A/N: Yeah, yeah, so this one's a bit later than usual… finals and such, you know. Sorry I complained about traffic last time! I was up all night writing last time and my fingers began to type whatever popped into my head. So, I started a new fic called Four. Oh, fuck. I completely skipped over the university graduation exams in my rush to ship Ino off to the U.S. Oh, well. You can presume that Ino and Sakura both aced their graduation exams and that it was criterion for the American medical program. Enough stalling, here's Chapter 12.

Chapter 12

April. April. April.

The name of the month rings through my head like some unholy bell at a church. I get a wrenching feeling in the pit of my stomach. Nervousness and anxiety diffuses throughout my body, filling every pore of my being with fear. Tomorrow I leave for America. Leave to an entirely new country where I know no one, know nowhere, and where no one will understand my heavily accented English. I can't believe I even signed up for this. If Sakura weren't going, I'd be far too afraid to go; yet I signed up before I even knew Sakura had applied, too.

March… March was quite a month, too. This past month has been hectic, to say the least. Not only were we planning our trip to the United States, but it was also our graduation we had to plan for. Poor Sakura, graduating without her father there so see it. We spent the first few days after receiving our letters compiling a list of things we would need to bring to California. Then, as the graduation ceremony approached, we had to start preparing for that. Sakura and I bought new dresses for a party the night of the ceremony, which is an interesting enough tale in it of itself.

The day we were to get new dresses, Sakura and I decided to go all the way to the Tokyo shopping district. It was a bit of a ride, but we decided we needed to get our minds off of the excitement that was buzzing around in our heads. Besides, we wouldn't be able to come back to Tokyo for a long time, and I really do enjoy being in the city. I mean, a city bigger than Konoha. Don't get me wrong, Konoha's plenty big, but there's no city in Japan quite like Tokyo.

So, we headed off to Nakano (1).

Nakano has some of the largest malls in Tokyo. Stores as far as the eye can see, a perfect place to shop for dresses. We spent a lot of time wandering around the mall, not particularly doing anything. The first thing we did when we got there was that we went to go get smoothies. I love smoothies. So fruity and… smooth. Redundancies aside, they were really good. After that we just wandered around different shops checking out the latest clothes and gadgets in the various stores in the mall. Then, we finally arrived at our destination, our destination being, of course, a dress store.

Inside the story we looked around for a bit, trying to decide what colors we wanted. There were so many dresses. Some were larger and more ruffled while some were more sleek and sexy. These were the ones that interested me the most. I never much cared for any clothes that were too…poofy.

"Ah! Sakura… I don't know what dress to get… what color should I even get?" I whined to the pinkette.

"Hmmm…" murmured Sakura. She looked me up and down. "Turn around," she said, and I complied. I couldn't help but blush with her looking at me so intently. She put her hand on her chin and fixed her eyebrows in to a pondering sort of expression. It was really cute, actually. She furrowed her brow and lowered her head, and then came to a decision.

"It may be a bit flashy, but you should get a pale golden dress to complement your hair," she finally said. "As long as you find the right style, it won't be too flashy, it'll just be dead sexy."

"Gold? Really?" I said with in a tone of disbelief.

"Just c'mon," she commanded, and I followed. We walked around and picked out a few different dresses to take to the fitting rooms. Sakura herself picked out a few black dresses. We walked to the fitting rooms where all but one were taken.

"We'll just have to share it," Sakura said very plainly.

"O…okay," I replied. I'm more nervous than usual; for some reason I feel like she has no idea we ever made out or anything. It's a bit unsettling.

We go into the changing rooms and my stomach is fluttering, and I'm fairly certain my cheeks are red, but I don't think Sakura noticed. She begins to take her clothes off and my stomach tightens. She was wearing a pink bra and underwear. God, she's beautiful. Her pink hair just falls short of her shoulders, but it's so straight and soft looking. Her skin looks soft, too. Not too tan for this time of year, but her complexion is absolutely flawless. Sakura's clothes just fall off like they were barely covering her in the most irresistible way. I could go on and on…

"Ino? C'mon, get changed! We don't have time for your gawking!" she joked.

"Oh…right," I blushed, and begin to change myself. It was such an odd experience changing right there in front of her. I began to undress and gently folded my clothes as I put on the golden dress. It was pretty short, but I suppose not too short. We walked out of the changing rooms to look at each other.

"Wow, Ino. You look damn sexy," Sakura told me.

"Right back atcha', babe," I returned the compliment.

And I meant it. That black dress was just fantastic. You would think a black dress would be kind of dreary, especially in contrast with her pink hair, but it didn't. It just looked badass. Dead sexy, too.

