Ino was released from the hospital later that week. She was still stunned from her talk with Sasuke. It was the way he looked at her. The way he spoke to her, and moved. It was just plain strange. She never knew him to be so kind so people, and especially to someone that wasn't on his team. So maybe her theory was right. Maybe he did change for the better. Like before, but happier.

She walked through the roads of Konoha and she met up with one of her best friends.

"H-Hey I-Ino-chan, I-I'm really g-glad that you're f-feeling better!" Hinata said trying to sound excited.

"I-I'm sorry I couldn't v-visit. I-I was on a m-mission." She frowned and then smiled.

"Hey Hinata. I guess feel fine now. Sakura and I are friends again, and Sasuke was really nice to me. We had a nice conversation. It's just the last thing he said to me…" Ino looked away from her friend to the sky still smiling.

"Wh-what did he say?"

"He said,his last goal is to recreate his clan, and when he said it to me, it was like he was telling it to me. Or that he wanted me to help him." She looked back to the shy girl.

"Wow Ino-chan."

"What?" Ino asked confused.

"I-It sounds like h-he likes you." Hinata said smiling.

"No he doesn't! He's an Uchiha! And it's Sasuke we're talking about. Don't you remember when we were kids? He didn't like anyone. And I also gave up on him because I don't want someone evil to be with me… I want someone sweet. Someone that will pull me into his arms and see something beautiful… like looking from the Hokage Mountain, and then look down at the rest of the village. And then put his arm around me…" She stopped.

Neither noticed that Sasuke was walking behind the two. He had been listening to their entire conversation with a grin. Ino was about to turn around, but the Uchiha was too quick. He had already departed before they could see him.

Ino waited in the Yamanaka flower shop waiting for some customers to come in, and for her shift to be over. Then, she saw one of her best friends walking out side of the shop. It was the laziest and smartest ninja throughout Konoha, Nara Shikamaru. As expected, he walked inside the flower shop and looked at some of the flowers on display.

"Hey Ino." Shikamaru said.

"Hi. I just got a new shipment of roses, and I need to cut the thorns off, can you help me?" Ino asked her friend and former teammate.

"Ugh. Fine."

Ino got the roses and took them out of the boxes. She handed Shikamaru a pair of clippers, and they started to cut them. Shikamaru, had been wearing gloves, but Ino wasn't. She had a high risk of cutting or poking herself.

"Hey Ino, be careful, you might cut yourself." Shikamaru warned.

"I'll be fine, I've been doing this for year-," she was cut of when blood was pouring from her palm. "Ouch." Ino said trying to wipe away the blood with a napkin.

"You should have been more careful. Wear some gloves." He handed her his gloves and she gave them back.

"You use them, I'm fine. Each scar is a lesson to learn, and a memory." She said as the saw the clean cut. It was large and spread from the top of her palm to the bottom of it. She traced it with her finger and started working on the roses again.

Then the dark eyed, raven haired boy came into the shop carrying two roses. Shikamaru eyed Sasuke and smiled to himself.

"Ino, I have to go do some errands for Kurenai-sensei, I'll catch you later." And he left the two alone.

Sasuke handed Ino the two roses and grinned.

"What are these for?" Ino asked raising a brow.

"Uh, for you, I mean, for the shop." Sasuke said looking into her eyes.

"Oh. Thanks." She returned the smile and started cutting the thorns off of it. He grabbed her hand when he saw the long scar on her palm.

"Hey, what happened to you?" He said with cautious eyes.

"It's nothing. I just cut myself with the thorns when I was cutting them just now." She pulled her hand away and started to cut them again. He took the clippers from her hands and took the rose and started doing it himself.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?"

"Cutting the roses for you, I don't want you to get hurt Ino." He said staring at her, then back to the roses. "You were stabbed." He looked into her eyes again.

"I'll be fine. Anyway, it's not like anyone cares if I get hurt." She looked out of the shop and frowned.

