Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any associated copyrighted property. All I own is my imagination and therefore, this plot.
Rating: Mature for language, drug usage, sexual references, and lesbianism (because apparantly, that's only for mature audiences).
"It's beauty that captures your attention; personality which captures your heart."-Anonymous
Chapter 3
The pink haired girl watched the blonde sleep absently. Her mind was on three days ago when she left her here. She was disappointed in herself for that—for getting so impatient. Old habits die hard, they say.
But she really did feel bad about how she handled it. Ino was… Ino needed to be dealt with in a peculiar way, and that was not with impatience. The blonde seemed to not want to talk about anything, and that was ok. She had a right to do so. Sakura was just disappointed that she wasn't eating, but what else was there to expect? As if one attempt at suicide would turn the girl around completely. She'd have to be patient and help her through her problems… How was she supposed to do that though? How was she supposed to make Ino appreciate herself?
When Ino woke up, the two didn't exchange words. The blonde girl seemed ashamed with herself and refused to even look at Sakura, and when their eyes did meet tears filled Ino's. Sakura felt bad, but didn't know what to say. So she sat there, doing her homework, in Ino's presence.
The nurse came in and was surprised to see Sakura there. The girl smiled at her and then looked back down at her text book. Cosmology and relativity were interesting, yet boring at the same time. She heard a bit of shuffling and then a somewhat one sided conversation began.
"Ino, are you going to attend your counseling session?"
The blonde was silent and Sakura looked up, interested. She hadn't known that Ino was getting counseling.
"You want me to walk halfway around this fucking hospital with my fat ass hanging out the back of this stupid gown just to talk to some loser about problems that he has no power over?" Ino barked suddenly. "Fuck you."
The nurse looked disgruntled and pursed her lips.
"Have it your way then. I'll have you know your father is paying for the sessions you have failed to attend and continue to fail to attend."
"I don't fucking care."
The nurse merely shook her head and left the room.
Despite the fact that Ino had been ridiculously rude to the woman, Sakura was somewhat impressed with her thought process. She had acknowledged that she had a problem. And she'd acknowledged that she was the only one who could help herself. Yet she refused to do so… Why?
Their eyes met and hurt swirled in glacier ice blue.
"I'm sorry about how I acted," Sakura apologized and Ino said nothing. She hardly ever did. She merely nodded and turned on her side to sleep.
For a couple of days, that's how it was when Sakura visited Ino at the hospital. The blonde girl would lie there quietly while the green eyed girl would do her homework. Conversation was scarce and it was always awkward when nurses came in to check on Ino. She'd either cuss them out or cause trouble.
One afternoon, Ino seemed very talkative. Or… as talkative as she got around Sakura.
"I don't want to be here anymore," she mumbled, looking out of the window. The sun was setting and the sky became a palette of warm oranges, reds, pinks, and purples. Sakura watched as the blinds cast a striated pattern across the resting blonde. Her hair caught the light, darkening to a warm gold instead of a pale blonde and her eyes darkened substantially as well into an abyssal cobalt ocean trench. Sakura thought Ino was beautiful—she had always been envious of the girl's beauty.
"I'm not sure when they'll release you… I suppose when you begin making progress with your eating habits," she added hesitantly watching as the blonde eyed her suspiciously.
"What are you getting from this?"
"What?"
"How does being here benefit you?" Ino asked, her eyebrows furrowing deeply. Sakura couldn't ignore the deep bags beneath her eyes and her weak look. The blonde gave a good impression of strength, but when one really looked closely, it was easy to see how delicate she really was.
"Well, I get a nice, quiet place to do my homework. My stepmom's kids are a bit… obstreperous."
Ino was quiet and Sakura only continued, hoping that she'd say something that would engage the other girl.
"I'm also getting to know you again."
Ino looked confused and Sakura smiled, glad that she'd silently requested an explanation.
"Well, you're a really good listener, you enjoy watching clouds a lot, you're somewhat addicted to nicotine, and you hate tasteless food more than anything else. You also like rock music and are uber suspicious of just about everything."
Looking down at her chart she continued, "I also know your full name, your height, you blood type and—"
The blonde girl suddenly began laughing and Sakura couldn't help but smile. She hadn't heard Ino's laugh in a very long time. It sounded tired and lethargic, but it was a laugh and that was all that mattered to her. Sakura had to admit that the blonde seemed much pleasanter when her face was alive with laughter.
She looked back down at her notes, this time she was studying English. Ino soon fell asleep and the pink haired girl was contemplating heading home. She glanced back at the chart on Ino's bed and frowned when she saw her friend's weight. Ino was taller than her and weighed an alarming amount less. The blonde was wasting away by her own hands and Sakura felt as if there was nothing she could do.
