a short chapter. how odd.
disclaimer: not ours.
dedication: to being really really really (double lazy with knobs wut) lazy. and Lady Gaga. like. really, do i even really need to say anything else? really?

Saraa: trust is like a mirror. you can fix it, if it's broke.
les: but you can still see the cracks in that motherfucker's reflection.


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Hinata had not been expecting her morning to be like this, really.

It was something that was, uh, a little odd.

Hinata blushed at the thought of it.

(There was also the question of home, and her family: how that that morning gone? Just thinking about it made Hinata either want to faint in horror, or to start giggling like a little girl. Both were good options, at this point.)

Really.

It would have gone sort of like this:


Hiashi twitched.

His daughters had been called down for the breakfast meal twice already. His youngest child had come down, a sour look on her thirteen-year-old lips. Hiashi nodded once at Hanabi. He waited ten minutes. Twitched again.

He gritted his teeth. "Hanabi, have you seen your sister?"

Hanabi stared at him. "Am I supposed to care where Nee-san goes?"

Hiashi stared at her.

Hanabi stared right back.

"Go get her."

Hanabi grumbled. "You - you are - I hope you - GAH."

And then Hiashi Hyuuga's youngest child did exactly what she was supposed to, and went to find her sister.

Hiashi calmed.

Waited three minutes.

Hanabi came back down.

"Well?"

The thirteen-year-old shrugged, a smirk twitching her lips. "Her bed wasn't slept in. Sorry, Father. I don't think she came home."

Hiashi twitched.

And exploded.


Ino flailed around the kitchen - her Daddy was in the shower at the moment and she was making him breakfast.

Packed with french toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and, and, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Ever since her mother left them, Ino has made sure to be a good girl and fill in both the tasks her mother abandoned and the tasks that belonged to her by default.

So this is why she found herself cooking breakfast for her Daddy.

"Late night, come home. Work sucks, I know," She flailed towards the counter, a plate filled with scrambled eggs in her hand, "She left me roses by the stairs. Surprises let me know she cares."

...Then her phone rang.


A muscle throbbed in Hiashi's jaw, as he waited for Hinata's little blonde... friend... to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" a voice sang at him, and Hiashi was tempted to simply shut down the call before he killed himself from the indignity of it all. Pah, as if a teenage girl would know where his daughter was, better then he did.

"Hello, Ino."

"Uh... Who is this?"

"It is Hinata's father. I am calling about her whereabouts. Have you seen her at all in the last twenty-four hours?"


Her eyes grew the size of soccer balls as Hiashi's (that was his name, right?) voice boomed into her ears... And what he said.

Hinata?

Gone missing?

Her eyes grew all the larger at the realization -Hinata's text that morning clicked into place in Ino's brain- and a wild, maniacal grin etched one her lips, "MY OTPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!"

"...What?"

Catching her slip, she cleared her throat, "Uh, I said, she's out to peeeeeeee..."


Hiashi was very, very suspicious.

She had said something that was distinctly not "Out to pee".

He narrowed his eyes. "I can not reach her on her cell phone. Why is this?"

He could practically hear the girl rolling her eyes, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She came over for a study session last night. And when we done, it was really, really late! I didn't want her going home in the dark, obviously, so she just stayed the night!"

She was avoiding the question.

Hiashi gritted his teeth some more.

"Why can I not reach her by her phone, girl?"

"The battery died, duh. Hinata's just in the bathroom, an' she'll be out in a bit. We're gonna study some more, and then going shopping. Don't worry, I'll have her home safe and sound, okay? Baaai!"

And then the phone call ended.

And Hiashi could only twitch some more.


From: Bombshell
To: Hina-chan
be glad he called me. i got you covered. love you, kisses, use protection. baiii!

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When Naruto woke up for the second time that morning, he wasn't surprised to see Hinata sleeping next to him. Actually, he decided that he could get used to this... And then he remembered her dad and Neji (the Barbie Doll, of course), and how he was dead if they ever found out he defiled and deflowered poor Hinata.

Bah.

She... she was seventeen. At this, Naruto mentally gulped.

Bah, to the second power.

He would live through it. Hinata was worth it.

Groaning and sitting up, he ran a hand through his hair with one hand and rubbed the sleep out of his blue eyes with the other. It was then his stomach growled. His eyes searched for the alarm clock - it's bleary red colors screaming at him that it was already close to noon. His mother probably already left for work...

