as she thought, Naruto arrived first, already in his trunks. He actually had a pail with a shovel in it in one hand, much to her amusement, and a towel gripped firmly in his other one. At first he looked confused when he didn't see Sakura right away, but after a few moments of waving on Sakura's part, Naruto saw her out of the corner of his eye and hurried over to her.

"It took some time to convince him," Naruto started, taking a seat next to Sakura and carefully moving her shirt and pants so that he didn't sit on them. Sakura had taken them off not too long ago, since her swimsuit was already on underneath it. "But I managed to get Shikamaru to come to the beach and bring Ino and Chouji along with him."

"Thanks again, Naruto," Sakura nodded to the blonde boy before turning her head to look out to the water that she was still several feet away from. "I'm kinda nervous. I'm not sure what she thinks of me right now," She muttered with a small frown.

Naruto nudged her with his shoulder, offering her a broad grin. "Hey, don't worry about it! I think you're gonna make some progress today. You just gotta really focus on your goal." He turned his attention away from Sakura when the pinkette nodded to acknowledge that she heard him, watching for Team Ten.

"I'm sure it would be so much easier if Shikamaru and Chouji weren't coming as well. But I can't be too selfish," Sakura smiled slightly and joined Naruto in looking up the beach, keeping her eyes open for the three people who had yet to arrive.

It took about five minutes, but Shikamaru and his teammates finally showed up. Ino actually had her palms pressed to Shikamaru's back, pushing him as she walked so he didn't fall behind. Chouji was keeping up well with the irritated blonde, happily munching on a bag of chips.

"Heeey Shikamaru!" Naruto called, standing up and waving to get Shikamaru's attention off the ground and on himself. "You finally made it! I hope you brought your swimmin' gear!"

"You wish, Naruto," Shikamaru grumbled, gesturing to Chouji, who raised his arm to show Naruto that he was carrying a large dufflebag. "No, I didn't bring my 'swimming gear'. I only brought what I needed," He turned back to Naruto and walked past him without Ino's help, his teammates following in a line after him.

Sakura watched as Chouji unzipped the dufflebag and pulled out another similar-looking bag, taking a folded up chair out of that one and placing it by Sakura's towel. Chouji stepped to the side as Shikamaru all but collapsed in his chair, letting Ino dig around in the bag until she found her towel.

"I'm gonna go over there so I'm in the sun, guys," Ino announced, nodding to a spot that was several feet away from where she was now. As soon as she had turned her back on everyone and was walking away from them, Naruto turned his head to look at Sakura and gestured wildly towards Ino, luckily in a spot where Chouji and Shikamaru couldn't see him.

Sakura hesitated for a moment before grabbing her towel, sunscreen, and sunglasses and jogging after the blonde. "I'm coming too," She said, slowing down to a walk when she was beside Ino.

The blonde simply nodded, silently saying that she knew Sakura was there, before stopping at a particularly sunny spot. She grabbed the edges of her towel and laid it on the ground, turning to look at Sakura. "Didn't know you didn't just want me here," She smiled, grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it up and over her head.

"Well..." Sakura cleared her throat, watching Ino's chest absently until the blonde's shirt was over her head and no longer blocking her view of the pinkette. Definitely a bikini, and a purple one at that. "It would have been rude to not ask Naruto and your team, wouldn't it?"

Ino shed her shorts rather quickly, taking a seat on her towel as Sakura started to lay out her's beside the blonde. She grinned, looking slyly at Sakura. "Yeah, whatever. Is it still being rude if you just left them over there?"

Glancing over at the three boys, who were trying to get Shikamaru out of his chair, Sakura smirked. "Someone had to keep you company, and unfortunately for me, I'm that person," She sighed and reached towards the end of her towel, taking both her sunglasses and sunscreen in her hands. She slid her sunglasses on and opened up the bottle of sunscreen.

"Whatever, you just wanted to bask in my glow." Ino cast a glance towards Sakura's sunscreen that she was now rubbing over her arms. "Oh man, I forgot mine! Can I have some of your's?"

