Where A Ninja Travels : Ino and Kiba Gaiden : Crush

The blond, handsome, muscular shinobi scaled the walls of the impenetrable fortress. With only love as his guide he scaled the walls, coming into the room of his one love, AiAi.

The princess awoke at the sound of rustling bushes, her golden, disheveled hair parting to reveal the amber eyes that had capture many-a-ninja's hearts.

Seeing her condemned lover leaping over her balcony, she raced to him. They met in each other's arms, basking in their unconquerable love.

"Oh! Iko! My love!" She sobbed. Just being near to him, she felt her legs grow weak. This was her hero, her savior, her life's desire. He had rescued her before and now was doing it again.

"Fret no more my princess, for I am here." He gently brushed her hair past her finely shaped ears. She smelled like lilies, and roses, and woman. It intoxicated him. "Even though this may be my last day alive, I would not spend it any other way than with you."

Hearing the sound of his alluring voice, she reached up to kiss him.

His response was to sweep her into his arms. He set her upon the grand bed, and began to take off his tight leather armor.

"But…what are you doing, Iko?" AiAi blushed, as blood flushed to her face. She knew what was happening, and she had awaited this moment.

"Let us become one, AiAi. I would leave you with a gift." He whispered in her ears.

He hovered over her, his naked chest rubbing against the silk nightgown of the princess.

With a single movement, her clothes fell to the floor, discarded.

He kissed her savagely. It was as if fire consumed him. Lust and love had mixed together and both felt the irrestible urge to rip each other's garments off.

Off came the leather jerkins, the confining ninja outfit.

Off came the silk panties.

She wore no bra, and he tasted of her melons. Her moans echoed in his ear.

Parting her creamy thighs, he thrust his –

"Ino, what are you reading? Your face is as red as a tomato!" Kiba leaned over the counter, peering at the book that Ino had tightly clutched to her chest. Akamaru barked next to his leg, in greetings.

"K-Kiba! What are you doing here!" Ino coughed out. Her face was red with embarrassment. She had been working in her family's flower shop, but no one had come in for the last half hour. Deeming it safe, she had withdrawn the book from her backpack and began to read. Entrapped in the imaginative world of the love story, she failed to notice a certain ninja walk step quietly into the store.

"What's that? Lemme see." Kiba reached over for the book. Before a stunned Ino could react, it was in his hands.

"Burning Desire: The Ninja chronicles." He scanned the cover. "An unforgettable tale of passion, betrayal, and never-ending love."

He flipped through the pages, looking for pictures. "Sounds boring." He didn't read much if it unless it was required. He could count the full number of books he had read with his hands and toes. There were more interesting things in life, like training or playing with Akamaru.

Stopping at a random page, he began to read again, the words spilling like blocks from his mouth. "Oh yes Iko don't stop don't stop ride me like a - "

"Kiba---!" Ino screeched.

He was too slow. Ino, the girl he secretly had a crush on, and whom he had just managed to scramble enough courage to ask out, had landed a solid right hook on his face. Ninja powers aside; it propelled him in the air and through the door from the flower shop.

Landing on his back, he stood up and rubbed his swollen cheek. Akamaru followed him out, and saw the bruise on his cheeks. The white dog jumped on his master, rapidly licking the bruise.

"What was that for!" He yelled out as he tried to pry Akamaru from his face. The dog was now too big that he could pounce on people. He reached up to his waist, and weighed almost as much as he did.

"Don't read my stuff ever again!" Her voice barked through the door. It slammed shut.

"B-but…what did I do?" He wondered. How could she be so mad over a book? He would have apologized if she had said so earlier. There went his chances for asking her to the Icha Icha movie.

"Oh, damn."

Ino fumed. If she were in a television.series, smoke would have been steaming from her ears. That dog boy had caught her when she was already flushed red with reading the book and the ensuing mumbling of words by Kiba had pushed her from her stunned state of just staring at him dazedly to ejecting him from her shop.

"Arghhhh!" She couldn't get over it. Reading out loud! Those words! You can't do something like that, it was…it was…socially unacceptable! Or, it should be! He had spoiled the good part too!

Oh, he! – He frustrated her to no end. He was in the shop at least once a week, saying the he wanted to smell the flowers. But he never even bought them! A waste of her time! She should have developed the secret ability of being able to forget his presence by now, but every time he came he managed to irk her in some way. The small annoying glance her way, which was done for no reason at all except to bother her. She knew he knew it.

At least he didn't know what she was reading. If it were anyone else, they might have teased her endlessly. She bet he had never read over two books his entire life. And why was he always so dirt! Did he never shower? Did he not have a shower? And everything he did annoyed her! It hadn't been that way when they were still in school together...but now...now he was intolerable in a facet of ways.

It would be a good while before Ino calmed down.

