A/N: I wrote this a while ago, I was just holding up until it was closer to Christmas to post it. Read and enjoy (hopefully).
EDIT: changed currency to ryo.
SUMMARY: Hana sent Kiba off to collect flowers for the dining room table. Little did she know he'd come back with a mistletoe and a story to tell.
DISCLAIMER: Characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Flower meanings were retrieved off the net.
A Flower for the Festivities
Ever since his mother had remarried and given birth to her second son Shippo – or the devil as Kiba had liked to call the child when he was little – Kiba had been living with his elder sister, in a house that she had purchased after the arrival to accommodate for the lack of space in their old family home. Kiba had nothing wrong with living with his sister in reality. She was, on the most part, easy to live with. She gave him his space, and he gave her hers. There were just some occasions when he found her to be a little tiring. Most of those came about when her demanding side showed itself. And it just so happened that one of those times was today, two weeks before Christmas Day. Hana had seemingly arbitrarily decided – according to Kiba – that they required the presence of flowers on their dining room table. And Kiba, being Kiba, knew of only one place in town to purchase such flowers – at the Yamanaka flower shop. He wouldn't even know of that if he hadn't heard Ino boasting about it being the best flower shop in the village half a dozen times.
"I never would have thought I'd catch the Inuzuka Kiba dead in a flower shop." Ino mocked when the shock of seeing her friend enter into the shop set in. She wasn't exactly in the mood for his games right now. All she wanted was to be given a mission and only come back on the morning of Christmas Day when the buzz was gone.
"Nor did I ever imagine entering one on my own free will." Kiba answered nonchalantly, flicking his hair to the side. Ino raised her brow, wondering how many corny movies he'd watched lately where the macho male would flick his hair to the side trying to be cool. Any minute now and she expected his teeth to start sparkling in the light.
"So what blessed occasion gives me the pleasure of your company?" she asked sarcastically, resting her chin on her folded hands. Christmas was a trying enough time already with the amount of flowers people came to buy, but now this? She wondered what she must have done to deserve this amount of irritation all bound up into one teenage boy... one rugged, handsome, sweet, teenage— Ino shook her head vigorously, trying to dispel such horrid thoughts, okay Ino, cut it out. You. Do. Not. Like Kiba... oh who am I kidding I—
"Christmas." Kiba answered obviously, eyeing her actions dubiously. She was seriously one weird chick. The pair had first grown closer after Kiba had helped her to get over her infatuation with Uchiha Sasuke, and again after she was heartbroken from her breakup with Chouji. But no matter how well he knew her, he still didn't understand her actions one bit.
Ino sighed; it was the same as all of them. But then again, nothing was worse than the rush that came around Valentine's Day. "Well what are you here for?"
"Flowers." Kiba stated in a way that questioned Ino's sanity and intelligence. Ino simply rolled her eyes, he didn't know anything.
"What types, dog-boy?" She asked condescendingly, causing Kiba to raise his nose higher into the air in an attempt to protect his pride.
"Pretty ones."
"Gee," she murmured sarcastically, "that narrows it down." She pushed herself away from the counter. "Come on, since you obviously don't know what you're here for, why don't I show you the options?"
Kiba couldn't deny her hospitality so he trailed after her into a larger room out the back of the shopfront they were in. Ino talked him through the flowers, making suggestions here and there of what she thought would be a good choice, and explaining the importance of colour co-ordination and visual appeal since Kiba was determined to believe they didn't matter. Eventually, after great debate, they came to a listed selection and were wandering around the flowers when Kiba spotted a familiar name.
"And I'll take one of these." Kiba said, pointing to the flowers.
"A mistletoe?" Ino asked sceptically, "You probably think you're going to get lucky and finally get that first kiss you've been waiting for your whole life, don't you?"
"Haha, very funny," Kiba drawled sarcastically, "I have kissed a girl before."
"Relatives don't count Kiba. And neither do your dogs."
"And I suppose you have years of experience kissing boys." Kiba retorted derisively.
"Yes actually." Ino answered triumphantly, "My parents tell me I used to kiss Shikamaru and Chouji all the time when I was a little girl. What can I say; I was an affectionate little bud. I liked kisses."
"Some things don't change." Kiba muttered distastefully.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Ino demanded, with her hands placed firmly on her hips. Kiba shrugged, carefully avoiding her gaze. "Don't you just shrug at me. Who I choose to date and have a crush on is my business and none of yours. So don't you go around acting as though it concerns you when I decide to date someone. You may be my friend but it doesn't mean you have the right to become cross with my choice in boyfriends. And besides," her voice dropped dramatically as she turned and began fiddling with some flowers, "Chouji and I broke up over two months ago."