Sakura opened her mouth, preparing to say 'yes', but closed her mouth again when she actually thought about it. She could use this to her advantage. "I dunno, Pig...I think I should let you go crispy. Like bacon." Grinning at the offended look on Ino's face, Sakura raised her arm high in the air and pointing it away from the blonde so that her former best friend couldn't get it.

Ino scoffed and moved slightly, reaching in front of Sakura to try and get the sunscreen. "But my skin'll be all burnt! It'll be all red and sensitive!" She whined, frowning when Sakura still didn't take pity on her.

"Well, at least I won't. You'll probably use up the whole bottle before I can even finish," Sakura held Ino back with her free hand, still keeping the bottle of sunscreen out of the blonde's reach. "Besides, it's your own fault you forgot your sunscreen."

"Sakuraaa!" Ino drawled, settling for sitting and glaring at the pinkette. "Let me have it!" She huffed, narrowing her eyes with displeasure.

Sakura simply grinned and snickered at the blonde. However, that quickly stopped when she was suddenly pushed onto her back, her eyes snapping open with surprise. Nonetheless, she still determinedly kept her sunscreen away from Ino.

The blonde grinned slyly and crawled forward, subtly casting a glance over her shoulder to see if any of the three boys were watching. While Naruto was suspiciously looking with sudden interest to the far right of them, Chouji still seemed busy with Shikamaru, while the aforementioned lazy ninja looked like he was asleep in his chair.

"Sakuraaa..." Ino dragged out the last syllable of Sakura's name again, this time much quieter. She paused, straddling Sakura's hips with her back arched slightly and her face dangerously close to Sakura's own face.

With wide eyes, Sakura gazed up at Ino with shock. And here she was, thinking that she had scared Ino off. "U-Uh, Ino..." She stammered, her eyes closing steadily the closer Ino leaned in. As soon as her eyes were shut, she felt the bottle of sunscreen being snatched out of her hands.

"Got it," Was what Sakura heard just before the weight on her hips disappeared, followed by a girly giggle. Sakura sat up, a blush showing noticeably on her face. She simply glared at Ino as the Yamanaka rubbed some sunscreen on her arms, still grinning.

I am SO never gonna forget that. Sakura stood with a small grunt, lunging for her precious sunscreen. "Hey, gimme back my stuff! Last chance!" She pointed threateningly at Ino, smirking deviously when the blonde looked challengingly at her as she squirted more sunscreen into her hands, momentarily setting the bottle down by her foot as she rubbed some on her stomach.

"That's it!" Sakura darted forward and, before Ino had time to register what had happened, picked the blonde up. She sprinted off towards the water, focussing more chakra into the muscles in her arms the more Ino thrashed about in her grip. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Naruto and Chouji watching her. Even Shikamaru looked like he had one eye open.

Sakura ran until she knew that if she ran any further, the water would slow her down. As soon as she stopped, she tossed Ino into the air a few feet in front of her, laughing at the rather loud, echoing scream that she heard just before the large splash.

"I told you it was your last chance, Pig!" Sakura giggled, watched Chouji and Naruto jog towards her out of the corner of her eye. "You so should have seen your face! Priceless!"

Ino slowly rose above the surface again, glaring up a storm at Sakura, then at Chouji and Naruto when they started snickering. Scoffing and rolling her eyes at the three laughing people, the blonde reached behind her and pulled the elastic that she had found that morning out of her hair.

"I hope you're happy. My hair's all wet now," Ino whined, walking toward the shore with her head tilted up indignantly. She only huffed and pulled her wrist out of Sakura's grip when the pinkette grabbed it, continuing on to her towel.

"Oh, come on, Ino! It was funny!" Naruto told the lighter blonde haired girl, exchanging a look with Sakura that had her groaning on the inside. "And you probably had fun too, flyin' through the air like that."

Sakura shook her head at how childish her former best friend was before walking towards her own towel, taking a seat next to Ino. "Still want the sunscreen?" She asked, shaking the bottle as if that would entice Ino into taking it.

Ino narrowed her eyes and frowned, glaring at the bottle. "Forget that. This water just dripping off me'll keep me from burning up," She muttered, running her fingers through her hair several time to get rid of the waves in it that was caused from it being in a ponytail for so long.

