Wow, four chapters in two days? I must be doing some serious steroids now, ehe . . . I'm going to start putting thoughts in italics now. It will look much cleaner this way.

Well, after the little suicidal incident yesterday, I think I just may give you all a break. That was pretty dramatic . . . a little too dramatic for my tastes. Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

Time skip! Yay! And did I mention a lot more drama? It'll be made up for with lots of fluff though. One sided yuri for the most part. =)

"I win!" Naruto shouted, standing and throwing his hands up in the air triumphantly.

"Shut up, Naruto. I let you win on purpose." I lied. We were playing Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi 3, and I had lost to him. 'Stupid Broly, he always wins if you mash enough buttons.' I thought, tossing the controller down.

"Come on Sakura, you know I won fair and square!" Naruto crossed his arms.

I sighed for the fifth time. He was right, and I hated that fact. I still had Ino though. 'That last night I spent with her was great. She was so soft and warm . . . and – Damn, I wish Naruto would shut up. Retard . . . Stop interrupting me when I'm thinking!'

I shot Naruto a glare. He knew what that meant.

"Okay, I'm shutting up now."

"That's a good boy." I muttered, knowing the silence wouldn't last too long, not that I really cared at all, as long as he wasn't annoying me.

"Well, uh, I'm just going to go make some ramen, okay?" He said shakily, avoiding my stare. I was surprised he didn't ask anything about Ino, or anyone else I knew. Normally, he was full of questions, even when he knew I wouldn't answer them. 'Is he okay?' I thought, 'Of course he is, that big knuckle head . . . What am I thinking? Since when did I care about Naruto?'

My phone rang. I flipped it open, sighing. It was Ino. I answered.

"Finally, I thought you would never call!" I said. It had been weeks since the incident with the latte, and neither of us had called eachother since. I guess we figured that it was better to talk in person. Either way, I was happy . . . until Ino spoke, at least.

"Sakura, where are you?" She seemed urgent.

"Naruto's house . . . why?" I said, mood shattered by the fear in her voice.

"I've got this crazy ex-boyfriend, Sakura, he won't leave me alone!" Ino said, whispering.

"Do your parents know?" I asked, thinking that they could possibly get to her quicker than I could.

"No, they're at work, and I'm not supposed to call them then." Her voice was shaky.

"Where are you?" I asked, now deeply worried.

"I'm at my house. He says he's coming for me. You've gotta help me, Sakura! He's fucking crazy!"

"I'll be there."

"Thank you Sakura." Ino said, voice trembling. I heard her sniffle, then hang up.

I listened to the long beep, before hanging up as well. 'Ino, what have you gotten yourself into?'

I stood up, "Naruto, we've gotta go, now!" I yelled, knowing he would have no idea what to do. I ran to the front door, pulling Naruto along with me. He looked at me stupidly.

"What? What's so important?" He said.

"Ino's in trouble, now we gotta go! . . Are the maid's car keys still here?" I asked frantically.

"Yeah, they're right there! What're you gonna do with those?" He stuttered as I yanked them from their resting place on the small key-rack. Naruto didn't have a real mom or dad, but he had a maid who lived with him. Poor thing. She always got the bad end of everything.

"I'm gonna drive the car! What else?!" I yelled, running to his mom's car and yanking open the door. Naruto followed, jumping into the passenger seat and closing the door. I hoped to the high heavens that cars were just like in those arcade games. I jammed the key into the ignition and started it.

"Do you even know how to drive this thing?!" Naruto yelled as I backed over the neighbor's trashcan. "Man, the maid's gonna be so pissed," He hissed.

The car was new. I didn't take time to look, but it appeared to be an economy car with a lime green paint job and racing stripes on top. What a weird combination. I anticipated the funny looks we would get if we were seen speeding around in the thing, grimmacing. I hated small cars.

"No, but if it's anything like the video games, I shouldn't have much of a problem with it!" I said, hopefully. Thankfully, no one else was on the road. I put the car into drive and pulled the rest of the way out of the driveway, speeding towards Ino's house.

"Holy shit!" Naruto screamed as we flew through the air, ramping off of a small hill, "Remind me never to let you drive again!"

"Shut up, you moron!" I barked at him, jerking the steering wheel and nearly running off the road, hitting another trashcan as I did so.

"That's seven trashcans already, are you sure we should be doing this?!"