...He was hungry.

Naruto's eyes focused on Hinata's still sleeping form... she was so prettyyyyy.


Hinata vaguely felt herself waking up when she felt someone next to her. Her moon-pale eyes flickered to half-open, and she found herself looking up at Naruto. He was staring at her, carefully scrutinizing her features.

"Good morning. Again," she murmured, a slow, sleepy smile on her lips.

She yawned a little, and sat up, her hair settling comfortably down her back. Hinata shot a glance at the clock; it was almost noon, and her father was definitely going to kill her when he got his hands on her.

Oh, god, she hoped someone had covered for her.

Naruto was still looking at her. Hinata smiled at him again, a slight blush working it's way up to her cheeks, and flushing them out with colour. It was nothing compared to normal, but still. Hinata leaned over, and gently curled herself into his body.

How could any one boy be this totally perfect?


Naruto managed to smile at her weakly, his blue eyes looking at the time again, then back at her.

"Hi," he said, scratching his head.

Okay, he didn't exactly know why he was feeling awkward - but he was. So he just grabbed his boxers again and slid them on before standing up and cracking his joints.

"I... I'm gonna go," he coughed, "I'm gonna go shower..."

And then he stepped inside the bathroom and kicked the door shut.


Hinata had the restrain the urge to giggle out loud. Poor, poor Naruto - he was so awkward about such strange things. She stretched like a cat, all the vertebrae in her back pop-pop-popping comfortably back into place. Hinata looked around the room - obviously a boy's room.

Hm, where had her clothes gotten to...?

Hinata stood up, still wrapped in Naruto's sheets, and went about searching for her shirt.

And then she realized that she actually didn't care that much.

Instead, she walked over to Naruto's closet, opened the pale-wood doors, and looked through his clothes. There had to be a hoodie, or something, in there, that she could wear. Something blue and yellow caught her eye, and Hinata pulled it out. It was a bright blue pull-over.

With Pikachu on it.

This time, Hinata really couldn't contain the giggles.

She pulled it on (it practically drowned her, falling well past mid-thigh), pushed the sleeves up to her elbows, put her hair up in a horribly lazy bun with the tie that had been on her wrist (how did that get there...?) and slipped out of Naruto's room.


He couldn't believe it.

Like, what he did - he couldn't believe it.

Sure, he felt fucking great! And he had wanted it for a while... But Hinata was... Naruto shook his head and, with the water pounding on his back, he ran a hand through his drenched hair. Okay, maybe it was a stupid thing to worry about, since it was already done - and what's done, is done.

But still.

His brow furrowed, even as he turned the water off and reached for a towel.

...What were the possibilities of him getting killed?

He grinned dryly at that.

Had he mentioned that Hinata was really pretty and that he liked her a lot? 'Coz he did.

Seriously.

THE POWER OF, UH, LOVE WILL PREVAIL.


Hinata walked into the kitchen, and looked around. It was a nice kitchen - clean, bright, spacious. Her stomach rumbled, and Hinata covered her mouth. She was a little bit happy that no one was around to hear that.

She looked around, again, and headed for the fridge. She opened it, stared at the fruit, the yogurt, and the eggs, all on the top shelf. She had a feeling that she could just make whatever she wanted, and that it really wouldn't matter what she did.

She searched until she found a pan, and some canola oil.

And then she went about making scrambled eggs.


Dressed in black skinnies (because, like, seriously, baggy jeans get so damn annoying with all the fwish-fwish as the denim rubbed against each other as he walked) and a gray thermal t-shirt (with a hood...this was Sasuke's... YEAH, IT WAS. He remembered now. He used it when he accidentally spilled some soda on his own shirt when he was at his house for some intense video game session... oh well. Sasuke had a lot of them.) and his precious beat up orange converses.

He ran his hands through his hair, ruffling it up until it was wild and all over the place. Then, he simply walked out of his room, down the stairs and into the kitchen.

The smell of food made his mouth water and his tummy rumble.

"Ooooh," he moaned, coming to a stop right behind Hinata. He peered at the pan from over her shorter shoulder and grinned, "Scrambled eggs. Yum."


Hinata laughed softly, and used the spatula she was holding to mix the chives and the ham into the eggs. Hinata wasn't sure if Naruto would like it - but then, Hinata had been taught to always make exotic food (or at least very good tasting food), because it was one of the few vanities that the Hyuuga would allow themselves.

