Chapter 13: You are always on my mind

Present

It took Ino almost an hour to calm down the blubbering, babbling girl in her arms before she could bring her back to where her stuff was at the lake. Shikamaru and Choji had offered to help, but Ino had gently waved them off saying that she could handle this herself. As she wiped Sakura's face with her beach towel, Ino couldn't help but be enchanted. Even with eyes red-rimmed and puffy from crying, Sakura was still beautiful.

"Stop touching me, Pig," Sakura growled. She didn't mean to be abrupt, but she was so ashamed. Attacking Tenten like that had been out of line. Then Ino had appeared out of nowhere and God, that bikini. She was pretty sure that the combined mass of the red strips of fabric would have been enough to make an eye patch. Her emotions were so raw and they kept flip-flopping between intense arousal at the body leaning over her and jealousy that Ino's teammates got to see her in this outfit before Sakura.

Ino leaned back on her haunches, miffed before impulsively leaning forward and placing a quick kiss on Sakura's lips. Blue eyes never wavering from green, Ino deftly caught Sakura's right hand as it tried to slap her face. 'Uh uh," she taunted before gently bringing the hand to her lips, nibbling and sucking on Sakura's open palm. "I'm getting utterly bored with you trying to hit me all the time."

Groaning softly, Sakura tried to bring up her other hand to push Ino off of her, but her limbs felt heavy and wouldn't obey commands. Ino leaned forward even more until she was stretched over Sakura. Satisfied that she wasn't going to be tossed aside like a rag doll into the lake anytime soon, Ino continued speaking. "You know, I think what all of this boils down to is trust."

"Huh wha…?" Sakura managed to mumble, lulled into a heady state by the nearness of Ino's body and the amazing things she was doing to her hand.

"Don't interrupt. I've thought about this all week and what you were screaming earlier just confirms it."

"I wasn't…"

"Half the town heard you," Ino interrupted, her face turning grim momentarily. "I can't believe you by the way. Only you would have a breakdown that would wind up embarrassing me, too. And instead of finding me and talking to me about your problems," she looked pointedly at Sakura, "you avoid me all week and let everything fester until you almost kill one of our closest friends."

Sakura glanced away, ashamed.

"As I was saying, I think that you have some major trust issues. Obviously involving me…"

"Obviously."

Narrowing her eyes, Ino continued. "…but also involving yourself."

That statement got Sakura's attention.

"You don't trust that what we had was real."

"It wasn't real."

"The fantasy world might not have been but what we felt while we were there was. Don't think for a moment that I didn't mean any of it. Everything I ever said to you in that dream was true."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but you don't usually ask someone to marry you and then off them." Sakura's words are bitter and they leave a foul taste in both their mouths.

"I had to. It was the only way. Please believe me," Ino begged, eyes downcast. "When I met my father in the woods, he told me that you were a lost cause, a goner because you had bought into the fantasy so completely." Ino shook her head, fighting back tears. "They told me I should just leave you…"

"They?"

"Yeah, Tsunade made the final call. My dad was just the messenger because he was the only one who could reach me in time. I'm sorry; it was the only way I could think of to save you."

"Tsunade sacrificed me?"

"Well, it wasn't like that. I mean, you know, I don't think she wanted to. It was just that she had to make a choice and I was the one with the greatest chance of breaking the genjutsu. You have to know how hard that decision must have been for her. You were pretty out of it when we got back, but she looked like hell. When she saw you alive but barely conscious I thought she was going to lose it."

"Why didn't she say anything to me? I had to listen to her yell at me for twenty minutes before I was able to even begin to be debriefed properly. If I had known that she was just going to abandon me…"

"She didn't abandon you. She just didn't know how to save you."

"She didn't even try to save me."

