Vital

Summary: When was the last time you did something for the first time? SasuIno.

Dedication: This is for Ino2613 and Langioletto.

Chapter TWO: Maybe it can go a long way

There were only two types of people in the world. One was absolutely boring, and one was absolutely ridiculous. Unquestionably, she was the latter.

After an awfully pleasurable but very tiring night, Ino had fallen asleep as though she had not all napped before Sasuke had come along. She had noted after hopping into the sheets with him last night that this was just one of those one-night stands that she'd never have to deal with for the rest of her life.

But she was so disgustingly wrong because when she'd opened her eyes a minute ago, he was still there. In her bed, mostly naked. "Shouldn't you have ran off like, before I woke up? That's how one-night stands go, if this were your first time."

"You're kicking me out?" Sasuke asked, as he turned his bare body to look at her.

"What I'm so lucky I can sleep with you again?" Ino replied with overflowing sarcasm as she put on her robe before standing up from the bed. Ino had definitely enjoyed last night because really, which woman wouldn't? But one tiresome night was enough for her.

Sasuke smirked a little at the witty blonde. "That's right."

Not taking her eyes off the mirror, she started combing her long platinum blonde locks. "I must have done something so right to deserve such thing."

"Nah, you're just lucky," he retorted as playfully. "And this seems to be your lucky day because I actually wanna spend the whole day with you."

"I can't be that lucky, you see." Ino started walking away from Sasuke. "I need to do something remotely important today." She looked at him over her right shoulder before continuing, "But seriously, I'd like not to see you again."

She then left the room, leaving Sasuke confused.

Pain.

Intense, nasty pain was exactly what Ino felt when she stared at her best friend in that perfectly fitted wedding dress. "So do I look gorgeous, exquisite, beautiful or breathtaking?" Sakura asked Ino, grinning widely as she spun once more for Ino to see everything.

"Oh Forehead, you're so needy." Ino fake smiled at Sakura, feeling guiltier every second that passed by. "But you don't look completely pathetic in it."

Tomorrow was the wedding. The wedding she originally had not wanted to attend to, but she really had no choice. She had her reasons and ever since she'd come to her hometown, the guilt had been eating her alive.

"Ino," Sakura began, "is there something wrong?" Sakura noticed that Ino had been acting weirdly and she was most definitely concerned about her best friend. Ino's her only friend and she hated seeing her this...differently. "Are you...are you not okay?"

Scared that Sakura saw right through her, Ino gulped nervously. "W-What?"

"Nothing; it's just that it seems like something is really bothering you," Sakura retorted, not knowing whether how she would put it perfectly. She knew something was wrong but she couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly.

"You're just so paranoid, Forehead." Ino's eyes went from Sakura's to the floor. "You know I'd tell you if something were wrong."

"True." Sakura smiled as turned her back on Ino. "Now unzip me while telling me what happened between you and Sasuke-kun last night."

Obediently, Ino unfastened the dress's hook before zipping the zipper down. "Sasuke and I – what about us?"

"Sasuke-kun has a thing for skinny, blonde bitches," she started, turning to face Ino, "and I know exactly what you're capable of." Sakura's eyebrow arched out of curiosity. "So you didn't sleep with him?"

Ino did not respond.

Sakura's eyes lit up joyously. "Oh God, you so did!"

"Whatever; I'm leaving."

"What a pleasant surprise." Ino was shocked to say the least to see the stranger she'd met last night was still in her bedroom, sitting on her couch. "You're still here."

"You sound disappointed," Sasuke replied almost coolly. Sasuke was certain that what they had had last night was nothing but a cheap fling and by the looks of it, Ino wasn't the one who chased after the men she'd already slept with.

"Not at all." Ino tried to keep her composure, smiling. "I was just hoping the bridesmaids, Sakura's slutty cousins, would get lucky too like I did last night."

Sasuke folded his arms, beaming right back at her. "I didn't know you were so generous."

"Or I just really wanna get rid of you." The smile in her face faded. "So please, I'd rather not see you again."

Sasuke watched Ino walk by the door. His ego bruised, he then asked, "Seriously?"

Ino opened the door. "No, I'm dead serious."

"There's this little flaw." Sasuke stood up and walked towards her with a small smirk in his face. "We'll be side-by-side at the wedding. You're her maid-of-honor and I'm his best man." The smirk stayed in his face. "Like it or not, we're still going to see each other."

"You can't be too sure about that, Mr. Uchiha."

His smirk went away as he became a bit more confused just like he was this morning when she'd rudely left him. "Are you planning to not attend the wedding?"

It was her turn to smirk at him, almost teasingly. "Maybe."

"You're crazy." And Sasuke might be right. "You can't do that."

She scoffed. "I wasn't really asking for your permission."

"You have no valid reason to miss your best friend and childhood friend's wedding," Sasuke uttered, a bit angry at the staggeringly attractive blonde in front of him. "No reason is good enough for you to do that, Ino."

"Yes, there is." Focusing her blue-eyes on the floor, she bit her lips before meeting his eyes once again. "I'm in love with the groom." She forced a smile as the tears started lingering at the corner of her eyes. "I thought I could watch him marry my best friend but it turns out I can't."

When Sasuke recovered from her shocking revelation, he hesitatingly put his palm on the back of her neck and gently pulled her head to his toned chest. "Does he know?"

Her face still buried to his chest, she shook her head. "He can't."

"So you won't do anything crazy like stop the wedding at the middle mass?" He stroked her hair. She had the softest hair, he told himself. "Or something dramatic like drug him the night before the wedding and when he wakes up he's all tied up with a packaging tape on his mouth like in the movies?"

Unwrapping her arms from his body, she backed away one step while wiping away her tears as a genuine smile gracing her lips. "Those are too damn cliché though – they never really happen in real life."

He then asked jokingly, "So not gonna happen?"

"No," she said, whispering. "But I don't know if I can stand seeing him marry a wonderful woman."

"At least he's not being married to a wonderful man." He winked at her as she almost laughed at his humor. His tone then suddenly became more serious, "It would hurt them, you know, you missing their wedding day. What's a day of suffering for their happiness?"

He had a point, she admitted to herself. What the hell, if I plan to be a forever martyr by not telling him, why not run the extra mile and be at their wedding, she thought. "You're right, I should go."

He looked extremely pleased. "As my date?"

She nodded. "As your date."

Half-jokingly, Sasuke shot again. "And as the man you slept with two nights in a row?"

Ino pushed him out of the room and slammed the door in his face. "Don't push it, Sasuke."

A/N: Thank you for reading! I was out of the country last month so I wasn't able to update this story. And if you visited my profile you knew I was planning to retire from this site and honestly, I'm still deciding whether or not to retire. And I'll make sure that this multi-chap is finished if I decide to actually retire. One or two more chapters left, depending the length of the next chapter, which should be up before the last week of August.

Please do review and criticize. I love those.