We agreed that we liked the dresses (odd that we'd get the first ones we tried on, right?)(2) and got matching shoes. We checked out and began to walk around the mall with our bags, chatting. When we stopped to get some sushi for lunch, we ran into someone we knew.

"Shik-Shikamaru? What're you doing here?" I asked. He was eating lunch at the sushi bar. I was only confused because this isn't the type of place a lazy shit like Shikamaru would visit alone.

"Don't ask me, ask this one," he replied, and motioned towards the sandy-haired blonde woman to his left.

"This one?" the woman said, and knocked Shikamaru on the head.

"Ouch. What was that for?" he asked, hurt.

"I'm not just any old person sitting next to you. I'm your girlfriend. You should treat me more like it," scolded the woman.

"Wh-what?! Shikamaru, you have a girlfriend?!" Sakura and I exclaimed simultaneously.

"Uhh… yeah, what of it?" he said in a very nondescript manner.

"N-nothing…it's just surprising is all," I said.

"Hi! I'm Temari," the woman introduced herself. She was an interesting one. She dressed in a very flashy manner, but she seemed very ladylike at the same time. Her hair was up in four hair-bands on the back of her hand. She was very attractive.

"I'm Ino, and this is Sakura," I introduced us.

"I'm only here because this woman dragged me out here," Shikamaru complained. "Something about needing me here to pick out new clothes."

"It's called lingerie, Shika. You need to see me try it on so I know what to get!" she smiled in a devilish way and then winked at him. His face remained unchanged but there was evidence of a blush. "Let's go now. I'm done with lunch," Temari commanded. "It was very nice to meet you," Temari said to Sakura and I, and then they ran off.

"Well…that was… confusing," Sakura commented.

"Yeah," I replied.

Interesting day.

-------------------------------------------

That night, I found myself unable to sleep. I was thinking about Sakura and I. If she is a lesbian and she has feelings for me, she's yet to talk about it. So far every time we've done anything she'd been playing, drunk, or half-asleep. I don't know what the hell's going on in her head. She's so hard to read… it's like trying to read a book upside down through a blurry screen. It makes me nervous… or worried… or… I'm not sure. It's hard to tell how I feel. Ha, I'm trying to figure out Sakura's feelings when I can't even understand my own. That's a laugh.

Should I talk to her about it? Troubling… if I do and she doesn't remember any of the things we did it would be quite awkward. I don't know if I could navigate my way through a conversation like that. But if I don't talk to her she might think I don't like her at all! Gahhh! What the hell is wrong with me? I hate thinking about this kind of stuff, because no matter how I run it through my head it always ends poorly.

I refocused my mind, trying to clear it. Just imagine the black, I thought to myself. Just imagine the black. The black. The…black… My mind began to wander. Thoughts began to stray, images began to form. A picture took shape in my mind. It was Sakura, getting undressed in the changing room again. So… beautiful. I can't imagine a more beautiful creature than her. I kept seeing her, right there in front of me, in her pink underwear. Then, the image shifted from memory into fantasy.

"Ino," fantasy Sakura said, "I want you. Don't you want me, too?"

"Yes… yes… please… Sakura!" I said. It's not very coherent but I get my message across.

We began to kiss. Gently at first, then more passionately. Then, she begins to feel around on my chest…

Before I knew it, it was morning. I fell asleep, but I didn't dream. That was strange, as I usually do. Oh crap, I thought, it's graduation day! I got up and began to get ready. We were supposed to be at the school in our uniforms in a little less than an hour. I roused Sakura and got we rushed to get dressed and eat before rushing off to the school.

We gathered in the gym with all of the other 3rd years (3). All in all, the ceremony was more or less three hours of dull. We sang some songs, listened (well, not really listened) to some speeches, and then left. Japanese graduation ceremonies are very boring. Sakura did nearly cry, though. Apparently, although most fathers don't attend high school graduation ceremonies, Sakura's father had promised since her mother wouldn't be there. I tried to console her a bit but I'm not sure how much I helped.

After graduation, there was a lot of stuff happening that I wasn't sure of. Photographs, being pushed around doing a lot of different things going a lot of different places. Sometime after a few hours Sakura and I ended back up at our house for dinner. My mother made practically a feast. There were all types of food. Sushi, sashimi, lobster rolls, the works. It looked delicious.

"Itadakimasu!(4)" we yelled, and dug in. It was possibly the most delectable meal to ever pass my lips.

When we were all finished, we went to go change into our dresses for Hinata's party. She was throwing a party at her house to celebrate graduation. It was supposed to be a formal party, hence the nice dresses we bought. That's not exactly how things went down.

Sakura and I got dressed and left for Hinata's house.

