Rivals, Friends and Lovers (part 10 of 13)
Back to Part 9
A/N: Only 3 reviews for chapter 9 :/ Oh well I must go on. This chapter contains a mild lime scene between two females a bit near the end so if you don't like that stuff you might want to skip this chapter. Writers block is a writer's worse enemy. I was planning to rewrite this chapter as well but never got the time or lust to do so.
Italic text is when a character is thinking
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My true feelings for you
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It was late in the evening of the sixth day. Sakura had found a new place to rest as she sat below a large wooden log with her knees apart on the ground. In her hand she still held the heart shaped silvery medallion, being unable to remove her gaze or mind from it. She did not know for how long she had held or stared at it. For her it seemed like time had ceased to exist.
Like many times before, Sakura opened the medallion only to see the same thing again, a small photo with Sakura's smiling face on it. What bothered her the most was that it was Ino's medallion, not Sakura's. Ino had explained to her before that it was special medallion where you are supposed to keep a picture of your true love inside. She had just thought that it was all just some fancy romantic thing for kids. Fancy or not, she could not simply just ignore the fact that Ino had secretly carried a picture of her best friend.
Am I the one for her? Am I Ino's true love? Is that why she keeps a picture inside of this thing or is it because she thinks I am her greatest friend?
I admit I like Ino…but how much? Do I really like her THAT much?
She closed her eyes and let her mind wander back to their time here in the forest. That day when she had seen Ino's attractive half naked body and how they had kissed each other earlier in the current day, partially accidentally; still it felt kind of good.
Her thoughts left her abruptly as she heard the sound of slowly approaching footsteps behind her. Whoever it was, the person was using a stick for support.
Quickly Sakura put back the medallion into her pocket, not bothering to turn around to look at who it was for she already knew.
In the corner of her eye, Sakura looked as Ino came forth. She hovered with her right foot above the ground to not bother her wounded knee further. Under her right armpit she had a sturdy wooden stick to walk with. She went and sat herself down below the same log next to Sakura, neither of them saying anything.
"Hey…" Ino said quietly, breaking the silence without looking at Sakura.
"Hey…" Sakura replied back, doing the same. Another minute of silenced passed before it was broken again by Sakura.
"How did you manage to walk here on your own?" She asked and turned her head to her friend, not looking into her eyes though. To answer her question without talking, Ino took out her hand from one of her pockets, revealing some yellow berries in her palm.
"Dream berries? That explains it." Sakura was no expert in herbals like Ino; still she recognized them and knew about their painkilling ability. More silence passed until Sakura decided to once and for all find out the true purpose for Ino's medallion. "Ino… you dropped something before"
"Really? What?" Ino wondered curiously and raised an eyebrow, having no clue that her medallion was lost.
Sakura swallowed some hesitation and put her hand into her pocket to pull out something, letting it dangle down by holding its metal chain, her friend and rival recognized it immediately. It was Ino's silver heart medallion. At first Ino's eyes widened in fear as she realized that Sakura must have looked inside it. But the scared face quickly turned into a fake happy one.
"Oh thank you Sakura!" She tried to look glad as she hastily took back her medallion from Sakura's hand. Again, her fake outer self did not fool Sakura. It was almost that she could hear Ino's sudden increase of heart beat that matched Sakura's nervous one.
After a small moment of stillness and hesitation from Sakura, she asked the question she had wanted to ask Ino since she found out what was inside the medallion.
"Ino…" Sakura's voice faltered. Her heart beat sped up to the point it was starting to hurt.
"Yes?" Ino wondered, bracing herself. Sakura took a deep breath before continuing…and then she formed the words…
"Why…why do you have a picture of me…inside the medallion?"
The question hit Ino really hard. At first she looked shocked however Sakura easily saw how she tried to hide it by thinking that it was just a joke.
"What? What are you talking about Sakura?" She said with a fake smile and tried to giggle but after years of friendship, she was unable to trick her friend.
"Don't try to fool me Ino. I know what I saw." Sakura did her best to remain calm. It would be best to let Ino explain without Sakura pushing her too hard.
Ino's smile vanished.
"I…I…I don't know." She stammered nervously.
"Please Ino, I want an explanation. What's wrong?" Sakura carefully pleaded.
"No please Sakura, I don't want to talk about it." Ino broke the eye contact and moved herself away a couple of inches.
Even though she had decided before to tell her everything, she had lost the will and courage to do it now that she had found out that Sakura already knew about the medallion. Sakura kept going with her attempts to find out about Ino's problem. It was too late for both of them to stop now.
"Yes you will. Sooner or later you have to Ino. Does…it have to do with anything…what happened earlier this morning?" Sakura was referring to how she and Ino had kissed each other.
Ino remained silent and nervous then opened her mouth to explain. She could no longer hide it from Sakura. It was time for her to explain everything and confess…
"Sakura…Do… Do you remember the day before we went to the forest, when I told you I had spent the night with a charming and romantic boy?"
