AN: kibaino as a change of pace for me and a chance to avoid school (if you are also partaking in the system of education, I feel you, I really do). I already got writers block on another story, so this might end up just being a short fic.
"Flight 767 is now boarding. Please have tickets ready..."
I know, I know, shut up, shut up, Ino thought. The pleasant flight attendant voice faded out over the sound of babbling travelers. Good riddance.
Ino ran along the halls of the airport, ticket in hand and carry-on strapped to her back. She accidentally over slept, and woke up with the hope her clock had magically jumped forward two hours. She was still kicking herself for that. In her rush, she hadn't bothered to do her make-up, and had accidentally thrown on two different sandals. It was a race against time, and a battle against her decrepit taxi-driver who refused to travel faster than 50 kmph. She unloaded her bags herself, and threw a little less than she owed at the man who did nothing but swear and shout at her.
She cursed Shikamaru and Temari for deciding to have a destination wedding. Sure, Maui was a great location; warm, beautiful, romantic. Just fucking far away.
She jumped a small flight of stairs and scared a small old woman out of her wits in the process.
Shit, shit, shit five minutes to go... Ino picked up her pace. She hadn't run a half marathon for nothing.
She found her gate with seconds to spare and handed her ticket to the perfect, smiling flight attendant. God, she wished she looked that good. Ino carried a compact with her at all times, but hadn't bothered to check her appearance. She knew she looked frazzled, with her blonde hair askew and her cheeks red with effort.
"You just made it," the woman said, eying Ino up and down. "Your seat is 44B. Please put your bag in the overhead compartment or below your seat-"
"Thanks," she said quickly, snapping her ticket back and wanting desperately to leave the scornful gaze that judged her for her sweatpants and athletic shirt.
She ploughed through the aisle, manoeuvring around people still fidgeting with their bags. Babies reached out to pull at her pants. A man almost decked her in the face while trying to shove his bulky carry-on into the overhead compartment. Idiot. Ino hated planes. They smelled somewhat stale, didn't feel clean, and there was always, always an angry baby willing to cry for hours on end. She didn't even want to get started on the assholes who decided to make a game out of elbowing her in the ribs.
Ino found her seat, and smiled in triumph. Either the flight wasn't full, or the two people meant to sit next to her weren't coming. She took the window seat, putting her bag down beside her.
Finally, a little bit of luck-
"Oi, what gives? That's my spot."
Shit. She knew that low, cocky voice. Ino looked up hesitantly. There he was, shit eating grin and all, Inuzuka Kiba, the thorn in her side. She knew there was the potential of running into someone from the wedding party; but Kiba of all people? Her luck was worse than she thought. He was staring at her with obvious amusement, and she seriously considered jumping up and hiding in the overhead compartment. She was small enough; she might actually fit if she tried. She looked awful, she knew, but looking awful around Inuzuka Kiba meant a life time of blackmail. It didn't help that the stewardesses kept glancing his way, or making eyes at him. Kiba was a cop, and not the kind that sipped on coffee and munched on doughnuts, but the kind that carried a gun, and worked out and had amazing arms. He had appeared in the local newspaper a couple times, leading drug busts, saving civilians, bla bla bla.
It almost pissed her off that women were drawn to him. She had known him for years, but he was more Shikamaru's friend than hers. They ran in the same circle, though personally never got along that well. It had something to do with their equally impulsive and hot-headed personalities. Kiba would say something stupid, and Ino would take offence. It was the same argument every time. She couldn't say she hated Kiba; they had known each other long enough to form this bizarre bond of trust. But she definitely couldn't take eight hours of his company.
"See," a ticket appeared three centimeters from her face. "44A; that view is all mine."
She pushed the ticket aside and flipped him the bird. "Suck it, Kiba, you were late."
"So were you, blondie. I saw you run past me." He grinned, canines flashing. "Sweatpants do nothing for your ass, by the way. Those yoga pants you usually wear are way sexier-"
A blushing stewardess cut him off to usher him to a seat. They were taking off soon, she said, and were going to demonstrate some flight safety tips. He flirted with her a moment while Ino rolled her eyes and immersed herself in her book. It was going to be a long flight...
