I just want to make something clear; I don't hate Karin. It's just I am trying to keep Ino in check and honestly, I think she would totally say something like that about Karin. But seriously, I love Karin and all, just not with Sasuke. (:

AND! Karin isn't a bad guy in this story and I will tell you this much—she did NOT kick the ball into Sakura's head nor is she jealous of her anymore, etc. Ino just has a mean way of describing people. xD

Moving on~!

. . . .

TEMARI'S POV.

I sat at the tiny desk, clicking my French manicured nails together, trying to ease the boredom that was slowly engulfing my mind. The nurse had left the room to go clear some documents and run to the little girl's room while I was stuck here with absolutely nothing to do. I sighed. I whole-heartedly regretted choosing "nurse's aide" for my special elective. What a waste of time. I sat in a chair and did paperwork, while the nurse found some ridiculous excuse to run out of the room to avoid more labor. Whenever there was a patient, Reiko (who was the actual nurse) would direct them to the bed and asked what was wrong and all of that easy stuff. I was the one that had to clean up any vomit, bedpans, blood, sweat—everything. It was just plain awful.

My musings were cut short when an insufferable knocking sounded in my ears and I tried to ignore it until I realized it was someone at the nurse's door. Quickly, I got up and jogged over to the entrance and slid the screen open, only to be pushed backwards, quite roughly. As I turned around, I glared at the back of a tall young man, whose stark black hair stuck up with bold spikes. His muscular and lean body was hunched over the frame of a smaller girl, whose pink hair was splayed all over the pillows beneath her bleeding head. I gasped.

"What happened to her?" I asked the lanky man.

He didn't take his eyes off of her unconscious form as he absent-mindedly placed a hand on her pale cheek. "She got hit in the back of the head."

My eyebrows rose. "With what? A metal bat?"

His dark eyes gave me an icy glance. Apparently he didn't like my dry humor.

"A ball. At least, that's what's been believed." He spoke, his eyes casting back over to the pink-haired woman.

I shook my head. "No, no, no. A ball could not have done that much damage unless it was made of rock. The nurse should be able to decipher what actually hit her."

I walked back to the desk at the edge of the room, skimming through the documents and files of all the school's students' names.

"In the meantime, why don't you tell me her name and which class she is from?"

He gave a curt nod, pulling a metal chair closer to him with a long arm before sitting in it, his right hand immediately pulling the young woman's hand into his grasp. "Haruno Sakura, class 2B."

I jotted the name and number on a notepad and bit my lip. Haruno Sakura. Why did that name ring a bell? Instead, I asked another question, "And you are?"

"Uchiha Sasuke, class 2B."

My eyes widened. Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke, the two third years!

I knew it, I thought, my hand gripping my pencil tightly, Haruno Sakura is best friends with Yamanaka Ino!

My initial reaction to hearing her name was a faint realization of something. Sakura Haruno gave me a vague idea. I just couldn't pinpoint my idea if she really was the Sakura I was thinking about. Until Uchiha Sasuke spoke. Uchiha Sasuke. I only knew one Sakura who was dating an Uchiha Sasuke. And that one girl was best friends with that blonde haired idiot!

Sighing, I dropped the pad of paper onto the table and placed the pencil inside a little container on the far right side of the desk. "Well, Uchiha-san, I suggest you go find the nurse. She is most likely in the document room across from the teacher's conference room."

Sasuke glared at me, his grip on Sakura's hand not lessening. "Why should I leave her?" He swallowed thickly, "Why can't you go bring the nurse here?"

I shook my head, "Uchiha-san, I understand what you are getting at and honestly, it's rather cute."

He snorted and glared even harder, the tips of his ears turning pink. I repressed a laugh; only because I knew I would do the same thing in his position if the person unconscious on the bed was my Shika-kun.

I continued, "But I was taught basic health and I believe it would be safer if I were here to watch over her, lest she become unstable in her condition." I smirked.