She could practically feel Naruto drooling over the food.

Hinata smiled, and pulled a second plate out - she was happy she'd made so much, because, honestly? She'd known he was going to want some. And he was a teenage boy. No matter what Neji said, he was just as much of a fatass as the rest of them.

(Obviously.)

"Unh... here, Naruto-kun," she told him, and filled the second plate with the scrambled eggs. She handed it to him, filled her own plate, and then tilted her head towards the table.

"Do you want to sit?" she asked, almost shy.


Naruto looked down at his plate and grinned sloppily. He had food - no more starving for him. Honestly, it was a miracle he was still standing without some damn food (or ramen). But now that he had some... and made by the most prettiest girl in the world... He snickered.

And then he looked up at Hinata and nodded, "Yeah, sure."

He followed her to the table, wondering why she looked so different - he couldn't fricken' pinpoint it and it was driving him nuts.

...Did she do something with her hair and he hadn't quite noticed? Oh, god. Would she get angry if he didn't notice?

Blue eyes scanned her dark locks almost frantically, trying to see - but it was up in a messy bun and it looked the same...

...Maybe he was just being weird.

Shrugging, he began to eat as if his life depended on it. Which it did.

"So," he said after a while. "How ya feelin'?"


Hinata half-shrugged.

"I'm... really good. Probably going to be killed when I get home, but, uhn... I guess it could be worse?"

She dipped a fork-full of scrambled eggs-and-chives-and-ham into the ketchup she'd found in the fridge (shut up, it was good!), and popped it into her mouth. Huh, it had actually turned out better then she'd expected it too - Hinata had been experimenting with spices, and she'd thrown in the obvious salt and pepper, along with some thyme, and half a pinch of chilly pepper.

She looked at Naruto.

"What do you think? Any good?" she asked, indicating the scrambled eggs Naruto was eating (like it was food to a starving man. That had to be a good thing, right?)


Naruto paused midway stuffing his fork-full of food into his mouth.

Grinning shyly, he set it down and gave her a vigorous nod. "It's more than good. You cook amazingly Hinata-chan!"

His eyes scanned her again - that nagging feeling was still fricken' bugging him! So he settled to figure out what was so different about her... He liked her hood-

-OH.

Naruto felt completely stupid as he realized she was wearing his Pikachu hoodie. And it looked so pretty on her - she was so pretty. Like, in all seriousness. He inwardly flailed as he continued to watch her; shaking his head and grinning, he went back to eating his breakfast.


Hinata watched dawning comprehension in Naruto's eyes.

She wondered when he was going to realize that she was wearing something of his. Hinata almost giggled, but didn't. Instead, she just smiled at him, and murmured a soft "Thanks, I'm glad you like it."

He looked at her with soft eyes, and Hinata felt herself blushing (if only a little).

So they sat there, together, in the sunlight.

And life was pretty good.


...

...

...


Yeah, something like that.

So now, she was just sitting in the foyer, waiting for Karin to get there. They were likely heading to Sakura's, because, well, clearly something was up, and that just wouldn't do!

... Okay, so, Hinata was in a bit (a lot) of a weird mood. She felt giggly and light and silly, and uhg, she was going Valley Girl on the world, and that was just wrong. She was Hinata; she may have been quiet and musical and pretty, but she was intelligent enough that she did not pull out the Valley Girl logo, like, ever.

Because that was totally cheating.

Karin had ignored her last text, but, meh.

Hinata was comfortable in her sweats, and Naruto's Pikachu hoodie.

So she looked like the dictionary definition of "scrub". Whatever - it wasn't like she was going for "pretty". She was wearing yesterday's make-up, her hair still piled messily on top of her head, and donning comfortable scrub clothes. She definitely didn't care what anyone thought of her.

Well, excluding one person.

She leaned into Naruto, and definitely did not allow happy giggles to escape her lips. Definitely did not.

Gosh, he was cute.


Naruto was quiet as he stared at the wall, jaw clenched and just overall not really there.

It had nothing to do with Hinata; because he had no dam regrets about what he's done because it's right and he will face whatever he had to to prove this. It's just... He knew where she was heading. And because he knew this, he also knew Sasuke did something stupid. And, let's face it, Naruto was a caring person; he didn't want to see neither of them hurt. Scratch that, Naruto's never seen Sasuke (his best friend for years) hurt like he was yesterday.

