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It happens all because of Naruto and his big mouth, because of course it does, how else could it happen except when she's sweaty, her uniform drenched in some nameless shinobi's blood she doesn't remember killing, ramen noodles poking out of the corner of her mouth, and some broth trailing down her chin? Definitely not during a sunset with the cherry blossoms blooming or on top of the Hokage mountain under the stars, nah absolutely not. That's too beautiful and too perfect for Haruno Sakura, who's known for her brutal ways of shattering bones and the earth. When it comes to Sakura, it's always so much blood, sweat and tears, so many fucking tears; overall, the aesthetic is very much a pathetic try-hard and not beautiful, strong, hard-working, elegant and a cute kunoichi. No, that's very much Ino.
So, it happens something like this -
They've just returned from a mission stretched too long because they were ambushed which was a bit tricky to to deal with and then they ended up losing the scroll in the skirmish that they were meant to take to Suna. It took two days to find the scroll because the idiot who stole it off them sold it off in the nearest village and tracking that businessman took an embarrassing amount of time. Haggling with him was another headache that Sakura had to handle considering Naruto was ready to beat his ass. Now five days later and one businessman contributing to the healthcare budget, they're finally back.
And of course the first thing out of Naruto the moment they crossed the village gates was - "Let's get some ramen!" which Sakura wasn't going to say no to because she has been starving for a day and a half and at this point she knows her stomach is going to digest itself if she doesn't eat. Plus, there's just something about the unhealthiness of twenty bowls of ramen that makes you reluctant to say no.
So, naturally, they end up perched on the stools at Ichiraku ramen, Naruto on his fourteenth bowl of ramen and Sakura on her tenth. She's really hungry, okay?!
Throughout their whole pigging out session, Naruto cycles through complaining about the mission being too long, the enemy ninjas being too boring which was fair enough, Sakura supposes; how good ramen is, her punching that guy straight through three houses being the highlight of the mission, Hinata being too weird and formal which is making him sad about rejecting the poor woman and Sakura has to remind him that he did the right thing, and of course that leads into talking about how much Naruto misses Sasuke.
Uchiha Sasuke, the one and only, the man for whom Naruto seemingly devoted his whole life to and Sakura would be lying if she said she hadn't done the same damn thing. The only difference was that now, she's just too tired to chase a man who seems be getting further and further away, someone who Sakura isn't really sure she ever saw, not the way Naruto did, she thinks; her uniform a little damp and uncomfortable with all the sweat and grime not to mention blood.
The sun is blaring, it's almost a death sentence to be in uniform, it's the perfect weather to put on a sundress and eat watermelon and the street is bustling with people adorned in such attire, shinobi and civilian alike as if tempting Sakura to just strip down to her underwear for an iota of relief from this damned heat.
Amongst this sea of passer-bys though, Sakura's eyes land on a familiar blonde walking along the road, Sai right behind her and a small girl between them - Inoko-chan if Sakura remembers right. Ino's third older cousin's sixth daughter. Yeah, that cousin is just a little too obsessed with being a boy mom and clearly her attempts are still yielding unsuccessful results. Oh well, at least it gives them something to talk about.
The sun, harsh as it is, has nothing on Ino and her hair that seems to shine with the sun's rays hitting it just right, because Ino's the type to make the sun her bitch while sipping a lemonade, looking unbothered, not a hair out of place. Just everything looks so pretty when Ino's around; her sundress, cutting off at a scandalous length, just about matches her eyes - the absolute best shade of blue in Sakura's obviously right opinion. Maybe Sasuke might disagree but then again Sakura disagrees with all his life choices, so really, this man better not look her in the eye and tell her that she's wrong, because then we'd have a real problem on our hands, one example being - where is the best place to bury their teammate's body?
Just as quick as Sasuke graces her mind, the violence in her smacks him out of her head the moment Ino starts laughing at Inoko, who's pouting up at Sai. It's a pretty laugh, the kind Ino usually lets out when she's mildly amused, still conscious about how she looks to the people around her, completely unlike the way she starts turning red from laughing too hard at a particularly savage comment from Sakura about the utterly incompetent sub group of medic-nin she has to deal with on a daily basis, or the way she snickers and snorts like an ugly little piglet before the evil witch like cackles inside her bursts out, all the while looking like she's walked off the cover of Konoha Style, with her gorgeous blonde hair, so long, so soft and silky, just teasing Sakura, tempting her to play with that hair.
Seriously, Sakura wonders how girls deal with these feelings of absolute adoration for their best friends, it's a little unfair isn't it? That you can be so close yet unable to carry out actions restricted for a different sort of relationship. Ugh, why can't Sakura just rest her chin in her hand, lean on a table and admire how cute her best friend is as she smacks Sai on the back of his head, shooting a dazzling smile at the little girl who cheers for her aunt -
There's warmth pooling in her chest, fuzzy enough to make Sakura feel like she's wrapped up in a blanket in her cozy armchair, hot-chocolate steaming on the side as she rereads through volume two of toxicology, her favourite volume, on a Friday night after having an early end to a shift. Ino has the best smile, the kind that launches a bright firecracker in the sky, bursting into a beautiful spray of sparks amongst the pretty stars in the sky. On the other hand Naruto's smile is akin to sunshine, one that warms Sakura up all around, cozy and comfortable and a constant that Sakura hopes she can have for the rest of their lives. Naruto deserves to keep smiling, and she'll be damned if anyone tries to mess that up. Sasuke, I'm looking at you.
