𝙇𝘼𝙑𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍. | 𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗨𝗧𝗢

XXV

"SO I managed to find a way to cut the chakra strings of the puppets. You know what that means, right?" Riki asked, leaning on the counter of the flower shop. A excited smile was on her lips, one that lit up her pale eyes. "It means that I have a small chance at winning."

Riki was at the Yamanaka flower shop, talking to one of her close friends, Ino. It was nearly a full week after the end of the preliminaries, and after training a little with the guidance of the scrolls she had found in the library, Riki had took it upon herself to visit Ino.

"I know you're smart but there's no need to rub it my face," Ino muttered as she opened her cash register under her side of the counter, counting the notes of money.

"But I'm not," Riki said, leaning a little off the counter. Her bare arms still stayed on the counter as she watched her friend flick through a bunch of notes. "Besides, you can't turn me away."

Ino simply glanced at the girl before looking back down at the thick pile of notes in her hands. She continued to flick through them. "I can."

"Denial is a deadly disease," Riki muttered.

Ino glared at Riki. "You didn't come all the way here to boast about that did you? Go play your boring shogi with Shikamaru or something, I'm busy."

"Busy with what?" Riki giggled. "I'm the only one who's come by, you know that."

"Actually, Sakura came round the other day," Ino said, a small hint of sadness in her usually bold blue eyes. "Not that I care, of course."

"She did?" Riki looked at the blonde with surprise. "Why?"

"Flowers for Lee-san."

"Oh. That's sweet. You know what I think?"

"I don't want to know."

"You two should totally be friends again." Riki ignored Ino and fully leaned off the counter, flexing her stiff arms. "I still can't believe you both let a boy come between you two. A boy."

"It wasn't me who broke our friendship off, it was that forehead!" Ino declared. "Who says I want to be friends with her anyway?" Ino shoved the notes in the register and shut it.

Riki sighed. "It was just advice girl."

"We're rivals not friends! And stop being sarcastic."

"You can be both at the same time." Riki reasoned, her words sincere. "I mean this in the nicest way possible, but aren't there better people than Sasuke out there?"

"Sasuke-kun is cute. Sure, maybe he is lacking a little in personality but he isn't bad . . ."

"I'm not denying the fact that he is good looking, but your man has the social skills of a . . ." Riki pursed her lips in thought, coming to a quick conclusion. "Well, my point is he doesn't exactly have any."

"So you have social skills?"

"Anyone beats Sasuke when it comes to holding a conversation. Even me."

"That's definitely saying something."

"Ouch?" Riki gasped lightly, pretending to be offended.

Ino cleared her throat. "Let's go back to talking about your training. How's taijutsu training going . . . ?"

"Forget training, I'm going to have to fight monsters in the Finals and you aren't even concerned. Shouldn't you be a little more worried about your friend?" Riki leaned back on the counter, her mood sinking. "I'm going to have to fight that puppet guy and if I win it's gonna be Temari-san or Shino. Shino."