Hurrah! No overly long A/Ns here. Just saying thanks to the people who've already reviewed.

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Chapter 3:

With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

Recap:

After some time, Sakura managed to compose herself enough to speak. "It…it was…"

End Recap

"It was Sasuke." As Sakura spoke these words an eerie silence fell over the group. Naruto was the first one to break the silence, squeezing Ino's hand as he did so. "Sasuke did this? Sasuke attacked you!" Sakura just nodded, unwilling, or unable, to make eye contact with any of them.

Cursing under her breath, Tsunade gestured for Lee to come forwards as she pulled a scroll out of her pocket. Quickly, she wrote a note on it, sealed the scroll, and handed it to Lee. "Take this to my office. Give it to one of my aids and instruct them to call in the ANBU." Lee nodded and took off, though it was plain to everyone that he was reluctant to leave Sakura. Well, everyone except for Sakura, who had winced when Tsunade said to call in the ANBU. That could only mean that Sasuke-kun was being declared a missing nin.

After standing in awkward silence for about twenty minutes, Lee returned. "Sorry it took so long. Your aids insisted that I wait for the ANBU myself, and give them the scroll." Tsunade nodded, she had expected that. "Good work Lee. Alright then, I'm giving everyone here an order. Go home, resume your normal lives, and do not, I repeat, do not go after Sasuke. You too, Haruno. You're in good enough condition to head home." She then waited just long enough to get everyone's promises, then left, followed by everyone but Naruto and Ino.

Ino, unable to control herself anymore, flung her arms around Sakura's neck and hugged her tightly. "Sakura-chan! I was so worried about you! Are you feeling alright?" Sakura giggled slightly, something she hadn't expected, since she was still depressed about Sasuke, and hugged Ino back. "No, I'm not feeling alright. But I will soon, hopefully." Ino nodded and stood back up again. "Oh, and I was wondering. Do you think I could stay with you for a while?"

Sakura frowned as she slid out of the bed and pulled on her shoes. "Um, okay. But why?" To her surprise, Ino glanced at Naruto before answering. "Well, this morning, me and my parents had a huge fight, and I'm really not up to seeing them for a while." "Dare I ask what the fight was about?" Ino was about to speak when Naruto cut her off, surprising Sakura even more. "Me. The fight was about me. Ino-chan's parents don't approve of us being together, so…" He trailed off and shrugged as he finished speaking. "Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say you two were together? Since when?" Ino smiled as she grabbed Naruto's hand again and leaned against him. "Since the party yesterday. We were on our way to tell you when, we um, were told you were attacked by someone." Sakura grinned and hugged them both before heading towards the door. "Congrats, then, on getting together. Naruto, just don't drive Ino-pig too crazy, alright? She might be your girlfriend now, but I'm the one who's gonna be living with her."

Both Naruto and Ino laughed at this, then Naruto kissed Ino on the cheek. "Well, you two have fun getting Ino-chan settled in. I'll see you at the ramen shop in about 3 hours, Ino-chan." As he started through the door, Ino frowned. "Where are you going, then?" "Ah, Ero-sennin wanted me for something. Not sure what, though. Anyway, later!" As Naruto left the room, Ino and Sakura glanced at each other, then back at the door, both thinking the same thing. What did Jiraiya want with Naruto?

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Later, at Sakura's house

Ino grinned as she finished unpacking her things into the guest bedroom. Sakura's parents had been remarkably open to the whole idea, provided that Ino first told them why she had fled her parents' house. Once she had recounted the whole tale, they just chuckled and shook their heads before leaving Ino and Sakura alone, which both girls were grateful for. Ino, because it meant that she didn't have to answer any questions, and Sakura because it gave her a chance to think about how she felt about all of this. At first she was perfectly happy for Ino, seeing as Naruto seemed to be perfect for her, for some reason. But after some time, every time Ino's relationship with Naruto was brought up, Sakura couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.

Of course, she told herself, this was only natural. Ino and Naruto had a chance to be happy together, while her last hopes of every being with Sasuke had been completely dashed. Not that she still wanted him, however, after he had nearly killed her without a second thought.

