Update!

Eh, I wasn't sure where to take this. God knows, this stuff looks better in word than on FF. A lot of drama in this one too, so I hope you guys enjoy. Also, there might not be too much Ino in the next few chappies, so any of you fans that like other yuri/yaoi pairings, now's a time to get your hopes up!

Ino and I walked home hand in hand. Two days passed. It was now Sunday night, and I hadn't so much as said a word about what made me change my mind and turn back after I'd ran so hard to get away from her. We were in the kitchen, just starting to eat what I assumed was calamari mixed into chow mein, which was quite delicious, given the strange appearance when the two of us had finally decided to get up and do something for ourselves. Luckily, Ino's parents were out of the house for a bit.

The two of us were sitting at the table together, playing in the strange food and attempting to feed each other. It was pretty pathetic. We were dropping food everywhere, and if I didn't know better, I'd say it was a contest of who could make the biggest mess. Nevertheless, I still giggled like a school girl each time that the slimy mixture of noodles and squid failed to reach my mouth. Who knew that ruining expensive clothes could be so fun?

Alas, our play time was interrupted by a phone call, not mine either. Ino barely missed poking my eye out as she flailed around, trying to reach the furiously buzzing object, hurriedly opening it when she finally managed to do so. She answered, "Moshi-moshi."

I looked around, not knowing whether I should move or not. I'd never been in a situation where someone else got a phone call, unless those people weren't in my immediate vicinity, of course. Ino spoke again, this time sounding surprised and slightly annoyed, "Hinata spit it out, I'm kinda in the middle of something here!"

Hinata? Ino talks to that chick? Doesn't she know that she's a total stalker?! . . . oh wait, I'm a total stalker. Like I have room to talk, I thought, zoning out. I'd met Hinata several times, and of course, I saw her when I went shopping at Hot Topic, but I'd never really talked to her about anything other than how stupid her obsession with Naruto was or small talk, like the weather, etcetera.

Gee, you're a real genius there Sakura.

I huffed, Haven't heard from you in a while . . I thought I told you to go away ages ago.

Oh, that's a nice greeting you have for your self-conscious there. You can't even be civil to yourself. Creep.

I sighed. "Let's get this over with." I said aloud, rolling my eyes, not realizing my error.

"Huh?" Ino's face drifted in between hurt and confusion.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that! I was talking to-"

Ino sighed, "Sure you didn't. One day you run off and then you expect me to be all cool when you're just so damn insensitive!" She looked like she was about to cry as she folded her arms and got up, throwing her phone at me. It hit me square in the forehead.

I caught the device before it hit the floor and after a few seconds put it to my ear, not sure what to do. Somehow, the impact hadn't broken it, or even hung it up. On the other end, the girl, Hinata, timidly spoke. "Ino? . . Ino what ha- happened? Wha- what was that n- noise?"

"Uh . . Hinata?" I said, forming the sounds as if they were out of some strange foreign language.

"Y-yes?"

"Um, this is Sakura . . . I- I don't know what to say . . Ino and I, we- we just fought. She threw the phone at me and walked off." I sighed, wishing I had the courage to go up after Ino.

"Oh . . I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked stupidly, trying to ignore the loud stomping and screaming upstairs, undoubtedly coming from Ino.

Hinata drew in a breath, "I- I don't know."

"Well what should I do?"

"I- don't know . . m- maybe you sh- should go talk to her?" The girl said, obviously as clueless as me.

"Well . . I'll try. Um, call back later?" I said.

"Mm-hm" Hinata said, hanging up.

"Weird." I muttered to myself, sighing and closing Ino's phone, holding my forehead as I went upstairs. Well, I guess I have no choice then. It's either go up there or consider Ino as free real-estate for the first jack ass that comes along. I thought, wincing as the girl sobbed, throwing things around on the floor above. Finally, after I finished the last flight of stairs, Ino's doorway came into view. I approached it tentatively, almost as if I was afraid that if I got too close bolts of pure fury would fly out from the edges and zap me to oblivion.

"Um . . Ino?" I asked softly after the noise had died down. My hand was resting on the door knob.

She instantly answered, "What?" Annoyance, anger, and sadness blended into one solid being.

"I- I have your phone." I said, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah, so?"

I cracked the door, "I wanted to give it back to you." I hung my head lightly, daring myself just enough to slip inside slightly and push the door closed. Ino was a mess. She wouldn't even look up.

Ino didn't say anything.

