(A/N: School's OUT! Woohoo! Now I can devote my time to FanFiction, where I truly belong. :) As usual, there's a full cite at the end of the chapter. Let's see how Ichida's handling things two years after her sister's death.

Little fix to a mistake I made last chapter. Tishana, who was mentioned at the very end, belongs to Tanni as well. Hehe… Oopsies. ^^)

Things changed forever after that day. After winning a lawsuit against the drunk dirtbag who did the deed, my mom was not as happy as she used to be. And neither was I.

For the next two months or so, my mom and I used to cry ourselves to sleep at night, but by the time two years had passed, most of our tears had dried up. I had put Never Say Never on my phone to always keep my little sister close to my heart.

On December 20, 2007, Fugaku Corp's base of operations went into the red, and it had no stocks left to fall back on. Debiro Inc. had won the long battle, and we could finally return home. The Uchihas were forced to move out of Nagasaki and find a new base, not an easy task when you're close to total bankruptcy.

Bathed in success, my mom immediately booked a flight back to Konoha, Tokyo, leaving the Nagasaki branch of Debiro Inc. in the hands of her CFO and her secretary.

"We're finally out of this place…" my mom said with a deep sigh as the plane took off out of Nagasaki. "You happy to be going back home?"

"Not if we're moving again…" I said.

"That's a promise. No more moving for us." my mom said with a distant voice. She looked out of the plane window, down at Nagasaki as it slowly got smaller.

000

Nothing eventful happened until about a week after we arrived back home in Konoha. Ino and I had planned to meet after we had settled back down again. I had waited in the playground for her the day we were supposed to meet up, sitting on the swings. Oddly, I had found someone to talk to while waiting.

"You new here, Ichida?" the boy asked me as he sat in the opposite swings, after we introduced ourselves.

"I might as well be; I haven't been to my home in seven years. Everything looks so different now. I sure know this playground wasn't here when I was five. What about you, Suigetsu?"

"I moved here a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still getting used to it." Suigetsu said, picking at the canine that stuck out from between his lips. My family's a subsidiary of a company that recently went in the red, and if we wanted to keep our jobs, we had to move with them."

I furled my eyebrows. "You wouldn't be a subsidiary of Fugaku Corp., would you?"

"Yeah, I am. How'd you guess?"

"Lucky shot in the dark." I said, thinking about how Itachi and Sasuke could be here, too.

After a few more minutes, I started talking to Suigetsu about Ino, and when I started, I just couldn't stop. I named off all the good qualities about my best friend that I could, only stopping to catch my breath every once in a while. Suigetsu seemed kind of amused.

"Ichi-chan!" I heard as I continued to tell Suigetsu about how great Ino was.

Turning around, I saw someone, but for a split second, I was confused at who it was. For just a fraction of a second, it looked like it was Jojo running full speed toward me, but I blinked, and it turned out to be Ino. My heart twanged for a couple of beats as I smiled and cocked my head to one side.

"Ino-cha-" Was all I could get out before I was basically tackled to the ground by Ino's massive bear hug.

"It's nice to see you again." I finished, laughing at my friends excitability.

"Ugh… Girls are SO emotional." Suigetsu said with a smirk.

Ino got up and looked oddly at the white-haired boy.

"Oh, Ino-chan," I started, standing up and brushing the wood chips off of my back. "This is Suigetsu."

"Yo, Ino-san," Suigetsu said, continuing to pick at his canine. "I heard a lot about you."

"Nice to meet you!" Ino said with a smile, shaking Suigetsu's hand. It was nice to see that Ino had lost none of her bubbliness.

"Well, it was nice hanging out with you two, but I gotta bounce. I gotta go up to the school with my dad to pick up my syllabi and schedules and whatnot." Suigetsu said, waving as he walked down to the street.

I was about to open my mouth and talk to Ino again, but I heard another voice call out.

"Ino-chan! Ino-chan!"

I turned and saw another girl jogging up. She was pretty, like Ino, but she had long pink hair and soft green eyes.

The girl shocked me. She had ran up and jumped on Ino, giving her a noogie and calling her names.

"Grr! Ino-pig! Why don't you answer your phone anymore? I had to take a lucky guess that you were in the park!"

"Well, maybe I don't have to tell you everywhere I go, Billboard-Brow!" Ino retorted, twisting around and jabbing the interloper in the forehead with two fingers.

