Chapter 3

Yamanaka Ino

As the blonde girl who was now leading Naruto by the hand made another turn at a street, he found himself continuously puzzled by where they were heading to. Of course, any earlier thoughts of resistance towards being dragged along by Ino all fizzed away, since Naruto remembered being advised by Nara Shikamaru a while ago about how bossy a girl Ino was. The best he could do in this situation was resigning himself to his current predicament and trust whatever the girl had in mind for the both of them. Besides, he reassured himself mentally, Ino and he were on generally good terms, so what's the worst that could happen to him?

Still, that did not prevent him from opening his mouth to ask the question that had been eating away at his mind for a while now. "Um, Ino, where are you planning on taking me?" Naruto asked a hint of ever-growing curiosity in his voice. Even with the situation as befuddling as it was, the Jinchuuriki could not hide his sheer love of surprises from the tone in his voice just then. He felt a strange sense of anxiety about all that was transpiring to him.

Ahead of him, the Yamanaka did not let go of his hand or pause for an instant as she replied to his query, failing to satiate his growing curiosity," That's a s-e-c-r-e-t, Naruto." Ino's voice had carried a certain tone of playfulness embedded with cheerfulness, something that Naruto took note of as he had never heard the girl talk that way to either of her teammates. He did not allow it to bother him as much, churning it to the girl's present mysterious behavior, but he felt his heart sinking as his earlier question remained unanswered. Huffing a little out of exhaustion, he allowed the girl to continue leading him on through the streets of his home village, sparing a glance or two at things that caught his attention as he passed them.

The duo walked on in silence for what seemed like an awfully long amount of time to Naruto, before he realized that ahead of him, he could catch a faint glimpse of the Hokage's Tower, and subsequently, a view of the Great Stone Faces that had been etched into the mountain that overlooked Konoha. He raised an eyebrow in surprise, wondering what Ino had in store by bringing him to what seemed a completely odd place to have a chat. His heart welled with nostalgia, as his mind took him to a time long, long ago, to a moment when he was still a kid.

With a hint of bitterness and sadness in his memories, the blonde boy remembered vividly how he used to spend most of his childhood atop the stone structures that were currently within his line of view. Whenever he had an exhausting day that was filled with activities of pulling pranks on the unsuspecting villagers and running away from their scolds and shouts at him, Uzumaki Naruto would spend the rest of his evenings seated at the top of the Stone Hokage Faces, particularly the Fourth Hokage's face, as he allowed himself to enjoy the sight of the sun as it disappeared into the horizon in a land far, far, away from him. At times, Naruto stretched out his hand and traced the movement of the sun as it descended across the sky, wondering what lay in the land beyond. He thought that maybe, there lay a place where he would be treated better than he was by the residents of what was supposed to be his home village, for a reason unbeknownst to him. He cursed lightly as he remembered being shunned and glared at by the adults as he passed through the streets of Konoha, minding his own business. From his vantage point, he could see the Leaf Village in all its galore, making out the most important buildings, and with a small smile, spotting his favorite soft spot, Ichiraku Ramen. He opened his mouth in amazement as he wondered who had managed to create such a wonderful place, before resolving to himself that he would one day have his face etched into mountain surface he was currently seated on.

His mind shifting back to the present, he lowered his head lightly and allowed himself a small smile, after realizing just how far he had come from that small, annoying kid, to someone who was loved and respected by all in the village. He patted himself on the back for never giving up on his dream since that day and working towards it day in, day out, without ever allowing him a moment's hesitation. Luckily, the blonde girl who had his hand in her own did not notice his gesture at that moment. As Naruto lifted his head again to catch a glimpse of the back of the Yamanaka, a strange thought came into his head, which she was probably taking him to the spot that he frequented as a child. For a second, the thought seemed to hold some logic in it; however, since he could not find any reason to validate it, he decided to dismiss it and not to think of the matter anymore.

Unknowingly to him, however, the thoughts that he had just dismissed were running through Ino's head at the moment. Of course, she knew something that Naruto did not; smiling to her since she knew it would make the surprise all the more worthwhile.

The truth of the matter was, Yamanaka Ino had once stumbled upon the blonde boy atop the Mountain when she was of the same age as him, in their childhood years, but back then, she was the only one who had spotted him.

