A/N: SO HERE IT IS! woooh. after much time it's here. but yeah. i'm planning on getting another one up on christmas AND new years. i'm not too sure about the new years one though. i will definitely do my best to get 2 of them up... because those are two major events that happens to EVERYONe. right? right. i hope there's no major mistakes in this chapter... and yeah.
The pain embraced me, and I felt it penetrating through my entire body, into my core. I don't quite remember what was happening. I just wanted it all to stop. And it did.
The pain slowly relaxed its grip on me; I could feel the burning as my blood rushed through my body. I tried to get up, but the pain left my body too weak to even move a single muscle. Then I felt my body move, I was leaning against something or someone.
I wrenched my eyes open to see but then they quickly flinched shut when something wet hit them. Then I felt another land on my cheek; it slowly rolled down my cheek followed by a light splashing sound. There was another, and another, and another. I could've sworn it was raining but somehow I knew that wasn't the reason. My consciousness was slowly slipping, I could hardly feel my body anymore, the gentle splashing echoed through my mind like a lullaby
Have you ever had one of those dreams where you suddenly wake up from because you just fell 20 floors and landed on your bed? Well, that's how I felt except I landed on shards of glass all over the floor. A cold, hard floor. It hurt like hell. I couldn't really tell you much about what happened after, it was all a blur. Except, there was this weird sadness within me, maybe it was the fact that I just had the two most painful moments in my life, or maybe it just my imagination.
When I finally came to and have conscious memories about it, all my friends were around me. It was nice and all, but I couldn't get the colour orange out of my mind. Maybe because I never saw it. It was really hard to focus on what everyone was saying to me, I was really glad when the nurse made them all leave so the doctor could make sure I wasn't dying on the inside.
Two days go by.
These four white walls around me, they seem to keep me trapped like a jail. I can't even leave my room to get what I want the most, to see him. He hasn't come at all; it's already been 3 days since I've been here. Why hasn't he come to visit me…
"Come on honey, let's get you out of here."
Ino suddenly snapped her head around from the window and towards her father.
"You mean, I finally get to leave?"
"Well, what else do you think I meant?"
She quickly ripped the blanket off her body and quickly grabbed some clothes from her bag and ran into the washroom, slamming the door shut.
Ino walked out through the doors of hospital to only be blinded by the brightness of the sun and its reflection off the snow. She looked around at the mounds of snow and felt a chill run down her spine. I hate snow. She grabbed her coat collar together with both her hands to keep herself warm and away from the cold snow.
Inoichi walked up beside her, and couldn't help but to laugh at his daughter.
"Come on Ino. You still can't hate the snow can you?"
"Of course NOT, Daddy."
She looked to Inoichi who was carrying all her luggage and gave him a smile then quickly turned back, making a disgusted look on her face.
"Don't think I didn't see that. But anyway, let's go home before it starts to blizzard, one heck of a storm coming."
"Daddy… why don't you go home first. I'll be back later."
"Oh? Where could my snow-hating daughter go with all this snow around?"
"It's your fault I hate snow. And it's not like I hate it, I just don't… like it… that much… and I think I'm just gonna go visit Sakura's grave… it's been a week and the funeral… was kinda a bit fuzzy for me."
"Hey. You walked into…"
"SHUT UP! Don't say anything about it, someone could hear!"
Ino pushed her palm over Inoichi's mouth and quickly looked around to see if anyone heard. Then she slowly pulled it away, "Bye Daddy! I'll be home sometime tonight!" gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and ran down the street. Inoichi looked down at the luggage he was holding and gave a sigh.
"Well, I better get going before the storm hits."
Ino looked back and to make sure that the hospital was no longer in sight. She slowed down to nearly a crawl and felt her smile fade away. Although she loved her father, she couldn't let him know about what she was going through. She couldn't stand to see him anymore worried than he already had been. To see him sad. To see him take all the responsibility on himself and try to fix it. And most importantly, to see him overreact and quite possibly murder Naruto.
She felt herself giggle a little at the last thought. Naruto… that boy… She was so lost in her thought she didn't even notice that she was standing in front of the cemetery gates. Coming back to the world, she slowly opened the gate and began to look around for Sakura's grave. After a few minutes of searching, Ino found it near the back, close to the Hokages'.
She looked down at the flowers slightly covered by the snow. Casablanca… Only Naruto would know to get these. She looked up at the grave, gently putting her hand beside the picture that was there. "Guess I'm not the only the one who hasn't been visited, eh Sakura?"
She crouched down and picked up a single flower, spinning it in between her fingers. A smile came across her face as she looked down at the grave. Inside though, she was struggling, her insides felt like they were crumpling together in a tight ball, but her eyes began to water no matter how hard she struggled.
