It had all began in the spring semester of their junior year, when they were no longer considered the younger generations of their school but they had yet to rule it. Their not-so-little group had already gathered quite a large reputation – by group, everyone knew it meant just Sasuke because he was the only one that always had older girls asking him out.

(And maybe Ino too but she really had a way with rejecting people without making them feel utterly rejected.)

(Unlike Sasuke.)

"I dare you," Kiba had whispered, making everyone lean forward in anticipation. His eyes flickered around the table and glinted at one inattentive player before making eye contact with Sasuke once more. His dark eyes instinctively narrowed at the brunette as a devilish smile crept upon his face, displaying his canines that were more animalistic than humane.

Just what was he up to?

He didn't have to wait much longer to get his reply though when Kiba gestured at someone nearby with his chin and lowered his voice once more, causing everyone to lean towards him even more. "Give the birthday girl a birthday kiss," he finished, and then leaned back, relishing in all the oooh's that erupted around the table.

It was March 28.

Who's birthday was March 28th (and also apparently shared the same lunch period as him)?

"Huh?" The word 'birthday' must have had caught her attention because there was absolutely no other reason for her to remove her attention from her best friend, Sakura, and direct it in his direction.

Their eyes met immediately and he almost choked on his words. "Nothing," he responded quickly and then turned back towards the brunette still bathing in his last remaining moments of his glory. It was going to be the first (and last) time the brunette would ever look at Sasuke Uchiha with such condescending eyes.

"Ooo," the brunette had provoked. "Is Casanova backing down from delivering a kiss?"

Sasuke refused to let his pride take such a pathetic blow but he also refused to admit that Ino was this "birthday girl" he was supposed to kiss because Ino was …Ino. Like, yeah, sure, they were technically in the same "group" so they hung out often but he had never actually talked to her. If they ever acknowledged each other, it was usually when Sasuke's looks came up – and it was surprising how often it came up –she would make an off-hand compliment about his face. Otherwise, they had virtually no contact with each other and had no chemistry.

Even so, he sorta, maybe harbored feelings for her.

(He had no idea why, he just did. She was just so …Ino.)

But because of that, he totally wouldn't mind kissing her. Damn, but he didn't want to kiss her because of a dare.

Oh, fuck it.

He promptly gave Kiba the bird and then got out of his seat, making his way to what everyone in their little group had dubbed the blonde princess because – well, she just looked like one.

Thinking about it carefully, she did dress …rather differently than she usually would. She had worn a form-fitting v-neck which she had tucked within the waistband of her skirt. Meh, maybe it wasn't much, but it was a little bit more. Girls did dress up on their birthdays, right?

He stopped right in front of her, ignored the look of pure confusion on that pretty face, and took a hold of both hands, lifting her to her feet in the process.

And whoa.

Sasuke was a tall guy and already hovered a bit over the general public, but when Ino stood up to her full height and was only an inch shorter, Sasuke couldn't help but feel himself mentally reevaluate any sort of illusion of her he had created of her because she was just so much more different up-close.

First off, she was a lot taller. Oh wait, was she wearing heels or something? Then her eyes were large, decorated with many, many, curled lashes and her nose was perfectly straight except for the slight upturn it had at the very end. And her hair, whoa, how long was it? It was in a fishtail braid and still managed to end at the very low of her back. And the most intriguing part about her was that, despite how …just pretty she looked and everything …she didn't look like she had a speck of makeup on her face.

"What?"

Shit, was he staring too much?

Oh well.

"Huh, Sasuke, what are you –"

Sasuke led her to an empty table, kicked a chair closer to it, and promptly climbed on top of the table. When he turned around to help her up, he noticed the way she wobbled a little as she fought to catch up with his fast pace. Hm, so she was wearing boots to enhance her height. But she didn't seem to mind despite all of her struggling keeping up with him because she was giggling a little as she climbed up on top of the table with him. The table shook a little (thank god he hadn't accidentally chosen an unstable one) and she turned towards him, hands untangling from his to grip his forearm for stability. Then she laughed.

"That was fun," she noted, eyes mirthful. "But, care to explain?" She was doing a good job with ignoring the sudden decrease in volume of the lunchroom and the numerous pairs of eyes attached to their forms.

"It's a dare," he responded with a quick shake of his head and then pulled her close to him, tilting his head to the side to meet her lips. It was almost as if she was expecting it because she responded without a delay and had her arms resting around his neck only a few moments afterwards. And he noticed that she liked to tease a lot. She nibbled and nipped and took breathers that were suspiciously well timed. But it certainly wasn't frustrated and more fun than it was trouble.

When the obnoxiously loud roars from his table grew a little too deafening (along with some parts of the lunchroom), he pulled away from the blonde, filling with contentment when he noticed the soft blush dusting her cheeks and a smile on her face. Then, without further ado, he jumped off the table and turned around to help Ino off of it as well.

There were no awkward conversations explaining each other's actions or "what the fucks" about what one was doing. There were only small understanding smiles.

Sasuke returned to the table feeling internally triumphant. There was even a small smudge smirk that was starting to crawl across his face. And this time, he was the one that sat back, relishing in the endings of the oooh's and the beginnings of fresh gossip rush around the cafeteria. He was feeling so damn confident that he took out his bottle of tomato juice, fearless of all the teasing he would usually be showered with and took a sip. Ah, yes, tomato juice was life right now.

Then: "Yo, man. What was that? That wasn't the birthday girl," Kiba commented.

Sasuke almost spit out the sweet nectar of the gods right then and there but he managed to choke it down. "What?"

The end bell for their lunch period rang in the background and many students began to leave the cafeteria.

"Dude, you were invited to celebrate a birthday tonight and you don't even know whose birthday we're celebrating?"

Sasuke said nothing.

"Oh, Jeez. Sakura is the birthday girl." Kiba stood up and shook his head at Sasuke. "You kissed the wrong girl."

O_O

That following night, the night of Sakura's birthday (Sasuke finally got it right for once), he, Naruto, and Kiba were running late due to baseball position tryouts that ended much later than they had anticipated. They had all hastily taken a quick shower after stripping off many sweaty layers, gotten dressed, and began their four and a half mile job to the designated buffet.

It was certainly an interesting jog. When they weren't allowed to cross the street, they jogged in place and made quick conversation.

Kiba began it all when he hummed and opened his mouth. "Ino has a boyfriend, you know. He's a senior."

"Huh? Why are we talking about Ino?" Naruto staggered to a stop and looked between the two. He didn't have the same lunch period as the other two so he was still out of the loop with regards to the entire lunch matter. "Huh, huh?"

"Your boy," Kiba said, swinging an arm around Sasuke's neck, "Kissed Ino Yamanaka during lunch."

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but when he did, Sasuke immediately interrupted and pushed Kiba's heavy arm off of him and said, "Kiba intended for me to kiss Sakura." And the transition of Naruto's facial expressions from minor glee to utter betrayal was something interesting to see. It happened so quickly that by the time the words were left scattered in the air, Kiba was narrowly dodging a messy punch thrown by Naruto.

