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 14: I Just Want to Talk

College was just as I expected it to be and I was actually enjoying myself. I met a lot of new people and I didn't feel so trapped like I had felt before. I had wide-open spaces to spread my wings in and I loved the freedom. My roommate was pretty cool, albeit a bit wild, and my classes seemed to be going well despite their difficulty.

Every now and then, as I had begun during the summer, I went out with girls I met, casually of course. There were a few girls that I legitimately thought I could get to know better to see if I could maybe date one… there were a few girls I went out with just to get out of my dorm.

Whatever the case, I left each date feeling a bit unsure of myself and of what I wanted… I was incredibly picky because I was not anxious to get myself hurt again. It had nothing to do with finding a girl that reminded me of Ino… in fact, I tried to avoid girls who were anything like her.

One afternoon, I called Hinata up to see if she'd want to come hang out with me for a little while. I hadn't seen her all summer and it was well into the school year. I honestly missed her.

"Oh, Sakura, I'd been meaning to call you," she said and I smiled.

We went through general formalities and I asked her about her summer vacation and her trip to Japan. We soon got onto the topic of relationships and I explained my tentative dating and she mentioned how she missed seeing Naruto in person.

"I was wondering what your visitor policy was," she asked me.

"Well, I don't know really, but I have no problem with you staying in my dorm for a night if you want to come hang out with me and see Naruto."

Naruto had also gotten into the school I was attending. He was so hardworking and I was happy he had been accepted. There were very few people from my high school that had come here. It was just Naruto, Neiji (who was Hinata's cousin), Sasuke, and myself that I knew of. I managed to never see any of the boys while I had been here for the past two months.

"Really?" she seemed ecstatic and we worked through our schedules to see what the best time for her to come over would be. We decided on Friday and I bid her farewell, remembering I had a couple of chapters to read in my History book before going to bed that night.

That Friday, Hinata arrived at my dorm and I welcomed her in with a tight hug.

"I missed you so much," I smiled at her as she pulled away. It was then I was noticing her giving me a strange look.

"What?" I asked, feeling a bit unnerved by her.

"You seem different," she said and I cocked an eyebrow upwards at that comment.

"Different? How?" I asked, taking her bag from her and setting it in the corner of my half of the room. I had spent the majority of last night cleaning up for her. My roommate was kind of crazy at times, and I'd found a number of things around the room that just belonged in the garbage—there was no other place those things could exist without offending someone.

Honestly, she was insane. Her name was Karin (not to be confused with the Karin from my high school) and she was from a big city. She was constantly eating things that shouldn't be eaten, just for fun (she ate a dime once in my presence and then laughed hysterically about it for about 5 minutes straight) and making prank phone calls. She also dyed her hair red for no apparent reason a week after we moved in (perhaps to test her newfound freedom); it looked good on her though.

At times she got out of hand with her shenanigans and annoyed me, but for the most part, I enjoyed her company. She introduced me to a lot of people too and happened to ALWAYS be at outings I decided to attend; so no matter where I went, I knew I'd have a friend. We also worked on homework together for the classes we had that were the same; she was incredibly smart.

What I liked most about her was how liberal she was and how open she was to different beliefs and opinions. She had no problem with me being gay.

"Yeah, different," she said, but then she smiled. "It's not a bad different, it's a good different. But I can't explain it."

"Cool," I said shrugging nonchalantly. We sat on my bed for a while, just chatting about our summers in depth and about classes and school. I was happy to learn that she was enjoying her school and how things had been doing for her.

I was just about to suggest we go out and get dinner when Karin comes through the door looking a bit disoriented. No doubt she probably slept all day in her boyfriend's dorm.

"Hey Saku," she said apparently not even noticing Hinata.

"Hey Karin," I said, observing her and she flopped down onto her bed.

"I'm soooo hungry. Let's get dinner?" she asked and I regarded her closely, about to answer when she shot up into a sitting position.

"Oh hellooo~" she said enthusiastically with her eyes on Hinata. "Sakura, who's this pretty lady?! You never introduce me to your lady friends."

I blushed hoping that Hinata wasn't getting the wrong impression of me.

"Karin, this is Hinata; a friend of mine from highschool. She's Naruto's girlfriend. Hinata, this is Karin."

Karin was up and over to greet Hinata in record time, her lethargy gone.

"Nice to meet you," she smiled and offered Hinata her hand. "Who would've thought that Naruto had such a pretty girlfriend?"

"Erm.." Hinata looked a bit uncomfortable (which was probably because of Karin's red contacts) so I quickly intervened.

"Karin, Hinata and I were just about to go get dinner."

"Oh, sweet. Can I come? It'll only take a moment for me to shower."

"Sure," I shrugged. "While you're doing that, we can go hunt down the illusive Uzumaki."

I herded Hinata out of my dorm and down the hallway. Naruto stayed two floors above us she informed me. I still couldn't believe I hadn't run into him at all.

Their reunion was sweet, and I felt a bit awkward watching it, so turned to glance around Naruto's room. It was insanely messy and I had to wonder if Karin was a female version of Naruto.

"Hina, babe, it's good to see you again," he whispered, gently kissing her.

When they finally stopped embracing she smiled and said, "I missed you."

"I missed you too," he said with a goofy smile. His blue eyes were sparkling and I was very happy for him—for them both really. They were so good for each other, and they were both so in love. I could tell.

"Erm, hi Sakura. Thanks for letting Hinata stay in your room. My roommate's cousin is staying the weekend and I didn't want her to be uncomfortable."