The next day Kiba sat down on a stool. "Two beef ramen please!" He said to the waitress.

Akane nodded and gave the order to her father who was standing near the soup pot.

A moment later two steaming hot bowls of delicious ramen was placed in front of him. One was placed on the floor for Akamaru. He sniffed the one in front of him and let out a long sigh of contentment. After that accident with Ino, this was long in the waiting. Taking a pair of chopsticks from the counter, he began to slurp the noodles into his mouth. He barely managed to resist a groan as the mouthwatering noodles were chewed. They slid down his throat like honey.

"Kiba!" He heard someone yell. The voice sounded familiar to him…it was…

"Oh, no…" He quickly tried to finish the noodles as quick as he could taking bites. He almost choked as he tried to swallow three spoonfulls of ramen at once.

"Kiba!" Kurenai, his black haired red eyed and amazingly curvy team leader stepped behind him. "I've been looking all over for you! Where did you go?"

"Kurenai-sensei…ah, I went to the flower shop?" Slurp slurp, the last of the ramen went into his stomache.

"The flower shop? Don't lie to me, there's no reason you would go there. And you've been gone for one whole day." Kurenai said. She took a breathe before the spoke again. "Missions have been rescheduled. You were supposed to report for a knew one yesterday, but since no one was able to find you, Shino and Hinata already left."

"Eh! Kurenai-sensei, just the two of them?"

"No, Chouji went with them." She sounded exasperated.

"Chouji?" Kiba wanted to laugh, but a look from Kurenai stopped him cold.

"Yes, Chouji. And you – you missed the mission."

"Sorry, sorry! I was just busy!"

"Busy with what."

"Ah, stuff." He didn't want to speak of his little accident with Ino. He didn't even want to think of it; his face turned red whenever he remembered Ino slamming the door in his face.

"What st - " She sounded exasperated. "Forget it. I'm leaving for my own mission in a few minutes with Asuma. I won't be back for a few days."

"Oh."

"You go talk with Tsunade-sama right now, and apologize for what you did yesterday."

"What'd I do!"

"You made her wait a full fifteen minutes – you made everyone wait fifteen minutes - thinking that you would show up. A wasted fifteen minutes."

"But – but!"

"No buts! Your becoming lazy and your recent training has been lacking." Grabbing the collar of his jacket, she dragged him from his stool. "Now you go. Now."

Kiba's head was down. Kurenai-sensei, when she was mad, was no fun at all. Normally she was nice, but when she was like this...

"Yah, I'll go…" He sighed. He thanked Akane and waved goodbye.

Akamaru had finished his noodles and was quiet. His tail was not wagging. He knew what a mad Kurenai was capable of too. The time that he had accidentally bit her when he was young, the memories still made him shiver.

Kurenai pointed her finger at the direction of the main building.

"Akamaru! Let's go."

Kiba left the Ichiraku ramen shop behind as he trudged along. It's not that he meant to be gone the entire day. After the accident with Ino, he had gone over to a deserted field near Konoha where he often went alone with Akamaru. There was something in being alone and staring at the sky that relaxed him.

He also trained there. All through the night he had continued his secret training. Usually he trained with Hinata and Shino, but the new technique he was learning…he wanted it to be a secret. If they found out or if Kurenai-sensei found out, they wouldn't definitely stop him.

He continued past the stores and the stands that were set up. It was a busy afternoon, and many of the villagers were out and enjoying themselves. Sniffing the air, he smelled tofu and takoyaki. It was a sometimes unpleasant ability to have a magnified olfactory sense when you were unable to eat all the food you wanted. A few kids onbliviously bumped into him and ran away while making funny faces. Damn brats.

He wondered what Ino was doing. Maybe if he waited for her to cool down, he could ask her later? But no…he knew he wouldn't. He had already gone into the flower shop before; each time a failure. He just couldn't come to ask Ino out. He knew she was the type of girl that only liked the cool handsome guys, and he wasn't.

He continued to mull over his faults as he reached the main building. Walking inside, he traveled around and found the stairs headed up.

As he headed into the Hokage's office, a familiar voice came through the narrow slit of the door. It wasn't Kurenai, for sure.

"Akamaru, shh." He quieted his dog.

He leaned closer, and placed his ear surface of the entrance, listening. It was Ino!

"Eh! I have to go with him! Why him! He's a no-good dog boy! And he's annoying too! What about Chouji and Shikamaru?" Ino said.

Outside the door, Kiba blushed and turned red. He knew whom she was talking about, and it felt like a weight in his gut, a horrible sinking feeling that turned him hot and cold at the same time. While he didn't want to listen anymore, his ear was glued to the door.

The distinct voice of Tsunade-sama echoed in the wood, its vibrations thrumming into his ear. "You should have heard that Chouji left on a separate mission with Shino and Hinata yesterday. And Shikamaru has other duties, being a chuunin."