He composed himself quickly and looked at Sasuke with utter disbelief scrawled over his face. "I can't believe you, man. You sold me out!"

To this, Sasuke merely shrugged and looked up, noticing that the light have finally changed color and it was finally time to cross. So that was exactly what he did. Ignoring the bickering behind his back, he hauled his duffle bag toward the buffet. By the time he had arrived, he was covered in a thin layer of sweat and the sun was just starting to set. But even so, not one person from their group of friends ever turned around to greet him. Instead, their focus was attached to two forms not too far away from them, both apparently arguing.

He heard Ino's voice first. "Takeru, you're overreacting," she had said, her voice clipped. Then he walked to the side of the crowd, standing behind Gaara, a red-head whose aloofness bordered sheer intimidation and harbored fear. Ino was standing close to the group, maybe a feet or two away from them as she bore her eyes at the taller teenager that stood not too far away from her. She had changed her clothes and was adorning a dress rather than the skirt she had worn in school and she had her arms crossed over her chest, her face stubborn. "You're making a scene."

"Well it's still not as big as the scene you caused in the lunchroom today," Takeru replied, eyes flickering away nonchalantly.

She made a gasp and then threw that long fishtail braid of light blonde hair over her shoulder so that she could point at him with an accusing finger. "How dare you. I didn't say anything when you kissed that Nami girl two weeks ago playing Truth or Dare and I didn't say shit when you made out with that Masami slut at the college party you attended this weekend!"

(It was at this time that Naruto and Kiba had arrived, still bickering but immediately silenced when they realized what was happening.)

Either this Takeru was very, very stupid or he refused to acknowledge anything Ino had said because he took a step forward and grabbed both of Ino's wrists. "Don't you dare point your finger like that at me," he gritted out between clenched teeth. He ignored the way she gave a small squeal of pain and struggled against his hold.

"Ouch! Get your dirty pa—"

And then it was suddenly like a scene taken directly out from a movie; the way Shikamaru, Chouji, and – surprisingly – Sasuke had whipped out of nowhere to collectively stand in sheer intimidating at the soon-to-be ex-boyfriend of Ino Yamanaka. In the process, Ino had been pushed behind the three of them and was rubbing her wrists, eyes flickering up at her childhood friends and one Sasuke Uchiha curiously.

At the same time, Sasuke didn't know what had possessed him at that second to step forward and push the older teenager away from Ino but he did. He never thought he was one to make such cliché moves or ever really step up to protect a girl because he always assumed whatever girl he liked would be able to protect herself, not that he was saying Ino was incapable…

"Hah, I know you," Takeru had said, successfully breaking Sasuke from his thoughts. "What made you think you ever had the right to kiss or even touch my girlfriend?"

(Ino rolled her eyes.)

Takeru's words didn't even register in Sasuke's head though. Instead, he was trying to figure out where he had seen the senior before …he looked so familiar. "Do I know you?" Sasuke found himself saying.

Takeru huffed and his face began to turn red. "I'm your captain! We're on the same team!" he shouted at the younger teenager. There was an awkward silence between them and when it became apparent that Sasuke hadn't and wouldn't acknowledge anything Takeru had said and it would look foolish to repeat his rhetorical question, he pushed past Sasuke – Sasuke had no idea why he let him do that – and threw a gift bag at Ino, who promptly gasped and fumed at his actions. "Don't ever expect to see me again," he seethed and turned away and walked off.

"That's fine by me," Ino shouted at his departing form, "I didn't want to get STI's from you anyway!"

(Sasuke coughed to conceal his laugh. He earned many looks for it.)

But Ino still wasn't done. She must have been in a middle of a rage fit because she turned around and immediately reached for the visible baseball in the side of Sasuke's duffle bag. (Honestly he didn't even have time to respond.) After she pulled it out, she looked for that retreating form of Takeru's and pulled her arm back before swinging it forward swiftly as if she had practiced it her entire life. And everyone there watched in unison as the ball soared through the air with a speed nobody knew Ino could conjure up in those skinny arms of hers and smacked the center of his retreating back.

He made a sort of unmanly yelp and ungracefully stumbled about before searching the ground with his eyes for the offending object. When his eyes spotted the baseball, he picked it up and looked in the direction of the buffet where his now ex-girlfriend stood, still fuming.

Then he heard something.

"Don't worry; I don't want that ball back!" Sasuke shouted and then lifted his duffle up, gesturing at the entrance of the buffet with his chin. "We should go."

It was a strange afterwards. The girls crowded around Ino, obviously trying to comfort her from her ridiculously fresh breakup and the boys just sort of hovered in the background, all trying their best not to get too tangled in this new volatile situation.

As they all finally followed each other into the buffet for their planned dinner, Sasuke felt a hand grab his arm and when he turned around, he was met with Ino slightly sniffling, small tears welling at the edge of her eyes and a nearly destroyed gift bag in her other hand. "Thanks," she had murmured, and then followed in after everybody.

Sasuke didn't notice that he was the last one standing outside until the man in front of a counter by the door coughed loudly and gestured the way with his hands.

And when he finally sat down and had looked around the table at the many guests invited, he noticed something that was just really fucked up about their group.

It was almost entirely comprised of one long chain of unrequited love.

Kiba held deep affections for Hinata, who only ever had eyes for Naruto. But Naruto never once turned around to return her hopeful gaze; instead he had his set on the pink-haired best friend of Ino Yamanaka fittingly named Sakura, who only ever praised and chased after Sasuke himself. That's where most people would assume the chain would end but due to his latest slip-up, it would seem to be that he himself held more than platonic feelings for Ino. (Which was true but he had no intentions of admitting.) The blonde was never one to stay single for long and combined with old rumors, she was most likely going to go after Shikamaru next, who had a more-than-obvious crush on Gaara's older sister, Temari, but bluntly refused to act upon it in any way because it was too "troublesome". But Temari had an interesting relationship with Kiba. They just got along too well and it was almost suspicious. Then there was Suigetsu that was completely incapable of showing his feelings for Karin, who had an enormous crush on Sasuke that almost put long-term stalkers to shame. And then there was obvious chemistry going on between that trio of Neji, Tenten, and Lee, but nobody knew who was interested in whom.

Damn, it was complicated.

And even …a little sad.

It was spending four years in high school loving someone that never really ever turned around to return the same affection.

O_O

They never really talked to each other after that night but it was obvious that something about the two had changed because, although they didn't greet each other or smile or make any sort of physical contact, the chemistry between them was different.

And it really didn't help that Ino was the baseball team's manager because he found himself taking small peeks at her from the field when he played and even longer peeks when she helped ice his arm after an especially long game. There was more than once when she had caught him staring but said nothing about it. There was one time when she did say something.

"Sasuke, stop," she had whispered as she wrapped the ice pack to his arm tentatively slowly. "Stop staring…"

He did …for a while but looked back at her again when she had finished wrapping his arm and leaned back on her chlorophyll-scraped knees. Then they just sort of stared at each other, not an awkward what-is-happening stare but more of a soul-searching stare. He didn't even know how much time had passed but soon afterwards, he felt her hand cup the side of his face and look at him with sad, blue eyes before saying, "You're a strange one, Sasuke."

