Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

THIS IS HOW IT STARTS

Her blue eyes are wide with childish awe at the small green stalks poking out of the soil.

"There is nothing more satisfying then helping something grow into it's full potential," her mother tells her tenderly when she sees that her daughter hasn't left the small pot. The pot is a generic brown khaki color with I-N-O written in wobbly red letters. They are plain white daisies, barely sprouting, but her daughter looks at them with the eagerness of watching a baby take it's first step.

Her mother is gone now and even though it's only been four years since that moment, the only times Ino can muster up an image that isn't blurry is when she's in her family's shop.

There is a girl, small, sobbing on the curb between grass and pavement, but it's not the tears trekking down her cheeks that catches Ino's attention, but the soft pink strands of hair that remind her of Sakura flowers, and lashes that look darker than the center of a Black Eyed Susan and even though the lashes and hair are attached to a heaving little girl, Ino is still mesmerized by their color.

She knows that the pink-haired girl is teased because of her forehead, but she also sees that once her eyes open they are a pretty emerald green-stalk color that no other girl in their class has. She is sympathetic, but also a little disappointed that the pink-haired girl doesn't appreciate that. Blonde hair and blue eyes are rare in Konoha, but that hair and eyes are really rare.

There is nothing more satisfying then helping something grow into it's full potential.

Her name is Sakura, she remembers. Cherry blossom.

-x-

I'll give you a present, Ino feels like scoffing at herself. She wants to give her something that will help her stop crying but what? She plays with the end of her shirt, the fabric is soft and familiar under her fingers, and it's scent is a comforting floral smell.

Her daddy brought her back this shirt from one of his missions, she remembers affectionately, and the orange color is pale and soothing to her still.

"That's it!"

She ties back the long bangs Sakura had grown out in a futile effort to hide her forehead. Pink and red don't really do together, but that ribbon was in the first bouquet Ino ever made and her father let her keep it and it's her favorite one. Sakura gives a timid smile from behind her and it doesn't matter if pink and red don't go together.

-x-

There is a small flower in her room that Ino keeps next to her other pot and that one means confidence. The small seed has been tucked into the moist soil and sitting on her window sill for 2 months now. The seed has sprouted and a green stalk is once again poking out, each day Ino measures it carefully and she's sure that's it's growing each day.

Sakura is smiling more openly now, she is laughing and giggling with the other girls, and she talks to Ino more enthusiastically, though she still stumbles over her words. But she still shrinks back from Ami, and her eyes glitter when she hears the other girls whisper about how that red color makes her forehead look even larger.

One step forward two steps back, she sighs to herself. Still, she thinks as she pulls out her small measuring tape, patience.

Sakura has been her friend for two months now.

-x-

It's not anything she should be ashamed of, she thought defensively. Every girl in their grade liked Sasuke, and she liked him first.

But Sakura's gleeful voice, so much more alive than it was months ago makes her deflate.

She peeks over her massacred pillow to look at her plants. The stalk is tall now and it is putting out small buds.

Patience, she sighs to herself.

-x-

Carefully she took the potted plant, the one with S-A-K-U-R-A written in steadier letters down from her window sill and let it crash on to the floor.

Thump, thump, thump, her father is coming and she stares down at her shattered plant, the buds have sprouted, and she can see them even underneath the broken pottery pieces.

There is a small hitching noise and she realizes that it's coming from her. She rubs at her eyes, but they keep coming away wet so she stops, and she leans down to pick up the pieces. Her father won't let her go in the shop if he sees her broken pot. The buds are still fine, and their blooms stand out against the dark color of her wooden floor.

You haven't bloomed Sakura, she thinks bitterly, not at all.

-x-

She sees Sakura hesitate, but as soon as her pink haired ex-best friend sees her, green eyes go hard and she flashes a grin at Sasuke and pushes a bento at him which he declines in monotone.

But Ino is barely paying attention to that, her eyes are wide at the girl beside him. Sakura is wearing a pink skirt (she hates that color, Ino remembers mutely, it makes her stand out even more), her hair is combed back neatly ("It's too much trouble to comb," she complains when her ribbon gets tangled in it), and her sandals are new ("New shoes makes you slip," Sakura says defensively). The only old thing about this new Sakura is her red ribbon, but even that's tied differently now.

Blue eyes narrow. If that's the way she wants play it, then

fine.

Her father is leaving for another mission, an easy one he tells her with a smile as he leaves her at the Akimichi's house and Ino tugs at his hand.

"Daddy," she whispers urgently, "Bring me back something pretty okay?"

-x-

"Go away."

She hides a wince at his cold, bland tone, and gives him a pretty smile instead. She walks away form her crush smiling, giving Sakura a smirk, before she turns a corner and lets it fade.

Her bangs, which are long now, hide her glittering eyes.

They'll both see, she tells herself.

Basil - Best Wishes; love; hatred