"But why-!"

Some papers rustled, as if someone were flipping through them.

"According to the record." Ah, so he was right. "You took the last mission off because your dad came back injured and you wanted to care for him. Now that he's fine, and even taken a mission himself, I don't see why should go free."

"I know…but…with him…I have a problem with him!" Ino said.

"And that is?" Tsunade was curious. Though she was the Hokage, she was also a terrible gossiper. She and Shizune were feared among the village gossip circles.

"I, ah…" Ino delayed. She didn't want to mention the flower shop visits, or the mortifying accident that happened yesterday. No one knew except her…and she wanted to keep it that way.

"Ah…he….um…he's arrogant!" She fumbled for the answer. "And annoying and loud! He's worse that Naruto is!"

Kiba felt the stone in his stomach become heavier. Mean? Yah he was sometimes, but…he tried to be less so around her…

"Really? I've talked to Kiba a number of times, and I would agree with you."

Eh! Her too! Kiba thought.

"However, as a ninja you should not be affected by such a small matter like that."

"B-but."

"If the village were to be attacked tomorrow and I assigned you on a crucial mission with Kiba, what would you do then?"

A mission with him? He would have liked that a while ago, but after hearing this…he wanted to go away and bury himself.

"Well…ah…I would go."

"Good. Your beginning to see my way."

"Oh…okay." Ino gave up. She had put up a good fight. Although, saying 'no, no, he's annoying' couldn't truly be considered that great.

"Kiba, you can come in now. I've been waiting for you."

Oh, crap. He was spotted! She was the Hokage after all, she probably knew whoever entered the building. But…Ino was in there…and…

He opened the double doors and walked in, closing the doors as he entered. Akamaru followed in behind him.

As he came in he saw a smiling Tsunade-sama and a shocked Ino.

Ino of course, had reason to be shocked.

Oh no, she grimaced. Don't tell me he actually heard me…She saw the look on Kiba's face. A mixture of anger and embarrassment. Yup, he had heard.

"So, I'm going on a mission with Ino…" He trailed off. He hadn't even bothered to look or say hi to Ino. He thought that if he glanced at her, the rush of blood to his face would kill her. Hearing someone you liked talk poorly about you behind your back wasn't the most pleasant of situations. Having to face them right afterwards, well….

"Yes. It will be a three-man team. A simple B-rank mission.

"B?" B-rank missions weren't difficult…for a jounin. He was still a genin after all. He should have been limited to C-rank and D-rank missions.

"Yes. B-rank mission. B-rank is different from C-rank and D-rank because there will be confrontation with ninja."

"But isn't that above the genin level?" He asked.

"It is above what I would normally assign a genin. But after observing your progress, I feel as if you two are ready to slowly ease into B-rank missions. I also expect you to pass the following Chuunin exams of course."

Psh, he thought. He bet she just wanted more people to do some of the more dangerous missions. Ever since last year the number of missions that he had received nearly doubles. Everyone else was in the same situation. But…he knew it was for the good of the village. "Then...three genin on a B-rank mission?"

"No. There will be a chuunin that will accompany you."

At this, Ino's head pricked up. "Who?" She asked. Though she had known a chuunin would be coming, she didn't know who.

"Yes, I think now is a good time for you to meet him." Tsunade waved her hand at something.

Kiba and Ino turned to see who it was, but didn't see anyone else in the room besides themselves. Turning back to Tsunade they saw that a young man in his twenties had suddenly appeared. He wore the traditional ninja clothing of the village.

"This is Iko."

The man nodded.

Kiba recognized the name. Wasn't it the name from the book that Ino was reading? He forgot the words, but it went something like 'Iko riding?' He gave the guy a dirty look. He could be Ino's brother. Just with a quick glance Kiba could already tell that this guy was probably the cool silent type. Like that Sasuke. He clenched his hands. All the girls fawned over him.

Ino on the other hand was having some very different thoughts. She thought the entrance was cool. Very cool. Forgetting the presence of Kiba and Tsunade-sama, she gazed at him. Blond hair, blue eyes, and skin that practically glowed, she wanted to fawn over him. He was like the dreamy ninja she had always wanted to save her. How had she never seen him. His mere presence made her light headed. And his name…it was the main character of many a ninja-romance novel. She was already placing him in book situations.

"Hi…" She said shyly.

Kiba was silent. He had looked to Ino for the first time and saw the capture look of her eyes. He wanted to barf. He wanted to leave. He wanted to beat the man up, badly.

"My name is Iko. I will be leading this team. It's nice to you meet you." He bowed.

Ino blushed. His voice was like water sparkling. It entranced her. "Nice t-to…to meet you."

"Hey." Kiba said. He had crossed his arms defensively.

"Iko has been chuunin for a few years. You can learn a lot with his experience."