Sasuke grunted and stood up slowly, gently placing Sakura's hand atop of the bed. Pushing the chair back, the Uchiha turned away and sauntered over to the door, grasping the handle and sliding it open. He took a step passed the barrier before closing it calmly. Calmly, that is, until I heard rough footsteps outside, signaling the Uchiha had started running in the direction of the nurse's document room.

I smiled slightly, thinking of Shikamaru. My perfect boyfriend. I sighed dreamily, trying to ignore a very important fact. Shikamaru hadn't called me since Jiraiya's party had ended. Although it really was my fault, leaving him all alone in the middle of the dance floor while I ran away to get some alcohol. I licked my lips, remembering the way my drunken mind tied my hair ribbon onto Shika-kun. Now that I thought back to it, I nearly laughed at my sheer tipsy-ness.

Clucking my tongue, a habit I had picked up from my boyfriend, I strolled towards Sakura's unconscious form, placing my hand on her wrist, checking her pulse. I nodded to myself, relieved, when her heartbeat wasn't too erratic or too slow. Gliding my fingers to the top of her head, I assessed where the blood was falling from and if the general bump was in a dangerous location. I bit my lip when I touched her head on the backside, feeling a rather large and swollen lump. Bringing my hand towards my eyes to inspect it, I grimaced when traces of blood trailed down my tanned fingers, the red liquid feeling warm against my skin. Tiredly, I pulled a tissue from the container on the nightstand next to Sakura's bed and began wiping the fluid from my hand.

A loud groan resounded through-out the room. I glanced at Sakura and noticed her apple-green eyes were squinted. She was awake. Grabbing the chair behind me, I sat down quickly, waiting for Sakura to open her eyes completely. Seconds later, her pink-haired head was trying in vain to lift itself from her blood-stained pillow and I gently placed my now sterile hand upon her clavicle and pushed her down slowly. She gave me a strained glance, but settled back down onto the bed.

I spoke, "Hi, Miss Haruno," I smiled tenderly, "how are you feeling?"

She licked her chapped lips before answering me in a raspy voice, "Horrible."

I laughed lightly, chortling, "Are you feeling dizzy?"

She coughed slightly, "Yeah. My head is spinning."

I gave a meek eyebrow raise, "I would think so. You have a gigantic contusion."

She groaned.

Kindly, I pressed on, "What would you say your pain level is? On a scale from one to ten, ten being the worst."

Sakura swallowed, "Um," her voice was becoming quiet and tired, "like, an eight, I guess."

I sucked in a breath of air, "Do you remember who you are? Tell me some facts."

She nodded very, very slightly, and I could tell the pain was affecting her, "My name is Haruno Sakura. I am seventeen years old. I am part of Class 2B, and my homeroom teacher is Hatake Kakashi. My mother is a surgeon and my daddy is a company manager. My best friends are Tenten, Hinata Hyuuga, and Yamanaka Ino. My boyfriend is Uchiha Sasuke."

I unconsciously clenched my fist at the name of Yamanaka Ino, but brushed it off. Rivalry was not important when Sakura was in need of medical treatment. I asked, "Anything else? Who are Uchiha-san's friends?"

She sighed, "Can I have some pain-killers first?"

I rolled my eyes, but complied. I took an extra IV bag and hooked it onto the metal stand before taking the needle and threading it into the dripper. Carefully, I searched for Haruno's vein and when I found it, stuck the spine into her pale skin. I have to give Sakura some credit; she didn't cry out and only allowed a brief flash of pain crumple her facial features.

I informed her, "You should start to feel—"

"Like my head is swimming, like my head is rising, etc. Yeah, I know. My mom's a surgeon and she plans for me to take over the family clinic." She laughed doggedly.

I grinned. "Anyway, Uchiha-san's friends?" It was really stupid to ask when it was obvious Sakura didn't have any case of amnesia, but I always thought—safer than sorry. I began taping the needle in place, softly pressing the transparent tape on her skin.

