Gaahina chan: So! Here I am with my new fic. My first NejixIno - I love this couple. Yeah, as you may see I have something for crack pairings xD but anyway. Please read and review and enjoy yourselves!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Lounge Act
By Gaahina chan
Ino stared at her reflection on the mirror. She smiled warmly at the sight of her body and new outfit. She wore a loose purple skirt with black shorts underneath, a sleeveless purple top that showed some of her abdomen giving her a sexy appearance. She also wore two pair of fishnet bands on her arms. The bottom of her legs was covered with bandages along with a pair of black sandals. She thought that a change wouldn't be that bad, even when the reason was to attract some cloud loving guy. She felt her cheeks burn at the thought of him. Her hair was still in a ponytail, adorned with a thin purple lace. She smiled one more time and headed out of her room.
As she walked through the streets, she felt the glances all over her. She was very excited. She had come to terms that Sasuke wasn't for her. She got over him when he left Konoha. About a year later she started to set her eyes on her teammate. Being as friends was good but she couldn't help to steal glances at his now handsome body and careless attitude.
When she reached the spot that he used to watch clouds, her heart started beating faster until she saw a hint of blonde hair.
"What is happening?" Ino thought confused. As she approached the couple, she hid behind a tree where she could hear their conversation.
"So Shika kun, are you saying that you like me?" Temari said playfully toying with his hair. "Ano, this is a little troublesome, but yes" Shikamaru said a little nervous. "Oh! You're so sweet Shika kun!" she said as she laid a kiss on his lips.
Ino could feel the tears welling on her eyes. What was she thinking? She had always seen the indirect signs. They were hanging out more and more, and every time Shikamaru talk about her a smile would appear on his face. Ino felt like her world was crumbling, so she did the only thing she could do. She ran away from the happy couple.
She ran and ran through the woods, not wanting the people to see her in this shameful image. Her vision was blurry because of the tears and she felt down, she got up to her knees and started sobbing. "What? Why?!" She thought furiously at the sight of the couple. When she couldn't take it anymore, she punched furiously the floor and let herself fall down into the grass. She looked up at the sky, just like Shikamaru and she did. Slowly, her eyes began to close and sleep overtook the rest of her.
-o-
Ino could feel soft hands on her legs. What?! She thought desperately as she suddenly stood up only to see a startled Hinata. "Ino chan! Wait, I have to take care of your wounds" Hinata said as Ino felt the pain on her ankle.
"What happened?" Ino said as she sat on the bed. "Well you see, I found you in the forest unconscious and I saw that you hurt your ankle, so I brought you here so I could take care of you" Hinata said smiling.
"Ah, thank you Hinata. I hurt my ankle because I tripped on a rock" Ino said remembering everything, a hint of sadness on her eyes. Hinata noted this and decided to talk. "Are you okay Ino chan?" Hinata said as she began to pour some cream on her ankle. "Yeah, I'm just a little depressed. But it will go away" Ino said turning away her head. "Oh, if you have problems you can tell me. I'm your friend" Hinata said smiling warmly at her. Ino could only smile and hugged her tiny form. "Thank you Hinata. You are a great person" Ino said as she pull away of the hug. "Thank you" Hinata said, a blush spread on her cheeks.
Several minutes later, Ino's ankle was bandaged up and healed. "I think you can walk tomorrow" Hinata said putting the bottles of medicine on her table. "Thank you Hinata, I can go now to my house" Ino said standing up. "Ino chan, what are you thinking? Its 1 am, it's too late for you to go home alone. You can sleep here today" Hinata said as she prepared some blankets. "Oh, I didn't know. Thank you Hinata" Ino said as she rested on the bed preparing to sleep.
-o-
Her eyelids opened. She couldn't sleep, not in her state. She was very focused on the past events of the day that she couldn't sleep. So she went out of the room to get some water. As she traveled the long Hyuuga halls, she wondered what would be living in a huge mansion with a lot of servants. Before she could recall her thoughts, she realized something. She was lost, she never traveled the Hyuuga household before, and so she didn't know where Hinata's room was. Now she was depressed and lost. Great. She thought as she saw the surrounding walls.
