AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.
Proofread by: Here I sit, proof-reader less and overheated, writing until my fingers fall off. Apologies if more than usual mistakes slip by, I was dealing with a heatwave as I wrote this chapter.
Chapter 28: Friends till the end
"So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Ino questioned sakura as she leaned against the wall outside of the kitchen where they had gone for privacy.
Steeling her nerves, Sakura locked eyes with Ino before speaking her mind. "Ino, I-I'm sorry." She apologized, feeling the regret of having to apologize in the first place, as well as no small amount of disappointment in herself, while also feeling greatly relieved.
"What?" Ino asked, stunned, not quite comprehending what Sakura was apologizing for. However, her previously on edge attitude had shattered, as she didn't see the normally competitive Sakura in front of her, but rather the apologetic and unsure Sakura she had known back then.
Sighing, as she realized there was no escaping having to explain her thought process and why she was apologizing, Sakura forced herself to keep her gaze locked with Ino's allowing her to see how sincere she was being. "I'm apologizing for ruining our friendship Ino. Back then, when I told you I also liked Sasuke." Sakura began before her eyes turned hard. "I'm not saying I'm no longer interested in Sasuke," she clarified warningly, before relaxing again. "But after recent events, I've come to see that just because we're both interested in Sasuke, doesn't mean we can't still be friends. In the end, Sasuke is the one who will decide who he loves, and right now, he doesn't seem interested in even considering it. So, I'm apologizing and hoping that we can be friends again." Sakura explained, looking at Ino pleadingly.
Naturally, Ino couldn't help but consider it a trick, but such thoughts disappeared completely once she realized just what she saw in Sakura's eyes. Out of everyone Ino knew, Sakura was probably the one person she could read the best, and there wasn't even a trace of deceit in Sakura's behavior from what she could see. "You mean it?" Ino decided to ask, feeling a glimmer of hope ignite inside of her as well. After all, despite what she had said or done to Sakura during their time as rivals, they had never overstepped any serious boundaries or resorted to outright bullying. Deep down, both of them regretted their feud.
"Yes, I am, would you like to be friends again?" Sakura asked Ino, managing a small, uncertain, yet sincere smile at the thought.
Seeing Sakura's smile and hearing her answer, Ino couldn't help but smile as well. However, she couldn't find any words to tell Sakura how grateful she was for Sakura's decision to mend their relationship. Instead, Ino surprised Sakura by enveloping her in a hug. "I missed you." She told her, and Sakura chuckled, feeling slightly overwhelmed by her own emotions as she hugged Ino back.
"Me too," Sakura responded, happy that things had worked out. Unfortunately, all too soon, Ino broke their hug and gave Sakura an appraising look, much to her confusion.
"So, you're going to tell me what the hell that was that you used to kill that Otogakure Shinobi and utterly demolish Shino in the preliminaries? I've never seen anything like it!" Ino asked, secretly glad she hadn't been paired up against Sakura in the preliminaries, as she saw no way to win against Sakura and her unknown powers.
"Ah, well, you see…" Sakura began, scratching the back of her head nervously as she was about to reveal the fact that she had awakened a Kekkei Genkai, only for Inner to interrupt.
"Careful with what you tell her. We might end up as enemies in the third exam. It's one on one battles from here on out, if she knows about our Kekkei Genkai, then she'll have an advantage!" Inner reminded her, making Sakura hesitate.
"We should still tell her. We're trying to become friends again. We'll keep the details secret, as we're actually not supposed to talk about them, she'll understand." Sakura assured Inner, as well as herself before explaining it to Ino.
"You see, I actually awakened a Kekkei Genkai, both those times were instances of me using it. Although, the first time against the Otogakure Shinobi was an accident." Sakura explained, admitting that she hadn't meant to kill her opponent, which was a relief for Ino as she heard it. Still, it was rather unbelievable.