(See chapter 1)
"Yes. What does that have to do with this?" Sakura nodded frowning. Not seeing or finding any connections to Ino's date and their kissing.
"Sakura…" Her voice trailed off. She brought her knees up to her head and the arms around them, digging her head in as if trying to hide from the reality.
"Ino…" Sakura understood Ino was having difficulty confessing to her so she moved closer to Ino and put her comforting arm around Ino's shoulder like a good friend should do.
"You can tell me…" She whispered caringly.
"Sakura… I was out that night… but… I was not out with a boy."
"A man?"
"No not that either…" Ino shook her head.
So Ino was not out with a boy or a man, so there was only one possible guess left.
"You were out with…" Before Sakura could finish the sentence Ino spoke again with a slightly more upset voice.
"Yes Sakura. I was out with a woman!" Throwing her head up from her knees, Ino's eyes were puffy and red with tears. When she said that, she felt she wanted to disappear from the world. She thought Sakura would become shocked, however she took it cool.
"But why Ino, why did you date a woman?"
Wiping away a few tears with her thin jacket, Ino began to tell Sakura the rest of the explanation while still sobbing slightly.
"It was not actually a date. I felt so depressed that day so I decided to go to the café and drink something. While I sat there, a woman came and sat next to me. She was a couple of years older than me and she was beautiful as an angel. We began to talk a little and she said she was not from this village but was just passing through for a couple of days. It got very late so we left the café while it was dark and started walking together."
Ino took a quick breath before continuing.
"Maybe she got a little drunk from the sake she drank but she told me she was into girls. She told me almost everything there is to know about being one. It taught me and made me think a lot about my own sexuality…Before she left; she brought me in close… and kissed me…"
She made a pause and it looked as if she hesitated before very anxiously saying something she wished she would never say.
"Sakura… I…I think I am lesbian too"
Silence…
"I…I don't know what to say Ino." Sakura said confused and slightly shocked. It had been a long time since she had felt this speechless before.
"I don't expect you to say much either but now I have said it."
"But why are you crying?" Tightening her grip around Ino's shoulder, Sakura inched herself closer to her.
"Because I hate it!" Ino's sad mood and voice turned a bit into anger but the anger was not meant towards Sakura "I don't want to be like that. What shall my parents say when they find out? They will realize that their only child will never be able to give them any grand children. They will probably blame themselves and let me go through a lot of psycho stuff and give me tons of pills in order to change me" She yelled.
"But Ino, don't you think it has something do with…well you know we are still going through puberty. Both our minds and body are going through huge changes."
"No Sakura! Haven't you noticed how I have looked at you when I knew you were not seeing me? It is not only you Sakura but other girls too like Tenten and Hinata as well. I feel… I want to be with them…feel them… It all started two years ago when I first started noticing myself… getting attracted to other women, my interests in boys diminished in time."
The angst overcame Ino as let her head sink down to her raised knees. She felt indescribably horrible.
"I feel so useless, like a freak, an outcast. All the girls will start to despise and avoid me when they find out about me"
"Ino you are wrong. You are not useless and no freak or outcast. I don't care what you are or will be but I won't ever despise you." Ino raised her head from her knees and looked into Sakura's understanding eyes.
"Do…do you really mean that Sakura?"
"You know me Ino. I would never lie to you when you feel this bad."
Ino embraced Sakura with her arms tightly while sobbing against her chest. Hope surged through Ino as she felt so glad that Sakura was so understanding.
"Thank you Sakura…Thank you for being here with me."
Gently Sakura patted Ino's back. She did not recognize her. She knew Ino was not the type to cry in front of other people, yet here she was, crying against Sakura's chest like a child.
Ino slowly raised her head up and got eye contact with her friend. She hesitated heavily before unsurely moving her lips closer to Sakura's. Just when their lips were millimetres from each other, Ino pulled herself back again and shamefully broke the eye contact.
"I'm sorry!" She whimpered quietly and began sobbing again. But Sakura gently put her fingers on Ino's head and made her look at her again, smiling.
Slowly she moved her mouth closer to Ino's head until her closed lips got placed on Ino's soft cheek, giving her a brief kiss. Ino felt a thrill up her spine as Sakura pulled back with a weak smile on her lips.
"Why, why did you do that?" She asked very curiously and shocked.
"Did it feel good or bad for you Ino?" Sakura answered Ino quietly while looking into her eyes.
"I… I…good…I guess." Ino stammered confused.
"If it felt good Ino, would it feel bad if you kissed me back?" Sakura said, once again Ino hesitated, and this time heavier. The distance between the two girls faces were only mere millimetres.
"I love you Sakura…I love you with my entire heart."
The final part of Ino's confession was whispered into Sakura's ears. Neither of them hesitated the slightest as Sakura put her arms around Ino's neck while Ino put hers around Sakura's back, pulling each others faces closer until their lips met. They calmly moved their lips against each other, making Sakura again think about how such a good kisser Ino was while Ino felt the flavour of Sakura's lips for the third time.
