Title: Between Sun and Moon.
By: Kaara.
Disclaimer: … Do I have to go through this mundane routine /again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?
Warning: Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.
A steady two-day interval update, happy? Many thanks to the reviewers; I read each and every one of them while drowning in happy bubbles. One reviewer pointed out that I had Inoshi's hair colour wrong; stating it to be dark instead of the correct blond, Ino-like. My mistake but as usual, I'm too lazy to correct it. It's not you, it's me. Maybe if I've escaped from my laziness, I'll go back and go through my mistakes. Until then, let's just pretend that Inoshi dyed his hair momentarily. Okay?
Onwards.
xxx
Chapter Three: Zephyr.
xxx
"Can we stop at my apartment first?" Naruto asked, tugging uneasily at the end of his orange jumper. "I need to pick up some scrolls I borrowed from Iruka-sensei."
Ino shrugged and winked at the blond. "Sure. You don't mind inviting me in for a glass of juice or something, right?" She arched an eyebrow when Naruto's shoulder sagged noticeably. "What?"
"Nothing," the reply was too quick to be honest but Ino said nothing, acting as if she didn't notice the uncomfortable twitches of the boy's mouth. She figured that maybe Naruto would tell her when he felt like it. Or she could throttle it out of him later.
The street was becoming increasingly narrow as they walked in silence, dirty brick wall ornamented by various colourful graffiti circling ill-kept apartment complexes coming into view and small urchins running after one another with happy shrieks and yells. Their mothers were sitting, smiling and chatting to one another on worn benches under the shadows of old, twisted trees as they watched their children indulged in childish games. One small boy tripped on a stray pebble, stumbling onto the dusty ground with a cry. His mother scrambled to his side in an instant, cooing and crooning soothing nonsense until the boy's cries was reduced to hiccups and sobs. His friends clustered around him, waiting for the boy to get on his feet and back to their game. Ino was surprised when she glanced at Naruto; the eyes that used to sparkle mischievously were staring at the sobbing kid and the middle-aged woman in envy, a gleam of sadness and… pure /loneliness/ permeating those sky-blue irises.
Ino's heart ached painfully at the sight.
Ino wanted so badly to come up a witty remark, whap the back of Naruto's head or argue about something ridiculous until their throats run dry, just so she could bring that annoyingly cocky grin back, or to hear the boy yelling in irritation at her. Sadness /really/ didn't suit Naruto at all; it dulled his eyes horribly and for a split second, it was as though it was not Naruto who walked besides her at that time. Not the cheerful, hyperactive Naruto that she knew. Instead of all that, Ino couldn't bring herself to do anything. Her hands hung strangely limp by her side, guilt seeping slowly into her conscience for seeing something that she should not see. Like she had pried into Naruto's deepest secret without his consent. The small boy had already jumped onto his feet, crowded by his noisy friends before they ran to another place, to play another game. Ino tucked a few strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ears, words failing the girl for the first time.
"My place's on the third floor," Naruto suddenly spoke up and Ino realized that they had stopped in front of one apartment complex. It was shabby and tattered with rusty set of gates that creaked loudly when Naruto pushed them open, the once cream-painted wall chipped in places and tired looking shrubbery struggled to continue blooming on the barren ground. Laundry swayed on weary lines from numerous balconies, the wind carrying voices and other unidentified noises to surround the two genins. Several women scurried around those balconies, scooping random objects or clothes before hurrying into their apartments when shrill cries or yelling started to resound inside.
The pain constricting Ino's heart hardened, intensified by a hundredfold.
Naruto /lived/ here?
She glanced at the blond boy, whose eyes were no longer supporting the sad look but were carefully cheerful. As if Ino had only imagined his reaction before. She clenched her fists, the muscle of her face taut into a grimace. Naruto led her to one side of the complex, where poorly trimmed hedges bordered the sidewalk and cluttered debris and litters lay forgotten on the pavement. The stairs were in similar state of neglect and as they mounted it, Ino wrinkled her nose when a repugnant smell assaulted her nostrils, some kind of a mix of day-old puke and overcooked cabbages. There were people yelling above them, before the yell eventually died down once they arrived at the landing. Two elderly women were facing each other, their thin lips twisting into sneers of plain disgust and hatred as their tiny, watery eyes glared at Naruto under white eyebrows. One of them, who wore an oversized nightgown with flamboyant flower patterns actually spat onto the filthy floor and with a last glare directed to Naruto, retreated into the confinement of her grimy apartment and slammed the door shut. The other woman mirrored her friend's action, with an even louder slam.
