Pale Blossom Flower:
Summary: While on a mission, someone takes an interest in Ino. He's very upfront about it and appears to be everything she wants, too. Sai better figure out his feelings before someone steals her away. Requested fiction. SaiXIno. R&R please!
Naruto and its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. This is just a fanfiction written for fun. I make no profit. The only thing I own is my imagination and the OCs that appear.
Chapter 1:
Naruto looked from his left to his right and back. It was certainly an odd match-up as far as he was concerned.
To his right stood Sakura and Sai. To his left was Ino.
He had been on a few missions with her in the past, but this whole thing seemed awkward. Basically, it was his team with an extra. She was the odd man out. If she was with the rest of her team it wouldn't have bothered Naruto so much. He wasn't angry about her being here. It just felt awkward.
"Doesn't it seem strange that you're hanging with us for this mission?" he asked without thinking.
"It can't be helped. Kakashi can't go with you guys since he's the Hokage now."
"Yeah, I'm aware of that," Naruto said, a bit annoyed that she seemed to think that he hadn't noticed Kakashi's position and the changes it would bring.
"He handpicked me saying that I was right for this mission in addition to you two."
"Three," Sakura corrected.
"Oh, right," Ino said in a mocking tone and glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. "You're here, too. I must have forgotten because you're so quiet."
Sakura folded her arms. "You're just mad because Kakashi appointed me the leader of this mission."
"For a leader, you sure are lacking command. I haven't heard a peep out of you since we left. Aren't leaders supposed to direct the team?"
"What's there to direct? We're not even there yet. If I started barking orders now, you'd accuse me of being bossy."
"Got that right, forehead-girl."
Naruto hung his head. "This is going to be an awkward mission. It's already a pain in the butt with these two going at it and we're not even there yet."
Sai grinned at him. "It seems that Kakashi is messing with you, picking them to be on the same team as you, doesn't it, Naruto?"
"It sure seems that way. Oh, Kakashi-sensei…"
Surely, he must have known that Ino and Sakura would be bickering the whole time. Why in the world would he assign them to be on the same mission together with no one to referee? It would be no different from going on a first mission with a bunch of Genin. Constant arguing, each one trying to out-shout the other and neither open to compromise. It would be exactly the same.
"He's either doing this to drive me nuts or as some twisted form of Hokage training. Something having to do with me dealing with impossible people and bickering girls."
"They're not fighting that much," Sai told him. "We've come all this way and they've hardly said a word to each other. It's only now that it's started."
"And now that it's started, it's going to get out of control like a wildfire."
To his relief, Ino and Sakura didn't argue that much as they traveled. He assumed they were saving it for when the mission officially started and couldn't agree on how to handle the situation. At the moment, they were just jabbing each other.
They were told to go to a lord's house and he would give them further details of their mission when they arrived. From what they were told in the Hokage's office, it sounded like a basic protection mission. They didn't have to escort anyone anywhere and the lord didn't have to leave his home. Normally they were hired to protect someone of such stature during an escort mission because they were more open and therefore vulnerable on the road. Since the lord wasn't planning on going anywhere, this must have meant that he knew the danger was coming to him from an outside source. Perhaps assassins had been hired to do away with him.
This was what Naruto thought. Thinking back, Kakashi was actually pretty vague about the mission details. He just told them that they would be protecting a lord.
It was probably going to be a rich, old, fat slob who treated everyone like dirt because he could. He would probably look down on them and judge them before they even said a word to him and treat them like lowly servants, believing everyone was put on the earth to cater to his whims. Naruto had met far too many people like that on missions. Bratty children, mean old men, greedy rich guys and stuck-up princesses who screeched and screeched. All of them had one thing in common: they were never satisfied.
Naruto prepared himself to meet the rich lord, wondering which category of mean he would fall under.
As it turned out, none of the above.
When they arrived at their destination, they were shown inside by a smiling servant and brought to a large room where the lord sat.
He wasn't old and he wasn't fat. He wasn't a slob and he wasn't mean-looking. No bald head with a thick beard, either.
The lord was actually their age and quite handsome.
"Kakashi-sensei should have specified 'young' lord. I was picturing something much different."
Though he looked handsome, his behavior might have been ugly. They had seen his outside appearance, but it may have only been an appearance. Naruto would know his level of cruelty when he opened his mouth.
"Hello," the young lord greeted them warmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Fumihiro, owner and ruler. You must be the ninja from the Hidden Leaf."
Naruto and his friends introduced themselves to the young lord.
Naruto was so relieved that the young lord wasn't a cruel person. When he spoke to them, his voice was kind and clear. It seemed he had nothing to worry about after all.
"Before I tell you about your mission, you must be famished after your long journey. Please, accompany me into the dining hall and we can go over the details over a hot meal."