Honestly, Sasuke didn't know what she meant, but he didn't say anything as she stood up, brushed her pants, and walked off.

He went to bed that night feeling as if he had done something wrong.

The days following that, Sasuke realized that Ino was a lot more different than how he expected her to be like.

She walked around school with a bright smile on her face and greeted people happily but there would be moments when her smile would falter and her lively eyes seemed to momentarily lose its glow.

And he couldn't remember, was she always like that?

O_O

It was an understatement to say that they "got together" weird. If anything, it was more like an explosion that occurred a month before the end of their junior year, on one of those rare days that there was no baseball practice after school and no homework to do. On days like these, Sasuke planned to savor the sweet moments of silence in the expanse of his home, which he shared with his adoptive father, Kakashi. But of course he was friends with Naruto Uzumaki, and that of course meant that anything he had planned that day was immediately discarded.

He found himself dragged to the local café, where Naruto enthusiastically said Sakura would be and that they were gonna hang out like how they had back in middle school. Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto's words. That boy was simply too naïve.

They were standing right by Sakura's table where things really did blow up. They hadn't heard what the girls were apparently arguing about, but they were there just in time to see Ino turn away from the table, teary-eyed. The second she saw the approaching pair, she immediately ignored Naruto's greeting and made her way to Sasuke. Now, he wasn't one to be manhandled or anything but it must have been the sheer surprise of it all that allowed Ino to drag his head down to her height so that she could plant a small peck on his lips. And as fast as the kiss had lasted, she was bounded for the exit of the café by the time Sasuke had once again composed himself.

"What the –" he heard Naruto wonder out loud.

Yeah. What the fuck was that.

He didn't even know what to do. Should he just casually sit down at their table and resume their "childhood hangout" as planned or chase after his not-so-subtle crush of three continuous years?

Wow.

Was that even a serious question?

Sasuke promptly bolted out of that café. He hadn't heard Sakura get out of her seat to run after him and Naruto shouting at Sakura to stop. He hadn't seen Naruto grab Sakura by the door and turn her around toward him. He hadn't seen Naruto look at Sakura in the eyes and tell her to finally turn around and to only look at him.

He heard about it all afterwards, but at that moment, he was only concerned about the blonde girl that was somehow managing to put an astonishing amount of distance between the two of them, and in booties nonetheless. Eventually, he caught up to her and took her by one of her arms, startled when she screeched and turned around to punch him right smack in the middle of his chest. At first, Sasuke just assumed that it was a reflex to ward off perverts and thugs but when she did it again, her eyes open this time, he realized that it was meant for him and he grabbed at her fists, letting her struggle in his grip.

"What was that kiss about?" he asked. He really wanted and needed to know, even if she wasn't ready to answer.

She huffed and proceeded to beat at him. "Nothing! Don't read too deeply into it!"

His head went blank. He didn't even know how to respond to that. He just released his hold on her to reposition his hands, one on her lower back, just around her waist and the other on her face, brushing back soft strands to expose her other eye before pulling her directly in towards him. And when he took a quick breath and dipped his head down to meet her lips; he noticed the way her hands grew tense and clung onto the soft front of his shirt.

But she responded, and that was all that mattered.

Then she pushed him far, far away, hands tugging at that liquid gold ponytail of hers and running through her fringe nervously, frustratingly. "I hate you!" she shouted and then brought her hands up to her eyes. "I hate you. I hate you," she repeated, this time softly.

And for a while he didn't approach her or even attempt to comfort her in any way. He just stood a few feet away from her, chest heaving up and down as he tried to capture his breath. Then he walked to her, positioning himself right in front of her down-casted head. "Why?"

A part of him told him that it was impossible, the blonde would never have any feelings for him; she was too good for him. Something in him might have even started to hurt at that bit, but he ignored it and waited patiently for an answer even if Ino Yamanaka hating him haunted the rest of his life.

"Why did you have to make me like you?" she whispered and pulled her hand away from her face to create a fist, striking him once more, on the shoulder this time. "You're turning me into a horrible friend. You're supposed to be for Sakura!"

He took the blow with a crooked smile. "I don't want Sakura."

She looked up at him through small tears.

"I only want you."

Ino still didn't respond.

"You're already a good friend to her. You sacrificed a lot, Ino. It's okay to be selfish this one time."

He heard her sniffles die down before her face emerged in the side of his vision, eyes red. "You suck at being romantic, Sasuke," she stated, crossing her arms over her chest. Then she bit her bottom lip. "But I like you too."

There were no words to describe how happy he was at that moment.

O_O

They were one of those couples that just suddenly happened, and that wasn't a bad thing, it just seemed like the entire relationship was contrived overnight. They were aware of the obvious stares in school when they walked each other to class, or held hands, or pecked each other's lips but they ignored their questioning gazes.

At the same time, there was noticeable lapse in Sakura and Ino's relationship, one that made group hangouts awkward and quiet. The two girls that usually spent most of their time together suddenly had too much free time, free time that Sakura used to give Naruto his long-awaited reward and Ino used to get acquainted with her new boyfriend.

Old wounds finally mended on the night everyone decided to go to the local barbeque restaurant to celebrate the baseball team's latest victory at the city competition. Naruto and Sasuke had been the heroes of the game and were named the golden battery because of their impeccable teamwork. In the middle of their dinner, Naruto had made the announcement that he and Sakura were finally going out, to which roars and shouts of congratulations were thrown into the air because everyone knew Naruto had been crushing on Sakura since the very moment he had laid eyes on her. Sakura gave a small smile that showed she was happy but by the way her eyes flickered over to Sasuke and Ino's forms, Ino knew that she still wasn't over the dark-haired male. Maybe it was her fault for always cheering Sakura on. Sakura just wasn't content with plan B.

By the end of the night, before Sasuke could offer going home with her, Ino caught Sakura by the arm, asking her a question that had been hanging over their heads like thunderclouds, threatening to rain down on any semblance of happiness.

Sasuke had heard bits of it from around the corner.

"Sakura, are you okay with me and Sasuke?" He heard Ino ask.

"Yeah, of course. I shouldn't have asked you for support on a boy you were already crushing on."

It must have also sounded hostile to Ino as well because her tone suddenly turned sharp and stingy. "You don't have to say it like that, Saku. I supported you for years, you know that."

"Then why are you the one with Sasuke?"

Ino made a huff that sounded like disbelief. "It's not my fault that I like him."

"Well, I love him. I deserve him more."

"That might be, Sakura, but the difference is he likes me back," Ino snapped. Then she sighed loudly. "Sakura, I really don't want things between us to be different. He's just a boy. We've been friends since we were kids. Please don't do this. You asked me what would make me happy and well …a chance with him makes me happy."

Here, he decided was a pretty damn good time to stop eavesdropping. This was obviously some stuff she didn't want him to hear.

And because he aimed to be a good boyfriend, he stopped and wandered off back to the dinner table, where he realized that that eternal "one long chain of unrequited love" was beginning to break at parts. He wasn't like Naruto. He didn't hold on dearly to all of those bonds Naruto called friendship close to his heart. He didn't plan on still hanging out with them ten years in the future and having their same celebratory dinners or sporadic adventures on weekends or free days. So he found it strange when it hurt a little inside knowing all of the unrequited love being returned meant separating, even a little bit.