Ino blinked in complete disorientation and turned to Naruto for an explanation, only to find the boy fumbling with his keys. Naruto inserted one key into the keyhole, turning it and twisted the doorknob without leaving his eyes off the door. Finally looking up to grin at the dumbfounded Ino, Naruto exclaimed, "Are you going to come in or do you want to wait outside?"
"In, I guess," Ino pushed the curiosity that was /again/ nagging at her to the back of her brain, slipping off her ninja sandals at the entrance. She placed them beside Naruto's and allowed her eyes to roam around Naruto's small apartment.
There was not much inside. Literally. The room was no bigger than the living room in her house, acting as both living room and bedroom at the same time. A battered table stood in the middle of the room, its smooth surface marred by burn marks and some deep scratches. Chairs were two sad little stools, assembled around the table like faithful companions that had seen better days. There was an unmade bed pushed to one corner of the apartment, the lumpy mattress and pillow covered in worn casings. A trunk sat close to the end of the bed and there was a yellowish white shirt spilling out from its opened depth. Ino winced when her bare feet made contact with something solid, bending down as she retrieved an empty instant ramen bowl. Dropping that onto the table, the girl made her way to the window, its blurry glass seemed to have never been introduced to a clean rug and water. Looking out, Ino could make out some kids running around a dying tree, their cheerful yells making the air inside the apartment gloomier than before.
How could Naruto live in /this/ place?
Soft footsteps snapped Ino back from his dark musing.
"Sorry if it's a bit messy," Naruto's voice was laced with awkwardness and he placed one of his palms on the windowsill. Ino drew away from the window, sucking in a deep, calming breath and turned to stare at her teammate. Naruto had several scrolls clutched to his chest as he continued grinning at the girl. "Too lazy to clean up."
At that very moment, Ino realized that Naruto, the strong, ridiculously stubborn Naruto needed a friend, and not her pity. That made Ino kick herself repeatedly (in her mind, that is). She placed her hands on her hip and scowled in mock anger. "You're not going to be lazy around me, whisker face. We got so much thing to do from now on!"
"We?" the boy questioned sceptically.
"Your place," Ino flailed her arm in exasperation, "Need a complete makeover as well as a thorough cleaning. And lucky you, I'm free this weekend."
Naruto's jaw (if it was physically possible) hit the floor. "WHAT?"
"We're cleaning your house this weekend, whisker face."
"But WHY?"
"Because you're living in a dump, that's why!"
"My house is NOT a dump!"
"What, you're expecting me to believe that when I found empty ramen bowls on your floor?"
Said empty instant ramen bowl bounced off Naruto's forehead.
"But I HATE cleaning!"
"That's why you need someone to order around your lazy ass for you!"
"Are you cleaning your soul for heaven or something?""
"No, because I'm cleaning this /hell/ instead!"
"Whose place are you calling hell?"
"Stop whining like a brat, whisker face, and start being responsible for once!"
"I… I—"
"Not another word," narrowing her eyes dangerously, Ino snatched half of the scrolls from Naruto's hand and stomped to the door. "I'll come this weekend and you better have some good excuse if I find more trash at that time. I'll skewer you using a mop if you don't."
Naruto caught up with Ino as she was putting on her sandals, his blue eyes flashing with annoyance. "I don't need you cleaning my home! I can do it myself!"
The blonde girl gave Naruto a measuring look and snorted. "I doubt that. When was the last time you did laundry, Naruto?"
"Er…" the boy scratched the back of his head, a sheepish grin replacing the furious snarl on his face. "Last… week?"
Ino sighed and shook her head. "My point exactly. Cut the crap and let's go to Iruka-sensei's place. I need to be somewhere tidy again to cleanse my poor, poor eyes." She did a dramatic gesture of fussing over her eyes for emphasis.