"Father, is there anyone who lives on top of the Mountain where Hokage-sama's face has been put?" Ino asked her dad innocently, recently having taken a trip around the village being guided by her dad and mom. It was her first time going around the village ever since she had come of age where she could join the Academy and be instructed on being a Ninja, and her dad could remember how she had giggled endlessly upon seeing many buildings, resident homes and business areas alike.

Her father, who currently had his darling daughter in his lap, as they both enjoyed the view of the sunset from a spot outside the Yamanaka household, suppressed a chuckle. He had not expected such a simplistic question from his daughter, but then again, it seemed like a plausible question to ask, considering her still ripe age. "Why do you ask, Ino-chan?" He asked his daughter affectionately, wondering what response he would get from her.

The young girl looked at her father with her blue eyes, ever portraying the innocence she held as a child, and answered," Well, I just thought, the faces of the Hokages have been built on a mountain ledge, right? That's a really big section of land that has been left like that, so I wondered whether there was anyone who lived on top of that large area."

Inoichi could not suppress the slight smile that graced his features at that point. Leave it to his daughter to ask such an intellectually stimulating question, which portrayed how much she had given the matter thought. He remembered fondly being told by the girl's homeroom teacher, Umino Iruka that Ino was an exceptionally bright girl, and in a few years to come she would graduate as one of the best students of the Academy. Seeing his girl displaying her obvious puzzlement at such a matter, he felt a surge of pride welling up in him, and smiled fondly at his angel, before proceeding to answer her.

"That's a really good question, sweetheart. Let's see, well, there is no one who lives on top of the mountain, unfortunately, since the only one who lives nearest to it is Hokage-sama. His office is just below the Mountain, so I would say he's the only one who lives next to it!"

The young girl's face frowned in disappointment, her childhood fantasies of someone living on top of the Mountain, where he could watch over all the villagers, crushed in an instant. Inoichi did not lose sight of the saddened expression on her face, and realized that he had just handed her a harsh dose of reality. Children her age were all like this, so well her behavior wasn't exactly out of the ordinary. However, as the question his daughter just asked resurfaced in his mind, he remembered something grave that he was supposed to have told his girl. Most probably, she had heard it from the other villagers, but still, it would not hurt to perform extra caution. It was an unspoken rule in the village after all, after that tragic incident that happened 9 years back.

"Ino dear, I want you to listen to me very carefully," the older man started, and his daughter lifted her face upward to look into her father's green eyes. They held a stern expression at the present, which worried her a little. Adjusting herself on his lap so she sat in a position where she could see him properly and pay him all her attention, Ino waited to hear what her father would tell her. Inoichi, now sure that his daughter was paying him her fullest attention, continued," You aren't supposed to go anywhere near the top of that mountain, okay?" Ino made a slightly confused expression, prompting her father to continue with his explanation. "Make sure you go nowhere near the top of that Mountain. If you do, bad things will happen to you."

"Why, Father?" The young girl asked curiously. Children had an annoying penchant of being overly curious about anything and everything.

For a moment, in Yamanaka Inoichi's mind, the face of a young blonde boy, who had whiskers on his face, surfaced, and he remembered that he had been revealed to by the Hokage, alongside a few other shinobi, that the young boy was the host to the plague that had raided the village a while back, The Nine Tailed Fox. The news had come as a shock to Yamanaka Inoichi at first, since he did not imagine how such a vile beast would be contained in the body of an infant. Then again, Namikaze Minato was a man who had been hailed as one of a kind, meaning he had probably sealed the beast somehow within the body of a boy who strikingly resembled him. The Third Hokage had advised the villagers who knew the truth of what had transpired that night to hold the matter in utmost secrecy, and continue to carry on with their lives as they always had.

This turned out to be an extremely tall order by the old man. Most of the Shinobi who were present when he revealed the truth of the incident to them had lost loved ones and families as they tried to fight back the beast, and such wounds took forever to heal. It would prove to be a mountain's task for them to treat the beast's vessel as a normal kid, knowing that the source of all their agony was sealed within him. It was the same case with the other villagers. They were of course, not allowed to met out physical retribution to the kid, since doing so would only invoke the Hokage's wrath upon them, so the best they could do was merely stigmatize him. And stigmatize him they did.

