Title: - Scatterbrained

Rating: "K+" for fluff and slightly spicy language

World State: Normal

Word Count: 1,728

Summary: There are two words for it, in Ino's opinion; Scatterbrained and obsessed.

Credits: Lyrics at the top belong to Queen and come from their song "You're my Best Friend."


In rain or shine
You've stood by me, girl
I'm happy at home.
You're my best friend.


"Work-oriented" was one way to say it.

In polite conversation, one could also use "Type A" or "driven."

Ino preferred to call it "scatterbrained" ...when she was in a good mood.

"You are gonna kill yourself, forehead," Ino fumed. "This goes beyond obsession!" Sakura either ignored her or did not hear Ino's chiding. Her eyes were bolts of lightning between the medical tome and notebook before her, the scratch of her pencil less a pattern and more a hiss. Ino grumbled under her breath and set to work picking up books scattered across the floor, dog-earring the pages, and setting them on Sakura's desk in a neat stack. "One of these days I'm gonna walk in here and find your corpse still going through the motions."

After Tsunade-sama retired from her spot as head of the Konohagakure hospital, Sakura had been the natural choice to replace her. But where Tsunade had been somewhat lax in her responsibilites, Sakura had thrown herself headfirst into the fray, handling not only the administration but stepping into particularly problematic cases. All well and good, many had thought. With Sakura heading the hospital, it was likely even the common cold would be quelled and become a thing of the past. But Ino saw the problem.

It became all too frequent that Sakura would miss lunch dates or girls night out. More than once Ino would hunt her down at her office in the hospital either hard at work or passed out in a book. One memorable occasion had Ino attempting to wake her friend up only for Sakura's stomach growling doing the job for her.

With the floor now traversable, Ino stood in front of Sakura's desk with hands on hips and foot tapping impatiently. Sakura set her pencil down and stretched shoulders and vertebra going off like popcorn. She rubbed at her eyes and yawned before finally noticing Ino.

"Oh, hey pig. What's up?" she asked with a weary smile. Ino glared, lips pursed in annoyance.

"If this doesn't kill you, I'm going to kill you," she threatened. Sakura furrowed her brow in confusion.

"What?"

"I just came from your house," Ino said with a wild point in the wrong direction. "Wanna know what I was doing?"

"Uh, looking for me, I assume," Sakura replied, turning her attention back to her desk, ready to begin rifling through her notes. Ino snatched the notebook away and held it out of reach.

"No, I knew where you were. Where else? No, I was cleaning your pig pen."

Alongside the negligence to her own stomach and sleep cycle, Sakura's modest home purchased after the war had turned into a storage unit for discarded clothing and empty take-out boxes. After seeing the devastation, Ino decided it was time to step in. She pulled the medical tome away from Sakura, shutting it with a decisive thump.

"Hey, wha- Stop it!" Sakura cried as Ino hauled her out of her chair and began dragging her to the door.

"I will not. The front desk told me that you'd been here for twenty-two hours. You need food. You need a shower. You need to relax before you keel over, forehead," Ino ground out. Sakura attempted to pry Ino's iron grip off of her wrist which seemed to make Ino all the more determined.

"Ino, I'm fine, really! There's work th-"

"No, you need this and you know it," Ino cut her off. "Otherwise you'd have no trouble escaping from me because we both know you could rip my arms off. So, if that's what you wanna do, then do it, because that's the only way you're stopping me."

The entire trip to her home, Sakura argued that no she would never hurt Ino and that Ino was acting ridiculous and that everything was fine and there was no need to worry and Ino tuned her protests out.

"Shower," Ino commanded with a point, shoving fresh towels and clothing into Sakura's arms once they were inside the now clean pig pen. "If I don't hear water running, I will bathe you myself and nothing will keep me from using a scratch pad." Sakura protested even on her way to the bathroom and Ino could have sworn she could hear Sakura muttering to herself before the water turned on.

Satisfied that her demands were being met, Ino made for the kitchen.

Sakura emerged from the shower to the scent of fried meat, her stomach suddenly feeling very concave. She found Ino in the kitchen rolling dumplings as strips of beef sizzled in a skillet. Ino glanced over her shoulder.

"Sit," she said with a point at the table. "There's a fresh pot of tea." Sakura felt a great upwelling of gratitude for her friend, but still...