A tap on her shoulder snapped her back to reality. She quickly turned around only to meet a pair of colorless eyes glaring at her. "What are you doing here?" The man asked. "I-I. Hinata brought me here because I was injured and she took care of me. She said I could sleep here, but I wanted some water and I got lost" Ino said nervously because of the death glare that the man send her. "Follow me" The man said as he started to walk. Ino only nodded and walked behind him.
As they passed some doors and halls, she finally arrived to the kitchen. The man slowly served water into a glass and gave it to her. "Thank you" she said as she drank the water. He only nodded. "Now, can you tell me who you are?" Ino said as she put the glass on the table. "You don't recognize me?" the man said as he turned on the light. "Neji" she whispered as she saw the tall, handsome guy in front of her.
"I'll take you to Hinata's room" Neji said as he left the kitchen. Ino followed him again and wondered why he helped her. "Ano, Neji why are you helping me?" Ino asked to break the awkward silence. "I'm not, you were standing on my way" he said emotionlessly. She only shrugged and decided not to talk. She thought he was a total jerk.
As they arrived to Hinata's room, Ino only bowed to him and thanked him. He only nodded and walked away. "What a weird guy" Ino thought as she entered the room. She went to her bed and closed her eyes.
-o-
"Ino chan. Ino chan! Breakfast is ready" Hinata said as she tapped her shoulder. "Hn…….. What?" Ino said as she rubbed her eyes lazily. "Get up, we can't be late" Hinata said as she brushed her now long hair. "Oh okay" Ino said as she sat up, arranging her clothes.
As they entered the dinning room, Ino could feel the glares, specially the one send by Hinata's father. As she sat down, she saw the Hyuuga prodigy looking at her. She felt nervous under his glare, he had the dangerous appearance. Ino could only thank god for breakfast and slowly ate each tiny bit of it. As she finished, she waited for the others to finish. She then returned to look at Neji. He was a strong man, she remembered him on the chuunin exams. How he beat Hinata into a pulp, but nevertheless, he lost to Naruto. He looked different now, he had some more manly features and short bangs framed his face. His headband was on the same place, but his outfit was a white long sleeved shirt with black pants. She could tell he was handsome, but he had that jerk attitude. His hair was at the same length. As she saw that Neji was glaring at her, she quickly looked away and turned to Hinata, who was about to finish her meal.
"Ino chan, is your ankle feeling okay?" Hinata asked as she turned to Ino. "Yeah, it's okay Hinata. Thank you for worrying" Ino said, a smile forming on her features.
But as soon as it disappeared, a hint of sadness and pain was seen on her blue orbs. She had remembered why she was here. She saw her crush with another girl, and she couldn't help but break into pieces, crying and falling, which was the reason why she was here with the Hyuugas. Neji, unaware that he was staring at Ino, noted this and quickly shrugged it off. What was he thinking? Worrying about some weird, loud mouth girl. He returned to his meal and after finished sat up and went to his room.
-o-
"Thank you Hinata, I can walk home alone. Thanks for everything. I'll see you sometime. Bye!" Ino said as she departed form the Hyuuga. Ino walked slowly through the woods; she didn't want to confront anyone, so she decided that maybe some training will distract her. As she headed to the training grounds, she felt observed but as soon as the thought came, she forgot about it. When she arrived, she took some kunai and shuriken out and started to aim to some targets. She felt herself uncomfortable, she wasn't improving in anything. Her ninja life was as bad as her love life.
"Maybe if I get stronger, I could focus on something more than my love life. And maybe I can become a better kunoichi. That's a goal. But how can I train? I'm not good on anything" Ino said to herself as she looked down at the floor.
"Maybe if I find a tutor" She said out loud. She then started to think of strong people in the village. First of all she thought of Sakura, but being her rival, having her as a tutor was going to be harsh so she took her out. Then again she thought of Hinata, but she just couldn't, she was very gentle, she wouldn't be a good opponent cause they were friends and she wouldn't hurt her. She kept thinking on many people but none of them sound good for her until her mind screamed. "What about Neji?" Ino thought. He was very much strong than her, he was a genius and he was good in almost everything, she thought. But then, how could she tell him? She didn't know him that much. She just couldn't come up to him and asked him if he could train her. She doubted he would accept.
"I can try" She said giving her a little hope. "You know, for us, the Hyuugas, with and advanced byakugan, can easily read minds" Neji said as he stepped down from the tree he was sitting.
