Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It's sad but true. Don't hound me for cash – I have none.
I need to go work on the next chapter… enjoy my pretties. If you wish to leave a review, that's great. I'm always interested in hearing your opinion.
Author's note
This is the second chapter.
Kankuro is being very, very naughty but Ino has an axe to grind with the big, bad puppeteer.
Occasional bad language and suggestions of sexual nature are mentioned.
If the thought of this makes your eyeballs fall out – turn away now…
So, that first chapter…
Wow - you like it, you really like it…
I would like to give big time thanks to those folks who have left reviews. It's wonderful to hear what you think.
I'm glad to see you guys have some definite opinions on the story. I'm impressed.
Kankuro882, blackrosevirus and minoki: glad you like it so far… I will try to keep it as interesting as possible.
Somnus: Thanks for keeping me honest! Yes, this is indeed Kankuro and Ino's story and shall remain so – no need to fear on that score.
The other characters are on their own to find dates.
Flower Meanings:
Orchid – Love, Beauty, Refinement, Beautiful lady, Chinese symbol for many children.
Tulip (variegated) – Beautiful eyes
(courtesy of 1-800 florals website)
Round Two: Hell have no fury…
One week later
Ino cursed under her breath. In her hands were the remains of what used to be a beautiful and very fragile orchid. The blonde kuniochi sighed and scanned the shop for a place to stash her new victim. Her parents would be pissed at her if they found out that she had mangled a small fortune in flowers this week. Well – they would be more upset about the orchids… they were hard to get this time of the year. It was a good thing that she had only destroyed just two so far.
She spied a suitable location to bury the remains and sighed despondently. Ino knew what or rather who was behind her mass floral homicide.
Damn that man!
Ino stalked back behind the counter and stared broodingly out the store window. She was still mad at the puppeteer. The blonde kuniochi had been keeping a low profile since the incident in the restaurant but she knew that's all everyone had been talking about this week… that kiss!
Ino tolerated the more curious of the gossip mongers who had drifted into the shop, only because she sold more flowers.
If she was truly honest about it, the reason she wanted to inflict intense pain on the sand shinobi was because she was affected by him.
Ino refused to acknowledge out loud, least of all to herself that the touch of Kankuro's lips on her hand had sent little shocks up and down her spine.
It was so unexpected and so unfair! Why should she feel an attraction to him of all men?
Ino sighed again and reached out for another orchid but then stopped. She looked down at her hand and groaned. Her hand was trembling from all these pent up emotions she was feeling. How could she let that freak get under her skin like that?
She rested the offending limb on the work table and took a deep breath to try to calm her turbulent emotions. Ino heard the bell on the shop door tinkle and she braced herself for yet another onslaught of folks just dying to find out if the rumors were true about her and the sand nin. The blonde kuniochi looked up, bracing for the inquisition, only to find herself staring into the eyes of her tormentor.
"Speak of the devil and he appears… What the hell is he doing here!" fumed Ino privately.
"So - this is where you hide yourself." remarked Kankuro. She shot him a killing look but that didn't seem to stop him. She watched in silence as the puppeteer slowly stalked around the room, casually checking out various arrangements displayed throughout the store.
Ino saw him bend down and pluck something out. It had been trapped under one of the heavy pots. She groaned heavily when she saw what it was. Kankuro had a piece of mutilated orchid petal held carefully between two long elegant fingers. She felt herself swallow convulsively when she studied those digits and quickly brought her eyes back up to the sand nin's smirking face. He was stroking the damaged petal slowly, sliding his fingertips over it. Ino felt like she was burning up and just knew she was blushing. The action looked strangely seductive and she was starting to have prurient thoughts of those fingertips sliding on her flesh. Kankuro raised an eyebrow and lazily waved the orchid shard in the air. "What did this poor thing do to you to warrant such abuse?" asked the man.
Ino could feel herself struggling with the urge to launch herself over the counter and scratch the hateful pig's eyes out with her nails. Damn it, she wasn't going to demean herself and react to him! Why can't he find someone else to torment while he was in town… why the hell did it have to be her?
The puppeteer was laughing at her inner turmoil! She could see his lips twitch slightly and that amused tilt to his smile.
"Can I help you?" the blonde bit out frostily.
Kankuro felt himself wanting to grin like a mad idiot. She wasn't as unaffected by his presence as she was trying so hard to have him believe.