"Ino, thank you, but this really is unnecessary," she said as she took her seat anyway.

"Yes, it is necessary," Ino replied firmly, slicing vegetables with perhaps a bit too much force. "If you keep at things the way you are, you really are going to kill yourself and I have no plans on letting you do it. I need you around to keep my own head from getting too big."

Sakura smiled and poured herself a cup of tea as she watched Ino bustle around. Despite her protests, Sakura was privately glad to be home, especially with her best friend. With her preperations complete, Ino set a plate of dumpling skewers spaced with beef and veggies in front of Sakura.

"Eat." Ino sat down next to her and poured a cup of tea.

"You're not eating?" Sakura asked, suddenly feeling bad about being the only one eating. Ino shook her head.

"Already ate. We were supposed to meet for dinner, remember?" Ino asked with a pointed stare over her tea. Sakura groaned and thumped her head into her hands.

"Oh, gods, Ino. I'm so sorry." Ino waved the apology away.

"I'll let it go this fiftieth time, but I need something from you, forehead," she said seriously. Sakura looked up quizzically. "Please, if not for your sake then mine, lighten up. You have an entire staff working for you, let them do some of the work. What's the point of being the boss if you don't get to take it easy once in a while?"

"It's just not that simple," Sakura said. "We're on the verge of revolutionizing the Cell Activation technique, the progress we've made-"

"The progress isn't going anywhere," Ino interrupted. "It's established in those hundreds of notebooks of yours. Now eat, I'm getting offended that you're ignoring my excellent cooking skills," she finished, folding her arms across her chest with a sniff.

Though Sakura would only ever grudgingly admit it out loud, Ino was a good cook. It didn't hurt either that she had prepared one of Sakura's favorite dishes. Ino watched happily as Sakura stuffed her face with her first homecooked meal in months, chatting about anything that crossed her mind and watching Sakura slowly unwind.

"I gotta admit, for a pig, you know what you're doing in the kitchen," Sakura sighed, patting her full belly.

"Yep, look at me applying practical skill," Ino smirked. "Meanwhile, with all that forehead, you'd think there'd be enough brain in there to figure out that you're supposed to sleep in a bed and not on a desk. Speaking of." Ino stood and pulled Sakura up out of her seat. "Bed."

"It's not even seven yet," Sakura said with a glance at the wall clock. Ino changed course without missing a beat.

"Movie time."

Ino browsed the pitiful collection of movies Sakura had on her shelf; all rom-com. Until a surprising one caught her eye.

"Kung Fu Bustle? Really?" she asked with a grin. Sakura shrugged with a grimace.

"Sometimes you need a lame, cheesy movie," she said making Ino's jaw drop.

"Lame? Cheesy? Are you serious? This movie is great!"

The movie was nearly over by the time Ino realized Sakura had drifted off. They had huddled up under the same blanket to laugh at the citizens of Hog Alley and gasp at the obvious wire-fighting kung fu synced to overly dramatic music.

"Man, that gives me chills every time," Ino admitted as the hero defeated the bad guy with the Burning Palm Strike of the Hundred Stars. Sakura snorted in response. "Oh, not impressive enough for y-" Ino cut off realizing that it hadn't been a snort, but a snore. She probably should have noticed that Sakura was drooling on her shoulder, but damnit was it a captivating movie.

Ino considered quietly letting herself out without waking Sakura, but decided that it went against everything else she had done today.

"Hey, forehead," she nudged her friend, instantly startling her out of sleep.

"Hm? Wha-? Oh hell, I fell asleep on you," Sakura muttered seeing the movie credits scroll by. She became aware of the drool at the corner of her mouth and stealthily tried to wipe it away on the blanket, but cringed seeing it drying on Ino's shoulder. Ino stood and stretched.

"It happens. Sometimes people are so dazzled by me they just totally lose conciousness. But now it's bedtime for real. Do I need to tuck you in? I'm not gonna find you back at the hospital in an hour?" she asked, fully expecting that she might.

"Nah, I got the message. I think I'm gonna sleep for a good twelve hours," Sakura said rising to her feet. She lunged forward suddenly, catching Ino in a fierce hug. Ino let out an "oof" in surprise but happily returned the hug.

"Thanks for looking out for me, pig," Sakura said, planting a kiss on Ino's cheek. Ino smiled and mirrored the smooch.

"Anytime, forehead."