"Remember, your uncle Kotaro will be stopping by in a few days to pick up the boxes of chinaware, so don't be alarmed if you hear anything from the basement," her mother says. "A-choo!"
Sakura hands her mother a handkerchief. The basement was always a little dusty, since no one ventured down here often; her parents used it to store account books and their more valuable wares. The room is packed with boxes overflowing with moldering scrolls and odd knickknacks that her father had brought back from his travels. Bolts of fabric occupy the wooden shelves lining the room, and underneath the shelves are painted vases and eggshell-thin teacups nestled in hay-lined boxes. Lacquerware gleams wine-dark in the candlelight. When Sakura was little, she used to come here and play hide-and-seek with her cousin Ren before the adults came to chase them out. Not with Ino, though. They had ended their friendship too soon for that to happen.
"Thank you, dear," Mebuki sniffles. "Oh, and remind me to tell your father to take care of those after we come back." She manages to point to a stack of thick tomes bound with twine before sneezing again.
"Alright. Are you okay, Kaa-san?"
"Yes, dear," her mother says miserably, dabbing her watering eyes.
They continue to search for the few items that Sakura's father had forgotten to pick up earlier. Eventually, they gather everything that Mebuki needs—a box of cosmetics, few bolts of cloth and five silk-backed scrolls—before exiting the room, Sakura carrying the heavier items. After they both leave the room, Mebuki slaps a palm on the wooden door. An intricate web of symbols flashes gold before fading away, and the door promptly vanishes into the rock wall.
"Are you sure that you be okay by yourself?" Her mother asks after a moment.
"I'll be fine, Kaa-san. If I get bored, I'll just go over to Ino's. Or Uncle Kotaro's. Is Ren back yet?"
"No, he's not," her mother says. "But Sakura?"
"Yeah?"
"Is there anything…bothering you lately?"
"No, of course not."
Her mother hums, sounding unconvinced. Sakura plasters a smile on her face.
"Kaa-san, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
"…Well, alright. Don't forget to put a cold towel over your eyes, it'll help with the puffiness. There's also some cold cream in the fridge—"
"I know," Sakura snaps, unable to help herself. She immediately feels guilty when her mother falls silent.
"Sorry, Kaa-san, I didn't mean to blow up at you. I've just been a little stressed recently. It's nothing. Really."
"…Well, if you're sure," her mother says uncertainly. "You know where the emergency money is, and if there's anything you need, just ask Mine-san next door or Kotaro—"
"Yes, yes," Sakura sighs. "Come on, you're going to be late. Tou-san's waiting," and despite her mother's protests, she relieves her mother of the bolts of cloth and starts up the stairs.
"…And that's the last of it," Sakura informs her father, depositing everything, including the ledger, in the back of the cart. Her father grins at her.
"Thanks for the help, kiddo," Kizashi says. Her father helps her mother up the cart before climbing up himself to the driver's perch in the front. Sakura steps back and waves to her parents.
"Have a safe trip, Tou-san. Bye, Kaa-san."
"See you in a few weeks, pumpkin," her father says. He nickers to the old grey horse, and the cart starts its creaky journey towards the village gates.
The doorbell rings once, then twice. When someone begins knocking "HERE HERE HERE COME QUICKLY" in standard Konoha code, Sakura knows that it's not her parents at the front door, looking for another missing item on their inventory. She wipes her hands on her apron before heading out to see the person making such a racket at 2 in the afternoon.
She finds Ino at the door, looking the most disheveled Sakura's ever seen her in years.
"Hey, Forehead. We got held up at one of the security checkpoints, so we got in late," Ino pants. There are beads of sweat trickling down the sides of her face, and her usually pristine hair is tangled and dirty. She looks tired. "Mind if I crash at your place today? My parents are still out on their mission, and I really don't want to sleep alone."
"Come on in, pig," Sakura says, standing aside to let Ino in. "I'll go turn the boiler on; you smell awful." She wrinkles her nose.