"Here." I said, placing it in her hand and taking a step back, just in case she decided to go absolutely insane.

Ino peeked from around the pillow she was clutching to her face, still silent.

"Look, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to say that . . You see, I have this problem . . like, where this voice is in my head and well, it really pisses me off . . . so, I'm really hoping you'll believe me here . . " I said, trying to look as sincere as possible.

"And how do I know you're not lying?" She asked, skeptical.

I sighed, "Why would I lie to you? That's not what people do when they love someone, is it?"

"No?"

"So, if I love you, and you love me, then what reason would I have to lie to you?" I asked.

"Okay, okay, I believe you!" she said.

I smiled weakly, sitting on the bed next to her and breathing out another, lighter sigh. "So, how's it feel?"

"How's what feel?" Ino asked.

"You know, that famous first fight that every person goes through in a relationship that's supposed to make it stronger?" I elaborated.

She opened her mouth for a second. "Um, I dunno . . good I guess? . . now that it's over with."

"Well look . . I'll make it up to you," I said, beginning what would be the most selfless moment of my life.

Ino looked up at me in anticipation, "How?"

"How about . . a date?" I asked, my heart pounding.

Ino's eyes instantly brightened, "Saku-chan, I thought you'd never ask!" She practically tackled me into a hug, squeezing my guts as hard as she could and pinning me to the bed with her weight, not that I minded; her bed was like a mini-heaven, stuffed with all the softness and cuddles that you could possibly think of.

"So . . where should it be?" I asked after she let up a bit.

Ino put a finger to her chin in thought. After a second, she shrugged and put it back down. "Hmm . . we could go to that new Joe Muggs at the mall I guess. It's sorta date material I think." she said, chewing her lip lightly.

I cleared my throat. "Well, I guess Joe Muggs it is then."

"Saku-chan, you're so sweet!" She cooed, nearly squeezing the life out of me.

"I- Ino . . . chan . . can't . . breathe!" I said, between gasps.

"Oh, sorry" she replied, instantly letting up.

I nodded, "It's fine Ino-chan,"

"So when's this date going to be?" She asked, still lying on top of me, fidgeting with her feet.

I squinted for a second. "Hmm . . Maybe Tuesday?"

"We have school on Tuesday, and a project," She said, pausing, "Oh shit, we didn't do the project! Saku-chan! We have to finish that or we're gonna fail!" Ino leapt to her feet.

I shrugged, "I can finish that stupid thing in five minutes. Don't worry about it Ino-chan."

"But what if you forget?!" She asked, pacing frantically.

I sighed, "Really, don't worry about it. We have the rest of the semester to do it! Besides, you losing sleep over some dumbass project isn't going to help anyone."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive, now lets get some sleep; we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow." I said, smiling, as she finally decided to cooperate and try to get some sleep.

The next day was the same as usual, me going to school with Ino, getting assaulted by her fanclub, and going to our usual classes, two of which, I skipped. In my perusing around the halls during this time, I managed to avoid being glomped by the self-proclaimed Naruto fangirls - Uchiha and Hyuuga, namely. I say fangirls because well, Sasuke practically was a girl, and Hinata, well, she was a girl too, even if she did like Naruto, of all people. I happily tiptoed around them and headed toward the girl's restrooms. What I found when I got there was quite possibly the most annoying incident I'd experienced to date.

"Did you guys see Ino-sama this morning?" an annoying squirrely girl asked. I was hiding on the other side of a wall, so I couldn't see faces.

One of the girls made a smacking noise. "Yeah, and did you see who she was with?"

"Yeah, it was that weird pink-headed bitch!" One of them said, making a disgusted sound.

"I don't know what she sees in her." Another voice chimed in. It sounded like Kin.

"Ugh, I hate her! Ino should be hanging out with us, not her! Where does she get off stealing Ino like that?"

"Yeah, fucking lesbian. Ugh!" Came the voice again. It was hard to tell who was talking, especially since I was getting madder than hell just standing there.

Just walk away Sakura, just WALK away. I kept telling myself.

"Wait . . you don't think that . ."

"Ino's a lesbian too?!"

"No way!"

Okay, this is where I draw the line.

"Holy shit, it's true isn't it?"

"Oh my god, Ino's a fucking lesbian! And she used to sleep in my bed!" One of the girls said, wailing in a high pitched voice, just in time for me to walk through the door.