And then, Ino winks at Sai who's sighing.
Ino really should be careful with those winks, they can be so lethal.
Sakura can never help the unhelpful flips her heart seems to want to perform or her tummy from feeling funny at such moments and Sakura thinks that the only thing that should feel funny is her sense of humour, everything else feeling funny should just be a glaring red flag.
"You know -" Naruto starts saying and Sakura's not really listening, eyes still taking in Ino, remembering how long it's been since they've giggled and snickered over the stupidest things while Ino cooks and Sakura attempts ~horrifically~ to cook, only to be shooed away by Ino because it's really not the best for the blonde to get her beauty sleep out on the street if they end up burning the house down.
"If anyone's better at mooning over their crush than me, it would be you" Naruto snickers, jostling his bowl, spilling some broth over the rim, it splashes on the table, steam wafting from it.
What.
Sakura looks at him, finally peeling her eyes away from her best friend -
WHAT.
"Excuse me?" Sakura manages to choke out and Naruto looks up at her, face stuffed with ramen, cheeks puffing out before he takes a moment to chew and swallows his ridiculously big bite.
"What?" He asks, looking as innocent as he did when Sakura had asked him if he even knew how babies were made when he kept regaling her with his dream about them having children during his genin puppy love days.
"Did you just say -"
"That you're in love with Ino?" Naruto asks, slurping his noodles loudly, "Yea, and you're pathetic about it." He adds with a grin.
Sakura can feel the chopsticks in her hands slip, "You -"
Naruto continues, because of course he does, when does he not talk -
"And that you're better at pining than me?" He beams at her as if he's not completely turning her world upside down in like a span of a minute. "Hell yea, you always do try to be the best at everything. It's gotta be the perfectionist in you. Baa-chan worries about that a lot." The blond adds like an afterthought as if it's not the potential catalyst for an embarrassment fueled explosion.
EXCUSE ME?!
"I don't- I'm not pining - huh?!" Sakura splutters, all thoughts just slamming into a wall, wiping her mind clean, not a single coherent thought having any sort of leeway.
Unfortunately, very much unfortunately for Sakura, she and Naruto share many qualities. Now, on a good day, that's a compliment! Because who doesn't want to be like Naruto? Selfless, kind, honest to a fault and so, so brave? But on a day like this, a day that has only proven to worsen as time goes on barring their little leisurely stop at the ramen shop; it's not a compliment. *Oh no.*
Why? Well, the one thing they have in common aside from their strong streak of self-sacrificing, is that they can be unquestionably loud enough to draw all eyes on them. Can you see now that the situation is very much unfortunate, because Sakura shrieking like Kakashi-sensei that one time while reading the new installation of Icha-Icha paradise, something to do with special feelings and flowers, has attracted all the attention including Ino's.
Well, fuck.
The blonde is narrowing her eyes and raising an eyebrow, a smirk slowly appearing on her pretty face as she walks over to the ramen stand, "Well, look who's finally back." Ino says, crossing her arms. Inoko skips after her aunt with Sai following, eyes trained on the little girl.
And Sakura... can only stare, mouth half open, grasping at half formed thoughts floating out of reach, leaving her to silently scream inside.
Suddenly there's a sharp pain in one of her shins and Sakura almost lets out the silent scream. Naruto's kicked her under the table and the shock from that action alone snaps Sakura out of her brain fog, allowing her to return the smirk, resting her chin on her hand propped up on the table with her elbow, "Look's like someone's happy I'm back." She shoots back.
Sai cocks his head to the side, a bit confused while Naruto is snickering and Ino is rolling her eyes hard enough that Sakura is inclined to think they might just fall into her skull.
"Oh, shut the fuck UP." Ino snarks, shooting her a grin, grabbing the front of Sakura's very dirty flak jacket and pulling her off the stool, into a bone crushing hug, with a surprising amount of strength and Sakura hates that she forgets how physically strong Ino really is because of all the time she spends holed up in T&I.
And that's when it hits her.
All in one go, slamming into her with all the force of a rasengan, blasting through that towering wall of denial with the realization that coming home has not been about her cozy bed and her huge piles of books scattered across her room for a long time, not unless Ino either pops in through the window because Sakura always forgets to close it or Sakura drags her best friend over to catch up.
Oh
Oh no.
There are two things that are sure to fuck a ninja over - your best friend's death and/or falling so deep in love with your best friend, it's actually illegal.
And Sakura has chosen the second option - also, since when was she gay?!