"Bye, Mom! See you later!" I yelled.

"Have fun you two," she called back.

We arrived at Hinata's house to a bit of a surprise. It wasn't exactly the formal party we were told of. The music was blasting and the dancing was out of control. On the floor, on the couch, on the tables, everywhere were people dancing. As quickly as possible Sakura and I sought out Hinata. We had to ask her what was going on. The crowd was so thick I lost Sakura to the dancers. After several painful minutes of shouldering my way through the crowd and trying to ignore the blaring music, I found Hinata standing in a corner.

"Hinata!" I tried to yell over the music.

"Oh, hi, Ino!" she greeted me. I can barely hear her. Her voice is soft enough as it is without the blasting music.

"What happened?" I shout.

"Well…Shika…. Girlfriend… invite… lots of people…" I could only make out a few words, but I got the gist of it. Shikamaru invited Temari who subsequently invited all her friends from Suna, a small city much like Konoha not too far from here. They invited others, and, well, it evolved into this wild beast of a party.

"Well, Hinata, what do you think we should do?" I asked her.

"I… I don't know…" she said.

"I'll tell you what we do," said a voice from behind. "We enjoy the party. We have fun and live life. Now's not the time to be worrying about things. Now's the time to party!"

It was Sakura. Naruto was next to her.

"Sakura's right! Let's go!" he exclaimed, and we pushed our way back into the crowd and started dancing. Even Hinata danced. It's weird, even though she's going with Naruto now, she's still intimidated by him, like she's afraid he'll dump her in a split second. Well, at least it looks like she's having fun.

After an hour or so, though, things took a turn for the worse. Some guy tried to cut in between Naruto and Hinata. When Hinata refused, he began to grow angry and started trying to force her. Naruto, of course, wouldn't stand for this.

"HEY," he shouted. "Get. Off. Of Hinata."

"Or what?" laughed the newcomer.

"Or this," Naruto said as he threw his fist at the guy. Unfortunately for Naruto, this guy must have had some fighting experience, because he caught Naruto's fist and punched him right in the gut. Naruto fell to his knees holding his stomach. He must have been winded.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" I rushed at the man but he was too quick for me and with a quick jab to the forehead put me on the ground. Pain rushed through my face as some blood began to trickle out.

The man turned back to Hinata. "C'mon, let's go somewhere more fun," he commanded her.

"No," she told him quietly.

"What did you just say to me?"

"I said NO," yelled Hinata and pelted him in the stomach with a powerful open handed blow. The hit was hard enough to force the man to take a step backwards, where Naruto was waiting.

"If you ever lay a hand on Hinata," he said in a deadly serious tone, "I'll kill you." He then grabbed the man's arm and turned him around. Then, with one hell of a wind up, punched Hinata's assailant so hard in the face he was actually lifted off his feet and thrown backwards. He landed on a table, which broke beneath him. The man was holding his face, but he wasn't knocked out. The music stopped.

"Kankuro!" yelled a familiar commanding voice. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

A woman walked over and began to scold the man named Kankuro. It was the sandy haired woman from the mall a few days before, Temari.

"Temari?" Sakura asked.

"Ino? Sakura? You guys are the ones who beat up Kankuro?" Temari replied.

"Well, it was really Naruto over here that did the most of the beating," I told her.

"You guys know this woman?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, this is Shikamaru's girlfriend, Temari," Sakura introduced her.

"Oh, hi," Temari said, her eyes closed and scratching the back of her head in a nervous manner. She was obviously embarrassed. "Sorry about what happened. This is my dumbass brother, Kankuro. He's usually a pretty nice guy, but he's stone cold drunk right now. The alcohol changes him."

"Temari, you know these losers?" said Kankuro.

"Just shut up, you've embarrassed Suna enough as it is," scolded Temari.

"Alright, alright, party's over," Sakura began to tell everyone. She and I began to shepherd them out the door. Cries of disappoint bubbled up from the crowd.

"Not you, Shikamaru, you moron," I prevented the lazy idiot from leaving. "You stay here to help clean up the mess."

He sighed. "What a drag… why do I have to clean up this mess? I'm not the one who invited all of Suna to a party that was supposed to be formal," he complained, shooting Temari a glance.

"Don't look at me like that," she yelled. "You didn't tell me it was a formal party; I asked you if I could invite a few friends and you just shrugged, like you always do."

They began to quip at each other, tossing insults back and forth as we cleaned up the mess. Kankuro had finally passed out from that blow to his head, and Naruto and Hinata were cleaning together. She kept thanking him for saving her, and he kept trying to be modest but really loving the gratitude at the same time.

