It was that time of the night where everything is so quiet - nothing moves, no one makes a sound - and all you could hear was the occasional snoring of a peacefully sleeping form.

Sakura clung tightly to the blanket, now only partly covering her thin frame due to quite a few roll-arounds and twists she'd taken while dreaming. But now, right now, her sleep was deep and comfortable. The kind of time where you simply don't want to be waken up.

The sound of someone banging on a door jerked her awake. At first she didn't want to believe she was conscious. She rolled over on her tummy and pressed her head firmly into the pillow, intent on falling back to sleep - she wouldn't even remember that incident in the morning. Her body relaxed and her mind went drifting back into the abysses, only to be tore from them by yet another loud bang - on her own apartment door.

She grumbled and tossed around again, not quite believing the guts of whoever it was doing this to her door, at this time of the night. She swore if said person repeated their offense, she'd get up and go reap the guts out of them before going back to sleep. Unphazed. No one would disturb her precious sleep time. Especially at such an ungodly hour.

Another, more hesitant knock was heard, and nearly growling, Sakura resolved herself to the fact that she would indeed have to get up from her bed. Leave the comfy warmth of her sheets. Put her feet on the cold tiled floor and make her way to the door. "I swear, you better have a damned good reason to wake me up!" she nearly shouted as she made her way out of her bedroom, her eyes still closed. She could navigate through her own apartment without looking. And she would recognize whoever was at her door by their voice.

So she stood behind her door, waiting for her nightly visitor's desperate apologies. But they never came. Exasperated, she reached out and turned the door knob a little, before stopping and remembering her door was locked. She grunted and started fumbling around looking for the lock. She released the latch, opened the door and yawned, her eyes still tightly shut. It would be easier to go back to sleep if she didn't open them at all.

With the lack of answer or move from the person on the other side, her brows furrowed and she snarled at them. "What the fuck do you want?"

A quiet whimper caught her attention. But it was not enough to recognize whoever was standing in front of her. She cringed and sighed, then opened up her eyes the slightest bit. Just enough to catch a sight of Ino. Yamanaka Ino. The girl who'd been her rival for nearly ten years now. The woman with who she fought for the attention of a certain Uchiha Sasuke. Now long gone from their lives.

The very last person she wanted to see in the middle of the night.

She squinted, trying to adjust her vision to the contrast of light between the hallway and the darkness of her apartment. Ino was not even looking at her, instead staring into some imprecise nothingness somewhere between herself and never land. Sakura scowled. "What? You were dumped and have nowhere to sleep tonight?" She asked in disdain. Ino had taken up a lifestyle she despised. Hopping boyfriends like you would change underwear, sleeping here and there. Why the beautiful blonde had started doing this, she had no idea - and did not care - because she wasn't her friend anymore. Their bond had been severed many years ago.

Ino didn't answer. Her arms hung loosely to her side, her head was slightly bowed down, as if in shame. Her eyes were puffy from evident crying. Tears were still spilling unchecked down her cheeks. But Ino was quiet. Not sobbing, nor shaking. Sakura's scowl faltered. Seeing Ino like that made her heart ache. Her eyes opened a little bit more - she was awake now.

"What's wrong, Ino?" She asked, her voice which had been nothing but near-yelling up to now was barely above a whisper. Despite herself, she reached out for the blonde girl and squeezed her shoulder in a half-comforting gesture. Ino apparently shivered under the touch, but she remained where she was - silent and sad beyond doubt.

"Ino?" Sakura repeated, taking another step towards the blonde. She could now see the totally desperate look in the eyes of her ex-friend. It was heart wrenching, to see her like this. She raked her brain to try and figure out what in the world could've happened to make her like this. She'd been abused before. Sakura knew because she'd had to take care of Ino in the hospital, more than once. And every time she'd do so, she'd advise her old friend to stop being such a whore. But it had never seemed to affect her this much.

"You know, Ino-pig. I never thought I'd see you end like this." The pink haired medic had said as she was working on a broken rib, trying to contain the swelling and diminish the bruise a tad. The blonde winced in pain, but didn't move or show her discomfort otherwise.

"You wouldn't understand, forehead..."

"The one thing I understand is that this is hurting you."

"So?" The blonde had answered, almost glaring daggers at Sakura. The pink haired girl flinched.

"I'd be better if I wasn't seeing your face in here so often!" She had replied, immediately regretting the way her words had slipped out of her mouth. What she meant and the way it sounded like were two very different things.

"I know how much you despise me Sakura. No need to remind me of it every single time!" Ino had spat out, getting up and storming out of the room. Her healing was not complete, but she was not in danger.

"Wait, that's not what I meant! Ino!" The medic girl was about to follow but stopped herself. She sighed and faced the truth. Ino was no longer the girl she had known years ago.

--

Sakura realized one thing right then. She had no right to tell Ino to stop doing whatever she was. She had done so only to feel better about herself. It was true that, in the deepest end, she still cared about Ino. But she was to blame for breaking what they had. And Ino's life didn't concern her anymore, as if it had ever concerned her at all.

"I should've listened to you..." Ino's strained voice took her out of her inner thoughts. She looked up to see what looked like an apologetic smile on her rival's face.

"I had no right to..." Sakura started, but was cut off when Ino threw herself into her arms.

"You had all the rights to." She said softly, however holding the pink haired girl so tight she was almost choking. Sakura returned the embrace at first hesitantly, but with soon more conviction as the girl started crying on her shoulder.

"C'mon, let's get inside..." She said after a moment, pulling Ino in gently. When she had maneuvered the girl inside, she let go of the blonde with one arm to shut the door, and then took the time to observe how the other girl's face had changed. Even in the near total darkness, she could see Ino had grown older. So much older than she should have been. There were already a few wrinkles around her eyes, probably from too much crying. Her baby blue eyes had taken a darker, shadier tone. They didn't have much life left in them.

She was the one to reinitiate the hug, pulling Ino in close to herself as if she was protecting her own child. She felt so bad, she should've never let her friend do this. She should've never left her in the first place. So many years she could've spent helping Ino like Ino had helped her when she was younger. Things wouldn't have come to this.

"I missed you, Ino. You have no idea." She said softly, now rocking the blonde back and forth slowly. The statement had made it's way out of her mouth without her brain consenting to it, but as they resonated around them, the words sounded truer than anything else Sakura had said in the past few months. They were warmer than any apologies would ever be.

Ino sniffled slightly and nodded against Sakura's shoulder. She knew, she'd missed her friend just as much, if not more. She held onto her tighter, as if holding onto life itself.

"Sakura." Her voice was pleading. She pulled back slightly and swallowed, searching for the pink haired girl's sleepy gaze. Their eyes finally met. "I need help."