Hi everyone! I'm sorry about all there unfinished stroies... but I just can't help myself. I do write on the others, and there's soon a new chapter for 'I will come for you at nighttime' as well as 'When everybody caves in.' Anyway, hope you enjoy this. It's innocent... for now. And yes, the poems are all mine. You can comment on them separately if you wish.
--
'For all of us
All of us who are lost
For all of us
All of us who are lonely
Who know the cost of a broken heart
For all of us who cry
Say goodbye'
Ino sighed. It didn't work. She tore the page out of her worn note-book and scrunched it up before she tossed it aside. She was so sick of writing emo-crap. She wanted to write something else, something different. Anything really. She stared at the river flowing by her. It was lucky. It never needed to write anything.
She averted her gaze from the river and stared down at the blank page. She wanted to write something so badly, but it seemed no words wanted to form in her mind to put down on the white sheet. She sighed. She couldn't seem to do anything right anymore. Hopeless. Useless. Ino. She frowned at her thoughts, though it wasn't the first time they hit her. She felt a minor depression building up. Shit.
--
"Young lady, I hate to have to break the news to you, but littering is a crime." She slowly stared up at the face of the person that was currently casting a shadow over her body. She gulped as she realized who was talking to her. And in such a normal tone as well.
"Ero-Sennin..." She stared up at him, surprise still not completely gone. "What are you doing out here?"
And it was a truly valid question, for Ino had really not wished to be found. She had picked a place, well, not as far away from everything as it was hidden. And it was quite a pain to get there if you didn't know the right way.
"Oh, every time I'm in town I like to stop by up here. The view is beautiful and it's nice and quiet. If you're used to near constant silence it's quite necessary to have a quiet place to go to so you don't go nuts. You know, when you get back to town and the noise just never seems to leave." She nodded in understanding. "So, what brings you up here then?" He smiled down at her, taking a seat beside her, looking over the glittering water.
"I just, you know, like to be alone. Sometimes everything just seems to get to you. Even though there's really nothing there. Just everyday-life where nothing ever happens." She stared down at her blank paper. "It probably sounds stupid..." She sighed.
He glanced at her. "No, it makes complete sense." He turned his body so that he could face her better. "Sometimes life gets the better of us without having to do anything. And it's easier to handle 'something' than 'nothing'." He smiled softly at her. "And right now 'something' just happened. Instead of sitting here all alone, you're here. And that's way more fun than 'nothing', don't get me wrong." He added the last part quickly, so that she wouldn't think he'd been hinting at something else.
"Un, Jiraiya-Sama, not to pry, but you seem like... really calm and, well, just not like yourself, if you get what I mean." Ino was silently wondering if her question had been too personal, but he just shrugged.
"I'm really not sure; I guess it's just one of my calmer days. And you then? Aren't you always running around after that Uchiha-boy?" Now it was Inos time to shrug.
"Nah, I mostly did that to bother Sakura. But I've grown out of that. It was too troublesome." Shikamaru had been proud if he'd heard her, but unfortunately for him, he hadn't. Jiraiya nodded mutely.
They sat there in silence for a while, just watching the river flow by. They didn't mind the silence the least and it didn't feel like they needed to say anything more. But then, Jiraiya turned his face to her again.
"What's your name?" He asked. She turned her face towards him and smiled.
"Ino. Small and simple." He smiled back.
"It's nice though." Then he got a curious look on his face. "If I may ask you, Ino-chan, what are you writing?" She shrugged, a slight frown suddenly appearing on her face.
"Well, at the moment, nothing. I'm at a standstill at the moment. Though usually it's just poetry. I've written a couple of novels, but I don't really like them." She stared once again at the blank page in front of her and cursed silently. She wanted to write something so badly, and yet, there was absolutely nothing.
"Well, you know, if you would like some inspiration, I've got some of my own stuff with me. You read some of mine, I read some of yours. What do you say?" He pulled out a small black notebook, silently offering it to her. Her eyes shot open wide.
"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but if it's the kind of stuff you put in your Icha-Icha novels I'd really rather not." She stated bluntly. He just shook his head.
"No, it's none of that stuff. Its real poetry, or, I mean, its poetry anyhow. So what do you say?" She threw a curious look at the book in his hand, but then a different thought hit her.
"Wait, Jiraiya-Sama, can't we read to each other instead? Like, take turns? It'd be more fun." She started turning the pages of her own notebook back to the beginning.
"Sure. Should I start?" She looked up at him and nodded, putting her notebook down in her lap again. "Right, here it goes then:
-
"I have found my peace
In my pale rest
The sleep never comes
So it can never leave me
-
Walk serenely across the morning
When did the night end?
