Love's the Only Rule
AN: Naruto is not mine, and this is a work of love and not meant for profit.
This is an idea I had for a long time, so I hope you enjoy my first venture with this particular pairing.
Time wise, this takes place about a year and a half after Kurenei's baby would be born.
Chapter One
"How's this?" Ino asked Choji as she finished chopping the cucumber.
"It's a bit roughly done, but it'll work," he said, then turned to Temari, who was standing on the other side of him, "You don't want it too chunky," he told her, then took his knife to show them, "Like this."
"Troublesome," Shikamaru noted from his perch at the Akimichi's table, "You can try and teach them all you want Choji, they just won't get it."
"Who was it that kept complaining about my cooking?" Temari growled, whipping her head around to glare at him, "I'm doing this for you," she turned back to watch what Choji was doing, "Ass."
"You're the one that married him, knowing what he was," the rotund man said as he finished chopping the cucumber and added it to the pot, "Besides Shikamaru would have complained even if you do get better. He'll either compare it to his mother's or my mother's."
"That's true," Ino nodded, "He complains about everything. Remember what he said when Aiko was born."
Choji and Temari giggled, and from his spot at the table Shikamaru sighed, "Shut-up."
"But it was just so funny! 'I thought Asuma was having a son,' You're lucky Kurenei-sensei didn't fling you from the hospital window," she grinned, "As it was she certainly threw a few things at you," she looked over at Temari, "You better watch out, he'll complain about the same thing when yours is born," she gestured at the slightly protruding belly barely peeking out from beneath the sand nin's dark dress.
"I almost hoped for a girl so I can bean him for it," she smirked, "But it's a boy, we found out yesterday."
"He'll find something else to complain about then," Choji said wisely.
"Stop being as troublesome as those two," Shikamaru snapped, causing all three to burst into laughter.
She waved goodbye to them and hurried on her way to the flower shop to begin work, carrying the bento she made with her.
"In case you have someone to give it to!" Choji had said happily.
She sighed, It would be nice. The last date she had even gone on was a year ago, and she had ended it because the guy was just so damn boring. Had nothing to talk about, and spent the entire evening complimenting her looks, not even trying to bring the conversation to anything remotely deeper than that.
I don't think I want what Shikamaru and Temari have... all that bickering would wear me out, but I don't want a guy that just stares at me and tells me I have a nice rack. Maybe I should try and pick someone up who also works at the hospital. Or someone who knows something about flowers. She scrunched her nose, Just someone that is more than a pretty face.
She unlocked the shop door and placed the bento on the counter before pulling an apron over her head, so preoccupied in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the dark-haired man that followed her in.
"Excuse me?" he said and she jumped before turning around to face Sai.
"Don't do that!" she exclaimed, hand over her heart, "Why are you sneaking up on people anyway?"
"But I'm a shinobi," he said staring at her blankly, "Your skills need improving if you didn't notice that I was at the window of the store, waiting for you to open."
Her mouth hang open for half a second at that, then she shook her head and smiled, "Well then, if you're here, then you must want a gift... who's the lucky ninja?"
He stared at her blankly again, "These plants are gifts? But how can they be useful? I don't see any medicinal herbs in here," he looked in the book he was holding, "It says here that people like looking at them, but I don't see the point."
"So you want to know why flowers make people happy," Ino said thoughtfully, "What brought this on?"
"Naruto. He gave someone a flower that he grew and she was remarkably happier. But I don't get it," she resisted the urge to laugh, despite the attempts he was making to mask his confusion on his face, his few years of hanging around the blond jinchuuriki had obviously had their effect. He looked like a deer trapped in headlights.
"Well, it could be that he grew it himself, or that he decided to give it to her," she pointed out, "It seems that he actually put a lot of thought into the gift... which is a bit surprising in itself, concerning it's Naruto."
"So placing a deeper meaning than what's really there?" Sai asked, looking around at the cacophony of colors in the shop, "Is that it?"
"Well, flowers do have meanings," Ino smiled again, "You can give the completely wrong message by giving the wrong flower... do you remember which one Naruto gave her?"
He thought for a moment then pointed to a bunch of reddish flowers, "Those."
"Amaryllis," she said, "Those mean radiant beauty, so you generally give them to someone you think is beautiful inside and out."
He seemed to be mulling that over, so she left him alone to look at the different flowers when she heard the bell jingling to signal another customer.
She was kept busy for the next couple of hours, so when Sai finally spoke again, she had to stare for a moment to remember when he had come into the store.
"I want to work here," he said quietly, "It seems like there's something you can teach me about interacting with others."
"Are you sure?" she asked, "I thought you had some other..."
"I've been relieved for some vacation time," he said quietly.
"So you want to work here because you're bored," she sighed, placing her hands on her hips, "Well... if you really want to learn about flowers, then I'll help you out," she walked to the back and came back out with an apron, "Alright, starting today, you're my apprentice," she said as she handed it to him, "Maybe we'll even get your social skills up to taking someone out."