Ino half-heartedly shoots her a dirty look. "Yeah, well, the forest didn't have five-star rated accommodations the last time I checked," she says, unslinging her bag and dropping it unceremoniously onto the wooden floor. She squats down and begins the arduous task of unwrapping her sandals while Sakura goes down the hallway to turn on the switch for the boiler.
"Boiler's on," Sakura says, walking back to Ino, who's busily prying a mud-caked sandal off her left foot. "The hot water should be ready in ten minutes. You good, Pig?"
"I...hate...these...shoes," Ino wheezes. "Forehead, HALP."
"Okay. You're going to pull your foot back and I'm going to pull the shoe towards me. One, two-OW, Pig! Gross. I'm never wearing this shirt again." Sakura groans, looking down at the muddy footprint on her chest.
"Chill, girl. You have, like, five shirts that look exactly like the one you're wearing now," Ino points out, still huffing. "Man, I'm so out of shape after that run."
"No, this one's cherry red," Sakura corrects Ino. "The others are ruby, berry, lipstick, and scarlet."
"Those are virtually indistinguishable shades of red, Forehead."
"They're not the same."
"They look exactly like each oth—"
"They're not the same."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'll wash it for you later, how's that? Just help me with the other foot."
Sakura grimaces.
"I mean, unless you want me to walk around your house trekking dirt and blood and decomposed bits of flesh and organs and Chouji's potato chips," Ino says, rolling her eyes. "I'm pretty sure that my shoes have been in everything, and I mean everything."
"Ewww, Pig."
"Hey, you asked. Come on, let's get this over with so that I can take a bath and a nap and then we can talk about all the cute guys I saw at the rest stops on the way back home."
"Fineeee."
They manage to yank off Ino's other sandal without damaging the leather. "Yess!" Ino crows. She gives her sandal a once-over and then wiggles her toes experimentally. "My shoes look fine, no broken toes, great! I knew I could count on you, Sakura. Alright, bathtub. I'm coming for you, babe." She gets up and dusts her pants.
"...You're just here for my bathtub, aren't you?"
"Why do you think I'm still friends with you, Forehead?"
"You are such a pig," Sakura says, but the corners of her mouth quirk up.
"Gotta live up to my name, you know?" Ino says, already halfway up the stairs to Sakura's room. "See ya in a little bit. I might take a nap right after my bath; I'm pooped. Do you still have the clothes that I left the last time I came over?"
"Yeah, they're in the top drawer. I'm just going to run some errands for Kaa-san, but I'll be back in an hour or so. Don't go burning the house down, you hear me?"
"Yes, Mother," Ino says. Sakura can hear her eyes roll. "If you're going to the store, can you get me a toothbrush and the latest edition of Kunoichi Kulture? I need to catch up with all of the gossip I missed. Oh, and purin if they have any. Thanks, Forehead!"
"One toothbrush, Kunoichi Kulture, and purin. Would that be all for you, Your Highness?" Sakura says sarcastically.
"No, that would be all, child," Ino says pompously, pulling off a passable imitation of the Fire Daimyo. "But no, I just really need the toothbrush," she adds, reverting back to her normal voice. "Don't worry about the other two-and. Oh. My. God."
"Alright. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?" Sakura hollers.
"HOT WATERRRR," Ino's voice floats down. "YASSSS." The sound of running water starts.
"...And you obviously don't hear me anymore," Sakura sighs. She opens the front door. "See ya later, pig."
Ino still isn't done with her bath when Sakura comes back from the store 30 minutes later, so Sakura sticks the two cups of purin in the fridge and drops the new toothbrush into the holder before curling up on the loveseat with the fashion magazine. She's halfway through Kunoichi Kulture when Ino reappears in an old oversized sweater that reads FLOWER POWER and a pair of baggy sweatpants.
"Bathtubs are magical," Ino announces, looking fresh and bright-eyed and very different from the haggard girl who had staggered in an hour before. "I still can't believe that Daddy got rid of ours and installed those stupid modern shower stalls instead. From now on, I'm coming over to shower at your place, Sakura. I'll move in my entire collection of rubber duckies. You'll never get rid of me. Ever."