Yamanaka Inoichi, along with a set few others, did not agree with the way they harshly alienated the boy, but they could not do anything about it. In case he decided to do something different, there was a chance that the villagers would turn their anger towards him, treating him as one who sympathized with the cursed child. His daughter would definitely suffer the same if she learnt the truth of the circumstances, so he wanted to spare her that burden, at the very least. In time, she would come to light of the truth herself, and at that point, he was sure she would make the right decision.

Ino listened to her father's advice keenly; taking note of the serious tone he had used when advising her, and nodded brusquely in agreement. Inoichi felt a wave of relief wash over him at that, and then allowed his daughter to get off his lap and head into the dining room for dinner. Unknown to him, however, he had just injected his daughter with a whole new feeling of curiosity. As the young girl trudged on the wooden steps in her house, she could not help but wonder what her father was warning her against that lay on the geographical feature which overlooked Konoha.

With these unsettling thoughts in the young girl's mind, the next day after school, she silently made her way to the Stone Faces, choosing not to indulge anyone with what she was planning to do. Not even her best friend at that moment, Haruno Sakura. It was a long way to the top of the Mountain, and luckily for the girl, there were no ANBU posted around that area of the village. Once she had reached the summit, she was completely out of breath, owing to the strenuous journey to reach that point, and she allowed herself a moment to catch a breath as she held her hand to her chest, with her head lowered in exhaustion. After what seemed like five minutes of exhaling a large volume of air, the blonde girl slowly lifted her head upwards, when she saw him.

A boy, who seemed to be the same age as her, was seated at the edge of one of the stone faces, both his arms placed at his sides as he had his eyes set on the village below him. His legs hang on the other side of the stone monument, and he seemed to be endorsed in his own thoughts, as he still had not realized that there was someone behind him at that point, much to Ino's relief. At first, Ino found herself wondering who the strange boy was, before a wave of realization hit her. She recognized the familiar matt of blonde hair that lay atop the boy's head, and the orange top he was clad in, putting one and one together and coming to the conclusion that this was a boy from her class, Uzumaki Naruto.

She had only caught glimpses of him here and there within the Academy grounds, and at first she realized she may have jumped to conclusions to soon. Then again, there was no one who had that striking color of hair within their class, so her choices at that moment were oddly limited. She had not exactly thought much about him, however, but she realized that most of the times she saw him he was usually alone, away from the company of the other students. Ino wondered just what made him different from the others, and while caught in this maelstrom of thoughts, she unconsciously stepped on a stone that was beneath her feet at that moment. The stone cracked under the pressure of her foot, alerting the boy to her presence and a shocked Ino to the blunder she had just made. Instinctively, she immediately dashed down the flight of stairs she had come from, not allowing herself to hesitate for a second lest the boy caught sight of her. Her mind screaming at her in embarrassment, she went all the way back to her house, leaving a bewildered Uzumaki Naruto at the top of the tower, who dumbly stared at the empty space that was previously occupied by the girl.

Yamanaka Ino never returned to that spot again ever since that day.

Slowly delving out of her memories regarding that surprisingly eventful day, Ino was surprised to find herself at the foot of the Mountain. Surprising her a little with how they had reached here a tad sooner than she had expected, she placed one foot on the stair at the very bottom, tugging Naruto's hand and making sure that he followed suit behind her. Of course, the boy behind her had been surprised to find out that this was indeed Ino's original destination, his earlier random thought resurfacing as he wondered why she still chose this spot. His face was a mixture of confusion and eagerness as they ascended the stone steps heading to the top of the monument, but he realized he had come too far to go back home right now.

The two walked upwards in continued silence, Naruto growing increasingly uncomfortable with how the air around them seemed ever tense with each step he took. Finally, they had reached the summit of his favorite view spot as a kid, and he was hit by a sudden wave of nostalgia as he took in the air at the top of the mountain. The place had not changed the slightest bit in all the years he had been away from it, and Naruto was glad to see that it was still in top condition. Silently thanking the Third and the Fifth, who saw to the fact that this place was kept spick and span as part of their duties as village leaders, he suddenly found himself looking out towards the village he always watched as a kid. Time really flew fast.