"A Kekkei Genkai?" Ino asked, getting a nod from Sakura as she tried to comprehend that her civilian friend had managed to awaken a Kekkei Genkai, something reserved usually for Shinobi clans or their descendants. Of course, it was reasonable to assume that the first Kekkei Genkai hadn't necessarily been Shinobi, but for a new, beneficial Kekkei Genkai to suddenly appear in an individual was incredibly rare. Ino didn't quite know what to say but tried to find her words anyways. "That's… Incredible." Ino said, trying to be encouraging, only to see Sakura frown slightly, cluing her in on something being wrong. "Sakura?" She asked, hoping she would explain.
"It's a useful ability, sure. But it's also really troublesome. There's a bunch of stupid laws in place for protecting the first and last members of a bloodline. The Council will likely attempt to make me retire from benign a Shinobi if they consider my abilities useful." Sakura revealed sadly, only to find Ino hugging her again, trying to comfort her.
"Don't worry Sakura, we'll figure something out, I don't want to lose my love rival after just having gotten her back as a friend after all." Ino jokes, succeeding in getting a chuckle out of Sakura.
"Yeah, Kakashi has already been helping me out. We're pretty sure I can remain as a Shinobi, but there's a lot of things that still need to be done if we're to convince the Council, and I haven't even had my medical check-up yet, but we know that my Kekkei Genkai has already changed me." Sakura explained, enjoying Ino's hug as long as it lasted. She hadn't realized how much she had missed being comforted this way, something she could never see herself doing with her teammates, as they were guys. Naruto might have been ecstatic to get any kind of affection from her, but she wasn't interested and wouldn't ever bother to give him the satisfaction, or god forbid, hope that she might actually be interested. Even trying to send him clear signals of not being interested, at all, seemed to have the opposite effect on him, who knows how he'd act if she made the mistake of making it seem she liked him.
As for Sasuke… well, anyone who knew what he was like in person would be quick to point out that he wasn't very open to revealing his feelings, or comfortable dealing with other people's feelings. Sakura had to try really hard not to cross the unspoken boundaries he had erected, and even so, she couldn't always hold herself back.
"See, I told you we needed this. I bet Ino missed this as well." Inner told Sakura, pleased with the outcome.
"It changed you? What do you mean, what happened?" Ino immediately began asking, concerned for her recently regained friend. It was honestly quite humorous as to how much of a one-eighty their relationship had done from one simple interaction.
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Sakura assured her, giggling to herself as Ino was trying to find anything wrong with her, ultimately fixating her gaze on the "bruise" located on Sakura's upper right arm. "What is that?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at what she could see close up definitely wasn't a bruise.
"Ah, that's actually part of what awakened my Kekkei Genkai, don't worry, it's harmless." Sakura tried to assure Ino, only to find it did nothing to alleviate her fears.
"Sakura, this is serious, you have beautiful skin, and now it's ruined by this… this mark! Can it be removed? What even is it?" She asked, her concern quickly losing its humor. Sakura decided to assure Ino she was fine.
"It's nothing. It was worse before, my Kekkei Genkai is already taking care of it, don't worry. I'm going to the hospital tomorrow either way." Sakura told her, carefully neglecting to mention exactly what it was, or how it ended up on her skin, as well as how exactly her Kekkei Genaki was taking care of it. In fact, she didn't quite know herself, all she knew was that Inner had found a way to make the curse mark less visible somehow while retaining its abilities to draw in Nature energy. All she knew was that it was going very slowly for it to fade completely.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Ino asked, inquiring once more for confirmation.
"Yes, I am. I have my teammates and Kakashi looking after me, I'm fine." Sakura assured her, at which point Ino finally relented and let go of her with a sigh.
"Oh, Sakura. You always end up having me worry about you." She told her, making Sakura roll her eyes.
"That's your choice, I've grown up a lot since last time. You've seen what I can do now, and I don't plan to stop, from here on out, I'm only going to get stronger." Sakura assured her with confidence, surprising Ino a little who wondered exactly when Sakura changed so much. If Sakura was finally taking things seriously from now on, it implied that the level she had been on previously, a level Ino felt below, or at best equal to hers, it meant she herself was slacking off. The revelation bothered her, and the troublesome and rocky way they had made their way through the second exam had shown her how much of a difference there was between her team and many of the others. If Sakura was showing so much resolve, she would have to match it. Especially now that they were supposed to be friendly rivals.