The servants brought them to the dining room where other servants were setting hot dishing down on a long heavy table. They were seated around the table and Fumihiro sat at the head of the table, waving the servants away with his hand.
Conversation waited until everyone tasted the food in front of them. Naruto enjoyed going to a rich man's house because they usually had good food. Plump birds, succulent cuts of beef and pork, steaming red shellfish, smoky fish, flavorful soups and glistening vegetables. Judging from the dishes before him, he could look forward to this meal as well. He piled his plate high with some of his favorites but made sure to try a little bit of everything.
Halfway through his meal, he heard the young lord speak from the other end of the table. He stopped crunching long enough to hear what Fumihiro was saying.
"Regarding your mission, I recently received a tip that my home was being targeted by thieves hired by someone from the next land. Rumor is that it's another lord."
Naruto swallowed before speaking. "Does that really make a lot of sense? Why would one lord steal from another? It doesn't make much sense to me, especially if he's hiring somebody to do it for him. Isn't he just spending money in order to steal money in that case?"
"It's not money this person is after, per say," said Fumihiro. "My understanding is that my riches are being targeted, but not the money itself. Objects that I've collected throughout the years, treasures that have been passed down and important documents."
"Why would another lord want that? An enemy, sure, I get that, but another rich guy in a different land? What's the point?"
"In order to gain power," said Sai. "Sometimes lords from other lands will target fellow lords in power who possess things they want. Things of different value for some reason or another. Usually it's something that will make them more powerful."
"Exactly," said Sakura. "Those documents might contain secrets another land can use to attain additional power and weaken other lands. Even certain trinkets can bestow power to those who have ownership over them. Even if the object is a symbol, like a crown or something, it still gives some form of power to those who have it."
"There are priceless items that cannot be traded for money but those who have them have power solely because of ownership," Ino finished. "I've seen cases where people will show loyalty to those who own certain objects, regardless of if the person actually has any real power. Sometimes owning something that is powerful is enough to make you powerful in the eyes of others."
"And that's the case here," said Fumihiro. "I own many priceless items that a thief would target. And several things another lord would covet."
"Do you have any idea who would be targeting you?" Sakura asked.
"No, I don't. I've spoken with other lords throughout the land but none of them have been targeted. Many of them are my friends so I don't think any of them would make me a target. But the rumors have all stated that it's a lord who wants to steal from me. I have no suspects."
"Do you at least know when you'll be attacked?" asked Ino. "It must be soon otherwise you wouldn't have called us."
Fumihiro sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't know exactly when this alleged attack will take place, if at all. So far, they are only rumors, but my staff and I didn't want to take chances. If I am to be attacked, several people will be in danger. Not just my staff, but the people who live nearby. Innocent people who could be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Naruto looked around the table. "So what are we supposed to do? Wait here until the day comes? I would say we find out who this person is and go to them but we have no idea who this person is or if this is anything other than a rumor."
"It might not even be an outsider. It could be a person from this village," said Ino. "A regular person who wants the power of a lord."
"But if that's the case, they might target money instead of items," said Sakura. "That's much more likely because a regular civilian wouldn't know what to target other than money. A lord would know what a lord would find more valuable and more powerful."
"Plus, one of Fumihiro's friends could have been lying to him when they said they had no idea," pointed out Sai. "We can't rule any of them out."
Fumihiro looked troubled. "I don't want to doubt any one of my friends. I'd hate to think one of them would seek to do me harm."
"I would be upset by that notion, too," said Sai, "but it's still possible."
"It's also likely to be someone who works for a lord, too," added Ino. "Someone who regularly attends to a lord would know what was valuable to them, and what would give another power."
"Then a servant might be involved."
Fumihiro frowned. "But the rumors I've been hearing never mention…"
"The rumors might have been started in order to throw you off," said Ino. "Who was the first person who told you of these rumors? Where did you hear it first? If we work backwards, we might be able to find out how this all started."
Ino knew a thing or two about starting rumors and finding the person who started one. Whenever one was started about her that she didn't like, she tracked down the one who started it all and gave them a piece of her mind. She knew how nasty rumors could be so she trained herself to track down the creator. Sometimes she was able to understand why the person fabricated such a tale after finding them and realizing that they were getting back at her for something she had done to them. Other times she would have to shake the answers out of them or go inside their mind to find the truth.
Though all they had to go on were rumors at the moment, it was enough for Ino to get started. The others were well-trained ninja who had come across missions in the past where little is known but giving up wasn't an option. It was a puzzle with missing pieces.
Puzzles were really more of Shikamaru's thing, but Ino was confident a little of him had rubbed off on her. Besides, she didn't want to lose to Sakura or appear weak in front of Sai. This was her time to impress them.
"We can handle this," said Naruto. "So what if we don't have all the information? We'll find it and solve this mystery. Don't worry. Your secrets are safe with us."
Fumihiro sighed, giving them a weak grin. "I certainly hope so."
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