Hanakotoba no Kazukazu
... The Many Meanings of Flowers
x:x:x:x:x
Summary: In which Sasuke Uchiha pursues a shy Yamanaka. A series prompted by Road to Ninja.
Daffodil ~ New Beginnings
Hinata Hyuga's bawdy laughter echoed throuh out the Yamanaka Flower Shop. "Seriously?!" Even Ino, the shy heroine of our story, couldn't hold back a small laugh. As usual, it was around the time of Ino Yamanaka's day when her friends, Hinata Hyuga and Sakura Haruno, stopped by to gossip for an hour or two.
To her left was Hinata, a Hyuga bolder than most who was the exact opposite of Ino. Her lips were stained red with lipstick and her clothes revealed a high majority of her skin. And her hair, a beautiful navy blue, that was usually down was up in a cute side ponytail.
Then to Ino's right was Sakura Haruno, the daughter of the legendary Kizashi Haruno. She was a surefire sight with her -natural- shoulder length pink hair and bright green eyes. Trained by the Lady Fifth herself, this Haruno was a force to reckon with.
"P-poor Menma-san." Ino stifled anoyher laugh with a hand. According to Sakura, her blonde teammate, Menma Namikaze, somehow managed to pick a fight with Kiba Inuzuka's cat...
And lost!
Even Hinata, who had an extremely obvious crush on the boy, couldn't resist laughing at him. "Don't worry about him." Hinata gave a pointed look at Ino even though the words came out lightly. "The future Hokage is tough enough to handle a Kitty Smack down."
Sakura snickered at the statement, "So now he's the future Hokage, huh?" The pinkette giggled again. "Just the other day you were going on about how he was the future Lord of the Hyuga Clan."
"Menma can be both!"
Ino sweat dropped held up her hands defensively in an act of peace. "S-Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan. C-calm down..." But as expected, the the fiery kunoichi continued their bickering. The blue eyed girl sighed and set her hands down with closed eyes. Hopefuly the passersby outside the shop wouldn't be too frightened to come in.
But even so, Ino smiled. Hinata-can and Sakura-chan keep my life entertaining.
Now you're probably wondering as shy as Ino was friends with such loudmouths, and to be honest I can't help but wonder too. But the three girls had been the best of friends since they decided to be shinobi.
The confident Hinata and the daring Sakura.
And then there's me... Ino sighed as she compared herself to her friends. She wasn't beautiful like Hinata or strong like Sakura. She was just Ino Yamanaka, the medic-nin of Team Ten.
"Hey Ino," Sakura waved a hand in front of the blonde's face. "You still with us?"
Ino snapped back into it. "O-oh, sorry Sakura-chan." Get a hold of yourself Ino... "What did you say?"
Sakura opened her mouth to speak but Hinata beat the pinkette to the punch. "I said you two need boyfriends."
Just the thought of the word 'boyfriend' set Ino's face in flames. "Hinata-chan!" She shouted at the blunette.
Hinata merely shrugged, unfazed. "It's true."
"Like you're one to talk," Sakura snapped playfully. "You aren't even dating anyone!"
"I-I am!" Hinata blushed, an un-Hinata like thing to do. "Menma just hasn't realized it yet." But Sakura laughed at the girl's poor excuse. When it came to Menma, Hinata was extremely aggressive. Wearing sexy clothing, though she did that naturally on her own time, and even threatening other potential love interests when it came down to it. But the bold girl known as Hinata Hyuga had yet to confess her love verbally to the boy.
Just like Ino with her crush on-
"Thinking about Sasuke?" Sakura guessed by how red Ino's face was. "Really Ino, you could do better."
"Sa-Sakura-chan!" Ino shot up to make sure the three kunoichi were still the only ones in the small flower shop. "Someone might hear you!"
"It's no big deal," Hinata added, trying to reassure the blonde. "Do you know how many girls are madly in love with the Uchiha already?"
But that didn't comfort Ino at, and who could blame her?!
Sasuke Uchiha, the black stallion of Konoha. A talented ninja and a killer flirt with the looks to match. And the object of Ino Yamanaka's affections since their days at the Ninja Academy.
"But..." Ino looked down at her hands.
"Ino," Sakura placed a hand on her friend's back. "Hinata's just saying you're not the only girl that's in love with Sasuke."
Ino nodded, "I know..."
Sakura continued, "But still. Sasuke's handled more girls than you have flowers. So I wouldn't recommend pining after him."
Ino put her hands up again. "Oh, no, no! I going to try anything like that with Uchiha-san!" Hinata and Sakura shared a knowing look as Ino continued her rant. "I mean, he wouldn't gain any interest in a girl like me anyway! That's true... It was a well known fact that Sasuke preferred more outgoing girls like Sakura and Hinata. But a small fragment of side of her still hoped.
Hinata stood up, "Well I'm gonna head off now." She stretched out her arms with a small yawn. "Training with Kurenai-sensei."
"Ah, okay Hinata-chan." Ino stood up hurriedly and bowed. "Thank you for stopping by."
The blue haired girl winked. "How else am I gonna get my daily dose of "Menma Watch"?"
"So now you're using us now, huh?" Sakura raised a pink eyebrow as she stood to leave too.
The three girls all laughed.
"Bye guys." Ino waved as Hinata and Sakura exited the shop entrance, and as soon as they were gone Ino stopped. It was back to business. It was right in the middle of Spring, one of the Shop's busiest seasons when it came to selling flowers. And when it came to selling Flowers the Yamanaka family were the best people to go to.
"Hello?" A small bell jingled as the door opened.
The blonde kunoichi dashed to the front desk quickly, her usual closed eyes and cheery smile plus voice set. "Hello! Welcome to Yamanaka Flowers, how may I help you?"
The voice, male, spoke with the sound of a smirk. "How about... One date." It was not a question.
Ino opened her eyes at that voice. "Sasuke... Uchiha... -san." She gulped.
"No."
Whoa! Twelve whole reviews for the prologue! That's a new record going down in my FFN book (under Naruto atleast)! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story in the previous chapters. It's much appreciated.
And sorry for the slow update. Our Comcast internet service has been going CRAZY over here! But here you guys go (and sorry this chapter is short too. It seemed longer on paper).
~SunshineSketch
Next Chapter: Striped Carnations ~ Rejection