Naruto indignantly 'Hmph'-ed and locked his apartment when they had stepped out. Ino found herself relaxing slightly when the two elderly women that had glared at Naruto were not there, though it puzzled her of why they had shown blatant hatred towards the boy. Like he carried a contagious disease or something. And why the blond boy acted as though he was used to the treatment. Naruto had bounced down the stairs and Ino, cursing because the blond boy had abandoned her alone in the hallway, raced down instantly and conveniently forgot her disconcerting thought. For one thing, Naruto was as fast as he was loud and before long, Ino wished that she had had the heart to throw kunai at the blur of orange in front of her. They had escaped the area and took a shortcut to the other side of Konoha, where Iruka-sensei resided near the Academy.
Ino eventually stopped running in favour of walking, huffing and wiping beads of sweat from her glistening forehead. Fleetingly, Ino wondered where the heck Naruto got the stamina to keep going and going like there's no tomorrow but quickly decided that it must be from all those ramen that he ate. Gluttonous whisker face. Naruto, to his credit, had also slowed down when he could sense Ino's rage dissipating behind him. Scrolls a careless display in his lax arms, the boy fell into a much decent pace besides Ino, grinning in smug victory at the panting girl. She raised a hand and punched Naruto's shoulder playfully, saying nothing since she was still trying to even out her breathing from the strenuous activity. If running after a loud brat could be called strenuous activity, that is. Naruto grinned, shifting the light weight he was carrying to rest more comfortably against his chest. The buildings around them had morphed from simple architecture to those with slightly artistic touch, delicate carvings of mythical animals decorating several pillars and wooden poles that they walked past without a second glance.
"Nice neighbourhood," Ino commented, admiring the neat lines of shady trees along the paved road. The pleasant scent of post-winter invited a smile onto the girl's face as she balanced the scrolls in her hands.
"Yeah, Iruka-sensei don't have any girlfriend so he used his money spoiling himself," Naruto quipped, chuckling to himself.
Ino frowned at the remark. "Are you trying to imply that having a girlfriend is costly?"
An impish grin widened on Naruto's face. He pretended to nod thoughtfully. "Of course. Guys have to pay whenever they went to a date, right? And have to buy gifts and all that shit for their girls. Flowers, chocolate…"
"Baka. That's not compulsory," tittered the girl, brushing her bang from her eyes as she glared incredulously at Naruto. "Who told you that?"
"Sakura-chan. I asked her out for a date once and she told me that I couldn't possibly afford it. Then I asked why not," a pout begun forming at the memory, cheeks puffing up in aggravation. "And she tells me that she would /love/ to eat in a classy restaurant with /dear/ Sasuke-/kun/ if she ever went on a date."
Ino chuckled in amusement. "Well, that's Sakura to you. To me, if you bring me to Ichiraku and we eat ramen, as long as we had a good time and enjoy ourselves, then it's loads better than eating in an expensive restaurant with a conversationally-deprived pretty boy."
A laugh escaped Naruto's lips at the honest confession. "Hah, that's because you're /cheap/."
"Hey!" Ino exclaimed indignantly, hurt by the accusation. She couldn't whap Naruto like she intended to do as her arms were taken into custody by the rebellious scrolls. Besides, the blond boy had had the foresight to run a few steps ahead of Ino.
"Sorry, sorry," choking back his laughter, Naruto winked at Ino over his shoulder before laughing again. "But it does seem more /convenient/ to bring /you/ out for a date, ne, cheapskate?"
"Shut up," growled Ino, regretting ever saying anything to Naruto. The blond boy had the tendency to annoy people even if he didn't mean it. Maybe /that/ could be his bloodline limit. Annoying People to Death no Jutsu. Ino mentally snickered at the thought, half-jogging to keep up with Naruto.
Two shortcuts and three bickering later, both genins finally arrived in front of a door marked with the number '13'. Iruka-sensei's apartment was everything that Ino had imagined it would be; clean, neat, spotless and awfully immaculate. The whole setting practically screamed 'TEACHER!' to the eyes of visitors. The brown-haired teacher, who was wearing a dark blue sweater and faded grey sweatpants greeted them with a surprised smile; the smile mostly directed at the grinning Ino besides Naruto. He ushered the two in, gathering the scrolls from his two former students and stacked them systematically in different boxes on a working table just besides a small aquarium. Inside the aquarium were two small goldfishes, smaller than usual ones, swimming around contentedly inside the glass confine. There were also potted plants on the windowsill, young leaves resting softly on the dark maroon pots.
