Update!

Sorry if this one's a bit lame, but I haven't had much time to really do anything, what with school and all. It's probably a bit sappy and underdeveloped too.

I woke up the next morning, surprised that the two of us could've fallen asleep so quickly. I sighed, stroking Ino's long hair as we lay in bed together. Through the night, she'd rolled over further, her whole body resting on mine. I could feel a weak smile on her face through my shirt. Before I could stretch and wake up properly, Ino's arms gave me a protesting squeeze.

"Saku-chaaan!" she moaned, obviously still sleeping.

I blushed, chewing my lip lightly. I hated being such a naturally self conscious person. Sighing, I stared at the ceiling pinned down by Ino's weight. It wasn't at all unpleasant though. Just being with her had me in a state of euphoria, espescially since I'd always wanted to be with her. The thought that she was mine, all mine kept playing through my head over and over, to the point where I almost wanted to shut it out. It was a wonderful feeling, at least until it was pushed out of my brain by a phone ringing.

I patted around my pants, searching for the phone as it vibrated and rang loudly in my pocket, rousing Ino from her peaceful sleep. I finally ripped it out of my pocket and squinted at the caller ID to see who could be calling me at such an ungodly hour. It was Sasuke. Frowning, I answered.

"Sakura?" His voice poured out of the phone.

"What?" I said, unintentionally sounding angry.

Sasuke's voice softened, "Geez, don't bite my head off. I was only calling you to see if you were alive. You never called me last night, by the way."

"Oh, sorry." I murmured half-heartedly.

"It's okay. So, how's you know who?" he asked.

"Ino? . . She's fine." I said.

"Cool."

"You know that it's three in the morning don't you?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

"Not really. I've been talking to Naruto all night." He said, guiltily.

I sighed, "Well, that explains a lot. Is Lee still obsessed with him?"

"Yeah." He sighed.

I frowned, "Well, if I somehow miraculously got my girl, maybe you can get yours."

"Yeah . . Hey, Naruto isn't a girl!" He said defensively.

I chuckled, "Well, he's more of a girl than you are, I'm sure."

"He'd better be." Sasuke said, lightening up.

"Well, uh, can you call me back later? I sorta need to catch some more 'Z's." I said, stretching slightly.

"Yeah, sure. Good luck with your girl! Later Sakura-kun!" He said, sounding extremely hyper. I had the idea that he was going to be talking Naruto a hell of a lot more than usual.

"Later Uber-Obsessed Sasuke-kun." I said, hanging up the phone and turning it off to prevent any more interruptions.

When I replaced the phone in my pocket and got comfortable again, Ino, who hadn't paid the slightest attention to the conversation, asked groggily, "Who was that?"

"Sasuke." I answered dully.

"You guys talk? Don't you hate each other?" She asked, surprised.

"No, not really. Ever since you stopped chasing after him, we've been pretty good friends." I said nonchalantly.

"Oh."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She sighed, "Nothing." Her voice shook with every word.

"Tell me the truth."

"I am telling you the truth." She said, lying through her teeth.

I sighed, "Well, if you're telling me the truth, why do you sound like you're about to cry?"

"Because I said so."

"If you don't tell me what it is, I can't make it better."

"What good is it? If I tell you, you still won't be able to fix it." A tear slid down her cheek.

I sighed, "Look, at least tell me if it has anything to do with me so I won't feel all guilty, okay?"

"It's about our relationship." she said, and my heart sank.

I didn't say a word.

"Look, if we're going to be together, we're going to have stay in the closet . . . I can't let people know I'm . . gay." she said, as if 'together' and 'gay' were horrible words that shouldn't be spoken in the same sentence, even in private.

I flinched. I should've seen this coming, I thought.

"I mean, I don't even know if I am or not, so I can't come out really!" She said, breaking my heart with her excuses.

"Stop right there." I said quietly.

She paused, "What?"

I began shaking, losing the feeling in my limbs as sadness began washing over me. I leapt off the bed and stuttered as I slipped on my shoes and pulled on the hoodie that I'd taken off just before going to sleep, "I-I need some time alone, okay? Just a while to think about this . . . I . . I don't know when I'll be back. Don't wait for me."

