Sakura wasn't talking to her.

The heiress of the Yamanaka clan had spent the first half of her weekend attempting to find her fri – her rival, and only for the pink-haired girl to rebuff or shun her at every meeting.

They'd met at the market, and Sakura turned the other way and acted as though she was in a brief hurry, and as though the person in front of her was an awkward stranger or an estranged lover, creating an air of social gracelessness as Ino had stood, like a scorned lover whose advances has just been publicly rejected.

They'd met at the park, and Sakura's green eyes had hit her form as she moved with the crowd of nameless, Uchiha-worshipping bitc- classmates, and the pink-haired girl's gaze would rapidly be averted, as though something more important had come into her field of vision, like the Daimyo had suddenly strolled by on an elephant, and was offering to take pink-haired girls as his brides.

Ino had tried her usual brands of teasing insults or comments, and nothing had worked, as Sakura had somehow become transcendent to the very barbs she would previously be quick to shoot down.

She was perfectly content to pretend as though Ino did not exist, as though the girl she bantered with on a daily basis was a ghost and a wisp of air, unseen and unheard.

In response, Ino had spent the next half of her weekend in an obsessed, infuriated frenzy, a work ethic and dedication that would have made certain spandex wearing individuals completely enthralled, and then, mystified, then worried, and finally, outright terrified.

Sleep?

What was sleep?

What had it mattered to her?

Food?

Excellent, it would be the fuel to keep her moving.

Rest?

A four letter word that had been ripped out of the pages of her dictionary, crumpled into a ball, and used as tinder to light the flames that spurned her forward and maximized her passion.

It had not been hard to sneak out of her room when her father believed her asleep, and head to the nearest training ground as her fists and kicks proceeded to turn the innocent dummies into splinters, hapless victims to her bubbling rage and frustration.

So Sakura had decided not to talk to her. That was fine – perfectly fine, she wouldn't even let Ino explain herself or her reason, or even give the tiniest of ideas as to what was wrong, and Ino found it perfectly fine.

It was perfectly fine.

"Ino… are you okay?"

The Yamanaka Heiress drew from her musing as she entered the classroom. Monday morning had come too bright and far too early for her tastes, the birds at her windowsill sung in a manner that turned her brain to a deck of cards at the hands of a master shuffler.

Her response had been to toss her comb with unerring accuracy until it smacked the creatures in the eye and told them that their musical performance was unwelcome.

If that had not been enough, the sunlight pierced through her orbs as though a clan of divine giants had decided to attach a magnifying glass unto a torch powered by the collective chakra of a thousand Kage, and use said torch to blind little girls for fancy.

A combination of her irritability and impatience did not detract her from the fact that there were indications of bangs under her eyes that her make-up kit had not been able to completely hide, and her hair possessed a brief frazzled intensity that would make it obvious that it had not been as meticulously treated as was the norm.

Had Yamanaka Ino looked into the mirror, she would have set it ablaze and run screaming at the monstrosity that stood before her. Or, her reflection would have committed seppuku and saved both of them the misery.

"Do I look okay Shikamaru? If this face was the last thing you saw at night, would you still be able to sleep?"

The boy beside her blinked, his visage clad in shock, his jaw slightly lowered, his eyes wide, as he blinked numerous times in rapid succession.

"I – I'm – sorry Shikamaru. I'm just a little… tired." she said, letting out a brief sigh.

"You didn't get any sleep."

He did not phrase it as a question.

"No."

Lying to Shikamaru was an exercise in futility.

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Problem with the boy was that when he wasn't being his usual extremely lazy self, he was damn perceptive, extremely much so that any slight indication or inflection would tip him off.

"Why?"

"I was… busy."

Murdering wooden dummies with her fists and imagining them to be the form of a pink-haired acquaintance was rather time consuming.

Her eyes slowly strayed down to her fists, which were currently wrapped in bandages in the manner that taijutsu specialists did. Of course, the only reason for that was to hide the numerous bruises and cuts that were on the skin, which would have no doubt drawn attention from her father.

Shikamaru's eyes trailed towards her hands, which made her clench them unconsciously.

Then, he turned his gaze back into her eyes, and they stayed there for several seconds, as though searching for something.

Judging, condemning, evaluating, analyzing, she could never exactly know what was running through the mind of the Nara when his gaze stopped resembling a sloth addicted to cough syrup.

The gaze had stayed there for a few seconds, before, as always, the boy let out a drawled out sigh.

"Troublesome."

She rolled her eyes, in part to remove eye contact from Shikamaru, and in part as a response to the boy's usual remark.

"That's your reaction to everything."

He shrugged, a lazy, half-hearted shrug in which his shoulders barely nudged upwards enough to be noticeable.

