So there is one issue I want to address. I understand that I am a slow updater. There is nothing I can do about that. I do not mind people who leave messages such as "update soon!" or even jokingly threaten me if I do not update. I have absolutely no problem with that. I see that as encouragement and it only pushes me to try and update faster. However, when I receive messages like "what the hell is wrong with you? why aren't you updating??" or "geez, this story sucks! it never updates!" it irks me to no end. Please understand that I have other priorities in life that are much more important to me than this story, as much as that may upset some people. If you do not like this story, or can't stand my slow updating, please do not bother to continue reading it. Thank you.

On another note, school is finally over, my finals are done. I'm sure many of you are just as eager as I am to enjoy this summer. Can you believe in just about another month, this story will be 2 years old? Wow, definitely shows just how fast time can fly by.

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"So, I'm guessing you two are no longer friends."

"Tenten?" Sakura watched as the girl plopped down into the seat next to hers. "What are you talking about?"

The senior rolled her eyes. "Oh please, Sakura, everyone could practically feel the tension melting off the both of you in that cafeteria today. I figured it'd be soon until she let out about what she did to you."

"You knew?"

"Sakura, we all knew. That girl's been madly in love with Uchiha Sasuke since god knows how long."

Sakura sighed. "I do feel kind of bad, you know? When you really think about it, I am the intruder who suddenly came out of nowhere. Why is it that I get to become friends with him, while all these girls who've adored him much longer never had the opportunity?"

Tenten scoffed. "Sakura, half those girls don't know anything about him. They just go for the looks, when they've never even spoken a word to him. If they really were to know the guy, I doubt they could keep up. Besides, even if it's true that you had an advantage by living with him, that doesn't mean you haven't worked hard…so to speak. If he can't stand you, Sasuke's not going to tolerate you no matter how close you lived next to him." Tenten winked. "There has to be some quality about you that he likes."

"But still…"

"Look, cheer up Sakura. I mean, Ino's already pretty lucky herself. At least he knows what she looks like. I honestly don't see how you could possibly be all concerned over your friendship with Ino. If that girl did to me what she did to you, I'd be out for her throat rather than what you're doing right now. And if it makes you feel any better, I'll let you in on a little secret."

"…?"

The older girl made the motion of looking around for eavesdroppers, before she continued. "What I think is that Ino doesn't really like Sasuke. I mean, she does, but I doubt it's truly serious. If Sasuke were to someday miraculously proclaim his love for her, I doubt she'd jump for joy. It's one of those things where she's idolized him for so long that everything's become habitual and she's just keeping up the act for her pride and ego. Get it? Despite her actions, I'd like to believe that Ino isn't as shallow as she pretends to be, and she would know the difference between superficial adoration and truly liking a person…" She paused. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Sakura couldn't stop the sly smile from sliding onto her face. "Well I was just thinking, Tenten, you sound like you're talking from experience."

"Oh shut up!" Tenten reddened, and glared at the giggling girl next to her. Two could play at this game. "I thought this conversation was about you, Sakura. Don't go changing the topic so suddenly. Anyways, what I really came here to ask you was…When exactly are you planning to seduce that scrumptious little Sasuke?"

"Tenten!" It was Sakura's turn to redden.

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"Can you believe that girl? I mean, who does she think she is? What does she mean she likes Uchiha Sasuke? She likes Uchiha Sasuke?!"

Nara Shikamaru sighed to himself, and made a mental note to buy earplugs for situations like these the chance he got to. "Ino, you've been screeching for the past ten minutes."

"It's not my fault," the blonde let out a frustrated moan. "I mean, it's ridiculous! If I'd known that opening my mouth would prompt that stupid girl to reach a revelation about who she liked, I would've kept it closed!"

"It'd be great if it was closed right now—"

"She knew who I liked since day one! Still, she goes and does something like this! Did our friendship mean nothing? And you know what? She's real sneaky, that one. Just popped out of nowhere, poof! All of a sudden, she's advancing on my Sasuke-kun. My Sasuke-kun! Ugh….I'm never talking to her again!"

