title: test of will
prompt: #5 - test
summary: ino always knew sakura had it in her.

No matter how Sakura pumped her arms at her sides, she remained a good five strides behind Ino, who had steadily kept ahead of her from the moment they began their race around the village. She gritted her teeth, chasing at her friend's tail. It was Ino-pig's height for sure, she told herself—anyone could see Ino was the taller of the two, she had longer legs for sure—!

"Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted in exasperation, willing away her excuses, and her voice carried easily to the other girl, despite their increasing distance.

Ino briefly turned to grin and stick out her tongue before rushing forward and placing another three paces between them. "Don't let me win this one, too, Forehead!" she shot back, making a show of waving her hand.

Sakura exclaimed, brows wrinkling and fists clenching as she forced herself into a speed that would surely knock Ino away, but it seemed her efforts would prove to be futile, as Ino still remained ahead. As always, Sakura thought bitterly. In ninjutsu, in looks, in popularity, Ino had her beat—sometimes she wondered why Ino even bothered calling her a rival.

Ino skidded to a stop at the mouth of the Academy, where they had agreed to end the race, and moments later, Sakura collapsed at her side, gasping for breath. Ino stretched her arms over her head, wiping away the beads of sweat that had collected at her forehead before bending over to pluck the two water bottles she had prepared from the ground, tossing one to Sakura, who missed it completely.

"Looks like I win," Ino said, between gulps of water.

Sakura groaned from the floor, watching as Ino crinkled the half-empty bottle in her right hand, reenergized and a new spark in her eye.

"Come on, Forehead!" Ino crooned, smirking. "I bet I can eat more ice cream than you, too."

Ino took off, leaving Sakura alone to nurse her sore joints and muscles. She sighed at her aching legs. It barely helped that just that morning they had competed at several tests and tasks: seeing who could balance on one foot the longest, who could beat the other at arm wrestling, who could do the most sit ups, followed by a series of several races. Each try had been a consecutive loss for Sakura, who had admittedly even pushed herself to try even harder each round that came next.

Sakura exhaled in frustration, untwisted the cap of the water bottle, and made for the ice cream shop.

Soon after her latest defeat, Sakura sat at the booth she and Ino had often shared back in their earlier childhoods, when competition and rivalry had played no part in their friendship. Swallowing a mouthful of strawberry ice cream, Sakura reminisced the old, simpler days.

From beside her, Ino was inhaling vanilla ice cream (fat free, with no added sugar) at a speed that made Sakura's brain freeze twice as worse, and many bowls later, both girls clutched their stomachs and keeled over. After a series of janken rounds, Ino reclaimed her title as winner.

The last competition took place the next day, a bright and early Monday morning on their walk to the Academy. As Sakura fell into step with Ino, she nudged her forward, a mischievous grin alight on her face as she pointed ahead of them. Sakura raised her eyebrows, following her gaze.

"First one to talk to Sasuke-kun wins this time," Ino said softly, so the boy wouldn't hear.

Sakura's heart dropped. Ino could've challenged her to another race, another sit up competition—anything but that. She glanced forward, glimpsing Sasuke a few feet from where she and Ino stood, before turning back to Ino to wrinkle her nose.

"Ino-pig..." she groaned, half-pushing Ino aside so she would stumble off the sidewalk.

Ino lifted the back of her hand to hide her laughter. "If you don't, I will..." she chorused, but deep down, she knew she wouldn't have to. She had long since noticed how each failure brought Sakura back stronger than ever and had wanted to use the opportunity to help her grow.

She watched as Sakura took a breath and stepped toward Sasuke.

Years later, she would still smile as her grown childhood friend, with her hair as pink and eyes as bright as ever, would fall into step beside Sasuke, time and time again.

"I always knew you had it in you, Forehead," she would say, pride coloring her voice.