Okay, this is my first Naruto fanfic, and its not multiple chapters, just a series of oneshots. I'll try to update as often as I can but I can't guarantee anything. Let me know what you think by reviewing. thank you.

Ino Yamanaka stumbled away from the Hokage's office. Her hair was messy and her clothes were in disarray. Trails cut through the dirt on her face, evidence of the tears she had shed. Her talk with the Hokage had only made her feel worse about the mission she had just returned from. And now staggering down the main street of Konoha, she seemed blind to what was going on around her.

Naruto Uzumaki was walking home from Ichiraku ramen when he noticed a familiar figure leaning against a pole.

"Ino! Is something wrong? Ino!" his shouts of concern seemed to fall on deaf ears as Ino slid down the pole to the ground. Naruto was quick to pick her up and carry her to his home.

Ino's eyes opened slowly, taking in her surroundings. The walls that were pealing of paint, The empty ramen cartons scattered around the floor. And finally, the young blonde in the kitchen, cooking up something that smelled delicious. As she sat up, almost as if on queue, he looked into the room. "Oh, you're awake. You had me kind of worried there." Ino looked at him for a moment before answering.

"Thank you." She said, her voice soft compared to his more throaty tenor.

"Hey, no problem. You looked terrible when I found you. If you want some, I've got some stew on that will be ready in a moment. And if you feel like it you can tell me what's going on."

Ino nodded her thanks and stood up slowly before making her way into the kitchen and dining room. As the two sat down at the table with their bowls Ino took a deep breath.

"I guess it would be best if I gave you that explanation you asked for." She said. Naruto shrugged.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." He said. Ino just shook her head.

"No, I think that you need to know." Naruto watched her face carefully for a moment before nodding.

"Okay. I just wanted you to know that I don't want to pressure you into anything." Ino glanced at him.

"I know. I just got back from a seduction mission, and I was just a little torn up about it. The man I was supposed to seduce and assassinate proved a little more aggressive than I'd anticipated." Ino paused to get control of the tears that had begun to flow. Naruto reached across the able with a handkerchief to gently wipe the tears off her face. Ino froze the moment his hand touched her, but quickly regained control of her facilities.

"He was harsh and rough with me. He almost took me before I could kill him. But it was far too close for me. I told Tsunade about it, but she only said she would think about removing me from those kind of missions." She couldn't continue as she burst into tears. Naruto watched her cry for a moment before standing and walking around the table to sit next to her and pull her into his arms. Her whole body stiffened momentarily before relaxing into her sobs.

Naruto continued to hold her for several minutes before she finally settled down. Her wracking sobs turned into more gentle hiccups that made her bounce slightly in his arms. And just as Naruto looked down at her, she looked up, their mouths meeting completely by accident. Naruto started to pull away but found Ino's arms wrapped around his neck as she attempted to deepen the kiss. He struggled for a moment before finally giving in.

When they finally broke apart, Ino had calmed down and Naruto seemed a bit dazed. Ino let out a small giggle that snapped Naruto back into the real world.

"Um, I guess that...um...we should clean up the dishes?" Ino couldn't help but laugh at him. Naruto stared at her, marveling at how musical her laughter sounded. But when Ino stopped laughing, she immediately leaned into his chest.

"Naruto, don't ever change." Naruto just nodded and wrapped his arms around her again.

"I guess this makes us a couple or something, huh?" Ino paused for a moment.

"Yea, it does. I don't mind, do you?" he simply shook his head as she let hers sink back down. She could feel his fingers as they traced patterns up and down her spine. She could feel his chest rise and fall with his breathing. She could hear his heart that, somehow, was keeping time with hers. His warmth seemed to permeate her being with a speed that was almost inhuman.

"Naruto?" He looked down at her. "I guess I should have said that I was attracted to you a lot earlier." He just smiled, letting her know that all was forgiven.

"To tell the truth, I knew about it a long time ago. Sakura did have to point it out to me though." Ino giggled.

"I'm not really surprised. You always were a little dense." Naruto did his best to look indignant.

"I was not!" Ino just giggled, knowing that he only protested the indication that he had to be told everything. She nuzzled into his chest again and let herself relax. It wasn't long before her breathing evened out and sleep claimed her.

Naruto watched her sleep for a moment before gently laying her down on the couch and standing up. He picked her up and moved her to his bed. Moving back to the kitchen he picked up his phone and dialed a rather familiar number.

"Hello, mr. Yamanaka? Yes it's me, Naruto. I just wanted to let you know that Ino is asleep at my house. No, she's sleeping in my bed, I'm going to be on the couch. Yea, I know. Our next session is tomorrow at three o'clock. I'll be there, and I'll bring Ino with me. Yea. Yea, don't worry about a thing. Yea, thanks, bye." He hung the phone back on its receiver and went into the bedroom. He tucked Ino under the covers and turned out the lights and closed the door. Walking into the living room he turned out the lights and removed his shirt.

Laying down on the couch, he turned off the small reading lamp that provided the little bit of light illuminating the room. He lay in the dark, thinking about the soft feel of Ino's lips as he drifted off to sleep.

