Chapter One

Weeds

Ino Yamanaka sighed, putting the last of the garden's musty weeds into a big, black trash bag. Her father had assigned her a tedious chore, as he often did on Sundays, and she begrudgingly completed his latest task, weeding the garden.

Ino sighed, examining the last of the weeds that were pouring out of the extremely full bag. She supposed that her own ninja career had become much like the weeds she was tossing into the bag; hopeless, and doomed to get burned in the incinerator sooner or later.

Her father, Inoichi, had been pushing her to return to her career as a ninja, to train and hone her skills. But Ino refused. There was just no point, with Sasuke gone, her inspiration was lost. She was like an artist with no paints, or Chouji with no food.

Ino sighed, finally able to tie the teeming bag closed. She took a seat on her front steps, looking out into the busy town. It was depressing, but she felt there was not one person she could call a true friend. She had friends, of course, she was extremely popular, but something was missing. Trust, the key element in any friendship. She could not trust a single Konoha ninja, not after what had happened with Sasuke. She leaned back, closing her eyes, and felt the cool breeze upon her face. As she relaxed, she let her thoughts drift. Back to a time where her family believed in her, where she could trust people, trust herself, and Sasuke was back in Konohakagure.

Kiba Inuzuka held tightly to Akamaru's leash, as his own body was dragged throughout the village. Akamaru was getting WAY too big for this. Nowadays, Kiba felt as if he was the one out for his daily walk. As he struggled to keep Akamaru tame, his feet skidded on the ground.

"Watch it, Akamaru!" he yelled, trying his hardest to remain on the ground. 'I hope nobody's watching.' thought Kiba to himself as he looked around.

His eye caught something, and he immediately turned a scarlet color. "Damn, of course she would be out today", he muttered to himself as he continued to vie with his canine for control of the leash. Thankfully, she didn't appear to be watching him, she had her head back and her eyes closed. Just then, Akamaru lurched forward, upon seeing a shop-keeps kitten, sending Kiba flying face first to the hard ground.

Akamaru continued to chase the kitten, his tail wagging swiftly behind him, and barking all the while. Ino looked up at the commotion, noticing Kiba face down in the middle of the village. "Oh,man..are you okay?", she said, rushing to help him up. She offered him a hand, and he took it, although he was mortified by the current situation. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks", he grumbled angrily under his breath. He used her hand for support, and finally was able to stand up on his own two feet.

Akamaru had gotten the cat, and was rolling around, playing with it. The cat didn't seem too pleased with this, and neither did the shop-keep. Kiba winced as the man walked over, stomping his feet angrily with each step. "Your dog wrecked my shop!" he bellowed, pointing in the direction of his dismantled shop. The wall had caved in from Akamaru's romp, and the windows were smashed due to the store's objects crashing into them.

"That's about 1500 Ryo's worth of repairs, young man! How do you intend to pay for this damage?" Ino looked on, awkwardly. She sighed, realizing what she was about to do next. "Are you hiring , sir? My friend and I would be happy to work for you in exchange for the repairs. You can take the money from what would be our pay…"

The man's face relaxed with this proposition, but then quickly tensed up with his next sentence, "Well, missy, it's not like you were involved, why should I allow you to help him?" She swallowed and thought of an excuse, "I distracted him, and he let go of the leash."

Kiba's face wrinkled in confusion. 'I..is Ino helping me?" Ino never helped anyone, except for herself. At least that was what Shikamaru and the others had led him to believe. The man thought for a moment, and spoke. "Alright, you two start tomorrow", he said, as he walked back to his now disassembled shop.

Kiba turned to Ino. "Thanks, you didn't have to do that."

Ino shrugged, thinking to herself. 'Why did I do that?'

"Don't mention it.", she said, examining her nails as she spoke. "What kind of store is that anyway?" she asked.

Kiba shrugged.

"Looks like we'll find out tomorrow…"