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Lively, vibrant, groups of people - so many cheerful conversations. Stacks of stalls selling goods. Warm, welcoming sunlight.
Yet, she was bored.
Bored.
Sooo utterly bored.
Sakura just wandered around the village, looking for something, anything to relieve her of this absolute curse!
“Hey, billboard-brow!”
Nevermind.
Sakura grit her teeth - she should’ve been more specific. She wanted something, anything APART from Ino. That girl always seemed to know the best moments to catch her…
“I know you heard me! Are you ignoring me or something??” That whiny, voice of hers kept ringing in Sakura’s ears.
Sakura had half a mind to just walk away but then…
“Guess you don’t want to hear about Sasuke.” Ino said in a sing-song tone.
Sakura’s fists clenched, she could just FEEL that nasty, wicked, and mischievous grin on Ino’s face. It was mocking her, treating her like she was merely an inferior subject. What a witch!
Violently, Sakura turned her body to face her rival.
“Ino! What is it?!”
She snickered in such a gross way.
“So now you’re interested?”
“Just say it!”
“Pfft. Oh, fine, it’s nothing, just that there’s a chance that someone will be able to snag a kiss from Sasuke tonight!” She looked so proud. as if she’d be able to do that. Yeah, right.
Sakura furrowed her brows, she parted her lips to speak but paused. Then, unimpressed, she questioned. “Hey, wait, didn’t Naruto already do that?”
Ino blanked.
“Wha— that doesn’t count! I mean, a REAL kiss and, besides, a second kiss can be just as special, if not better! It can show Sasuke what a real kiss is, what he’s missing!” Ino placed a hand on her hip, her grin growing greater.
“Yeah, yeah, what makes you think Sasuke would want to kiss you? In fact, I bet you’re a real bad kisser!”
Ino gasped and pressed a hand to her chest, if she had pearls she would definitely be clutching them.
“Me?! Have you seen yourself? If anything, it’s probably you who’s a bad kisser!”
“What??? No way, it’s you!” Sakura pointed an accusatory finger at Ino.
“No, you!”
“No, you!”
“No-“
“Stop! Wait.” Sakura looked around the area, presumably, searching for someone to settle this. She huffed.
Ino pouted, furrowed her eyebrows, and crossed her arms. “Hmph! If you’re such a good kisser, why don’t you prove it?”
“I can prove it any day of the week! Why don’t you prove it?!” Sakura shoved her head closer to Ino’s.
“I can prove it! Right now, even!” Ino raised her chin and pulled her own head closer to Sakura’s in turn.
“Yeah?!” Sakura stomped her foot.
“Yeah!” Ino stomped her feet much more aggressively, in response.
The two girls paused, their faces were far too close - especially for the topic they were just discussing.
In sync, they quickly blinked and, then, even faster, they took a step back; they fumbled on their feet but hurriedly went back to their regular stances.
…
Ino exhaled heavily. “Okay, listen, I have an idea and you can’t judge me for it! But if we want to see who is the better kisser, we could, y’know, kiss each other— for— for ranking reasons! And practice reasons! Because you definitely need it!”
“Yeah, right! Fine! Me. You. My house. Let’s go!”
Begrudgingly, or maybe not as begrudgingly as they wanted to believe, they trudged to Sakura’s house.
Sakura was about to kick the door open but paused, instead she relaxed her body posture, took a deep inhale and reached for the door knob.
“Ino, don’t be so loud around my parents, it’s rude.”
Ino pouted. “I know, I’m not stupid! I know manners…”
They were very swiftly greeted by the flushed and boisterous face of Sakura’s mother. “Sakura! And you brought your little friend. Where have you been all day?”
“Just been doing things, mom. Anyways, Ino and I are gonna go up to my room, see you.” Sakura grit her teeth and grabbed Ino’s hand to drag her along - Sakura, clearly, just wanted to get this over with.
They ran up to Sakura’s room but not without the voice of her mother following them, yelling after them.
“Don’t forget to bring me your laundry!”
Sakura rolled her eyes. How could she ever forget to do her chores when her mother constantly nagged?
Ino was weirdly quiet. Sakura felt the urge to turn back and look at her but stopped herself, it was probably a trap.
Ino just sort of stared at their, still, intertwined hands. Sakura’s hands were a little sweaty but still, mostly, soft. She wondered what lotion she used, maybe, some kind of sweet strawberry flavour…
“You’ve been in my room before.” Sakura muttered as she slumped onto her bed. “Now, let’s do this. Unless, you’re a scaredy cat!” She sat up and grinned.
Ino let out a puff of air and smirked, before crawling onto Sakura’s bed. “Yeah, right, I’d never be a coward.”
Ino turned her head to properly face Sakura. The girl with the pink hair, her childhood friend, the really cute girl who used to admire her like no other. She had grown - physically, emotionally, mentally. What once were large, wide green eyes always looking up at her were now brighter, shining eyes that scorned her every move. Her cheeks weren’t as flushed as they used to and Ino found herself missing it; it was cute.
Sakura returned her gaze, her fingers twitched against her bed sheets - did she really want to do this? Ino was pretty. So pretty. Unbelievably pretty and she loathed it so much! Seeing her lips change shape to form a teasing grin was the most irritating thing ever. The way her eyelashes fluttered, in what seemed like slow motion, to mock her. The way her slender fingers always pointed at her, just to provoke her. Ugh! Everything about Ino was frustrating and that’s why… she had to be a better kisser than Ino! She launched herself forward and grabbed Ino by the cheeks.