"Sasuke-kun's friends," her eyebrows scrunched and her eyes showed confusion (I guess the drugs were fast-acting), "Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba, Akimichi Chouji, Aburame Shino, and Rock Lee."

I nodded, settling back into my chair.

"Oh!! And that new guy…um."

New guy? I narrowed my eyes.

"Uhhh…Nara Shikamaraca. Or something."

I heaved a breath, my anger subsiding. I shouldn't care who Shikamaru hangs out with or who his other friends were to him. It didn't matter if he started hanging out with Yamanaka's group; there was no way he would cheat on me, especially with her. My eyes scanned over Sakura's head again when I saw it.

My red ribbon. I knew it was mine; there was no doubt about it. I had recognized the silk fabric and the intricate black spiral design laced into the material. My father had bought the ribbon set for me when he went away on a business trip three years ago. They were beautiful and I wore them all the time. How in the hell did Haruno Sakura come into possession of my ribbon? Especially when I had only lent one out and that was to Nara Shikamaru.

Carefully, I leaned forward and gently pulled the ribbon out of the mess of pink hair. She blinked blearily when I dangled the fabric in front of her face.

"Where did you get this ribbon?"

Sakura stuck out her tongue, as though in concentration, while cocking her head to the side. I watched as her green eyes widened as realization struck her.

"Ino-chan gave me that!" Her eyes narrowed, "Give it back!"

"Ino? Yamanaka Ino?! She gave this to you?!"

Sakura licked her lips, "Duh."

I glowered. "How? When? WHY?!"

Sakura rested her head back down onto the pillow, "She said it would match the school uniform and handed it to me this morning in my house because she said it would clash with her hair or something."

I gripped the ribbon tightly, my knuckles turning a stark white before I swiftly ran towards the door. I was about to open it too until it slid and I bolted straight out, passing the nurse and Sasuke. Reiko turned around to call out my name,

"Temari-san! Where are you going? Temari-san!"

But her pleas fell onto deaf ears.

I was on a mission.

"Nara Shikamaru," I growled, "you have some explaining to do."

. . . .

Ino's POV

I bit my lip, waiting for any news on Sakura. Luckily, Gai-sensei had spoken to the principal of our school and requested that the friends and witnesses of Haruno Sakura could be excused from the following classes. The principal agreed, but said students were to wait in the multi-purpose room. Tenten, Hinata, Neji, and Naruto were sitting on the announcement stage closest to the back door. Kiba, Shino, Lee, and Chouji were talking quietly while leaning against the wall near the water fountain. Shikamaru was conversing with some nerdy looking kid about the game shogi or go or whatever.

As for me?

I was slouched against the far corner of the room, somewhat shielded by the bleachers of the stage. I thought I was perfectly concealed until a feminine shadow loomed over my scrunched figure.

"What are you hiding from, Yamanaka?"

I glanced up and saw red hair, black glasses, and a bemused face. Karin.

"Karin, you're lucky that I am too lazy to get up right—"

"I did NOT chuck some fucking ball at Sakura."

"—now…wait, what?!"

She huffed, crossing her arms, "You heard me. Why would I feel the need to throw a ball at Sakura's head?"

I rolled my eyes, "Don't you hate Sakura?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Why would I hate her?"

I growled and shook my head, "You like Sasuke, Sakura is dating Sasuke, thus you are angry at Sakura because you can't have the duck-butt Uchiha!"

Karin snorted. She fucking snorted. And her reply, "I gave up on Sasuke two years ago. It was pretty obvious that they weren't going to break up even after all the dumb shit I pulled on Sakura and her friends."

My blue eyes widened and I gaped.

Karin assessed my expression and continued, "Yeah. Let's see, after my last plan to break up Uchiha and Haruno failed considerably, I surrendered. Well, I didn't really have that much of war going on, I would say, so I didn't technically surrender. I merely stopped."

I still had the same visage.