"No, you're wrong," they stared at each other, "I care if you get hurt." He looked intently into her eyes as he just stood there across the counter seven inches from her face. He was tempted, but he knew he'd be moving too fast. He closed his eyes and inhaled. She moved away from him feeling too awkward and took the roses. She put them in some plastic wrap and put them on display.

"Never mind Ino, I don't want one of them for the shop, I want you to have one." He handed her a rose and she stared at him.

"Not that I don't hate this, but… how come you're being nice to me all of a sudden? I mean, five years ago you would've walked away and ignored me." She sat in the chair behind the counter.

"I don't know. I just don't feel so sad anymore, I feel… happy. But not purely happy, just… you know what I mean."

"Yeah." She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"Do you trust me?" Sasuke asked the blonde kunoichi.

"Uhm, yeah, I guess. Why? Do you trust me?" She grinned

"Yeah, of course I do." He returned the smile.

Ino checked the clock on the north wall. It marked 2:30 ending her shift. She took her apron off and walked towards the front door to switch the sign to closed.

"Hey Sasuke, my shift is over, so I'll catch you later?" She flashed a large smile that had to make Sasuke bite his cheek to keep himself from smiling.

"Yeah."

She opened the door for him to leave. When he walked towards the door, he was in front of her. Ino caught him by the shoulder and spun him around so he was facing him. And she embraced him close.

"Hm, now what was that for Ino?" Sasuke asked as he grinned.

"Because, you're a great friend, you were there for me." Ino told the onyx eyed boy.

Sasuke smiled and left the shop to the roads of the busy Konoha. Ino closed up the shop. She sat in the char behind the counter and sighed. She took the roses from the counter and smelled the flowers and sank low in her chair and napped.

It was 11:45 at night, and Ino couldn't sleep. She was staring at the twilight sky. (A/N Yeah, I hate that series.)It was too beautiful to fall asleep during. So she changed and walked to the Hokage Head Mountain. She sat on the head of the Third Hokage and listened to the quiet whispers of the village.

Ino stared at the sky and lied down. She tried to memorize every detail and every star. Putting her hand into the sky, it was as if she was trying to grab a handful of stars. She stood to get to a higher place, and jumped onto the mountain itself. She sat on a flat surface big enough for three people to lie down and stared at the midnight sky.

"Beautiful isn't it," said a dark voice that made Ino scream a little. She immediately sat up to see Sasuke already sitting next to her looking at the sky.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" Sasuke asked still not looking at her.

"A little. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"I always come down here on nights like these. I saw you here and came. I didn't expect you to be here." He said now looking at her.

"I've never seen anything as magnificent as this. It's… amazing."

"The second most beautiful thing I've ever seen…" He said looking toward Ino. She met his gaze.

"What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" Ino asked as Sasuke moved a little closer to her.

"Oh believe me, she's not a thing."

"Then who is it?" Ino pressed on.

"You." He said as he hugged her. She was a little surprised, but she hugged him back. They both lied down still holding each other. She buried her face into his chest and he put his head on top of hers. And they stayed like this for what seemed like hours. Neither of them said anything. All they heard were the villagers. The only thing Ino felt was the moving of Sasuke's breathing and the loud beating of his heart.

She was tired, and eventually, after an hour of being there, she fell asleep. Sasuke didn't want to wake her, so he just lied there until he too fell asleep.

It was 5am when a Mount Konoha cleaner came to wash the mountain. He saw Sasuke and Ino sprawled on the ground and he said to himself, "Hm, teenagers." And he went to work.

A few hours later, Ino awoke still on Sasuke's chest. She felt very unfamiliar about their location. "I slept here? With Sasuke!?" She turned her head up to see the Uchiha sleeping peacefully. She studied his features. Ino looked at his pale skin and dark raven hair. His chest still moved up and down as he breathed.

