She's only ever been in love, like really in love just once in her life. He was deadly ill, slowly throughout our whole relationship of three years he was losing himself; about five years ago he lost his battle and she had to go on like nothing happened, that's what he wanted her to do for him; but she couldn't do it. Ino thought about his death everyday for a year. Losing herself and everyone around her slowly until she finally cracked.

Ino ran from her home town, with only 200 dollars in her pocket, the clothes on her body and small things she really needed in a backpack. She didn't know where she was going but Ino took the bus until it was at its end, and then got on another one that went father than the first. She was alone on the bus for a good 20 miles before it came to another stop. Checking the time on her ipod, she looked up and saw a couple walk in, they both greeted the bus driver with happy smiles and then took their seats at the middle of the bus. She watched them curiously, wandering what they were still doing out so late at night, they only looked about her age. The girl had long bright pink hair with cream colored skin and bright jade eyes, while the boy was a spiky haired blond with blue eyes and a happy grin painted on his face. They laughed and smiled, but never touched, kissed, or looked at each other romantic like, maybe they weren't a couple? As Ino was in her daze she happened to catch the pinkette looking back at her. They girl greeted Ino with a smile, and she returned the smile but quickly looked away; but from the corner of her eye she could still see her looking at her; she looked back with her eyebrow raised in question.

"Are you going anywhere special?" Ino opened her mouth and tried to gather some words to speak; but it had been so long since she had spoken to someone that her throat was horse. Now the blond boy was staring back at her, she felt her face heat up and the feeling of embarrassment ran through her. The pink haired girl must have saw the distressed look in Ino's eyes, she stood up carefully and walked to sit down next to her and asked if she was alright. She nodded her head and pointed to her throat, she must have thought Ino was mute, with the look she gave her.

"I'm Sakura Haruno." She spoke kindly.

"And I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" Her friend jumped from his seat to the one in front of her, he grinned happily showing off his teeth. He spoke loudly causing Ino to flinch with his voice.

"Naruto, she isn't deaf. None of us are, there's no need to yell!" The girl lectured him and he rubbed the back of his head with a nervous laugh.

"It's really great to meet you two." Ino fake giggled and Naruto's eyes grew big and bright.

"So you can talk." Sakura smiled and she nodded her head.

"I haven't talked to someone in a really long time." Her own voice felt weird and foreign in her throat, it really had been a long time since she had spoke.

They all talked and laughed, and it felt so good to Ino to laugh again and almost smile without it being fake. She had learned a lot about then in their short time they spent together. They were fun to be around; Naruto was loud and a funny boy, while Sakura was calm but would get on Naruto's case when he would do or say something uncalled for. The whole time they talked, they never once asked Ino for her name and she never bother to tell them. She was content in them not knowing very much about her.

"So you never answered my question, are you going any where special?" Sakura asked with a smile. And Ino shook my head with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Not really, just where ever this bus takes me I guess." She let herself daze out the window and saw Naruto and Sakura looked at each other worryingly

"So you're running away?" Naruto asked her, his smile was gone and she could see the confusion in his eyes. "Why would you run away?" Ino sighed.

"I have my reasons." Was all she told him. "Do you guys have anywhere special to go?" She asked trying to change the subject.

"We're doing the same as you." Sakura spoke up, looking completely away from them."Weird isn't?" She nodded her head, trying to avoid they're next question, she knew they were going to ask. She closed her eyes and let their voices fade away as her mind with to sleep.

"Hey, wake up." Her eyes fluttered open and Sakura's eyes were staring down at her. "This is as far as the bus will go. The girl looked around and noticed the sun as beginning to rise, how far exactly did the bus take her? Ino stretched her limbs as soon as her feet touched the unmoving ground, and rubbed her sore neck from resting against the window.

"So where are you going from here?" Naruto asked, handing her backpack to her. She shrugged her shoulders and looked around; she had no idea where she was and she was absolutely fine with that. "Why don't you come with Sakura and I? We're going to a friends house. He has plenty of room and wouldn't mind you staying there."

"I'm fine Naruto. I'll probably just look for a hotel to stay in." Ino started walking but Sakura grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

"Just come with us." Her voice was kind but her eyes were demanding.

"Look to be honest, I didn't run away to find friends. I left to be on my own, thank you for the offer but I can't go."

"There you losers are." Another voice crept behind them and she sighed. It was the friend Naruto was talking about.

"Sasuke!" Sakura suddenly dropped her hand and her eyes grew bright with happiness. Ino turned to see the Sasuke guy that Sakura's attention so suddenly. He wasn't all that bad looking, in fact he was quiet handsome, really handsome for someone his age. Dark eyes, with raven hair that gave him a mysterious look to him. They made eye contact and looked at her confused with who she was. Ino looked away, trying not to her involved with these people anymore.

While they were all busy talking, Ino manged to walk away without being noticed. The wind blew a cold chill and she shivered, stopping to grab her jacket from her backpack.

"Where are you going?" Naruto's voice echoed in the empty street and she froze. Ino didn't need their help with anything, she needed to be away from people, not spent the night with them at a strangers house. She could hear footsteps running towards her and a firm hand grabbing her arm. "You're coming with us, right?" She turned around and saw Naruto's blue eyes and frowned.