And, even if he just met her, he could just picture Sakura.

"You're going to Sakura-chan's," he questioned distantly.

"Mhmm, why?"

He turned to face her, blue eyes pinning her silvery-white ones. "Hinata-chan, I was drunk last night. But I'm serious on what I said..."

Her brow furrowed lightly as she asked, "About what?"

"About Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan. The reason why all of us were out in the first place - Hinata-chan! Sai just... Sai... God..." He looked away for a second before his eyes met hers once again. "Sakura-chan's probably... down right now."

"...Naruto-kun... What happened?"

Naruto ran a hand through his hair and glared down at the ground. "Sai basically told Sasuke that he was Sakura-chan's rebound. He told Sasuke about his relationship with Sakura-chan."

"What? But that - how does he even - where does he get off?" Her eyes were huge, slowly shaking her head in disbelief.

At this, Naruto shook his head, as well. He licked his lower lip and said, "I don't know, Hinata-chan. But I do know that your best friend and my best friend are hurting right now. And there's really no reason for it... Right?"

"Probably not. There almost never is..."

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair.


Hinata didn't know what to think.

Naruto didn't lie. Ever.

And Karin wouldn't be coming unless it was something big - she wouldn't have even mentioned Sakura if something big hadn't happened.

Oh, god. This wasn't going to be good.

Hinata tucked her hands around Naruto's waist, and clung to him. Please, god, let this all be some stupid big misunderstanding. Please let it go away, please, please, please...


"I wish I could say we ccould do something to make this better," Naruto mumbled.

He gave her a small, sad, hesitant smile and leaned down to give a chaste kiss to her cheek. She was so prettyyyyy; even through the whole ordeal happening right now - he just couldn't seem to get that out of his system. He never could and, he knew, he never would.

But before she could say anything to him. Or he could add anything more, her cellphone went off.


Hinata glared at the phone. It sang (So tell me what your best friend knows that I don't know. Tell me why you talk me down, wherever you go. You're saint, you're a queen~) at her for a minute, before she sighed, and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Oh, good, you decided to pick up."

"Hi, Karin," Hinata sighed into the receiver.

"I'm outside your boyfriend's house. Your ass. Inside my car. Now."

Hinata almost snorted. "Do I even have to tell you how that sounds?"

She could practically hear Karin's grin. That was never a good thing. "Oh, please. You don't need to tell me. I exist to make dirty jokes."

"Don't I know it," Hinata murmured softly. "I'll be out in a minute, 'kay?"

"I'll have the pimp-cane ready to go."

"Bye," Hinata said, and snapped her phone shut. Seriously, pimp-cane? What was Karin smoking?

...

Actually, you know what, Hinata didn't really want to know. It would probably be something vile and dirty and oh god, why am I friends with them, again? She looked up at Naruto, and smiled at him. She didn't know if it was forced, but it was a smile, and that was what counted, right? "I - have to go, I guess."

He looked sad, and Hinata's chest hurt. "...Okay."

Hinata stood up on her tiptoes, and carefully pressed her lips against his cheek. It was feather-soft, and barely there; the softest touch she could make it.

"I'll see you later?" and she had to phrase it as a question.


"Yeah," He nodded and walked her to the door.

He watched her walk down the porch and get into Suigetsu's woman's car. And only after they drove off did Naruto close his door.

God, he hated these kind of problems.

...And he wondered how the hell Sasuke was doing.

Or if he and Kiba hadn't killed each other yet.

God. People.

Naruto needed some ramen.


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THE LIST OF WHY BOYS SUCK (AMONG OTHER THINGS)
As written by Karin~
because I'm really awesome ;]
(and commented on by Hinata, Ino, Tenten, and Sakura)

o1. BECAUSE OMIGOD THEY JUST DO. (Technically, betch, they lick... unless, you know, they're on the other side of the bun...) (INO JUST STFU. GOD. YOU IDIOT.) (WELL IT'S TRUE. GOD. GO AWAY AND BE A MAN SOMEWHERE ELSE.) (I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, SLORE.)

o2. Because they make us cry. (...I don't consent on this, srsly.) (COZ YOU'RE A MAN) (I WILL KILL YOU.)

