If you hate this chapter, it's okay, I do too
*
The first year at the academy passed by in a flash.
Sometimes it was crazy how fast time moved, you thought. It was like you blinked and everything just skipped through. There were a couple changes made throughout the year, such as:
-Most girls were now obsessed with Sasuke Uchiha.
-Most guys were now jealous of Sasuke Uchiha.
-Almost everyone hated Naruto for no other reason, which honestly reminded you of what life had been like for you, until Ino and you had become friends.
And then, there was an incident which you called the fallout.
You really should've seen it coming. With so many girls coming out about their crushes on Sasuke, it was only natural that your friends would follow suit. Ino was first- she confided in you about her crush, and you listened to her, encouraging her to try for him. She agreed with a newfound confidence, and you swore to secrecy. What you didn't expect was for Sakura to do the same. Sakura was more public and open about her crush on Sasuke, this time just blurting out that she had a crush on someone in front of you and your classmates.
"Hey! Guys!" She shouted excitedly, coming up to the six of you. With you were Amane, Rena, and Ino, and then two other boys who were playing soccer against the four of you girls. You paused the game, turning to Sakura.
"Oh, Sakura. What is it?" You asked the pink haired girl. She smiled brightly, letting out a little giggle.
"You'll never guess who I have a crush on!" She said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Aww, man, I bet it's Sasuke!" One of the boys exclaimed. The other one sighed loudly. Sakura stopped bouncing, looking at them in surprise.
"Huh? How did you know?" She asked.
"That's not even fair, all the girls have a crush on him," the second boy grumbled. You looked over at Ino, a little worried, trying to gauge her expression. She looked a little downcast, not looking at Sakura. You used Rena's teasing comments towards Sakura as a distraction, edging closer to Ino until you were right next to her.
"Ino?" You asked her. She snapped her head up, meeting your gaze. "Are you okay?" You asked, genuinely concerned. She shot you a tight smile.
"I'm fine, why?"
You shook your head. Ino was never a great pretender, ever. You could tell when she was lying by the way she averted your eyes, fiddling with her fingers behind her back.
"You're lying." You said matter of factly, crossing your arms at the blonde girl. She turned her head to look at you, blinking.
"No I'm n-"
"Ino, your hands." You gestured to her fingers that were now pulling on the ends of her hair. She pulled her hands away quickly, blushing slightly.
"I'm fine, (Y/n), really."
You sighed. "Ino, just tell me what's wrong."
She looked over at Sakura, who was arguing with Rena about her remarks. Finally, she sighed and then pulled you closer, tugging on your arm.
"It just shocked me when Sakura said she liked Sasuke too. I mean, I know a lot of other girls liked Sasuke, but it just surprised me. That's all." She said, tugging on the ends of her hair again. You nodded, pulling away from her.
Over the next few weeks, Sakura would continue to talk about Sasuke, the black haired boy now occupying fifty percent of her thoughts. Ino would remain quiet through each of her rants about Sasuke, but sometimes you'd catch Sakura giving Ino an odd look. One time, she even went up to Ino, mentioning how she heard a rumor that Sasuke liked girls with long hair, so she was gonna grow hers out. Ino smiled at her as usual, but you could see the tightness her smile held.
Then, one day, the incident itself happened.
It was a normal day, really. Amane and Rena weren't there- just the three of you, sitting on a bench. It was hot out that day, and you'd gotten ice cream. Suddenly, Sakura spoke up.
"Hey, Ino?" She said uncertainly. Ino looked up at Sakura.
"Yeah?" She asked.
"I... I heard a rumor that you liked Sasuke too. Is it... is it true?" Sakura asked, looking down at the ice cream cone in her hand. Ino froze, her face stuck in a sort of forced smile. Sakura seemed to take that as an answer itself.
"So, it is..." She said. You looked back and forth between the two of them, before Sakura stood up and turned to you as well.
"(Y/n), do you like Sasuke too?" You blinked at the pink haired girl.
"No, not really-" You started, but before you answered fully she interrupted you with another question.
"Did you know that Ino liked Sasuke?"
"I..." You paused, hesitant to say anything. "Yeah, she told me." You warily told the pink haired girl.
"Oh," she said simply. "I see." Turning back to Ino, she placed one hand on her hips, the other still holding her ice cream cone. "Well, then. I guess we're rivals now."
Ino blinked at her, an almost shocked look on her face.
"...Rivals?"
"Yeah," Sakura said. "Rivals of love," she stated simply. "We both like Sasuke, so we're rivals."
Ino stood up this time as well. "Wait, Sakura-"
The pinkette ignored her, turning on her heel and walking away. You stood up as well, alarmed.
"Sakura, where are you going-?" You called out.
She ignored you.
Ino slumped back down onto the bench, the ice cream in her hand long forgotten as it dripped over the side of the cone and onto her hand slowly. "I messed up," she said miserably. "I wish Sakura didn't find out." She said, her voice shaking slightly as she sniffled. You sat down next to her, looking at her in concern.
"Ino..?"
"(Y/n), she probably hates me now," came her reply, sounding sad. She kicked the ground with her foot. "Stupid Sasuke. All over a guy."
You nodded in agreement. You were shocked that Sakura would go so far as to end things over a guy- it just didn't seem like her. "I know." You said, rubbing Ino's back gently as the blonde's eyes filled with tears. "It's kind of stupid to just end things like that- that's definitely not like Sakura."
Ino sighed, scrubbing at her eyes with the hand that didn't have ice cream on it. She stood up, and you followed her lead.
"I think I'm gonna go home now," she said. You frowned slightly.
"Really? But, we were gonna go to the meadow-"
"I'm sorry, (Y/n)." She interrupted. "I just don't feel like it anymore." Before you could say anything else, she walked away, throwing her ice cream away and wiping her hands on her shirt. You watched her leave, feeling cold.