"YES! I'm not leaving Ino over there with some psycho killer man trying to bust down her door!"

"You never told me about that!"

My phone buzzed inside my pants.

"Damn it!" I swerved again, hitting a pile of leaves and straw, sending it high into the air.

I answered.

"Ino, I told you, I'm coming!" I said, now driving one-handed.

"How far away are you?" She asked.

"Maybe five minutes. Naruto's house is a straight away from yours, we'll be there . . . soon." I grunted, trying to avoid another obstacle, swerving and driving all over the road. We were going nearly 90 kph.

"You're going to get us killed! Cell phone driver!" Naruto screamed, "I don't wanna die!"

"Is that . . Naruto?" Ino asked.

"Y-Yeah, We're in a car . . That's what all the noise is." I said, trying to keep my cool, managing not to hit Naruto. I thought about it, but then I realized that I'd have to take my other hand off the wheel. That wouldn't end well.

"What?!" Ino yelled.

"Ino, I was so worried, I-"

"Sakura, you're crazy! Get out of the car right now!"

"I can't stop!" I screamed.

"AAH! WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Naruto yelled, crying like a baby.

"Shut up, Naruto, you're distracting me from driving!"

"Sakura, please, stop the car!" She pleaded.

"There's no way I'm backing out of this now, Ino. I'm not leaving you there alone!"

Naruto yelped, "Whatever you say Sakura! Just don't get us killed!"

"I don't want you to die, Sakura."

"I'm not gonna die. Look, we're almost there, okay? I want you to come downstairs and wait for me, okay? Please?"

"Okay, Sakura." Ino sniffled, and I heard her running down stairs, quite loudly too.

I began slowing down as Ino's house came into view. We were still a block or two away, but it was clearly visible. I ended up doing a U-Turn and smashing into yet another set of trashcans, but it didn't register in my mind. All I could think of was Ino at that moment.

"Naruto, get in the back." I said, as I saw Ino running to the now beaten car.

He didn't protest. He knew how much I loved her, after all and he knew that I would do the same for him, had this sort of thing happened between him and Lee.

Ino opened the door and sat in the car, slumping back in the seat and clutching her phone to her chest. It was then that I realized that we had never hung up. "Sakura." Ino said, as the car began rolling down the road again. I wasted no time getting her as far away from the house as possible. I was sure she would be relived.

"Hm?" I looked in the rear view mirror to see Naruto staring at me. He looked down and put his mp3 player on, adjusting the head phones in his ears. He always did that when he saw us talking, or really when he saw anyone talking. He nodded his head to the music with his eyes closed.

"Why are you always coming to my rescue?" She asked, looking down.

"Because I owe it to you. You saved me from who I was." I said, managing to keep on the road without too much difficulty.

"How?"

"It's hard to explain." I sped up, debating whether to explain my love to her or not.

"You don't have to tell me."

"Where do you want us to go?" I asked.

"Back to Naruto's, I guess, unless you want to go somewhere else." I saw her lean back out of the corner of my eye.

'I want to tell her, but not here. Not with Naruto in the car. This isn't the time.' I thought. Between Ino and Naruto, I had my reasons for living. If I were to lose one of them somehow or another, I would die inside. I loved them both, in different ways.

"Okay, Naruto's it is then. I can imagine the face on the maid if she finds this care gone. Poor thing, she's going to have to fix all the dents we put in it anyway."

"This is the maid's car?!" Ino yelled, "You're such a juvenile delinquent!"

"So? I told you I would be there, didn't I?" I said, uncaring about the moderate insult, "It's not like I could pick you up on a bike, now could I?"

"I hate it when you're right."

"You did remember to hang up your phone right?" I said.

"Um . . no." She quickly hung it up and put it in her pocket.

"That thing has GPS doesn't it?"

"Yeah. Is that a bad thing?"

"Duh! That means your psycho ex can track you! Quick, turn it off!"

She obeyed, wide-eyed, "So that's how he figured out where I was! That jack-ass must've got my number from someone!"

I sighed, "Who is this guy anyway?"

"Some guy named Shino." She quickly looked down again.

"You dated that bug freak? When?" I felt like crying, but I held it in. Ino was dating boys.

'You've gone and done it, Sakura. Face it, Ino likes boys. She'll never love you. Never,' Inner Sakura, as I had come to call her, yelled.

