Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That's just the way it is, people.
Leave me in peace already to write the next chapter.
Please feel free to review – it's always nice to hear what you folks think…
Author's note:
This is the third installment for you little fiends to devour.
Chapter three contains a spoiler from the Rescue Gaara Arc in Naruto II.
Also – any sentence falling between brackets that look like this ( ) – is denoting inner thoughts of an individual… for the purposes of this story – Gaara in particular.
Kankuro is on his best behavior for once… but that's always subject to change.
Chapter 2:
Wow – you people need to get some intervention. (grinning)
I didn't have this baby posted for too long before I started receiving reviews.
Thanks to the brave souls who have reviewed the story so far…
Ukiyo-e: I'm glad you enjoy it. I will do my best to keep the action hopping. They are a very fun pairing to do. It's been a real delight messing with them!
Agent-doo, Foamy The Squirrell: Yep… we all want to know what he wrote. All I can say is that it's a safe bet that it wasn't a tame apology letter. The good news is that the contents of said note will be revealed in time!
CrazyHormoneGurls: It's a good question. I don't think Ino really has any control on what's happening to her. She's at Kankuro's mercy. Mwoahahahahaha!
It could be worse – Ino could have Rock Lee chasing after her…
Blackrosevirus: Totally kawaii, huh? (grinning) I'm glad you enjoyed the new chapter. I thought the flowers were a nice touch too.
Flower Meanings:
Rose thornless – Love at first sight.
Purple Rose – fallen in love at first sight.
Sterling roses are light purple or lilac in color…
(courtesy of 1-800 florals website)
Here is chapter three for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!
Round three: Promises, promises…
The next day…
Ninja personnel scrambled to get out of the way of the scowling figure stalking up the hallway. The normally bubbly receptionist watched the approaching man and blanched, quickly scurrying to the safety of the filing room.
It was a rarity to see this side of the Kazekage but when it did rear its ugly head – it usually meant that there was a major problem somewhere in the village that required immediate attention.
Gaara gave the messenger hovering by his door a cursory scowl before he gestured for the terrified man to follow him into his office.
He sat down at his table and held out his hand for the scroll the poor ninja had clutched in his trembling hand. The kazekage growled at the man to wait outside. The frightened man couldn't get out of the room fast enough.
Gaara sighed. He silently cursed his foul mood but it couldn't be helped. The hospital was in dire need of a couple of additional Medic nins – at least until some of the teams came back from their missions.
There was a current shortage at present due to a nasty virus doing the rounds. The Kazekage scoffed at this. He thought Medic nins were made of stronger stuff!
The sand wielder sighed sadly and reached across the battered desk for a blank scroll.
His hand brushed the scroll that had just arrived. He should really read the delivered message from the leaf village before he submitted a request of his own.
Gaara snapped open the seal and released the breath he'd been holding in relief. He recognized his brother's chicken scratch anywhere… It was only Kankuro's weekly report – he could read it after he sent off this message to the Hokage.
The surly red-headed one barked out a command for the messenger to come back in and the relieved ninja set off for the leaf village. Gaara bowed his head slightly and rubbed his tired eyes with his hands. He was exhausted. He'd been over at the hospital since early this morning trying to determine what they needed from their allies in terms of assistance.
He didn't see why Tsunade wouldn't honor his proposition. She still had his brother at her beck and call for this mystery mission of hers. Gaara raised his head and glanced over at the scroll. He couldn't help but give a little smile trying to imagine what chaos his brother had wreaked in the space of a week. The sand wielder picked up the scroll and started to read…
Gaara,
Sheesh – I haven't done anything wrong… no need to yell at me. The young woman's virtue is still intact… so far. (Gaara groaned at this… trust his brother to make a lame ass joke. It wasn't funny to joke about stuff like that, Kankuro!)
I have made amends to Ino. I bought her flowers in way of apology… (He raised his non-existent eyebrow at that one)
In response to your question, O Mighty Kazekage… ( respectful as always, eh brother?)
I have no idea when we will be heading out on this mission. The Hokage wants us to meet with her in two days to discuss the details. (typical Tsunade)
Yes, Yes – I will fill you in then. (excellent)
Give my love to Temari… if she receives a package from Shikamaru – I don't know anything about it. (The Kazekage groaned… he could tell by that comment that Kankuro had been up to no good again.)
Kankuro
PS – I casually mentioned to the Hokage yesterday that you having some minor staffing issues over at the hospital and you were planning to send a request for help soon. She's going to send a team of four medic nins with an escort. They should leave here tomorrow morning. I thought you would be interested to know that the pink haired one has volunteered to go…
PPS – Don't come crying to me if you screw things up with Sakura… I have my own problems.