Ino jumped back at the sudden comment. "How….? Why?" She managed to say. "Well I was walking over here until I spotted you" he said calmly.
"I will train you. Under some conditions of course" he said smirking.
"What conditions?" Ino said as she approached him, her eyes flaming.
"Well, you're not allowed to ask anything, second, you're not allowed to complain about my methods. I'm a harsh tutor" he said looking at her eyes.
"Okay" she said containing his look. "Meet me here tomorrow at 5 am" he said as he walked away.
"But-!" Ino was about to complain only to remember that she wasn't allowed to. She only nodded and stomped away. Neji smirked.
-o-
The next day, Ino was arranging herself for training. She grabbed her weapon pouch and headed to the training grounds. When she arrived there, she saw Neji meditating. She saw that his features were soft, and his eyes were closed. His legs were crossed down and his long silky hair was flying because of the wind.
"I thought you were going to be late" Neji said as he stood up.
"I can't let my sensei think that I'm an irresponsible student" Ino said as she smirked.
"Good. Now first you will make some stretches for your muscles to relax and contain the next exercise" Neji said as he started meditating one more time.
Ino nodded and started to stretch her arms. She then sat down and extended her legs to reach the tip of her feet with her hands. She could feel a little pain; she never did this kind of exercise. "I'm bad at this" Ino thought as pain traveled her weak muscles. "But anyway, I will improve" Ino said as a smile appeared at her face. Unaware that Neji was seeing her, Ino continued her movements.
"She's a hard worker. She will be good" Neji thought as she saw the determined look on Ino's face.
"I'm finished" Ino said as she looked at Neji.
"Okay, now you will fight me. I want to know how much you have" Neji said as he took the gentle fist stance. Ino stared at him with a shock face but then again, she thought that she wouldn't show fear to him. She took out a kunai and stared at him.
They were like this for like 2 minutes. Ino did know that he was a short range fighter, so she decided not to confront him too close. Neji could only think why she wasn't attacking. "Well, maybe she knows my technique" Neji said as she saw Ino moving around cautiously.
Ino's patience was reaching her limit, so she decided to throw kunai at his direction to distract him. He quickly avoided each one of them and saw that 3 bunshin came to him.
"Interesting, but not too much for my technique" He said as he activated the byakugan. He could see that none of them was the real Ino. She couldn't hide, not with his byakugan. He saw a chakra pathway not too far from him, so he easily hit the tenketsus of the bunshin and ran to the real Ino. He made an attempt to hit her but he instead hit a wood log. "Kawarimi" he said as Ino came from behind only to be hit by Neji on her arm. "Ahh!!" she said as she landed on the floor. She quickly rubbed the area where he hit her and glare at him. "Not good enough" Neji said as he smirked. Ino could feel the rage popping in her veins, and started to run at him with a kunai. They both fought with kunai until Neji saw a spot to hit. When he was about to hit her, Ino back away and threw at him a smoke bomb. She quickly surrounded the area and came behind Neji only to find nothing. She then searched for him, but she didn't saw anything. She heard some noise behind her and quickly prepared to be hit, but nothing came.
"You don't know any ninjutsu?" Neji asked as he cornered Ino.
"I-I know my family's technique, but it is only used for spying" Ino said lowering her head.
"You're good at strategies but you don't have much defense, your velocity is poor" Neji said as he gave her some space.
Ino could feel the shame; she didn't know how weak she was.
"And also, you didn't use taijutsu. Punch me at the palm" Neji said as he put his palm in front of her. Ino, with all the force that she had, punched him. Neji stared at her, she was weak. Even Hinata was way better than her.
"I will show you how to control your chakra. That way you'll be able to increase your force and your velocity" He said looking at her. She nodded.
"For now, jog around that clearing, 10 laps" Neji said as he sat down. Ino stared dumbfounded at the large camp, it was huge! She thought only to receive a glare of Neji. "Okay" she said as she started running, all the way fuming things.
-o-
Gaahina chan: My first NejixIno! I hope you like it. I don't know when I will update, but I think it will be soon, unless I have a mental block. PLEASE REVIEW! Sorry for grammatical errors // and the bad fight scene. I'm bad at those. Forgive me! TT