A/N: This is a Sakura/Ino yuri. This is rated M, for swearing, alocohol usage and sexual references. There will be another author's note at the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Obviously.

Chapter 10: The elevator was overdue for inspection

I sat at my desk, facing my room, with a book in my hands. Rina was still asleep. I knew this because I'd taken glances over the top of my book every now and then to make sure. I was kind of worried about her. It was almost noon…

Then again, not everyone sleeps uneasily when there are visitors at the house. That morning, when I woke up, I hadn't been plagued by Ino, for once, and I was allowed this pleasure. I had learned on my own that an idle mind produced dreams. I wasn't used to dreams, of any nature, and so I knew I had to keep myself busy somehow. (1)

I took my empty beer can and headed out to ground zero. I cleaned up the mess that was there, glad to see that my dad had put the remaining pizzas in the fridge. The house was empty and silent. As I was wiping up a spill left from last night, a woman I wasn't familiar with came down the hall. Her raven colored hair was damp and her pale brown, narrow eyes gazed at me intensely, before softening up. She looked kind of sick, and I assumed she was hung over.

"Good morning Sakura," she said with a smile that I determined was forced. I didn't even bother with formalities or politeness.

"Who are you?"

She scowled and glared at me.

"So maybe your dad doesn't talk about me as much as he talks about you, but you'll be seeing a lot more of me Pinky, so get used to it."

I was suddenly annoyed—she had failed to answer my question. I rolled my eyes and left the kitchen a bit pissed. I let myself into my dad's room to find him still in bed. I shook him a little, calling his name. When his eyes opened, I took a seat on the floor. There was no way in fucking hell I was going to sit on his bed (because I was convinced he had been at it with that woman last night).

"Who's the chick?" I asked, watching his tired face blush.

"I should be asking you the same thing," he countered. I blushed an identical blush in return.

"Fair… but she won't be affecting our family like your girl is bound to."

"True, but my girl isn't just a fling… not a one night stand."

Embarrassedly I said, "Which is exactly why the name of your girl is more important than the name of my girl."

He sighed, running a hand through his already tussled blonde hair.

"Her name is Anko," he finally caved before sighing once again. "I should really be more concerned about your sexual habits."

"Is she going to be my step-mom? And don't bother yourself with my sexual habits; I'd have to think you were a pervert of some kind," I said, standing up. "We didn't have sex anyways."

"Maybe," he replied with a thoughtful look (not about being a pervert, I assumed). "She's got an interesting personality, and I want to know if you're compatible…"

"Dad, I'll be going off to college soon. It doesn't really matter if I like her or not."

"Yes it does. You'll always be the most important girl in my life. Your approval is more important to me than anything. Plus, you often see the things that I don't see…"

"Well, you are a bit daft," I joked with a laugh.

He smiled at me and asked, "So who's your girl?"

"Rina… She's a friend from school."

"Just a friend?"

"Yeah, just a friend."

It was then I traveled back to my room, wondering about how the hell I had ended up in bed with Rina last night. I had only had one can. I wasn't anywhere near drunk. My head was on straight. It didn't even make sense how it happened. One moment she was complimenting my room, the next we were bantering, playfully, back and forth with innuendo laced words, and then next we were making out. And the worst thing was, I didn't think she had ever been with anyone the way she had been with me; I don't think she had ever let hands roam where mine had.

I sat back down on my chair and watched her without the distraction of Wuthering Heights. How would she take this? Hopefully well, because it takes two to tango, and she was more than willing to dance. All I could think about were her gentle hands and eager whimpers. Just thinking about it made me somewhat uncomfortable. I barely knew this girl… This wasn't me.

She began to stir and I watched the process of her awakening. When her eyes opened enough to catch a glimpse of me, she blushed. I continued to watch her, carefully, wondering what was going to happen next. She looked a bit uncomfortable there, clutching the comforter to herself—I almost laughed at the irony of being uncomfortable beneath a comforter.

"Mornin'," I said, watching the digital clock change to 11:59. It was still technically the morning.

"Good morning," she replied looking a bit out of it. She would start crying in a couple of minutes, maybe, because she suddenly realized she regretted what she had done and more specifically, what she had wanted to do.

"Nobody has to know about this," I mumbled, still watching her for her reaction. What the hell was she doing?

She took a deep breath, shutting her eyes before she released the breath. A dopey smile broke out onto her lips and she flopped backwards in my bed.

What? A smile? What the fuck was going on?

Well, I'll let you know that I still didn't know what was going on when I showed up at school on Monday, holding hands with Rina.

"Yeah, just a friend," my dad had muttered as he dropped us off at school.