After we had most of the mess cleaned up, Naruto and Hinata went upstairs. She was just so swept away by his heroism, but it wasn't like he was taking advantage of her. I think they're really in love. It's really cute, actually. Shikamaru and Temari eventually stopped fighting, too, and left, carrying Kankuro out with them.

So then it was just the two of us. Sakura and I, two people in a room. Just lying there, exhausted, on the couch together. Two people, in space, together. Whether by some miracle of fate or some happening of chance, I realized that we were both right there at that very moment, bound together by that emerald pendant. It was a link, a physical manifestation of the bond that we shared, the bond that always brought us back together now matter how far apart we were. And, I decided, that that was as good a moment as any.

"Sakura, there's something I want to tell you," I whispered.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Sakura, I—"

And she kissed me.

"I want to be with you, too. I was just waiting for you to say so. You're such a pussy, can't even tell someone you like them."

"Goddamnit, Sakura," I said, and kissed her.

And that's how the rest of the night went. We lied there on the couch, kissing and just being with each other. No sex, no hands, just kissing. Two people caught together in the current of time, bound to each other by a simple symbol – a symbol of something greater. A vessel, really, to keep us together in the great river Time. And that night lasted for an eternity and for no time at all. Because while it was wonderful and seemed to last forever, forever was clearly not enough time for either of us. We fought and struggled against the fog of sleep that descended upon us, but finally succumbed. We woke up the next morning in each other's arms, smiling at each other. That wonderful, sincere smile of hers. I wanted that smile to never fade away.

And that's how March passed. I close my eyes and let myself fall asleep. Tomorrow is a new day, a new beginning, a new chapter. To America for six months. With Sakura, where we would be together. Together and trying to survive. I can't think of anything more romantic.

----------------------------------------------

We're at the airport, all of us. My mother, Sakura, and I, and all of our friends are there at the gate. They've all come to wish us a good trip. Tearfully, we say our goodbyes, hugged our friends, talked of the things we'd do when we got back. When it comes time to say goodbye to Mom… well… it's hard. I hug her and kiss her on the cheek. Tears are streaming from both of our eyes.

"You just come back safe and ready to enter nursing school," she demands of me through her tears.

"And you make sure to take care of yourself while Sakura and I are away," I tell her.

We let go of each other and Sakura and I moved to board through the gate. As we walk through, I look back at all our friends. Naruto, Hinata, Tenten, Neji, Shikamaru, Temari, Chouji, and even Shino are there. And for a split second, I swore I saw Kiba in the crowd of the airport, smiling at us and waving. I'm not sure if he was really there or I was just imagining he was, but I wave back anyway.

"Ino, let's go. They're going to take off soon," Sakura says.

"Yeah, let's go," I reply.

Sakura holds my hand we start walking down the boarding hallway together. I don't know it then, but my mother sees us holding hands and in an instant realizes what's going on between us.

Unaware of that development, we take our seats. I sit with my chin in my hand, my elbow resting on the armrest while I solemnly look out the window. After a little while, the engines rev, the plane taxis, and we take off. I watch as the land grows smaller and smaller, and Japan fades into the distance as we head west.

Sakura falls asleep after a few hours and rests her head on my shoulder. A gentle smile creeps across my face.

I'll be alright, I think to myself. All of the things that have happened in the past year flood through my mind. All the happiness and sadness I've experienced since then. You know, most people go through life trying experience as much happiness as they can muster with the least amount of sadness possible. I don't think that's how I want to live. I'd rather live knowing both sadness and happiness, as well as everything else. Without pain, there is no joy. Of course there are a lot of things I regret and wish didn't happen, but it's those kind of things that make life truly worth living. A life with nothing but happiness is not truly living. It's not balanced.

So, I'm issuing a challenge to destiny, to fate, to God. Do not simply allow me to live a sheltered life where I simply get everything I want and everything is perfect. Do your worst. I can handle it. Bring. It. On. Because, as long as I have Sakura and my mother and my friends, I can handle anything.

We'll be alright, I think to myself.

----------------------------------------------------

(1) Very large shopping district in Tokyo.

(2) According to my female friends, very strange indeed.

(3) There are three years of high school in Japan, so that would be the graduating class.

(4) Japanese thing to say before eating. Means something like "Dig in!" or "Let's eat!" but has no actual English translation.

A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know this one is REALLY late (and short), like it took near a month. I just had so much to do regarding finals. But I'm a senior now, and summer's here! That means more time to write! Hooray! So, this chapter is kind of poorly written, but I did my best, I just had trouble coming up with what to write, so I threw in 2/3 sand siblings. Suna, by the way, is what I assume Sunagakure would be shortened to, in the same way Konohagakure is shortened to Konoha. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Read my new fic, Four, and review please!