Ino sighed as soon as she woke up the next morning. Just the thought of speaking to anyone - especially Sakura - repulsed her today. The whole world seemed gray and she felt sick and cold.

" Are you up, honey? " Inoichi asked from her bedroom door.

" Yeah, " She called back to him. " But not ready for the day. "

" Well, sweetie, what's wrong? " He came into her room and Ino got out of bed. Her purple pajamas were like glue sticking to her body. She could feel her heart beating in her neck. What was going on? Why was her head spinning and her stomach twisted?

The bad taste in her mouth began to feel numb.. or was that her whole body? She put a hand to her hand, and was surprised by how drenched her palms were with nervous sweat. " I uh, " Ino moved towards her Dad and tried to grab him, but her body swelled and her vision dulled.

And then she fainted.

While it was true that Sakura was angry at Ino for turning away so rudely last night, she instantly felt sad once she heard the news this morning. Iruka said it so carefree that it made Sakura even more angry. Ino's recovering at the doctors office for fainting this morning. She should be back tomorrow or possibly the day after. After that, he turned to his chalk board and started writing as if nothing was wrong.

Everything was wrong.

Without Ino around during the day, Sakura had no one to compete with. No one to stare at with envy. No one to stare at her with envy. No one to fight with Sasuke about. No one to pass notes to, notes that would jokingly threaten one another over Sasuke. No one to secretly smile at when they turn away.

It felt like Sakura was empty. Dry. Bland.

She wondered if - possibly, just maybe - Ino felt the same.

After the school bell rang to go home, Sakura quickly put her books away and walked home quietly. The weather was working with her mood today - Pouring rain, dark clouds and cold breezes that just made her think of her best friend's sunny smile. She giggled to herself, remembering their phone conversations from when they were little. They could just listen to each other breathe and laugh, even if nothing was funny.

Of course, that was before.

Sakura turned to the familiar street her house rested on, and when passing the Yamanaka house, she felt a huge lump in her throat. The lump that makes you want to scream. The lump that makes you want to rip your hair out, go and hug your pillow and not leave home for days. Why couldn't she just faint? Lucky Ino. She got the easy way out of this guilty feeling.

Sakura stopped. Why am I feeling GUILTY?, she asked herself. Ino and I were BOTH fighting for Sasuke. It's not like I did anything wrong. At least, I didn't do anything more wrong than her.

She sighed deeply and walked inside her house. " How was your day? " Mrs. Haruno asked as she took off her sweater.

" Just fantastic. " Sakura ran up to her room, shut the door quietly and stayed in there. She didn't need dinner tonight, she didn't need to watch TV tonight or read magazines. She didn't need to brush her hair seventy times just to make sure it looked perfect. She didn't need any of that.

What she truly wanted and needed was her best friend back.

Yeah, Hi.

Massashi Kishimoto (Did I spell that wrong? Lol) owns Naruto, and the characters. I just own this idea for the fanfic.

OK, some of you have been asking why I took down a bunch of other stories. Well, first off, some of my stories were veiwed as an argument board, and some were being stolen... over and over again. *cough* VAMPIRE CHAT 1 & 2, and a few other Vampire Knight fanfics by ME *cough*

Anyways, this is the FIRST UPDATE OF 2011! woo!

Sooo, I'm thinking of more ideas for this.

And I gave Sakura a bit of my personality on accident in this chapter. xD (Yeah, I'm not always gloriously happy, but I prefer to be.. so I try to be the most positive I can be!)

I would like to know what you think, really and truly. It helps me be a better writer and it lets me know how you feel about my story and ideas. Because, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I like to write my own ACTUAL STORIES. Not just fanfics all the time. So, yeah, it is helpful to know comments.

Thank you to everyone who reveiws, alerts, favourites, etc...

It means a lot to me.

Next Update will be soon, I promise. Thank you for putting up with me! ^^

~ J