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Chapter Three

She remembers Sayuri.

She was her best friend during elementary school. No, even before that. She was nice to me, handed me Laffy Taffys every Tuesday, and protected me.

Being the naive little girl Sakura was, she kept holding onto her for support. Sayuri was her safety net, and Sakura had developed an addiction for it. When she was feeling down, she went to her. When she was angry, she ranted to her. When Sakura was bullied, Sayuri was always there.

Until that day.

Sakura guessed playing around in the rain for too long wasn't such a good thing, because the next day after that, Sayuri was sick. She couldn't go to school that day.

I was always so selfish.

And when Sayuri didn't show up, Sakura felt so hurt and saddened that she didn't come. It was like she didn't want to see my face. Being the small, shy girl I was, I was a bit pessimistic. 

Sakura was vulnerable that day. Ino helped her, for some reason. She replaced Sayuri. And I let her.

The day after that, Sakura didn't even look at Sayuri. Didn't even talk to her, or smile at her. She wanted to show her that she was strong on her own, that she didn't need Sayuri.

She was just another stranger.

With distance--

"Hey! Sakura, you okay?" A platinum blonde haired girl ran towards her, and immediately did Sakura recognize her as Ino. Before the pinkette could respond, a black and white ball came rushing towards her and hit her in the head. Surprised by the sudden impact, Sakura fell back. "Oh shoot--TenTen, I said not yet! She was thinking! You weren't supposed to throw it yet!"

Sakura groaned before sitting up, gritting her teeth at Ino. "One, that hurt. Two, you planned this? Three, you're not supposed to throw a soccer ball, TenTen! I don't even play soccer and I know that!" Sakura playfully glared at the brunette, who shrugged and dived in front of the goal to knock the other soccer ball back.

Sakura rolled her eyes at her before letting herself get pulled up by Ino, who was snickering. "But seriously, it looked like you were thinking really hard. What was it about?"

She considered telling her, because Ino was her best friend, but the sudden guilt eating at her made her realize that it wasn't such a good idea to tell her about it. So she flashed her famous heartwarming smile and shook her head. "Nothing."

"Alright then," Ino didn't seem so convinced. "You better get your head in the game, or else you'll be hit by the ball again."