"Of course she's coming with us!" Sakura walked towards them, followed by the other boy, Sasuke. "You can leave tomorrow after breakfast, just stay today." Ino didn't understand why it was so important that she stay with them, they didn't even know her name! She sighed and scratched her head; one night couldn't hurt, right? Besides it would save her a lot of money for other things. She nodded her head and Sakura squealed in delight; she had a feeling it was going to be a long time there.

They walked a couple of blocks until they all reached a large house with an iron gate. The house was sort of Gothic looking with some pale shades of purple and blue mixed in it. The yard was big, with a small pond to the right with some pure white rose bushes framed around the fence. The place was truly beautiful and breath taking. The inside was more beautiful then the outside; the living was sunk in with a two story ceiling. The stairs were against the wall that leading to another living room area and a hallway.

Sakura dragged Ino up stairs, down the hallway and to one of the rooms. She closed the door and the light flickered on, Ino watched as she dug into her closet.

"They might be a bit big, considering how skinny you are; but they will do for now, right?" Sakura handed Ino a pair of pajama shorts and an off pink t-shirt. "So you can wash the clothes you're wearing. I also have some underwear you can wear that I haven't even opened yet." She walked towards the dresser and Ino took the time to look around her room.

"Say Sakura, does this boy, uh-Sasuke live here alone? I didn't notice any family pictures or pictures in general around the house." Ino picked up a picture on the nightstand, the only family picture she had seen in a really long time.

Both her parents are very busy people; her father works for some very high up people in the government and her mother is a fashion designer and has been gone for months now. She doubted they have even noticed that she left; it's only been one day though. She placed the picture back down and turned to Sakura who was now brushing her hair in front of her vanity.

"He lives with his older brother, also Naruto and I live here as well. His parents died when he was only eight, terrible car accident." Ino frowned, how exactly could they even afford living here if their parents weren't around anymore? "I'm glad you asked me instead of Sasuke, he doesn't like talked about it all." After their conversation, Ino walked into restroom and turn to the mirror. She touched her greasy looking blonde hair and shook her head. She then noticed how skinny she had gotten since the last time she saw her own reflection, which had been a very long time. After a while she had stopped caring about how she looked, but now that she was around people she felt like she needed to look nice. So she stripped off her clothes and felt so relived to finally take off her bra, she dipped herself into the tub and let herself soak in.

She felt a tear roll down her cheek and into the water, she couldn't remember the last time she had someone care about her enough to make her stay with them. But she couldn't get use to this, she was still going to go farther, a few more towns away from here. She wiped her tears away and sighed.

Once out of the tub she combed her fingers through her long hair, she was glad that Sakura had really good shampoo and conditioner, her hair needed it from all the abuse Ino had given it and walked into the room to find no one there, she didn't want to be a burden and just wonder aimlessly around the house, but she had too. She had found her way back to the living area up stairs and saw Naruto sitting down on a sofa.

"Hey, come here!" Naruto called out happily when he saw Ino walking towards him. "You know what I realized? We never asked you what your name was." Ino pretended that she didn't hear him and sat down on the other sofa.

"You can stop pretending you didn't hear him." Sasuke and Sakura walked up the stairs. "If you're going to be staying here I at least need to know your name." Sasuke's tone was demanding and almost intimidating but Ino didn't let it get to her.

"For the record, I won't be staying for long."

"Cut the act and just tell us your name." Ino rolled her eyes. This Sasuke guy was something else, she had just been there for a few hours and he already had gotten on her nerves. She saw Sakura hit his arm lightly and then whisper something to him, her eyes darted towards her arm and his followed. Ino knew what they were staring at, the scar on her arm, it wasn't a small one. She quickly clasped her hand over it and gave them both a stern look.
"My name is Ino." She left her last name out for reasons, it would have brought to many questions.

"Ino?" She nodded her head with Naruto's raise in his eyebrow. The sound of the front door creaking open, distracted everyone from asking my last name.

"Pretty boy, are you here?" A voice echoed throughout the house, followed by laughs from different men. Sasuke stood up with a sigh and then walked down the stairs. "There you are!" The voice roared in a laugh again, Ino saw the man slap Sasuke on the back and then he groaned from pain. She quickly turned to Sakura and Naruto and raised her eyebrow. The pinkette giggled and Naruto let out a sigh of boredom. This must have happened a lot considering they weren't very interested in the strange men.

"My brother isn't here." Sasuke spoke, his tone of voice sounding annoyed.

Ino looked over her shoulder and caught the eye of a sliver haired man. They held eye contact while he was talking, until Sasuke noticed he wasn't looking at him and the blonde quickly looked away before he saw her. She relaxed back in her seat and sighed.

"So, Ino why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" She shrugged her shoulder at Sakura's question, why should she is she was just staying for the day? She told them her mane, that should be enough for them, it was for her.

"We just don't want to find out you're a murder on the run and kill us all." She laughed, they couldn't have been thinking of her like that. Naruto and Sakura joined in the laugh with her for a few seconds and then their expressions went serious. Ino watched them questioningly, Sakura shifted in her head and Naruto coughed nervously, what was going on?

Ino suddenly felt another presence behind her and shuddered. A part of her told her to look back but the other was too scared to move. She slowly turned her head, her eyes trailed from a pair of shoes to cold dark eyes staring down at her suspiciously.