A rancid body wonders
In the new- bleached morning-light
-
Come the sun, come not
Do as you may
With a sigh the flowers open
A shimmer is released
-
Darling, hear the world
Hear the toll of the bell
But it matters not
I merely walk on"
-
"Oh, and it was called Come the sun, come not. It was the first one I ever wrote as a Hermit." Jiraiya looked up at her face, not knowing quite what to expect as a reaction. He had never read any of his poems to anyone before, and he honestly wondered what she would think of it.
"That was beautiful. It felt so..." She searched her mind for a suiting word, but couldn't seem to find it."It gave me the impression that you were captured in yourself, and still, somehow, you were free." Her eyes were glowing at him. "Did you ever publish it?" He shook his head.
"No. The thought never hit me." He kept on looking at her. What amazing eyes... He gave a mental shrug. "You're turn then Ino-chan." She opened her worn notebook carefully.
"Okay, sure." She cleared her throat before she started to read.
-
"In this time of plastic make-believe
you are surprised when the real rain falls
it seems to get you wet down to the bone
seems to never want leave you alone
Give me a genuine make-believe sedative
to keep me from climbing these walls
-if I go out the rain wakes me
all I want to be is dreamingly free
Show me something that's always good, not relative
the way God's always there when one calls
show me something one can depend on
something that's there even when one is gone
Anything"
-
"It's called 'Genuine Make-believe'." She looked up, a bit nervous, to meet his gaze.
He didn't say anything at first, just looked into her eyes. Then he snapped back to reality in a flash.
"And people say that girls only write about boys and heartache. They underestimate you. Or at least, some of you." He gave a strange smile. "I really liked it. It hit something inside me." Ino shrugged slightly.
"I'd had a day like this one. You know, when nothing ever happened. Except for today I met you." She looked out to the water again. "Life is strange…" She averted her eyes to Jiraiya again as he began to read his second poem, opening the book at a random page.
-
"I guess the real difference between now and then,
young and old,
is that once upon a time you thought it was worth it.
It seems the further into life you get,
the more it seems,
nothing matters anymore.
Because no matter what you do,
(what you say), what you write,
things never turn out the way you want them to.
-you lose faith
you forget
you change, and to what?
You are never the same person for long
All is but an ever floating river
all is but lost hope
all is but a dream
And we are all but
wing clipped birds of yesterday
trying to fly into tomorrow"
-
Jiraiya sighed. He had not had an especially great day when he'd written that. He cleared his throat.
"You know, it seems like all of our happy poems have left the glen. Tell me you have something a bit more cheerful?" He took a fleeting look at her. She started to look through her small white book, and stopped at a page somewhere in the middle.
"Right, found one. Oh, and that poem… you'd really had a bad day, hadn't you?" She looked away over the water, into nowhere really, not really expecting an answer.
"I had." Jiraiya said simply, spacing out slightly. Then Ino slowly started to read.
-
"When I dream that I am kissing you
All seem stars and all brand new
Our skin glows like sunrise and mountain dew
All seems so real and true
When I dream that I am kissing you…"
-
She stopped reading, realizing that it perhaps wasn't all as happy as she once thought that it had been. Bittersweet was a better word for it. But then, it was happier than the other stuff.
"Did you write it for someone special?" Jiraiya suddenly asked, parting her from her thoughts. She shrugged.
"No, not really. I've never really been in love. Not really." She stared down into her book again. The words seemed so small. Amazingly so. "I mean, everyone's had a crush on someone, but that's not the same thing… It doesn't hit your gut, and though I don't know anything, I think that's how it's supposed to feel…" Now why did I tell him that? Useless, bloody useless all of this.
"I guess that's what you could call it. That it hits your gut… though really, it hits your whole being in a way that is kinda' hard to explain…" He closed his black book with a quiet 'snap' and put it back in his pocket. "What do you say I take you out for dinner? I like your company. It's nice to find someone who you can have a decent conversation with." She stared at him. She hadn't expected that.
"Yeah, okay. That'll be nice." Ino smiled up at him, and he smiled back. It really has been a strange day… strange, but nice. They got up from the ground and started to climb down the steep hillside in the forest behind them. It wasn't long before they heard the sound of the city not too far away, and both frowned a little as the sound increased. Neither of them thought it a day to spend in the noisy village, but they were hungry so they'd just have to stand it for now.
"You know, we could just buy some stuff then go eat at my place. I live on the edge of town; it's at least a little quieter there." He nodded and got a relieved look on his face.
"That sounds much better. So; what do you want for dinner?" She shrugged.
