Chapter 4: National Arts Week

"Guys, Ino and I have passed our project. Asuma-sensei kept on asking us questions but Ino said everything was a secret." Lee said smiling. "Well, that's nice. Let's go visit the exhibits." Sakura invited and everyone went to the exhibit room. "Wow, is this Uzumaki's group? They sure are creative." Sakura said as she looked at the painting hanging on the wall. "Nara-san and Temari-san are pretty much in love with each other. Look how sweet they are." Ino pointed out to the lovers behind them as they walked hand in hand looking at the sculptures.

Sakura and Sasuke had been hanging out together since the day after the Exhibits Day. It was time for the awarding when 2B noticed the togetherness of Uchiha and Haruno. Sakura was walking along the hallway when Tenten approached her. "Sakura-chan, I know something about you and Sasuke-kun." she said and giggled. "What do you mean?" Sakura asked. "Is Sasuke courting you? I think he is!" Tenten said and giggled again. "But you know, I think Ino is trying to take him away from you." Kin said as she went out of the classroom.

"We should do something. We should embarrass Ino so that Sasuke won't like her." Tenten said. "Sasuke will always be on Ino's side. Just like what happened when Tenten pushed her in the pool. He was there to help." Sakura muttered. "But Sasuke won't be on her side if she embarrasses him in front of everyone. It will be a disaster!" Kin exclaimed. "What should we do?" Sakura asked. It took a while after Tenten spoke again. "You told us once that Sasuke was Ino's best friend. Best friends share their secrets with each other…" she thought for a while. "Ino's a girl so she probably writes them on her diary." she paused and though again.

"Ino's diary is with her always because according to her, her mom reads it when she keeps it at home. Maybe it's inside her locker." Sakura informed and smirked. "Let's sneak in the locker room this afternoon."

It was 5: 30 in the afternoon and Sakura, Tenten and Kin decided to go to the locker room to get Ino's diary. "It's locker number 32, there it is!" Sakura pointed out at the locker with a sticker name. "How can we open it? We couldn't just crush it. Everybody would know." Kin said. "We can use this." Tenten untied her hair and took a hairpin. "There are a lot of notebooks here, which one Sakura?" Tenten asked. "It's the purple one." she took the purple one with Sasuke and Ino's picture on it when they were still in Elementary.

"Biggest secrets…biggest secrets…hmm…here it is…Oh my gosh, Sasuke's brother, Uchiha Itachi is a drug pusher and has been in the rehabilitation center for three years." Sakura read. "That's the one!" Tenten exclaimed. "What should we do with it? We couldn't just spread it out by words." Sakura said. "Then we should print a lot of copies and give it to everyone in school. We'll tell everyone that Ino was the one who told us to do this." Kin suggested. "I'm glad you're my friend." Sakura said as she smirked. "Whatever, Haruno. C'mon, let's go to my house. We're gonna do the printing there." Tenten said as they all went out of the room.

They did it…

"Hey, they say this is from Yamanaka Ino. How could she do this to Uchiha-san?" a student asked. "Read all about it!" Kin and Tenten shouted, giving each student a copy of what they had read yesterday. Everybody was shocked and some students even laughed at Sasuke.

Sasuke arrived in school and Tenten approached him immediately. "I don't know what's wrong with Yamanaka-san, but you should read this. This is from her." Tenten handed him the paper.

'UCHIHA ITACHI, UCHIHA SASUKE'S BROTHER, IS A DRUG PUSHER AND HAS BEEN IN THE REHABILITATION CENTER FOR THREE YEARS. DOES THAT MEAN SASUKE ALSO USES DRUGS?'

"What the-?" Sasuke's eyes widened. "But Ino wouldn't do this to me…why are you giving these to everyone?" he asked. "It's because Ino told us so. She said if we didn't follow her, she'll kill us. I really think she the worst best friend ever Sasuke-kun." Tenten said. Sasuke went to the classroom as Sakura made her move and winked at Tenten.