"Alright then, so will I. Together, we're going to become the best Kunoichi's Konohagakure has ever seen!" Ino declared, offering Sakura her hand to officially agree to become stronger, together, as friends and rivals.
Smiling, Sakura gladly took Ino's offered hand in her own and shook on it. "Together." She answered before they both began laughing.
Back in the kitchen, the boys all sweatdropped as they heard the girls laughing. While they were relieved that they had apparently made up and put their differences behind them, despite leaving with such serious faces, it still made them feel as if something utterly terrifying had just taken place, and unable to tell what it was, made them nervous. Exchanging worried glances, Shikamaru summarized their thoughts, muttering. "Troublesome."
As they arrived back in the village proper, Sakura couldn't help but feel great from being back from the forest of death. Having spent five days in the wild had been taxing, and now she simply couldn't wait to get home and shower, see her parents, take a nap, and eat some sweets or something, before facing the inevitable visit to the hospital she had to deal with. Oh, and of course informing her parents of her current predicament concerning her Kekkei Genkai and her success in passing onto the final stretch of the Chūnin exams.
"Alright then, you three. You have today off to do what you wish, we meet at our usual spot at eight in the morning." Kakashi informed them as they stepped foot into the village proper, only to turn back as if having changed his mind. "Actually, Sakura. You have three hours until I come to pick you up for our scheduled trip to the hospital, be ready by then." He instructed her, before turning to look at Naruto. "And Naruto, I have something in mind for you as well, so be ready in an hour or two, I have someone I want to introduce you to." He told them, before using the body flicker technique to disappear.
"I bet five thousand Ryu he will be more than an hour late." Naruto immediately declared, getting a smirk from Sasuke and a chuckle out of Sakura.
"For which meeting?" Sakura asked for clarification.
"Both, but if you're interested, let's bet on yours, as it was more specific." Naruto decided.
"I'll take that bet. He isn't always late, not when it really matters. I'm willing to bet he'll arrive on time." Sakura responded confidently.
"When it matters? He'll still be late, but only by ten minutes." Sasuke decided to chip in, accepting the bet as well.
"Alright, the closest one gets the pot, deal?" Naruto asked, getting a nod of agreement from the other two, each one thinking they had just earned themselves some easy pocket money, failing to realize an amused Kakashi was observing them from nearby.
"Perhaps I should reschedule Sakura's appointment and forget to mention it?" He considered, before dismissing the idea. It was too much effort to mess with his students that way. No, he'd simply take his time tomorrow instead and see how long he could keep them waiting.
AN: So, I had hoped to make Sakura and Ino's conversation much shorter. It was a small thing I never really planned but felt needed to be addressed and as the opportunity presented itself, I took it. Soon comes the part where I'll be getting into more details about Sakura's Kekkei Genkai and Inner's true nature. There are still more surprises in store, and we will find that things supposed to be easy are not so, and things meant to be hard might be easier than previously suspected.
For this chapter, the beginning was hard for me to write as I honestly didn't know how to accurately write this interaction between Sakura and Ino. I tried my best, but I can't properly judge how well it turned out. Please, readers, let me know, considering I have a lack of proof-readers at the moment. As it is, I am considering maybe putting the story on pause until I can once again rely on them, as they have promised to catch up with my story soon.
Oh, as for what I had originally planned for the conversation between Ino and Sakura, I had intended for their conversation to end in them having a battle of some kind to share their feelings through fighting. But it simply didn't work out I'm afraid. Perhaps sometime in the future, Ino will get to meet Inner directly.
As for the ending of this chapter, it ended up writing itself. I have no idea where it came from, but I'm glad to end it on such a light-hearted note. I had originally planned for the ending to be with Shikamaru once again saying that things were troublesome, but that would make the chapter too short.