Nine hours and twenty two minutes later they were on foreign soil, feeling worse for wear. Kiba wiped his forehead with a sigh. The Hawaiian humidity wasn't helping, making his entire body feel sticky and clammy. Ino wound her long blonde hair into a bun with practiced ease and untied her sweatpants.
Kiba stared. He saw a hint of thong when she bent over in her seat to grab a pen from her bag, and hoped that maybe she was about to give him a show. He wouldn't have minded.
Ino paused. "Quit undressing me with your eyes."
He shrugged. "You're doing the job for me."
She pulled down her pants to reveal milky white legs and a pair of purple shorts. Damn. She threw the sweats in her carry-on and walked off ahead of him. He took a moment to appreciate the sway of her hips and the curve of her ass. He owed big bucks to whoever invented the booty short.
Ino had turned out to be better company than Kiba expected. She filled him in on Shikamaru and Temari's whirlwind of a romance, scaling up the drama where she felt necessary. It wasn't until crowds were clapping and dolphins were jumping as Shikamaru proposed to his beloved with tears in his eyes, that Kiba realized this was the Ino version, not the real thing.
"I think I saw this in a movie," he said.
"It's a common trope."
He wasn't all that surprised. Ino had been the infamous gossip girl of Konoha High. She never spread anything all that hurtful, but she did have a talent for spinning stories wildly out of control. He had to admit; Ino was fun to talk to. No wonder she had been so popular. "She's overrated," he used to say, hating himself for how much he liked her. He used to pick fights with her so that he wouldn't like her. Fat lot of good that did. Still a princess, though, he thought. Some things didn't change. Six hours in, and they fell asleep, clutching at itchy blankets and cringing over musky pillows. He woke to find Ino's head on his shoulder and his shirt soaked with drool. Cute.
"There's mine," Ino mumbled drowsily, pulling a large purple suitcase off the belt. "What does yours look like?"
"Black." He said.
"They're all black," Ino pointed out, as several identical luggage containers passed them by. "Did you mark it with anything recognizable?"
Maybe that would've been smart. He shook his head and Ino groaned for the fifth time causing him to scowl. "Oh give me a break; I don't travel much."
He heard her mutter something like, "Unbelievable," but let it go; they were tired, hungry, and ready for a good decontaminating shower. He grabbed a bag. Looked like his. Could be his. He opened a zipper to check the contents. Toothbrush. Generic t-shirt. Monistat3.
Ino bent down beside him as he stared at the Monistat3 wondering what the hell it was and where it came from. "Bummer." she said solemnly, as if he were terminally ill. "It must suck to have a yeast infection on holiday."
"Not my bag," he muttered with a growl, throwing it back onto the carousel as Ino laughed. He found his luggage after two more tries.
Ino was about to trudge to the shuttle bay and wait half an hour for the bus to come by, but Kiba, being the finest of gentlemen, offered her a ride.
"Someone actually granted you a licence?" Ino asked, brow cocked in disbelief. "How many tickets have you gotten for reckless driving?"
Three off-record. "None." Flashing a badge had its benefits. Besides, if you weren't doing a hundred and thirty down the freeway, you weren't really driving. "Look, I'll grab the car and you stay here. Watch the bags. I'll be right back."
Ino scowled, but complied, already tapping her foot impatiently. "Be back by," she checked her watch, "11:30, okay? I hate waiting."
He waved and stalked off into the night, checking over his shoulder to make sure she hadn't ditched.
Getting the car took longer than he thought. Luckily the man at the desk spoke some broken Japanese, and he was able to communicate with hand gestures and shitty drawings. By the time they were done, it was midnight, and Kiba was starting to regret leaving Ino alone at the front of the airport in the dark.
He pulled up into the pickup zone and spotted her talking to a man half hidden in shadows. He didn't like the look of this guy. Kiba got out of the car and rushed towards her anxiously. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but Ino's voice got louder, shriller, and suddenly the man had grabbed her by the wrist. She shrieked. Kiba charged forward, adrenaline rushing, ready to swing, but before he could strike, Ino punched her attacker in the nose and hauled him to the floor.
She turned her head, giving the man an extra twist of the arm while breathing heavily with a ferocity he'd never seen before. Kiba stood stunned.
"What took you so long? I could've caught the shuttle twenty minutes ago."
His mouth hung open. "The guy at the desk didn't speak Japanese. I- You- Who is this guy? Did you just pin him?"
