Ino was more reluctant than she cared to admit to step away when the dance was finished, but to linger would only make things worse. She followed Shikamaru away from the floor and lowered herself into a chair, steeling herself for what was sure to come next.

"Well—"

She hadn't even gotten the first syllable out when a shadow fell across the table where the two of them sat.

"Shikamaru." The sound of that voice made Ino's skin crawl. She didn't even bother to hide the glare as she turned around.

Temari had a hand on her hip, and was looking skeptically at Shikamaru, giving seemingly no regard whatsoever to Ino. "I need to talk to you."

Shikamaru sighed, lowering his head into his hands. He rubbed his temples agitatedly before looking back up at her. "I thought we finished talking."

"Not quite." Her tone was positively venomous and Ino's anger spiked again. She found herself standing all of a sudden, almost falling into a defensive stance.

After that, it seemed as though Temari had finally become aware of Ino's presence. She turned her harsh gaze on Ino, giving her a look that would have made even the heartiest of plants wither.

"What?"

And for once, Ino found herself at a complete loss for words. She looked at Temari, fuming and dangerous. If she was going to be completely frank, Temari could probably break her in half and destroy her faster than Ino could say Jounin. Ino had improved quite a bit in her training, but she still doubted she was any match for the girl from the Sand.

In any other situation, Ino would have picked the fight anyway. No one treated Ino Yamanaka that way and got away with it. And no second-rate, messy-haired girl who may not have even owned a mirror would stand in the way of what Ino wanted.

But then she looked at Shikamaru.

If Temari was what he wanted, who was she to stand in his way? It had only been one kiss and two dances, and it didn't mean anything. Nothing at all.

That was exactly what she told herself as she took a step back and met Temari's gaze head on, her expression veiled. "Nothing. I was just leaving."

She ignored the way her heart fractured as she walked away.

A few drinks later, Ino found herself accepting those offers she had previously declined, as the young men lined up for a turn to take her for a spin out on the dance floor. She batted eyes at more than a few of them and laughed louder than she should have, almost forgetting to care whether he was watching or not.

Almost.

One of her suitors even offered to walk her home. He was undeniably handsome, with perfectly-styled ebony black hair and smoldering hazel eyes, but Ino, even in her haze, thought instead of messy locks and calculating black pupils. In the end, she turned him down.

By the time she decided to collect herself and leave, both Shikamaru and Temari were long gone. She didn't care where they'd gone, she reassured herself. Her father had retired earlier as well, telling her a brief goodbye and warning her to be careful on her way home.

Ino walked along the road to her house in a swaying path, her perception more than slightly skewed. When she heard someone calling her name, she almost thought it was just in her head, but then a form came into view out of the corner of her eye.

"Ino, wait up!"

Sakura put a hand on Ino's shoulder as she reached her, but she immediately took a step back when she got close, making a face of disgust. "Ino, you reek."

"And your forehead is enormous. Shouldn't greet your best friend…" Ino paused, hiccoughing. "…like that."

Ino laughed, throwing her hands up in the air. It knocked her off balance and she went stumbling to the side, giggling like a madwoman. "And 'sides, I feel great."

Sakura stared at her for a long moment, her green eyes narrowed with concern. Finally, she took her friend's arm, steering her along the path to the Yamanaka house. While this would not be a fun escapade if Inoichi was still up, Sakura considered, it was better that Ino go home to rest in her own bed and sleep off what was going to be a monster of a hangover, from the looks of her.

Ino chattered mindlessly to herself, leaning heavily on Sakura for support. By the time they reached her house, she was half asleep on Sakura's shoulder. Sakura took the key from her and opened the door quietly, grateful to find that everyone in the house seemed to be asleep. She half-dragged Ino up the stairs and deposited her on the bed before turning away to rummage through Ino's closet where the herbs were stored. She finally found the one she needed and, judging Ino to be effectively incapacitated for the moment, went downstairs to brew it into some tea.

When she returned to the room, she found Ino awake but no longer talking to herself; instead, she was sprawled on the bed, staring vacantly up at the ceiling.

"Here." Sakura held out the cup, waiting until Ino had a firm hold on it to release it into her grasp. "Drink that. It'll help you."