"Well I saved you, so stop bitching." Ino emphasized this by leaning forward and nipping warningly at Sakura's neck. "Face it, if it wasn't for me, you'd still be in LaLa Land, pining for me; wanting my body." She's rocking her hips now. Ino's tone is teasing, her kisses trail lower over Sakura's collarbone, and Sakura's wondering how they've wandered back to foreplay. "I could have left you, you know," Ino's murmuring now into the soft skin exposed by Sakura's v-neck shirt, "trapped with a figment of your imagination. Isn't it so much better to be here, now, with the real deal instead?" Hands slid up Sakura's rib cage and she's leaning up, letting Ino slide her shirt over her head before allowing her lips to be captured in a searing kiss.

At last they're coming up for air and Ino's chanting, "This is real. This is what matters."

Slowly, Sakura let her hands wander the length of Ino's body, pausing occasionally to ease up on the sensory overload. She wondered if she would ever shake the feeling of déjà vu. It was disconcerting to know that if she touched that spot on the small of Ino's back, that Ino would let out a low moan. Or that if she repositioned her thigh just so it would make Ino cum so much faster and that right now that was the last thing Sakura wanted.

Unlike Sakura, Ino had spent the past week coming to terms with what had happened between the two of them, so she felt no guilt in exploiting her knowledge of Sakura's body. That last day in her dreamstate had produced an onslaught of false memories, and still, Ino's heart would always grieve for the loss of their first, fumbled coupling. It was depressing to realize that their first kiss happened not on Sakura's front door step, the light from the neighbor's window the only illumination, but with Sakura crying and depressed and so incredibly heartbroken.

"I'm going to make this so good for you, baby," Ino croons as she watches Sakura's face, moved by the tears leaking from the corners of her eyes, slightly swollen and puffy from her earlier crying jag. To Ino, she has never looked more beautiful. "That's it, just like that." Ino's hips are rocking again and she's giving open mouth kisses now, lips trailing down Sakura's body, past the dip in her collar bone, and ending with a playful nip at Sakura's solar plexus before stopping to remove Sakura's bra. She makes a delightful humming noise as her lips latch onto Sakura's right nipple, inordinately pleased at Sakura's whispered "Oh, thank God."

Sakura's body is on fire, and she thinks 'finally, finally,' as Ino's hands stop at the edge of her skirt before slowly pulling down on the zipper and then hooking her fingers into Sakura's

of to the side. Her boots are temporary obstacles and then they too are removed and end up somewhere near the discarded clothing.

Ino sits up only momentarily to swiftly remove her swimsuit, before her mouth is back to worshipping Sakura's body, this time paying loving attention to her abs while her hands seek out and find Sakura's. Threading their fingers together, Ino continues her downward journey, her thoughts echoing Sakura's, 'finally, finally,' as her tongue descends towards and then into the source of Sakura's passion.

Sakura cries out at the onslaught of pleasure, unable to refrain from vocalizing her joy, hands squeezing Ino's so hard before she remembers her strength and eases back slightly, the knuckles no longer white from the pressure. Her hips are moving faster now, at rhythm with the drumbeat pulsing between her thighs, Ino's tongue moving rapidly across her entire length, teasing her clit before plunging back inside Sakura. Electricity shoots through Sakura, curling her toes as she feels like she is on fire, burning from the inside out. Her eyes land momentarily on Ino's face, the look of triumph that would be so annoying at any other time, merely pushes her further over the edge and her hips are lifting up, straining against the joined hands that are pushing her back down, before her head is thrown back in final ecstasy.

She is riding out the last waves of her orgasm when Ino quickly moves up her body until their flesh merges at the apex of their thighs, Ino's thrusts allowing her to crest one more time, in tandem with her lover's body. It's over too soon and then their kissing, breathing life back into one another's bodies, breathing life back into their souls. At last, the raging fever that had swept over both of them simmers to a soothing burn, like coals that are once again black but only need to be stoked to become red hot.

Spooning, with Ino's arm pulling her in close, Sakura can breathe again, the soft grass a welcoming bed and the quiet murmur of the lake lulling her into sleep. Ino's voice drifts over her and caresses, "Where do we go from here?" Sakura doesn't know, but she does know that it will be with Ino, and then sleep pulls her under and they are both dreaming, together.

The End.