Ino's assaulter-turned-victim squealed as she applied more pressure to his arm. "Not sure. He was rambling about something then grabbed me." She blinked expectantly. "Well? Aren't you going to get security?"
Kiba wasn't sure who Yamanaka Ino was anymore. One moment she was a martial arts master with nerves of steel, and the next she was screaming over cockroaches she thought she saw scuttling along the passenger seat of Kiba's rental car. He revved the engine threateningly as she stood with the door ajar. "Look, you either get in the car, wait for the next bus, or walk to Kaanapali. What'll it be, because I haven't got all night."
She harrumphed loudly and took a seat beside him, grumbling until the idea of creepy crawly critters was distracted by long winding roads and moonlit oceans.
Kiba yawned. The silence was making him sleepy. He noticed Ino's head bob out of the corner of his eye. "So, you really kicked that guy's ass back there."
"Is there something wrong with self defense," Ino asked sarcastically.
He turned to her as they stopped at a red light. At 5'4" and probably close to a hundred pounds, Ino hardly looked the aggressive type. Sure, she had a temper and a mouth, but Kiba never expected her to have the brawn to back it up. He wasn't sure if he was scared or impressed.
"I mean you actually had that guy down in seconds."
Ino stared back, blue eyes turned green in yellow street lights and mouth curled into a sly grin. "What? Didn't think the princess had it in her? Light's green." He punched the accelerator. "I took judo," she explained. "I wasn't the best at it, but I learned enough to be able to protect myself. That's actually how I met Temari; she was filling in for a teacher at the class."
Now Temari he could picture in a judo class. He was fairly certain Temari could take down almost anyone without breaking a sweat. How someone with such a violent streak in their nature could end up with a lazy guy like Shikamaru baffled everyone. Kiba could still feel the pain in his finger when she nearly broke it after he hit on her. The girl needed to use her words when it came to rejection.
He tapped at the wheel as they slowed to another light. He hated hitting all the reds. "So you introduced them. Shikamaru and Temari, I mean."
Ino sighed. "Yeah, not exactly on purpose though. If I tell you something, will you promise it'll stay between just us? I haven't told anyone this before."
He nodded, "Speak to me your sins."
A slight pink flush formed on her cheeks. "I may or may not have had a tiny crush on Shikamaru at the time."
"No way," he gasped. "No. Way." He repeated. She winced as he continued a string of verbal denial, amused and embarrassed.
"It indeed happened."
He stared at the road in disbelief. "I'm sorry but; ew."
"Ew?"
"Well yeah, I mean, he's like your honorary brother. That's social incest." He paused as curiosity got the best of him. "Have you ever had a crush on Chouji?"
She turned beat red. He teased her, shouting, "Ew," at the top of his lungs while she told him repeatedly, "It is not!" She refrained from hitting him until they stopped at another intersection.
He could practically hear Ino rolling her eyes. "Oh come on, what about you? You must've had a crush on Hinata at some point in time."
He laughed. Hinata was his closest female friend, and he loved her like a sister. Well, maybe a little more, since she was a hell of a lot less annoying than his actual sister. "Not in the least," he replied smoothly. Ino scowled.
"Please, you're a total boob guy, and Hinata's got the best rack I've seen-"
"Stop, stop, stop you're making me feel dirty." Okay, so he was lying, maybe he looked at Hinata like that once or twice, but on the whole she was his friend, and solely his friend. It was a good thing too, because even if he wanted to make a move on Hinata, he was fairly certain her overprotective cousin would make sure to break every bone in his body. "Besides," he said, taking a quick peek at Ino's cleavage. "You shouldn't knock yourself out of the running. You've got some real nice-"
"Watch the road, dog breath," Ino warned.
"As you wish," he said, and did just that. He had a vague idea of where to go, but the road was getting unfamiliar. He needed a bit of guidance and knighted Ino 'co-pilot'.
"What does that mean?"
He dug into the bag behind her seat and tossed her his map. "It makes you navigator and master of the radio."
At the mention of radio rights, she took her duty seriously. He regretted his decision the moment he discovered her love for very loud pop, and argued with her over music before they ultimately decided to turn the radio off.
"Didn't understand a word of the lyrics anyway," Kiba growled.