For a moment you just stood there, looking between the two places where your best friends had gone. You looked over at where Ino had walked off, then the opposite way that Sakura had gone. It wasn't supposed to be this way. You guys were supposed to be together, to still be friends.
Somehow, it felt like that had been ruined.
"Hey! Come on in!" Rena's cheery voice greeted you. You stepped into her house and off the bustling street. Over the past year or so, Rena had made it her mission to befriend everyone in the class, and that included you. You didn't mind, not really. Rena was nice, and while she talked a lot, that was fine because sometimes you didn't feel like talking.
Right now, you were at her house. You didn't really feel like telling your parents about the whole thing with Ino and Sakura, but you had to tell someone, so Rena it was since she was the closest thing you had to a friend besides Sakura or Ino.
Looking around her house, it was honestly kind of crazy. Her house was nice, and you meant nice nice. The inside was huge, something you wouldn't expect just from looking outside, and the inside was nicely furnished. It was different from other houses, too. Instead of tatami mats and other furniture other homes might have, she had big, comfy looking couches, carpeting, mirrors instead of paintings, and instead of the traditional kanji, everything was written in katakana.
"Sorry, it's kinda messy right now," Rena said. You slipped your shoes off, stepping onto the plush carpet.
"Oh, it's okay. I know it was kind of sudden, coming here just like that," you offered. Really, if you thought about it, it was kind of rude. You didn't ask Rena if you could come over or anything, just sort of showed up at her house.
"Nah, it's okay. My parents don't care." She stepped on a wooden block, then yelped and held her foot. "Kana! Hiro!" She yelled up the stairs hobbling over to grab onto the railing. "I just stepped on one of your dumb blocks! Mom said to pick your stuff up!" She then turned back to you, an apologetic expression on her face. "Sorry. Watch where you're going- my siblings leave blocks and stuff out all the time."
You nodded, stepping over a pool of water and heading over next to Rena. Looking up, her staircase was kind of pretty. It was big and open, and the railing led all the way around the upstairs hall in a sort of square. You could see the doors to the bedrooms up there, and another hall that you bet held more bedrooms. Two small girls who looked identical poked their heads out from between the rings of the railing.
"Oooh, who's that?" One of them asked.
"Yeah, she's pretty!" The second one added. They both pulled their heads back and ran down the hall and down the stairs, stopping in front of you and Rena.
"(Y/n), these are my little sisters, Kana and Hiro." Rena said, tapping each girl's head when she said their name. You smiled and waved at them, and they just looked at you before running back upstairs.
"C'mon," Rena smiled, gesturing for you to follow her. You followed her up the staircase, going down the hall and into the smaller, separate hall. There were two doors there, and she entered the one on the right. You followed and shut the door behind you, only to be greeted with a blast of orange, white, and black. Her entire room was decorated in these colors; the walls were white, her ceiling was black, and the floor was orange carpeting, along with an orange and white bedspread, a white desk, and everything else was one of those three colors.
"So, I'm guessing you wanna talk about something?" She asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed. You sat down in her desk chair, nodding.
"Yeah, um... It's about Sakura and Ino." You said tentatively. She nodded. "Go on," she encouraged.
"Well... They sort of got into a fight. About Sasuke." You said, fiddling with your fingers.
"Really? What happened?" Rena asked, sounding a little concerned.
"Well, you know how Sakura likes Sasuke?" She nodded. "So does Ino. Sakura found out and she declared Ino her rival. She decided they couldn't be friends anymore, because they both like Sasuke."
"Really?" Rena leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. "Thats kind of a dumb reason to break off a friendship. Just because they like the same boy?" She hummed before sitting back up and looking at you. "So, how do you feel about this?"
You shrugged. "I mean, I don't really like it. Actually, I hate it. I wish we could just go back to being friends again." You sighed. "It feels like everything is gonna be different from now on."
Rena nodded. "I can see why you would feel that way. I guess the best thing is to try and see what happens." She smiled. "And hey, if you ever need someone to hang out with besides Sakura or Ino, I'm here!"
You offered her a smile. "Thank you for listening."
"No problem!" She grinned. "I'd be a terrible friend if I couldn't listen to people."
You laughed. "I'd still be your friend even if you couldn't."
You ended up hanging out with Rena the rest of the day. Honestly, even though you sat next to her, you never really talked with her. It was a lot of fun, and you really liked her siblings- all four of them. There were the twins, Kana and Hiro, who were both six. She had a brother who was seven, Akio, and then an older sister who was thirteen, Emi.
And coming home, you almost forgot about the fight between Sakura and Ino.
Fun Facts:
The reason Kishimoto used headbands is because they were a time saver. Originally, a lot more characters had goggles like Naruto, but after drawing the first few chapters, he found it would be too time consuming to draw all the goggles on every character in every panel, so he switched to headbands.
Guys I'm so sorry it took me this long to get this out. In probably gonna have to go through and do my own editing now, which sucks because I hate editing, but it's whatever. Sorry if you hated this chapter, don't worry I did too. On another note, let's talk about Sakura!
One of the worst decisions she ever made was breaking things off with Ino when they were kids. Let's make it clear right here: Ino was not the one to break things off, it was Sakura. If it was up to Ino, the two of them would probably still be friends, but Sakura was so in love with Sasuke she decided to throw all of that away.
And while determination is a good trait to have, Sakura took that to a whole other level where it just wasn't good anymore. However, while I don't really like Sakura in canon before Shippuden, she is a good character and ended up being one of my favorites in Shippuden.
Anyways, that's all I have to say for today, thanks for coming to my TED talk. :)