Ino's POV Today at the family flower shop the fragrance of a hundred flowers filled the air. A breeze crept in, twisting around a figure in the shop's entryway. It bared nothing but the scent of a girl in her bloom. Her fresh smell wafted in lovelier than the flowers themselves. She is the cherry blossom of spring. She passed rows of metal vases that lined the floor. Each vase contained a specific assortment of flowers such as carnations, roses or hibiscuses in numerous colors. She paused behind the central display table in the middle of the shop, her visage wandering over the various the floral arrangements. I hurried over to help her. "May I help you?" She walked out from behind the display table, her gait feminine and delicate taking small steady steps. Her red Chinese style dress modestly covered her chest, cut down the middle by a jagged zipper. The rest of her dress flowed down to her knees slit up the sides revealing slender hips. She wore tight black shorts underneath her short cute dress. Her choice of clothes fit her slim petite figure. "Ino?" she called out sweetly. "Oh, Sakura! Long time no see," I greeted her in a slightly condescending tone. "Have you come to buy flowers for Sasuke? You know, I'm the one he likes." "Sasuke-kun, he's gone." Sakura's shoulders sank. Her large jade eyes dropped their gaze beneath her pink shaggy bangs parted down the center. "I'm sorry, I forgot about that," I apologized, dropping my hostile front. Poor Sakura. I shouldn't have mentioned him. Guilt ate away at my conscious. I sighed, brushing aside the strands in her face. "Thank you, Ino. Now I can see better." Sakura nodded thankfully, moving past me to the counter. She leaned atop it her weight down on her elbows and head slumped over between her shoulders. "I couldn't stop Sasuke-kun from leaving. Naruto tried to bring him back but failed. Now he's injured in the hospital, along with Lee-san. It's all my fault this happened!" One hand formed a fist slamming it down on the countertop. It shook violently causing a vase of cosmos to topple onto the floor. "If only I wasn't so weak." Pain choked her voice. "Don't say that, Sakura." I approached her, bent over to pick a cosmos, placing it in her palm. "Here." "A cosmos." Sakura ran her fingers along its soft magenta petals. Her skin tone matched its hue, a pink-white peony with a perfect milky glow. "See how beautiful it's become?" I exclaimed, focusing on the cosmos in her grasp. "It was once a bud that never believed in itself because it bloomed later than the flowers around it. But now it's become the prettiest of them all. Don't you agree, Sakura?" "I-Ino, thank you.for saying that." Sakura raised her face, her cheek brushing against my arm. Its touch felt silky and smooth, and its texture perfect as porcelain. Tears swam in her large green orbs threatening to spill from their rims. "Since we were young you were never confidant. Remember the day we did our flower arranging lesson?" I lifted a finger to her face letting a teardrop roll on to its tip. It glistened brightly like dew in the sunlight, that streamed in through the shop's front window, staining its interior gold. A shower of gold bathed us just like it did that sunset in a meadow outside Konoha. As Ninja Academy students we received our flower arrangement lesson as children. The atmosphere stirred Sakura's memories. "We picked flowers together," she recalled. "I had no confidence and you said I was a bud. Have I really bloomed into a flower?" Her voice carried a tinge of doubt. "Of course!" I replied. Our silhouettes moved closer fused in the golden glow. "When you returned the ribbon I gave you, you said 'I'm no longer the girl who has been chasing you. With this forehead protector, as a female shinobi, I won't loose to you.' As you returned the ribbon, in that handshake I felt real strength. I knew then you started to bloom. Later on during our match I used my Mind Transfer Technique to take over your mind. Just when I forced you to announce your forfeit you fought back. Another you emerged and said, 'Ino! If you don't get out of my mind right now, you're going to see hell!' Who was she?" "Inner Sakura. the real me," Sakura murmured, resting her chin on my chest. "The you who beat me, so stop feeling sorry for yourself, forehead girl." I smirked, pointing at her wide forehead. "Hey pig face, watch your mouth!" She sprang from my side grabbing the turtleneck of my shirt. I laughed pushing her off. Our silhouettes broke apart. She landed poised in a fighting position further towards the display. Unmoving, unblinking, Sakura fixed her eyes on my motionless form. Her thin brows drew together in concentration. Pink lips tightened, edges turned down, manifesting her iron will. A powerful aura emanated from her uniquely feminine in feeling. "What a strong fighting spirit! That's the Sakura I know, the one that's bloomed into a beautiful flower," I said, falling back in a defense position in case she decided to challenge me. As I said that her features softened with a twinkle in her eyes and the trace of a smile. Her countenance brightened like the sunlight in spring. She dropped her aggressive stance, shuffling over with the walk of a geisha. She stopped a foot in front of me, her knees slightly inward and hands clasped below her waist. "I-Ino," Sakura began quietly. "You said the same thing after our match. I cried because I felt so happy. It was the first time you acknowledged me as your equal. I knew then I became strong, like you." Sakura gazed up at me in admiration. "Sakura." I paused, struck by her gaze. She truly worshipped me from the time we met. I became her world, her dreams and aspirations as time passed. Although our jealousy drove us apart, deep in our hearts we never let each other go. We clung to the memories that defined us as friends in the face of bitter rivalry. The girl who was my other half poured her soul out. Feelings repressed all those years like water behind a damn broke loose flowing freely. "Ino, it was your words 'there's no meaning in a bud unless it blooms' that gave me a reason to be stronger. My life, like a bud, wouldn't have meaning unless I grew. If I bloomed into a flower like you, then my life would have meaning." "I changed your life that much?" I whispered, drawing her in a close embrace behind the counter. She nodded backlit by a stream of red light. The sun sank lower on the horizon, its rays penetrated in lower through the window washing the shop in red now instead of gold. A soft rosy glow outlined her body, especially around her head creating the effect of a halo. A curtain of shadow fell in the interior over her hair and face. I strained my eyes to catch the flash of her teeth and the gleam in her eyes as she spoke. "I've come this far in life believing the words you said to me. 