"Sit down," ordered Iruka-sensei, waving them towards a comfortable-looking couch by the wall. He moved the papers he had been grading before they came onto another table and stared intently at the two genins. "Do you want anything to drink, Ino? Naruto usually have hot chocolate when he comes here."
"Water will be fine, sensei," Ino answered politely, smiling at the young chuunin.
Iruka-sensei nodded and disappeared into a hallway, presumably leading him to the kitchen. Naruto left the couch to squat in front of the cabinet underneath the television set, opening it and pulling out a rectangular green box. He rummaged around for something and came out with another box, this one a square and a lot smaller than the first, though it shared the same dusty green colour. He grinned cheekily, two boxes in hand and bounced towards Ino, who was curiously craning her neck at the blond boy. When Naruto set the boxes on the table before them, Ino realized with a jolt of surprise that it was 'Scrabble'. She blinked and arched an eyebrow at the boy.
"Scrabble?" Ino asked, just to make sure that her eyes were not deceiving her. Naruto was the last person in Konoha that she would imagine being interested in a game of words.
The grin widened. "Why, afraid that you're going to lose?"
"Are you challenging me, whisker face?"
"Careful, Ino-san. Naruto is not as illiterate as people expected him to be," came a jovial voice from their right. Iruka-sensei was leaning against the wall, a gentle smile gracing his lips. In his hands was a tray supporting three mugs with distinctive kunai and shuriken patterns. He crossed the room in three strides, placing the tray on the parquet floor and sat cross-legged besides Naruto. Ruffling the boy's hair, Iruka-sensei joked, "There's a good brain underneath all his brashness."
"Iruka-senseeeei," whined Naruto, pouting at the chuunin.
"I wouldn't have guessed," Ino gleefully teased, deftly avoiding a scrabble piece aimed towards her forehead by a certain pouting blond. She settled on the floor too, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Bring it on."
The pieces were enthusiastically jumbled and soon, there were only faint sighs and thoughtful 'Hm…' residing in the room. Ino and Naruto glared at each other over the edge of their tables, almost similar blue eyes twinkling with confidence. At one side, Iruka-sensei sat forgotten with his own table, eyeing his former students with a whimsical smile on his tanned face. The Academy teacher started the game with the word, 'FRIEND' boldly placed in the middle of the board. Ino frowned, slender fingers hovering above her own pieces. A grin surfaced and she countered with a 'DUMB', smirking at Naruto. Perhaps sensing that the word were meant for him, Naruto shot Ino a glare before rearranging his pieces on his table. Two seconds later, he came up with a 'BLONDE'.
Iruka-sensei openly chuckled at /that/.
The game was fast and furious, mostly because Naruto and Ino kept glaring and Iruka-sensei kept chuckling at the childish competitiveness between the two teammates. Glorious sunlight that poured into the room from the opened sliding door by the balcony had dimmed considerably as the great orange ball sunk slowly into the far horizon, early stars winking in a distance. Too absorbed in their little game, none of the three ninja realized this until Iruka-sensei looked up to massage his sore neck, only to stare into the settling darkness. The chuunin gasped and glanced at the clock hung on his wall. Approximately ten minutes past seven. Iruka-sensei had to cough extra hard to attract the genins' attention.
"It's well past sunset," the teacher declared, his eyes particularly set on a groaning Ino. "Your parents will be worried if you don't come home for dinner, Ino-san."
Naruto immediately protested. "But Iruka-sensei, can't Ino just have dinner with us? She has to taste your ramen!"
"Well, I have no objection about that," Iruka-sensei replied, smiling again. To Ino, he said, "I can call Inoshi-san and explain to him if you want to stay for dinner. I'm sure he will give his permission."
"Are you sure I'm not interrupting anything?" Ino demurely asked, a barely-concealed hope shining in her eyes.