You really aren't here anymore… are you Sakura? She held the white flower tightly with her hand now as the tears began to escape though she continued to struggle. You really aren't here. She fell onto her knees, crushing the flower against her heaving chest, and finally letting the tears stream down her face.
The wind blew, gently caressing her face and drying her tears. She slowly stood up, her eyes never leaving the picture on the grave. Then suddenly realizing how tense her hands were she began to relax, unveiling the mangled flower behind her white gloves. She knelt back down and placed the flower on top of a patch of untouched snow, wiped away the last of the tears with her sleeve, and gave a weak smile. I'll come visit you again soon Sakura.
Heading towards the gate, she felt the grave grow farther and farther away from her. She wanted to run back and to sit there at the grave, talking about all sorts of things, but Ino knew she shouldn't. It would only make things harder for her in the long run. She finally reached the gate and the sounds of children's laughter help to drown out her feelings.
Aiii…that was depressing… and this STUPID snow isn't helping. Ino kicked a pile of snow on the floor, getting her boots covered in snow. ugh. She was shaking the snow off when a few children playing in front of her caught her attention. A girl was running away from a boy but the girl slipped on some ice and fell onto the ground. The boy quickly ran to her and knelt down.
"Are you okay?"
The girl began to sniffle, trying to hold back her tears. The boy grabbed her hand shouting loudly, "Don't cry! It's okay! I'll never let you get hurt again as long as I'm alive!" The girl looked up at him, smiling as if all the pain had been drained away with that line.
What is this? Some cliché story? Children sure have no idea what's going in the real world. I guess it's still kinda cute though…
She slowly turned her head away, looking down the street, as the setting sun shone back at her eyes. Maybe… I'll go see what Naruto's up to… I haven't seen him since… then. A quick memory of the mind transfer jutsu she used during the funeral came into her head. Her body went completely limp, falling towards the ground, but she managed to grab onto a light pole beside her.
"Are you okay, Onee-san?"
Ino looked down at the little girl standing in front of her, "Yeah." She slowly pulled herself up and watched as the little girl ran back to the boy who was waiting for her, and how they held their hands together as they walked away.
Definitely cute though. Ino let out a sigh and began to make her way towards Naruto's house.
Ino was finally nearing Naruto's house, but she began to hesitate as she grew closer and closer. What if he doesn't want to see me… what if he wants to be left alone. Her footsteps grew slower and softer with every one until she completely stopped. She bit her thumb, what if he figured out that I like him and he doesn't know what to do about it… I mean I've always been like a sister to him…
A thousand thoughts ran through her head both encouraging and discouraging her to turn the corner and walk towards the house. Ino felt extremely frustrated and began to mess her hair up with her hands. Suddenly, she threw her arms up into the air and looked up at the sky
"ALRIGHT! I DECIDED!"
"Decided on what?"
Her entire body shook and she quickly looked back down to see Naruto. Surprisingly, he
wasn't wearing anything orange, just a black t-shirt and a pair of dark green sweats, but that's beside the point here.
"N-nothing!"
Naruto gave a suspicious smile at her and walked closer to her.
"Are you sure about that?"
"O-of COURSE!"
"hahahahahahaahha. Okay. So what brings you out here?"
"What brings me… out here??..." Ino completely forgot where she was and why she had come here in the first place. "Wait… what brings YOU out here, and why aren't you wearing a coat?! AND WHY DIDN'T YOU VISIT ME AT THE HOSPITAL?!"
"Woah woah, calm down there Ino… I have a very logical explanation for this! Let's get to the house first, you look…" Naruto looked at the frazzled Ino, her hair was floating around everywhere and her cheeks were completely flushed, "…cold."
The two started walking back to Naruto's house.
"YOU! LOGICAL?! DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!"
"You know, you don't have to shout…"
As soon as Ino walked through the door she quickly noticed the boxes sitting around the living room and it looked as if things had been thrown from shelves and tables to the floor.
"Ah. Sorry about the mess… I've been doing a little… cleaning, I guess." Naruto put his hand behind his head and gave an embarrassed kind of laugh.
"This is logical? Cleaning the crap out of your house is more important than me?"
"What's wrong with you? I did come to visit you. You just weren't awake to see. And why are getting so angry about me not coming to visit? Well, whatever."
Naruto smiled at Ino and began to mumble something about how heavy the boxes were and how much crap he didn't know he had. Ino wasn't really paying attention, she just blankly stared at him. At the smile he had on his face, at the way how he changed so much in these past few days. A week ago, she had looked over at the stool where he was and the blank stare he held at the floor. One week ago, he couldn't even manage to smile; he wouldn't even talk to his best friend. But now, everything seemed to be alright. As if nothing had really happened.