"I've tried, but it didn't work, remember?" Sakura says absentmindedly, poring over Kunoichi Kulture.
"It's because you lurveeee me," Ino singsongs, making herself comfortable in the nest of pillows at the head of Sakura's bed. Sakura rolls her eyes.
"Please, Pig."
Ino grins. "Awww, Forehead's getting all shy," she teases.
"Shut up," Sakura grumbles. "And stop moving around, the bed's going to collapse under your weight." She dodges the teddy bear Ino lobs at her.
"So," Ino says, leaning back against the wall, digging into her second cup of purin. She pops the spoon out of her mouth with an audible sound. Sakura frowns at her to tell her how obnoxious that is; Ino just sticks her tongue at her. "Anything happen while I was gone?"
"Mm. Not really," Sakura says, turning her attention back to the magazine. She flips back to the page with the cute platform heels. "Hey, Ino, what do you think about these shoes?"
"Cute," Ino mumbles around her spoon, glancing at the page. "And badass. Call them your badass kicking boots." She gives Sakura a mock-glare. "And don't think you've fooled me, because you didn't. We promised no secrets between us, remember?"
Sakura sighs and shoves the magazine away from her. "I think my soulmate's here. In Konoha."
Ino promptly spits out her spoon.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner, Forehead?" Ino sputters after Sakura tells her about the incident at the farmers' market. "I mean, this, this is important! This should have been the first thing that you told me today!"
"I thought that you might be hurt if I told you," Sakura mumbles.
"W-what? Of course not!" Ino says, looking gobsmacked. "Where did you get that idea?"
"Because we fought last time, and it hurt to not be friends with you," Sakura says in a small voice, looking down at her lap, feeling stupider every second she voiced her deepest fears in front of her friend. "And I…I don't want to ruin what we have again." She looks at Ino. "I miss talking to you, Ino."
"Awww. Give me a hug, Forehead," Ino says, tackling Sakura with a bear hug.
"Hos before bros?" Sakura says, voice muffled by Ino's baggy sweater.
"Hos before bros," Ino agrees, patting Sakura on the head before releasing her. "Anyway, my soulmate can go screw themselves with a ten-foot pole, for all I care. You can find out a lot about a person by the food they eat, and from what I can tell, my soulmate's someone that I never, ever want to meet in my lifetime. So don't worry about me, Forehead, you have enough problems of your own to deal with. At least your soulmate sounds somewhat normal."
"If you look past the drug habit and the shady connections to ANBU, that is," Sakura says drily.
Ino shrugs. "Everyone has a few skeletons in their closet," is her rejoinder. "And in the grand scheme of things, those aren't really problems for shinobi." She bounces up and down on the bed. "But Sakura, look! Now you can find out who your soulmate is! Looking for someone in Konoha is totally is so excitinggg. Waaay better than fashion magazines and trashy gossip."
"I...I dunno, Ino." Sakura flops down on her back.
"But why?" Ino asks, confused. "Don't you also want to find out who it is? You even ran after them! Look, we've risked so much to find out more about this, and I'm being serious here. If sensei ever finds out that we stole his files, we are toast, Forehead."
"Don't get me wrong, I want to know why this is happening, or who my soulmate is. It's just…I don't think I'm ready."
"I don't understand."
Sakura sighs. "Ino, what do you think of me?"
"Wait, what? Why?"
"When other people look at me," Sakura says quietly, "they see a failure. A weakling. And I get it, because that's who I was. Who I am, right now."
"But you aren't a—"
"Haven't you heard about the things they say about me, Ino?"
Ino falls silent, and Sakura knows she has.
"I want to find them. I really do, but it's too hard. I can't—I can't go out looking for them. Not now. Not when I still can't look at myself in the mirror."
"…If that's what you want, then," Ino says. She studies Sakura for a moment, and then mercifully turns her attention to the magazine in front of her.
Finally broke through my writer's block! Sorry about the lack of action in this update. Merry Christmas, and happy holidays!