"It's because everything is."

"Everything is?" she asked, her tone raising.

"Troublesome."

Typical Shikamaru.

"You won't get far in life thinking like that you know."

"I'll get far enough."

She sighed, shaking her head.

This back and forth exchange existed between them for a very long time, with her trying to get him to actually try for once, and him always refusing to budge. Ino paid no further heed to him, instead, turning her gaze to the door. She had arrived at school rather early after all, and other students were yet to arrive. Normally, she would have been watching the door in anticipation for a mop of shaggy blond hair, but today, her interests lay elsewhere.

Pink hair and green eyes entered into the class, chatting and chittering away with two fakers – friends, and her eyes managed to stray upwards, to the row of seats where Ino was.

"Saku –"

Again, again – her eyes flickered away as soon as their two orbs made contact. Ino was left, with her hand stretched out, her hopeful face slowly melting away, remnants of what was meant to be a beautiful meal, now an indescribable, black smudge.

Ino bit the bottom part of her lip, her fists clenching and unclenching as she could feel the heat building up at the back of her throat.

Why won't you talk to me?!

She wanted to yell it out, and she could feel the words die, stillborn at the back of her throat, forcing her to swallow the residues of saliva that coalesced in her mouth, pushing painfully down her esophagus.

Then, as always, black-hair and brooding gaze strode through the doors. Hearing Sakura squeal out had never sounded so foreign, so annoying, so aggravating to Ino's ears before. She could feel her teeth begin to mash against each other as her nails, routinely polished, dug into her skin slowly, with each and every passing second the thumps of her heart began to grow louder and louder to her own ears.

Her gaze zoomed in on the boy, who, as always, brushed aside Sakura, brushed aside her riv- friend, as though she were a gnat not worthy of his attention for even a second. He regarded the insects he stepped on and the particles of dust in his path with more attention than he did her best friend.

Sakura was her best friend!

Yet, there the Uchiha went, not knowing, and not caring, about just what had conspired in the background in the name of gaining his attention. He sat, aloof as ever, unaware of just what had been lost and as to just what had been cost by the people who pined over his attention, waiting day after day for him to as much as look at them!

"Ino…?"

Look at them goddamnit!

Just look at them!

"Ino – are you okay?"

Shikamaru called out her name, a trace of worry in the words that she did not pay heed to, as instead, she vibrated in her seat, and watched, as for the umpteenth time, the girls surrounded him and showered him with their wide-eyed affections and gifts and all he did, all he ever did was to turn his face to the side, and let out that infuriating, exasperating –

"Hn."

The class went silent as a palm smacked unto a desk loud enough to draw everyone's attention. Slowly, everyone's gaze turned unto the form of Yamanaka Ino, as a portion of her hair covered her eyes from being seen, and some would note, that as they did see those eyes, they were grim, heavy, and radiating with a cold, inexplicable blizzard.

"Hey goldilocks what's up with yo –"

Her head snapped over to the class's resident delinquent figure, the Inuzuka boy flinching backwards at the withering glare thrown his way and the words he wanted to say died instantaneously in his throat. His puppy companion made small whining noises as it sunk itself further into Kiba's jacket, the boy himself wishing such was possible.

She moved over from her seat, each step sounding louder and louder to everyone's ears, until, she was in front of the desk of Uchiha Sasuke, the girls parting aside as a blanketing silence overcame all of them, as Sakura seemed to be looking at her again, but at this moment, Ino had a different target. She stood, gazing into the ebony eyes of the Uchiha, and for the first time, for the first time in years, she could tell, that Uchiha Sasuke was looking at her.

She could not have been more pissed.

Her entire form shivered, angry breaths came forth from her nostrils like she was a mythical beast of fire.

Ino remembered Takaie's words.

Well, I try to just destroy the source.

Yeah, she would destroy the source—the source of all her problems.

Eventually, she roared.

"Fight me."

Silence begot greater silence.

Her words had been ground out, slowly, silently, but yet, in the mask of the great overwhelming silence in the class, she might as well have roared it over the top of her lungs.

"What?"

So he could speak. He could say something, he did notice their existence.

"Fight. Me."

She dared him to refuse. Her eyes gazing straight into his orbs as she placed her hands on his table, even as she tried to control her breathing and did not so much as flinch as he gazed at her.

"Five O'clock. Training Ground 14. I'll be waiting."

With those words, she turned around and walked back to her seat, amidst the deeper silence, she took her place beside Shikamaru without saying a word.

BRRRIIING!

"All right! Settle down you brats and be quie – eet? Huh? You – you guys aren't noisy today."

Umino Iruka entered the class, scratching his head at the oddity, before shrugging.

"Well, I guess it must be a rare day."

He had no idea.