/

Ino woke up in an unfamiliar bed, unsure of her surroundings. Her confidence returned as the events of last night came back to her. She walked into the living room and noticed the still figure on the couch. The blanket that Naruto had pulled over himself had slipped down his body, exposing his chest. She watched him breathe for a minute, marveling at the hard muscle covering his massive frame. Her observations were interrupted as his eyes opened.

"Enjoying what you see?" his voice seemed to be deeper than it had been last night.

"Yea, I'd been expecting you to have a ramen gut or something, but I thought wrong." Naruto chuckled lightly.

"I don't just eat ramen. I manage to keep a balanced diet. Plus I'm always working out so I manage to keep trim." Ino smiled at him.

"Well then I'd better get us some breakfast." She turned and walked to the kitchen, purposely swaying her hips to try and fluster him.

"You don't have to do that." Naruto's statement made her turn, slightly confused.

"What do you mean." She asked.

"Swaying your hips, you don't need to do it around me. Just be yourself. I don't like it when people aren't honest about themselves."

"Oh. I see." Naruto stood and walked over to her, cupping her cheek with his hand.

"Don't look so disappointed. It's not that it's not pretty, it's just that you don't need to do it. You're pretty enough." Ino could only stare into his eyes as his face came closer to hers. She gave a soft sigh as he kissed her. But they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Naruto frowned as he went to answer.

"Yea, what do you want?" he asked as he opened the door, only to have Sakura knock on his head as she turned back from talking to Sasuke.

"Oh! Sorry Naruto." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Don't bother apologizing to the dobe Sakura. He's not used to it." His grin showed he didn't mean a word he was saying. Naruto still threw him a look.

"So what's up?" Sasuke looked toward the gate.

"We've got a mission, B-rank. Escort to Suna." Naruto nodded.

"Okay, just give me a minute to get dressed." Both members of team seven nodded, leaving Naruto to shut the door. Sakura wrapped her arms around Sasuke's waist.

"Did you notice?" Sasuke looked down at her.

"Notice what?" he asked. Sakura sighed, In spite of the fact that he had returned five years ago and been pardoned, he still had some antisocial tendencies and failed to notice that which was obvious.

"Ino was in Naruto's apartment." Sasuke looked back at the building.

"Oh? I hadn't noticed." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"She was there, and it looked like she spent the night. Maybe they're a couple now?" Sasuke spared a glance over his shoulder.

"About time the dobe found a girl, if you ask me." Sakura giggled as they walked to the village gate, Sasuke's arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Naruto grabbed a T-shirt from his closet. Ino noticed that the shirt was black rather than the orange that he had worn when he was younger. The pants he wore were navy blue, and the sweater was the same. She watched as he grabbed the chunnin vest from its hook near the door and slipped it on. Before he stepped out, he turned back to her.

"Ino, when you go home, could you tell your dad that I'm going to have to miss our research session today." Ino nodded and walked over, giving him a quick kiss.

"I love you." Naruto grinned at her.

"Love you to, Ino. I'll be careful." His answer to her unspoken request comforted her. A quick kiss later Naruto was gone and Ino was walking home.

Kakashi grinned beneath his mask as Naruto walked up to him. Naruto raised an eyebrow upon seeing the telltale wrinkles at the corner of his exposed eye.

"What has you so happy Kakashi-sensei?"

"Just thinking how much you've turned into your father. Other than your whisker marks, you could be him." Naruto let out a quiet laugh.

"Yea, I get those comments all the time." Kakashi laughed along with him.

"So what has you two in such good spirits?" Sasuke asked as he and Sakura came up behind the pair. Naruto was quick to explain what they had been laughing about, and both Sakura and Sasuke joined in the laughter. It wasn't long before the group from Suna arrived and they took off.

/

Many things change with time, and the village of Konoha was no exception. A new face adorned the Hokage's mountain, that of the rokudaime Hokage, Hatake Kakashi.

"Finally got him to lose the mask, huh? Took making him Hokage to do it." Naruto stood in the street in front of the Ichiraku Ramen stand. Looking inside, he could see the figures of his current gennin team arguing over what flavor of ramen was best.

"Keisuke! Get back here!" Naruto almost laughed as a little four-year-old blonde hid behind his legs. He bent and picked up the child, carrying him toward the blonde woman glaring at the boy.

"Gee, Keisuke, what did you do to make mommy so mad, huh?" Keisuke looked up at his father.

"I din do nuffin, Da, pwomise." Naruto looked at his son disbelievingly, then looked up at his wife.

"Well, Ino, what did he do." Ino rolled her eyes before coming up and giving Naruto a kiss.

"He broke one of Sakura's vases, the one that we gave her for her and Sasuke's wedding." Naruto winced, then chuckled as he pulled his wife in close.

"Ino, I've got to ask, if you could change any part of the years we've been together, would you?" Ino stared at him for a moment.

"No, of course not. Your bringing back Sasuke, your term in Anbu, your promotion to jounin, and your gennin team, they've all made you into who you are. And I love you for it." Naruto glanced up at the Hokage mountain, Ino knew he was looking at one face in particular.

"Lets get home." Ino nodded as Namikaze Naruto took his family home.