Chapter 2: First Meetings are Not Always the Best

The thing about having your siblings and cousins as your friends is…you don't have any other friends except for them. Sure, you may have classmates whom you hang out with, but it doesn't mean you have to be friends with them to the point where you could tell them your deepest secrets—like the person you are infatuated with. But that's the problem with having your siblings and cousins as your friends. Because you can't tell them the person you are in love with is a cousin.

But that's not always like that. When we were kids, we didn't give a damn whether our crushes were ranging from neighborhood kids, classmates, teachers, uncles and to cousins. Take Sakura-chan (Yeah, I should call her Sakura-neechan but we are just close like that) for example. She had/have this huge crush towards Sasuke-kun the first time we saw him during our first family reunion. He sure is cute but he was—no, is such a jerk, particularly to Naruto so I got turned off with him. I may be only five years old at that time but I already have a taste in men. Yes, that's right. Men. I had this super huuuuuge crush towards Minato-ojisan I even told everyone I'm going to marry him in the future. Remembering those times made me feel mortified especially when the adults just laughed at my innocence.

So anyway, I just want to say that when we first met, I didn't even pay him any attention. All I know was that he's a cousin of mine who's always on the sidelines—overshadowed by his elder brother and is fascinated with bugs. No, more like super obsessed with bugs—and I first learned that the hard way.

*When Ino was 5 (almost 6) years old…*

"I thank everyone for fulfilling my wishes of holding our family reunion here at my husband's estate." Tsunade began. "You may think that this is just a whim of mine but this is for all of us and for our children to be closer to their relatives." She paused. "To my beloved brothers and sisters—" Then raised her glass of champagne. "—let us celebrate this happy moment of finally reuniting again!"

The adults followed the eldest daughter and raised their own champagne, then took a sip on their glasses when she did.

Ino happily scanned (again) her pretty purple dress—because this is the first time she wore one. Her jaw hurts from grinning too much so she glanced at her beautiful mother who's wearing a red dress and thought, 'She's really pretty! …But I look nothing like her…' Her mother always say she got her hair and facial features from her Tsunade-obasan and it constantly make her feel irritated because she doesn't like her. None of her siblings looked like their parents though. They say her brothers also got their features from their other relatives and since it's making their parents sad whenever they mentioned they don't look like their parents, the siblings just smile or ignore the people who asked them about it.

"Neechan!" Someone from Ino's right tugged at her dress. "Food!" The blond sighed at his little brother Chouji who's always looking for food.

"Shika!" She called the attention of his lazy-ass of a brother who's slouching at his chair while his hands are at each side of his pockets. He glance at her. "Can you go with Chouji? I want to go to Minato-ojisama."

"Troublesome." He changed his position by placing his head at the table.

Figures. He's lazy to the bone. "Fine. I'm pretty hungry anyway." Ino grabbed her little brother's hand, tugging him to start running towards the buffet table. "Let's go grab some cakes!"

"No! I want meat!"

"That's why you're fat Chou-chan!"

The word 'fat' made him cry. Oops! I forgot! He may be only four years old but he has become pretty sensitive with that word. "Don't cry Chou-chan. I'm sorry, okay?" She hugged her brother. "Come on let's go to the meats table." That made him stopped crying and smiled an imperfect toothy grin. That made her to smile too, then grabbed his brother's hand again, and then turned around to continue their tracks towards the buffet table.

Suddenly, a some sort of black container flew away when Ino bumped into someone—more like some kid. Then, the said container landed…on her face…hard. But that is not enough impact to make her faint. She did though, when she found out the container is not black. It's the contents that are black. And the said black things are flying—yes, flying away to the now opened container. What's worse is that the entrance is facing directly to her face. The last few things she remembered before fainting are black goggles and bugs…lots of bugs.

That is the beginning of Sarutobi Ino's love—scratch that. Sarutobi Ino's Entomophobia.


My first author's notes in this story.

The reason I didn't write a/n on the prologue and first chapter was because I was still quite reluctant to post this kind of story. To tell the truth, I had the sudden struck of idea about this kind of forbidden love when I read an incest manga. *blush* I'm actually not really a fan of the genre but the story is just so beautiful it left an impact on me so I decided to write this—though not brave enough to write siblings love.

I just want to say that I will try my hardest not to make this rated M. But if in the middle of the story, you feel it's beyond T rating, please do tell me. I will really appreciate it. Or if you want this M rated, please do tell me too. *flushed*.

Feedbacks are very much appreciated.

Sore ja~

Matta ne~