Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
A/N: This takes place when Ino and Sakura are about 8 or 9.
Secrets
Ino tells Sakura almost everything.
Ino is mad. Furious. Enraged! How could Sakura do this to her? How could she love Sasuke? How could she betray her like that? How could she not have told Ino?
But really, Ino thinks, there are a lot of Ino has not told Sakura.
She has told her how much she loves Sasuke. She had not told her how many times she had written 'Mrs. Ino Uchiha' on her notebooks and textbooks and papers. She has not told her how much better it looks then 'Mrs. Sakura Uchiha'.
Ino has not told her friend that her father and his former teammates have been fighting for the last 7 years. She has not told her that she is afraid that will happen to her own team someday.
She has not told Sakura about the time she met that chubby and un-athletic boy that all the guys make fun of and never want on their team when they play Ninja at the park. She did not tell her how she played on the slides with him for hours, until that blunt, funny boy with the dog showed up and laughed at them. Ino didn't tell Sakura how red her face turned or how embarrassed she felt to be found playing with the fat but sweet boy. She could not think about telling Sakura how she next shoved the chunky and athletically challenged boy in the mud or how much the look of hurt in his eyes make her heart ache with guilt.
Nor has she told Sakura about the time when she met that lazy, good-for-nothing in their taijutsu class at the ramen shop. They sat and talked for a while, and Ino could never see herself telling Sakura how that good-for-nothing made her laugh more than anyone Ino had ever met, but she can always imagine telling that lazy, useless bum everything she cannot say. She still wonders why he reminds her of the portly boy in the mud. She thinks she could tell him everything too.
She cannot tell Sakura about the time that man with the scars and the lazy boy's eyes and hair came into the flower shop during her shift. She helped him pick flowers for his wife's birthday present. He made her smile, but when her daddy walked in, he was very mad at the man. They yelled at each other, while Ino covered her ears and hid in the flowers. When she finally looked, the man was gone and so was her daddy. Ino cried.
Ino knows she will never tell Sakura that she delivered the flowers to the man's house anyway. She knocked and stood on the doorstep for an hour before leaving the beautiful roses on the doorstep.
Nor can she ever see herself telling Sakura of that quiet boy who reminded her so much of Sasuke who came into the shop one day, sat down on the floor, and began to paint the tulips that were in a vase before him with long, graceful strokes. Ino watched the boy for a while, before going to stand behind him. The boy looked up... and gathered his things quickly and rushed off. A single paper escaped his arms. Ino called after the boy with the eyes like Sasuke's and tried to follow him, but to no avail.
It was a picture of tulips. The boy had not signed it. He gave it no title.
Ino cannot bring herself to tell Sakura that that picture is in the top drawer of her desk.
Nor has Ino told Sakura that she has already been kissed. She was at the Hyuuga girl's birthday party last year. Everyone there came from long lines of shinobi. The shy, blushing guest of honor had pretty much surrendered control of her party to the funny dog boy. They'd been playing truth or dare, and the rude mutt-lover had dared that quiet boy who creeps Ino and Sakura out to kiss Ino. He did, and neither of them enjoyed it.
Ino has never told Sakura about how she once played with that boy who no one talks to-Naruto, she thinks his name is?-at the park. But her daddy yelled at her, and she didn't really like the boy anyway, so it didn't matter much to Ino.
Or the time when she was paired with that older boy all the guys call 'Dork Lee' for sparing. Ino destroyed him. And later, when she came back to the Academy to fetch a book she'd left behind, the dorky guy was still there, training.
Or when she sat with that girl in the class one year their senior- the plain one with good aim- at lunch one day when Sakura was out sick. She did not tell Sakura about how the Hyuuga boy sat with them. She did not tell Sakura how the Hyuuga called Ino a loser and a brat or how Ino punched him in the face. They both ended up with a detention.
Ino hates it when Sakura keeps secrets from her. She cannot imagine telling Sakura this secret.
A/N: Please review, my ducks.
EDIT: To avoid further confusion, the characters are, in order of appearance, Ino, Sakura, Choji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Shikaku, Sai, Hinata, Shino, Naruto, Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji.