"Sakura" Ino jumped out from behind the counter, her long silky blonde hair trailing behind her in waves "Hello Ino" Sakura gave the girl a smile and waited for the hug she knew was coming and sure enough Ino wrapped her arms around Sakura's shoulders and gave her a light hug "So what brings you into the flower shop today" Ino chattered on "Well I brought back some souvenirs for you" Sakura smiled when Ino let out a loud squeal which caused Inoichi to poke his head out from the back room and ask what was going on.

He spotted the reason a moment later, gave Sakura a small wave, flashed her a quick smile then disappeared again "May we sit" Sakura prodded gently when Ino stood there and bounced up and down excitedly "Absolutely" Ino nodded rapidly, took off her apron, folded it and then called out that they were going upstairs to her room, grabbed Sakura by the hand and dragged her quickly up the steps and into said room "Ok so what did you get me" Ino plopped down gracefully on her bed.

"Well it's multiple items" Sakura started out with a soft groan but her smile let Ino know that she was just teasing "You know how to use storage scrolls right" Sakura asked and Ino nodded, with that Sakura handed over the scroll she had sealed the gifts in and Ino quickly unsealed the scroll, gasping in awe at the assortment of items that littered her bed afterwards "Why so much" Ino hadn't thought Sakura would get her so much "There's something from every village I visited" Sakura explained.

"So what's this" Ino held up a book that had weird lettering on it "It's a pressed flower collection, it has a flower from all the different countries and villages" Sakura smiled when Ino immediately flipped open the book and looked over the many different flowers that had been carefully pressed along with the name of each flower and the many different properties and uses it had "Wow this is pretty dang amazing Sakura" Ino was so into the book that she missed Sakura picking up something else.

"That's not all Ino" Sakura stifled her laughter when Ino's head snapped up in confusion "Well there are these" Sakura held up a stack of books tied with a red ribbon "And what are those" Ino asked even more confused "Well if you ever find yourself stuck in an unknown area and needed to pick some herbs or flowers that have healing properties these books will tell you what to look for" Sakura smiled and handed over the books for Ino to look over a few minutes later Ino looked up once more waiting for the next item.

"This is the last" Sakura held out the assortment of weapons and another book "Another book" Ino raised a blonde eyebrow in exasperation "It will help you with that hair of yours, Ino you got to admit that if anyone got a hold of your hair during a fight that would pretty much be it" Sakura just had to explain and Ino nodded taking the advice easily, the blonde really had grown up in the last couple of years "Wow it's so pretty" Ino gasped in awe when she caught sight of the weapon, it was a dagger.

The blade itself was the color of her blonde hair, while the hilt of the dagger was the shade of her eyes, around the hilt was her name etched in pale pink and a cosmos flower as the signature mark, the case to the dagger was an off white color with her name and the flower engraved into it and then the pouch for the weapon was a solid black with her initials and the cosmos once again "Where did you get it" Ino truly wanted to know where Sakura had gotten the weapon because it certainly was a work of art.

"I know someone from the artisans village and we have a deal made between us" Sakura explained simply, smiling wide when Ino gazed at her in admiration "Hey Ino maybe we can go shopping together sometime, I've been in dire need of new clothes these past couple of weeks all the ones I got a few years ago are getting a little to small" Sakura let out an embarrassed cough when Ino looked her over "Absolutely Sakura" Ino smirked it would give her time to really get to know the pinkette.

Sakura had just turned to leave so she could find the next person that she had gifts for when Ino called out to her, this being the second time someone had stopped her from leaving the room "Wait Sakura, I have a question" Ino wrung her hands together nervously when Sakura peered at her with her emerald green eyes "What is it Ino" Sakura was slightly confused never before had she seen the blonde girl this nervous about anything "Well remember when we were in the rain village" Ino started and Sakura nodded.

"You asked me what happened to my hair" Sakura remembered well "How hard was it for you to cut your hair" Ino blurted out and Sakura blinked "I was to angry to realize what I had done when I cut my hair but afterwards I felt a little better, I actually couldn't wait for my hair to grow out again" Sakura smiled sheepishly and then stared at Ino when the girl took a deep breath "Well I've been talking to my parents and I've decided to cut my hair, I was wondering if you'd help me out with that" Ino smiled nervously eyeing her long blonde hair.

"Oh Ino that's really brave of you" Sakura was proud of her friend and skipped back over to Ino's bed "I'm terrified of losing it" Ino admitted in embarrassment "Tell you what Ino once it's cut I can turn it into a weapon for you to use" Sakura offered and Ino turned around on her bed quickly "You can really do that" Ino asked all the fear she held over cutting her hair was pronounced clearly in her pale blue eyes "Yep, just have to send a letter to my friend in the artisans village" Sakura nodded smiling reassuringly at Ino.

"Ok I think I'm ready" Ino turned back around trembling with trepidation as Sakura raised a regular kunai to her hair "How short do you want it Ino" Sakura asked and Ino raised her hand and gestured at her shoulder blades "That's not to bad" Sakura announced it was a bit longer than what she had cut her hair at before, and then quickly swiped the kunai through Ino's blonde hair after gathering it in her spare hand "Oh" Ino let out a gasp feeling the weight of her hair lessening.

"Feels good doesn't it" Sakura giggled and Ino let out a giggle of her own "Yes, it does" Ino smiled and ran her hand through her now shoulder blade length hair it just so happened to be the moment Inoichi chose that moment to knock on the door and enter Ino's room "So you cut your hair" he wasn't surprised, Ino had been talking about getting her hair cut for months once she had returned with her team from the Hidden Rain Village, when he found out the reason why Ino had simply stated that if Sakura could do it, then so could she.

Inoichi had smiled and nothing more had been said about the subject "Yes dad, Sakura cut it for me and it feels so nice" Ino was happy at least she didn't have to worry about it being grabbed by enemy hands now, even though she had a feeling it would annoy her now that it was at a much shorter length again "Don't worry Ino, there are ways to prevent it from getting in your way" Sakura put her worries to rest when Ino wouldn't stop running her hands through her hair and tugging on the strands.

Once Inoichi had left, Sakura gathered the cut hair tied one end, handed it over to Ino and promptly braided the locks, before pulling out an extra scroll and sealing the hair into it "I'll write a letter to my friend in the artisans village later and send this to him" Sakura explained when Ino looked at her in confusion "Oh I see" Ino nodded in understanding and then stared at her shortened hair sadly she hadn't thought it would be this hard now that it was cut but it was proving to be difficult now that her long hair was gone.

Sakura had seen this and let out a long sigh internally sulking at what she was about to do, and quickly raised her kunai the same one she had used to cut Ino's hair gathered up a decent amount so that hers would be the same length as Ino's and slashed through her hair before trimming her bangs so they wouldn't be so long, once she had thrown away the pink and silver hair Ino finally spoke up "Why did you do that, I thought you said you were never cutting your hair again" Ino had watched in confusion as Sakura cut her hair.

"Well this way at least you aren't going through this on your own and you have someone to relate to" Sakura smiled sheepishly when Ino started giggling "Thank you Sakura" Ino gave her a happy smile and then watched warily as Sakura's previously cut bangs once again turned silver "Why did they do that" Ino was quick to ask "My religion" Sakura answered vaguely and Ino dropped that line of questioning instantly before waving Sakura out of her room as she headed off to find someone else to give souvenirs to trying her hardest not to mess with her hair.