Still caught up in his fond nostalgic memories, his hand was tugged again for what would be the last time that day, as the blonde girl slowly led him to the top of the Fourth Hokage's face. She then released his hand slowly, and gracefully proceeded to sit upon the Yellow Flash's face structure, before silently watching the descending sun in the horizon. It was still the wee hours of the evening, so Ino realized that she still had some time with which she could talk to the boy next to her. Naruto looked at the girl uncertainly, wondering what she expected him to do, before she slowly tapped the area next to her. Taking that as a cue that he was allowed to seat next to her, the taller man proceeded to make he comfortable, the same mannerisms he had as a kid. He had to admit it felt a bit weird being seated in such a place at the moment, not entirely due to Ino's unexpected presence, of course, but since this time, he was aware of his identity as the Fourth Hokage's son. He had recently been able to see his father within his conscience after he willingly allowed the Nine Tails to take over his body till the point where he sprouted the Eighth Tail, and the moment still left spasms of delight within him.

The blonde girl next to him shifted her sitting position to edge closer to the Village Hero, and was now in a position where she could feel the warmth emanating from his body. Likewise, the blonde boy next to her could feel the warmth emanating from his female counterpart's body, and was brought out of his gleeful thoughts to the reality of the awkward position that he had currently found himself in. He was suddenly aware of how dangerously close they were, his mind thrown into disarray since he could not remember ever enjoying a moment like this with the Yamanaka girl with whom he now shared his company. The two of them had never shared a special moment like this in the past, and the realization of this fact made Naruto wonder if she was up to something with her unusual treatment of him. Not to say that Ino had exactly treated him wrongly in the past, but well, she had never exactly shown him the attention she was displaying towards him currently.

Perhaps this was the result of some weird bet made between her and her teammates, or Kiba for that matter. Naruto felt himself getting irate at the thought of this. Still, it wasn't exactly unwarranted for, since he, Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji all enjoyed each other's company when they were kids, and part of the enjoyment involved playing pranks on each other. Why they had involved Ino, he had no idea, and was not about to find out, since the girl beside him suddenly spoke up, effectively hating the tense atmosphere that had since surrounded them ever since they had reached this point.

"So, N-a-r-u-t-o….." Ino started, adding a certain sleaze to her voice that did not go unnoticed by the boy next to her, owing to the trail of sweat that made its way down the side of his face. The girl widened her eyes in amusement, and then restrained a chuckle that threatened to break out if she hadn't placed a hand over her mouth then. Honestly, his reaction just then was cute! Then again, Ino could understand a little of why he was so on edge at the moment, since if someone you hardly interacted with began showing an unusual amount of interest in you one day, the behavior would definitely strike you as odd. With that knowledge in mind, however, the girl intended to make him feel as comfortable as possible within her presence, so as not to put him off with her first attempts at charming him. At that moment, however, Ino realized how tricky it would be wooing Uzumaki Naruto, the boy she had recently developed as crush on.

Yamanaka Ino was not the kind of girl to let any feelings she experienced wane without her trying anything. She had learned that it was better to live life without any regrets, no matter what the outcome of your decisions were.

The blonde boy next to her, who found himself progressively unnerved by Ino's straightforward gesture just then, felt a flurry of thoughts zigzagging through his mind. He had to do something in order to gain control of the situation at hand, he thought, as his mind desperately began clutching for straws, something he could say to abate the current dilemma he had found himself in. As he was about to give in, however, a thought suddenly popped up in his mind. His face lightened up as he remembered the issue that had plagued him once he had left the confines of his home that morning. Yes, he thought, that would work perfectly.

"Ne, Ino," he started, his confidence increasing with each word that exited his palate at that moment," Can I ask you something about Sakura?" He completed his reply, his voice a tad confident than it had been earlier when he had been asking about their destination earlier. Once he was done asking, he realized, with growing satisfaction, that the question was not weird, or odd, by all accounts. It was a perfectly rational question to ask, since the girl next to him happened to be the pink-haired girl's best friend.