"What's this about lesbian bed death?" I asked, sauntering into the room with false confidence. Really, on the inside, I was just hoping to save Ino's reputation, though I did want to be out of the closet with everyone, just so I could flaunt the fact that I, Sakura Haruno, the greatest failure in the universe (besides Naruto) got Ino Yamanaka, the most beautiful girl who ever existed. Nevertheless, there I was, defending her honor, knowing that I had a good chance of getting my ass kicked. Knowing how to street fight only goes so far when you're surrounded in a small space, all alone.

"What're you doing here Haruno?" Kin asked. I knew that was her voice all along.

"Oh nothing, just browsing around, sticking my nose where I shouldn't be." I said, stuffing my hands in my pockets.

"Well get your ass out of here." she said boldly, not knowing about all the whup-ass school I got from living with two abusive parents.

I laughed, "Make me."

"You asked for it!" she said, charging at me with her arms flailing.

Reflexively, I caught her punches and tripped her by side-stepping and forcing her over my leg. Her face hit the tile floor with a nice, hard, satisfying 'crunch'.

"Anybody else want some?" I said, feeling empowered.

The other girls shook their heads. I stepped over Kin's body on the way out. "Oh, and by the way, have a nice day." I walked back down the hall, feeling a rush that I'd never felt before. Who knew the pain of others could make you feel so good?

Wow, that went surprisingly well. Since when was I able to put someone down so quickly? I thought, as I walked away, knowing that it could've ended much differently. Thankfully, it didn't. I was lucky.

Before I knew it, I'd gone and run up on one of the only Naruto fanclub members (two people) in the world, which I'd promised myself I'd avoid for as long as possible. My cover was blown when Hinata turned around and greeted me.

"S-Sakura-chan!" she said, almost whispering, as she fidgeted with her fingers, pushing them together and looking between me and the floor.

I gave a smirk and sighed, "Hinata-chan . . What's with the class skipping? I thought you were a good girl." I gave a slight laugh.

"Um – uh, I was – I was just g-going to the bathroom! Promise you won't tell!" She hissed, looking over to where Sasuke was standing on top of a garbage can, peering into a window. I assumed he was watching Naruto during Phys Ed, since the window was pointing that way. Why they had windows on the inside of a building, I didn't know.

"Relax, I'm not going to tell on you. So, whatever happened to Ino? I haven't seen her in a couple periods now. I think she's avoiding me or something." I said, sighing.

Hinata didn't say anything.

"Well?" I said, growing a bit impatient.

She looked away, fidgeting even more than usual. "I – I don't know S-Sakura-chan . . Maybe . . . Maybe she got checked out?"

"Are you sure?" I prodded, knowing that I was making the poor girl feel horrible.

She nodded.

"Well, uh . . that sucks?" I said, the statement coming out as more of a question than anything, something that happened whenever I had no clue of what to say.

I stood there for about a minute, waiting on her to say something. She didn't, and right when I was about to turn around and leave, I heard footsteps. I knew the sound well; it was those big, clomping boots of Hiashi Hyuga, our principal, Hinata's father. I knew this because I'd been sent into his office enough for him to start treating my discipline referrals as casual greeting cards.

"Quick! We have to hide!" I hissed.

Hinata apparently didn't comprehend. She stood there with her mouth open, looking at me with widened eyes.

"Come on! He's going to catch us if you don't hurry up!" I said, hearing his footsteps begin to enter the foyer, which wasn't too far from us. I grabbed her arm and started tugging her down the hallway, instinctively looking for an escape. I glanced up for signs of Sasuke. He was gone.

Well, he might not have the best tastes, but at least he knows when it's time to get the hell outta dodge, I thought, dragging Hinata behind me and trying to be as quiet as possible, which was hard, considering that Hinata was protesting quite a bit. "Do you want us to get suspended?" I hissed back to her, ending her futile resistance and hurrying to the first door I saw. It was the only one I knew of on the hall we were in. I prayed to God that it'd be unlocked.

My heart was nearly beating out of my chest. I had my hand on the door, twisting and pulling as fast as I could. Hiashi was closing in. It'd be a matter of seconds before we were caught. I thought I was dead; the door wasn't opening. Damn you janitors! Can't you leave anything unlocked?!

I could almost hear Hinata thinking 'oh-shit-oh-shit,' not that I didn't feel the same way. I pulled on the door one last time, desperately, falling backwards when my hand slipped. Miraculously, the door opened, giving me enough resolve to pick myself back up again. I threw Hinata inside and jumped in on top of her, slamming the door shut and locking it with my free arm, breathing hard.

