Second Kiss: Spread the Word
When Naruto had taken a stroll around the village this was clearly not what he had signed up for.
Truly, it was unusual to hear such a loud obscene curse coming from the training grounds that were usually void of anyone at that time of day, but checking what was wrong with that person like the compassionate future Hokage that he was might not have been the best idea he had had that day.
For his kindness was awarded with listening to Ino complain on and on about the unfairness of the world towards her in the most high-pitched and obnoxious tone she could've produced with her much impressive for her compact size vocal cords and lungpower.
Then again it might also be true that he was trying his hardest to focus on all her bad points because it was all he could do to keep his mind from wandering back to that very much amazing kiss she had given him the other day. And he was really supposed to think only about his girlfriend's kisses since she was the love of his life. It was easy to see why he felt a teensy bit guilty for his elusive thought train.
It had only been a means of gathering Sakura's attention and he had his peace with that—as a matter of fact, he was quite grateful because it definitely achieved its purpose as far as he was concerned. He was now the center of Sakura's world since she was determined not to lose to Ino in love or war… or, er, rather violent rivalry, at any rate. He was perhaps treated like a trophy, but he didn't mind—being a trophy was his ticket to cloud nine in this case.
The fact he was madly head over heels in love with his pink haired teammate did not mean that he was unfeeling of anything else that happened around him and that smooch Ino had bestowed upon him was definitely a memory that would last.
"I mean, can you believe that? After years of impeccable service, one time I ask them for something and it gets denied?! Where's the logic in that?! I really needed that jutsu for my personal interview with Morino-sensei, so I could impress him into recruiting me in his department and eventually proving myself worthy of succeeding him, y'know, through diligent work and perfect record—I needed one damn scroll for work and they won't give me it! Do they even realize they're stumping my growth as a ninja? And what am I supposed to do now, huh? Come up with another so-amazing-it-will-blow-your-hitai-ite-off-your-forehead technique just because a bunch of ANBU bastards are playing high and mighty? Hello, those things don't grow on trees and I really needed that one! It's not as if I was going to destroy it or something! I was just going to borrow it for a day, learn the freaking jutsu, and then return it—is that too much to ask!?"
Wow… She sure could pull a lengthy rant when she was angry, Naruto noted as he watched her pant indignantly, the fair skin of her cheeks flushed with exertion. She'd almost said all that in a breath—it was simply mind-boggling.
It didn't take a ridiculously famous clan-genius to notice that she was really worked up over not getting her way.
Not that he could blame her, really. He didn't like things not going how he expected them to in a personal plan but when such things happened at work just because someone was too narrow-minded to entrust you with something you desperately need in your climb up the shinobi career ladder it was nothing short of horrible a feeling. He knew well because his climb would be the longest, seeing as he was aiming for the top.
The young man didn't know when he had first noticed it, but he had a really strong sense of justice planted deeply within him. And right now that same sense was shrieking in alarm at the atrocious injustice that was committed against his fellow blonde friend.
Seeing as he was going to become a Hokage some time soon, it was only fair that he started practicing for the position by righting any wrongs he came across.
What better time to start than right there, right then?
Meanwhile, Ino's ire had settled down a notch and she had opted for just fuming to herself, her rant in a more subdued volume.
"So thanks to those stuck-up prissy assholes in ANBU, I'm stuck with this… this imbecilic beta-plan jutsu. Better yet, I don't have who to practice it with—everyone I ask just blows me off because they either 'have work to do' or 'are on their way somewhere' or 'don't have time to talk nonsense with me right now'—and it's impossible to really master it on your own! It's meant to feature at least two different parties!"
She heaved a great sigh and plopped down rather ungracefully in her defeat on the lush green forest floor, cupping her cheeks with her hands while her arms rested by the elbows on her crossed legs. She made for a really amusing sight in that pose.
Naruto wisely kept his mirth to himself though—he knew better than to push the wrong buttons on angry kunoichi. Those girls only misled you to believe they were small and harmless so it would hurt a hell lot more when they punched your lights out for saying the wrong thing in the wrong time. Tact was something young shinobi men needed to learn early on so there would be no casualties in peaceful times for the Village.
"I'm never going to get that job at the Interrogation Department. I'm never going to succeed Ibiki-san because he won't even know I exist. I'm going to stay a faceless unimportant cadre of the regular shinobi force with no talent my whole life!" She huffed and pouted. Life was truly unfair.
Those were the last words that spurred Naruto to make an immediate decision—he'd sneak into the Hokage tower and make a copy of the scroll they wouldn't willingly give Ino.
It had been a while since he'd pulled a prank on anyone and for the first time ever by wreaking havoc he could actually help someone. What better way to turn a past career of a troublesome prankster around to put a fresh start to his record as a better man?
But he wouldn't let Ino know just now, no. And not because he enjoyed looking at her grumbling—there were few things worse than her grumbling and some of them included one's mutilated corpse being handed over on a silver platter to Kyuubi (who, by the way, must be starving after twenty-something years of no human flesh on his menu).
