Ino woke early, as she always did. She loved but hated sleeping in, as pleasant as it was, there were things that needed to be done. She stumbled over to her bathroom, still not fully awake, and looked in her mirror. Her bedhead was ruthless, as always. I guess it's a small price to pay for having so much hair. She thought as started to run a comb through it. She took a quick but thorough shower before heading downstairs. She was careful not to wake her mother as she quietly stepped outside. She would have her daily chores to do later, but she loved beautiful and quiet mornings like these. Not many people were awake at this hour since things had calmed down. She peered at a clock through a nearby stores window to see the time was 7:14, which was rather early even for her. She continued walking, not really having a path set and enjoyed Konoha in its new, rebuilt state. She passed by Sai, who was walking on the other side of the street she was following and scowled. She had once been attracted to him, and thought the feeling was mutual when she heard he called her beautiful, but learned shortly after that he was meaning the opposite of what his words told. He ignored her and kept walking, she didn't care where he was going, but she did wonder why he was up so early himself. The thought was brief and she was alerted at the sound of two voices yelling. She made her way towards the ruckus and was not surprised by the sight. Rock Lee and his Sensei, Guy, were in a heated argument (over something stupid, no doubt, she noted). She decided to listen a while longer anyway and learned her assumption was true.
"I said we would be training outside the village today, and you agreed!" Lee shouted.
"And I decided we'd be training in the new room at the gymnasium!" Guy shouted back. The two's foreheads were locked together like a couple of angry bulls. "Do you wish to tell me you're not going to listen to your Sensei, Lee?" Guy asked, causing the younger boy to give up. With a sigh he shrugged and replied: "I suppose not, but I am not responsible for any damage that may occur to the building!" Guy replied with a thumbs up, and the two walked past Ino, talking about something else and completely ignoring the fact she was there. She rolled her eyes and continued on her goalless journey. She walked a little further and 'coincidentally' ended up on the street right in front of Sakura's house. She shrugged and figured she would wake her friend up, putting the awkward moment between the two from last night behind her.
Sakura awoke to a series of knocks on her front door, and scrambled out of bed. She muttered a 'fuck' as she tripped over the bed sheet that had been flung to the floor and made her way to the door. She opened it and with half opened eyes looked at Ino, standing with her hands crossed behind her back, making for a very cute sight. She disregarded the attractiveness of the other girl though, because she had woken her from her sleep early, and she'd better have a good reason.
"What do you want, Ino-pig." She grumbled sleepily. Ino removed her hands from behind her and started fiddling with her hair with one.
"I figured, you know, we could get an early start to the day." She explained. "The sooner we get everything here looking nice, the sooner we can spend more… 'Quality' time together." She said the word quality in an odd fashion, but it was too early for Sakura to think, or even care. She rolled her eyes and slammed the door in the other girls face, which was followed by more loud knocks and many variations of "Sakura, Forehead, and bitch" (not in any necessary order, or making any sense in what order they did happen to be put in). She flung the door back open and shushed the other girl.
"Shut up! Do you want to wake up everyone in a miles radius? Fine, get in here, but I'm not working at this hour." She said, inviting her friend into the house. Ino smiled as she got her way and entered, causing Sakura to scowl. You always get your way, don't you? She thought to herself. "Make yourself at home; I'm going to go freshen up." She said with very feigned enthusiasm, which was easily detectable. Ino nodded and sat on the couch, and waited for the other girl to enter one of the two other rooms in the house. Luckily cleaning the inside didn't take more than a day since the house was the living room and kitchen, Sakura's room and another room she hadn't really done anything with. Ino got up and walked over to the kitchen and found herself some rice, chives, and egg. She figured she'd make Sakura a breakfast, as an apology for waking her up so early, something she was clearly not accustomed to.
Sakura dried herself off with a towel as she stepped out of the shower. She dressed and took a blow-dryer to her hair before combing it down, and looked at herself in the mirror. She thought of Ino's comment from the previous night, calling her pretty and a slight smile formed at her lips. She exited the bedroom and was greeted with an intoxicating aroma. She looked in her kitchen and saw Ino over the stove, making a mixture of what looked like rice, egg, and some vegetable. She looked from the food to Ino, who was wearing an apron and chef's hat (one Naruto had given her as a gag gift, saying it might help her with her cooking). The outfit wasn't really necessary at all, but Sakura didn't mind the whole, 'cute chef' demeanor. "Making some gourmet food, I see." She said, sitting down at the counter opposite the stove. Ino looked up at her and smiled, followed by a little giggle.
"Well, I was planning to surprise you, but it looks like that plan failed. I figured I'd repay you for waking you up so early." She explained.
"Well, if this tastes half as good as it smells, we're solid." Sakura said.
Sakura sighed a sigh of content and slumped back in her chair as she finished her breakfast. Ino, who was still eating, smiled at her friend's happy look, and took another bite. "Are you an angel, Ino? That food was heavenly. I'm not hallucinating right now, right?" Sakura asked. Ino's face turned a deep shade of red at the comment, which she concealed by looking down at her plate and having her hair cover her face.
"N-No! Just some I threw together, nothing special!" She said, her voice cracked, embarrassing her even more.
"If this is something you just throw together, I'd hire you as my personal chef for the rest of my life." Sakura said, getting up from her spot opposite Ino at her table, and moving around behind the blonde girl. She brushed Ino's long ponytail around her right shoulder and leaned over, resting her chin on the left. "You're so talented, Ino-pig." Sakura breathed into her ear, causing her to shudder from the warm breath on her neck. Ino sat straight up and her breathing became short as she felt a kiss be planted on her jawline, under her ear. Sakura slowly planted these butterfly kisses down to her cheek, and one of her hands slowly slid down Ino's arm and onto her chest. She cupped Ino's right breast, and used her left hand to turn the blondes head her way. She slowly leaned in to plant a kiss on her lips, but was surprised when the other girl shot straight up, which in turn caused Sakura to stumble backwards.
"Sakura… I'm not- we can't- I have responsi-… We can't do this now, I'm sorry." She stuttered before quickly exiting the house, leaving Sakura dumbfounded. I thought I was doing everything right. Did I not wait long enough? Sakura asked herself. She slowly stood up, and looked at the table. Ino's plate had flipped over, throwing food over the wooden surface, but she didn't care. She slammed her head against the wall and shouted 'fuck!' loudly, not caring who heard. She had screwed up her first chance at anything in years. She didn't even know if it was a chance at something, but it was gone now. She walked over to one of her cabinets, and pushed it to the side (Well, shoved rather forcefully would be a better way to put it). Which contained a small opening behind it where she kept a bottle of whiskey. She had never opened it before, and Ino had thrown out her wine yesterday, though she doubted the weaker alcohol would help her anyway. She quickly opened the top and took a big swig, followed by another. The smell was horrid and the taste was too strong for her liking, but she didn't really care at this point. She slammed the bottle down on the counter and stumbled to her room. Tears started to pour down her face and she collapsed on the bed, piss drunk and lying spread eagle. She choked trying to swallow air from how much she was crying, before leaning her head over the edge of the bed and vomiting. The rolled over and passed out in her bed, drunk and depressed.