He wasn't surprised that Kankuro had already been on the ball and sped up the request on his behalf. His older sibling didn't like to see the sand village suffer anymore than he did – especially if they could prevent such a thing happening. Goodness knows – the place went through enough of that under their father's rule.
It was a relief to know that the reinforcements were already on their way.
Gaara shook his head slightly and a small wry smile ghosted on his lips briefly. He could feel his good humor slowly returning.
He was beginning to think his brother was a little touched in the head though. This matchmaking of his involving Temari was going to get him killed or at least land him in the hospital for an extended visit. Not to mention that other issue regarding Shikamaru's team-mate…
Gaara really didn't know what game his sibling was playing with the shrewish blonde. The problem was - Kankuro could never resist a challenge and that was it in a nutshell. The Kazekage gave a deep heartfelt sigh at that thought and then suddenly gave a sly little smile. He had a feeling though, that his cat hood- wearing older brother had met his match this time around!
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Ino sat down at one of the tables on the patio outside of the coffee shop, waiting for Sakura. The medic nin was leaving tomorrow morning for a mission in the sand village and the blonde kuniochi was already going to miss her.
She knew she was being unfair - her friend needed to go and help out… it just wasn't an option for Sakura to sit by and do nothing.
Gaaahhh! She really didn't know who else apart from Forehead Girl that she could candidly talk to about Kankuro.
Ino cradled her head in her hands and sighed softly. She didn't get a wink of sleep last night and it had been all that sand nin's fault!
How could I be even remotely attracted to a man who prefers to hide his features under kabuki makeup and a cat hood? He's probably horribly disfigured and doesn't want anyone to see the scars.
The blonde felt her skin flush scarlet over why she couldn't sleep… Her dreams had been filled with images conjured up by that little note of his.
Gahhh! The man was a pervert!
Ino shook her head slightly. It was weird… even when she and Sakura had been crushing big time on Sasuke – she'd never felt this emotionally charged as she did around the puppeteer.
Arrgh… The audacity of the bastard. Who the hell does he think he is?
A little voice from deep inside calmly answered the question for her.
Apart from being the brother of the Kazekage - he's a man who knows what he wants in life and isn't afraid to go after it.
You're just running scared because what he wants is you and he's not going to take no for an answer.
Ino slumped onto her hands again in resignation. That voice was so right. She was scared of losing her heart to a man like him. She'd never known anyone like Kankuro – who was so determined to storm the walls she erected around her heart. She also couldn't deny that there was a definite mutual attraction between them either.
The young woman was so deeply in thought that she jumped slightly when she felt a small hand on her shoulder. Ino looked up startled into the concerned eyes of her pink-haired friend. To the blonde's horror, she felt her eyes fill up with tears and she shook her head slightly from side to side.
Sakura was worried about her friend. She had never seen Ino like this before. Whatever that was going on in her life was obviously turning her inside out emotionally.
The medic nin sat down at the table and held her best friend's hand. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.
Ino nodded in response to that gently spoken question. Yes – surprisingly… she did want to talk about the puppeteer to her dearest friend.
"I-I'm so confused. I don't know what I should do…" started the blonde.
"What's confusing you?" asked Sakura gently.
"Not what, Sakura… more like a who." replied Ino sadly.
The medic nin was shocked to see her friend tied up in knots about a man… it was a novel first for her. Men were usually tied up in knots for the blonde.
Ino could see her companion was puzzled by how this all happened, so she hesitantly filled Sakura in on the details.
The pink-haired ninja's eyes softened when Ino related what happened yesterday at the flower shop and fished out a familiar white envelope from her bag. The blonde blushed profusely as she watched her friend quietly read the contents of the note and wistfully hand it back.
"Would it be such a bad thing to be attracted to a man like him?" asked Sakura.
"I don't even know what he looks like under that disguise of his." wailed the blonde.
"Does it really matter what he looks like? I get the impression that so far, the kabuki make-up hasn't been a deterrent in terms of your attraction to the man." replied the pink-haired woman.
"No – it hasn't… if anything, it kinda adds to the mystery of the man himself." admitted Ino.
She sighed and was about to cover her face again when Sakura gently took hold of one of her hands and squeezed gently.
"Relax, Ino. I think it's sweet that here's the one man out there who isn't scared to face you and openly declare his intentions." replied Sakura and asked, "Ino, what are you really worried about?"
The blonde's eyes filled up with tears again. "I'm scared that he may break my heart." murmured Ino sadly to her friend.
Sakura's response to that made the young woman stop crying and gave the blonde some serious food for thought.
"Ahh, Ino – I don't think you have anything to worry about on that score. The last thing Kankuro would ever want to do to you is break your heart because that would only cause his heart to break more…"
Ino couldn't help but ask, "How do you know that, Sakura?"