Ino laughed, shaking off their disagreement like it was nothing. Kiba was thrown. If he knew anything about Ino, it was that she was stubborn and knew how to hold a grudge. It didn't matter if their argument had been big or small, she'd hold him to it until her dying day.
"Pull over," Ino commanded. Still haughty; at least that was one thing about the old Ino he could cling to.
"What for?"
"Just do it."
"Do I get a reward?"
"Not the kind you're thinking of."
He parked on the side of the road anyways, and followed as Ino got out of the car and walked into the tall grass. Five steps in, and his feet sunk into sand.
"I thought we were driving along a cliff," he said, walking blindly in the dark. Driving along the road was fine due to the string of tightly knit reflectors, but sparse street lights meant inky black night and awkward stumbling. A hand grasped his own, and he hoped to God it was Ino and not some murderous motherfucker.
"We were," Ino said, lacing her fingers a little tighter with his. They stopped at the edge of the water. The night sky was much clearer than in Tokyo, and the stars were visible amongst the inky blackness. Moon light sparkled across the waves, drenching them in a dim, pearly light. Ino glowed beside him, taking his breath away. He didn't know if it was because she had been so easy to talk to today or if he was losing his mind, but for some reason everything felt right. He had changed. Ino had changed, and he realized he didn't really know the girl beside him as well as he thought. He liked that idea. It meant they had a chance to understand each other like they hadn't before. "This is the first beach along the road. Pretty huh?"
"Yeah," he agreed, watching her intently, then realized he just walked into the corniest line in romcom history. She pointed out constellations he pretended to see, because really, they all looked the same to him, and it was hard to focus on the sky when Ino kept brushing up against him to point her finger in some vague direction for his eyes to follow.
"We should head back to the car," she said with a yawn. They trudged through the sand with difficulty. As it turned out, it was a lot easier to see the ocean than it was the uneven ground. Kiba stubbed his toe on a rock while Ino tripped over a gnarled tree root and skinned her knee.
They made it to the car in one piece. Ino took out a small medical kit from her bag and dressed the wound on her leg which turned out to be a lot bloodier than either of them had realized in the darkness.
"You came prepared," he said, watching her work by the light of the car. He tried to help, but his fingers weren't as deft as hers, and he ended up making a mess of the bandages.
She wiped her wound and sprayed it with an antiseptic, wincing at the sting. "Basic first aid has served me well."
So she was a warrior and a doctor. "Where's the Ino that couldn't take care of herself?"
She tucked the kit away after putting a large bandage on her injury. "She grew up," Ino said, annoyance evident in her voice, "and is wondering if you did, too." She patted him on the cheek like a mother would a wayward child, and grinned as he watched her with his mouth open. "Time to drive, dog boy." She hopped smoothly into the passenger seat and waited for him to get a move on because the road was long, and she didn't want to spend another minute thinking about the roaches that could be burrowing into every crevice of the vehicle. Kiba pulled out his keys and started the car while Ino fumbled with the guides, pretending she knew exactly where they were going until he asked why she had the map of Oahu upside down.
She organized the papers in her lap and pouted her lip angrily as he laughed. "Ha ha, I'm stupid, I get it, now leave me alone."
Ino was far from dumb. She had a degree, and worked hard for every bit of it. But having a full head of platinum blonde hair along with a pretty face made her the butt of every jealous high school joke, and Kiba was a little ashamed the he had been the maker of many. He didn't know she took those ridiculous comments to heart until now. "You're not stupid," he said, pointing to the big black symbols for 'Oahu' on the map. "Just illiterate."
She smiled at his light hearted tone, and swatted his hand away to remind him to keep his eyes ahead because if they crashed into the ocean Shikamaru and Temari would be without a maid of honour.
"What about me?" He asked defensively. "I'm a groomsman."
"Shino would be happy to replace you." Kiba couldn't argue with that. Shino moaned and brooded over the fact that he had been left out of the wedding party, and constantly reminded Kiba that if anything happened, he had a real nice suit in his luggage. Kiba thought it might be time to disown him as a friend.
They got to the hotel bleary eyed and exhausted, ready to check in and collapse onto a nice firm mattress. Kiba looked around and almost walked out. The hotel was way too swanky for him. Shikamaru said they got a package deal for all the guests, but after staring at the intricate mosaic on the ceiling several feet above them as well as the crystal chandelier, Kiba decided he couldn't afford one night in the place, no matter how good the 'deal'.