"But why would my social skills have any relevance on killing someone?" he asked with wide eyes as he pulled the apron over his head.
Her eyebrow twitched as the bell jingled again, This... this might be the biggest regret of my life... she realized glumly.
The morning went relatively quickly after that, and despite a few cutting remarks from Sai directed at customers, which Ino had to quickly rectify, it had passed fairly uneventfully.
In the early afternoon, she picked up the bento and followed him out.
"You never did eat your lunch," he pointed out as she was locking the door.
"This actually was from the cooking class Choji gave to me and Temari this morning," she said, "Bento like this you give to someone, but unfortunately I don't have anyone..." she regarded him for a moment, "I've got an hour before my hospital shift starts, want to come and eat this with me?"
He stared at her for a moment.
"It's another thing that people use to convey their feelings," she pointed out, "As my apprentice, weren't you supposed to be finding things like that out? Besides, I didn't see you eating any lunch either."
"Are you a better cook than Sakura?" he asked quietly.
"Um... look wise, I still have a ways to go," she said sighing, "But I think I have the tastes down."
"Alright," he took the box from her, "Where do people eat this sort of thing?"
"We're going to..." she looked around for a moment, "The bench over there, I'm starving."
He followed her, and she gave him a point for not grimacing when she opened up the box to reveal the sloppily made foods. Maybe Shikamaru was right about Temari and myself being hopeless...
Taking one of the two sets of chopsticks, he picked up a piece of the glazed tofu and put it in his mouth.
Ino stared at him, unconsciously holding her breath as he chewed.
"It's good," he said finally, "I suppose I can see the merit of this being a gift for a friend."
She took her own chopsticks and started eating, "What's got you so curious about all of this? I thought you had figured it all out by now."
He was quiet for a moment, and she worried that she had said the wrong thing, the look on his face was almost pained, and she knew that she had never seen him make that expression before.
"Sai? Does this have to do with the flowers that Naruto gave to someone?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
He looked at her in surprise, "No. Why would I care if he gave someone else a present?"
She blushed, "Well... because Temari and I thought that maybe..." she stammered, "Well... we figured that..." she coughed and dropped her voice to a low whisper, pitching it so that only he could hear, "Maybe that you liked Naruto a bit more than..." she sighed, "y'know... you're..."
He stared at her for a moment, "You thought that I was gay?" he asked loudly enough so that the few passer-bys on the street turned and looked at the two of them for a long moment before running off, "You're very strange."
She was beet red, "Well... it looked like you were a bit... attracted to Naruto, so she and I thought..."
"Which disturbed you more?" he suddenly asked.
She hid her face in her hands, "That you had such bad taste! Of all the guys... Naruto?!"
He burst into laughter at that, clutching his sides. Her embarrassment subsided, and she started to chuckle along with him, not caring about the strange looks they were getting from the passer-bys.
It was very dark when she finally started to make her way home from her shift at the hospital, and she sighed as she contemplated eating something before collapsing in her bed.
I doubt there'll be any leftovers with all my brothers at home. she thought glumly as she turned onto her street, Maybe I should have stopped somewhere to grab something quick.
A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped again before turning to attack...
"Sai!" she cried out at the dark haired man, "Stop that!"
"You really need to work on your skills," he said with wide eyes, "What if the village were under attack again?"
"I'll send you to deal with them!" she said angrily, "What are you doing here anyways?"
He held out the box in his hands, "I decided to try it. Mostly because I remember Sakura saying that medic nin don't take breaks at the hospital. No wonder people think you have an eating disorder if you never stop and actually feed yourself."
"That's the second time you mentioned Sakura," Ino said thoughtfully, "Is it her that you're attracted too?"
"No," he said plainly, and Ino nodded sensing the truth there, Not Naruto, not Sakura... I wonder if he really is attracted to someone, and it's not just me overthinking it.
"Are you going to accept?" he asked suddenly, and Ino realized that he was still holding out the bento.
"Of course," she smiled, "Though based on how you did, I might have to recommend that you join our morning cooking classes."
"Is there one tomorrow?" he asked.
She shook her head, "We have them every other day, when I work in the shop. Tomorrow we'll be training pretty much all day," she thought for a moment, "Since I won't be working with the flowers, maybe you can come and watch. Unless you have work with your team..."
"I'll do some studying on my own," he said, "But I might stop by at lunch to ask you questions."
She chuckled, "Alright apprentice, but be prepared for a huge test on all the flower meanings at the end of this."
He watched her turn to go to her home as they said their farewells, and when she looked back, he was still standing there, "I'll let you know tomorrow how you did!" she called as she held up the bento he made, "If I need to, I'll get Choji to work you in right away!"
He smiled then, "I'm certain that I did better than yours."
"That's not much of an achievement!" she laughed.