It couldn't possibly be because he was growing an attachment to this group, was it?

He internally scoffed.

That was nonsense.

"Sasuke?" A hand with pastel blue nails landed on his shoulder.

"Hm?" He turned around to see Ino, eyes dry but not the same clear blue she usually had. He took her by the hand and entwined their fingers. "Going home?" he asked.

"Uhm," she hummed, and then leaned onto him, not for stability, but more for comfort.

He tugged at her fingers in an attempt to get her attention. "Not going to say goodbye to everybody?"

She shook her head slowly. "Nah."

"Then I'll walk you home," he stated, tugging at her hand and leading the way.

"Aight," he heard her whisper in return.

It felt like one of those spring nights that made people think summer had already arrived. It was cool and breezy; certainly not the type that caused little goose bumps to rise from the skin or flip anyone's skirt. It was enough to hug legs and brush through hair. The wind was like a third companion, carrying small flits of noise and scents from all over the city and to their ears and noses.

During the majority of the celebration, when she was in the presence of many other people, Ino was just a lively creature, fluttering from one conversation to another, always smiling and laughing. She thrived off social activities and yet, she was the quietest thing when she was around him. And despite …liking her and knowing she liked him back, he couldn't but feel like he was dampening on her happiness.

And he really had to ask because most girls were easy to read and easy to please but Ino was another enigma and near damn impossible to understand.

"Is our relationship ruining your life?" he asked.

"Huh?" Ino looked up at him, wide blue eyes contrasting against the light blonde of her hair. "Why would you ever say that?"

"You're quiet."

She laughed and then waved her hand in the air in a random gesture. "No, no. There're just other things on my mind."

He didn't even try to hide it. "Like that fight with Sakura?"

She pulled away from him quickly and slapped his shoulder. It sort of hurt. "You're shameless, you know that?!" She sped up ahead of him, footsteps light and playful. "What …did you hear?"

"Nothing much," he shrugged and then took a few long steps to stand by her once more. "I stopped when you told her you didn't want to argue."

"Hm," she just hummed. It seemed like she was satisfied with his answer. Then she latched onto his arm once more, leaning in so close that her cheek touched his shoulder. "Just so you know, Sasuke," she began, her footsteps slowing down. "I'm happiest when I'm with you. Even if I'm quiet." Here she turned around and patted his cheek affectionately. "Alright, you big baby?"

Sasuke couldn't help but smile and take the nickname. He didn't really mind.

The two spent the rest of the walk to her house just like that.

Quiet.

Content.

When they had finally arrived at the front of her house, she pulled away from him and gave a sweet smile.

(Honestly, it made his insides queasy, not that he would ever admit it.)

His obsidian eyes flickered back to her face when she opened her mouth to say her goodbyes, but before any interpretable sounds could make their way out, the door slammed open and an indistinguishable blur engulfed Ino. He's momentarily stunned and decided on not assaulting this blur. Only because Ino wasn't screaming like a banshee.

Instead, it was the blur that screamed like a banshee. "Oh my gosh, MY BABY SISTER," the person shouted into the dead of the night. "WHERE WERE YOU? NO PHONE CALL. NO NUTHIN'." The person waved their hands in the air like a madman.

He heard Ino's distinctively melodic giggle. "I thought you weren't coming back until tomorrow night, Deidara."

Oh, so that person was a dude.

Hmph, no one could tell right off the bat.

"I came back early, was worried about you," the stranger replied.

"Yeah sure," she muttered. Then she rubbed her eyes. "Are you trying to sport a man-bun?"

"Uh, yeah. Sasori wanted to see if I look good in it." Then he struck a ridiculous pose, modeling. "How do I look?"

"Absolutely ridiculous." She reached a hand behind his head, snapped the hair band, and casted it to the side. "Don't ever do that again."

"Deidara, who's at the door?" a new voice asked.

(Sasuke just wanted to say goodnight. Was that so hard? What was with all these people spilling out of one house?)

"It's Ino!" Deidara called back and then he tried to tug her by the arm inside. "Leggo."

She pulled her arm back and then chuckled awkwardly before stepping towards Sasuke, taking his hand. "Um, Deidara. I'll come in a bit, okay?"

Sasuke noticed the way Deidara's eyes scanned from Ino to her hand, to his hand, and finally to his face. A scowl immediately appeared when they made eye contact. "Who's he?" Deidara grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sasuke tried to give a smile. He tried. But he really wasn't the smiling type.

"This," Ino chirped, wrapping her arms around him. "Is my boyfriend, Deidara. His name is Sasuke. Isn't he a cutie?" she asked, tapping the tip of Sasuke's nose, her face erupting with a smile when he pulled away from her touch.

"Boyfriend?" the mysterious voice from before parroted.

That was weird. Ino tensed in his arms.

Then she spun around to look at him and patted his cheek, pecking him on the lips lightly, quickly. "Okay, oopsies. Thanks for walking me home, Sasuke! Bye!" she spitted out, her words stringing together too quickly. Then she turned him around and away, and shoved him, hard.

He should have taken the hint and gotten out of there, but nope.

As he took his first step away from the house, a shiver eerily crawled up his spine, one that made him turn around, searching for the predator that dare to prey on him. It didn't take long to realize that it was the horrifyingly scarred man by the doorway eyeing him with protective ferociousness over the female blonde nearby. He looked like he could have gotten a profession just scaring people.

(He would later learn that the man did indeed do that. That man's name was Ibiki. He worked with the police and was actually well known for scaring information out of people.)

Sasuke only did get out of there because Ino had looked at him with wide, blue eyes and lipped "Go".

And he turned his back, feeling suddenly very insecure with …everything and he couldn't quite figure out why.

He returned home late that night after deciding to walk the entire way.

His adoptive father was surprisingly not talkative that night and had barely spared Sasuke a glance as he entered the house, choosing to grunt at the teenager instead. The silver-haired man sat still by the kitchen counter, high on a stool, eyes very attached to one of the many pieces of paper scattered about on top. The kitchen counter was barely ever used for its real purpose, not ever since Kakashi got a new job in some law thing (Sasuke didn't quite care).

Sasuke took that grunt and shot it right back at his older brother on the couch, overwhelmed by a great number of textbooks.

His brother looked up, gave the slightest of smiles, and said, "Welcome home, Sasuke."

Sasuke found himself nodding his head in response as he made his way back to his room. As he arrived to the wooden door of his bedroom, he heard Kakashi call for him from the kitchen counter. "Do you need me to heat up anything?"

"No," Sasuke replied back calmly. He knew Kakashi would hear him. That man had sharp ears.

"Hm. Alright."

Sasuke paid him no heed as he went through his drawers for a pair of boxers and sweatpants. He just really wanted to take a shower and go to bed. Socializing always did make him tired, especially when he was surrounded by heaps of hyperactive idiots – namely Naruto, Kiba, and Lee.