"Hey, don't act like it's my fault. This wouldn't have happened if you had given me back my sunscreen when I told you it was your last chance," Sakura said defensively, though still smiled. "And you still look better with your hair down, even if it is wet," She added, fighting back a hesitant look. This had been what they had been talking about when Ino left her suddenly.

The blonde seemed to remember it as well, since she looked rather oddly at Sakura before smirking. "Nah, I tried out long hair before. It didn't work out as well as you make it sound."

"Oh yeah? Who'd you try it on?"

"...Neji..." Ino muttered, turning her mouth up slightly.

"Point proven!" Sakura grinned when Ino simply rolled her eyes. "Hey, come on. Can you do me a favor?" She asked and rolled over so that she was laying on her stomach, looking up hopefully at the blonde. "Can you put some sunscreen on my back?"

"I suppose so," Ino shrugged and grabbed the bottle of sunscreen from Sakura's hand, shifting so that she was kneeling to Sakura's left, right by her waist. She held her hand out and squirted some of the bottle's contents into her palm, setting the bottle down by her legs.

"Ah, cold!" Sakura automatically tried to move her back away from Ino's hands when they made contact with her back, clicking her teeth together. Smiling sheepishly, Sakura set her chin on her arms and sighed, shutting her eyes. She'd be lying if she told herself that she wasn't thinking about the fact that it was Ino touching her back.

They remained silent for a few moments, and eventually Sakura cracked one eye open when she felt Ino's hand resting near the middle of her back. She subconsciously held her breath and stared at her arms, faintly wondering what Ino could possibly be thinking at the moment.

"Hey, Ino!"

Sakura immediatly shot her best glare at Chouji, though the chubby boy wouldn't be able to see it. The reason for this was that as soon as she heard her name being called, the blonde pulled her hand away and turned around to face her teammate curiously. At least I'm not the only one annoyed... She thought after looking at an irritated Naruto.

"Are you comin' back over here? You can't just lay on the ground for the whole day!" Chouji asked, not noticing Naruto glaring at the back of his head, or how Shikamaru was now watching the two girls with one eyebrow raised. That particular look made Sakura rather nervous.

"Watch me!" Ino grinned and laid back down on her towel, making a big show about getting comfortable. She turned her head to look at Sakura after a few moments, still smiling.

Sakura shook her head with amusement at Ino, happy that the blonde wasn't going to just ditch her for Chouji, Naruto, and Shikamaru. "You do know I'm not going to let you lay here all day, right?" She asked with a smile.

"Of course," Ino nodded, running her fingers through her hair before playing boredly with the elastic that she had put around her wrist so she didn't lose it. "That doesn't mean I'm going to move from this spot, though."

Sakura only grinned at her.


The pinkette smirked, inwardly glad that she had another excuse to actually touch Ino. She was currently carrying a pouting Ino towards Naruto, Chouji, and Shikamaru, though only Naruto seemed to have noticed her when she started walking over there with the blonde.

"I didn't think you'd really do this. Wouldn't it have been easier to just get them over where I was laying?"

"That would mean that you wouldn't have to move. At least this way you aren't stuck in the same spot for the whole time that we're here." Sakura adjusted her grip on the blonde, still focussing her chakra to her arms in order to be able to lift Ino without much difficulty.

Even though Sakura liked having time with Ino and nobody else, she still didn't want either Chouji or Shikamaru to get suspicious of her. That was the last thing she needed at the moment.

Naruto grinned and watched Sakura approaching him and the two boys of Team Ten with Ino in her arms. "Wow, Sakura, did something happen while you two were over there that we should know about?" He asked playfully, immediatly catching Chouji's attention. Shikamaru had a more delayed response.

While Sakura's face went red and she narrowed her eyes at Naruto, Ino simply smirked and uncrossed her arms, wrapping them around the pink-haired girl's neck and resting the side of her head against Sakura's shoulder. "Oh yeah, we totally just hit it off over there."