He wouldn't tell her because telling her might jinx his luck in succeeding and he didn't want that. Pranks were always good training in stealth, speed and good organization but a prank gone wrong could be really harmful for his current position on the force. He had just got Tsunade to entrust him with more and more responsibilities so he could grow used to taking care of the village on his own one day and he didn't want to ruin that.
He didn't want Ino to despair either though.
So he'd have to use all his conniving scheming genius to execute this flawlessly.
Meanwhile he might as well take some of the causes for Ino's worry off her chest.
"If you need someone to train with, I have some free time," he suggested helpfully, looking on intrigued at the sudden change in demeanor that there was in her the second the words were out of his mouth.
The perky blonde girl bolted upright when she heard the demon vessel's suggestion, a brilliant light of hope shining blindingly in her eyes. It was truly incredible how she could switch from completely disillusioned to brimming with enthusiasm in the blink of an eye.
"You'd do that for me? You're serious?"
Naruto allowed himself a small light-hearted laugh because the gratefulness emanated off of Ino in thick waves—it was infinitely flattering to be able to do something that means so much for someone. And that was just the beginning of his good deed for her but she needn't know that right then.
"Sure—training with you definitely beats aimlessly roaming around the forests of Konoha and by far." He put a hand behind his neck and gave a sheepish grin but it appeared his companion was no longer listening, instead rummaging her pouch for something.
"Ah-ha! Here it is!" She exclaimed when she finally found what she was looking for and produced a regular-looking jutsu holding scroll from within its folds. "Thanks a lot for agreeing to do this with me, Naruto—you really saved my life."
He opened his mouth to retort but got no chance to, as the girl had already unfurled the roll of paper, her hands a blur as they flew adeptly through the hand seals.
"Now I want you to relax your body because otherwise the intrusion will be more uncomfortable than it already is," she coaxed unconvincingly when Naruto's whole form froze in terror while her remote body control technique seized hold of him.
It was at that exact moment that the blond Hokage-wannabe learnt why exactly everyone had been so 'busy' today not to be able to help Ino out…
Things were finally starting to look up for the young kunoichi. Sure, she didn't have the one technique she wanted to be sure she'd get the place at Interrogation and Torture, but at least she'd picked the most endurable person to train with and thus assured herself she had her beta-plan down to perfection. She could perform her family jutsu with her eyes closed now if need be.
She really hoped that Naruto wouldn't harbor any hard feelings for her when he woke up tomorrow morning, aching all over, because remote body entering was always a really invasive and later on painful technique for the person on the receiving end.
She had the sneaking suspicion she should've told him that before roping him into a promise he would rather not keep.
Later the same day, just before closing time, Ino was arranging flowers in her family's flower shop, the premise the picture of tranquility, before the door burst open and her heaven on earth destroyed in an instant of slaughtered idyll. She looked up from her ikebana, alarmed, to meet the madly darting around gaze of none other than the person with whom she had parted not a few hours ago.
Her eyes narrowed, a sardonic look twisting her pretty face.
"Something tells me that you're not here to buy a bouquet, are you?" She drawled out, her monotone voice drawing his attention immediately, his face mirroring the feelings of the proverbial deer.
"No time!" he rasped out, out of breath and in obviously in a hurry when he flung himself on the counter behind which she was standing. "Take this and hide it, now," he told her as he shoved something small and cylindrical in her hands. "Hurry—they'll come in here any second—"
The door to the Yamanaka flower shop slammed open for the second time that day and a group of five seriously pissed ANBU nin came into view. She heard Naruto make a squeaky "Eep!" in alarm, before the one who seemed to be the leader of the party exclaimed,
"There he is! Don't let him escape this time!"
"See ya, Ino!" her friend said hurriedly, brushing past her towards the back entrance of the shop, the five ANBU following closely in his wake, leaving a dumbfounded Ino behind to deal with the wreckage that the special squad shinobi had made in their rush to capture Naruto.
"Well ain't that nice," she huffed aloud to herself, scoffing severely at the mess around her. This was going to take hours to fix.
And what exactly had it happened for, again?
Her cornflower blue eyes shifted to the item still held firm in her hold—a cheap-looking scroll. Her scowl deepened as she proceeded to open it.
And when she did, her eyes widened until they were on par with the size of saucers.
She looked up in the direction her boisterous buddy had run off to then to the parchment that depicted the same jutsu that she had been so frustrated about not getting, the scroll a perfect copy of the only original that was kept in Tsunade-sama's personal archives with people guarding the vault on twenty-four hour duty (thanks to people like Naruto who barged in and stole a jutsu or two every now and then).
A grin came over her features as she clutched the object to her chest, her heart leaping with unbridled happiness.
Miraculously, the mess in the shop didn't bother her one bit anymore.
He groaned pitifully when he took another file from the pile that didn't seem to diminish one bit even though his diligent efforts the past four hours in trying to work through it all.
Tsunade really knew her stuff when she wanted to punish him.
Naturally, after a while the ANBU had caught up to him and chastised him and he would've been content if they had left it at that but they just had to bring him to the Godaime so she could take justice in her own hands as well.
Boy, did being a good friend ever suck more than it did while he rifled through stacks upon stacks of mission documents for hours on end.