"A couple weeks ago . . . I'm sorry!"

"No, don't be. I'm sorry for asking." I bit my lip, holding in a sob and wiping my eye.

"Sakura, I know I told you, I wasn't going to date any guys after how I learned that Sasuke was a jerk. I'm so sorry!"

"Ino, it doesn't matter. As long as we're friends, you don't have to apologize to me. I'll always be by your side, no matter what happens." I glanced at her. My voice was breaking. I sounded so damn pathetic. She was crying too. Poor girl. Bug boy must've really tore her up.

"Sakura, Sakura! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I never told you anything about this . . . Don't hate me, please." She begged. That was all I heard all the way home. It was enough to make anyone feel like the worst human being on Earth.

I silently pleaded, "Dear God, please don't let me cry in front of her . . . "

We drove back to Naruto's house and went inside. No one saw us, and no one would have done anything anyway, had they seen us. I felt like my chest would cave in. Between the silent sobbing and dry-heaving, I thought I would die. I needed someone to cling to.

Naruto took one look at me and went into his room, grabbing his cold ramen. I guess he just sensed that I wanted to be alone. No such luck with Ino. I wanted to be near her, I knew, but with every hug and embrace, I was met with only misery. She was too lovely to be mine.

"Ino, please." I pleaded, as I lay in the bean-bag chair, Ino on top of me, bawling her eyes out, smearing her mascara all over my neck and collarbone. I prayed that it wasn't waterproof . . and that I could keep myself from making a move.

I couldn't understand anything she was saying. It was almost completely incomprehensible. I loved her so much, it was enough to break me. I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. "Sakura!" Ino screamed into the shoulder of my hoodie.

"Ino, I'm sorry." I rubbed her back, trying to soothe her.

She clutched me, thrashing and sobbing. I knew my outfit would be ruined, not that I cared anyway. "Sakura-chan . . . Don't leave me, okay?"

"Why would I ever leave you?"

"I don't know . . It's just that everyone else does eventually." She said between sobs, "I mean, my real mom, my friends, everybody except for you hates me on the inside, Sakura!" She clutched me tighter than ever.

"I'm sorry, Ino. I promise, I'll never leave you. Ever." I said, "I'll always be here for you Ino, forever and ever, and I don't care what anyone says." I hugged her tightly against me, so hard that it was a bit hard to breathe.

"Thank you, Sakura!" Ino yelled, pressing into me to the point where I could smell the fragrance of shampoo she washed with and the body spray she frequently used mixing. It was heavenly, any way you looked at it. I felt a smile creep across her lips.

"Ino, why are you still crying?"

"I'm so happy." She raised her head, face streaked with tears and mascara.

I brushed her cheek with my thumb, wiping away a tear.

"Sakura," Ino said, "Only couples wipe tears away from others." She looked giggled.

I blushed, "So? You wouldn't mind it, would you?" I said, hoping I wouldn't screw up the moment.

"Sakura, you're so crazy." Ino smiled, touching our foreheads together.

"You're so cute when you're like this, I just wanna-" I stopped myself.

'Damn you Ino, I want to hold you and kiss you forever!' I thought.

'Damn you Sakura, you could have!' My inner self yelled.

'Shut up, you. I hate it when you're right.' I smiled weakly, still looking up at Ino.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Ino asked.

I took a deep breath, "This." I pressed our lips together softly. I pulled away a second later breathing hard, anticipating what would happen next. I crossed my fingers at my sides.

"S-Sakura." Ino whispered.

'Big mistake.'

"I-I'm sorry. Don't hate me." I looked away, waiting to get slapped. Naruto was standing in the doorway, just as dumbfounded as Ino looked.

"So that's what you wanted." Ino mumbled, frozen in place, straddling me.

"Ino-chan," I trailed off.

"Sakura, look at me."

I turned my head. Ino was close. Our lips brushed. "Don't do this to me, I love you too much."

"Sakura, I don't know about what just happened, but I could never hate you, not after all we've been through."

End Chapter

I know, the stuff near the end was a little iffy. I rushed it. Sorry, but I really wanted to finish it because it was getting on my nerves. Prepare for a small time skip in the next chapter. It's only a few hours, but that counts, right? It's three in the morning here, I'll just stop the presses for a while now.