"Wait!" Ino said, attempting to follow me. I took off running. I was very fast. I'd been on the track team for a few months so I doubted that Ino could keep up with me. Even though I thought she might follow me, I kept going, pouring my energy into the simple task with gusto. I slammed the doors behind me as I went, and with that I promptly sprinted down the stairwell and out of the door, not even bothering to say goodbye to her parents as they made breakfast. I didn't even look back. I knew I would regret this later, but I did not feel that I could bear being in the same room with her as the situation stood.

I ran as fast as I could, just trying to get away. Out of all the things she could've said, that had to be one of the top ten worst. I cried, pushing myself to run as fast and hard as I possibly could manage, remembering the shocked look on her face as I'd turned and ran out of her room. How could one group of words hurt someone so much?

Ino was the last thing I'd expected to run from. First, I ran away from my fear, I ran away from boys, then I ran away from home, and afterwards I ran from conflict, but now I was running from the same thing I'd been running to. I stopped running when I realized there was nowhere else for me to go, not besides Naruto's house, or maybe Sasuke's, both of which probably wouldn't be the best to go to about something so serious as this. Having nowhere else to go, I went back home. It was only a few blocks away. I frowned at the ugly outside, marred with cracks and wooden boards over the windows. I went inside and found my room after some fumbling around in the dark. Apparently, the power was off. Perhaps that was the reason why it was so deathly cold inside, so unlike Ino's house. The thought of which brought more steadily streaming tears to my eyes.

I settled in my old too-small-feet-hanging-off-the-edge bed, burying my head in the covers and letting out silent sobs. The house was quiet except for the constant hiss of my breath, surprisingly. Usually, the place would drive me insane with all the noises, screams, and sounds of objects breaking and/or being thrown around. I mused for a moment, that my parents had finally ran out of things to break and that they were probably off buying some more, just to annoy the shit out of me . . or make God decide to take a little more pity on my poor soul. I laughed wryly about the notion, but soon stopped and forced myself to be still. For an hour, all I could think about was what Ino had said. I remembered everything, from the cliched runaway-sleepovers to the icecream in the park, all in one single moment.

I sighed and pounded my fist to the bed. I couldn't stand being still. Annoyed at all the time I'd wasted, I decided to walk to the park, despite the slow pitter-patter of rain that had began assaulting my eardrums minutes earlier. I rolled out of bed and went outside, heading to the large plot of land known simply as 'The Park.' After a few blocks in the pouring rain, stepping into puddle after puddle, I reached it.

The sun still shone brightly, even through the rain in the quiet park. The rain had reduced to a mere sprinkle by the time I'd gotten there. That didn't make me any less cold though. I sighed, heading over to a park bench, which was nestled under a great tree with an umbrella and a table nearby. It was the same bench Ino and I had sat in, that same day that dog-boy, Kiba, had nearly flattened her, along with her icecream.

I sighed, remembering it as if it were yesterday. I remembered how our tongues brushed, it was an accident, but it still happened, and it still tripped me up, even years later. The memories flooded my mind; happy and sad, they all came back, bringing tears to my eyes once again, as if it couldn't get any worse already. I stared up at the sky, squinting as rain pelted my face. Then I saw the old man again, the same one who gave the free icecream to us every day. He was walking at his usual pace, cleaning up the park with a rake and occasionally heading back towards his icecream cart and maintaining it. I watched him for a few minutes before deciding to walk through the park.

As I neared the bend, I came upon the man. His face was just as wrinkly and old looking as ever. He smiled to me and waved me over.

"Where is your friend?" he asked.

I sighed, "Right where I left her."

"Why don't you go back and get her?" He lightheartedly suggested.

"I'm still asking myself the same question." I answered honestly.

"Maybe you should talk about it?" The man suggested lightly, proceeding to ramble on about his own long lost love. According to his admittedly jumbled memory, he once had a love, slightly younger then he, a budding young rose, so fragile, yet free. Though they sounded like poetic verses to me, hearing the words he spoke struck a chord in my heart.

"What was her name?"

"He." The man answered.

I stuttered, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It is alright." The man answered. "He was your friend's grandfather. A proud man was he. Though, to keep his status in his clan and avoid exile, he was forced to marry a wife, leaving me out in the cold. I can't remember a sadder time in my life."

