Chapter Text
Coming home to an empty apartment wasn’t an unusual experience for Sakura. In fact, she had grown to calling out, “Honey, I’m home!” the moment she entered through the doorway. An inside joke with herself to combat the loneliness Sakura always denied got to her.
Sakura had friends, yes. Quite a few of them actually. But she had felt for a long time that something was missing. An emptiness that just couldn’t be filled by Naruto’s enthusiastic ramblings about ramen or Sasuke’s one-word replies. The stale pick-up lines thrown in Sakura’s direction at bars didn’t do much for her either.
She was looking for something more.
After a grueling shift at Konoha General Hospital, all Sakura wanted to do was get home, take a hot bath, and sleep for as long as she could allow herself.
Once she had dragged herself up the flight of stairs to her floor, Sakura made her way to the door at the far end of the hall. Reaching into the front pocket of her purse, she pulled out her keys and entered one into the lock. Although tiredly, Sakura still stated a small, “Honey, I’m home.” as she entered her apartment.
Sakura immediately turned to kick off her shoes, completely missing the figure sitting in her kitchen who replied, “Hey! I got some pizza.”
The unexpected voice made Sakura jump. She instantly turned around, bracing herself by leaning against the back of her door, and slowly relaxed as she recognized who the intruder was.
“Ino-pig! What the hell are you doing here? You almost scared me half to death.” Sakura proceeded to hang up her purse and jacket while Ino replied.
“Sorry Forehead, I didn’t mean to scare you that bad!” Sakura offered Ino a glare before joining her at the kitchen table. “I know you’ve been busy with work, but you haven’t come out with everyone for a while,” Ino continued. “I just thought I’d check on you and make sure you got something to eat.”
Sakura sighed, the irritated expression on her face softening to a slight smile. “Thanks, Ino. I do appreciate it.”
Ino returned her smile before pushing her seat away from the table and standing up. “Here I’ll get some plates for the food.”
Sakura’s eyes followed Ino’s figure as she walked over to one of the cabinets in Sakura’s cramped kitchen. A slight flush bloomed across Sakura’s face as she noticed herself staring at the sliver of Ino’s waist exposed by her reaching up to grab the plates. Sakura internally scolded herself when her gaze drifted down, she shouldn’t be checking out her best friend’s ass.
That thought drifted away as Sakura recalled what had puzzled her so much about Ino’s appearance in her apartment in the first place. As Ino turned around and set the two plates onto the table, Sakura inquired, “Hey. Why didn’t you just text me to say you were coming over?”
“Well I have a key to your place, so I thought I’d surprise you!” Ino replied as she returned to her previous spot at the kitchen table. She pulled over the box of pizza and flipped it open, gesturing to Sakura to grab a slice after grabbing one for herself.
As Sakura silently ate her dinner, Ino began telling a story in great detail about something that had taken place at work that day. “So, this customer came in today and explained that he’d like a refund for a plant he had purchased that suddenly died…” Sakura nodded in acknowledgement.
As Ino continued with her story, Sakura found her exhaustion had finally caught up with her. Her eyelids grew heavy and Ino’s familiar voice began to lull her to sleep.
“I asked the guy if he had a receipt, and of course he didn’t, but he insisted that he had purchased it at the shop.” Ino’s words grew muffled in Sakura’s ears as sleep crept upon her.
“So, then I asked him when he purchased it, and guess what he said,” Ino paused momentarily. “Eight years ago! Can you believe it?” Engrossed in her story, Ino hadn’t noticed Sakura drifting asleep.
When a reply didn’t come, Ino brought her focus back to her friend and chuckled to herself, seeing Sakura’s head tilted downwards toward the table.
Ino raised her voice slightly, “Hey, Forehead.” A soft snore coming from Sakura was her only reply.
Ino sighed fondly and scooted her chair towards her friend. Reaching over she gently placed a hand on Sakura’s shoulder and lightly shook her. “Sakura,” she softly voiced.
Awoken by the movement from Ino, Sakura slowly blinked her eyes open. “Hm?” She glanced down at the hand still on her shoulder then shifted her gaze upwards to meet Ino’s eyes. “What happened?”
Sakura’s shoulder grew slightly colder as Ino removed her hand from its previous position. “Well you fell asleep Silly,” Ino responded.
Sakura replied with a short grunt of acknowledgement and muttered, “What time is it?”
Ino pulled out her phone from her back pocket and checked the time before responding, “It’s just about 9:30.” After returning her phone to her pocket Ino turned back to Sakura. “You should really go to bed. I swear you were about to fall headfirst into your dinner plate.”
Sakura nodded in agreement before eyeing the dirty dishes on the table. She groaned at the thought of yet another task to do, putting her head into her hands. “I still have to do the dishes before I go to sleep.”
Ino shook her head and stood up, guiding Sakura up with her. “Don’t even worry about that. I’ll do the dishes before I head out.” Ino turned Sakura around and gently pushed her towards the direction of her bedroom. “Get some rest Forehead, you look like you’re about to pass out again.”
Sakura took the final few steps to her bedroom by herself. As she entered her room Sakura pulled off her worn scrubs and undergarments from the day and tossed them into the direction of her hamper. She’d pick up anything that hadn’t landed inside of it in the morning.
After pulling on some pajamas, Sakura sat down in bed and pulled her blankets on top of her. Leaning over, she turned off her bedside lamp and started to settle into bed. The ambient noise of Ino working in the kitchen started to lull Sakura back to sleep. It also brought a slight smile to her face.
Having Ino in her apartment made Sakura feel something. Happy, less lonely, and a lot less empty.