Kiba looked across at her guiltily before walking over and slinging his arm around her shoulders good-naturedly in an attempt to cheer her up. "I know."
Ino leant her head down on his shoulder just as he spotted the name of another flower.
"Ohh!" He practically screamed, "I need that one as well."
"Why?" Ino asked, eyeing the flowers in confusion. She couldn't work out why on earth he'd want some dogwoods.
"Look at its name!" Kiba answered, "It's awesome."
Ino rolled her eyes and found herself unable to resist the infectious urge to smile. His reasoning behind some things could be so silly sometimes. She shook her head in disbelief.
"I cannot believe you choose a flower simply because of their name." Ino said reproachfully, "That's degrading the flower."
"How?" Kiba questioned.
"It's completely rejecting the flowers individual purpose." She explained. Kiba looked so confused, he'd never realised flowers had their own purposes.
"What do you choose a flower for then?" He asked.
"The meaning."
"Flowers have meanings!" Kiba cried in shock. Ino would have thumped him for being stupid had she not realised this was a genuine discovery for him. Her jaw dropped at his ignorance.
"Yes!" She screamed.
"Then what's your favourite flower?" Kiba asked. If she chose flowers because of their meanings then it must have something to do with the ones she liked.
"Spider Flowers are cute," she answered, turning and arranging some flowers, "they have a sweet meaning."
"What?" Kiba asked, genuinely intrigued. For some reason, when it came to her, he was always intrigued.
"Elope with me." Ino answered. Kiba cringed causing her to giggle lightly. "But they're not my favourite. My favourites are Viscarias and white Violets."
"And what do they mean?" Kiba questioned.
"Viscaria is 'dance with me' and the Violets are 'take a chance'." Ino explained with a smile.
"Why them?"
"I dunno… I guess I've always wanted a guy to take a chance, go against what everyone wants them to do just because their heart tells them to. And to let go of their pride for long enough to do something as stupid as dancing... but you don't want to hear about stuff like that..." She trailed off nervously. Kiba, sensing that a change of topic was needed, thought back to the first flower she had mentioned.
"Would you want someone to give you that spider one, you know the one that asks to elope?" He asked.
"Nah." She shrugged off, "I don't really want to elope. I want the whole wedding deal with friends and family. I guess it comes from the whole childhood, little girl envisioning of a big white wedding... it's stupid I know. But I'd have to find someone to marry first..."
"You know how you said flowers have hidden meanings," Kiba interjected, "if you had to pick a flower that best described you what would it be?"
"Bindweed... geranium, anemone, burdock, day lily..." Ino murmured sourly.
"And what do they mean?" Kiba asked quietly.
"Bindweed; coquette and busybody, geranium; stupidity and folly, anemone; refusal and abandonment, forsaken, burdock; importunity and boredom, and day lily means coquetry." She answered half-heartedly.
"You're not forsaken, and you're not importunate." He scolded lightly, before grinning, "But I will admit you are a busybody. Actually, do you have a flower dictionary?"
"Well, yeah." Ino mumbled.
"Can I look at it?"
"If you insist..." Ino answered after a few moments of eyeing him unsurely. She left the room to go find the book. A minute later she returned and handed it to the Inuzuka.
"Just give me a few minutes." Kiba said.
"Okay," Ino said as she began to stroll around and collect his flowers, "I'll get your flowers."
Alyssum: worth beyond beauty
Red Jasmine: folly and glee
White Jasmine: amiability and cheerfulness
Yellow Jasmine: timidity and modesty
White Camellia: You're adorable
Kiba flicked through the dictionary and after about ten minutes he felt he'd compiled an adequate list. He called Ino back over to him.
"Okay, I'm done. You're a white, yellow, and red jasmine, a white camellia and asylum."
"Ah..." Ino looked at him in confusion, there was no such flower as an asylum, "what do you mean asylum?"
"That one." Kiba said, pointing to the page.
"Baka!" Ino cried, thumping him on the arm playfully, "That says alyssum."
"Oh..." Kiba mumbled embarrassedly, scratching the back of his head, "well that..."
"No I'm not." Ino disagreed, staring down at her feet.
"Yes you are." Kiba assured, "You're modest, much more so than most people think, you're adorable and beautiful; you're always fun to be around, friendly, and cheerful."
Ino smiled at him appreciatively before changing the subject. "Is there anything else you wanted?"
"Yes actually. What am I?" Kiba asked.
"Ah... oh," she cried, Kiba noted how she'd suddenly become excited and interested, "you're definitely a Delphinium and Hyacinth, also a Dogwood. Oh! And a Geranium, possibly a Purple Carnation, and at times like this, you're a Sweet William."
As she was saying them Kiba flicked through the dictionary quickly in order to find them.