After a while, Ino arrived at the school. She noticed that everyone was staring at her so she asked Shikamaru who just went out of the 2B classroom.

"Shikamaru…what's going on?"

"Ask yourself Yamanaka." Shikamaru answered in an angry way.

Ino still didn't know what was happening so she asked Kiba.

"Kiba, what's going on?"

"Oh, you don't know? Well read what you made." Kiba threw her the papers.

She silently read it and was surprised. "I didn't make this." she muttered. "Oh really, you're the only one who knows Sasuke's secret right? You're terrible Yamanaka." Kiba said and went on his way.

Ino hurriedly ran into the 2A classroom. "But it doesn't matter Sasuke-kun. I don't care if you're brother is a drug pusher. I still love you and I will always love you." Sakura embraced him. Sasuke gave in and hugged her back.

"Wait, those words were from my diary. My diary!" Ino ran as fast as she could to the locker room. From the time she heard those words; she got suspicious and was not surprised that her diary was lost.

'Yamanaka Ino, please proceed to the faculty room immediately.' Hinata, who was the announcer said.

As she walked towards the faculty room, everybody was giving her a sinister look.

--

"Ino, I know you couldn't do that to Sasuke. But we couldn't change everybody's minds that easily. We don't have enough proof." Kurenai-sensei said. "But, my diary is lost Kurenai-sensei. I know someone took it." she informed. "Then do you know who stole it?" Kurenai-sensei asked. "No." Ino answered sadly.

"You can transfer Yamanaka. Your grades are high so you can transfer to other private schools." Asuma-sensei said as he entered the faculty room. "I'm not transferring. I just have to face all of this." she replied.

It was lunch time and Sasuke spent it alone. He was sitting under a tree and when he got up, his necklace fell. He took it and he remembered something…

I was in the fifth grade back then…

"What band is it again Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked. "Uh…Flow." Sasuke replied. "Flow? Hey, you know what? They're having a concert and dad's company is going to be the sponsor. Will you go with me?" she asked excitedly. "Sure!"

Concert…

"You've been staring at that guitarist for a long time already." Ino shouted. The crowd was yelling and some were singing. "Yeah, he's really great. He's one of my favorite guitarists." Sasuke replied.

After the concert...

"Let's go home. It's a bit late already Ino." Sasuke said as he looked at his watch. "You go ahead Sasuke. I'll be going home with dad." she replied happily. Sasuke went home while Ino waited for Flow to go down the stage.

There was yelling on the other side of the coliseum. Flow was there! "I should hurry." Ino thought. She joined the crowd and crawled herself in. "Huh? It's Sasuke-kun's favorite guitarist. I can't ask for his autograph, I don't have a pen and paper. What should I do? His pick! Got it!"

She was crawling herself out of the crowd when the pick fell from her hand. She couldn't get it because everybody was walking back and forth. They were jumping and doing everything to get the band's attention. "Owww!" Ino shouted when someone stepped on her hand as she tried to get the pick.

School…

"Sasuke-kun! I've got something for you!" she yelled as she ran in the hallway. "What is it?" Sasuke asked. "Close your eyes." she said and took the pick from her pocket. She attached a silver chain to it so that it would become a necklace.

"Now, open your eyes…tada!" Ino showed him the necklace. "That's the guitarist's pick. I took it because it fell on the ground." she said smiling. "What happened to your hand?" Sasuke asked. "Oh, this?" Ino showed him her bandaged hand. "This is nothing."

"I never knew she would do this to me." Sasuke muttered as his mind went back to reality.

Everyday, Ino would do her usual greeting. She was still lively but she wouldn't even glance at Sasuke. She didn't want to hurt herself. Watching Sasuke and Sakura together broke her heart, so she decided to avoid them. No one dared to be her friend anymore. Even Temari ignored her. Outside she was smiling, but deep inside she was crying.

Just wait for the next chapter guys...please read and review...thanks!!!