Sakura related to her friend the incident outside the Hokage's office. Ino was surprised that Kankuro had gone to that much effort to garner an audience with Tsunade to petition for medic nins to be sent to his brother, the Kazekage - on the strength of a couple of personal missives he received during the week from Gaara.
The pink-haired medic nin blushed softly and replied, "Besides - I've had a chance to really talk to him and deep down, he's a very caring man." and then Sakura softly added, "I remember when Gaara had been taken by the Akatsuki. Kankuro had chased after them by himself and almost died trying to get him back. He begged Naruto to bring back his brother from his hospital bed."
Sakura pinned her colleague with her green eyes. "Ino, having a man who's willing to protect everything you hold dear with his dying breath isn't a bad thing."
"If anything, Ino - I'm rather envious that you have that kind of man chasing after you." concluded the pink-haired medic sadly.
Sakura looked immensely relieved when the waitress finally came over and took their orders.
Ino glanced over at her friend and smiled. The blonde secretly felt terrible – when you viewed it from that angle, Kankuro was a rare catch.
Sakura was right… she shouldn't complain when it was obvious her friend would dearly love a man in her life who shared the puppeteer's attributes.
Her pink-haired companion was very insightful indeed.
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Kankuro had somehow made it back to his room at the inn. The sand nin couldn't recall exactly how he managed to find his way back. He knew that he should probably have a shower and clean up from training but his mind and emotions were all churned up over that conversation.
He felt awful for eavesdropping but truth be told, he'd felt gutted when he caught sight of Ino looking so defeated at that coffee shop. He couldn't help thinking at the time that he was solely responsible for putting her in that state.
Kankuro had been contemplating his next move when he saw a familiar pink-haired medical nin weaving her way over to the table.
It had been relatively easy to secure a seat nearby where he wouldn't be seen and he could listen in without the two young women being aware of his presence.
It had been a very enlightening discussion and the puppeteer couldn't help but feel intensely moved by Sakura's passionate defense of him. He never realized that she had been able to see that deeply under the layers and had caught a rare glimpse of that part of him he kept hidden from everyone else except his family.
Kankuro smiled wryly to himself. He didn't know how he felt knowing that a woman had summed him up so neatly like that. Sakura had been spot on about everything she said to Ino…
It had taken a week of not seeing Ino to realize that for him, this wasn't a mere infatuation. What he felt for the blonde definitely went a lot deeper emotionally than what one would feel for a crush.
He was pretty surprised just how much Sakura got Ino to admit about her feelings for him. Now he knew how she felt – there was no way he was going to walk away from her without a fight.
He knew that he had his work cut out for him, trying to win over Ino but it was a risk he was willing to take.
Kankuro could now see why Gaara had held a secret torch for the pink-haired beauty for so long.
She certainly was a rare woman.
He just hoped that his brother was smart enough to seize the opportunity given to him and take a chance…
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Sakura and Ino had spent a long time chatting at the coffee shop before her pink-haired friend had to reluctantly say her goodbyes and head home to get ready for her mission in the morning.
Ino walked home to her apartment, thinking hard on Sakura's words. Her friend had given her much food for thought.
The blonde was momentarily surprised to be staring up at the apartment building.
She couldn't remember walking here.
Ino secretly blamed it on being too pre-occupied over trying to figure out her feelings for the puppeteer.
She sighed and walked up the stairs to her apartment. Ino reached the floor where her apartment was and walked down the long hallway to her door. As she approached the entrance, she noticed something sitting on the floor. It was a sterling rose. Ino picked up the delicate lilac colored bloom and inhaled the delicate perfume. It still looked quite fresh, which meant that the rose had not been sitting there too long.
It was obvious that Kankuro had been here. There was no point dwelling on how he knew this was her apartment. The man was extremely resourceful – she saw that in action yesterday.
How did he know that these were her favorites? Can he see into her soul now?
Ino frowned slightly as a thought crossed her mind and looked at the stem of the rose… it had no thorns. She felt herself blushing bright red as she opened the door. Ino trimmed the delicate stem on the rose and placed it in the middle of the tulips.
The blonde kuniochi sat down at the table idly stroking the petals on the flowers in the vase, a wistful smile etched on her soft lips.
It was a long time before Ino finally took herself off to bed.
Before she crawled under the soft covers, she filled a bud vase with water for the rose to sit in on the floor next to her bed while she slept. Ino snuggled close to the side of the bed where the rose stood guard. Just as the arms of sweet Morpheus embraced her, she couldn't resist reaching out and stroking the petals of the rose one last time.
The soft smile remained there on her lips for the remainder of the night…