Speaking of Naruto, good for him for finally getting Sakura. He must have waited eons for that girl, only ever praising and complimenting her, never at another. Personally, Sasuke preferred Ino to her pink-haired companion but for obvious reason.

"Did you have a good time out celebrating, Sasuke?" Itachi poked his head into his room.

He hummed agreeably in response and lifted a pair of sweatpants out of one of his drawers. "Yeah," he muttered, and then headed for the bathroom, effectively ending the rest of the conversation without saying so.

When he returned from his shower with his skin still moist and damp from the steam flooding out of the bathroom, his eyes caught his cell phone blinking aggressively and vibrating soundlessly on top of his bed as it signaled an incoming call. A picture that Ino had taken of herself on flickered on his screen and he picked up the phone with one hand, mindlessly swiping a finger across the screen.

"Ino?" He asked, holding the phone to his ear and settling himself on the bed.

"Hey, Sasuke." There was a pause. "Um …sorry about Ibiki. He's just protective."

A chuckle left his lips. "I can tell." She made a sort of 'hm' sound on the other end that led to a comfortable silence between the two.

From his end, he could hear Ino moving around – probably around her room. It wasn't completely unusual for the pair to have such quiet conversations. If Ino wasn't feeling particularly chatty, which was usually how she was feeling around Sasuke, they exchanged brief conversations and cuddled.

(That last part he would never admit he enjoyed.)

"Hey, Sasuke," she started.

"Yeah?"

"Let's hang out tomorrow."

"Sure," he said and then paused. "Come over. It's hot out tomorrow. We can marathon something."

"Hmm…"

"I'll run out early to buy you your favorite ice-cream."

"Done. Imma be there eleven o'clock sharp," she speedily said.

Then he heard someone calling for her in the background and Ino sucking the back of her teeth in disappointment. "I gotta go, Sasuke." She made a smooching sound. "See you tomorrow! Goodnight!"

"Yeah …Goodnight, Ino." He heard another smooch before the line went dead.

His cell phone was already growing quite warm by then so he moved it away from his face and laid it face down on his nightstand, eyes scanning over a photograph of four, two children, two adults, all dark-haired. He picked it up, just staring for a few seconds before a familiar voice brought him back to reality.

"Miss Mom and Dad?" he heard Itachi say.

"A little. Sometimes," Sasuke muttered and then placed the photograph back in its rightful spot. Then he threw his blankets a bit to the side to make enough space for him to hole into.

"Night," he grumbled.

To anyone who would listen.

He didn't dream that night and he was woken up by the bright light of the beaming, scorching, sun the next day. Surprisingly, the air conditioner had magically turned on during the middle of the night, courtesy of his adoptive father and was working its glorious witchcraft at the moment in the middle of June.

Sasuke got up grudgingly, knowing that Ino was one to arrive early, and took many slow, steady, steps to the bathroom.

He was in the middle of brushing his teeth when the doorbell rang four times in short bursts.

That was definitely Ino.

Surprisingly so, he heard the door open and shut by itself.

Still somewhat half-asleep and curious, he stumbled down the stairs ungracefully to see a new maid mopping the floors and Ino taking off her shoes by the door. She was wearing a tank-top that hung over her breasts and ended just slightly above her belly button. Her shorts hugged her hips and clung to the arch formed from her sloping back and perfect butt cheeks – not that he was staring or anything, but it wasn't like he wasn't allowed to; they were dating.

She was struggling with the shoelaces on her right sneaker when she noticed him, azure eyes brightening and a smile sweeping across her face. "Hey, Sasuke!" With her blonde hair tied back in high ponytail jumping as excitingly as she did, she stumbled out of her remaining shoe, giggling childishly so.

He caught her in his arms and turned away, an arm coming up to cover his mouth as another yawn floated out of his mouth.

"Tired, still?" she asked and then tiptoed just slightly to peck his cheek.

"Yeah," he replied and then grabbed one of her hands, tugging her up the stairs. "Room."

He hadn't seen her expression but by the way her hand was suddenly so tight around his and her feet were digging into the soft, plush carpets of the living room, it suggested that she wasn't too excited about the idea. "What, why? The TV is in the living room," she had asked, her voice shaking. He couldn't tell if it was from fear or uncertainty. When Ino followed along up several more steps without receiving a response, she yanked her hand back. "Sasuke, answer me."

Sighing loudly, he turned around and rubbed his eyes. "Ino, I'm still tired. I'm going back to bed," he muttered. Then, "You can join me." And without waiting for a reply, he continued up his stairs, alone this time.

"Just to sleep? Nothing …more than that, right?"

He sighed once more at the top of the staircase. "I'm not going to pressure you into sex, Ino."

Sasuke didn't hear her walk up the stairs. He really didn't. But the next thing he knew, it was her hand resting on the doorknob to his room. It was her hand pushing in and her feet walking around and her fingers touching his things.

He didn't really mind all that.

O_O

"You guys are really dating?"

"When are you two going to break up?"

They always sort of heard those types of questions, those types of questions that always pondered on the longevity of their relationship.

They just kind of ignored it but it was no secret that everyone had at one time repeated the same question or something similar in their heads.

The pair just sort of …muted each other and everyone, including their close friends, questioned the "realness" of their relationship.

It became obvious to everyone one day how just blindly in love they were in late august, just before their senior year of school. It was one of the cloudier days and was thus the perfect picnic day.

And it was most certainly an embarrassing day to remember for Ino.

Ino had somehow – she wouldn't tell how – gotten stuck up in a tree, and like a cat, was much too afraid to jump back down.

Sasuke found himself escorted by Temari, Shikamaru's girlfriend, to the tree on the top of a hill. He sort of just stood there, waiting for answers for a few seconds before he heard the yelp from above. He had turned his head up, a small smile erupting on his face when he noticed his girlfriend's blonde ponytail poking out from between the branches. "Sasuke, help!" he had heard her shout.

"How did you even get up that high?"

The branches rattled. "I don't wanna talk about it!"

On the grass, Temari snickered.

It must have been her doing.

"Aight," he had muttered, and then stood beneath her position on top of the branches, arm stretched up. "Jump."

"What! Are you craz – NO!" She was sort of screaming by then, hysterical.

"Just trust me a little, would you?" He found himself asking, and then he held his arms out to the side. "Come on, jump."

Then he was momentarily showered with falling leafs as Ino repositioned herself on top of the branches, whimpering as she did so. "I trust you," she called out, feet finally dangling in his view. "So don't drop me!"

That should have been his warning. He should have been paying more attention to her words because the next thing he knew, a pair of smooth legs had winded themselves around his hips and he was tumbling around on what he could only assume was grass. The blue of the sky blended with the blue of Ino's eyes and whatever rays of sunlight bright enough to penetrate through the mass of fluffy clouds melted with the platinum-blonde of her hair.

By the time he had finally halted to a stop, his vision was blurred by the osmosis of various colors trying to settle themselves back into their proper positions. A darker shadow loomed over him, tickling his chin as the shadow shifted to and fro. He plucked it off his chin, slowly realizing that it was Ino's swaying ponytail as she hovered over him, screaming.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, are you alright?" she shouted, hitting his chest with the flat of her palm, hoping to excite a response out of his shaken state.