When Ino left to meet back up with Naruto later that evening, Sakura was shocked by her own second personality. Inner Sakura was currently going on a tirade about why Naruto should be hers, that he had loved her first, not Ino. But what was most shocking was that she found herself agreeing with Inner Sakura completely. Sure, Inner Sakura reflected her inner desires and stronger personality, but they had never agreed that well before.

Sighing, she headed towards the bathroom, intending to take a nice, long soak. And, as she thought over her feelings again, she hoped and prayed with all of her heart that she would be strong enough not to let feelings about Naruto ruin her friendship with Ino, just barely patched up after it had been torn asunder by their mutual feelings about Sasuke.

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At the ramen shop

Ino sighed as she leaned back in her seat. Either Naruto's sense of time had gotten even more off than usual lately, or whatever Jiraiya wanted with him was taking longer than expected. Personally, she hoped for the latter, since she really didn't want to have to deal with a chronically tardy boyfriend.

After waiting for a bit more, she decided to order, even though Naruto wasn't there. He'd understand, and probably would've done the same if she had been the late one. As she was about to start in on her noodles, a hand tapped her on the shoulder and Shikamaru slid into the seat next to her. "Shikamaru! How was the mission?" Shikamaru shrugged and ordered a bowl for himself. "It was a mess. I can't tell you any more about it, since it's classified, but I can say that I doubt anything else could've gone wrong with it." Ino winced at this news and began to slurp down her ramen. "Aw, come on. It couldn't have been that bad." "It was that bad. Anyway, can I ask you something, Ino-chan?" Ino grinned and poked Shikamaru on the forehead. "Of course, silly, you just did. And you know that you can always ask me anything. Unless I'm pissed for some reason, then that probably wouldn't be so wise." Shikamaru grinned and muttered something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like 'why do you think I was asking?', which earned him a slap on the back of the head by Ino.

Chuckling, he turned to face Ino, and he suddenly seemed a whole lot more serious. "Ino-chan. Will you… I mean, would you…" "Shikamaru, just spit it out already!" "Ino-chan, would you go out with me?"

Ino was stunned. This was definitely not what she had expected. "Um, sorry Shikamaru, but I'm already going out with someone else." Shikamaru groaned and let his head fall onto the counter. He had waited too long to ask her. "Who are you going out with?" Ino was about to answer when Naruto entered the shop. "Ino-chan! Sorry I'm late. Ero-sennin kept remembering extra things he needed to tell me." Taking a seat on the other side of Ino, he kissed her cheek, then looked over at Shikamaru. "Hey! Shikamaru! How was the mission?"

Quickly, Shikamaru placed some money down to pay for his order of ramen, then fled the shop. Naruto was thoroughly confused by this, but happily ate the ramen that Shikamaru had left untouched. "What's wrong with him? Was the mission really that bad." Ino bit her lip as she looked back at Naruto. "Apparently everything that could go wrong did go wrong. But that wasn't why he fled. You see, right before you showed up, Shikamaru asked me out on a date. I said no of course, but you see how that works." Naruto winced and nodded. He knew how that worked alright, the number of times he had been rejected by Sakura just because she wanted to go out with that Sasuke-bastard. "Damn. If I could've just gotten here sooner, I bet we could've saved a lot of hassle." Ino shrugged, then kissed him softly on the lips. "Well, it wasn't your fault. So lets just enjoy the meal." Naruto grinned as he kissed her back, then dug into the ramen again, earning a giggle from Ino.

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Once again, I am writing this at just past midnight, like I did with all of my other pieces. For some strange reason, I'm more creative at this time. Weird, huh? Anyway, here's a sneak preview of Chapter 4!

Coming Up in Chapter 4: Who Needs Sleep?

Problems arise several weeks after Ino moves into Sakura's house when Sakura accidentally lets slip her feelings about Naruto. Not only that, but Shikamaru has developed something of a drinking problem, which isn't helped by the fact that he is underage. And if that wasn't enough, several ANBU turn up, dead, with patterns carved into their foreheads that look suspiciously like sharingan eyes.