Everyone could tell something was off with Ino Yamanaka. The blonde high ponytail, purple nails, and winged eyeliner were the same, but her aura was all wrong. Her walk commanded attention from every direction before. Now, her steps were quick to get her from one classroom to the next as soon as possible. She wasn't overly giggly with her peers, only a few smiles kept her demeanor somewhat cheerful. Something was wrong with her, but everyone had off days. Only a few people bothered to think of any other off days for her, fewer could remember the exception. It was when her father died, but that seemed irrelevant now.

No one thought much of it until lunch period, when the blonde was absent from her usual table. It seemed strange and a handful of small whispers circled the area: some were questions, some were rumors. However, when Sakura Haruno disappeared from the table, everyone thought the problem was solved. They were best friends. Everything was probably fine and would be back to normal by fifth period.

"What's the matter, Ino?" Sakura asked when she entered the bathroom.

Ino texted her during lunch to come over because they "needed to talk". Sakura knew that wasn't good. Ino was never crpytic, she always wanted to get straight to the point.

Ino had debated even having this talk at all. She knew not knowing the truth would destroy her mental state, but she was also so scared to hear it. Sakura was her best friend and she still couldn't believe her betrayal. Maybe Sasuke made the whole thing up. That would be the best answer. Ino knew that wasn't true. She wouldn't doubt her best friend's integrity unless she really believed it.

Ino really needed Sakura too. They were always there for each other. Talking to Shikamaru made Ino realize how nice it was to just let go and talk about her feelings. She couldn't throw them all on Shikamaru though. She wanted someone else to release everything she kept bottled up.

But she also knew Sakura probably wasn't going to be that person, and it killed her. She needed to know how long their affair was and why Sakura would treat her like that. After everything they had been through, Ino thought they were unbreakable. Ino was very naive.

"Did you hook up with Sasuke?" Ino asked after minutes of silence.

"W-what! How did you? Ino, I...it just happened." Sakura replied with her cheeks burning red and her head hung low. Ino could hear the guilt in her voice.

"So you did." Ino stated quietly. She blinked away the tears in her eyes. There was no way in hell she was going to cry now. She was better than that.

"I'm so sorry." The pinkette apologized and took a step forward. Ino took a step back.

Sakura stared at the floor and Ino stared at the ceiling. Ino couldn't meet her eyes out of disgust. Sakura couldn't out of guilt. They stood in the silent bathroom until Ino finally processed Sakura's answer and everything it meant.

"Did you do it more than once?" She asked. Every detail would make the situation harder, but Ino needed to hear them.

"Yes. Twice, maybe three times I don't know." Sakura answered regretfully.

Sakura could feel Ino slipping farther and farther away from her. She couldn't blame the blonde, but it felt so awful. She felt so awful.

"How do you not know?" Ino asked curtly. She didn't have time to walk on eggshells about this. She wanted to have this conversation and be done forever.

"I don't know if it counts."

"Then tell me exactly what you did two, or maybe three times with my boyfriend." Ino ordered. Her hands fisted at her sides in thinly veiled anger.

Ino felt new emotions swirl inside of her: betrayal, hurt, anger, sadness, disgust, and most prominently loss. She felt sick to her stomach and every part of her brain was telling her to storm out of the bathroom. Her heart was telling her to confront Sakura head on.

"Ino, you don't want to know. It's just going to hurt you." Sakura objected and placed her hand on Ino's shoulder.

She knew she was the reason for Ino's distress and wanted to help her. Ino's quick shrug of the shoulder told her there was nothing she could do.

"I don't care! You owe me this Sakura!" Ino shouted, not even caring if someone outside heard her. She had to know every dirty bit of the truth.

"Fine. Well the one that maybe doesn't count is when you guys had first started dating. He was texting me about stuff you liked and somehow we ended up kinda sexting. It was so short and I felt so bad about it that I ignored him for a month." Sakura began.

Ino's icy glare didn't falter. Her cheeks were flushed with fiery rage. She was standing taller than Sakura had ever seen her. It was intimidating. She was scary when she was pissed.

"But the first official time I guess was last month. I was super drunk at a party...and Sasuke was too. Then we just kissed. It was just a peck. I pulled away immediately but then he offered to drive me home, and we kissed again. Only it wasn't a peck. But he said you guys were in a fight and probably breaking up, I didnt know he was lying." Sakura continued.

She saw Ino blinking back another round of tears. It made Sakura's eyes water too. She felt so damn guilty. The fact that Ino was silently listening to her made everything worse. She wanted Ino to scream at her and curse her out. That was more like Ino, not this numb girl in front of her.

"So after that kiss, I started thinking about him all the time. I wanted to kiss him again but I knew it was wrong. I ignored him for the most part but he was always on my mind. All those feelings I had for him when we were little came back and I was going crazy seeing you guys together. I was so jealous but you seemed so happy." She admitted in defeat.

Ino felt a small pang of guilt for making her best friend upset like that. It still wasn't enough to overpower the hurt raging over her body. She wanted to punch stuff and cry. It reminded her of her father. He bought a punching bag to take out his stress on after a bad day at work. He showed it to Ino and she attacked it after a stressful day at school. It always made her feel better. Except, Ino had nothing to punch in a bathroom.

"And then two weeks ago Sasuke asked me to bring over my history textbook because he forgot his at school and needed to finish an assignment. I had a bad feeling about it but went anyway. Everything was fine at first and he just did his homework. Then we started making small talk and he was complaining about how you guys hadn't had sex yet. Something just came o-over me. I thought I could beat you at something. Sure you dated him and kissed him, but I could at least do something with him that you hadn't...and then we had sex. Our stupid rivalry messed with my mind Ino. I'm so, so sorry." Sakura finished and wiped a few stray tears from her eyes.