"That's so . . sad." I said, being redundant.

"It wasn't entirely his fault. I was so angry that he would not see me in public. I stopped talking to him, ran away, stayed off to myself. Eventually, we just grew apart. That's why you need to go talk to her. Don't be a fool in the rain like me." He stood up again, giving me a steely gaze. "Now go."

I stood up frantically. "What should I say? What should I do?"

"Tell her what you feel. Show her what's in here." He gestured to his chest emphatically, adding, "Now go! Go quickly before your time is up!"

I nodded, turning toward Ino's house and taking off full speed, yelling a thank you back to the old man and feeling the rain stinging my face as I went. I ran from street to street, road to road, all the while, the old man's words stuck in my head.

So Ino's grandfather was gay? I asked myself, wondering if anyone else knew. As far as I knew though, the man was dead, so there was no point in reading into his story as my current situation stood. Blocks later, I was forced to slow down to a brisk walk. Even then, however, I knew that I could hardly take any more travel on foot. As if it couldn't get any worse, the rain turned to hail.

I stopped to rest for a moment under a nearby tree. It was a magnificent oak, the high winds and hail doing near nothing to mar its ancient beauty. I pulled out my phone, looking at the numbers that popped up. I had seven missed calls, three voice mails, and three text messages. Three calls from Ino, four from Naruto, and one from Sasuke. The texts were mostly from Naruto and Sasuke. I decided to look at the voice mail. The first two were left by Ino.

"Sakura, Sakura! Come back! Answer me!" Ino blubbered in a pleading voice. "I'm sorry for what I said, even if I don't know what it was. I'm so sorry and I -" the rest rest of her sentence was incomprehensible blubbering, which was cut off promptly by a beep, signalling the end of the message.

I listened to the next voice mail, it a continuation of the first, no more comprehensible than the last. The final message, which was from Naruto, was redundant, but I was so tired, I didn't bother taking the time to think up a reason not to listen.

"Sakura what's wrong with you?! How could you just leave Ino like that? I thought you were better than that! You made her cry! Now damnit, you go make it better or consider us enemies! Believe it!" Naruto's scratchy voice came over the phone. He was yelling furiously. That was the end of the message.

Annoyed and determined to go find my girl, I stood up and stretched, the short rest and lecture giving me resolve enough to go on. I started walking. It was nearly impossible to see. The path was littered with those pesky ice balls, constantly tripping me up and I walked along the way. Desperately wanting to get to Ino before she did something stupid, I started running. Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone ran out in front of me, causing us to crash together and land on the hard concrete sidewalk. I grunted, opening my eyes from the previous squint they had taken the shape of, looking up to see a blurry female figure above me.

"Ngh . . Sakura?" The figure said, cooing in discomfort. If I wasn't so dazed, I might have recognized them. Whoever it was had landed squarely on top of me, effectively soaking us both.

"Huh?" I murmured, dully aware of the small ice balls jabbing into my back.

A lock of blonde hair fell onto my face, jogging my memory. "Sakura are you okay?" The figure sat up slightly and attempted to lift me.

"Hnn? . . Ino? What're you doing here?" I whimpered pathetically. Ino stood up, offering me a hand. I pushed myself up on my own, looking at her curiously. The hail that was constantly pelting us didn't make it any less awkward.

"I was trying to find you." her voice came, this time shaky and filled with worry.

I sighed, shielding my head from further bombardment, "I - I'm sorry."

"It's okay." she said, holding me as tightly as possible. She kissed my cheek. "It's me that should be apologizing."

"No, it's me. I'm so sorry I left you like that." I said, nuzzling her, trying to keep the cold from biting me too hard. Both of us were shivering.

"It's okay . . because I love you." She kissed me again, this time in the shoulder.

"Shouldn't we go home?"

Ino nodded, taking my hand and walked down the street with me. Once again, I thought everything was going to be fine, but I knew, my world was on the path down the toilet all over again. I didn't care though. I thought to myself, If thats the way it has to be, I guess there's no better way to live my dreams.

To be Continued.

A/N: Leave me some reviews! I'm sorta running out of places to take the story and I need you guys' help if I'm to really continue it!