"Anyways, I confronted Sakura. I apologized, she smiled, and we hugged. No hard feelings. What I had for Sasuke was a crush. I wasn't in love. Sakura did and still does love him. I never made any advances on Sasuke and I am sure he wouldn't have even allowed me through his stupid ego-filled bubble."

My stupor wore off slightly and I got a few words in, "Never made any advances?" I grunted.

Karin shrugged, "Okay, well, maybe I did. Only once, though. Because when I tried to hug his arm, he gave me this really scary glare and pushed me off of him. So I didn't try to approach him after that and instead went for the mental aspect. If I attacked Sakura enough, she would get tired of it and tell Sasuke she couldn't be with him anymore because she couldn't take the abuse. Or something."

My eyes narrowed, "Yeah, no kidding."

She glared at me, "Shut up. But Sasuke and Sakura have been going for three years now, so it's good I stopped. Besides…"

I cocked my head, wondering why she trailed off. "Hm?"

"If I hadn't stopped myself, I would have never found…"

I twitched, slightly. Who is she talking about?

"…Suigetsu."

I sputtered, "Suigetsu?! The trouble-maker?! The REBEL? The guy with the sharp teeth and deep eyes and his bloody fists of fury—"

"I get it!" Karin snapped, "His reputation isn't very…um…you know. But I met him about a week after I stopped bugging Haruno."

"And?"

"Apparently, Suigetsu was friends with Sasuke in middle school. He told me that Sasuke hadn't kissed a girl, hugged a girl, or smiled at a girl. He told me he used to watch Sasuke and Sakura interact with each other and Suigetsu realized something: Uchiha Sasuke loved Haruno Sakura and had been in love with her for a looong time. Of course, I thought he was being an asshole and was just trying to rub the loss in my face, so I told him to shove it. But it turns out; he was trying to cheer me up. He wanted me to not feel bad just because Uchiha Sasuke didn't like me. Because Uchiha Sasuke avoided everyone."

I nodded. Growing up, Sasuke never went out with any girl. He never kissed a girl. He never hugged a girl. Everything Karin had said. Well, the truth was he didn't hug or kiss any girl unless she was Haruno Sakura. He rarely smiled at all, so that was a given. He barely talked to random girls, but he did speak to me, Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten.

Sakura went out with a couple boys in middle school, but the relationships lasted a month, tops. It was a better record than Tenten's though. But Sasuke was always a little jealous of Sakura's boyfriends. I don't know why, considering she never made out with them or something like that. Kisses on the cheek, innocent hugs, and that was it. Sakura was normally the one to break up with them because she never really liked them. She told me herself; she always loved Uchiha Sasuke.

"But eventually, after Suigetsu told me that, I forgot about the Uchiha. I fell in love with Suigetsu. I knew it was love, of course because what I felt for Sasuke was simple. Not the intricate feeling I got when I am around Suigetsu, you know?"

I nodded again. My voice was tired for some reason.

Karin was now looking at me like I had grown two heads. "Why are you crying?"

I gasped. I hadn't realized the traitorous tears sliding down my porcelain cheeks, the bittersweet water bubbling in my large eyes. Carefully, I raised my hand to gently prod the glistening tears with the pad of my finger. I cursed.

Looking up at Karin's softened glance, I answered, "Uh, I don't know. My allergies are acting up, I guess."

Karin cocked an eyebrow, "Just so you know, I am totally not buying that. Seriously, what the hell?"

Sighing, I told her, "Karin, I would tell you, it's just…"

"I'm not one of your best friends?"

My gaze turned somber. No, it wasn't that. I knew that much; simply because if Tenten, Hinata, or even Sakura asked the same question, I would have responded the same way. No.

I couldn't tell anyone why I was crying because even I didn't know why I was crying.

I didn't know the reason.

But, I thought, it would be better to tell someone without a biased opinion about my 'chronic crying disease.' Yes, that's what I am going to call it now. I should become a doctor. Maybe a pharmacist…although a lawyer suited my strong-willed personality…

"Oi, Yamanaka."