The accursed granny knew how much he abhorred doing paperwork and she had chosen the most gruesome penalty for him, the ever energetic hyperactive ninja that he was—browsing through out of town A and B rank missions, checking if everything was alright with them and correcting anything that needed correction. Oh, she was good but she wouldn't break him this easily!
Seething with all the wrath of a petulant child caught doing something it shouldn't be, the blond troublemaker paid no mind at all to the chatter of excited pleased clients around him, coming to pay for a good service to his temporary colleagues in the 'desk-work division', as he had, snickering all the while, taken to calling them.
He was completely sucked into a world of his own in his furious attempts to rid himself of a tedious job for the day so he didn't take note that the shinobi behind the large desks looked up in surprise when the large wooden double doors burst open.
The next part was impossible to ignore, though, unless you were utterly insane, which the blond fancied to think he had yet to accomplish.
"I got it!" The clearly exhilarated shriek of a female voice carried to him, startling him out of his reverie back down to present time. "I got the post, Naruto! I passed the test with flying colours thanks to you!" Ino flounced in, a prance in her step as she took quick large strides towards the desk of the boy in question. "I can't thank you enough for this baby!" She pecked the scroll which he had given her, a large grin plastered on her face that he had never seen before.
Clients and shinobi alike were starting to whisper, creating a background noise of excited buzz as the girl finally stood in front of her knight in shining armour who had ridden in on his high horse to save her when no one else could have and given her back her hope for her job's future.
The boy chuckled uneasily, not used to the attention he was getting from that many people in situations like this. He wasn't really good with receiving any thanks because he rarely did anything that deserved it. He was suddenly thrown in deep waters before being taught how to swim back to shore.
"Oh, it was nothing really, Ino-chan…"
She looked at him incredulously as if saying such a thing was blasphemy.
"'Nothing really' you say? Of course it's something! It's huge!" She jumped up on the balls of her feet, making him flinch back slightly at the suddenness of her movement and the octave her voice had taken. "I have dreamed so many times about this moment! Now I can actually taste it and it's all thanks to you, you adorable goof!"
She stared adoringly at him and he knew for certain that the excitement had got to her head because regular Ino would never look at him with anything short of condescending resignation that he existed.
He gave another strangled chuckle, becoming increasingly aware of the sly looks the pair of them was getting from his current co-workers and the present clients in the room.
He didn't have much time to consider how uncomfortable the situation was though; because Ino decided just then to do the only thing that could possibly make it worse.
"You're the best friend ever! I can't thank you enough for doing this for me! But thanks anyway!"
She seemed to consider a way to express her gratitude better and for lack of any more ingenious ideas decided to give into the urge that she'd had ever since she learnt the stunt the guy had pulled had actually earned her the place she had craved for what seemed like a lifetime.
She reached out, putting her hands on the back of his neck and pulling him in for a rather forceful with brimming joy kiss of appreciation for his effort.
All the occupants of the room seemed to freeze on the spot as they witnessed the girl dubbed 'Number One Most Eligible Kunoichi in Konohagakure' according to "Shinobi Weekly" give the most abominable Hokage-wannabe in history what looked like a rather impassioned smooch right on the lips.
The recipient of her gesture of thankfulness was in stupor himself, in all frankness, because this seemed to become a habit of hers lately, going around kissing people who already had doting girlfriends. Kissing them in such ways that in that certain moment it was difficult to remember their girlfriends' names, not to mention how they looked like or why they were still going out…
When his head was released from her vice-like in its firmness grip, he was staring at her wide eyed, completely dumbfounded while she grinned beamingly at him, her thrill not having subsided one bit from the mind-numbing lip lock.
"Thanks a million for your help again, Naruto and I'll see you around, as Ibiki-senpai's only apprentice the next time we meet!"
And she laughed in an absolutely demented way while she skipped out the door, the prance in her step more pronounced than ever, making her into a rather successful imitation of an overgrown bunny.
It was a while until anyone could get back on track with work again, which was just as tedious after Ino's unannounced visit as it was before it.
But Naruto didn't mind that anymore, really. He had a positively idiotic grin on his face to go with the blissful thoughtlessness of his head.
Because there could still be no question whether or not he was head over heels in love with Sakura-chan but some girls just know how to blow you away with the simplest of things, even if you hold absolutely no feelings of affection for them.
He was glad to have been on the receiving end of Ino's affectionless excitement induced kisses twice. They certainly made his day that much brighter for whatever reason.
Being a good friend had never tasted any sweeter.
DHA: There, part two of "Thirty Kisses" challenge done. If you're wondering, the theme is "news; letter" and it's related to the story in two ways: what Ino gets from Naruto in the middle of the fic is a scroll, or a letter, so to say, and then when she shows up while he's doing his punishment, she's giving him the news of her promotion. So, yeah, I met both parts of a challenge without exactly meaning to. (grins) I hope you enjoyed it and I can tell you that I have chapter three of this story already roughly sketched out so, yeah, hopefully it won't be too long until the next update.
Anyway, thanks for your attention and stay tuned for more NaruIno insanity!