"Sakura hasn't come over for a few weeks already," Ino's mother noted quietly. "Is there anything wrong?"

Ino looked up, bewildered. "Oh, I don't think so."

Her mother looked at her oddly, and continued with her work. Ino grabbed a flower at random and began tearing at the leaves absent-mindedly. She was halfway through when she noticed that it was a cosmos. She flung it into a far corner of the room and glared at nothing in particular.

"If you're this bored, you should go visit her instead. You can't expect her to come over to see you if you never go over to her house."

Ino jerked back in surprise. Why had she never thought of that? She brightened immediately and dashed to her room to gather her things.

When she reached her room, her eyes fell upon the friendship bracelets she had made. It had seemed so long ago. Smiling, she packed them neatly into her bag and made her way to the door. Forget about Sakura's birthday present. Ino was going to give them to her now and that was that.

"Where are you going?" Ino's mother called from the other room just as Ino reached the front door.

"Out," she responded. Ino knew that her mother knew where she was going even before she asked.

-:-

"Ohayo, Haruno-san," Ino said, when Sakura's father opened the door. He looked surprised to see her.

"Ino! What a pleasant surprise," he nodded at her jovially, but his expression was unusually tense.

"Is Sakura home?" she asked.

"Oh yes, come on in."

Ino followed him into the house and perched on the edge of the couch apprehensively. Kizashi excused himself for a moment and wandered off, calling out Sakura's name. Ino bit her lip and inspected the room around her. Her gaze flitted to the photographs on the wall, and her heart plummeted into her stomach. There were at least dozens of them, all featuring Sakura and her friends. Here, Sakura was laughing into the camera with Akari. This one, Sakura, Haruko and Ume were eating dangos together. And that one, Sakura and a couple of girls Ino didn't recognize were posing with a very irritated Sasuke. And there, another irritated-looking Sasuke was glaring at the camera, trying but failing to hide his face with a kunai. That picture was decorated with sparkly stickers and circled with a pink marker.

"Ino-chan?"

Ino turned quickly away from the photographs and saw Sakura leaning hesitantly against a wall.

"Oh, hey!" Ino said, trying to sound upbeat, even though she felt as though she had swallowed a pail of acid.

Sakura flounced to Ino's side, her face appearing to be delighted but her green eyes were laced with uncertainty. With a pang, Ino saw that she was wearing some sort of a strange purple contraption that looked vaguely like a frilly ball gown.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura demanded, her eyes rather suspicious. Ino didn't reply immediately. This was the first time she had seen her friend in three weeks, and this was what she said to her? Ino had thought Sakura was the friendlier counterpart of their friendship.

"Um, nice dress," Ino mumbled lamely.

Sakura brightened momentarily. "Hana bought it for me."

Ino didn't bother to ask who Hana was, and she didn't care. It reminded her of the bracelets. She rummaged in her bag for a moment, and pulled one out.

"Here, this is for you."

Sakura stared at it warily. "What is it?"

"I-it's a –" Ino's voice broke and she coughed to dislodge the lump in her throat. "It's a friendship bracelet."

There was genuine gratitude in Sakura's eyes as she took it and fastened it around her wrist. "Thank you Ino-chan."

Ino nodded, not trusting her voice.

"So, I haven't seen you in a while," said Sakura, her voice edged with doubt. "You've been hanging out with Sas – I mean, you've been busy, right?"

What was that supposed to mean?! Sakura was the one who had been busy going out with her friends all the time. Ino bit back a nasty retort, knowing that it would do little to improve the situation if she let her temper get out of hand. Instead, she just shrugged. She thought she saw a flash of resentment in Sakura's eyes, but she dismissed it at once.

"We could…hang out now if you'd like," Ino mumbled. "If you're not busy, I mean."

There it was again. That flash of resentment, of anger in her eyes. Ino still couldn't be sure.

When Sakura spoke, her voice was light, almost happy. But her eyes said otherwise. "Of course I'm not busy! Come on, let's go!"

Sakura grabbed Ino by the arm and half-dragged her out the door.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" Ino asked reproachfully, rubbing her aching wrist. Sakura didn't answer, but she let go of Ino and continued walking. Ino followed, unsure of where they were headed until she recognized the patches of cosmos dotting the field. It was her favourite meadow.

Sakura sat down on the bench and motioned Ino to sit with her. Ino hesitated, but ultimately obeyed. They were silent for a long time, sitting there and listening to the wind blowing through the trees. Ino felt uncomfortable. They had never been so distant since Sakura had opened up to her. Finally, it was Sakura who broke the silence.

"Ino-chan?"

"Yes?"

Sakura avoided Ino's questioning gaze. "Is it true…that you like Sasuke-kun too?"

Ino swallowed. She was about to deny it when she decided to think about it for a moment. Was it true…? Did she…because she enjoyed his company, and just because he was her friend, did that mean…?

"Then we're rivals from now on."

Ino glanced at Sakura in utter disbelief. She had stood up, and the wind was playing with strands of her hair. With another pang, she realized that Sakura was growing it out.

I heard Sasuke-kun likes girls with long hair…!

Sakura's face was hidden in the shadows, but as she walked away from the bench, she turned back one more time. And Sakura glared resentfully at Ino, her features twisted with so much jealousy and raw anger that Ino was frightened of her friend for the first time. She had never seen such a look on her face until now. And that expression would be branded in Ino's mind, wiping out every other happy memory she had of Sakura for a long time.

A/N: I just wanted to give you amazing readers a HUGE thank you for the support and the reading of this fanfic. This was my first longer story idea and I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of reads and thankful that many of you guys are following/faving this thing. I used to be really self-conscious of posting my works in public, but that's changed because of you readers. I'm really grateful for each and every one of you for taking your time to read this, and gah, I'm getting a bit teary-eyed and blubbery now. What I just wrote probably didn't make much sense, haha. ^^'