I was a moment away from jumping in and breaking up the 'fight', but that same moment, Ino and the new girl separated and shared a laugh.

"It's alright, Ino. I forgive you." she said, giving Ino a hug.

"You two, uh, know each other?" I asked.

"Oh! Sorry, Ichi-chan. This is Sakura. Her family bought your house after you left. We became b- *cough!* good friends while you were gone."

I wasn't an idiot. I could tell by looking at them that these two had become the BEST of friends behind my back. Not only that, Sakura had been Ino's best friend LONGER than I had been. At that moment, something broke in my head. A gear had shot loose and disrupted the entire clockwork of my emotions, but I hid it as best as I could.

"Well, it's *twitch!* nice to meet you, S-Sakura-chan."

"And Sakura, this is Ichida. We were inseparable before you moved here!"

"Nice to finally meet you, Ichi-chan! Ino has told me so much about you." Sakura said, running up and giving me a hug.

The hug tingled, like I was being hugged by a sheet of sandpaper. I knew that this feeling was my body reacting enviously to hers. From the moment that Sakura released me from her hug, I had become her secret enemy…

000

For a full six months, I was forced to watch as Sakura and Ino got closer and closer, and we drifted farther apart. I had been making many efforts to see Ino and to rekindle that old friendship that we had, but every time we got a chance to meet up, SHE always tagged along. I wanted to wring her neck SO badly, but as long as Ino was around her, I was powerless…

The more this went on, the more springs and gears started coming loose in my head, until I lost all rationality…

One day, while all three of us hung out at Ino's house while her parents were away, Ino and Sakura talked, while I played video games on Ino's TV, uninterested.

"Be right back, guys. I'm going to get us some sodas. You want anything, Ichi-chan?" Ino asked.

"Some lemonade would be nice." I said without looking away from the TV.

After Ino left, Sakura started talking to me.

"I know how you must feel, Ichi-chan. Let me just assure you: Ino-chan loves you, too!" she said.

For a moment, for just a moment, I didn't think that Sakura was as bad as I thought she was.

"But she still loves ME more."

That's when I snapped. Even though all reason had left my head, I remained still, continuing to play the game, waiting for just ONE more reason to kill her.

"Aw, don't be mad, Ichi-chan! I'm just kidding with you. But I can see how you might feel threatened. I've been hanging out with Ino longer, I'm just a LITTLE bit cuter…"

I could tell that Sakura meant well and was honestly just kidding with me, and had I kept any of my sanity, I wouldn't have minded, but every joke she made brought me closer to the edge…

"…not to mention that we share the same interests! Plus, she loves my long hair."

That was the trigger. No sooner than those words escaped her lips, I whirled around and gave her the most powerful slap I could muster, which sent her to the floor hard. I jumped on Sakura and the two of us began a bout of wrestling and trading blows. Sakura got a couple of good shots in, cutting my lip and bruising my eye, until I was able to get on top of her and sit on her stomach, tiring her out to the point where she could barely move.

Grabbing a pair of scissors from Ino's drawer, I continued my rampage, alternating between cutting her hair and ripping it out of her skull. I yelled at her as I did, too. I was glad that Ino's kitchen was two floors down and on the other side of the house, so she didn't hear me.

"You don't belong here, you bitch! Ino is MINE! All MINE! So find your own friends and LEAVE MY SISTER ALONE! Do you hear me? LEAVE HER ALONE or I'll kill you!" I screeched at her, surprising even myself. I had barely even noticed that in my rage, I had called Ino my sister and I certainly didn't expect to shout a death threat at her.

I stood, panting and admiring my work. Sakura, sniveling and whimpering like a dog, tried to stand, but with one well-placed elbow to that billboard of a forehead, I sent her to the floor again, kneeling before me and clutching her throbbing head. Just then, the door opened.

"Alright, guys, I'm back with drinks for my two best buds, Sakura and- *gasp!* ICHIDA!"

In her shock, Ino dropped my glass of lemonade, causing it to shatter and douse the contents all over the carpet. She stared in pure horror at my stony expression, and then at Sakura's sad, pathetic form in front of me. In actuality, it took every fiber of my being not to attack Ino as well.

"W-Why are y-you doing this?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"You promised me… 7 years ago… that you wouldn't replace me." I said, my cold, almost deathly voice proclaiming my descent into my own pit of uber-insanity.

Sakura choked on her tears, looking slowly up at my terrifying face, then over to Ino's, as if asking for help.