The girl next to him wore a mask of confusion on her face for a while, before she managed to recompose herself and exhale a little. Well, he certainly had caught her off-guard with that sudden inquiry, she thought. She had not expected him to ask her about her best friend off the bat like that, but well she realized that Sakura was probably one of the things that constantly lingered within Naruto's mind. The bright expression that had been on her face moments earlier dulled a little, as she realized that Naruto still held feelings for the girl, owing to the way in which he watched out for her. Her heart sunk a little and she felt a slight feeling of defeat in the depths of her guts, but she immediately ridded herself of such negative feelings.

After all, she realized, she had definitely signed up for this when she had decided to set her eyes on Naruto. She, as well as her teammates, and a handful of people within the village, were aware of the affections that Naruto held for his teammate, so she realized a long while ago that any girl who tried to win him over would definitely be in for a Herculean task. At that moment, however, she had never imagined that one day she would be contesting for her heart, so she allowed herself to smile a little at how ironic life was sometimes. These thoughts however, served to further the resolve she had set within herself, so she steeled her heart and decided not to give up that easily. If she let herself be impeded by such an obstacle, Ino realized that she could not take pride in herself as a woman.

"Sure Naruto, you can. What do you want to know about Sakura specifically?" The blonde girl asked, the cheerfulness that had been in her voice earlier slowly returning to her and expressing itself via her voice. Yes, she was not going to give up so easily. She was Yamanaka Ino after all!

Beside her, Naruto, who was now relieved since he had eliminated most of the nervousness he had been feeling prior to coming there. Assured that he was now in control of the flow of the conversation, he pressed on, hoping that he would get a favorable answer this time. Kakashi had not been much help in helping Naruto seek out the answer he wanted, taking the opportunity he had been offered to torment Naruto's mind with images which still remained etched in a small part of his mind. However, he was almost fully convinced that it would be completely different with Ino. After all, there was probably no one else in Konoha who knew Sakura as well as she did, so he was sure she would help him completely. To add the icing on top, she was also there, along the rest of the village, as they witnessed Sakura embracing Naruto, so he knew that he would not be talking about an entirely alien concept to her.

He slowly took in a breath of fresh air, before bracing himself to ask her," When Sakura-chan hugged me after I got back to the village, what did she mean by that? I've been wondering since then whether there was any underlying message within her gesture just then."

Yamanaka Ino's mouth was slightly open in surprise and sheer astonishment, as for the second time that day, Naruto had managed to catch her completely off guard with a question of that magnitude. Of all the questions that she had expected Naruto to ask regarding his female teammate, this had definitely not been on her list. And it wasn't even supposed to be! She was well aware, as a girl, that whenever a guy asked a girl's best friend something about a girl he was interested in, normally the guy would ask about small, minuscule things such as the girl's birthday, or her hobbies, in an attempt to surprise the girl. Ino had found such attempts at wooing girls boorish, but here, Naruto was asking about a gesture that had been expressed to him by Sakura, something which genuinely puzzled him. Ino felt a sudden wave of admiration within her towards Naruto, immediately realizing that he was different from other guys. Way different.

Then again, true to what Naruto had said, Ino had definitely watched the moment that Sakura had hugged Naruto, unknowingly displaying her show of affection for him before all the villagers. She had been surprised by the boldness her best friend had exhibited in that moment, plus the target of her actions just then. In all her years of spending time with Sakura and getting to know her, Ino had come to the conclusion that Sakura would reserve intimate acts, such as hugs, and kisses, for one raven haired Uchiha. It was the same case with Ino, of course, since both girls yearned for Sasuke ever since their childhood days. She had even witnessed Sakura hug Sasuke, albeit from the back and in order to stop his rampage, when they were in the Chuunin Exams within the Forest of Death. Back then, she was moved by Sakura's bravery in hugging Sasuke, who was currently on a rampage throughout the battlefield, and had come to the observation that her heart was with Sasuke. That was, till the incident with Naruto happened. This led Ino to a dilemma of sorts, since she could not understand what her best friend was feeling at the moment, both in regards to Naruto and Sasuke.