Delphinium: big hearted, fun
Hyacinth: games and sports, rashness
Dogwood: durability
Geranium: stupidity, folly
Purple Carnation: capriciousness, whimsical, antipathy
Sweet William: gallantry, finesse and perfection
Kiba's eyes lingered momentarily on the last word, causing his heart to skip a beat at the mere thought she might think of him as perfect.
"Well are you just going to stare at the book all day or are you going to buy your flowers before the New Year comes?" Ino asked after he'd been staring down at the page for a good couple of minutes. Kiba's head snapped up in shock at the sound of her voice. He'd completely forgotten where he was, becoming completely submerged in his own thoughts. Ino rolled her eyes at his actions. He was so easily distracted. "Because," she added as an afterthought, "I'm not giving them to you free."
"Ohh c'mon. Not even for someone you love as much as me?"
"No." She answered bluntly. Kiba smirked, suppressing a bout of laughter. He leant over and kissed her on the cheek swiftly before jumping up and jogging to the door, back into the front of the shop. He tried it all the time; kissing her on the cheek. He'd done it for years nearly, it was almost a game. He'd give her a kiss on the cheek and then see, depending on her mood, whether she reacted to this by pounding his head in.
"Idiot!" Ino called out to him from behind the wall. "Where do you think you're going dog-boy? I'm the one who's got your stupid flowers!"
"My, oh my, Ino." Kiba said reproachfully as she entered back into the front and saw him leaning forward against the counter on his elbows. "I'm shocked to hear you use such graphic terminology in reference to a flower."
"Well it's just a taster on the terminology I'm capable of using in reference to you." She retorted playfully after she was back behind the counter.
"Feel free to use terms like Hottie, or even Hot Dog, ruggedly handsome, the subject of your wildest and most pleasurable dreams and fantasies." Kiba retaliated, smiling brazenly.
"How's unkempt? Animalistic? Cocky? Unbelievably hopeful? The subject of my worst nightmares?"
"So I am in your dreams?" Kiba questioned in a triumphant tone.
"No!" Ino denied, maybe a little too loud.
"But you just said!" He cried brashly, feeling cheated.
"Hypothetically. If you were in my dreams, it would be a nightmare – not a fantasy."
"As long as you still enjoy it."
"I don't enjoy my nightmares!" Ino shrieked, slightly offended.
"Well what do you enjoy?"
"Are you here to interrogate me or to buy flowers?"
"That's a toughie." Kiba stated, placing his finger on his chin in mock consideration.
"Here you go." Ino said, smiling in amusement as she held the flowers out over the counter for him.
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Kiba asked sceptically, a disbelieving smile on his face.
"Gee," Ino answered sarcastically, her eyebrows rising in a teasing way, "you're sharp today."
"I'll show you sharp." Kiba murmured pointedly. He wrapped his fingers around the hand she had clamped on the flowers. Ino's eyes widened in shock at the sudden contact. Kiba grinned mischievously as he raised their hands up into the air. Ino stared into his eyes with confusion, trying to find an explanation for what he was doing.
"What..." Ino mumbled. Kiba's gaze flickered up to their hands above them and Ino followed suit. That was when she remembered the mistletoe. "Oh."
"Are you going to listen to the flower?" Kiba asked challengingly.
"I see I don't have much choice." Ino replied, her eyes locking back with his, inches in front of her. They slowly closed the distance between them until their lips met. They both seemed to mould together until Ino swiftly broke the contact. She exhaled deeply, completely flustered and unable to stop her mind from racing. "Umm..." she stammered, trying to remember what it was she was supposed to be doing. His entire trip suddenly came flooding back to her and she glanced down at the flowers in his hand. "That'll be thirty... two ryo."
Kiba took out forty from his wallet. He placed it into her open palm, closing her fingers around the cash to secure it. He smiled at her softly. "Keep the change."
Ino simply nodded dumbly at him, completely choked up and incapable of speaking. Kiba pushed himself away from the counter sullenly and dawdled to the shops door. It was only once he'd reached the exit, with his hand on the doorhandle that an idea struck him. He didn't quite want to say goodbye to Ino just yet and he knew a way to stay in her presence a few moments longer. He began turning the handle back and forth, making sure to hold the door closed tightly.
"What are you...?" Ino asked, snapping out of her reverie at the sudden noise of Kiba's struggle.
"It won't open." Kiba grumbled back, an aggravated frown forming on his face.
"Whaddya mean—?"
"It's stuck." Kiba answered, looking back over his shoulder at her.
"How could it possibly be stuck?" Ino demanded as she began walking around the counter to the door. "You just ruined a perfectly good kiss with the reality of how..." she'd reached the door and had placed her hand over Kiba's to try and yank it open, when he looked above him pointedly. Ino tilted her head heavenward causing her eyes to fall right on the mistletoe hanging above the entrance, "clumsy... you... are."
