Kaika Saisei

Chapter 9: Shonanoka

"So, are you going to tell me what's up with you or do I have to take it out from you by force?" Ino asked.

Sakura sighed. She really didn't really want to talk about this. Not yet, at least. The whole dream from the previous night has been translated into such a whirlwind of emotions that she didn't even know where to start if she were to talk about it.

"Can we better not?" Sakura asked. She looked straight into her blonde friend's eyes. Her look, pleading for secrecy. At least for a while.

But Ino wasn't having it. She had to, no, needed to talk and it was obvious to her. Carrying that load on her shoulders wasn't going to help her in any way.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked the blonde, curious.

"So early in the morning also," Sakura said.

Ino shrugged.

"The Hokage called me for some reason. Apparently, it's something related to my father," she said.

"But don't ask me about anything more as Kakashi didn't tell me a word extra," Ino added.

"Heh, curious," Sakura said.

"But enough about you, forehead, trying to derail the subject," Ino said. She looked towards her friend with eyes that pierced. She knew what Sakura was trying to do and it wasn't cutting it.

"Spill it out," she said. "Let me know what's happening on that big brain of yours," Ino said, while she came closer, stopped Sakura for a while and poked her forehead. Like they used to do when they were little and Sakura was yet a bud, fearing to bloom.

"By the way, I forgot to tell you, with this whole war stuff, but... Speaking about the war, I just wanted to say that you bloomed into a flower more beautiful than the cosmos, forehead!" Ino told her dear friend, as she recalled their childhood years. She looked at her warmly and smiled.

Realizing that by force she won't make Sakura talk in any way, Ino decided to change the approach. 'For as much as some things change, as much as they stay the same,' she thought.

'And so do people, apparently,' she continued thinking while gazing into her friend's eyes.

Sakura blushed. Her friend's words got to her in an unexpected way.

Ever since the battle they had in the chuunin exams, she hadn't heard Ino telling her those beautiful words. It was always this friendship mixed with rivalry between them, that sometimes they forgot to tell each other beautiful words like these.

So now that they came, and from no less than someone who she looked-up to since her early childhood, it felt warming. It felt like her being could relax for a bit. And she did.

The tension that you could sense in the air and read on her shoulders went away for a minute.

Sakura sighed. Put her head to the ground and said a small "If only that were enough". Almost untraceable.

But Ino was there and heard her. Not to mention she knew her all too well. Sometimes it was like looking in a mirror for as much as she didn't like to admit.

"What do you mean by that?" Ino asked.

But Sakura kept being silent.

"Oh come on, forehead! We both know each other very well and we're past you trying to hide away from me. It's me you're talking to, remember? The one who can see through this whole facade of yours," she said, pointing all up and down Sakura's silhouette.

But Sakura kept her silence. Ino puffed.

"Fine, fine... if you don't want to talk now, I won't insist." She said, shrugging.