"No you're not." Ino stated simply.

Ino realized what the worst part of this whole ordeal was that she could've forgiven Sakura. She truly could've. A few sexts weren't enough to tear apart their friendship. Plus she felt guilty. A drunken make out could've been forgiven too. The pinkette wasn't in the right mindset and regretted it. Ino would've been willing to try and repair their friendship if that was all. But, it wasn't.

The worst thing Sakura could've done with Sasuke was sleep with him. She did it completely sober and knowing damn well it would hurt Ino. Ino couldn't detect any guilt from that part either. It hurt more than when Sakura broke their friendship all those years ago. They were little kids. Now, they were mature enough to make decisions with harsh consequences. Sakura knew that and slept with Sasuke anyway because she wanted to. She didn't even care about Ino's relationship with him.

"Of course I am." Sakura objected.

"If you really were sorry, you would've told me when it happened. You wouldn't have kept it a secret and hoped I wouldn't find out!" The blonde snapped.

"I didn't want to tell you because I regretted all of it."

"You don't regret sleeping with him." Ino replied. It was so obvious that anyone could see it. It didn't need Ino's skill in detecting emotion.

"And that should be the thing you regret most." She added coldly.

"I can't help how I feel about him." Sakura replied in her defense.

Now Sakura was trying to make excuses for herself. Ino felt the last bit of her composure snap. Her fingernails dug deep into her palms as they were fisted at her sides. Her body couldn't possible get tenser. She started taking steps towards the other girl. Sakura felt like her feet were glued to the floor.

"Then go screw him again! We're broken up so nothing is holding you back, not that you cared in the first place." Ino snapped in a barely contained shout.

"Ino..."

"GO!" She boomed and thrust her arm towards the door. She couldn't be in the same room as her anymore. The urge to slap Sakura was getting getting stronger and stronger.

Sakura scurried out of the room like a meek mouse. Ino leaned back on one of the sinks as she tried to calm the storm brewing inside her. She couldn't lash out on anyone else, but she definitely wanted to. She barely felt in control of herself.

The trash can next to her soared to the other side of the room in one swift kick. Ino admitted that it did feel good to let out her frustration. She was lucky the trash had been taken out earlier that day.

The satisfaction was quickly replaced by disgust as she went to move the can back into position. She lost control in a split second. That never happened. She was always able to hold onto at least shred of control. The flimsy plastic can now had a dent in it the size of her shoe. Ino felt sick. Sick from Sakura's confession and her own lack of emotion control.

She quickly walked back to the sink and clutched its edges until her knuckles turned white. She stared herself down in the mirror, trying to recognize the girl in the frame. It looked like Ino physically: long platinum blonde hair, bright blue eyes, peachy complexion, rosy lips, diamond earrings.

It was the expression that was wrong: fearful eyes, dilated pupils, flushed cheeks, hunched shoulders, pursed lips, bangs in her eyes. That wasn't Ino Yamanka.

The blonde splashed cold water on her face until she felt somewhat normal again. Her breathing was fine. She didn't feel like puking out whatever her empty stomach felt like. Her lips formed a weak smile. Her complexion was all one tone finally. She fixed her hair back into a sleek ponytail.

The only problem was her eyes. The pupils were fine, but that scared look remained. Lunch was about to end, so Ino had to make a quick decision. She could try to go to class and hope no one noticed her condition. The other option was hiding away in the bathroom for another period.

Ino continued to weigh her options when the only female guidance counselor, Ms. Yūhi, waltzed into the room. Ino didn't have any time to react and looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Is something wrong Ino?" The counselor asked. She could tell something was off with the girl.

"No, I'm fine." Ino replied back and stepped away from the sink.

"Are you sure?" The brunette persisted. It was her job to help students after all.

"Yeah. It's been a long day, that's all." Ino answered. She wasn't lying. She wanted to crawl into her bed and move on to the next one. This one sucked.

"Do you want to talk about it? I don't have any afternoon appointments." The other woman offered. Ino was tempted by the offer but didn't want to talk about Sakura anymore. It would just upset her more.

"It's okay. I just had a big test earlier." Ino lied. Could this counselor just leave her alone?

"Oh, what subject?" Ms.Yūhi questioned. Ino resisted rolling her eyes.

"Math."

"You have Anko right?"

"Yeah, why?" Ino replied curiously. She had idea why the brunette was bothering her with all these questions.

"Well it's just that she's absent today and this school has a policy against substitute teachers giving out tests. So I'm going to ask again if you would like to talk about what's upsetting you?" Ms.Yūhi questioned again.

Ino's eyes widened. Her counselor was pretty good. That still didn't mean she wanted to talk to her.

"I don't. I'm going to be late for class." The blonde announced and left for class. That solved her decision.

"Where were you in lunch?" Shikamaru asked when he arrived to history class.

He noticed her poor mood more than anyone else. He didn't blame her given the circumstances. He assumed she didn't want to be around Sakura and probably wanted to be alone. Still, he hated seeing her so obviously upset. Her usual bubbly attitude was troublesome but addicting. Her smile was his favorite part of her.

"I don't want to talk about it." Ino mumbled. She was scribbling something in her notebook.

"Alright. Do you want to do something after school?" He asked. He knew she wouldn't want to mope around by herself all day. Unlike him, she loved social interaction.

"Sure." She replied. Ino knew he trying to cheer her up and really did appreciate it, but it wasn't helping. Still, being around him was better than being alone.

"What do you want to do?" He asked. He also knew Ino liked being in charge. He was willing to be dragged along by her, if it made her happy.

"Whatever you want." She answered. She was always making him do things, it was his time to take charge.

Shikamaru took this as a challenge. Maybe it was his slight competitiveness or maybe it was the lack of smile on Ino's face, but he was willing to make an effort to succeed.