"Don't touch anything," Ino warned him, her voice a bare whisper. She clutched his arm, and pointed to a small statue residing on an end table amongst untarnished leather couches. "I'm pretty sure that's a five hundred year-old relic."
Kiba nodded stiffly, completely in awe of the water falls, the ponds, and exotic birds that flitted about the open space. Ino tugged him to the counter and smiled at the receptionist who greeted them kindly. It turned out she didn't speak any Japanese, but she brought forward another woman who did, and who smiled just as brightly.
"Welcome to the Westin, do you have a reservation?"
"Yes, we're actually with the Nara wedding party," Ino said fluidly. She was probably used to traveling luxuriously, but Kiba definitely wasn't. He stayed in the cheapest hotel he could find when he travelled, if he travelled. As long as it was decently clean, it worked for him.
The receptionist clicked around her computer. "Ah, I see. Will that be one king for the both of you, then?"
"Wait, how much are the rooms?" Kiba asked, interrupting Ino's sputtering of denial.
The receptionist looked a little taken aback. Ino elbowed him in the side. "What do you mean," she whispered. "Didn't you read Shikamaru's email about hotel accommodations?"
In truth he'd been so swamped with work, he hadn't bothered to really read all fifty five new messages in his inbox. He remembered receiving an email from Shikamaru and discovering a five page essay on God knows what. He ended up scrolling down to the last line, which had a simple question of 'yes' or 'no', and figured that since he was part of the wedding party, and clearly going to do whatever they asked of him, he would respond with 'yes'.
"Yeah, of course," he lied. He skimmed it. That counted somewhere.
The receptionist recovered and clicked around her computer. "With the wedding deal, and the partial payment from the Nara's, the total comes down to two forty a night."
"Two forty a night- you mean we're paying two hundred and forty dollars a night?" The receptionist's face clearly read no, you idiot, we charge two dollars and forty cents a night for a four star hotel. That's how we afford priceless antiques and exotic animals, and why everyone here can dress a lot nicer than you.
Ino stomped on his foot in order to stop embarrassing the both of them, but he hardly noticed. First of all she was tiny, and second of all her shoes were so thin she may as well have not been wearing any.
"You agreed to this in the email, didn't you?" Ino asked rapidly, and almost as quietly as Hinata used to speak on a daily basis.
"Hell no," he said loudly, his voice almost rising to a shout. He didn't have two hundred and forty dollars to spend on a six square meter room that he would spend more time out of than in. He was going to be here a week, and if he did the math... Well he didn't do the math, that was too much for his sleep-deprived brain to handle right now, but he knew the amount was definitely outside of what he was willing to spend.
"Whatever," Ino said, too tired to deal with him. "I would like to check in. He can figure it out for himself."
Kiba glared as she pulled out a shiny credit-card, prepared to just leave him under the proverbial bus to die of massive cash-loss. "We'll take the king," Kiba found himself saying. Ino turned around with wide eyes and an open mouth. Not the best look on her.
"Excuse me?"
"We'll share the room," he affirmed. One twenty a night would be more affordable, though still twice as much as he wanted to be paying. In his mind, the room had to come with endless food and strippers to be worth two hundred and forty dollars a night. He doubted there were any hotels like that, but he could dream. He also doubted there were any hotels along Kaanapali beach that had any open rooms for stragglers. Naruto and Hinata wouldn't get in until tomorrow, and he was pretty sure Shino wasn't showing up until the day of. There wasn't anyone else he could stand sharing a room with, and as Ino's eyes narrowed into tiny little slits, he was starting to think she would make his life as difficult as she possibly could.
A weird sense of excitement tingled at his fingers as Ino struggled to form coherent words that thoroughly expressed her frustration. He decided he liked her angry as much as he liked her happy, and was specifically pleased that all her attention was on him. Maybe this stupid wedding wouldn't be so bad after all, if it meant he could mess with the mind of one easily ruffled and extremely hot Yamanaka Ino.
AN: Review please! Do it. Write whatever's on your mind. Just let the words fall. You could tell me about pizza for all I care, it lets me know you even got this far.