Iruka-sensei laughed and shook his head. "Of course not. How about you help Naruto clean up and I'll call Inoshi-san, okay?" Cleaning up consisted of hunting for numerous missing pieces of alphabets that they had thrown at each other during their game. Most of them ended up in odd nooks and crannies.
"Okay!" came the chorused agreement and two pairs of feet scrambled to work almost immediately.
Watching the two squabbled again, Iruka-sensei picked up his phone and made the call from his kitchen. Inoshi was the one who picked it up.
"Good evening, Inoshi-san," the chuunin greeted cordially.
"Iruka-sensei," came the warm retort. "May I ask why you're calling at this time? Is there something wrong in the Academy?"
"No, this is purely personal. I want to inform you that Ino had spent her evening in my company and I asked her to stay for dinner. I'm hoping that you and Saeki-san won't mind lending her for tonight," he couldn't help the formality, simply because he felt respect for those with higher ranking that his. And Inoshi was an experienced jounin, after all.
A short pause came from the other end, as if the jounin was contemplating something. Then, Inoshi's voice vibrated again, with a question, "Is Ino with that Uzumaki kid?"
It was Iruka-sensei's turn to stiffen. "Yes." He inhaled deeply and forced himself to loosen his tight grip on the phone. "Is there a problem, Inoshi-san?"
"Don't get me wrong, sensei," the voice was thick with hesitation. "But Saeki… she's not really happy with the… ah, arrangement of teams. Her father died while protecting Konoha from the Great Demon. And…"
"I'm sure Yoshinaga-sama was a fine shinobi," the chuunin curtly acknowledged, his grip tightening once again, a contrast to his softening voice, "My /parents/ also sacrificed themselves for the safety of Konoha, Inoshi-san. I don't mean to sound rude but Naruto is nothing but a boy. A boy with a dream, a future to mould with his own hands. What he needs is a chance and a friend. Ino accepts him the way he is and she should be the one to judge her friends, not others. I'm proud with her in that way, Inoshi-san. You should be too."
A longer pause greeted the Academy teacher after that. Iruka-sensei was starting to fidget on his feet when Inoshi spoke up again, "My sincerest apology, sensei. I'll talk to Saeki about this. Tell Ino to enjoy the dinner and thank you for having my daughter there."
"I'll tell her that, Inoshi-san. Thank /you/."
A silent click resounded from the other line and the tanned chuunin stared at the phone in his hand before placing it on top of the refrigerator. He traced his steps back to the living room, raising one fine eyebrow when he found out that instead of searching for the missing alphabets, Naruto and Ino were curiously tapping the glass of his aquarium, agitating his goldfishes into completing faster circles around the aquarium. The Scrabble boxes were still on the table, the lids thrown carelessly aside while some pieces lay cluttered on the heavily polished surface. Both looked up when Iruka coughed deliberately with the same guilty look on their faces, like they had just been caught doing something illegal. Naruto offered the chuunin sensei a goofy grin, while Ino plastered a lop-sided grin on her feature.
"They needed exercise," Naruto begun, pointing at the goldfishes.
Ino nodded on cue. "They kept going on and on slowly. We thought we'd make them go faster. Like an, um… exercise, you know?"
"Uh huh… Have you found all the pieces?" Iruka-sensei had to suppress a snicker when the two genins exchanged uncomfortable glances. "I'll give you ten more minutes. One piece missing even one minute after that, we're going to eat plain soba tonight."
"But sensei—!"
It was actually cute to see the two of them whining in complete unison but the tanned chuunin steeled his expression. "Don't you 'But, sensei' me. Ten minutes, genins, from now."
Naruto instantly launched himself to the back of the couch and Ino got on her knees, groping underneath the table and cabinets. Iruka-sensei grinned inwardly, crossing his arms against his sweater-clad chest and waited for his former students to complete their current 'mission'. One by one the missing piece turned out, piled into a small hill on the table by quick hands. Naruto and Ino covered the whole place with only one minute left to go and as they put the boxes back into their place, they grinned expectantly at Iruka-sensei.