He blinked several times, watching slightly amused as colors swirled about even more before forming an image of Ino. Her ponytail was over her shoulder, the cause of that itch on the tip of his chin, and her usual blue eyes were wide and teary. She looked like she was panicking and he didn't quite know why that made him laugh, but he did.

Like a switch had been clicked, Ino immediately stopped her bawling and looked at him, incredulously. "Why are you laughing?!" She did not receive a response and slapped him hard on the chest once more. "This isn't funny! I thought you were going to die!"

Propping himself up with one elbow, Sasuke rested another hand on her cheek, smiling gently. "I'm fine, Ino," he muttered, softly, affectionately, and then brushed her bangs back behind an ear. "I told you to trust me, didn't I?"

"Well yeah, but –" she argued, then stood up quickly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Blah, Sasuke. You do stupid things."

"You like that about me," he responded, shrugging his shoulders.

To this, she just huffed and stomped off.

It was undeniably adorable, and he let her have her way until noon, when the shame of being stuck on top of a tree had already dissipated and the only thing everybody was concerned about, food.

As they snacked and drank and chatted and talked, Sakura and Tenten approached the round, wooden table, apparently just arriving, and threw an almost overwhelming amount of photographs onto the table. "Have fun and fight," Tenten had monotonously announced and then took a seat on Neji's lap, whom was glaring at a tattooed brunette and his dog charm his younger cousin. Tenten had patted his cheek as she sat down and said, "I'm here so stop staring at them."

Ino had smiled at their interaction, something Sasuke noticed, and then proceeded to probe through the photographs along with the rest of the group, squealing excitedly whenever her eyes came across a "fab pic".

"Dayum, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted not too soon after and held a photograph up so that anyone that bothered to amuse the blonde could see the same. "Lookin' man hot modeling like that!" he said, and then he pressed the photograph to his chest before nearly slapping his forehead with the back of his hand and fanning himself with the other. "It's too much for me."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his best friend's behavior. Typical Naruto.

Then the blonde stopped his theatrical pose and slid the photograph across the table and toward pair sitting together at the table, winking as he did so. "Here, Ino. You can keep this."

Ino peeked at Naruto from threw her long lashes and plucked the photograph off the table. "Thanks, Naruto. You're so considerate."

What she did next really did surprise him.

She flipped her long blonde hair over one shoulder, peeked at him with a lone blue eye, and nudged him slightly. " 'Cause only I can appreciate his body to the fullest."

It was probably the first time Ino had suggested something sexual to him.

(His mind really did wander madly from that night onward.)

O_O

"Neh Sasuke, why do you like me?" Ino suddenly asked.

The question took Sasuke by surprise but he didn't shift from his position lying down. Instead, he pulled his hand off from over his eyes and watched as the blur slowly sharpened to create an image of Ino hovering over him, her eyes blue and wide, full of curiosity. Her stare was intense, and he pulled his head off of her lap, sitting himself up moments later.

He ran a hand through his mussed hair. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

He made a sound from the back of the throat in acknowledgment and said nothing further.

There was a moment of contemplative silence. Then, "Fine, I'll go first!" Ino shouted enthusiastically and then stretched forward for one of his many pillows on top of his navy sheets and proceeded to hug the life out of it. "Okay, first off. You're literally so cute."

Sasuke pulled away from her and raised an eyebrow. "Wha—"

"Hold up," Ino had said, holding up a hand. "Don't interrupt me. Lemme explain. You have such a natural cool-guy face that everyone just immediately stays away from you and assumes you know what you're doing. But the truth is, you're clueless." She stopped abruptly to look at the expression on Sasuke's face. "Don't look at me like that. I meant not in a you're-a-retard-clueless way. I meant that as in you're always busy looking at something else, maybe even a little distracted so when someone returns you to the situation at hand, you're just so clueless."

At this, he frowned. "What?"

She smiled at him and then affectionately patted a cheek. "I think it's cute, Sasuke. I like that."

"I'm not quite sure I like that myself."

"Nonsense!" she said, and then poked one of his cheeks. "And you have dimples when you smile!" The blonde clapped her hands gleefully in spot, blonde locks bouncing. "When you smile, it's literally the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I just internally gush, and oh my god – stop smiling now, Sasuke."

And surprisingly, he sort of did.

The smile melted off his face, dimples and all, until it was nothing more than his lips frozen in its natural expression.

Then he spoke.

"I don't know."

"Huh, know what?" Ino began running her fingers through his hair, rubbing at his scalp.

"I don't really know why I like you." Her eyebrows raised and he looked away, maybe feeling a little ashamed at his lack of a proper response.

"The first time I saw you, I just thought you were …perfect."

It really made his heart pump having to admit something like that.

O_O

Senior year went relatively smoothly for the pair. The earlier portion of the school year was generally filled with the mass panic and hysteria of the seniors as application due dates crept closer and closer.

Personally, Sasuke did not find this in any way troubling. He had his shit under control and knowing the meticulous and controlling person Ino was, she too had her shit together. The topic of college had also already been sealed and thrown on top of the table several months before applications were due too so their relationship was in no way frenzied by the craze of the graduating students.

They were to follow their own separate routes but attempt to maintain their relationship.

(And knowing the two, they both sort of knew that the relationship would work out well, regardless of distance.)

She was the first one to probe at the inevitable topic one day at his house. (Because that scary man was always over at hers when he went over and he really just didn't like the look that scary man gave him.) He had shrugged and said something along the lines of "whatever you want. I don't mind." That was when she had looked at him with the sad eyes of hers (they were looking less and less sad lately, but still pretty darn gloomy) and said that they should do whatever they wanted, throwing his words back at him.

"But – I mean, I don't want us to end. We could try to make it work – "

"Yeah, I get it, Ino. Long distance," he had said, and that was sort of the end of it all. The discussion about the future of their relationship was essentially over. They were both satisfied with the answer. "We'll try to make it work right, no matter the distance?" Sasuke couldn't help himself asking, reaching over for her hand.

Ino made a small hum and turned away from the television screen. "Yeah," she whispered, and then watched, eyes endearing as Sasuke gently lifted her free hand and raised it to his lips, brushing them with the back of her hand. "You're too perfect to me." And Sasuke looked up at her, a little surprised when she swung a leg over his hips, straddling him. His hands instinctively moved up to her hips, one slipped into the waistband of her thin leggings while another came up to sneak underneath her shirt, cherishing the curve of her waist.

He could only remember the discussion so well because the beautiful images of Ino sweaty and withering in pleasure with her body twisted in glorious positions underneath him afterwards were so clearly embed in his mind.

A few days after that, the topic of their future probed at him once more and he found himself asking her more questions as they walked home together after school. "Ino, you never told me what you wanted to be," he simply stated, edging her on.

"Hm, what I wanted to be?" She pulled her hand away from his and began to dance a little further ahead. "I'm not too sure," she said, mid-spin. "I'm not too sure on what I wanna be but I know I want to help people." She stopped spinning and smiled brightly at him. "What about you?"

