Title: Waiting at the Milestone
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Nor do I own the song lyrics in italics, those belong to Liz Phair in the song "Red Light Fever".
Author Notes: I actually really liked this one. I might make it an independent one too. Well, maybe not. But I really did like this. I've never been a big fan of Ino, but it's fun to write about her and stuff. This is my first try at her, though. Oh, and basically these are a bunch of one-shots all about different people and all set around the time Sakura and Naruto drag Sasuke back.

Chapter: Ino: The Flowers

Too many people want too many things
And you only want to forget

Ino didn't know what to think when she saw Naruto and Sakura stumbling through the Konoha gates dragging Sasuke's bloodied form. Kakashi had already passed through; Ino had seen him on his way to the Hokage's office about thirty minutes earlier. She wondered where the other member of their temporary team had gone to. This "Sai" character that had been harassing Naruto, Shikamura, and Chouji when she'd arrived to see them for lunch with Asuma.

Ino wanted to rush up and check on "her poor Sasuke" like she had so many times before. She still wanted to act like he belonged to her, like Sakura was still beneath her, instead of on a whole other level above her. But, as Ino looked at their weary, exhausted tread, their solemn faces, she knew that this was not one of those times. She stood in at the window of her family's flower shop; unconsciously clutching the yellow hyacinth so tightly it might snap. Yellow hyacinth? How ironic. Had this been any other time she might have laughed.

Yellow hyacinths stood for jealousy.

And she was. Sakura had everything she'd always wanted when she was little. But Sakura was her best friend, she can't be mad at her, she can't be jealous of her. But Sakura is not her best friend anymore, she's not the little girl who used to cry because her forehead was too large, she's not the little girl who would shyly hide behind her and wait for Ino's approval or lead.

Ino dropped the mangled flower into the trash and picked up another. She rather angrily shoved it into the empty vase for the flower arrangement, scowling. Nothing seemed to want to work out for her. They say you're never any different to your friends, even when you get older. Somehow, Ino could never see Sakura destined for greatness, before. She couldn't see anything special in this trembling, crying little girl. Sometimes Ino wanted to tell her that she'd always play second fiddle her whole life. More often, Ino wanted to tell her that she had no right becoming a legend and leaving her behind.

She had no right to leave Ino behind like Ino left the weeds in the garden when she went to harvest fresh flowers every morning.

Ino would have taken Sakura with her. But then, Sakura was a small bud, just waiting to bloom. Ino had been the weed growing in the soil around her, her roots strangling her. Ino carefully tucked the Forget-Me-Nots in front of the yellow hyacinths.

Of course, the meaning for Forget-Me-Nots was obvious, probably even to Chouji.

Ino sighed. She really hated her team. They had none of the secrets that lurked among those of Team Seven. They did not flow together as if like a seamless cloth. Had any of her teammates left, she would probably not have gone after him with such fierce determination, ready to die. She didn't care about any of them enough.

Sure, she fought with them; she would take hits for them. She would make sure they were all okay… But would she spend years under the rigorous training of the Hokage? Ino had seen Sakura trudge by the shop after her lessons, beat and bruised, sometimes so exhausted she looked about to pass out right there. Was she ready to work so hard for people she didn't particularly like? Sure, they'd grown on her, they were her friends. But sometimes Ino felt like she wasn't a very good friend to begin with, so these new friends couldn't be much better. She arranged a couple stems of periwinkle between the Forget-Me-Nots and the yellow hyacinths.

Periwinkles meant friendship.

Ino hadn't seen Sakura much over the past few years. Their rivalry had been stupid, anyway, caused by Ino's desire to show Sakura that she was just as good. Even then, Ino wished she were still her best friend. Though Ino had many other friends, they weren't the same; they didn't share those childhood memories and bonds. They didn't know the secrets the shared in small, giggly whispers before anyone their age had learned to gossip.

Ino missed the days when she and Sakura could just sit in a field and talk. Now, Sakura always regards her warily, as if wondering when Ino will attack. Now Sakura doesn't share as many memories with Ino. Now they are in separate teams and lead very separate lives. She wishes now that she had not been so worked up over the stupid crush. She wishes they were not so different. She wishes things could be the same. Ino arranges a few pink larkspur into the arrangement.

Pink larkspur means fickleness.

Ino wishes she hadn't lied to Sakura. She wishes she hadn't tried to tell Sakura that no, she could not be better than her. She wishes she had not tried to make Sakura her shadow when she shone so brightly that it outshone Ino. Ino doesn't like looking at the past and seeing the good times, because they remind her how stupid she is. She doesn't want to keep pretending she hates Sakura. She doesn't want to say she's sorry either, because that's so much harder. Ino puts a couple stems of foxglove into the arrangement.

Foxgloves were for insincerity.

Soon Ino was just throwing in the flowers as they came to her. She didn't want to think about this sort of thing much long. So Sasuke was back, big deal? So Sakura wasn't her best friends anymore, she had new ones. So she wished a lot of things that would never come true, that was her own fault, wasn't it?

Geranium. Stupidity.

Broom. Humility.

Fir. Time.

Euphorbia. Persistence.

Buttercup. Childishness.

Astilbe. Still waiting.

Amaryllis. Pride.

Lotus blossom. Estranged love.

Burgundy rose. Beauty within.

Red Tulip. Fame.

Ino sighed and finally stepped back to look at what she'd created. The bouquet was horrendous. It was hideous, the colors clashing and the flowers ungraceful beside each other. Just like Ino. Maybe she would send it to Sakura while the girl would most probably be in the hospital, from chakra exhaustion. She smiled rather fondly, looking it over once more. It was almost perfect. But not quiet. Something was missing. Then she smiled and reached for one last flower to place dead in the center.

Zinna, for thoughts and memories of absent friends.