"Nice work," the teacher softly praised and led the genins into his kitchen. He fetched two spare aprons from a cupboard, tossing them to Naruto and Ino, tying one around his form. Reaching for the biggest pot he had in the kitchen, Iruka-sensei began listing out the works they had to do in order to prepare their dinner. "Naruto, I want you to get the tofu and vegetables from the fridge, careful not to cut your fingers with the knife like last time. And Ino-san—"
"Ino," the girl defiantly corrected.
"Right, Ino," Iruka-sensei smiled as he said that, "I have some chicken over there. Do you mind skinning them?"
Seizing a gleaming knife from the counter, Ino shook her head and practically attacked the poor chicken. "Do you want to save the skin?"
"I'll deep fry them later," the chuunin filled water into the pot and placed them on the stove, picking up carrots, a knife and a chopping board to occupy his time while he waited for the water to boil. He spared a glance at Naruto, who was happily slicing the tofu into perfect cubes. "Hand me the noodles packets will you, Naruto?"
"Hai!"
"Ne, Iruka-sensei, can I do the frying part?"
"Sure, Ino. Naruto! Not the cabbage!"
"Sensei, I'm done!"
"Ino, grab the flour from that cabinet. No, the third one to your right."
"ARGH! I'M BLEEDING!"
"Baka, what the heck did you do with that knife?"
"Naruto, put your hand under the water! Ino, please fetch the medical kit in the bathroom. Two doors to your left."
"I'M GOING TO DIE!"
"Oh, shut UP, Naruto! Iruka-sensei, where's the medical kit?"
"Under the sink. Naruto, keep your hand under the tap! Really, I warned you already!"
"Here, sensei! How did you manage to mistake your wrist for the frickin lettuce? Something must wrong with your eyes, whisker face!"
"Ino, please stop yelling at Naruto. Now, let me look at that cut, Naruto."
"… Did that wound just close by itself…?"
"Huh?"
"Iruka-sensei, I thought it must've been a deep gash or something…"
"The two of you, not another word! Let me dress your wound, Naruto. Oh, my! The noodles!"
"I'll patch him up," Ino offered, taking the roll of gauze from Iruka-sensei's hand. The chuunin flashed her a grateful grin and dashed off to tend his neglected noodles. She wiped a smudge of flour from her cheek, only to have it trailed across her sweaty face. Wrapping Naruto's wrist with much efficiency from daily practice, Ino muttered darkly, "Someone should forbid stupid whisker faces from using knives."
Naruto bristled, as expected. "It's not my fault. It was the knife's."
"Now you've moved up a notch and starts blaming inanimate object for your stupidity, huh?" her words might be harsh, but Ino meant well with every single one of them. She fastened the end neatly and glared at Naruto. "Won't it be funny to have the future Hokage killed inside his own kitchen, with his own /kitchen/ knife sticking out of his hand?"
"Guess you're right," Naruto scratched the back of his head, an embarrassed grin on his face. He patted his bandaged wrist affectionately. "Thanks, Ino."
"Be careful, will you?" the girl's voice was gentler than usual when she said this, dusting her hands together. There was something akin to a sad glimmer in her eyes. "You're not indestructible, Naruto. Be nice to yourself." Even if others don't, Ino inwardly continued.
"Aa…" an awkward smile tugged Naruto's lips, faint dusty pink smearing his cheeks.
Iruka-sensei, as always, came to his rescue. Cooking chopsticks in one hand, the chuunin said, "Why don't you set the table, Naruto? Ino will help me with the rest, na? I'm afraid that I can't trust you with my knife anymore."
A dignified yelp escaped Naruto's throat when Iruka-sensei shoved him towards the living room, before he stomped to one cupboard and pulled put bowls and such. Casting a last glance over his shoulder at the chuunin and girl inside the kitchen, Naruto sighed heavily and trotted to finish his given task. Ino blinked, looking up at the smiling face of her former sensei. Iruka-sensei dimpled down at her, handing the girl the cooking chopsticks and pointed at a wok on the stove, besides the boiling pot of ramen. Stirring the sizzling rice inside the wok, Ino kept sneaking glances towards the general direction of the living room, where she caught glimpses of Naruto placing small bowls and glasses on the table, a tuneless whistle flowing jauntily from his lips. He seemed absorbed in his work and had quite forgotten their little spat before. Involuntarily, Ino felt her mouth curved into a relieved smile.