"S-Sakura?" Hinata whimpered.

I put my finger to her lips, trying to quiet her.

"Sakura-chan, y-you're . . you're on top of me . ." Hinata whispered, starting to babble. I heard Hiashi's footsteps getting closer and closer still.

"Shh! We're not out of the woods yet!" I hissed.

"But-" the rest of her sentence was muffled by my lips. Sure, it was cruel and indecent, but I couldn't have her getting us caught, especially in a locked janitor's closet. Hinata whimpered again, but stifled it when I tangled a hand in her short hair and snaked another one around her waist, kissing her as passionately and quietly as possible. Hinata wasn't enjoying this at all. She wriggled, trying to separate herself from me.

Hiashi's footsteps stopped for a moment. Hinata stopped squirming, making a muffled squeak into my mouth. Neither of us dared to breathe.

After what seemed like an eternity, I heard her father talking to himself from outside. He said, "Hmph, I guess I was just hearing things after all. Maybe what Tsunade said does have a grain of truth to it. Oh well," He laughed. I heard him turn and begin to leave.

Nevertheless, I didn't give poor Hinata her freedom back just yet. I did, however, lighten up on the pressure. When I was sure he was out of earshot, I pulled back and took a breath, prepared to do it all over if she started being loud again.

Hinata's breath was quick and raspy. "S-s-sakura, d-do you think it's safe to go now?" she asked, her voice quavering as she spoke. She was on the verge of crying.

I shook my head, then, realizing that she couldn't see, I whispered gently, "I'm not sure. I don't think so."

"O-okay Sakura-chan . . I - I trust you." She whimpered, her hands placed on my shoulders, pushing lightly, like they had been less than a minute ago. She shivered against me, letting out a few squeaks. Her breath came as a gasp, and one of her hands went to cover her mouth. She was crying. I felt so bad.

"Hinata-chan, I – I'm sorry." I said, beginning to plead, "Hinata-chan, please don't cry."

Suddenly, the frail girl wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tightly and burying her face into my collarbone. "Sakura-chan!" she wailed, most of the sound being muffled by my body, thankfully. Not knowing what else to do, I stayed in the same position as before, lying on top of her while she bawled my name into my shirt. I rubbed her head softly, feeling the silky locks running through my fingers.

I kissed her temple gently. "I'm sorry, Hinata-chan. F-Forgive me?" I asked, being close to crying, myself.

"Saku-chan, I – I," Hinata stuttered. I waited for a second, rubbing her more slowly. She spoke up again, "I forgive you . . . but what about I-Ino?" she asked.

I froze. Ino.

Before I could think anymore, I got a call. I jumped at the vibration, ripping my phone out of my ass-pocket and nearly blinding the both of us as I flipped it open and answered. "What?!" I hissed.

"It's Sasuke."

"Sasuke?! I'm kind of busy right now!" I said as lowly as possible.

"Jeez, I was checking on you to see if you're okay."

I sighed, "I'm stuck in a janitor's closet with Hinata. Does that sound okay to you?"

"Better than being in the office." He said, "By the way . . I saw your girl earlier today. She told me to deliver this news to you . . . " He paused, waiting for me to speak.

"Hmm?" I responded.

He sighed, "Um, well . . she wants to . . she says she has to cancel you guys' date tomorrow. I'm sorry. I should've told you sooner."

I didn't say anything.

"I'm just going to give you some alone time . . Bye Sakura-chan, " he said, hanging up.

I closed my phone and shoved it back into my pocket, not noticing how quiet Hinata had gotten. "Um, Sakura?" she asked.

"Hn?" I answered, noticeably more depressed than before.

"Are- are you okay?"

"Not particularly." I said quietly.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked.

I sighed. "It's nothing."

"I-It has to be something." Hinata insisted.

"It's nothing that you would want to hear about. Trust me." I said.

I felt Hinata nod into my shirt, giving up on the subject and just laying there. After a few minutes, she asked, "H-How long should we stay here?"

"As long as you want Hinata-chan . . as long as you want."

To be Continued.

A/N: I'd like to thank the few people that reviewed the last chapter. You guys are awesome!

Also, I noticed that in several ino-saku fics, Kin gets either gets her ass kicked, is humiliated, or is just plain bad. I don't know why, but it just seems like everyone hates her. Funny the way it is, when you think about it, isn't it? . . Also, Death Sword, just so you know, I'm considering throwing that idea you gave into one of the later chapters. =b