She was not about to let Naruto know that she herself had also been surprised by Sakura's gesture just then. However, there was still something that she could do for him, no matter how unpleasant it would be for her, and largely shocking to him. Her eyes closed, she extricated herself from the ground, and walked a few steps backwards away from the edge of the mountain. Naruto, who watched her movements, wondered whether she was planning to leave the mountain and subsequently him atop there, before he saw her stop a few feet away from him. Ino, who had her back turned to him, turned to face him, then ushered him with a single glance to join her at her current position.

He slowly got off his feet, unsure of what the girl had in mind this time, but nevertheless placing his trust in her. He slowly walked towards her till he was at an even level with her, before looking down at her with his cerulean orbs. She looked surprisingly pretty from such a close point.

Ino, who was currently fiddling with her hands as she looked at the man who was standing before her, steeled her resolve once more then looked up into his blue orbs with her equally blue eyes. She could feel his warm breath on her, and it made a tingling sensation make its way up her spine. This wasn't the type to be caught up in such distracting thoughts, she thought, shaking her head slightly to focus on what she was supposed to be doing currently.

"Naruto."

"Yes?" The boy replied, still unsure of what Ino was planning to do.

"What I'm about to do may be a bit shocking at first, but I want you to trust me, okay? Then you'll tell me what you think about it once I'm done," Ino explained to him, making sure he heard every word that she had just uttered.

"Okay then….I'll trust you, Ino," Naruto replied, feeling his heartbeat increase steadily since he was not sure of what was going to happen. Still, it was not like she was going to draw out a kunai then stab him from point-blank range, right? It couldn't possibly be that bad.

It was something he would not have been ready for in a hundred years.

Slowly, Ino stretched out her hands before her, wrapping them gently around the bigger boy's torso, encasing him in a hug. At that point, all the blood in Naruto's body had rushed to his cheeks, and a faint blush adorned them. Of course, the same had happened to the girl that was presently hugging him, that moment being her first time ever hugging a man, and surprisingly, it felt….warm. However, she shook these distracting thoughts out of her head for what seemed to be the umpteenth time that day and mentally praising her for what seemed to be an especially daunting task at first.

Naruto, however, was not quite as calm as her. When he had realized that Ino had her arms around him, he had half a mind to squirm around and shake her off him. Luckily enough he had managed to calm him down before he resorted to doing something that foolish. He could feel his heart beating thunderously within his ribcage, making a small wish that the girl below him would not catch wind of how he was extremely flustered at that moment. Some part of his mind, however, knew that it was probably a futile, owing to the way she had rested her head on his chest. It was Naruto Uzumaki's second hug within a period of less than a week, something he noted with a sinking feeling in his gut. His arms flailed aimlessly for a while on his sides at first, but not knowing how to respond to this sudden act out of the blue, decided to not do anything at all and just allow himself to relish the moment. However, a small part of him told him that something about this just didn't feel right.

The two stood there in extended silence, enjoying the warmth emanating from each other's bodies, before Ino slowly extracted her hands from the small of Naruto's back. She then placed her hands behind her, her gaze cast to the floor, struggling to recompose herself enough in order to regain control of the awkward situation which she had just triggered. It proved extremely hard to do at the moment, since she was still aware of Naruto's looming presence over her. Her cheeks were still stained red and she willed her embarrassment to fade away. For a moment she was not sure whether she had done the right thing or not, but then at that moment, Naruto spoke up. His eyes held a dazed look in them, and he looked at the girl before him like a blind man seeing light for the first time.

"Ino, what was that for?" He asked, a hint of curiosity stemming from his voice. Whilst he was now in the green regarding what she had been struggling with doing before she hugged him, he realized all the nervousness he had been feeling earlier had all but disappeared. In its place was an overwhelming sense of curiosity.

Ino weakly rose her head to meet his whiskered face, noting with a surprised look that he still had a dazed look in his eyes. It was a cute look. She smiled under her breath, then drew back a breath before replying," What does it look like, idiot? I hugged you," her voice betrayed the butterflies that had erupted from her stomach when she embraced him, so she struggled to steady her tone. Naruto did not realize this, his mind still trying to wrap it around what his friend had done.

"Uh-huh. I could tell that by looking," he replied dumbly. "I meant why did you do that?" He inquired, his voice having returned to its usual tone. His heartbeat had also steadied in his chest, and he took that to be a positive sign.