"Not so clumsy now, am I?" He asked, grinning proudly.
"No, just so desperate that you have to trick girls into kissing you." Ino retorted. Despite her harsh tone she was smiling at him.
"I can't help it if you're a good kisser." Kiba praised.
"The mistletoe isn't up all year you know." Ino gracefully pointed out.
"Then we'll just have to make use of it now." Kiba concluded, his grin widening to the extent that Ino thought his muscles wouldn't be able to stretch his lips any further.
"I guess we will." Ino answered, smiling coquettishly before she crushed her lips up against his once more. Kiba, more or less shocked by her sudden movement, deepened the embrace. He placed one hand on the small of her back, pulling her closer to him, as he ran his fingers through her hair with the other. Ino returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around his neck and twirling his locks of wavy brown hair through her fingers.
They were rudely interrupted by the sound of gruff footsteps and sturdy hands ripping Ino from Kiba's grasp. The pair looked up at the fuming man in shock. Kiba grinned at Ino's father sheepishly. There was absolutely no way he'd be able to get out of this situation even if he lied through his teeth.
"Out boy." Inoichi ordered, glaring Kiba down and pointing towards the door.
"If you don't want boys kissing your daughter then you might want to get rid of the mistletoe." Kiba pointed out to the enraged father, trying to keep his face neutral and innocent but failing miserably because of the grin that threatened the corners of his mouth.
"Out!" Inoichi bellowed again. Kiba did as he said. He backed out through the door, waved to Ino and made his way down the street.
Inoichi's harsh glare turned to Ino who merely shrugged, unable to wipe the giddy smile off her face. "You can't go against the flower."
Inoichi reached up and ripped the offending flower down from above the doorframe. He curled his lip at the mistletoe in his hands, an ugly little thing it was. "I don't care what your mother says." He stated finally, "That's not going back up."
"But daddy!" Ino protested loudly. "In the spirit of Christmas you can't ban the mistletoe! Christmas is supposed to be about love."
"I can do whatever I like Ino, because I'm your father." The older man replied sternly. "You are too young to be gallivanting around kissing boys."
"I'm nineteen dad." Ino moaned. "And it's not like I never kissed Chouji."
"He was your boyfriend." Inoichi said, "That boy," he pointed off in the distance that Kiba had gone when he'd exited, "is not your boyfriend."
"Well what if I want him to be!" Ino cried, storming off in the direction of the backdoor, tears welling in her eyes. "And you can keep the stupid mistletoe up. I highly doubt he's going to be coming around again anyway." With that she flounced up the stairs to go complain to her mother. Inoichi just stared after her in shock. He was still processing the proclamation she'd made about wanting Kiba to be her boyfriend.
Once Kiba had made it into the next street he found himself unable to suppress the laughter that had been boiling inside of him any longer. He doubled over in hysterical laughter at the events which had just occurred, producing many strange looks from passerbies. One even whispered something to his companion about thinking the Inuzuka was drunk.
After he'd gotten the laughter out of his system the rest of Kiba's trip home was one of blissful unawareness. If he'd been questioned later he wouldn't have been able to identify even one of the people he walked past in the street because he was too preoccupied in his own thoughts and memories. Before he'd even reached his front step Kiba had come to the decision that the moment the mistletoe in the flower shop came down he was going to ask Ino out. Her kisses where far too sweet for him to miss out on.
Hana looked up from the paper she was reading at the dining room table when Kiba pranced into the room. She noticed the bundle of flowers in his hand with an approving smile. "Good, you got the flowers. Thanks twerp."
Kiba said nothing to her in reply and Hana furrowed her brow in concern. She'd hardly ever gotten away with calling him twerp without Kiba making some form of moan about it. She studied him silently as he brought the flowers over and placed them down beside her on the tabletop. He didn't appear to be sick, if anything he only appeared to be lovesick.
"What's got you on cloud nine all of a sudden?" Hana asked aloud, curiosity getting the better of her. Kiba however made no reply, to Hana it seemed as though he hadn't even heard her. He continued on his way, half gliding about the place.
Oh this is bad. Hana thought to herself. I haven't seen him this zoned out since his first date. She looked him over to try and find any clue of what could have gotten him into such a state of bliss. When she found nothing on him she looked over to the flowers that he had dumped on the bench beside her. That was when she noticed the mistletoe. Her jaw dropped in utter horror. "She kissed you? Wait, what am I saying? Of course she didn't kiss you. You kissed her!"
A/N: Let me know what you think! Btw, anyone read manga chapter 515? Kiba and Ino are in the same division. Yay!
God Bless
ARC