Two fingers snapped in front of me and I blinked my eyes furiously, trying to refocus on Karin's figure.

I replied, "Fine, take a seat. I will tell you my symptoms." My voice was very-professional-like and business-y. I totally should become a lawyer/doctor/pharmacist.

Karin grunted and sat down across from me, cross-legged as she propped an elbow atop her knee as her chin rested in her hand. "What?"

"I have this problem, doc."

Karin snorted and played along, "Dear patient of mine, tell me in detail, what is this problem…?"

I continued, "Well, I'll start off with the first occurrence of my chronic crying disease."

She nodded.

"Earlier this day, during physical education—which, by the way, I am very sorry about the accusation and will explain your case to my friends and dear Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan and the staff of our school—Sakura was asking the guys of our gang a rather important question. She was a bit nervous, you see, and Sasuke noticed this. As though he were supporting her, he wrapped an arm around her waist and watched her intently, ready to 'catch her if she falls' sort of bit. And that's when it hit me."

My tongue poked out to wet my chapped lips.

"I felt unshed tears crowd my eyes. They almost spilled over, but I caught it before my friends noticed, you know? And I don't know why I almost cried. It was a mystery."

Karin stared at the carpeted floor for a few seconds before she glanced up at me. "Let's see…and just now, before you started crying again, we were talking about Sasuke and Sakura and their relationship."

I bit my lip.

Karin closed her eyes, relaxing her shoulders as she addressed me. "Ino. I have come to a conclusion."

I blurted out, "Do NOT tell me I am in love with Sasuke Uchiha and am jealous of Sakura Haruno!"

I didn't like Sasuke like that. I did like him as a friend, but never like…that way! But I couldn't think of anything else.

Karin rolled her red eyes and spoke, "Idiot, that's not it at all—"

I gasped. "Do NOT tell me I am in love with Sakura Haruno and am jealous of Sasuke Uchiha!"

Karin blinked, cautiously and exclaimed, "You're not serious, are you?"

"NO!" I bemoaned and flopped my neck, my arms splaying out on either side of my legs. I just didn't know what Karin's diagnosis was going to be.

Karin casted her eyes heavenward as though praying for my sanity.

I could just read the tombstone:

HERE LIES WHAT USED TO BE:

YAMANKA INO'S COMMON SENSE.

R.I.P.

Karin apparently thought the same. "Just so you know, I see a tombstone up above with your judgment written upon the slate."

I snorted and whined, "Say, doctor, let's finish this case of mystery diagnosis, yeah?"

Karin muttered, "It's your fault, moron."

I glared.

Karin cleared her throat, "My conclusion is that…"

I clenched my fists.

"…you are jealous."

What?!

"Jealous of what?" I blubbered.

Karin shrugged, "Of Sasuke and Sakura's relationship."

"How would you…"

She cut me off, "You want what they already have. A relationship. A loving partner. Not a one-night stand."

My eyes narrowed, "How do you know about my…uh…sleeping around?"

Karin laughed, "Ino, you've slept with one of my ex-boyfriends," and I just about apologized right there until she finished, "don't worry though; we were already broken up, he just came back to gloat in my face that he got laid."

I remained quiet.

"Ino, I think you are jealous because you want to be loved for you. Not your body." She smiled softly, "I think I will be nice today and say this: I hope you find someone who wants your mind and your love and not just your lustful body."

Her words were cryptic and a little vague, but I agreed with her logic.

I hope I find someone to love too.

. . . .

Whew! Done. I think Karin's a little OOC, but I am tired of fanfictions where she is portrayed as a total bitch, you know? I understand her attitude and stuff, but yeah.

So Ino-chan gets a reality check. And you guys finally understand why I went into such detail when describing SasuSaku. Yay.

P.S., forgive any mistakes cuz I am tired and without a proof-reader today because I wrote this in my hotel room during one of my soccer tournaments. :D