She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and stepped out into the hallway to answer.
"Hello," she said, somewhat subdued.
"Hi Sakura; is everything alright?"
It was her father and the pink haired girl sighed.
"I guess… Ino's beginning to look like a lost cause. That's all," she bit her lip and then wet her lips.
"Oh, come on now, you just have to have a little patience, ok?"
"Alright; I'm just beginning to wonder what I can do for her exactly. It's not even about her being suicidal anymore. It's about her self confidence and I really can't influence that in any way."
"Hmm," her father paused. "Well I'm sure you'll think of a way."
"I guess," Sakura sighed.
As Ino watched Sakura exit the room to answer the phone, she fell prey to her frantic thoughts. She had all but forgotten of her suspicion of Sakura while she was talking to her. When she had asked Sakura what she was gaining from staying with her, the pink haired girl's answer threw her for a loop. Then again, Sakura was just kind hearted that way. As if she would use her for popularity or money—she was too good for that.
Ino was also concerned with this strange admiration growing in her heart for the girl who had been coming to see her so often. The blonde girl felt some sort of comfort in the girl who saved her life… It was a sense of being, a sense of being needed and wanted; something she wasn't very familiar with. And it was that sense of caring and concern that radiated from the green eyed girl that made her feel this attachment to Sakura. She knew, the moment those brilliant green eyes fell on her the first day back in the hospital after school, that she never wanted to leave Sakura's sight.
The pink haired girl returned after a little while and resumed her semi-vigilant post in her chair next to Ino's bed. Sakura sent Ino a smile, but the blonde didn't return it. With a strange look in her green eyes, she resumed her work.
Nearly an hour passed and Ino felt worried that perhaps Sakura was upset. The other girl hadn't even glanced up at her once, as she watched her do her work.
"I've learned a bit about you too," Ino tried, feeling awkwardly little and unimportant. Her voice felt weak to her.
"Is that so?" Sakura said, finishing a sentence before looking up at the blonde.
"Yeah," Ino said, offering a shy smile before looking away from Sakura's eyes. "You're ridiculously selfless… Unreasonably studious, not to mention smart. You're a swimmer, and you live with your dad and step family. You've also got a great figure…"
"Oh, you flatter me," Sakura blushed in embarrassment. Her figure was one she never celebrated. If shapeless and scrawny were things Ino thought described a good figure… It was then it hit her.
"You can have a great figure too," Sakura said, watching Ino's blue eyes fill with confusion. "If you eat a bit more."
Ino merely scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Really Ino," Sakura said.
"I know what this is," Ino snapped. "Fuck that."
Sakura took a deep breath and counted to 5 in her head, to keep her anger in check. The last thing she wanted to do was douse Ino in a flood of disappointment and shouting. She didn't need that; Ino needed to be handled gently.
Just as Sakura was about to say something, a nurse brought in Ino's dinner with a big fake smile plastered on her face. Sakura looked back down at her physics textbook, away from the pale blonde who was scowling at the nurse who came in.
"What the fuck is that supposed to be?" Ino said, sounding a bit sick.
Sakura looked up to see the nurse had left and that Ino had uncovered her plate. There was a medium sized, wet looking, pale white chicken breast sitting on the plate surrounded by mashed potatoes and what looked to be highlighter yellow corn. An assortment of what she assumed to be vitamins sat in a small plastic cup next to the plate.
The green eyed girl couldn't hide her appalled look and the two made eye contact. Once again, they began laughing.
"What the fuck kind of radioactive shit is this?" Ino complained, flicking the neon corn off of her plate onto the ground.
"I would advise you, only this once, not to eat that corn. I think the mashed potatoes look legit though."
"Who said I was eating this anyways?" Ino huffed, crossing her arms across her chest and looking out at the dusky sky.
"I said," Sakura said, packing her things up.
"Wait, don't leave… I'll eat it," Ino started, looking apprehensive, but scooping up quite a bit of the potatoes.
"Well that's good," Sakura smiled brightly, "but I have to leave anyways. I promised my dad I'd be home before seven, plus I'm pretty hungry myself. I'll call you when I get home so you can tell me how delicious everything is."
Embarrassment filled Ino at her display of her desperation of Sakura's presence. A blush painted her cheeks a light pink and she watched as Sakura slung her backpack over her shoulder and left the room, not waiting for Ino to say goodbye, because she never did. Moments after the door shut, Ino mumbled a farewell and forced herself to shove the spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth.
The next day, Sakura couldn't come to see her because of a swim meet, but she did call late at night. Ino was quieter than usual, and the pink haired girl was somewhat worried about that. She promised the blonde she'd see her the following day.
