"Thanks for helping me clean up!"

Sakura laughed. "No problem Ino. It felt so weird to not be hanging out with you before, so cleaning up your place after a party feels normal," she replied, shoveling cups into a bag to be recycled. It was about eleven o'clock in the morning the day after Ino's holiday party and the house was, for lack of a better word, trashed. The two girls had already tackled scrubbing the kitchen and the bathroom, which, thankfully, hadn't looked that bad. Now they were wandering around, gathering up leftover trash to be tossed. The work wasn't necessarily hard, but Sakura still felt grimey, if only from the party and the fact that she had slept over without a chance to shower. Both her and Ino were clothed in some of Ino's warmup sweats and tank tops and had huge bags under their eyes from talking all night. All in all, Sakura didn't feel that pretty or clean, but the relief of getting over her and Ino's fight relieved her of some of her exhaustion.

Ino shoved the last little pile of cups into her bag and sighed. "There. I think that's it," she said, grabbing Sakura's bag. "Be right back! Can you get me some food or somethin'?" she asked, heading outside to throw out the bags.

"Sure!" Sakura called, heading into the sparkling kitchen. She went rooting around the kitchen, eventually finding some frozen waffles that she tossed in the toaster. She hopped up so she was sitting on the counter as Ino came back in and started washing her hands.

"Ooo, waffles!" Ino said, peeking into the toaster. "You know me well."

Sakura nodded. "Waffles are the frickin' food of the gods. I mean… assuming you have whipped cream."

"What do you think?" Ino asked, staring pointedly at her. "That's like asking if I have a roof."

Chuckling, Sakura slid off the counter to go fetch the whipped cream from the fridge. "Yeah, stupid question," she said, grabbing some jelly to put on the waffles as well.

"So," Ino started, pulling the waffles out of the toaster and piling two on each plate. "How's it going with you and Sasuke? Have you talked to him about the whole, 'oh by the way, I'm not moving' thing?" She rummaged around for a knife as she waited for Sakura's response, loading jelly onto her waffled before finally adding a spiral of whipped cream on top.

Fixing her own waffles up Sakura's face fell. "Um… no. No I haven't," she said, adding a ludicrous amount of whipped cream.

"Awww, you told me first?" Ino said with an evil grin, taking a bite of waffle. "That's so cute. But… don't you want to tell him? I would think you would be happy you don't need to leave your boyfriend."

Sakura sighed. "Yeah… about that. We… had a falling out. After he found out I was moving." She took a bite of waffle.

"Wait, did he break up with you because you were moving? What an asshole!" Ino exclaimed, looking enraged.

"No, no, he wanted to talk about it and everything and then… then I told him I didn't want to see him and he has obliged." Sakura slid down the side of the counter so she was sitting on the floor, cradling her plate of waffles, eating with the dejected expression of a kicked puppy.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Christ Sakura. Way to burn bridges." She paused, taking another bite of waffle. "Okay, well… you could try finding him and apologizing on bended knee," she finally suggested.

Sakura made a face. "Groveling? Really?"

"Think of it as making up for the fact that you dropped a total bomb in him and then told him you didn't want to talk to him. I mean, it kind of sounds like you guys might be broken up," Ino said, biting her lip.

"Broken up?" Sakura asked, her mouth dropping open. "No way. We never said we were breaking up!" she protested.

"When was the last time you talked to him?"

"Maybe a week ago when I told him to stop talking to m- oh my god we're totally broken up," Sakura said, looking panicked. "Shit! I didn't want to do that!"

Ino scrunched up her face a little, thinking. "Yeah, that's not a great way to break up with someone-"

"Which I wasn't trying to do!"

"Yeah, I know! But now you gotta salvage it. And soonish. And maybe leave out the part that he's like, the 5th person to find out, not including your family," Ino said, cramming some waffle into her mouth in a rather grotesque display.

Sakura nodded vigorously as she began to hoover the rest of her breakfast. "I need to go find him! I need to fix this!"

"Um, where are you going to find him?" Ino asked.

"His house, duh!"

"What if he isn't there? Do you really want to be that girl who has to have his mother explain to her that he doesn't want to talk to her?" Ino asked, raising an eyebrow.

Narrowing her eyes at Ino, Sakura took another bite of waffle. "So what," she said after she swallowed, "do you suggest I do, o'wise and all-knowing one?"

Ino brushed her hair over one shoulder, preening. "I know, I really am smart aren't I?"

"Ino…"

"Fine, fine!" Ino said, throwing up her hands. "We have an afternoon practice today before my rehearsal. Regionals are right after Christmas, so we're in crunch time now and everyone has to be there. Show up after - when he has an endorphin high - and try talking to him. I guarantee he'll be there and be susceptible to your feminine wiles."

"Wiles? What wiles?" Sakura asked. "I feel like a wrung out rag."

"Your boobs, duh!"

Elsewhere…

Hinata lay on her couch, staring up at the ceiling hauntingly. She was mentally going over all of the exam answers she was convinced were wrong. The few days between her exams and when the final grades were posted were always murder for her. She felt like she was going through the ringer as she thought over question after question.

"X divided by b squared!" she screamed as the door banged open, startling her. She sat up straight as a board, looking around frantically. Neji stood by the front door, staring at her with his mouth open. Hinata's eye twitched a little as she looked at him and he backed up a little, shutting the door, all with a creeped out expression on his face.

"Yeah, uh… you okay there?" he asked, kicking off his shoes.

She wiped a little sweat off her forehead. "Y-yeah…" she said, trying to calm down a little. "J-just thinking over some e-exam p-p-problems," she said, trying to smile like it was no big.

He looked a little terrified. "Oh no, Hinata, not again. Please not again. I can't stand another 'week of hell'," he said.

