Thunder: Yes! My turn to write! Mwahahahahaha!

Naruto: We are under strict orders to make sure that you write no M rated fanfics.

Nuriko: I ain't helping. That girl's got a bite worse than her bark.

Thunder: Grrrrr….

Naruto:…Please enjoy Miss Aurelius.

Thunder: That's what I thought. And you might like this one.

"It's horrible."

"So young."

"I hear they were…torn apart."

"Yes, and they were found by their daughter."

"Oh my, the poor girl!"

Ino closed out the voices as she entered the funeral home with Sakura. She'd been hearing the same things over and over since she had returned from the fateful mission.

Now she knew why parents never went on missions with their children.

Everyone was already there. Sasuke nodded as Sakura and Ino sat beside him.

The blonde tried to keep her eyes off of the two coffins in front of her.

A few hours later they stood and began to leave the church. Ino took her place behind the coffins with Sakura clutching her hand. Everyone filed down the road and to the gravesites. The coffins were placed beside each other in front of the holes. A few last words were said and roses were laid on the boxes.

People began to leave. The grave diggers would be there soon to place the coffins in the ground and cover them.

Ino watched Sasuke and Sakura walk away as night fell. She sat under a tree, wanting to be there when her parents were laid to rest for good.

Just then a spotlight clicked on. The grave diggers must have put it there early on. But who had turned it on?

She stood and walked closer. The light shown on the coffins and she could just barely see a dark figure beyond the light.

He stepped into the spotlight's beam. His blonde hair shown pale yellow and the orange light turned his sapphire eyes green for a moment.

She stared at his ridiculous orange jumpsuit. Orange had always been her favorite color but he just had too much.

"What's Naruto doing here?" she thought. Naruto stepped between the coffins and reached out a hand to both.

"Mr. Yama…Mrs. Yama…thank you. I'll never forget what you did for me."

Ino frowned, wondering what on earth her parents could have done for the Kyuubi container. He had been dropping by the flower shop a lot. Even now, at nineteen, he stopped to chat with her and her parents. She even heard his voice every now and then when she had passed it while off duty. Why?

Naruto pulled a single white rose from his pocket and laid it on top of the pile of red and yellow ones on Mrs. Yamanaka's coffin.

Ino blinked. She had forgotten that her mother loved white roses the best.

The blonde boy then pulled a playing card from his other pocket and looked down at it.

"I owe you way more than money. Heh. So long King of Hearts. This ace is gonna be dealt later. For now…I'll wait in the deck." He placed the card on Mr. Yamanaka's coffin and sighed.

"I'll take care of Ino for you."

This made Ino jolt. "What?"

"I'll show her what I've always felt but never shared. You knew that I loved her and you knew about the demon in me. Yet still you encouraged me to tell her. I'm sorry I waited too long. I'll tell her one day."

A tear rolled down his face and Ino watched the stars sparkle in his eyes as he faced the heavens.

"Until then I'll watch over her. I'll never forget…Good-bye."

A breeze blew dust into Ino's eyes and by the time she had wiped them clean Naruto was gone.

She stepped into the spot where she had seen the blonde boy and glanced down at the card on her father's coffin.

It was the King of Hearts.

Thunder: Gotcha wonderin', huh?

Naruto: What's gonna happen!?

Nuriko: Interesting…

Thunder: Send reviews and you'll find out the rest. Mwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!