Beautiful People

Chapter 5: Her Ino

Beta: beta'd by strawberries and napkins

….

It was the sunlight that woke me up. I lifted my head gently, but a heavy breathing object stopped me. Sakura's head had fallen from my shoulder down to my belly, effectively preventing me from leaving the room like I had originally planned. I was careful to wake her; she looked so peaceful and pretty, all that rosette pink hair matching the color of her sheets.

I shook her as gently as I could and whispered, "Sakura, wake up. Sakura."

I waited patiently until her nose twitched and her eyes peeked themselves open to me. A slow smile graced her sleepy-looking face.

"Good morning, Hina-chan."

Almost too tempting to reply, but her face was too close to mine, and I was wary of my morning breath, so I nodded instead. She had already understood my lack of vocal greetings and moved off my body, stretching in the bed, and giving me a peck on the cheek. It isn't the first time Sakura had shown affection closely like this, but she's my best friend, and it doesn't faze me anymore. So I didn't say anything.

She yawned. "I'm skipping breakfast since I ate a lot last night. You might want to make yourself presentable." Then I watched her hop of the bed, straighten her sleepwear and then move to the task of rearranging her side of the bed. I tossed the comforter off me and winced. She was right; my clothes were rumpled, wrinkled, and completely ruined. But as I too yanked myself out of the warm bed and into the cool room, her words provoked a question in me.

"Why do I need to make myself presentable?" She raised an eyebrow and looked me up and down in response so I added onto my question, "I mean, besides the obvious reason."

She hummed for a moment and straightened the pillows together before she answered me. "Ino's visiting today."

That caught me off guard. "Ino's coming? Why didn't you tell me?" She shrugged and walked over to my side of the bed to tidy it as I was too confused to finish what I was doing. I don't want to make it seem like I don't like Ino, I do like Ino, and she's one of my closest friends. It's just…she always acts weird when she finds me and Sakura in her house alone together ever since they started dating. And the whole key incident didn't help the situation, but I really don't want to recall it now, maybe I will later in the journal tonight.

"You know where your stuff is, right? Extra clothes and everything?"

I nodded. Sakura and I shared everything. We always had extras of things at each other's house in case of a situation like this, much to Ino's chagrin. Sometimes I imagine that Ino would be responsible if Sakura and I ever drifted apart, much like Sasuke in the way of Naruto and I. Or maybe, I'm getting my issues backwards.

My mind snapped back to reality. The bed was made, and Sakura bent over, putting on some socks. I made my move then and started for the washroom. She called after me.

"Don't be frightened by Ino, Hina-chan. She loves you, and so do I."

I didn't respond, only closed the door behind me. As much as it would've brought me surprising pleasure just to hear someone say that to me, right now, it wasn't enough to raise my spirits. Maybe it was because it wasn't completely true, or maybe because it wasn't the person I wanted to say it to me…

No. I shook my head. Now isn't the time.


I showered, dried, cleaned, dressed and now I was sitting on Sakura's couch, fiddling with a cup of hot tea while Sakura and Ino chatted with their tea cups and candies. They looked so comfortable with each other that it was hard to believe that they were together. I remember that when I first found out, I had been happy. Sakura had seemed pretty down and out about Sasuke leaving and not even Naruto's constant love and protection could bring her out of her slump.

I had failed her as a friend then too, I didn't know how to deal with emotionally sick people, much less my best friend. But where I lacked, Ino came in and protected her, and before we all knew it, they had fallen in love. I remember how supportive everyone was, especially Naruto, but during that time he was more withdrawn from us, well, from me, mostly. And I was with him then.

Ow. I squeezed the warm cup between my hands. Just thinking about makes me nervous and jumpy, and now my heart can't stop racing…

That mean it's time to start paying attention again, I leaned back in the chair and faced the two of them. Ino was talking.

"Oh and Saku-chan, you would not believe who I saw today," she smiled mischievously and sipped her cup.

"Who?"

"Naruto was at the shop today." I almost choked on a drink I hadn't even sipped yet. His name is like a poison to me. I looked at Ino; she was looking at me, waiting for me to respond.

So I swallowed my stutter and followed up on the conversation. "So he was at the flower shop picking up some flowers for Sasuke? That's nice."

"Nope, that's not it at all."

Sakura shook her head. "What do you mean, 'that's not it at all'? Why else would he be at the flower shop, to talk to you or something?" Sakura snorted and even I had to laugh at that one. You see, about a week before Sasuke suddenly showed up, Naruto and Ino got into this heated argument over Sakura's well-being again and they haven't spoken since. It's obvious that Naruto and Ino love each other and are very close, but when you have two blonds in an argumentwith each other, well, it's hard to convince either one to think clearly.

Ino scowled and popped a piece of Sakura's chocolate in her mouth, chewed and then swallowed before she continued. "He was meeting someone."

This caught my attention, and I sat up quickly. "Who was he meeting?"

She smirked at me. "You should know already." I sank back into my seat, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with how much Ino knew about me. I didn't say anything in return, so Sakura tried to defend me, but I could already tell there wasn't much to be said in return. So I just changed the subject.

