Hiraeth

Ino sometimes wondered what she did to deserve all of this.

Surely she must have pissed off some god to have her stuck at a table with Neji and Tenten who were currently sucking each other’s faces off.

“You guys?” She asked, tapping her pen against her notebook.

No response.

“Guys?”

Nothing.

She slammed her textbook closed and finally they looked at her. She narrowed her eyes and huffed, packing up her stuff and standing up. “I can see when I’m not wanted.”

“Oh come on, Ino, it’s not like that.”

“I don’t want to hear it!” she said snarkily, turning and leaving. She didn’t hear either of them protest and she bristled.

It was so annoying to have all of her friends be in relationships and have her still be single. She was a great person and not to mention hot as fuck so it just didn’t add up.

She lost her train of thought when she heard her name being called, whirling around to see Lee waving her over.

“What’s up?” She asked when she reached him, leaning against a row of lockers. “And where’s Gaara?”

She regretted saying his name as soon as Lee reacted, something like anxiety taking over his features.

“About that... yesterday I saw him and Sasuke leaving school together.”

Fuck.

She tugged on a strand of hair subconsciously and chewed the inside of her cheek. “You think he was like trying to hurt him?”

“No! That would have made sense, it’s just...”

“Just what?”

The boy seemed to struggle with something, mouth opening and closing. “When we were on the roof together a few weeks ago... Gaara had a panic attack and Sasuke helped him.”

It took all her willpower to keep her face one of surprise. “Really?”

“Yes! Gaara seemed so comfortable with him... and lately he hadn’t been replying to my messages and calls at night.”

She pushed down her feelings and exhaled softly. “Lee, we already know that they used to date. He’s probably just comfortable with him because of that.”

She placed a hand on his shoulder and mustered up a smile. “Gaara really likes you, okay? It’s fine.”

He seemed to relax at that and nodded, grinning. “You’re right. It was wrong of me to assume he’d do something like that.”

She felt her smile slip slightly but righted it before he could notice.

“Now, lunch is almost over and I need to get to chem. Go cool off, alright?”

He nodded again and thanked her before running off to his next class.

She wondered how long she could keep this up.

——-

When she caught sight of Gaara and Sasuke in the back lot after school with hands interlaced, she snapped.

“Gaara!” She yelled, rushing towards him. The boy in question’s head snapped towards her, eyes widening and hand dropping from Sasuke’s.

“Ino?”

She glared at Sasuke then at Gaara who seemed to recoil from the harsh gaze. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Sasuke growled and stepped in front of Gaara protectively, glare just as fierce as her’s. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Ino grit her teeth and took another step forward as she seethed. “I’m protecting both of my friends, one from you and one from heartbreak.” She moved forward, hands clenched into fists as Sasuke irritatingly held his ground. “Fucking tell him already!”

She caught sight of Gaara peeking around Sasuke but couldn’t read his expression.

“I already told you no.”

“I don’t care if you ‘said no’, this can’t keep happening-”

“Ino, just stop.”

She and Sasuke both seemed surprised to hear Gaara’s steady voice and she was even more surprised when he continued.

“Don’t talk to Sasuke like that.”

She stared at him, fire leaving her body as she realized it was a lost cause.

Sasuke smirked down at her, and as much as she wanted to wipe it right off she knew Gaara would never forgive her for it.

And as much as she was pissed at Gaara, she also didn’t want to lose his friendship.

Her eyes flickered between the two, between Sasuke’s self-satisfied sneer and Gaara’s clouded eyes and wondered where it all spiraled out of control.

Gaara’s posture worried her, how even smaller than normal he looked and how heavily he leaned into Sasuke’s side.

Gaara said nothing to her and she said nothing to him as Sasuke wrapped an arm around his shoulders and led him away.

Seriously, what she do to deserve this?