He knew this was probably a bad idea to come down here and see her, but truth be told – he couldn't get her out of his mind. Kankuro had felt the little tremors when he kissed her hand. Hell, he had felt it too!
When she had slapped his face with all the emotion she had pent up inside her, he had been tempted to laugh out loud. He was glad he refrained from doing that – she was already mad at him and that would have sent her over the edge.
The puppeteer couldn't help but admire her exit from the restaurant. She had been magnificent! All fire and smoldering energy! It was such a shame that she was wasting all that passion on anger. Kankuro sighed wistfully. He could think of much better ways to use up all that pent up passion of hers!
He thought at the time it was best to let her cool off but to see her glaring daggers at him now, Kankuro realized that he had made a serious error in judgment. He grinned evilly and decided then and there that Ino had way too much time to think.
The sand nin prowled over to the counter and leaned towards the young woman. Two could play this game!
"Yes, actually you can… I wish to buy flowers for a special someone." Kankuro nonchalantly replied.
Ino swallowed her shock. Wow, the man certainly didn't waste anytime in finding someone else to annoy with his presence. "This special someone – are they male or female?" She asked, trying to remain professional.
"Most definitely female." responded Kankuro with a wolfish grin on his face.
He could tell that she was less than delighted by the idea of him purchasing flowers for a special female someone. Ino stared pointedly at the orchid petal clinging lovingly to his fingertips. "Orchids, perhaps?"
The puppeteer gave the vivacious blonde behind the counter a look of consideration before asking. "No, I think not. It's too early in the relationship to give her those." Ino gave Kankuro a frustrated glare. Relationship? What the hell?
"Do you have a particular flower in mind?" asked the fuming blonde through gritted teeth.
"Yes. I want those." replied the sand shinobi.
Ino turned around to face the direction the infuriating man was pointing. "Those" turned out to be a bucket filled with different varieties of tulips. She frowned slightly at the odd choice and shrugged away a stray thought. There was no way in hell this jerk could possibly know that flowers have meanings, could he?
This was torture – Ino just wanted him out of her sight. "Any particular type?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Kankuro swallowed his grin but it was difficult. She's hoping that I hurry up and get the hell away from her. This was going better than he was hoping…
"Yes – give me a bunch of the variegated tulips and wrap it in the… purple tissue paper." replied the puppeteer.Purple was her favorite color! What an ass!
It was like waving a red flag in front of her eyes. Ino turned away and concentrated on getting the tulips for the insufferable man.
Just because she wanted to tear strips off the bastard didn't mean she was going to take it out on the flowers…
She swallowed her anger and finishing wrapping up the flowers. Ino shoved the tulips into his hands, almost snarling the amount he owed her. Kankuro was now fighting the urge to laugh out loud in delight. If he didn't know better – he'd say she was jealous.
He quietly handed over the correct amount and watched her turn away from him.
As much as he enjoyed this, Kankuro knew the poor woman was at the end of her patience with him. The puppeteer took advantage of her distraction and walked over to the exit.
Ino turned around abruptly when she heard the tinkle of the door closing. She was relieved that he finally decided to leave her be.
The blonde kuniochi slumped forward on the counter, her hands covering her face… only to be assailed with the scent of… tulips?
She opened her eyes and there were tulips sitting there. Surely there was some mistake?
Ino rushed over to the window in time to see Kankuro swaggering down the road.
The normally shrewish female walked back to the counter and picked up the discarded bouquet, inhaling their sweet perfume. She felt a blush stain her cheeks and shy smile dance on her lips.
He thinks I have beautiful eyes…
"I'm not going to forgive him just because the insufferable bastard gave me flowers." harrumphed Ino under her breath. She had to admit though, that the puppeteer was off to a good start…
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The tormentor in question was whistling a jaunty tune under his breath as he strolled through the village. Yes – that had been rather enjoyable! Kankuro couldn't deny that he was having fun at the young woman's expense. Hell – he couldn't help himself. He found himself being drawn to her like the proverbial moth to the flame. Ahhh – what a flame though…
The sand shinobi sighed wistfully. When she wasn't screaming or frowning, she really was quite breathtaking…
A part of him was regretting not taking advantage of her shock and kissing those parted lips of hers. He had to admit that he had been seriously tempted to risk a clawing just to sample the delights of her kisses.
It was a shame that the moment disappeared as soon as she realized who had entered the flower shop.