He shrugged and began to take smaller steps. "I don't know. Maybe I'll go to law school like my father."

Ino stopped walking, giving Sasuke enough time to catch up with her and grab her hand once more. "You know, I've never met your father …and we've been dating for a while now."

"He comes home late. Work."

"Oh, okay. It's just that I spend a lot of time at your house and I never see him."

Their first meeting was a disaster, well Sasuke thought it was anyway. They were both too snide and he found himself too often a victim to one of their offhand comments. It was strange; he had never felt more insulted and complimented ever. But it was a success nonetheless and he found his adoptive father at home more often, especially when Ino was around, inviting his own guests and whatnot.

It was really weird.

Meeting Ino's father was even worse. The man was outrageously scary, like on a completely different level. And it was for the miraculous five minutes it took for Ino to change her clothes. The man was bald – not a speck of blonde on him – and very, very scarred. It was an absolute nightmare meeting him. He looked like a creature out of horror movies.

The day after, Ino had looped an arm around his after practice had end. "You know he's not my real father right?"

"Oh?" He was surprised.

"Um …yeah. He's our adoptive father – me and Deidara, I mean. Ibiki, – that's his name - has been looking after us since we were five or six and …he really didn't mind being our guardians. He's just really overprotective." Then she laughed. "If you see him, just smile and wave. If you don't do something about it now, he'll just torment you for the rest of your life."

"I'll remember that," he said, giving her one of his rare smiles. She smiled back, momentarily, and then turned away. The smile melted off his face and he kicked a small pebble on the sidewalk. "Kakashi isn't my real father."

"Well, I figured."

He looked at her.

She returned a crooked smile. "Sasuke, there are pictures in your room." Then her voice dropped to a seductive whisper, "and we know how much time I spend there." Something in his face must have changed because not too soon after, she was hitting his chest playfully and laughing. "You're cute, Sasuke. You're cute."

He kept silent.

(He really didn't know what was happening.)

"I remember seeing a photograph of four on your desk. You were holding this stuffed, green dinosaur and your family was behind you, smiling. It was really, really adorable."

He sort of felt like blushing. No one had ever gushed and cooed at him like that in front of him. Ever.

The rest of the walk to Ino's house was relatively quiet, mostly Ino just happily humming and skipping.

He wasn't cute. She was. And she was also beautiful and enchanting and so, so captivating.

That must have been the reason why he didn't realize that the walk to her house was over until Ino was stiffly squeezing his shoulder and saying her goodbyes, without a kiss. That was strange. She always said her goodbyes with a kiss. He looked at her back as she hurried away to her door, mildly confused. All his questions were answered not too soon afterwards when she disappeared behind that door and reappeared a few seconds later by a window, shouting something incomprehensible at the bald man. The man, who had his hands on the curtains, looked immensely flustered the very second Ino had walked over to him, pulling at the very same curtains.

From afar, Sasuke snorted and coughed quickly afterwards to conceal it.

Ibiki's head snapped in his direction.

That man and his vulture hearing, how did he even hear that?

But he had Ibiki's attention and what had Ino told him to do? That was right.

He gave Ibiki a smile and a wave before he turned away, ignoring the way Ibiki was trying to make his head explode with his eyes.

After that, Sasuke's life was good for several more months. Everyone was suddenly very focused on that one last semester of picking up their grades and he was no exception. He wanted to look like good shit on paper. And when acceptance letters came, he was happy and satisfied. By the way Ino was jumping and screaming and dancing and just flat out being loud, Sasuke could tell that she too was pleased with the results.

But his turn immediately made a turn for the worst when he woke up one afternoon alone. That was weird; he could have sworn Ino had come home with him afterschool to fool around or whatever. Where was she?

She wasn't anywhere around.

Neither was his father.

Itachi was nowhere to be seen either.

Huh, that was weird.

He rarely woke up alone at home. If Kakashi wasn't around, Itachi was always around. Where had they both gone today?

And he couldn't make contact with Ino for a couple of days. What was up with that?

Sasuke didn't find an answer to that question until nearly a month later, in June, when they were all ready to leave high school and become freshmen once again in the next big step of their lives. College. He felt that he was ready for that life, a life in college, still studying hard, still with the whole gang, and still with Ino.

If it wasn't offensive to think so, he would think, yes, he could indeed die happy then and there.

But anyway, the two of them, Ino and him, were at his house, doing the usual couple stuff like cuddling, and just being themselves. It would have been any other day too if it hadn't been for the news Ino had sporadically thrown at him when he was comfortably lying on the couch.

"Um, Sasuke, hey." She had tugged on the bottom of his shirt and he lifted his head up from the armrest of the sofa to look at her.

"Hm?"

"So …you know how condoms aren't always protective?"

His brain: uhhh…

"I'm pregnant, Sasuke. I found out a few days ago …what should we do?"

"Whoa now." Sasuke eyes looked over Ino's shoulder and to the door, where his older brother stood. When did Itachi get home and how did he manage to get up to his room without him noticing? But this was Itachi. Itachi was always doing things like that. He expected that. What he wasn't expecting was the gun his older brother held in his hands, barrel held out in Ino's direction. "Can you believe this girl, Sasuke? She's trying to ruin you," his brother said.

"What?" he replied.

Ino had visibly winced. "Something must have happened …I'm pregnant." Her bottom lip was beginning to quiver.

Itachi waved the gun around as if he couldn't believe Ino's words. "You couldn't have possibly seen that coming, Sasuke. She's going to ruin you with that child. You won't get far." Then he repositioned the barrel in Ino's direction.

"Itachi, don't," Sasuke found himself saying, eyes focused on his brother.

In front of him, Ino's eyebrows furrowed. "Itachi?"

He heard Itachi cock the gun, a small click that sent his heart racing and before he could really think it through, he had thrown his full weight onto his girlfriend, pushing her off the bed and out of the way as the sound of bullets firing echoed in his bedroom. She gave a loud scream right as she slammed into the nearby body mirror, scattering pieces of broken glass all over for the floor like little diamonds. It had cut skin too and blood was beginning to spill. And despite how much everything looked like it hurt, she pushed the backing of the body mirror off her body, struggling to her knees.

"Sasuke, what the hell is wrong with you?" she had asked, large pieces of glass sticking to the back of her hand from when she had tried to break the fall. She looked like she was going to cry too, more heavily so.

But was this woman crazy? Did she not see the man holding the gun in her direction?

"Ino, don't you see Itachi?" He asked, pointing somewhere vaguely behind him.

There was no pause. She cried and pulled one of the larger glass pieces out of the back of her hand, casting it aside with more force than necessary before screaming, "There's nobody there, Sasuke!" Her chest was rising noticeably, from the adrenaline or the anger, he wasn't quite so sure.

His heart clenched and he looked down at his hand, which was balled up tight. Did he do something wrong? He was …only protecting her.

"I…" His eyes flickered back up to her. "I-I'm leaving," Ino whispered and then turned to the door, pushing pass Itachi without much acknowledgement and leaving a streak of her blood on his door knob. "I can't be here anymore."

And he let her go because he hadn't known what to do or what he had done wrong.

