AN: Early Ino/Sakura. Because I can and it's still an OTP, even if I hardly ever write it. Set mid-timeskip.
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Ino has been expecting this, in a funny, fatalistic sort of way.
She understands a lot about peoples' minds, and the ways they work. Her da refers to it as the "Curse of the Yamanaka"—they spend so much time in other peoples' heads, half the time they can't remember how their own work.
But it does give her a unique insight into the inner workings of people. Take her teammates, for example. She's possessed Chouji before—his is big and slow and thoughtful (she wonders sometimes if anyone else realizes just how much goes on behind that placid face of his). She tried to possess Shikamaru once, but rapidly discovered why the other thing her da always says is "never possess a Nara". She'd almost drowned in the sudden rush of thought. How he could hold on to that many trains of thought without going crazy, Ino didn't know. But Ino had known how smart Shikamaru was long before Asuma-sensei or the rest of the world.
Point is, she knows how peoples' minds work. And she's been expecting this, ever since Naruto came back Sasuke-less.
It's been about six months.
Of course, Ino can't think of a worse night for it off the top of her head. It's raining cats and dogs, and her family's big house is quiet and cold and very empty. She herself had been toying with the idea of going over to bother Chouji (whose home was cozy and warm and always full of cheerful people) when she'd heard the knock at the door.
Poor Sakura, Ino thinks, dragging the half-frozen girl in off her doorstep. Stupid forehead girl, didn't even think to grab an umbrella.
Ino knows what this is about, knows what had Sakura coming all the way across town in the dark and in the rain. Or at least, she's pretty sure she knows. But first things come first.
She keeps up a steady stream of chatter, stripping Sakura of her wet clothing, wrapping her up in Ino's fluffiest comforter, heating up water for tea, poking up the fire. Sakura's shivering slows a little, and Ino debates berating her for such careless regard for her own well-being, but decides that can be left for later.
So Ino tucks her old friend in on the couch with a hot mug of tea and waits for her teeth to stop chattering, for the alarming blue tinge in her lips to fade.
Sakura's been out in the rain much longer than a walk across town from the Harunos to the Yamanakas merits, Ino thinks, and chafes frozen hands gently. She lets silence fall, because any proper kunoichi knows when to shut up (even if that's not a talent Ino exercises regularly).
"He's not coming back, is he," Sakura says, and her voice is clogged and stuffy.
Ino's hands still for a moment, but only a moment. She shakes her head. "No," she says quietly. "He's not."
Ino herself has never been in love with Sasuke. Truth be told, it was mostly that she wanted to win, to best the other girls. And it was fun to get a reaction from the stoic Uchiha. She doesn't know how Sakura feels now, can't imagine it.
Doesn't want to imagine it, if she's truthful with herself.
Maybe Sakura really loves Sasuke. Or maybe she doesn't, maybe it's just that the infatuation's deeper than Ino's, maybe it's just because Sasuke was her teammate and her friend.
Ino doesn't know.
But she tugs Sakura forward as her friend swallows a sob, wrapping her arms around her shoulders, pillowing the pink haired head at the join of her neck and shoulder. Her arm will fall asleep in a few minutes, she predicts, and probably her leg as well. Her shirt will be soggy and salty and maybe slimy too, by the time Sakura finishes
She's a little surprised to find out she doesn't care.
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Endnotes: My beta thinks Ino would make a great psychiatrist. I think she'd end up traumatizing her patients worse than whatever brought them to her in the first place. In conclusion, ninja with lightsabers are not overkill.
...whut?