"Ino…I'm on the same team as Sasuke-kun."

Ino's felt a fresh stab of pain in her heart at her words. She stared at Sakura, her anguish veiled behind an emotionless mask. It was the first time they made eye contact without glaring fiercely at each other in four years. Four…whole…years. And now, after all the barriers Ino tried to put up, no matter how much she tried to forget about Sakura…about Sasuke…those simple words were enough to shatter all that hard work. It was just a simple phrase, yet she felt the tears spring to her eyes as she remembered what she had tried to forget. All these years…and she had not forgotten from the very beginning.

"Why say it again?" she asked dully, ready to flee if the tears spilled over. Sakura…

"I won't lose to you anymore, Ino," she said, green eyes wide and determined. Sakura had changed so much. Her behaviour, her appearance, her personality. Had it only been four years? Ino gazed sadly at the trademark pink hair which was one of the few things she could still recognize about her friend. And even that had changed – Sakura had grown out.

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

Oh Sakura…how much she would despise Ino even more if she knew. The truth was, she hadn't given a thought about it until…that day.

"We…were friends once…but I have become an avenger. I need no friends."

Tears blurred her vision. She was such a fool, thinking that growing her own hair out would make him turn normal again. She had been such an idiot. Did she really believe they would be friends again…? Did she really think something as material as long hair would make Sasuke notice her again?

"I…I won't lose to you in everything, Sakura," Ino blinked back the tears that were threatening to make a reappearance. Sakura had been completely committed to their rivalry. She had broken Ino's willpower for a long time. But when she recovered, she had dedicated herself wholly to match Sakura's determined competition. She vowed she would never lose to her former friend, never again. And she vowed she would never lose another friend.

Then Ino smiled, and it didn't match the emotional turmoil she felt inside. But she was getting used to wearing a cool, calm, almost arrogant façade at all times. It was partly thanks to Sakura with her firm, unwavering rivalry to draw out this side of her. And…it was partly thanks to Sasuke, with his stuck-up attitude that was so easy to copy. Ino almost smiled at the memory.

Sakura's face hardened and she rifled in her back pocket and drew out something red. She held it out to Ino. An invitation.

"The ribbon?"

She kept it all this time…

"I'm giving this back to you."

Ino gazed at Sakura, her face composed. What…? No…!

"I gave that ribbon to you," Ino said at last, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "And you're supposed to put that forehead protector on your forehead."

How ironic, seeing as she was wearing her own on her waist! But she was too angry, too miserable to care. If Sakura wanted to criticize her words, then so be it.

"I'm no longer the girl who has been chasing you all this time," Sakura said, her voice steady. Ino's face hardened. Jealousy…it had broken both of them.

"When I put this on my forehead, I can't lose to you as a kunoichi."

Ino nodded stiffly. "I'll do the same when the time comes."

Then she grasped Sakura's hand with her own. An incomplete reconciliation. But at that moment, Ino could never be happier.