Ino did as she was told, downing almost all of it in one gulp. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as the liquid burned down her throat, but after a few moments, the pain receded and she sank back down onto the bed, resuming her staring contest with the ceiling.

After a few moments, she broke the silence in the room.

"It helped at first. Made the pain go away for a little while. I don't know why I thought it would help. I never do that." She lolled her head absently from side to side, not looking at Sakura. Finally, she settled on one side, chuckling slightly. "I'm an idiot. He's a genius and I'm an idiot who drunk herself silly."

Sakura regarded her fretfully. "You weren't alright the other day. I shouldn't have left you alone."

"Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter what the hell I do. He's gonna go off and marry her and have his two kids and I'm gonna flit from guy to guy and never settle on one like the common street sl—"

"Ino." Sakura's tone was so serious that even in her half-drunken stupor, Ino paused. "You got drunk. Admittedly, that wasn't the smartest move. But you're not an idiot and what you do does matter."

Ino shook her head, and didn't bother to rub the tears that were now cascading down her cheeks out of her eyes. She waved a lazy hand toward the window. "You see that patch of the garden down there? For years I've tried to plant different things there. But they all just die, and the only thing that will survive is marigolds."

Her hand dropped to the bed and she sobbed openly. "They look so pretty, but they smell like despair… and I-I don't think anything else will ever g-grow there. It's just like that. I c-can't do anything."

Sakura came over and sat down next to Ino, holding out a box of tissues which she simply ignored. Had she been sober, Ino never would have been in such disarray, but as it was, she didn't seem to care. Finally, Sakura consented to blot away the tears for her, waiting to speak until Ino's sobs had died down a little.

"You can't know unless you keep trying. But now, I think you need sleep. It's been a stressful day, and that's the best thing for you right now. Trust me, I'm a medic."

Ino turned her head and raised an eyebrow, and Sakura could see some of the clarity starting to return to her eyes, though they were still slightly glazed. Part of that might simply have been from fatigue. Even as she turned her head, she was slowly drifting off, losing touch with consciousness.

"And you know something else?" Sakura said, recalling something that, in her state of concern, she hadn't even considered until just now. "I remembered something you might like to hear. It was what I was going to talk to you about before we had to fix this whole mess."

"Mhm?" Ino responded sleepily, cracking one drooping eyelid open to look at Sakura.

"You remember when Shikamaru was giving his speech?"

"Mhm." That was barely more than a murmur, even more disconnected than the first, but Sakura continued anyway, picturing the scene in her mind's eye.

"During a part of it, when he was talking about important bonds and all that, he mentioned love…"

Sakura paused, remembering the scene as clearly as if she were there. Shikamaru hadn't looked nervous. To be honest, he rarely looked anything other than slightly bored. But he had paused when he came to that portion of the speech, and for a split second, his expression had softened as his eyes strayed across the room, only lighting on someone for the barest fraction of a moment before returning back to the happy couple.

And Sakura had seen exactly where that gaze had been directed. At a girl who, for some reason, hadn't been looking at him, but down at her plate instead.

"When he said that, Ino…" Sakura paused, praying for Ino's sake that it hadn't been her mind playing tricks on her. "…he was looking at you."

Sakura stopped, turning to gauge her friend's reaction. Stunned silence had not been the one she was expecting.

But in fact, the reaction was none at all. Ino had finally succumbed to the clutches of sleep, the tear stains still fresh on her cheeks.

A/N: Shortest chapter yet, I think, but I figure it balances somewhat with the enormous length of the last one. I needed a transition piece, and this finally came to me. Hopefully it's halfway decent. Still, two updates in a one-week time period. Not bad, eh? :)

Speaking of updates, just to let you all know, I may or may not be prompt with updates for a little while. I have a busy couple of weeks coming up, family functions and traveling and such, so I'll try to write when I get the chance, but I'll have to see how it goes. So don't be too distressed if it doesn't update for a little while. And, if that does end up being the case, I'll write an extra long scene or a few chapters close together just to make up for it.

And, as I always say - I know, I'm going a little broken record here, but I'm okay with that - your reviews are awesome. I appreciate them enormously. :D You guys are the best.

- Senka