o3. THEY'RE CONFUSING. MAKE THEM GO AWAY OMFG. Stop stealing my pen, bitch. (So.. is this admitting you have feelings for a certain Hyuuga that is not Hinata?) (I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.) (..So this is a yes.) (IT'S A FUCKING FIST TO THE MOUTH, WHORE.) (

o4. Because one day they're there, and the next, they're just... gone. (SAKURA, YOU HAVE ME. LET'S GET MARRIED.) (LEAVE HER ALONE, BITCH, SHE'S SECRETLY HEARTBROKEN.) (No she's not!) (Why am I here again?) (... I'm sorry, but none of you are Sasuke. And... I dunno, maybe he was my one and only, you know?)

o5. BECAUSE THEY'RE PRETTY. NOT THE TIME, PIG. (There's always time for boys and prettiness, skank.) (Not now, porkchops. God.) (HEY. IT'S MISS INO TO YOU.) (Porkchops.)

o6. Because they're disgusting and unhygenic, and should just all be killed. (I'm down with this. They suck. All of them.) (Even your lover?) (I HAVE NONE.) (Riiiiiight.)

o7. Because they're very one-track minded, I guess? See, Hinata's in love, we can't just be all like THEY SUCK (EVEN THOUGH THEY TOTALLY DO). (MY OTPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP) (Here we go again. Someone take Ino's pen away.) (MY OTPPPPP. GUYS. MY OTPPPP.) (While I do not want to talk about their one-track minds, I do not think my eyes can take anymore crying. They hurt. We're also out of chocolate AND ice cream so... can we get some more coffee flavored ice cream?)

o8. Because they never know what they want, and due to this fact, they're totally terrified of committing (wait, wouldn't that make Tenten a man? JAYKAY I LOVE YOU) (I'm going to kill you. In the worst way possible. I am going to skin you alive and chop you off into pieces and send you off to that guy you're now living with or whatever.) (...So, you're a man, right?) (You're next.) (LOVE MEEEEEEEE.)

o9. This ice cream is awesome. (THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR LIST, IDIOT.) (ICE CREAM IS LIFE.) (FOOD IS LIFE.) (LET'S GET MARRIED.) (...No.)

1o. Anything else to add, ladies? (You know that time you baked cookies and they disappeared? I ate them.) (...What the hell, Tenten?) (I THOUGHT WE WERE CONFESSING OR SOMETHING.) I. YOU. OMIGOD. I REFUSE TO KNOW YOU.

11. BECAUSE THEY SCRATCH THEIR BALLS IN PUBLIC. EVERYWHERE. AND THEY SMELL. LIKE, A LOT. (...EW. JUST... EW. I MEAN, I DON'T WANT TO SEE THAT, GOD.) (EXACTLY.)

12. AND THEY'RE PRETTY. LIKE, SRSLY. WTF. (NO WORDS FOR AN IDIOT. SHE'S AS ONE-TRACKED MIND AS THESE BOYS WE'RE BASHING.) (NONSENSE. GLITTER.). Ino, be quiet. It's rude.

13. OMFG, YOU ALL ARE SO FUCKING STUPID AND SO NOT HELPING. I AM TEARING THIS UP RIGHT NOW.


And so she did.

Karin snarled, grabbed the list off the table, and was about to start tearing it into shreds. But Hinata plucked it out of her hands. There was a very... strange aura surrounding her. The little Hyuuga girl was very calm, and very poised.

But her left eye was twitching, and that was never a good sign.

Hinata calmly took the defaced list, and began methodically tearing it to shreds. Into halves, then into quarters, eights, sixteenths, thirty-seconds. The tiny little pieces sat in her hands for a moment, and she looked dangerously up at Ino and Tenten, and, really, everyone else in the room.

"You-," she said softly, "-all of you - are not helping. Get out of my sight, and go be productive, before I snap. Are we clear?"


Sakura wasn't paying attention as everyone else was forced, single-file, out of the room, by Hinata (god, that girl was so small and so scary - it should have worked at all). Her gaze was focused solely on the spoon in her right hand as it bit into melting coffee ice cream. Swirling it defined motions, she was satisfied to see the picture come to life under her keen eye for detail and able hands.

"Sakura, you're carving things in your ice cream."

