A.N: Apologies in advance for the non-appearance of the lovable oddball!

*

"Forehead!"

Sakura found herself being accosted by the unstoppable force that was Ino Yamanaka.

"The hell, Pig? Auditioning for a soap or what?"

Ino put her hands on her waist in a characteristic motion of intimidation.

"Don't give me that crap, Haruno. When were you going to tell me about a certain bug lover crawling his way between your sheets?"

"Ino!" Sakura hissed, cheeks turning an unflattering red. "We're not doing that!"

"Yeah, yeah. The next thing I know there'll be a pink-haired Aburame brat running around Konoha!"

Sakura sighed. She knew where all this was coming from.

"I'm sorry, Pig."

"Damn well you should be!"

"Hey!"

"Hnn," Ino huffed. "What did you expect? No, Sakura-chan, it's totally fine that you didn't tell only your best friend of all time that you are seeing someone. Who accidentally happens to be our former classmate. Ain't it just peachy!"

"I wasn't trying to keep anything from you, Ino." Sakura looked contrite. "Everything just happened so fast and I hardly get to see you anymore and it's all so totally unexpected cause it's Shino freaking Aburame and I still don't believe it myself and how could I even like someone after Sas--"

"Whoa!" Ino waved her hands, putting an end to Sakura's tirade. "Calm down, Forehead! It's okay, you hear me? Hell, it's more than okay. It's perfect! You are finally moving on. Any later and no one would have wanted a wrinkly bubblegum- haired harpy!"

"Gee, Pig, you sure know how to make me feel better."

"Noblesse oblige, sweetheart!" Ino dramatically flicked her hair.

Sakura smiled. Trust Ino to insult her out of her insecurities.

"So..." Ino's expression was uncannily evocative of a frog that had just caught a succulent fly. "Shino, huh? Old habits sure die hard."

"What do you mean?" Sakura was confused.

Ino tapped her forehead in an exaggerated manner.

"Let's see... Broody. Uncommunicative. Mysterious. Obsessed with creepy creatures. I wonder who he reminds me of..."

"Hey! Shino is nothing like Sasuke-kun!"

"I should hope so, Forehead." Ino gave Sakura a searching look. "You honestly like him?"

Sakura frowned. "He's nobody's replacement, if that's what you mean."

"Good. Cause Sasuke-kun is totally gay!"

"Pig!"

"Admit it, Sakura. He's way too pretty and oblivious to be straight!"

"The next time we have our usual teeming-with-testosterone Team Seven reunion, I will let him know about your enlightening opinion. Who knows? That just might make him reconsider his avenger's agenda. "

"He can be the inspiration for Jiraiya-sama's next bestseller..." Ino wore a dreamy expression.

"Stop having lewd thoughts about my teammate, Pig!"

Ino daintily scoffed.

"Like you don't daydream about that sexy Aburame ass!"

"Wait a minute! How did you know that Shino's a--" Sakura abruptly clamped her fingers to her mouth.

Ino smirked. She was so going to rock the whole intelligence thing.

*

P.S. First of all, thank you so much for all the love! It really made me happy to know that there are a lot of people willing to put up with my shoddy writing just for the sake of their Shinophilia I kind of got sidetracked after the second chapter and would have postponed writing even longer but after receiving this sweet little review, I had to write something. It's pretty abysmal, I know, but hopefully inspiration will come a-knocking soon. It'd be really helpful if you guys could pitch in some ideas. The story's episodic, so prompts can be assimilated without much trouble, I think.Once again, apologies for the mediocre writing. And for postscripts almost as long as the main text!