"Why don't you decide dinner, and I'll decide desert. Fair enough?" She looked up and smiled a friendly smile at him.
"Sure, why not. Well, in that case, let's get ramen. I haven't been to Ichirakus for nearly half a year." She nodded.
"Yeah, their stuff's great." Then she saw a grocery store and a thought popped up in her mind. "Say, why don't you go get the Ramen and I'll go get the rest. I live at Suinui1 road, apartment hose 6, in the east part of town. Do you know where I mean?" Jiraiya nodded. "Right, see you later then. Oh, and the last name's Yamanaka." She said before taking off to the store.
Jiraiya smiled to himself. What a strange day. And the girl then? She was just as strange as himself. Though he couldn't quite explain why. She looked normal, sounded normal and acted normal. Then, one thing that was not quite as normal was to have a completely innocent dinner with the infamous Ero-Sennin. He just gave a small shrug and shook his head. She'd been at him secret place. Now how big were the odds for that?
--
Though Jiraiya never got a chance to dwell on that as he heard a very familiar voice call to him as he approached Ichirakus.
"Ey! Ero-Sennin! When did you get back in town?!" Naruto was as punctual as ever.
"Just this afternoon. Nice to see you again Naruto." He smiled at Naruto and sat down next to him to order.
"Hi, I'll have two portions of beef ramen to go, thank you." Naruto stared at him.
"Where are you going? You're not staying to eat with me?" Naruto looked up at him with a grumpy expression. Jiraiya just shrugged.
"No, I'm afraid I already have plans, though I'd really love to stay. What do you say we meet up tomorrow morning and have breakfast, hm?" Naruto seemed a bit happier at this. Then he suddenly waved to somebody behind Jiraiyas shoulder.
"Sakura! Hinata! Tenten! Check out who just got here!" Jiraiya turned his head slightly to see the three girls approach them. To his great surprise, one of the girls was walking with an orange book nearly covering her face, much like Kakashi always did. Naruto nearly fell off his chair. Hinata smirked behind the book, pretending not to notice. She just turned the page. Jiraiya received the two portions of packaged ramen in a white plastic bag and rose from his chair.
"Yeah, I'm sorry to have to leave you all like this, but I've got someone waiting for me. So-"But Naruto interrupted.
"Hold on, you never said who you were going to see! Who is it?" Jiraiya gave a mental sigh. Where did the kid get all his energy? Though he seemed to have calmed down now in the presence of a certain lady…
"Hm? Oh, just Ino." At this, the four younger people gave out a united…
"WHAT?!" Sakura stared at him in mixed disbelief and anger.
"Jiraiya-Sama, you can't be serious?! Really, you should take out your pervo imagination on someone else! I'll kick your ass if you try anything with her!" Jiraiya sighed. The food was getting cold.
"You know, were just going to have a friendly dinner. Nothing more." The faces in front of him clearly stated that they didn't believe him. He just sighed again. Hopeless.
"Friendly? Since when are you friends?" Sakura asked, voice drizzling with the same mixed emotions as before.
"You know, I don't really have to tell you, but if it settles you're mid a little we've sat all afternoon and talked and just... just hung out like two normal people. Now excuse me, but I have to get going." And with that he left three speechless people behind, the fourth once again deeply consumed by her small, orange book.
Ino unlocked the door and dropped the plastic bag on the counter. She was wondering a bit if he'd actually show up, not trusting anyone to do anything. In a way, it was sad. In another way, it meant a lot of pleasant surprises when people did what they said they would. Fifteen minutes came a knock on the door. A--, she thought, a pleasant surprise.
--
Mohaha I love random pairings.
Ino: So, since when am I so negative about everything?
Jiraiya: And since when am I not a pervert?
Me: -sigh- You know Ino, you're not negative. You're just having one of those days that I just described in the text. And you're deeper than people give you credit for. And Jiraiya, that goes for you too. Also, I cannpt imagine you traveling the world and not getting inspierd to write anything but smut.
Jiraiya: But you weren't supposed to tell anyone...
Me: But I needed to.
Ino: I do get happier, right?
Jiraiya: And I do go back to my 'normal' self, right?
Me: Yeah, in a way, then again, perhaps you don't know yourself as well as I do...
Ino: What's that supposed to mean?
Me: You'll see. But yeah, you'll get happier. No wokkers.
Jiraiya: Let's eat Ino.
Ino: Yeah, be right there.
-Jiraiya walks into the dining room-
Ino: So, how happy do I get?
Me: Ino!
Ino: Come on...
Me: Very...
Ino: Alright! -walks into dining room-
Me: -yawn- Please review. -falls asleep-