"Ino? Are you really okay? You sure you can really be out of the hospital?" Ino looked back at him, who now was looking curiously at her face.
"Oh… yeah. Of course I am. I'm just a little tired."
"Well, I guess you can't really help me then eh?" Naruto began to look around the room just realizing at how messy it really was and let out a sigh. "Boy I could use the help though. But you go upstairs to Sakura's room and go rest a little bit there, it looks like a storm's starting."
Ino gazed in amazement at Naruto and how he was able to control his emotions. 10 years ago she first met a weak and shy Naruto and now he's grown up into an adult. The Naruto that had come to grow on her had really changed, and she just noticed it for the first time.
"Ino? You're spacing out again. I really think you should get up and rest." Naruto was now grabbing her hand and leading her up the stairs and into a room. "Here. It's a little cluttered because of the boxes, but I'm sure you'll manage." Another smile came across his face as he closed the door.
Ino began to scan the room at all the boxes, it really was cluttered. She could hardly move around without knocking something over and the light switch was hidden behind one of the boxes somewhere. Then she eventually gave up and just sat down on the bed and flopped down on her back. She felt exhausted, all that walking in the cold with all that snow and the heat building up in the cluttered room; she felt a fever coming on.
"Na…" Then noticing the bottle of Tynenol beside the bed she picked it up and popped it open, pouring out the last 2 pills. She swallowed it dry and decided to take a quick nap before she got anymore sick.
Naruto was in the middle of taping a few boxes down when he heard the door upstairs click open. "You awake already?" He quickly glanced over to the clock behind him. "It's only been an hour and a bit." He moved the box down so that he could see up the stairs, but almost dropped it when he saw Ino standing right behind it.
"Ho…don't scare me like that!" Naruto put the box down slowly making sure that nothing inside had broken. Then he looked back towards Ino, who was still standing there. There was something definitely wrong. It's not like Ino to keep quiet for so long…
"Hey Ino, are you okay? You look… a little flushed." Naruto moved his face closer to examine hers, but she inched back a bit and quietly responded.
"It's really hot in there…and I still feel hot out here, can we go outside?"
"Uh… sure… I guess." He walked over to the sofa to pick up both their jackets. This is new, I'm kinda enjoying this. No loud, noisy Ino… she doesn't seem like she's depressed or anything…
"Here." Ino took the jacket and slowly put it on as Naruto watched her from the door.
The pair slowly walked down the street, seemingly aimless. Ino held her hands together tightly in front of her as she walked while Naruto had his hands behind his head, staring up at the clouds above him. The new Ino was too quiet; things were getting awkward extremely fast.
"so… uh… where we heading?"
"…"
Naruto gave a stare over at Ino who just tilted her head down at the floor. Is she… embarrassed? or something? Maybe this new Ino ain't so great. He began to look around to see if there was anything around to do.
"Hey, I never knew that park was still around…"
"C'mon lets go!" Ino continued to walk at the same pace though. Irritated, Naruto quickly grabbed her hand and began to pull her to the park.
"Ah. This place brings back memories! This is where we met! And during the winters you, me, and Sa…." He trailed off. "used to play here! I'd always grab a snowball and throw it at you, and even until now, I have no idea why you hate snow so much."
He began to laugh as he continued to look around and let the nostalgia flood him, when suddenly something cold hit the back of his head. He flung around quickly and tried to find out where the snowball came from. Ino was standing there, a second snowball in her head ready to throw. This time it came hurtling towards his face but he managed to dodge it.
"HEY! I thought you hated sn…" He quickly dodged a third snowball "…ow."
A giggle came from where Ino was standing.
"oh I see how it is." Naruto bent down quickly to pick up some snow and began to make a snowball. As he was about to throw the snowball, Ino quickly ran around to the other side of the park.
"you're not getting away THAT easily!"
He began to chase her around the park as he held the snowball in his hand, ready to throw. He watched her run behind the slides and followed her. As he rounded the corner, suddenly there was a flutter or snow in his face and his feet lost balance underneath him and fell into a pile of snow.
The snow covered his face but when he tried to brush it off with his hands, he felt something hold them down to the ground. He began to shake his head, trying to get the snow off to see what happened. He managed to catch a blur of Ino on top of him, while her hair caressed his face. Suddenly his entire body stopped struggling. His blood stopped flowing a split second then rushed rapidly through his body. There were warm breaths on his face, and they were getting warmer and warmer. His imagination began throwing images around his mind. His heart raced faster and faster. He slowly opened his clenched eyes and found himself staring deeply into a pair of azure eyes. He felt the weight shift on his arms but before he could do anything he felt her lips brush on his. His eyes widened as he looked at her flushed face. He was too stunned to do anything. So stunned that it took him a good minute to notice that Ino had fallen over beside him, unconscious.