A Proclivity for Love

Chapter Six

The beach was no longer safe.

The waves were no longer soothing and the sand burnt her where it touched.

“Sakura, sweetie, what’s wrong? You haven’t left your room in days.. Ino came into town today, don’t you want to go see her?” Asks her mother through the door, her tone soft. Sakura had kept to herself for a few days now. Her phone was turned off, her door was locked, and the lights had been all off except for her little moon lamp. There was hardly any light in her room and she preferred it that way. Just like how she preferred for the window that she still stared at blankly to keep closed with the blinds obstructing her view of that place that once washed away all of her worries.

“It’s nothing mom, I’m fine, honest,” Sakura calls out. She lets out a soft sigh when she hears her mothers footsteps falling away from her door. She wasn’t fine, but she knew that one day she would be. Just not today.

Today, she was hurt, confused, and heartbroken.

~ ' ~ ' ~

“How is school?” Sakura asks as she brushes out Ino’s long hair. It just seemed to be getting longer and longer. She wondered if Ino was going to keep growing out or keep it at a certain length. Either way, long hair definitely suited the blonde. Sakura was a little envious, but she always kept that to herself. Besides, there’s no point in having long hair if she wasn’t going to do anything with it. Throwing it up in a measly pony-tail every day wouldn’t be worth it.

“It’s going great, actually,” Ino sighs out dreamily and this catches Sakura’s attention. Why would talking about school bring out such a sigh from the blonde? She hated high school. Surely college would be no different in that regard.

“What was that?” Sakura asks, lightly poking her in the side. This was good for her. Sasuke and that girl were the least on her mind. Right now, it was just about her and Ino. No one else. Just a gal and her best gal friend. The two of them.

“I.. might have met someone.”

Sakura’s heart pangs at this, but she pushes it down, and gives Ino a bright smile. “Oh yeah? Is this a new fling or something special?”

Ino shrugs as she falls back against her bed. “I don’t know yet. He seems.. Weird, but whenever I’m with him I feel like a whole new person.”

“How’d you guys meet?” Sakura asks. Just because her heart was broken doesn’t mean that she couldn’t be there for her friend. She was happy for her if this worked out. Ino has gone through boys like no other, but Sakura knew that deep down the blonde just wanted to be appreciated for her personality and her looks - not one over the other, she had “pride as a woman” after all.

“Well, I volunteered to be a model for an art class for extra credit - don’t give me that look, okay. I needed it - and he was in there. I thought that he was really cute and so I talked to him afterwards, nothing special.”