"How long?"

"An hour."

"Out front?"

"Out in the back, by the greenhouse. You know the usual spot." Ino made an irritating face that made my emotions swell up with some resentment.

I didn't respond immediately, and thought over my options of rebuttal as I pretend to be completely occupied with my drink. Sakura frowned at was doing this to me on purpose, because Ino knew more about me than Sakura did, and it hasn't been the first time she's leaked information to get back at me. And maybe I should mention this now; Naruto isn't the only person Ino has fought about Sakura's well-being…

What I couldn't figure out was why she was doing this. To make me uncomfortable? Well, it was already working, and I don't even think she'd gotten started yet.

She gave me a fake smile and threw her arm over my shoulder, and then the other one over Sakura, bringing the both of us closer to her. Sakura and I were able to carefully place our glasses away to keep them out of the way. I noticed she smelled almost too heavily of jasmine and roses, it was like she dived into a bed of flowers.

"I'm glad you two are here," she said slowly, "because I heard about what Sasuke did. He's a real dick; I hope you two know that. If I ever see that bastard, I'd kick his ass for you."

I almost laughed. As if I didn't know already that Ino was on Sasuke's side because she hated Naruto and wasn't too fond of me. But it didn't stop Sakura from buying into it.

The pinkette hugged her girlfriend tightly and pecked her cheek. "I know you would, Ino-chan, we both would, because we love Hina-chan a lot."

Ino smiled slowly, facing the ceiling, but I didn't miss the devious glint of her eyes. "Of course we do, Saku-chan…"

That was enough for me. There was so much sarcasm in that sentence that I was even surprised a love-stricken Sakura didn't pick it up. But then again, she was always would never bother me.

What does bother me, however, is Ino's closeness. I slipped from under her arm, and stood up, brushing my clothes of invisible lint as I stood there facing the two of them, trying to think of a polite way to get out of this conversation, and hopefully, out of the house.

I think I've had enough embarrassment for one day, my mind supplied for me.

"Thank you Ino, I appreciate that."

"Do you?" She took her arm away from Sakura and leaned forward in her seat. The cups of tea we had placed away were probably already getting cold, and not from the increasingly chilling vibes she was giving me.

I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off.

"Of course, it'll be hell of a lot harder to defend you if I didn't really know what happened…" Her eyes grew steely and bore into mine as if she was digging for an answer I could not give her.

Sakura was as stunned as I was, maybe even more so. She hit Ino on the arm, mouth agape. "Don't say things like that! You and I both know that Sasuke's a dick who can't control himself."

"No," Ino sighed and finally took her eyes off me when I didn't answer in time, she laid back. "He can't control Naruto."

Then I felt something get stuck in my throat, and not because his name was uttered. Ino was playing on a dangerous line between unraveling everything and keeping it safe, and she was doing it on purpose.

And so I tried to be quick in changing the subject, but Ino had sparked and interest in Sakura, and she beat me to the response. "What do you mean he can't control Naruto?"

Ino rubbed her face in false thinking. She was toying with me, and it was working. My hands were starting to sweat and I felt itchy all over, with just me standing there awkwardly, as my life was put on display. I felt so ashamed.

"We both know that Sasuke's a control freak and likes to be in the know right?"

Sakura nodded.

"Imagine a mission where Sasuke had absolutely no control over what was happening and he couldn't make a move without it being directly ordered for him to do. Seems like something a little difficult right?"

Ino barely spared me a glance as she talked to Sakura as if I were no longer standing there, not even Sakura bothered looking away, it must've been too interesting for her. "I understand that Ino, but what does that have to do with this situation?"

This time Ino cracked a slow smile and spoke loudly, taunting me with every word dripping with her own poisonous venom, and I couldn't do a thing. "That's the situation he's in now. Naruto's hiding something, and he won't budge, disabling Sasuke from making a move forward in their relationship, and Sasuke has no control over what may or may not happen, because he doesn't really know about the situation. Now picture there was someone else who knew about it, but chose to ignore it altogether…"

Her eyes gazed over to me softly with a deep gaze, and then Sakura looked at me too, albeit more confused. "I dunno. Who do you think would know something and not tell anyone, Hina-chan?"

That was enough for me, I was out of here, and I made a hurried excuse as I grabbed the pair of Sakura's keys on the table, and my jacket on the dining room chair.

"Not sure. Anyway, Sakura, I have to go, Neji is probably very worried and I have some chores to take care of." I didn't bother to look up from the ground as I spoke, but I could tell Sakura's face was probably scrunched up in confusion again.

"Oh…alright." She stood and brushed herself off. "Let me go grab something really quick. Stay here."

I started to protest but Sakura bolted up the stairs, taking three at a time. There I was left with Ino, who was smirking so hard her lips were beginning to rise up and disappear. The stare was unnerving, but I refused to speak as I stepped into my shoes and prepared to leave.

She started speaking again. "I hope you'll think about what I said; you can't just go around blaming things on other people, like you aren't at fault."