"I… umm," I coughed, feeling awkward about the whole thing. I didn't even know how to explain it to my dad. What would I be losing by dating Rina? Perhaps Ino would just leave me be now. I was pretty sure she knew that she was just going through a phase. This could end now and I wouldn't have to hurt so much.

Rina and I walked into the lobby with our backpacks filled with our things and I could feel all the eyes on us and our conjoined hands. I was suddenly feeling very hot and uncomfortable beneath the heat of their stares. I was openly a lesbian, but I had never actually been in the public eye with my relationships. This was new and I didn't enjoy it one bit. If there was anything anyone could even remember about my nature was that I was a hermit and I was very reclusive. Being the main event wasn't my kind of thing—it wouldn't be even if I was straight. I'd leave that to Ino.

And just as I thought of her, Ino walked into the lobby; she had already been at school. Her eyes, just as everyone else's, were transfixed on Rina and me. For the first time ever, I wished Ino just wouldn't look at me. She looked confused and perhaps a little hurt, but I wasn't too sure about that last half because she wasn't standing close enough to me for me to read the hidden emotion on her face and in her eyes.

I pulled Rina along, brooding over the whole idea of Ino being hurt by my newfound relationship. What right did she have to be hurt? She didn't understand what it was like to be used. If I could've, I would have told her right then and there that there was nothing worse than being used in secret. Fuck that. I was tired of being walked all over.

Once we were in the elevator Rina called for my attention.

"Sakura?"

"Hmm?"

"If you don't want to do this, I don't mind…"

"Rina… look, I just want to know if you even like me right now. I don't know how much of this I can handle." The sigh I heaved then was probably one of the heaviest I had ever heaved—I think the elevator even began moving a bit quicker because of the dispelled weight. I absently noted that the elevator certificate said that the elevator was overdue for inspection.

"Of course. I wouldn't have… well…" her blush was insane. I wasn't aware the human face could turn that deep of a red.

It was cute, though, and I was content with her embarrassment. Perhaps that would keep her from wanting any sort of PDA. I wasn't that kind of a partner. Our relationship was between her and I and that meant that it was void of the influence of others. That meant we did what we did out of the public eye, and that didn't mean I was ashamed of it—far from it. I wanted it to last, even if it was random and sudden. I wanted it to last long enough for me to get Ino off of my mind.

That night with Ino was awkward. Yes, she managed to avoid me all day, but that was fine. I had taken my alone time to get to know Rina better and I enjoyed the time we spent with one another. Of course I was thinking about Ino a lot, but what was to be expected? Rina left me to go back to her dorm with a very enjoyable kiss and a comfortable hug. If I had known, I would've come out to the school a lot earlier—this was fantastic. The only thing stopping me from really enjoying this was Ino. I was so worried that I had perhaps hurt her ego once more. She had lost her play thing. Would she take it personally? Probably; this was Ino, and she happened to be a very competitive person.

When she stepped into the room and shut the door behind her I felt very awkward. I looked up from the book I was reading to greet her. There was no reason to make things even more awkward between us.

"So you're dating Rina now?"

She beat me to it—I didn't even get a chance to utter a single letter of my greeting.

"I… um, yeah," I said shrugging, watching as her sky blue eyes darkened just a bit. She sighed gently, a soft puff of breath escaping from between the most kissable lips I had ever seen.

"So… I guess that means that we're done here."

The way she said this… her voice was a bit solemn, and I could tell she was trying to make the sentence into more of a statement than a question. The vocal inflection on the word "here" suggested that, but it seemed like half a question, as if she really wanted me to "answer" it and prove the statement half of it wrong. I certainly didn't want to be "done here" but I certainly didn't want to just be played around with, and so I decided, enough was enough. I couldn't sit around and not tell her my thoughts when they were this important to me.

"Ino, I enjoyed what we were doing and all, but I don't want to use you and maybe you don't want to use me. If you're truly curious about your sexuality, you should find a girl to date for a little while. Making out with me a bunch isn't going to help you figure yourself out, and personally, I don't enjoy being your bedroom plaything."

The look on her face was stony and a little distempered; I had to wonder if she knew that she had suddenly lost all of the color in her face. My heart hurt deeply to know that I had made Ino feel so uncomfortable; there was a numb ache, one that settled in my chest and slowly seeped into my other limbs in a dull pulsing manner.

"If you felt that way, why didn't you say anything?" she asked, swallowing hard. "If I had known… I would've asked you to—"

"Ino, I don't think you get the main problem here. I don't want to be your plaything. I'm done with that, ok? I don't have time for it." (2)

"Sakura, I thought you said you'd help me out."