No – it was probably for the best that he didn't act on that impulse. It was obvious she still hadn't forgiven him for the little incident at the Bar-B-Cue place.
Kankuro wasn't surprised to hear from Asuma that Ino wouldn't be training with them this week. The blonde kuniochi had sent word to the sensei that her father was out of town on a mission and she needed to help out in the family shop. Kankuro was smart enough to realize that it was only part of the reason for her absence.
He was just disappointed in the fact that she chose to run to the nearest bolt-hole and attempt to wait it out. I would never have picked her for being one to be scared off so easily.
The sand shinobi stopped in the middle of the street and gazed down at the ground, deep in thought.
Yes – it had been relatively easy to get the desired information from Shikamaru about the exact location of that particular safe haven of hers. Hell – he wasn't particularly proud of himself for using a little emotional blackmail on the shadow wielder to get the information he sought but desperate times called for desperate measures. Kankuro grinned evilly at the memory of that particular exchange. Temari was so going to beat the snot out of him but that was fine. The bruises always healed up. The important thing was that he achieved his goal.
The puppeteer was feeling intensely guilty over his part in Ino's public embarrassment and felt compelled to try and make amends.
Well – that had been the original intention - then he saw her hackles go up… Kankuro sighed. He didn't know what it was about her that made him just itch push her buttons… he just knew that he couldn't get enough of it. Yeah, that made him a sick bastard for wanting to torment her but at least he was honest about it!
The puppeteer had a sudden thought which caused him to grin wolfishly before he continued walking down the road.
He probably should have stopped at the flowers….
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Ino stroked the tulips with a light touch and sighed wistfully. It wasn't often that she got flowers from men she knew – much less a virtual stranger. Most men were too terrified to approach her and those that weren't, assumed that she wouldn't like getting flowers because her family owned a florist shop. The tulips really did sum up the giver of the bouquet, right down the odd stripe variation on the petals. She should really put these in water…
Ino gazed up at the wall clock and smiled gratefully. It was almost time to close the shop for the day. She wasn't normally a clock watcher but Ino was secretly relieved because her mind wasn't really focused on her work. The blonde had caught herself dwelling on the sand shinobi's visit for the remainder of the day. That man really knew how to bury deep under her skin though…
She wasn't too sure if she enjoyed having her inner thoughts exposed so expertly before his eyes like that. It made her feel oddly vulnerable, even a little scared of letting him get too close to her.
She looked up at the clock again and was relieved that she could finally close the shop for the day.
Ino locked the front door and pushed the closed sign into place. The sooner she could finish up – the better off she would be. She just wanted to take the flowers back to her apartment and spend the rest of the evening admiring them.
All she had left to do was start the daily receipts running and put the cash register tray in the safe for her mother to tally this evening. It really didn't take long to finish up.
Ino was grateful for small favors as she finally whisked up the tulips and made for the door.
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The blonde kuniochi was relieved by the fact that her apartment wasn't that far to walk to from the flower shop. She looked down at the delicate blooms and noticed that the tulips were starting to droop.
Ino managed to open the door to her apartment and carefully put the bouquet onto the table without crushing them. She walked over to the door and closed it before she went into the kitchen in search for a vase.
Ino brought the filled vase over to the table and carefully removed the delicate purple paper off the tulip stems. It was then that she first noticed the white envelope tucked discreetly inside the paper. Ino frowned slightly at that discovery. She didn't remember putting in a card… Kankuro must have slipped it in when she was distracted.
The blonde put the envelope to one side and concentrated on arranging the blooms into the vase. They really were quite beautiful.
After she cleared away the paper and stem trimmings, Ino sat down at the table admiring the tulips. A small rectangle of white on the table caught her eye and that's when the kuniochi remembered the envelope she fished out of the bouquet earlier.
She turned it over in her hands, a little perplexed by what was in it then sighed. It would probably be best to go into the living room and get comfortable first.
Ino was sitting on her love seat when she finally got a chance to satisfy her curiosity and slit open the envelope.
It was a good thing that she was sitting down to peruse the contents of the envelope…
Ino felt her face scorch scarlet and her eyes bulge as she tried to comprehend everything the puppeteer wrote in the note. What the hell!
She didn't know if she wanted to do extreme violence on the man's person or something else.
Ino was having a hard time fighting the urge to hunt him down and bury her sharpest kunai in the bastard's dark heart or to explore the naughty possibilities mentioned in the missive…
He really did confuse the hell out of her!