"I haven't done any of that," I mumbled, but inside I was getting angry. Just who does she think she is to be chastising me on a relationship I no longer have with either Naruto or Sasuke? What does she know about them, about me, more than I do!?

She stood and began to move over where I stood, and got up right close to my face, so close I could feel her breath tickle at my skin. "What do you want from me?" I managed to force out.

Ino's wide smirk settled back into a deep frown, and she spoke with a whisper so Sakura wouldn't be able to hear. "I want you to stay away from Naruto. You're the one that's keeping Naruto from living out his life with Sasuke; you're still in the way. So get out of it. And I believehim, you are always in the way. I mean, look at you. You're here now aren't you? This is my girlfriend's house and yet you come here more often than I do. You think Sakura wants to hear about every little problem you have? Well she doesn't, and maybe she's just being nice, but I'm not going to be. Not anymore."

If I said I was surprised by this, I'd be lying, so my face betrayed no emotion. I always knew Ino had contempt for me somewhere in her heart, and this is when she finally decided to act on it, except she wasn't just talking about herself anymore. She was defending Sasuke and in a way, I think, defending Naruto…?

"I have never interfered with Naruto and Sasuke's relationship." I bit out, and felt the anger boil in my chest, but at the same time I felt like crying. Why was Ino doing this to me? Why was I being blamed again?

Or was I doing something I just couldn't see as an issue?

She opened her mouth for a probably vicious rebuttal, but then footsteps could be heard and Ino backed away from me almost as quickly as she came and tried to greet Sakura at the stairs with a kiss but Sakura purposely moved out the way of Ino's lips, leaving a confused blonde. Sakura walked towards me, with something dark in her hands. My journal.

"Ah…I guess I almost forgot it." I took it from her open palms. "Thanks, Sakura."

She giggled and scratched the back of her head. "Sorry it took me awhile. I forgot where you might've put it last night."

Ino chose to cut in. "What did you just say that was?"

Sakura spun on the girl, hands on her hips. "A journal, Ino-chan. This is Hinata's journal." The slowly slipping smile from the blonde's face made me almost as happy as knowing that Sakura wasn't completely oblivious to what Ino was doing. She smiled.

"A j-journal?" Ino was stuttering.

"It's just like you said, right Ino? Beauty is all about the actions, not the thoughts that define a person." She turned on her stunned girlfriend and embraced me although I didn't hug back.

She whispered in my ear. "I'll handle her. Go home, Hina-chan."

"But-but, wait, Hinata…" Ino's hand was outstretched, as if she were trying to grab it away from me, I backed away.

And then I left there so quickly I don't remember how I got home.

Dear Sakura,

After all that's happened, this is what I took from it:

'Beauty is all about the actions, not the thoughts. These are the things that define a person, and make them beautiful.'

Define a person...could I define Ino?

I love Ino, and she knows it. She was there for me when I had no one, and I owe her a lot more than what I can give her, but this…this part of Ino I've never seen before. Since when have I become so disgusting that she doesn't even want me around anymore?

Maybe she was right; beauty comes from the actions of a person, not the thoughts. And all this time I've been concerning myself with the thought that Ino cared for me, but maybe she doesn't…

And since we're on the subject,

What does that really mean? And for that reason, why would Ino tell Sakura something like that, like she knew about what the journal's purpose was for. I'm not putting any pieces together here, Sakura…

Ugh, what do I do now? Everything's falling apart. I get a minute of peace, and a day of hell. I'm not even sad right now. I'm more…confused. Intrigued, almost. Like I want to know how much Ino really knows about Sasuke, Naruto, and I. And why is she defending them when she doesn't like Naruto at all?

When did things become so complicated? Sometimes I just feel like―


Someone was knocking at my door. For a second, my heart sped up and I was afraid of someone seeing me writing in this, but then I had to think to myself…why was I so worried?

The knocking came back. I shoved the journal underneath my pillow. "Yes? Come in."

"It's me." Neji, my cousin, I hadn't spoken to him in a while.

This day was getting more and more complicated. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Then there was a silence. I waited patiently.

"Meet me at three o'clock. The Hokage Tower." I waited for more, but nothing came, so I assumed he left just as quickly as he came. I dug out my journal and pen again.

―Oh sorry, that was my cousin Neji. I know I don't talk about him much, considering all the things that have happened involving our relationship. And he definitely avoided me when I was with Naruto, but I understand why, and I didn't complain too much about it.

But now…now I feel like this is an opportunity to close a door between us. He knows I care for him, it's just….hard to be around someone like him. I feel like he still doesn't see me as someone worthy enough to be a relative.

I wonder if I'm even wrong for saying that, Sakura. But it's really how I feel!

Anyway, he told me to meet him at three, at the Hokage Tower. I don't know why, but I'm coming. I have too, if Ino does succeed in separating Sakura and I, then I'll be all alone again…and I don't want to be alone anymore!

Maybe that's why…nevermind.

This is an opportunity, and I've learned that you should always take advantages of them, right?

Hinata

I hope you liked it!

Please review!

V

V

V