Sorry this was so slow in coming! I got back to school and my free time dwindled down to about nothing while my brain cells were sucked out by homework. Basically school is kicking my ass. Greatest apologies! This chapter is a little boring, but it needed to be done. I've already got the basic idea down for the next chapter, but I'm going on a trip to Indiana with a friend for the weekend so we'll see when I manage to get it finished.

I also wanted to thank everyone veryveryvery much who has been kind enough to review. I really, REALLY appreciate it! Thank you to everyone who's reading it, even if you don't review. You make me feel naaiiccee. :)

Disclaimer: No I do not own Naruto although I REALLY wish sometimes that I owned Sasuke...or that he could be real! :(

"So, let me get this straight, Forehead: basically, you were on The Bench cloud watching, then you heard some annoying people, so you told them off, and you saw Sasuke and realized he's come back to Konoha. Then you yelled at him and ran away. You ran into Kakashi, literally, and talked to him for a bit. Then you ran
back to Sasuke because you heard he was fighting with Naruto. Is that right so far?"

Ino gave her a pointed look and Sakura rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Okay. You heard Naruto spill your Deep Dark Past to Sasuke, and you yelled at Naruto. Then you healed both Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke asked you personal questions, you brushed them off. Then you yelled at him again and ran away. Again. Is that all?"

"Yes, thank you for recapping everything I just told you. Now what am I going to do about it, Pig?"

Sakura hated to beg, but she knew that if she had to she would.

"Hell if I know, Sakura! This is a big mess you've gotten yourself into. On top of the fact that the love of your life—"

"He is NOT the love of my life anymore, Ino!!" Ino waved her words off.

"Yes, yes, I know you've said it a thousand times before. So on top of the fact that Sasuke has returned after a very long absence, he now knows that you reacted very badly to his defecting Konoha. What's the problem? He probably assumed you freaked out anyways, Forehead!"

"I hate you, Pig, so very much. I come to you for help and guidance and what do I get? Nada!"

Sakura ran a hand through her hair roughly and slammed her hands down on the counter in the flower shop.

"I just need a plan. Some kind of plan that will keep me away from him…or at least make my interactions with him highly limited. Is that too much to ask? After all he's done to me, can't I just get a little peace for once?"

Ino patted Sakura on the head and smiled sympathetically.

"Kami knows if anybody deserves a little peace besides maybe Naruto—I'm kidding, Sakura, geez there is no need to hit me so hard!—it's you. Especially where Sasuke is concerned. But I think what you've got to do is not necessarily limit your meetings, but make it clear that you're unaffected by them. You get what I'm saying here, Forehead?"

"Ino, that is brilliant! So I don't go actively avoiding him or anything, but I make it clear that when I do see him it has absolutely no major affect on me! Oh, Ino, sometimes you are a complete genius!"

Sakura pulled Ino into a tight hug.

"Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without you, Pig! One of these days I'll be able to solve my own problems and I won't have to depend on anybody else when I make decisions."

"That'll be the day, Sakura, that's for sure!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Sakura sounded affronted.

"You're incapable of making decisions solely by yourself. For whatever reason, you just can't. When you do something, you need to feel like there's someone else backing you up the whole time. Forehead, you are way too cowardly sometimes!"

"I am NOT a coward, do you understand me? I don't back down from anything anymore! Maybe once upon a time I would've avoided confrontation, but you know I'm not like that anymore!"

Ino looked a little frightened by her outburst and held her hands up in surrender.

"Yeesh, Forehead, sor-­ry! Maybe you're not cowardly, but you're certainly insecure!"

Sakura scrunched up her nose and stuck her tongue out at Ino. So what if she had trouble basing her actions off of her individual desires? Wasn't it selfish to just run around with the sole purpose of pleasing yourself?

"I just feel better knowing I've got a little support behind my actions. Is that too much to ask? So maybe it is really hard for me to decide what to do with myself. I've done a pretty good job so far, and most of the major changes I've made were my choices and mine alone. Maybe I feel like I need someone's opinion before I buy something new, or decide to try out for ANBU or not. I really don't understand why it's such an awful prospect to you."

Ino nodded as if she cared and Sakura glared at her.

"Well, it's true that you were stupid for even considering ANBU, and that you definitely owe it to me that you decided not to go for it. Also that I have stopped you from making some tragic fashion choices. But what I don't get is why, if you are over Sasuke, his presence is such a big deal to you. You're over him, you know he's nothing but a self absorbed bastard, he's been gone for most of your life, and you are still stuck in your eternal 'Oh no, whatever will Sasuke think of me now?!'"

"It's not like that anymore! It's just…How am I supposed to treat him? How is anyone supposed to treat him? Is he going to try to just slip back into our lives, or is he going to make the effort to work things out with everyone? What if he isn't even back for good? What if he leaves again? I don't want to get to know him if he's going to turn around on same fool's mission and leave us all in the dust!"

So maybe Sakura was holding a grudge, and maybe she was a little bitter. Could anybody blame her? Sasuke had left her on a bench. A BENCH of all places! He couldn't have used his superhuman speed to rush her home, to her bed? No, of course not.

Sakura was lucky he hadn't just left her on the ground.

"Oh, Sakura, I'm sorry that he's hurt you, and I know it must be hard seeing him again, but you are better than this. You have overcome so many obstacles to get you to where you are, and you are strong enough to handle a little man like Sasuke. He shouldn't even be big enough to show up on your radar!"

Sakura felt lost. Ino's words made sense, but they weren't providing the comfort that she desired so badly.

"I want to move on, and I am definitely over him I just…How do I act when I'm around him? Flippant? General? Friendly? I want to be able to prove to him how much I've changed without him but I don't think I can do that in a subtle way. And at the same time, I want him to know that he isn't completely forgiven. I may have moved on from him, but I'm certainly still sore about his leaving me like that, and the awful way he treated me, regardless of how annoying I was."

"So basically you want Sasuke to recognize your strengths and apologize for his past transgressions?"

Sakura was a little shocked by Ino's vocabulary.

"Have you been reading the dictionary, Pig? Because that was a very intelligent sounding statement right there, and I just want to make sure you didn't steal it from somebody else—ow! Don't hit me, you were asking for it! Geez, you're so violent to me!"

Ino puffed up in rage and threw a flower at her.

"You're one to talk, Miss Superfreaky Strength! You go around busting up the ground, trees, and people and you barely blink an eye! You hit Naruto at least ten times a day, and Kami only knows how often you take a swipe at me!"

"Oh, please Ino, as if you bother me enough to warrant constant physical abuse! And if I hit people too hard, it isn't as if I can't heal them up to repair the damage! So it all really evens out in the end!"

Ino glared at Sakura who picked up the flower and started stroking its petals.

"Your problem here, then, is that you don't know how to be 'friends' with Sasuke without coming off as pathetic and desperate for acknowledgment. I really think that once you boil the situation down to that simple sentence, the answer is obvious."

Ino leaned onto the counter and rested her head in her hands while smirking.

"Uh, Pig, I don't really think I like that smirk on your face—"

"It is so obvious that when I tell you, you will be baffled at what an easy solution it is!"

Sakura sighed. She had come to Ino for help after all…

"Alright, Ino, spill it."

Ino smirk turned into a Cheshire Cat grin as she leaned even closer towards Sakura.

"You challenge him to spar, of course!"