The two of them wore matching blushes and I smiled at their discomfort of being intimate in public.

Dinner that night was enjoyable. Karin felt it was her job to tell Hinata about all of the strange situations I had found myself in over the course of the month. The outing was enjoyable until it was time for us to leave. As we were leaving the restaurant, I felt a hand grab my wrist and someone call my name.

I turned to see a person I thought I'd never see again. My mouth fell open a little and my heart stopped briefly in surprise. Her deep blue eyes looked hesitant and she gave me an expectant look.

"Hi Sakura… I thought that was you," she smiled a little, and I stayed silent, not knowing what to do. I vaguely noticed Hinata, Karin, and Naruto stopping their retreat to see what was holding me up. It was then I gently pulled my hand away.

"What? Really?" Naruto stepped forwards, looking upset. I rarely ever saw Naruto upset, so I was surprised. Why was he upset?

"I can't believe you!" he barked with his eyes blazing.

She looked surprised, and I was probably mirroring her expression. She put her hands up in a gesture of harmlessness.

"Chill Uzumaki. I just want to talk to her," she tried, giving him a strange look.

"After everything you put her through?!"

"Wait, what? Naruto… what are you talking about?"

I never told him about…

"Hinata! You didn't tell him about that did you?!" I quickly pivoted around to look at her.

"Sakura, no… I-I…. I just… Just about last year… What was going on at the end of s-school…"

I heaved a heavy sigh and shook my head suddenly stressed out. Who would've imagined just seeing her would stress me out.

"Sakura, I just want to talk," she pleaded and I regarded her with a guarded expression.

I looked at her—really looked at her. What could she possibly want after everything? After hurting me the way she did?

"I just want to talk," she repeated.

"Ok," I said with a shrug. What could she do to hurt me now? She had nothing over me any longer; she had no power, no advantage in this situation. We were equals now.

"Thank you," she smiled at me, but I didn't return the smile.

"Karin, you and Naruto keep Hinata company for a little while. I'll be right after you."

Karin gave me this look, and then gave her a look, and then looked back to me, somewhat confused. I'd never told her about my high school years—nothing about my past. She knew nothing about me other than what she learned during our two months as roommates. She'd met my dad, but that was all. She never bothered asking about my mother; not even about old friends.

"I'll be fine," I said to her.

"Ok," she said, still looking worried. She reluctantly led the other two away.

We were alone. It was just me and her—Temari.

"Is she your girlfriend?" she asked, following me as I started away the opposite direction of where my friends had left. I hope she wasn't talking about Karin. That was a stupid question.

"What are you doing here? What do you want with me?" I asked her, fighting back the strong pulls of anger trying to resurface.

"I was just in the area, and I kept having this nagging feeling about apologizing to you for everything that happened… And then there you were. I had to say something."

"Temari… do you even understand? Do you understand what I went through?" I stopped and turned to look at her, my heart beginning to ache like it used to do when I was around my blonde roommate after her rejecting me. I suddenly felt nauseous.

Temari bit her lip, looking a bit unsure. She sighed heavily, and brushed some of her sandy blonde hair out of her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said and I rolled my eyes at her before turning to start off again. There were tears in my eyes. I didn't need this.

"Honestly Sakura!" she shouted. "I'm so fucking sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you like that…"

I stopped and took a deep, shaky breath. She couldn't possibly be saying that. No way. She knew what she was doing! She knew what she had done, and while she was doing it, she was content to know that she was fucking with my mind and my heart.

"Temari, shut the hell up! You 'didn't mean to hurt me'?! Bullshit." Turning to look at her, she gave me a short chuckle.

"You're so cute when you're mad."

That wasn't going to work on me this time. I wanted to punch her, but she wasn't going to get that satisfaction. I flipped her off, middle finger erect, and the started off again.

"Sakura, really; I only kissed Ino because she asked me. I wasn't actively pursuing her. I mean, I didn't want you two together, but I certainly didn't want to be with her, especially not to cause you pain. I was jealous, ok? I still had feelings for you and I was jealous."

I paused again, my skin cold in the cool air of the night, which contrasted greatly from my elevated internal body temperature due to my fluctuating anger. I felt a bit dizzy. She couldn't possibly be telling the truth… had she really gone out with Ino to keep her away from me? It didn't make sense. None of it made sense.

I looked down to see cracks in the pavement, briefly wondering when they formed and how long it had taken to become the intricate design of diverging crevices.

"I was being selfish," she continued, and the sincerity in her voice scared me.

"Do you know how depressed I was, Temari?" I turned to look at her, allowing her to see the tears generously gathering in my eyes. "Even now I can't… I'm so afraid of getting hurt again. I don't think you understand how much I… loved her."

My voice was shaking and quivering—each tremor was a reverberation of my painful memories. Each pulse was a wave of pain.

"I don't think you understand how much I loved you," she mirrored gently.

Her blue eyes met mine, and for the first time ever, I saw what I should've seen the previous year.

Why was Temari so complicated?

I felt a tear slip down my cheek and she gave me a wry smile.

"Are you willing to talk to me now…?"

A/N: I feel like I haven't updated in a long time. I also haven't been able to write in the longest time! D: Ugh, it's the worst. Writer's block stinks. Anyways, whoa Temari! Can you believe that? More is to be revealed in the following chapters. Also, I'm sorry about not replying to reviews; so much has been going on.

Thank you for reading. I hope to update soon, so please review.
-E.E.

PS: I just want to congratulate my Blue Devils for winning the NCAA Basketball Championship. ;P