A tense silence filled the air, neither Kiba speaking nor Ino.

"Since I haven't told Kiba what the mission is yet, I'll repeat it. There is a small village a day's travel from here that is being terrorized by some bandits. They wouldn't have trouble normally but it seems some minor ninja has joined with them. Go there and give those bandits a lesson." Tsunade interrupted the awkward silence in the room.

She continued, "I have another meeting soon. The three of you should get ready to leave by this afternoon."

The three ninjas turned to Tsunade and nodded.

"If you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to before I leave. I will meet you at the front gate in three hours." Iko said to Kiba and Ino. "Tsunade-sama." He bowed once to her and left.

Kiba gave a sigh of disgust and stepped out of the room with Akamaru. He didn't want to be there anymore. Everything had been going wrong lately.

Ino bowed once to Tsunade and left.

"You think he's stupid too Akamaru?" Kiba asked his dog.

Akamaru barked out a yes.

"Yah. Just look at the way Ino was looking at him." Kiba was mad. He knew Ino would never like him. They were different in too many ways. Though they had been in the same class together the two of them didn't know each other that well. But after they had become genin…Kiba had found himself strangely visiting the flower shop to see if Ino was working there. It was a new feeling and he hadn't known what to do. His sister had told him to ask her out for a movie or something. Though she had been laughing the entire time she was advising him. But…this feeling, he couldn't put it down, he just couldn't forget her. It drove him crazy.

Akamaru tried to comfort him by nudging his hand. It didn't work.

He walked home to tell his mom that he was going to go on a mission. His mom didn't ask many questions about what he did, but she liked to know.

He passed by the Ichiraku ramen shop and as he walked farther away he passed the flowers shop. He slowed down as he passed.

Turning the corner to the street where he lived, he saw his old school teacher Iruka walking alone in the opposite direction. What was he doing?

"Iruka-sensei!" Kiba waved wildly in the air. Akamaru barked alongside him. Iruka-sensei had always been a nice teacher, albeit a bit boring. Most of the classes he taught, Kiba had fallen asleep.

Iruka peered around to see who was calling him. "Kiba! Akamaru!" He walked over to them.

"Where are you going Kiba?" Iruka said as he bent down to pat Akamaru. It had been some time since he had to squat to pat the dog.

"Ah, well I just got a mission so I haveta go home and tell my parent's and pack and stuff." Kiba said. "What about you, Iruka-sensei?"

"I just finished teaching and was feeling a little hungry. I felt like I wanted ramen so I decided to headed to Ichiraku's." As if on cue, his stomache rumbled loudly. He gently rubbed it into submission. "So Kiba, what kind of mission is this?"

"A B-rank mission." He said proudly.

"B-rank?" Iruka was curious. It wasn't often that genin received B-rank missions.

"Yah, we have to go to some village and beat up some bandits."

"That would be a high C-rank mission though."

"Tsunade-sama says there's some ninja there that's helping them. Nothing big."

Iruka gave a big 'ahh' of understanding.

"Iruka-sensei, you spend so much time teaching how long has it been since you've gone on a mission?"

"Teaching itself should be a A-rank mission. Teaching you, I remember, would classify as S-rank."

"I was an okay student!"

"You slept in every other class."

"…"

"So who is going with you? Hinata and Shino?"

"No. They had some other mission to go to so I'm going with Ino and some chuunin named Iko."

"Iko?" Iruka narrowed his eyes. "Blond hair blue eyes."

"Yah, so what?"

"Hmm, I've been on a mission with him once."

"Really! How was he?"

"He was…how should I saw…why did Tsunade-sama pair you two with him?"

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm a little apprehensive about him. He's the type that follows the rules absolutely. And…"

"And…" Kiba waited for the ending.

"He has a cruel streak."

"?"

"I remember when he and I went on a mission together we had to defeat a ninja who ambushed us. He…needlessly tortured the ninja after he was defeated. It's a side that he doesn't show often."

"Really…" Kiba couldn't imagine Iko doing anything like that. But cool people like him were always a bit strange.

"Well, I shouldn't be talking about others behind their back. I'm sure Tsunade-sama knows what she's doing."

Iruka gave one last pat to Akamaru. "Take care. You should hurry and pack or else you'll run out of time."

"Ah. Bye Iruka-sensei." Kiba waved goodbye as Iruka walked past him, and turned the corner towards the ramen store.

Tsunade : Hehe...I sense some teenage drama...Shizune will love this.

This is a inter-chapter thats 1/2. I like the lighter feeling of writing this. I'm trying knew writing styles too...though it doesn't seem like I am.

Tell me how you like Kiba/Ino! I appreciate the feedback...

And for those wondering...Iko is in for this chapter and the next chapter only...he won't be any more than that...

Extra add : I've moved this from Where A Ninja Travels to improve story fluency.