If the girl had been capable of feeling shock, she would have dropped the spoon at Hinata's voice. But ever since Sasuke had- well, since that night, she had been uncapable of feeling anything other than sad, sadder, and saddest.

She stared blankly at her friend across the table, her eyebrows scrunched a bit in displeasure. "That's Sasuke. See his hair and his eyes and-." All the tears that Sakura almost wanted to cry got stuck somewhere between her throat and her eyes, but she could just feel her face get all blotchy, like it did every time when she cried.

But she had made a promise to herself. No more tears.

Hinata kind of just blinked at her for a while before she spoke. "Sakura - I - I know. But..." Reaching across the table, she clasped Sakura's boneless hand in one of her smaller ones.

"Sakura, you know I care about you. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to, but... I'm right here. And I'm worried about you."

Something in Sakura crumbled for the twenty-first time since Last Night And She Wasn't Going To Think About It Because It Was Pointless, but her face felt like stone.

"I just... feel betrayed, I guess. He comes and he goes - and maybe guys are supposed to be like kleenex - one use only - but I thought there was something more than sex. He called me annoying, but... he calls his best friends annoying. So I thought there was something there that I'd never seen or felt before. I still feel like I'm writing his name in lipstick on my mirror, you know? Like he was It. The One. He made my heart thrum. He made me feel alive like one fine wire, but at the same time it was like he was freezing me. Maybe love is a bundle of contradictions, but apparently it wasn't like I thought."

Hinata said nothing.

"I hate being wrong."

"I know you do," Hinata murmured to her, softly.

"I hate him."

A pin dropped in the distance.

"But I hate me more because I know I could never hate him."


The sorrow that surrounded Sakura was palpable.

Hinata sighed, softly, softly. She slipped an arm around Sakura's shaking shoulders.

"Do you regret it?"

"... Honestly? I don't know. Not yet, at least."

No, Hinata thought, Sakura wouldn't regret it. Because Sakura didn't regret - even when she should have. She didn't regret Sai, didn't regret Sasuke... It was going to be the death of her, really, it was. And there was nothing Hinata could do about it, other then sit next to Sakura, and hold her hand when her heart shattered.

(And no one wanted to do it, but do it, Hinata would.)


.


Tenten bit at her lip-ring, honey-brown eyes cast down on the tiled-floor of the kitchen.

Karin was currently ranting on some sort of thing; but it wasn't like Tenten ever paid attention when she was being yelled at. Honestly, one would think that fact was obvious; especially when her attitude never improved or changed. But... still.

What else could they expect from her end? She didn't know what Sakura was going through - she'd never felt anything like it. She didn't know how to console her or how to act or how not to. Tenten was just... there.

Was she supposed to act like a statue and just take in the whole scene? Watch her friend inwardly break and not be able to help out because she was too brash and didn't have a gentle bone in her body?

She sighed.

"Yeah, okay, we screwed up, I get it," she cut in on Karin's bitching, "Go ahead and keep yelling, if you want. I'm going to the bathroom."

She jumped off the island and stalked towards the bathroom.


Karin was not a happy camper, okay?

This - this was not cool.

Tenten had disappeared, and Ino was starting to look grumpy, and Karin - Karin was not a happy camper.

Hands on her hips, she paced the kitchen, and sent nasty glares in Tenten's general direction (okay, Karin knew that Tenten failed at emotional contact, and, okay, it was really, really pathetic in a kicked-puppy kind of way, but, like, seriously - out. of. line much?), because, hi? She was so not in the mood for this.

"You," she barked at Tenten's retreating back. "Fine, ditch, you suck at feelings anyways. But if you're leaving, get me ice cream. Now. I need to do some serious damage control as soon as I possibly can. And you-!" she whirled, and shot A Look Of Doom in Ino's direction "-stop baiting her! God, am I the only adult here?"


Ino stared at Karin.

Just stared.

Her usual sunny-bright face was dimmed down to a blank expression, blue eyes gluing themselves on Karin's red ones and without breaking the contact she waved her hand carelessly.

"I know what she's going through." she commented lightly yet heavily all in one. "I know. I know she's trying really hard to fight back the tears. I know she wants to hate him but obviously can't. I know she wants to crawl into a hole and never come out. I know." She sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "It's better to just make her forget rather than make her talk or think or whatever about what she clearly doesn't want to."