When Sakura walked in, Ino could help the smile that spread on her lips.
"Miss me?" the pink haired girl smirked.
Ino rolled her eyes and said nothing.
"How was lunch today?" Sakura provoked, smiling at the idea of the gross looking food.
"The shitty food, I can handle. The not being able to smoke… well, it's driving me insane."
"Hmm, well I don't approve of the use of tobacco products, but you do know that once you get out of here you can smoke again. The only way to get out of here is to get healthy again."
Ino sighed, tired of everyone telling her what she needed to do. She knew what she needed to do, but she didn't want to do it. Weren't they worried about what she wanted? She knew that if she did eat more, she'll only be discharged to start doing what she was doing before, again. Did she have the willpower to not fall prey to her folly?
"I'm not saying that just to be annoying… I just really care about your wellbeing and I want you to get out of here to you can live your life again."
"What life, Sakura? My dad couldn't give six shits about me, Sasuke doesn't fucking care, and my fake ass friends couldn't be any faker. What life?"
Sakura regarded Ino carefully, taking in the flushed nature of her cheeks and the liveliness of her icy blue eyes. And with that sentence, she knew it would be a matter of time that her friend would be discharged. She wanted to make sure that she would be discharged with a healthy mind and a positive attitude.
"What if I promise you things will change?" the pink haired girl tried with her green eyes never straying away from the eyes of her friend.
Ino gave her a skeptical look and huffed, angrily, "Fuck off; who do you think you are? God?"
Sakura gave a wry smile and left the room, not really in the mood to play optimistic friend of the day. The swim meet had been tough, and practice even tougher. Not to mention the stress of school and assignments looming about. She didn't need to put up with this. Ino didn't appreciate her at all.
Or so she thought.
The moment Sakura left, Ino broke down into hopeless tears. She promised herself she would get better, for her pink haired friend; for her to feel useful again.
Sakura didn't visit her for two days, and the following day, after forcing herself to eat every last bit of each disgusting meal the hospital placed before her, she was released to go home.
Ino arrived home to an empty house, but she preferred it that way. Her dad was no doubt off on a business trip, not that she cared. She didn't really feel like communicating with anyone, though she rarely communicated with her father. When she got up to her room she flopped down on the soft queen-sized bed, tiredly wishing that Sakura would visit her. She lay there, smoking, and then put out the cigarette when she felt she could no longer keep her eyes open.
Her dreams were strange and inconsistent, void and lonely, cold and depressing. She awoke with an empty feeling and tears on her cheeks. Suddenly, she missed the medication from the hospital; the ones that made her feel warm and bubbly. She also missed Sakura—Sakura made her feel warm and bubbly.
The next day Ino found herself lying on her bed watching the sun rise and slowly illuminate the earth with its warm glow. It chased the darkness away, aiding only to brighten everything it could touch. It, unfortunately, could barely touch Ino and its warmth was unknown to her.
That same day, Ino found herself lying on her bed watching the sunset.
She felt uneasy and sick, but she didn't think it was from not eating.
Sakura had a right to be worried about Ino, after going to the hospital to only find she had been discharged a couple of days before. She had a right to be worried after relentlessly calling Ino's cell phone and house phone and not getting a reply. Therefore, she had a right to break into Ino's house once again; it was only justified. She had spent a long while at the front door, contemplating if it was ok to do so, but her worry won out and she skillfully broke into the upper class home.
She was glad, and upset, that she did. The pink haired girl found Ino lying on the ground in her room, shivering and crying. She looked pale and sickly, and Sakura wondered what would've happened to her had she not been concerned. She then realized that Ino had been justified in her morose outlook on life—Ino really didn't have anyone that actually cared for her.
Sakura cared for her, however, and she couldn't help the tears as she knelt down next to her friend.
"You're so fucking good at breaking in," Ino attempted to laugh.
"Ino… now's not the time for jokes," Sakura said with quivering lips. She gently ran her hand through slightly greasy blonde hair; she knew the blonde had been failing to take care of herself as she thought back to how Ino's hair used to be the envy of the school—long, blonde, and beautiful. Wiping away some tears she pulled her hand away after snagging a tangle.
"You're coming with me; this isn't right," Sakura said, with her voice breaking with emotion. She helped Ino up with minimal difficulty for she was much stronger than she looked. The two made their way downstairs and Sakura helped Ino into her van.
Ino was absently marveling at how disgusting Sakura's vehicle was. It was an old red Astro van, rusting all over, and it smelled of dust, dead insects, and gasoline. She mused on her life of luxury vehicles and realized she had never ridden in something so nasty before in her life. She suddenly felt sick and began to dry heave, startling the driver.