The kissing became more passionate as Sakura felt Ino's tongue trying to get into her mouth which she accepted.
Still not breaking up the kiss, Sakura did no resistance as Ino pulled her down to the ground, not even doing any as Ino moved herself on top of her, careful to not put too much weight on her broken ribs.
The girls spent many minutes to passionately kiss the other on the ground, their tongues battled over dominance while exchanging saliva with each other, both of them feeling how their body temperatures were quickly rising.
Ino moved her hips against Sakura's body while Sakura's hands travelled up and down on Ino's back and through her silky hair. She thought Ino's hair was truly unique. Despite of it having gone through days of rough weather, it was softer and smoother than silk.
Ino then broke off the kiss and instead brought her face and head down to Sakura's shoulder and neck. Her body shivered, her mouth let out a long gasp as she felt Ino's tongue and lips tenderise her neck wet with saliva.
All this kissing felt extremely good but it was not enough to satisfy growing Ino's lust. She wanted more! With her fingers, Ino pulled down the zipper of Sakura's jacket all the way to the bottom before spreading it open. Beneath the jacket there was a white tanktop. The contours of Sakura's breasts and a coloured bra could be seen through it. With her hands and with some help from Sakura, she took off Sakura's jacket and threw it aside. Ino dug her face between her friend's breasts and snuggled around them, making Sakura gasp and shiver again. No one had ever touched her like this before.
While brining back her lips to Sakura's, Ino slid one of her hands in under Sakura's tanktop and cupped one of her breasts, making Sakura moan inside Ino's mouth before her own hands removed Ino's jacket to rub her hands on the hot skin of Ino's back. With some small movements from her hands and fingers, she was just about to unhook and take off Ino's bra. However, suddenly something happened as Ino broke of the kiss and hissed while grimacing.
"What's wrong?" Sakura asked concernfully while panting lightly but Ino did not answer but grumbled for a second while putting a hand on her head and the other on her left chest.
"Ino?" Sakura wondered, now starting to get very worried as she saw how Ino was clutching her wounds by the head and chest. Was Ino maybe feeling hesitant or regret for what they where? She understood when she heard the groaning and hissing coming from her, Ino was in agony again.
"Dammit! Not…now!" Ino said to herself grinning in pain with her eyes closed.
"Is it your ribs again?"
"Yes!" Ino nodded her head "Its getting hard to breath again…and my head…god it hurts!" A stinging headache was rapidly filling Ino's head. It felt as if the insides of her head were on fire.
Ino began to cough while holding her mouth, it really sounded nasty as if something liquid was stuffed in her throat. Luckily, the coughing and the pain inside her head only lasted for about a minute.
"You alright Ino? Is it over?"
"Yeah…guess so." Ino answer sounded groggy as she turned her head looking at the ground. Sakura only saw Ino's hair and not her face. She looked down on her belly as she felt liquid drops falling out from Ino's face onto Sakura's white tanktop, staining it with red spots. Immediately Sakura lifted Ino's head upwards to see what it was. Ino's lips and mouth were oozing out blood.
"Ino! You are bleeding!"
"Sakura…I…I don't feel so well…" She sounded even dozier and very nauseous.
Quickly Sakura realized the source and reason of the blood coming from Ino, along with her coughing. Blood, coughing, hard to breathe…and now blood from the nostrils as well. It could only mean one thing…
"This blood…it's not coming from a wound in your mouth!" Sakura's voice trailed down "Ino…you have internal bleedings…"
Ino was speechless but did not seem to care much about what she already knew. She spat out some blood on the ground while using some unused bandages to wipe the blood off from her face.
"How long have you been bleeding like this?"
"It…started yesterday, after you had saved me from that falling tree. But I thought it was nothing. And…" Ino explained. The blood stopped oozing out from her nose and mouth, enabling her to breathe a little better. She grabbed her chest as she spoke again.
"And I think I have punctured one of my lungs…what shall I do Sakura?"
"We…we need to stop this" Sakura stammered slightly nervous, referring to the recent sexual act between them. I am sorry Ino but even the slightest move can be fatal for you."
"Oh…" Ino nodded understandably but was clearly disappointed.
The girls put their clothes back on and prepared themselves to rest. When Sakura laid herself down onto the blanket, Ino joined up next to her, embracing her whole body.
"Please Sakura; if this is going to be my last night, let me just hold you…"
Sakura nodded and embraced Ino back.
"Tomorrow morning we will immediately take you to the hospital. We can't reach it while it's dark. Please stay alive for me Ino, survive through this night and it will be over tomorrow" Sakura pleaded with a soft tone to Ino.
It did not take long before they fell asleep together in each others arms. This night they would not freeze as they warmed each other with the others body heat.
They had no idea that the morning tomorrow was going to change their lives forever…
End of chapter 10
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Does this look to be a happy ending? Well…there are still 3 chapters left so plenty of things remains to happen and to be seen. Prepare yourself for a SHOCKING chapter next week! It is not to be read by the weak hearted.
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