Sighing again, Ino walked towards the island and leaned the small of her back against it, crossing her arms in front of her chest and pouting. "Besides... I don't know, Karin, okay? I'm just as worried about her as you are but that doesn't mean I'm going to be all gloomy and a total bitch about everything! Maybe there's something we're missing and I'm going to stay level-headed and not plan for his doom until I figure it out!"


Karin just rolled her eyes. "Please. Getting the bat and beating him to death is Tenten's job. I said "damage" control, not "render him unconscious and bleeding" control. They're two different things."

She paused. "And let's face it - I'm a total bitch about everything."

The two girls looked at each other for a moment, and sighed simultaneously. Karin bit her lip, and looked her oldest friend in the eye. "What do we do, Ino? Like - I've never seen her like this, ever. It's just - out of place, and out of the blue, and I - I don't get it! And you know how I feel about not understanding things!"

Karin sat down at the table, and dropped her head down onto crossed arms. "I hate people," she muttered to herself. "Boys, in particular. They're stupid."


Ino pursed her lips and shook her head.

"I have no idea, to be really obvious," she commented, eyes gluing themselves on the counters. "But I'm going to find out, so help me god I am going to go psycho bitch. And it's been a very long while since I've gone psycho bitch, Karin."

Sighing one more time, Ino ran a hand through her hair. "I... I don't even know? I'm supposed to be like the person to go to for these things and even I'm looking at the situation with a what-the-fuck face. I mean, they were fine a few days ago..."

She shook her head again and laid her upper body onto the flat surface of the island. "I think we should pour sunshine and glitter and happiness and cookie dough on Sakura's parade! Because that's so much better than rain. That can frizz your hair and stuff."

Karin stared at her in utter disbelief. "...No, Ino. Just. No."

Ino sighed and stood up straight, a soft glare in her eyes. "Then what the hell are we going to do? Just sit around and mope with her? Newsflash, Karin, moping around isn't healthy nor good!"


"But sometimes it's necessary! Sometimes, Ino, life isn't sunshine and rainbows, and sometimes, grieving over something special that just died is okay! If Sakura wants to grieve, let her! What's it going to hurt?" Karin snapped, eyes flashing behind her glasses.

"You know what? Then you grieve with her! Because obviously that's what you want! Then you handle her tears and everything. Go on! Go handle it!"

Karin knew Ino was terrified - knew that Ino hated seeing someone she cared about hurt so much.

But this was so not the time.

Ino was the sunshine and the glitter, and Karin was the alcoholic girly drinks (and that wasn't even taking Tenten into account - Tenten was a different story entirely) - neither of them were very good at picking the broken pieces of someone's soul up, and putting them back together.

Frankly, Karin just didn't have the patience. Another sigh escaped her, the fight leaving her body. "Ino, we both know that Hinata can pull it off a hundred times better then you or I ever could."


Ino closed her eyes and massaged her temples, willing herself to calm down because being angry and being sad and being anything negative was something she had promised herself she'd never ever do again.

"Then let her handle it. I don't... I don't want to talk about this if it's not with Sakura. I don't want to... I just... I need something to drink." She went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, placing the cold plastic on her temples before actually going ahead and taking a drink.

She pursed her lips and sighed deeply. Actually, she didn't think there was anything else she could do but just sigh. Ino... Maybe it was selfish, she didn't know, but she just... She couldn't go through all that again. Not for herself, not for a friend, not for her father - she couldn't.

It was too damn hard. Just the thought of it was giving her a migraine - actually, the thought of it was making her want to drop the figurative towel on the ground and call it quits. She would never abandon Sakura or any of the girls; but she was not going to be the one to have to listen to all the tears and... and... and... she just couldn't.

She was so horrible.

At that, she furrowed her brow and chewed on her lower lip.

"Men suck."


"You're telling me," Karin muttered grumpily.

Really, right now, all she wanted was to curl up, and sleep forever.

Sleep had always been Karin's preferred method of coping - well, dancing, and then sleep. Dancing to exhaust herself, and then sleep to pass the time and dull the heartache. It had always worked (Karin remembered the first time that her father had snapped, and left the house; Karin had danced herself raw, and then slept for seventeen hours), so why would this be any different?

Tenten was still gone, Sakura was still crying (probably), Hinata was still comforting, Ino was still Ino, and Karin was still tired.

There was nothing to do but wait.


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Extra thoughts from us:

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