The moon faintly illuminated the village, something didn't feel right. Her eyes widened at a sudden discovery. "Why do you wear nailpolish?" Ino crossed her fingers. Please don't be gay. Please don't be gay. Please don't be gay. I want to have some kind of chances. Not knowing what had made her think like that, she mentally chanted the same phrase over and over again.

He checked his purple fingernails, as if he'd just noticed them. "A requirement when I joined… an organization."

This left Ino confused. What kinda organizationwould require such a thing? She stole a look at his back. A tingle shot through her spine. Excitement. Excitement of what? She was no fool, she knew all the signs. I think he might just have some potential.

They had been walking for some time. The past team 10's bossy beauty was quickly growing impatient. "Where are we going?"

"Nowhere, hm."

"Eh?!!" She had thought that he was actually going to bring her somewhere romantic, instead they were just roaming around in the middle of the night, doing nothing! Unbelievable.

He had slowed down, so that we were side by side. "What's the pout for? Yeah!"

Ino masterfully rearranged her face into a big, bright, fake smile. Quick, make up an excuse. "I'm just still irritated by that drunkard in the bar. He pretty much ruined my night out."

"Hmph," Deidara replied, clearly not believing her, but saying nothing. This time.

She took notice of his black robe enhanced with red symbols. The girl studied the peculiar, little things, thinking hard about what exactly were those red splatters.

"Love those flowers in your robe."

"Tsch. They're not flowers, they're clouds, un." He seemed mildly annoyed and gave her an almost pitying look.

He dared to pity her! And at the same time be annoyed with her?! She was fuming with sudden anger. Calm down, Ino. Men do not find violent women attractive. Two deep breaths and she was back on track.

"That ring is amazing; can I take a closer look at it?" She reached for the blue ring in his right index finger.

"No, mm."

Hmmm…that didn't work. He's being awfully cold. But there's nothing I can't fix. She smirked inside. When she was through with this, Deidara was going to be all hers.

The sworn tormentor of Sakura had been so captivated in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed arriving to the footstep of her abode.

"Ino, what are you strolling around the streets for? Didn't we agree to go straight home after this." Ino's head attempted to register the familiar person ahead of her. Emerald eyes, short pink hair…

"Sakura?" She meekly inquired. "I…" Turning her head wildly, she searched for the only male in presence. "Where is he?"

Sakura's brows furrowed as she demanded, "Where's who?"

Deidara had somehow disappeared into thin air.

A bit humiliated and embarrassed, Ino turned the cards to her liking. "I was searching for the poor fellow who has decided you're the chocolate of their eyes. You know, this village's version of Lee or Naruto." Pathetic, but will do.

"Why you…" Sakura's head snapped up when she noticed the familiar ritual go on. Her friend was hiding something. Her tone turned less angry. "We've known each other from the time we were kids," she nudged the usually lively girl inside, "and you think you could fool me by turning on the tables."

Even further darkness enveloped them indoors; Inoichi's proud daughter hastily lighted a candle she found from a drawer. If she was going to have to confess to Sakura, she would do it so that they could actually see farther than their noses.

Both drowsily settled on her bed. Ino broke the ice and softly reminded, "We haven't really always been the model best friends." She reminisced the time they had fights over the Uchiha prodigy. Though they had rekindled their friendship since then, it would never be exactly the same. Sakura knew this too, her features slumped a fraction in defeat.

They changed their outfits while bringing back the ghosts of the past. All that bickering had been for naught. First, he had abandoned the village for good, despite Sakura's desperate efforts to stop him. Then he had changed, not only in the outside, but also in the inside. No longer did their Sasuke-kun exist, he had been devoured by anger and revenge. In the end, their last ripples of hope had been crushed; the avenger had chosen some unknown village's shinobi to bear his child. No, he might've not taken her as a wife, but…

Sakura had taken it harder than her, or anyone else, apart from a hyper baka. That girl might've actually had true feelings for him.

Slight envy and sadness made her reach a conclusion. She had no reason to hide Deidara from her; there was nothing secretive about him. Heck, I could even bother Sakura more by boasting about him. The thought lightened her, and thus the heavy atmosphere.

"All right. So, you want to know of whom I was wondering about." This brought the pinkette's full attention, as she was pulling on her pajamas. "I met him the day we arrived, he's hot, he's wonderful, and he worships me." Well, not yet, but a little lie won't hurt anyone.

Instead of arguing about that, Sakura insisted Ino to continue by nodding her head in a certain way.

"You'd be surprised at how much he looks like me. The long blond hair tied up, the bangs parted on one side, and the blue eyes." As she went through the list, she touched each part mentioned.

A suppressed giggle bubbled out. "What narcissist. So, you were lying. He's not hot, he's as ugly as you Ino-pig. No wonder you didn't want to tell me about it." Ino threw a pillow at her.

The challenge.

Eyes locked up and sizzles of sparks flying between them, the candle light diminished. As quickly as it had begun, the competition dropped down. Ino regretted her choice to light a small candle.

Sakura uneasily returned to her own block of privacy, diving under the rough blankets. "Was there any luck gathering information?"

The blond shaked her head and answered negatively.

"I found out something." She paused and turned to Ino before continuing. "There has been a talk that the person we're after goes to gamble every other night; he's in great need of money. I also heard someone say to be aware of the mouth, but I still can not figure out why. It could be possible that the person has a bloodline limit concerning that."

Ino tried to smugly joke, "Or then he just curses a lot or something."

"You know it wasn't said that way. The teller was scared, no, more like terrified."

She crawled under the sheets and turned her back to Sakura, intending to ignore her rival. "Good night." Simultaneously an irritated reply came from the other side. The full extent of tiredness swept over, her eyelids hurt from being kept open against her natural instincts. She thought about the precious information Sakura had learnt. If only Ino had been of some use. Damn her, the forehead girl won again.

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Thank you so much for the reviews, you can't possibly imagine how happy it makes me to read each of them. I greatly encourage for more.

I've written more and more as each chapter goes by, so I'll try to maintain that. Oh, oops, it just got longer, but less words. My bad.

:( Well, on the next chapter, I promise to write more.

If you have anything to ask, feel free to write it down.