Once again, Shikamaru sighed to himself. He got up from his seat, and headed for the door.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going? I'm not done yet."

"I'm leaving," came his nonchalant reply. "Besides, I don't see why I should bother to listen to your ranting when it's clear you and that Sakura girl are still friends."

"WHAT?!"

"Knowing your personality, you and her will be talking by tomorrow. Close the lights after you leave or else I'll be scolded…Geez, how troublesome."

Ino fumed as she watched him walk away without a break in his stride. She let out a shriek of frustration and crossed her arms. "Tsk…that Shikamaru."

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Sakura sat on the living room couch, lost in her own thoughts. Ino and she had been best friends for seemingly forever. The blonde had always been the stronger one, the prettier one, the more confident one. Despite Tenten's reassurances earlier, why would someone like Uchiha Sasuke ever choose a scrawny, weak, little girl like her with the wide forehead? It seemed her only advantage was her intelligence, but it wasn't like Ino didn't also excel in her studies. When you compared the both of them, there just seemed to be no way that Ino wouldn't win.

The front door clicked open, and Sakura was jarred out of her worries. She looked to see who had just entered, and blinked in surprise when she saw who it was, "Itachi-san?"

He gave her a nod in greeting, "Hello."

This was certainly unexpected. How long had it been since she'd last seen this man? Really, it was quite strange that she barely caught a glimpse of him even though they lived in the same house. "You've been busy pretty lately huh?"

Something strange crossed over the Uchiha's face, but after a moment, he nodded again. "Hn…"

Sakura couldn't help it. She let out a laugh and shook her head amusedly, "I can see who Sasuke copies his one-worded answers off of. You two are very similar."

"If you told that to my little brother, I'm sure he'd vehemently deny that."

Sakura shook her head once more, "He only acts like he hates you. Perhaps it's admiration? Why else would he want to surpass you so much? Though I will say it's unhealthy, the way he obsesses over you. You shouldn't encourage him."

"I've never encouraged him. His eagerness to exceed me is all caused by himself."

"Even so, you've never tried to stop him either."

"This obsession, as you call it, gives him the drive to perform to the best of his abilities. It unleashes his true potential. We do not hate each other," Sakura watched a semblance of a smirk appeared on the man's otherwise impassive face, "but a little competition never hurt."

His words struck a chord in Sakura. We do not hate each other, but a little competition never hurt.

"Sakura?" Sasuke had just stepped into the house when he caught the two of them talking. He glared at his brother when the older man turned around to face him. "What were you two doing?"

Itachi ignored the younger Uchiha's question, and merely brushed past him. "I'll leave her to you."

Sasuke watched his brother ascend the stairs until he was finally out of sight. He immediately whipped around to Sakura, who was watching him curiously from her position on the couch.

"Welcome home, Sasuke-kun." She said almost cheerily, despite the boy's obviously dour mood.

"What was he saying to you?" Sasuke growled, growing more and more aggravated by the second. "Why were you even talking to him?"

"It was nothing," Sakura got up, clearly not affected by the waves of irritation pouring off the boy standing in the doorway. Unknowingly, Itachi had just helped her reach her own conclusions.

"Sakura, tell me what you two were—"

"You know what, Sasuke-kun? I've decided I'm going to fight!"

Once again, Sasuke found himself being left with no answer as she practically skipped up the stairs. He had no idea why she was suddenly so happy, nor did he have any idea what her words just now possibly meant. He let out a sigh, "Strange girl…"

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The next day at school, Sakura had just arrived at her locker.

"Yo, Haruno Sakura!"

She glanced up in surprise and looked to her right to see Ino standing there. "Ino?"

Ino let out a huff, "I just came to let you know that I'm not going to let the likes of you steal Sasuke-kun away from me." She pointed a finger at the pink-haired girl. "You got that, Sakura?! We're rivals from now on!"

Ino...

Sakura smiled. "Yeah, I got that."

Thank you.

"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU SMILING FOR, FOREHEAD GIRL?"

…

"INO-PIG!"

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I really really really like Itachi. Haha.

Hopefully, the next update will come sooner now that summer has arrived.

Please review!