And it was so strange; it was like that incident a month ago in May when he had woken up alone. He didn't find his father and he couldn't make any contact with Ino, and he was trying so hard to too. He needed to apologize, even if he didn't know what he did wrong.

He couldn't even find her during their graduation. He only saw wisps of her fleeting form.

When did their relationship dwindle down to that?

Then, a night after his graduation, the doorbell rang in the middle of the night. Kakashi wasn't home, so he had answered the door, meeting face-to-face with the same pretty blonde hair and blue eyes that had once made him feel all sorts of things he hadn't thought was possible.

She had been the first to speak. "Ah, Sasuke …" She looked down at the thing in her arms and Sasuke's eyes subsequently followed along her face, studying every feature, down her neck, remembering every curvature, over her chest, refreshing the memories, and then to the box. The box in her hands.

Why was there a box? What was in it?

He peeked.

It was his clothes, all their pictures together, and …everything that held history.

What was all this?

Then she shoved the box in his arms and turned around. Instinctively, his arm reached out to grab her. "Ino, wait."

She spun around and slapped his hand off her, never once looking at his face. Instead, she kept her head low. "Sasuke, remember that time when we talked about why we like each other?" Stiffly, he nodded. She must have known that he did because she continued on, "Well, for a long time, longer than I could remember, I was sad. So sad that you could even say I was …depressed. And I would go around, continue life as if it wasn't affecting me, always smiling, always laughing, and just trying really hard to be the same happy me everyone knew." He noticed now that she was going to cry and he didn't know what to do. "But you were different than the rest of them. You didn't expect me to be happy and bubbly all the time and you were okay with me being sad and quiet because that was how I was feeling. You didn't react when I stopped pretending. You didn't mind all that, Sasuke, you just hugged me closer and tighter. And that's why, Sasuke. That's why I love you."

Then she looked at him straight in the eye with those teary blue eyes of hers in a way that made him want to drop to his knees and beg for her not to leave him.

And he reached out for her hand once more. "Ino—"

But she pulled away again. "So Sasuke, don't …think I never loved you after all this."

"Ino, we don't have to do this then."

Her shoulders hunched and she shook her head. "Sasuke, I know we don't. It's just better if we do. You don't even know how much you've hurt me. "

He suddenly felt stiff, like he was forgetting something very important. "What, what did I do?"

Then her body froze up and she bought a fist up under her mouth as if she was afraid to speak about it. "Sasuke, remember when I came over to your house in May …and you woke up and I wasn't there?" Here, he nodded.

Yes of course he remembered that, he never understood that.

"It's because the day before…we were …getting busy, you know," she said and waved her hand in the air nonchalantly as a substitute for their activities before staring back down at the box. "And you …you suddenly got too rough. Like, sometimes it's alright to be a little rough. It's fun, but this time, you weren't you. I told you to stop. I screamed at you to stop. A lot. But you didn't, Sasuke, it hurt so, so, so much. Kakashi had to come home early and tear you off me because I couldn't get you to stop myself. I was so scared. I didn't know what was going on …and then a week later, when I missed my period, I …found out I was pregnant." Then she looked at him. "I avoided you for a while …because I was scared. I didn't know what to do, keep it or …? But eventually, I came to you and I told you. Then that," she kicked the side of the door, frustrated. "That happened, I lost the baby probably because of natural causes, not you, and then I find out that, Sasuke," and then she looked up at him with sad, sad eyes, "schizoaffective disorder runs in your family."

He kept silent. He was still processing everything himself. Who told her that?

Then she dropped the answer. "Kakashi. Kakashi told me about it. And Sasuke, my dad had schizophrenia. I never told you because I never wanted to talk about it. The medication was affecting how he was taking care of us and …he decided not to take it. Psychosis got him in a mess." She paused and looked down at her fingers. "So Sasuke, if you really did see Itachi that day you need to see a doctor but I won't stay around to see you through everything."

"Come on," he said trying to sound playful, "Ino, I was just joking the other day." He grabbed at her arm, successfully this time.

It was a horrible lie.

Ino smiled at him even though he knew her heart was breaking inside. "You're a horrible liar, Sasuke," she said, running a hand up along the side of his cheek. Then it dropped to her side. "But I'm sorry for being so selfish. I don't want to see someone I love suffer and wither away like that again, Sasuke." Her voice was cracking. "I don't want to see it again."

Then she turned away and pulled her arm free. He could tell in her step that she was ready to leave him.

He wasn't ready though.

He jumped forward and dropped the box, hopping over it when it landed in complete chaos. Damn, even the box was trying to get in his way. Then he grabbed her, spun her around, and held her tight against his chest, ignoring the growing wetness on his shirt where her face met his body.

"Ino, don't. I've lost a lot of things in life already. Please don't –"

"Just stop, Sasuke," she murmured but hugged him tightly back nonetheless. Then she pushed him away and took one long look at him. "I don't want to live like this," she muttered, and then reached two hands up to the back of her neck, unclasping a silver necklace.

No.

She held her hand out, the necklace dangling from her fingers.

"Sasuke, we might kill each other before we notice," she said, tilting the necklace towards his hands.

He didn't move at all.

That's when she grabbed his hand and shoved the dainty necklace into his hand, covering it with his fingers and making a fist. "Just know, Sasuke. I'm grateful because when I'm with you, killing myself didn't seem like the only option. You helped me with that, you helped me with …everything. I'm sorry for being so selfish and I hope that …you could forgive me one day."

Then she turned and this time, she really did leave.

She didn't look back.

It would have hurt more.

So he didn't look at her.

He just stared at the last thing she had returned to him.

He remembered when he had given it to her. It was in their senior year, around her birthday. He had found a job that year and had decided to spend his first few paychecks on her because, back then at least, she was his world. He had walked into that jewelry store completely clueless but after nearly an hour, he had walked out satisfied with a little sapphire ring in the shade of her eyes.

He was confident that it would fit her.

She had gasped excitedly after seeing the box and started squealing after seeing the ring.

But pouted after realizing that it didn't fit her.

He had offered to return it and everything but she had smiled, strung it onto a dainty, silver chain, patted his cheek, and said that it was alright. It was a story she would love to tell others. That Sasuke Uchiha didn't know what her ring size was.

He hadn't notice the sun set and the skies turn dark. His only indicator that time had passed was when his father had tapped his shoulder, swung the door open wide, and tilted his head toward it. "It's late," Kakashi had said, "Come in."

Sasuke grunted and then let the necklace slip from his fingers and into the nearby box, slowly, quietly. And when it had dropped in with a soft metallic clink, he held up the entire box, feeling a little bit more empty and lost.

Then he walked back into the house, box in hands, and kicked the door shut behind him.

"Wipe your face, Sasuke," he heard Kakashi mutter lowly.

And he did, with the back of his hand and made way for his room with the box.

But then he stopped at the very top because he heard Kakashi speak.

"We'll see the doctor tomorrow."

He kept quiet.

No point protesting.

Everyone did say they weren't going to last.

Me: There may or may not be a sequel. Okay there's definitely going to be a sequel. I just don't know when.