It has been AGES since I last updated, and for that I am terribly sorry. I got caught up in school and RP and social life, but there really isn't a very good excuse. However, I'm liking how I've started writing this better than how I was writing it. I scrapped the first draft of this chapter, and am much more pleased with this one. Anyway, I'll discuss that later since you haven't even read it yet, lol.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did…. Well, there would never be new chapter at the rate I go with fan fiction, lol.


The day Naruto left came faster than it should have. Sakura had agreed to see him off at Heaven's gates, and I was going to meet her after. I was cheer up committee. I would also probably be distraction committee for a while, but I knew Sakura would feel better eventually. She would be sad when Naruto was gone, but once she got used to him not being around it would all be better.

I was casually making my way to the gates, taking my time since I wasn't sure how long it would take the two to say goodbye. Part of me thought I should have been there saying goodbye, but it would have felt wrong. Those two saying goodbye, it was something much more personal and intimate than I could understand. It would have just been awkward if I had been there. In all honesty, I wouldn't have been surprised if the two were soul mates. Part of me was waiting for the day they would confess their love for each other and become joined for eternity. I didn't understand then just why that thought hurt so much. Maybe I cared for Naruto? I didn't understand at all.

When I finally reached the gates, I don't know how long Naruto had been gone. Sakura was simply sitting, looking so sad and dejected. I had walked over and hugged her, just held her, and let her lean against me. Somehow, I had managed to miss the time passing, managed to miss seeing the lights of Heaven's daytime fade to the lights of Heaven's nighttime. We needed to move, needed to eat something, to do something other than sit at the gates missing our friend.

We walked home, my arms wrapped around her. I couldn't let her go, she was so sad. I was afraid that if I removed my arms from her, she would fall.

Time seemed to drag forever on the walk to my house, unlike how quickly time had passed earlier. Minutes dragged on and on for hours, and I thought I would collapse from exhaustion on the spot before we ever reached home. When we finally reached my place, Sakura untangled herself from me and declared she was going to make some food. I found myself feeling so empty with her not in my arms anymore. It was hard, but I convinced myself she had simply been warm, and the loss of heat simply felt weird. It was harder than it should have been to convince myself of.

!#$%^&*()_+

"Thanks for staying with me today, Ino," Sakura said, and she sounded far more cheerful than I had expected. She was standing at my stove cooking stir fry. I have to admit I was a bit nervous; Sakura didn't have the best track record for cooking. Still, I was still strangely tired and didn't have the energy to object, so she got away with it.

"It was no problem," I replied from the table. Part of me wanted to ask how she was feeling, but that was a question that always seemed to make people feel worse, so I refrained.

"Hey Sakura, really, you didn't need to go to the trouble of cooking."

"It's no problem," she responded with a giggle and a glowing smile. "It helps keep my mind off things."

I felt like pointing out she hated cooking. I was spared the inconvenience when something started smoking, and she let off a string of curses that could very well get her kicked out of Heaven if the wrong person heard her. In the end, we ordered takeout. She stayed the night, and even though she had only been a room away, I'd never felt so far from her.

I woke up that morning to a pillow smashing my face in.

!#$%^&*()_+

"SAKURA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

The pink haired angel just stood there, attempting to look sweet and innocent, which was a lost cause with that pillow still in her hand. I sat glaring at her for a moment before grabbing my own pillow and taking a swing at that big forehead of hers. We ended up running through the house for a good thirty minutes attacking each other with pillows. In the end, we both collapsed onto my couch, breathless from running and laughing. The only hint of the sad Sakura from yesterday was the small glimmer in her eyes. She missed him, and I felt oddly jealous at that. The feeling made me sick to my stomach; an Archangel should not feel jealousy. I should have been above it.

Eventually, I had to kick the girl out and leave her to her own devices. She had said something about going to see Lee, but I hadn't honestly paid much attention. I had to get ready for work.

!#$%^&*()_+

That afternoon, I met Shikamaru and Chouji at the Hearing Hall to receive our mission. The three of us laughed and joked just like old times when we had been young Virtues, when we had been training under Asuma. Back then, there had been a time I had believed that maybe Shikamaru and I were soul mates, but then he met Temari. In the end, it was for the best, those two were made for each other. Nothing brought a smile to my face quite like seeing lazy Shikamaru being bossed around by that Archangel. They were perfect for each other. He kept her (somewhat) mellow, as mellow as Temari ever got, and she kept him on his toes and doing things.

Our mission was to go to earth and exorcise some minor demons from some city. They had disrupted the balance there, and it needed to be fixed. It was a mission that shouldn't take long, and we were to leave the next morning. That night, I met Sakura for dinner, told her I would be gone for a few days, and felt bad at how her face fell. I wasn't looking forward to leaving her, and I wasn't sure if it was because I didn't want her to be lonely, or if it was some reason I was uncertain of.


I really like how I broke up the parts of this, like with Ino telling the story and then the action bits. Pretty much all I have to say other than I'm SO sorry for how late this is. I wish I could promise it won't happen again, but… It probably will. Especially since my break ends in about a week and a half.