'The bud might turn out to be a flower lovelier than a cosmos.' I was the bud, and you were the cosmos." I shook my head and disagreed, leading her to the shop's back door with an arm around her waist. "I think the bud has blossomed into something more beautiful than the cosmos could ever dreamed of, the cherry blossom of spring. I'm talking about you, Haruno Sakura." "You think I've become great? But I was always the one who admired you, who wanted to be like you, Ino," Sakura admitted, as we exited out the back of the shop to its garden behind. From the backdoor a cobblestone path opened, up cutting through a sea of grass. In the middle of the garden, it formed a circular walkway that enclosed a fountain. We strolled over across the path that led to the fountain sitting by its edge. Mist sprayed us from the jet that spurted up as twilight descended upon us. Shades of violet cloaked the land and colored the darkening sky. Only on the horizon did the last vestiges of light cling to the ending day. Soon it retreated giving way to night. Stars sparkled like celestial jewels adorning the moon herself. Her face, which was an elliptical silver disc, shined brightly on the earth. She smiled casting down a silvery beam of light upon Sakura herself. The cherry blossom of spring became a moonflower in the night. Her beauty captured me in a feeling I couldn't explain. My heart skipped a beat and I whispered in her ear, "Back in the Forest of Death, I saw how you changed, Sakura. When Sasuke-kun and Naruto were unconscious their lives were in danger. Instead of running away you risked your life to save them. You started to bloom in that battle." Sakura's expression betrayed a hint of doubt. "You really think so, Ino? Back then I felt so weak. Sasuke-kun, Naruto, and Lee-san did their best to protect me. I was just a burden always in the way. I thought that time would be different. I needed to help the people I cared about. I decided to fight and protect them even if I died." "You stopped running away, Sakura. You were no longer the little girl who hid." A smile crossed my face and I brushed away her bangs just like the time we first met. She laughed recalling the past. "I was teased as a little girl and always covered my forehead. After you told me to show it off, I stopped being shy. In battle though, things didn't change. I felt like my old shy self, too scared to act. That made so me weak I hated it!" Anger churned in her face and she forced herself to regain the most composed tone she could muster. "I couldn't stand it. Not only was I weak but useless as well. Others always protected me while I watched safely from behind. During the Chuunin Exam I decided things had to change. I learned from Sasuke-kun, Naruto and Lee-san what I wanted to be. Strong like them." Sakura spoke with a firm conviction glancing down at her reflection in the fountain. I quietly planted my elbows down on fountain's stone rim leaning over the water. Moonlight danced across in small waves that rippled out from the center playing in our reflections. I lost myself in the ripple's gentle, undulating rhythm. "Strong to protect those close to you," I replied softly. "You knew those Sound Nin might kill you. Yet you fought and took a beating. I still remember the blood dripping down your face, the pain you were in. I thought about our friendship before we became rivals. And I realized how much I cared about you, Sakura. Then I jumped in to help you." My reflection edged closer and the two shimmering reflections joined as one. Droplets rained from the jet above occasionally breaking them apart. "You protected me. Does that mean we're still close?" Her eyes locked onto mine desperate for an answer. I thought for a moment propping myself up on my arms as I sat up. "Of course, in spite of our rivalry. I was stupid for letting a thing like that destroy our friendship." "No, it was my fault, Ino." Sakura disagreed letting her visage fall back on the water. "Because I was the one who broke off our friendship and said we should be rivals." "Sakura, it was something we both did," I said, turning to face her. "You know what I've learned from this?" She paused, blinking. "What?" I positioned my chin on her shoulder and my breath struck her ear. "That it's made our friendship stronger." The warmth of my words spread from Sakura's ear to the rest of her body. "Ino, thank you for saying that!" She sniffled and emotion overflowed. "You've always tried to make me feel better, like that day we picked flowers." Sakura threw herself at me burying her face in my breast. I hugged her tightly, pressing my cheek to her head. "That's what friends are for, right? Friends, like flowers, should not fight to be number one." "You said the same thing before." Sakura smiled tearfully. "From now on, I want to be like a cosmos, in harmony with those around me." "Their so harmonious. That's why I love them. Look around the garden," I exclaimed, releasing my grasp on her She rose to her feet surveying the garden. The full moon smiled brightly illuminating its entirety. Ivy grew in thick blankets over the outer walls. Its inner wall, a white picket fence, served more as a decorative device than to keep out outsiders. Climbing roses clung to sections of the fence in white and pink. A single massive banyan tree grew in the back, splayed up with its intertwining trunk, providing shelter as its large boughs hung low. Beneath the spacious canopy lay nestled a tiny cottage. Patches of cosmos clung to its base in hues of crimson, gold, pure white, magenta, fiery orange and lavender. Variations combining several types scattered the patches here and there. The evenly placed petals of a single cosmos created the microcosm of an ordered universe. As a whole the cosmos existed peacefully, no individual flower dominating the other. Just as the stars sparkled together in their beauty, so the cosmos adorned each other. Sakura's heart sang as this realization uplifted her from the chaos of the world. If she found peace it was here in this garden with me. TBC
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