"Ino, look, just cut the bullshit," I huffed, running a hand through my already messy hair. "You know what you want. You know. Don't waste your time, ok? And if you want to waste your time, fine, but don't waste mine in the process."

She looked upset and then I saw tears fill her eyes. She was out of the room in moments and I took several deep breaths to calm myself, but to no avail. I punched my leg in frustration, harder than I should have, and then stood up to go looking for her. When I stepped into the hallway I found that it was empty. What was going on here? Maybe Ino had gone to Temari. She always went to Temari for her problems.

Fuck. I hated this. I just wanted my best friend back—I was willing to rid myself of these feelings if I could just have a healthy platonic relationship with Ino. This hurt too badly. I couldn't take it.

I went back to our room, leaving the door cracked for her when she decided to return. She had left without her room key.

When I woke up in the morning, Ino wasn't there. The only indication of her return was that her key and her laptop were gone, as well as her book bag. I took a shower with a heavy heart and nothing but worry in my mind. Would I even be able to find her at all today to apologize for being so harsh? It'd be difficult because we never got a chance to discuss our final trimester courses. I didn't really know what she was up to for the week.

"Fuck this," I sighed, deciding on going to the library before my first class. I needed to calm down before I was forced to be trapped in a room of kids I didn't really enjoy being around.

As I stepped out into the hallway, I was surprised by Rina.

"Hi Sakura," she said. She smiled and I almost rolled my eyes at her—almost.

"Hey," I said a bit offhandedly before locking my door.

"Where are you headed to?" she asked, following me down the hallway.

"I'm going to the library."

"Oh, for class?"

"No, just to go," I mumbled, holding the door open for her after I went through it.

"Oh, ok. What are your classes?" she asked me and I handed her my folded up schedule.

After a moment of review she sighed and downheartedly said, "We don't have any classes together. I can't believe I've never had a class with you before; you should totally take Intro to Robotics."

"You take Robotics?"

Whoa; that was cool. I always found that stuff a bit hard—programming and whatnot—I was terrible with it. Soldering irons didn't like me, and tiny ass wires I could live without. Stuff like robotics took time, patience, and a whole lot of memory. (3)

"Yes, I'm actual doing an independent study now; I'm working with the Environmental Research class to design an environmentally friendly car."

"That's pretty neat," I replied, actually interested in what she was telling me. "Fuck, could you make me some kickass metal limbs? A Gundam?"

She laughed and I smiled at her. She was constantly reminding me she was a cute girl with every little thing that she did.

"Want to walk me to class?" she asked with her cheeks tinting just a bit.

"Sure," I shrugged.

We walked towards her math class, chatting, and I realized I really enjoyed her company. She was this petite, adorable girl, so I'd get the idea that she was just cute and that was all that there was to her—then she'd just wow me with her profound ideas and opinions. She didn't seem phased at all by my vulgar vernacular and I felt absolutely comfortable with her.

It didn't take long to get to her class and I wondered suddenly, as we arrived, if she had wanted to hold my hand at all during the small journey. Instead of worrying myself with that, I wished her a good day and bid her farewell.

"Bye Sakura; um, maybe we can have lunch together, if you feel like it," she said shyly.

Was this the same girl that spent the night with me?

"Sure," I shrugged once again and I realized that my passive nature might come off as annoyance. "I'd like that," I tacked onto the end with a lopsided smile. I waved goodbye to her, feeling mighty big and important. A few people stared at me as I walked down the hallway, but I paid them no mind. I never paid anyone any mind.

After an hour in the library, I noticed it was time for me to head to my first class at the end of the 3rd floor of the building. I decided to cut through the lab in the back of the library and head up the stairs because it would be easier to get to the class and I'd be able to avoid people in the process.

I opened the door only to find Ino and Temari sitting on the steps, making out.

1- I know, once you hit REM sleep, you have a number of dreams before waking up. I, however, RARELY remember my dreams. I blame that on my busy schedule, which is where Sakura has gotten her reasoning.
2- OMG, Sakura, WTF ARE YOU DOING?! Well, aside from postponing your pain? Or are you? It's hard not knowing what Ino really wants, huh?
3- Robotics is soooo cool. I wish they offered it at my school.

A/N: First I want to apologize to not getting around to responding to reviews. DX I'm kind of in a bit of a hurry atm, but I wanted to update now instead of later (I promised my little brother that I'd spend the evening with him. So we're heading to the movies to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid) lol, yes, those extra hours make a difference. Also, just a heads up, the next few chapters will be a bit slow, but never fear. It'll pick up, I promise. I just get carried away when I'm writing about certain things and find myself suck on a day or two in the span of 2 or more chapters. Let's just say it's a dedication to detail... heh.

Anyways, thank you so much for reading; please review,
E.E.