When they arrived at the Haruno household and entered inside, Mr. Haruno was very concerned at the sight he saw. He had known Ino previously, when she and Sakura had been best friends when they were younger. Never would he have guessed that the young, lively little girl he had seen would grow up to be sickly, thin, and pale. He was very concerned and was wracking his brain on what to do.
"Dad, I… I'm sorry; I didn't know what else to do, so I brought her here," Sakura said with a tight voice betraying her emotional strength.
"It's fine," he said, looking worried. "I'll help you take her upstairs."
Sakura looked towards the stairs to see her younger stepbrothers and stepsister watching in awe from the staircase. She glared at them, embarrassed for Ino and her weak appearance. She'd have to warn them to leave the girl be when they were around.
Mr. Haruno, hardened and strong from manual labor assisted Sakura in taking Ino into her bedroom. Sakura damned herself for not tidying up before she left, like she had planned. Yet, as she thought of that, she realized Ino would've been lying there on her own for that little bit much longer. She decided that having a semi-dirty room was better than someone lying on the ground, alone and sick, for any amount longer than they needed.
The pink haired girl shoved some clothes and books off of her bed and made room for Ino. Mr. Haruno, after setting Ino down, took a glance around the room with warm green eyes. He then looked at Sakura and gently tugged at his slight, dirty blonde facial hair.
"How about you go make her some soup or something—the room can wait. I'll wait up here with her."
"Ok," Sakura said with her mind elsewhere. Once downstairs, she absently went through the motions of preparing soup for Ino. She knew she could make whatever she wanted to make for her sick friend, but soup was what her father mentioned and soup was the quickest thing she could make aside from a sandwich she was sure Ino wouldn't eat. Once it was done, she turned off the stove, poured some into a bowl, and grabbed a piece of garlic bread from the table that was leftover from dinner that her step-mom had made.
Sakura pushed through the small crowd of children gathered at her door and stepped in to find her father morosely gazing at Ino who had fallen asleep in her bed. She set the bowl and the napkin clad piece of bread down on her bedside table and took a seat on the edge of her bed.
"I'll come check on you two later tonight," Mr. Haruno said gently, giving Sakura a fatherly rub on the back for support.
He ushered the children away from the door on his way out and shut it. Sakura soaked up the sound of silence, acknowledging the fact that just because Ino was no longer lying on the ground, she was still in no better state than from when she found her.
"Ino," Sakura whispered, gently shaking her friend's thin shoulder.
The pink haired girl watched as Ino stirred, her lips falling open just slightly as she took a deep breath. Ice blue eyes were revealed to her and she marveled at how light the color seemed at the moment—there was almost a silver tint to the blue.
"I made you some soup… I'll have you know that my cooking is a thousand times better than what you had at the hospital, and it'd hurt my feelings if you didn't even try it."
"If I told you I felt nauseous, would you still make me have it?"
"Yes." Sakura said, unwaveringly.
Ino sighed a tired drawn out sigh and attempted to prop herself up. Sakura reached forward to help the girl up. Ino shivered at the warm touch of Sakura's hands. She realized the green eyed girl had long, thin fingers… she wondered if those were good for swimming. Perhaps Sakura was a musician as well.
"Ino?" Sakura mumbled, concerned about how unfocused the girl seemed. Blue eyes turned towards her and held her gaze for a few moments before floating off to observe other things.
"Your house is disgusting," Ino finally said, quite rudely as well.
Sakura took a deep breath, attempting to not let the insult to her home be taken personally.
"Not to mention tiny," the blonde mumbled. "How the fuck do you all live here?"
"Shut the fuck up; eat this fucking soup and quit being such a bitch!"
Sakura suddenly blanched at her outburst, breaking her promise to herself that she wouldn't blow up at Ino ever again.
The blonde's eyes merely widened and she took the bowl into her shaky hands. After a tentative sip she took a couple more spoonfuls before setting the bowl down.
"What's wrong?" Sakura asked, concerned and a bit impatient with how slow Ino had been eating. She was feeling quite hungry herself, but refused to go downstairs and prepare herself a meal until Ino had eaten at least half of the soup.
"I feel sick," Ino mumbled, gagging a bit.
Sakura shot up, tripped over a misplaced shoe on the ground, and then scrambled over to get her small yellow trash bin. She made it back just in time to have Ino vomit into it.
"I'm sorry," the blonde muttered. "It's not the soup. It's fine really."
Sakura sighed and stood up after assuring herself that the trash bin was in Ino's hands securely.
"I'll go get you some ginger ale."
A/N: Once again, thank you so much for the reviews. That's the best motivation I can ever have; and I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. My classes are trying to kick my butt. However, they shall fail.
I'll update within the next week! Please review and thanks a bunch!
-E.E.