"Well, as I said earlier, I wanted you to trust me on what I was going to do, and I'm glad you did," Ino started, feeling thankful that Naruto had at least trusted her for a moment there. She continued, "Then I told you to give me your honest opinion regarding what I had just done. So, let me have it!" She completed her sentence, glad that the tone of her voice had resumed to its usual boisterous nature. She heaved a sigh of relief at that, before focusing her gaze to Naruto, eagerly awaiting a response.

"It felt…awkward, to be honest," Naruto started, truthfully, and Ino felt a vein pop on her forehead. How dare him! After she put herself out there like that. From the tone of his voice, however, she could tell that he was not quite done yet, so she let him finish his statement before deciding to call him off for being inconsiderate of a girl's feelings. "And a bit uncomfortable." Oh, he was so going to get it now! Ino gritted her teeth in irritation, at Naruto's ungratefulness, but he still seemed like he was not quite done, so she let him finish his statement. He tilted his head to one side in thought, his hands folded at his chest, before he completed his remarks," But, well, I kind of liked it." At this he smiled a bit nervously to Ino, his arm rubbing the back of his head to reveal the slight embarrassment he had felt at the last part of the statement.

The pent up anger that Ino had been feeling all ebbed away as soon as it had began welling up in her, and this time, as hard as she tried, she could not suppress a chuckle. She brought her hand to her mouth in an act of amusement, and laughed under her breath for a short amount of time. Once she had recomposed herself, however, she turned to her blonde counterpart, slowly raising her hand to his chest and punching him playfully. "Well what do you know…so you do have some delicacy after all!" She expressed gleefully to him, flashing him a trademark smile of her own. Naruto had to admit she had a pretty cute smile.

"Why did you ask for my opinion though, I mean on the hug?" Naruto inquired again, having gotten the better of his embarrassment. He still had not figured out what Ino was heading with all this, nor did he have the slightest clue.

"Okay, you see what I just did, right? Sakura did the same thing to you, so what did you feel when she hugged you back then?"

It was Naruto's turn to be astonished, as he had not expected the blonde girl to ask him a question of such magnitude. He felt his cheeks turn beet red again for the second time that day, then he flailed his hands before him in protest as he tried to work a way out of the situation. It was hopeless; however, as Ino fixed him with a stern glare, showing him that there was no way he was getting out of this one. Realizing this, he closed his eyes as he recomposed himself, trying to remember the distant feeling that had remained imprinted on his body since that moment. He could still remember the feel of Sakura's slender arms on his muscular ones, the feel of her head as she rested it on his shoulder, and her warm cheeks next to his face. A warm feeling of joy began welling up inside him, and unknowingly, a tender smile began forming itself on his features, which did not go unnoticed by Ino, of course.

"It felt really warm. And comfortable, just like home," he replied bashfully, his face beaming with excitement. Ino could not help but let out a small giggle as she watched him getting excited by his own memories. He was definitely an odd case, this Uzumaki Naruto. Yet at the same time, she found herself growing increasingly fascinated with him. The feelings scared her a little, but she could not deny the excitement she was feeling due to them.

"Well, at least you remembered that," she said to him, before adding on," but with that just now you realized the difference between what you felt when I hugged you, and when Sakura did, right?" Naruto nodded at this in affirmation, and then she continued," So what's left is going to ask her what she felt about the hug."

"Eh?" Naruto replied in a dumbfounded manner, unsure of whether he had heard Ino say the right thing. He stared at her in disbelief, wondering whether he had misheard her, but she still looked at him in that stern manner, showing him that he had definitely heard right. He felt a cold sweat break out on his body at this suggestion, since he had never thought about doing it in the first place.

Sakura's place

The pink haired girl was currently in her shower, washing the dirt of her body from an extended day at the hospital, where she had been tending to the wounded shinobi who had been left in the wake of Pain's assault. She had been completely exhausted that day, as she scrubbed herself clean, the water draining away all her fatigue. At that point, however, a certain image suddenly surfaced in her mind, and with it, a single tear dropped from her eye, sucked into the water that was currently at her feet.

A/N: I could go on writing, but well I decided to cut it short here, and leave the rest for the next chapter. I hope this was an okay chapter. Make sure to read and review. Thank you!