Ino flinched. “Woah, Sakura, what the heck?! You didn’t even warn me!”
“Well we can’t take a long time because if we do, I’ll miss my chance to try and kiss Sasuke, idiot!”
“Uh— yeah, I guess you’re right.” While her cheeks warmed, Ino also pursed her lips. “Um. Let’s just get this over with…”
Sakura leaned closer, puckered her lips much more than necessary which caused Ino to burst into laughter and topple back onto Sakura’s bed.
“PFFTT!! What was that?!”
“WHA— HEY?! What’s wrong with my face, Ino-pig?!”
“HAHA— honestly, Sakura, you looked more like the pig, if anything!” She clutched her stomach and kicked her feet against the mattress.
Sakura kissed her teeth, her cheeks flushed even more than they had when she was younger. “Shut up! Let me see your kissing face, then!”
Ino let out a heavy exhale. “Alright, fine.” She sat up and her stupid grin grew again. “See, Sakura, when you go in for a kiss, you have to look feminine otherwise you’ll scare all the boys away, especially Sasuke!” Ino brought her hand to mouth to shield her chuckle.
“You’re barely hiding it...” Sakura muttered. “I can still see your smirk, you know?!” Her voice raised.
“Okay, okay, sorry.” Ino closed her eyes, those eyelashes of hers fluttered again, and then pursed her lips. Was she wearing lip gloss? It looked nice, made her lips look more pink.
Ino opened her eyes again and smiled, “You see, Sakura, that’s how you get a guy to want to kiss you.” She snickered, that ridiculous laugh rang in Sakura’s ears.
She huffed. “Yeah, I get it, I’ll try again, okay?” Sakura closed her eyes, swallowed and parted her lips. She leaned forward, she could feel Ino’s breath nearing closer and closer until—
Smack! A hand went straight to her face. “Ow! What the hell, Ino?!” She fell backwards.
“Sorry! I panicked! Just uh… it’s weird because you’re not…” She pursed her lips in a strange way, her face pinkened.
“What? Not a guy?”
“Maybe? I don’t know! Just— pretend you’re a guy or something?”
Sakura’s face was dressed with judgement but she complied. She reached over to her sticker-decorated bed-side table and took one of her hair ties. She tied her hair back and then immediately looked back at Ino, “Is this better or do you want me to do something even more stupid?”
“Um. No, it’s fine! Ah, wait. Before you start, we should make a scenario! To feel more in the moment.” Ino smacked her first against her palm, an idea was forming in her head.
“What? Are you serious? I’m in a rush here, you know?”
Ino waved her concerns off. “Yeah, yeah, me too, I’m rushing to kiss Sasuke BUT what if Sasuke says something that catches you off guard or— or— you get what I mean!”
“I guess so but this is kind of stupid. What do you want me to say?” Sakura raised a brow, cleared her throat. “Hey, Ino, it’s pretty, uh…” She did a ridiculously exaggerated deep voice. “I don’t know. What do guys say?”
Ino giggled again, Sakura rolled her eyes - why did Ino keep mocking her with that sickeningly sweet sound?
“Wait, let me try!” Ino cleared her throat too - copycat. She leaned forward and rest her arm next to Sakura’s head. “Hey, Sakura, what are ya doing later?” She wiggled her eyebrows while speaking in her own hyperbolically deepened voice.
Sakura snorted like a pig. It would’ve been embarrassing if Ino hadn’t joined her. They cackled and cackled and cackled until a river of tears ran down their cheeks. It was comfortable. They hadn’t had so much in years, it sent them back to a time when they were smaller, closer, more joyful.
Eventually, they had managed to calm themselves. Sakura bit back her grin. “Okay, okay, let’s actually do this. Ready?”
“Yeah, come here, hot guy number one!”
“Pfft, shut up.”
3, 2, 1.
Their lips met and it felt a little awkward and stiff at first but then they both began to relax. The kiss could not have lasted any longer than, maybe, 3 or 5 seconds and yet it was wonderfully hypnotic. Sakura could taste that shiny, sweet lip gloss and Ino could smell the strawberry scent even greater than before - it hugged her nostrils. They didn’t move their lips, just kept them still, but even just the feeling of lips on top of lips was so powerful.
Sakura pulled back first. Slowly fluttering her lashes at the other. “So…”
Ino still had her eyes closed for a little longer, wanting to linger in the moment but ,ultimately, she distanced herself as well. “So…”
Sakura’s cheeks reddened again as she glanced slightly to the side. “Who’s the better kisser?”
“Um. Me obviously.” Ino’s voice shook, ever so slightly, as she also avoided Sakura’s glance; she could feel her own cheeks warming up.
…
In sync, they began talking at a rapid pace and immediately looked back at each other. “Let’s never talk about this again!
Silence.
Ino played with her ponytail. “Yeah, maybe— you were right, we should’ve just hurried up from the beginning…” She muttered, her eyes flickering down. “We can’t let anyone know about this.”
“I agree! Never again. Just between us two?” Sakura held out her pinky finger.
Ino interlocked their pinky fingers. “Just between us two.”
————————
And that’s the story of Ino’s best kept secret. She usually spilled eventually but with this? No, she would never tell a soul. Unless, Sakura wanted to - sometimes, she wondered if Sakura even remembered it at all. She wondered if it had ever meant anything to her. She wondered if it haunted and plagued Sakura’s mind, Sakura’s dreams, Sakura’s thoughts, in the middle of the night, like it did hers. At the end of it all, wondering was all she could do because it’s not like she’d ever know, she made a promise to Sakura and she doesn’t break any promise - not to Sakura!