Sakura nearly dropped the blonde right there, but instead she decided to simply tighten her grip on the taller girl with surprise. After a few moments of Chouji staring at them with amusement, obviously used to the way Ino acted, and of Naruto grinning slyly, she decided to play along and smirked.

"Oh yeah, this one can do wonders with her fingers." Sakura carefully moved her left arm slightly so that she could stroke Ino's bare thigh without dropping the blonde. She couldn't help but cast Naruto a quick, giddy look before looking back down at Ino.

"Mhm, and this mouth is to die for," Ino purred, touching Sakura's lips with her index finger and dragging it down slowly, touching her chin, then along the front of her neck.

"Soo...Do I say Sakura Yamanaka now, or Ino Haruno?" Naruto asked in that same playful tone, getting the reponse that he expected from the two girls.

Ino choked on her spit and unwrapped her arms from around Sakura's neck, dropping onto the ground back-first when Sakura took her arms out from under her. Sakura was stammering, staring at Naruto with wide eyes.

"We were just joking!" Ino said defensively, sitting up slowly in order to rub her sore back. She glared up grumpily at Sakura. "Thanks for that, by the way."

"Sorry," Sakura apologized after snapping herself out of her stupor. She frowned and walked away from Ino and Chouji, grabbing Naruto's arm and dragging him away from the other three people with them in order to talk to him in private.

"Naruto! I thought you were on my side!" Sakura whispered furiously, glaring at the blonde boy.

The aforementioned ramen-lover winced at the death grip that his arm was in. Before actually replying, he worked on freeing his arm, rubbing it when he finally managed to do was he was attempting. "I am! I had to somehow draw attention away from the look on her face, or at least change it!"

Sakura blinked, sighing reluctantly when she realized that she probably did have a certain look on her face a few seconds ago that nobody on Team Ten should have seen. So, Naruto had done her a favour. "I'm sorry. Well, you really did a great job with changing the look on my face. I really wasn't expecting that."

Naruto grinned broadly, letting his arm fall back to his side. "Besides, it was kinda funny when you dropped Ino."

"Shut up, that was all your fault."


Sakura smiled slightly and stretched her arms high above her head, sighing with relief when she heard them crack. "That was fun. We should do that again some time," She said, absently smoothing out her shirt. They were currently walking away from the beach. They had already dropped Naruto and Chouji off at their houses, and her own house was coming up soon.

"Ehh...The beach isn't really my thing," Shikamaru shrugged, his hands stuffed in his pockets and his eyes half-closed. He frowned when Ino scoffed and rolled her eyes at him, turning his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing's 'your thing', Shika," Ino told him, laughing when he simply grunted and looked ahead of them again. She looked at the pinkette, flicking the part of her hair that hung in front of her face away so that she could see her childhood best friend. She had put her hair back up in a ponytail just before they left the beach.

"That's a good idea, Forehead. If we're lucky, maybe we'll hit it off again right away," The blonde winked, laughing when she saw a bit of red appear on Sakura's cheeks. "Just messin' with ya'. Is this your house right here?" She paused and nodded towards the house she had stopped in front of, glancing at the pinkette.

Sakura nodded, looking at her house once before casting a smile back at Ino and Shikamaru, though more so at Ino, since Shikamaru was still walking further and further away from the two girls. "Yeah, this is where I leave you two. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked, already starting to walk towards her front door.

Ino nodded, staying in front of Sakura's house. "Maybe, maybe not," She answered mysteriously, smirking when Sakura looked at her with amusement. "Seeya, Forehead."

"Seeya 'round, Pig," Sakura called. The last thing she saw before disappearing into her house was Ino looking over her shoulder at her as she caught up to Shikamaru, waving at the pinkette with a large grin on her face.


Alright, I blame the late update on getting a new game that I finished yesterday and running out of ideas for this chapter. Yeahh. Anyway, I was thinking about Ino sleeping over at Sakura's house either in the next chapter or the one after that...And that's really the only idea I have at the moment.

Honestly, I think I could have done better with this chapter, but I'm just too lazy to go back and practically rewrite it. Oh well, better than nothing, right?

- Flower Cynic