Sasuke then began to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes to reveal dark onyx ones. He saw Ino and stared into her bright ocean eyes. They stood like this for several minutes. It was as if they were lost in each other's eyes.

"Well that was some night." Ino said breaking the silence as they let go of each other.

"Yeah, I can't believe you fell asleep Ino." He teased.

"I was tired, and I felt so comfortable and I didn't want to move, so I slept. On you…" She remembered her chat with Hinata and erased it from her mind. She laughed and smiled at Sasuke.

"What time is it anyway?" He asked looking at the blue sky. He wasn't sure if it was morning or afternoon. The sky was beautiful today, bright and amazing. It reminded him of Ino's eyes.

"I don't know," she said as she got up and stretched. "Let's go ask someone."

"It's eleven o'clock kids." Said the mountain cleaner who was cleaning from a few meters away.

"Hm, I had better go check with my father, I don't want him to think I was kidnapped or anything." She hugged Sasuke and said, "Thanks for a great night Sasuke!" And she left.

"Kid, that's some girl, you had better not lose her. You won't find another one of those anywhere. Trust me." The worker said, and he walked away.

'I won't.' Sasuke thought to himself as he went home to his apartment.

Ino came inside of her home and called for her father many times. She began to run around the house searching franticly for her father, Inoichi. She stepped into her father's room to find a horrific sight. Her father's bed was drenched with blood. A body, which she recognized as her father was almost lifeless. His breathing caused pain and suffering. Ino screamed as she tried to heal her father.

She yelled for help and Sakura hopped in through the window to help Ino.

"Sakura! Take over! I need to get Tsunade-sama!" Sakura began to heal Inoichi's wounds as Ino jumped out to the Hokage tower.

"Tsunade! My father needs medical attention! And fast!" The Hokage trailed behind Ino to her home.

She began to heal his wounds. The paramedics sent Inoichi away to the hospital to get intense care.

"Ino…" Sakura said as the paramedics cleared from the house. She put a hand on Ino's shoulder. She was crying loudly and yelling as she buried her face into her own hands. Many villagers were alerted of this right after Ino got help. Sasuke came into the room with Sakura and Ino.

"Sakura, what happened to Ino?" He asked.

"Her father was attacked. Stabbed many times with kunai knives and was slit across his body very slowly." Sakura said looking at Sasuke with worried eyes.

"But, why didn't Ino know about this until this morning?" Sakura said again.

"She wasn't home last night." He told the curious pink headed girl.

"Then, where did she sleep or go last night?"

"Uh, she fell asleep with me on the er… Hokage Mountain…" He looked at Ino who was crying her soul out.

"Ooh, I see." Sakura said mockingly.

"Hey, we didn't even do anything." Sasuke said to her.

"Anyway, Ino needs a comforting shoulder." Sakura said.

Sasuke embraced the blonde girl who was still crying. She held him and cried onto his shoulder leaving wet marks on his shirt.

"It'll be okay Ino, just let it all out…" he whispered into her ear.

"Ino, I was going to give this to you later, but I think now is a good time." She handed Ino a pair of diamond earrings that matched her eyes. Ino lifted her face from Sasuke's shoulder and she stared at the earrings.

"Th-thanks Sakura…" Ino said taking the earrings. She hugged her friend and slightly smiled. Ssakura made a signal for Sasuke to hug her too. He walked over and embraced her on the back.

"Aw, what a lovely sight."said the familiar voice of Naruto Uzumaki.

Sakura lifted her head and said, "Naruto!"

"What happened here?" Naruto asked looking at the three that were embracing.

"Ino's father was targeted as an attack." Sasuke said looking at Naruto.

"Oh my, is he okay?" Naruto asked, making Ino cry even louder.

"I guess Ino isn't."

Sakura signaled him to join the hug. Naruto hugged Sakura's back.

"We won't leave you Ino…" Sasuke whispered to her again. The two males squeezed the girls tight. Naruto with his head on Sakura's, and Sasuke's with his head on Ino's.