"It won't b-be a week!" she exclaimed. "Only f-five more d-days."

"Yippee," he said, walking into the kitchen.

Hinata hopped off of the couch, following him into the kitchen. She watched as he started to prepare himself a cheese sandwich. "Hey Neji?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he asked, slathering mayo onto a slice of bread.

"Who was th-that girl you were with last n-night?" she asked innocently, leaning forwards onto the kitchen island.

He hunched over a little. "Oh… great, you remember that. She's just a friend."

Hinata plucked an orange out of the fruit bowl on the island and began peeling it. "A friend? Who you w-were looking for s-spare bedrooms with?" she asked.

"Hey, you were in a spare with Naruto," he said, turning to make a face. "Which, by the way, I didn't need to see. Thanks."

"D-don't change the s-subject."

He sighed, slapping together the bread and cheese. He wiped off the cutting board and started putting away the ingredients. "None of your business," he finally remarked, taking a bite of sandwich as he walked out of the kitchen towards the stairs.

Hinata followed him, holding on tightly to her orange. "C-come on. W-who was s-she? D-does this mean you're o-over T-Tenten now?" she asked.

"Hey, I was always over Tenten!" he exclaimed. "I broke up with her, remember?" he said, stopping and looking back at Hinata. He shook his head and finished climbing the stairs.

Hinata snorted. "Oh s-sure," she said.

Neji stepped into his room. "You know, you've gotten more and more snarky lately," he said.

"B-but who was s-she?" Hinata exclaimed as he shut the door in her face. She frowned, walking back downstairs as she started eating the orange.

"Poop."

Later That Day

Ino held the Scorpion for another two seconds before she dismounted. Ryuu was getting much better at holding her up without wobbling, and now they were working on harder stunts to fold into the regionals routine. She shook her legs out a little, feeling stretched out and exhausted. "Good job, Ino, Ryuu," coach called over. "Ino, make sure you're not stiffening at your shoulders when you do that one."

Ino nodded. "Yes coach," she said.

"Okay, everyone, cooldown laps!" coach called. Ino began jogging around the gymnasium, falling into line with the other cheerleaders. She sped up a little so she could job aside Atsuko.

"Hey Ino," Atsuko said, smiling.

Ino grinned back at her. "How's it going with Sasuke? He finally getting the feel for basing?" she asked.

Atsuko threw a dirty look at his back. "Oh sure. Except for when he shakes during the stunts. That I could do without." She sighed. "He'd better get it together before regionals. I don't want to fall on my ass in front of Enna Wek," she said, naming one of the judges at the regional and national competitions. Enna Wek was a bit of a celebrity in Konoha, having lived there about five years ago. She had been a cheerleader and gymnast, even going to the world championships for artistic gymnastics.

"I'm sure he will," Ino said. "He just needs to get a feel for it."

"He's had weeks to 'get a feel for it'," Atsuko grumbled. "Much more of this and he'll get a feel for my foot in his ass."

After a couple warmup laps they all went to pack up their stuff. Ino stretched out a little, dawdling as she waited for Sasuke to leave. Right as he walked out of the door she snatched up her duffle and hurried after him, calling out a farewell to the remaining cheerleaders. "Meet you in the car, Sai!" she said, powerwalking after Sasuke.

She watched as he walked out into the parking lot and she hustled over to the doors, peeking through the window. She saw Sakura waiting for him by the curb.

'Go Sakura!'

Outside…

Sakura sat on the curb in front of the school, bundled up in a fleece-lined anorak. There was a heavy scarf wrapped around her neck and she sunk down into it, trying not to get chilled from the icy wind. She glanced back at the doors as she heard them open, only seeing a couple cheerleaders trickle out. She figured they must be done with practice now, and she stood, waiting for Sasuke.

She saw him walk out of the school a minute later and she immediately regretted choosing to wear fleecey sweatpants. She resembled a marshmallow with a puff of pink hair coming out of the top. She walked towards him slowly, pulling her scarf down a little so she could talk. "Hey, Sasuke," she said.

He stopped, finally recognizing her under the many layers she had piled on. "I thought you didn't want to talk," he said.

She bit her lip, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ignored you. I know… I know you wanted to help, but I just didn't want to hear it. I didn't want pity or anything."

He practically threw his hands up in exasperation. "You know, it's not all about you Sakura," he said. She looked taken aback. "I'm one half of this relationship, and you moving isn't only affecting you," he said, shaking his head.

"I know," she said quietly. "But I didn't expect you to wait for me for half a year, longer if he was permanently reassigned to London. I thought it would just be easier if we stopped talking."

"Well, how were you to know what was easier if we never did talk about it? You just called me, told me on the phone, and then fucking avoided me. Thanks a bunch for that," he said, his voice saturated with sarcasm.

Sakura's brow crinkled a little in regret. "I know. And I'm here to eat crow. I didn't want to hurt you. I was just being selfish," she said. "I'm sorry."

He sighed. "It almost would have been easier if you didn't apologize," he said dully. "It would have been easier for me if I was angry at you…" he said. "And now you're apologizing and looking all sad and regretful." He walked over, wrapping her into a hug.

They were quite the sight. A girl, practically dressed for climbing everest in winter, hugging an exhausted looking boy clad in naught but a tank top and shorts. "I'm not going to stay mad at you while you're about to move," he said. "I'm really going to miss you."

"Oh… um… yeah, about that whole London thing," Sakura said, pulling back and looking a little sheepish. "So… turns out I wore my parents down about it. I'm going to be staying here with Okako instead," she said, looking up to see his expression, though she kept her arms wrapped firmly around him.

He looked down at her blankly. "What?" he asked.

"I'm not moving to London," she said, smiling eagerly at him.

"You're not moving to London?" he repeated.

"I'm not moving to London."