Yeesh, the last two chapters were too short! Sorry about that! I'll try to make this chapter longer! And by the way, this chappie might seem surprising...

"speaking"

"thoughts"

"Inner Self"

You Weren't the Girl I Used to Know

Sakura POV

It's been two days since the Itachi incident. Ahhh, I can't get it out of my mind! Plus, I can't believe it, but I still feel sorry for Ino's gang. *sigh* Ino... you've changed drastically. I never thought you would become like this, with them. Well, you never know how much people can change.

"Hey, Sakura, over here!" Temari called out to me. She was sitting with TenTen at our usual lunch spot. I walked over to them, and sat down in my usual seat. My face must've looked troubled, 'cuz when I sat down, Temari asked me a question that made me spew out the juice I was drinking.

"Sakura, did something happen between you and Sasuke?" I looked at her like she was crazy.

"Well at least she's close," said my Inner. Close, but that's just part of the problem. I wonder if I should tell them my past. Well, I should also talk to Ino, face to face. I can't believe that she would side with them.

"Sakura? Hellooooo, Earth to Sakura... HEY!" said TenTen waving her hand in my face. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at TenTen.

"Why are you all spaced out? Something's bothering you, I know it! Does it have something to do with Sasuke? Or those three?" asked TenTen, as she gestured towards the table where Ino, her gang, and more preppy girls were sitting. Ahhh, this is just a burden... I think I'll just tell them. There's no hiding anything between us.

"Uh, TenTen, Temari, you guys know Ino as a preppy, bitchy, selfish, fangirl of the Uchiha brothers, right?" Well, I already know their answer to that anyway. They're gonna say...

"Well, duh! Isn't that kinda obvious?" said TenTen. Right on mark. "Though I have to say Ino's a bit better than the other two bitches," answered Temari. Well, almost on mark. At least Ino's not as bad as the other two, right? Temari?TenTen?

"Would you two believe me if I said Ino wasn't like this when we were kids? That we used to be best friends?" Their jaws dropped, and, very obviously, I could tell they were really surprised.

"Seriously? You two were best friends?" asked TenTen, her eyes bulging out like saucers. I nodded my head. Temari seemed to be... pretty shocked. She spoke up after a while.

"B-But, she-in the restaurant-you and Sasuke- how?" Temari managed to stutter out. I sighed and told them my childhood.

Flashback Sakura's POV

"Hey, move it Forehead!" Ugh, another bully. Why is it that all the pushing and name calling are directed towards me?! Why can't I have a normal forehead?

"Hey, that's not very nice!" My ears perked up. Did someone just defend me? I turned around to see a girl about my age with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Stay outta this Ino," contered the purple headed girl. Ino just took out three flowers and threw them directly in the girl's mouth.

"INO!" yelled the purple head, with the flowers still in her mouth.

"You know, if I were you, I would spit them out right away. Those are poisonous," Ino said calmly. The other girl froze, and screamed her head off, running away as fast as she could.

The young blond giggled and said, "Actually, only the roots are poisonous. They should know that. Are you ok? Did they do anything to you? I'm Ino by the way. Ino Yamanaka." Ino grabbed my hand and helped me up.

"Um, I'm Sakura," I muttered. Ino cupped her hand and put it to her ear.

"What? You know, you have to speak up a bit," teased the young blond.

"My name is Sakura!" I managed to yell.

Ino put a finger on my forehead and said, "Now that's better. They bully you all the time because of your forehead, right?" I managed to nod slightly.

"Well, when you cover it with your bangs, it kinda seems bigger. Come back here tomorrow, and I'll give you something nice, ok?" Ino then walked away from me. I was just sitting there, shocked. Had I made a new friend?

The next day

I came back to the place where I had met Ino yesterday. I wonder if she's gonna show up. A while later, I saw her walking towards me with a red ribbon in her hand.

When she got to me, Ino tied the ribbon on my head and parted my bangs. "There, that's better," she commented. "Now come with me, I'll introduce you to some of my friends." Ino took my hand and took me to her friends.

When we got there, Ino introduced, "Everyone, this is Sakura Haruno. Go on Sakura, say hi."

I just hid behind Ino, and whispered a small, "Nice to meet you."

Flashback end

I thought back to the past. Ino was my first friend, and we played with each other every day. Several months later, Ino told me that her family had to move to another place and that she was switching schools.

"Ino, promise me that when we meet again, you'll be my best friend again," I had said to her, tears falling out of my eyes.

Ino had patted my shoulders and smiled. "Of course Sakura. You'll always be my best friend."

I'll always be your best friend... Sure Ino, like you kept that promise.

"And so that's basically it. We were best friends once, but I don't know what changed her," I told TenTen and Temari. They absorbed every word I told them, listening with curiousty.

"I think I might know. Well, this is when Ino was much older, but when Ino came here, Ami and Karin took her in and accepted her as their friend. Then, a few days later, Ino was acting like Ami and Karin. I'm guessing that those two bitches caused Ino's change in personality," said Temari.

I was pretty shocked. So, Ami and Karin were the cause of Ino's change. Grr, I need to talk to Ino now.

I pushed back my chair, and walked towards Ino's table. The three of them became alert, as did many of the other girls at their table. I took Ino's wrist in my hand, and pulled her away from her table.

"Hey, what're you going to do with Ino-san?!" demanded one of the girls. More question and taunts came at me, and I was getting impatient each second.

"I need to talk to her alone, so mind your own business!!" I yelled at them. That seemed to quiet them down.

I took Ino out of the cafeteria and to my locker. "So billboard brow, what do you want to talk to me about?"

I didn't answer her yet. I opened my locker and took out two things, a picture of the two of us when were were young, and the ribbon that she gave me.

Ino's eyes widened when she saw those two things. I put them back into my locker and asked her, "Ino, what happend to you? You didn't use to be like this. Did those two change you or something? Please tell me."

Ino just stared at me like she had just committed a murder or something. Then, Ino did something that shocked me. She started crying. The Ino I used to know didn't cry either, and I didn't expect the new Ino to cry.

"I-I'm sorry Sakura, I'm s-so sorry that I-I hurt you wh-when you first c-came h-here!" wailed Ino. I hugged her to soothe her. But why did she ignore me and act like I was an enemy? Was it because she had loved Sasuke first and he had fallen for me? It is really love, or is it just a crush?

Yay, I got this chapter done! By the way, I'm going to concentrate mostly on my new fic, "The Pokemon Adventures of Team 7", so I might update a bit slowly on this fic. If you guys want, you can read my new fic. Review after reading please!