"You promised we would be best friends forever, so I had to protect that." I spat, looking disdainfully down at Sakura. Ino was at a loss for words, slowly shaking her head. Tears were beginning to form in her wide, blue orbs.

"But I didn't… and we are… you didn't have to do this…" Ino stuttered.

"Yes I did… I did this for you Ino… for us… and this filth was trespassing in it."

In my own little world, I somehow thought this would all work out. I had it all scripted out in my mind. Ino would take me to her bathroom and we would talk it all out in there. We would forgive each other, and by that time, Sakura would've been out the door, in her parents' car, and moving far away from here. However, that whole fantasy was shattered by two three-letter words.

"Get out."

I looked up at Ino, and her shock and sadness were replaced with growing anger.

"W-What?" I asked, shocked. I opened my mouth to say something again, but Ino stopped me with a loud shout.

"Get out!" she screamed, causing me to flinch.

I gritted my teeth and cut my eyes at Ino before slowly walking toward her, taking something from my ear as I walked. As I passed, I dropped it at Ino's feet. It was the other half to the friendship earrings we had worn since we met. I had worn mine in my left ear and Ino in her right, and we had promised each other that we would never take them off…

As I waded over the lemonade stain, Ino said something again, the sword that cleaved my heart in two.

"Consider yourself…. replaced."

In another brief fit of rage, I slammed Ino's door behind me, breathing hard for a few moments before turning around and banging on it as hard as I could, screaming Ino's name.

"Waah! Ino, please! Let me back in, please! PLEASE, Ino! I'm sorry! Really, I'm sorry! Please forgive me, sis! Please, PLEASE!"

I put my ear at the door and heard Ino saying comforting words to Sakura, ignoring my pleas as if I didn't exist.

"Well, forget you!" I blubbered, the tears freely flowing down my face. "Forget you, forget Sakura, forget your family, and forget your STUPID flower shop! I don't need you anymore!"

And on that note, I ran through the house and down the two flights of stairs as fast as I could. As I ran out the door, I noticed Ino's father getting out of his car and beginning to walk up the driveway. He looked confusedly at me before yelling after me.

"I-Ichida? Ichida! Where are you going; I thought you were sleeping over!"

It was at that moment that I remembered my bags, still parked in the foyer of Ino's house, but I barely cared if I ever saw them again. All I cared about was getting home, a more depressing and daunting task when considering that it began pouring rain just a minute and a half later. As I trudged through the rain, wondering how this day could get any worse, a car zoomed by, splashing me with a fresh torrent of muddy water. But on I trudged, until I got to the doorstep of my house. I quickly opened the door and ran inside. My mom was sitting in her chair, reading a magazine and listening to her Pink Friday album.

She turned and gasped as she saw me, sopping wet and miserable.

"Ichida?" she asked as I ran up and hugged her tightly, crying into her chest. As it turned out, that particular day COULD get worse, because the song my mom was listening to was Super Bass, just as it reached what is now my LEAST favorite part of the song.

See, I need you in my life for me to stay

No, no, no, no, no, don't go away

No, no, no, no, no, I know you'll stay, hey-y-y-y

I cried loud and wildly in my mother's arms, who just rocked me in her lap and rubbed my back.

My life was practically over, and there was no way I could see it getting better…

000

"We're losing her! Seal her head up, fast!"

"Her lung won't inflate, Doctor!"

"Damn! What else could go wrong?"

-beeeeeeeeeeeeep!-

"Doctor, she's flatlined!"

"Stop the procedure! Get the defibrillator… Clear!"

-thump!-

"Again, clear!"

-thump!-

-beeeeeeeeeeeeep!-

"Is she… Is she gone?"

(A/N: CLIFFY! I've been waiting to say that! Is Ichida really dead? And if she isn't will she make it through the surgery? Can Ichida's past possibly turn out to be any worse? The answer to that question is 'yes', and we'll find out how next chapter!

Until then, this is your loyal author, SH10, signing out! And… BOOM goes the dynamite! I've been waiting to steal that line since I've JOINED FanFiction! ^^

Oh, yeah. Full cite.

Sakura, Ino, Suigetsu, and the Uchiha family (mentioned) belong to MK, the lucky duck.

Ichida's right half, Hakujo (mentioned) and Senshu belong to me. Her left half will always belong to Tanni8kya HeHe.

NOW, I'm signing out!)