"Ino."
The blonde girl snapped to face Iruka-sensei with a start. "Y…Yes, sensei?"
"What do you think about Naruto?" the chuunin's face was devoid of any expression when Ino peered questioningly at him, his warm brown eyes trained on the cucumber he was slicing through.
Ino moved her eyes to the wok before her. "Anou…"
"The truth, please. I won't mind if you condemn him."
"He's stubborn and stupid," came the resolute retort. But before Iruka-sensei could respond to that, Ino continued, "But I like his stubbornness and his stupidity. Sure, why he wants to be a Hokage is beyond me but if he needs any help, I'll be there for him. That's what friends are for, right?"
Much to her surprise, Iruka-sensei laughed at her answer. He finally turned to look straight into Ino's eyes and she could clearly discern the approval in those liquid chocolate orbs. "Well said, Ino. I think you'll make a good shinobi in the future."
"Thanks… I guess," the direction of their conversation was more than a little ambiguous to Ino, but it did felt good to be praised by a teacher. She gave the rice one last stir before putting out the flickering flames and dumped the sweet-smelling fried rice into an oval-shaped salver. "You want me to do anything else, Iruka-sensei?"
"I'm almost done," the chuunin began topping three bowls under his ministration with chopped mushrooms. He juggled them to a tray, before opening a small drawer and drew out a teapot. "I'll make some tea and you can bring the food to the table. Make sure that Naruto didn't get his hands on the ramen first, okay? Or we won't have enough to feed ourselves."
Ino laughed and saluted. The table was ready when she ambled into the living room with the extra weight in her hands and by the precision of the whole setting (from the perfect angle of the chopsticks to the laid, crispy white hand napkins), the girl had a feeling that Naruto had done it often enough for him to develop a sense of tidiness. Iruka-sensei truly was a miracle worker! Ino placed the bowls in place, swatting one eager hand away when she had finished doing so and threatened Naruto that she would force-feed him steamed Brussels sprouts if he make another attempt to start eating without Iruka-sensei. That earned her an earful of grumbles and dark mutters. Said chuunin teacher arrived about five minutes later, another tray in hand and he allowed Ino to pour them each a cup of hot tea.
Dinner was a noisy affair; Naruto relating the test Kakashi-sensei had forced upon them that morning, with Ino snapping consistently at him when he exaggerated some details, confused facts with his fantasy and overall, made him look like an ass-kicking genin that he wasn't. Yet. Iruka-sensei laughed when a more-than-small amount of wasabi /mysteriously/ ended up in Naruto's bowl, Ino trying to convince them amidst Naruto's yell for water that it was an /accident/. If he hadn't seen the girl purposely squeezed the wasabi into the bowl while Naruto was doing some excited gestures with his hands, maybe Iruka-sensei would have believed her. He suppressed a fresh bout of chuckles at the innocent face Ino had put on when Naruto confronted her, the blond boy's face as red as a lobster and his tongue sticking out between his swollen lips.
By ten o'clock, both genins were bowing and thanking Iruka-sensei for an interesting afternoon and a nice dinner. The chuunin even invited Ino to spend her free time with them, playfully stating that Naruto and her still had a dispute to settle over certain words that Naruto swore existed and listed in the dictionary, ignoring the girl's protest when he paved on ahead with those words even if Iruka-sensei had produced a dictionary and looked them up in avail. Naruto had volunteered to walk Ino back home, walking in comfortable silence besides the girl as they passed the lines of trees in their way out from the neighbourhood. It was full moon that night, the silver shower of ethereal light made everything shone in a fey fashion. The streets were fairly deserted, some late shoppers and few drunkards were the only people that the genins came across. Reaching the Yamanaka Flower Shop, both paused on track.
"Thanks, Naruto. I had a great time," Ino said, grinning.
Naruto conceded with a wide grin of his own. "I had fun too. Maybe we should do this more often."
"Yeah," opening the side door of the shop, Ino stopped and gave Naruto a mischievous wink. "Remember that we've got some cleaning to do this weekend, whisker face."
The blond boy put both hands to the back of his head and laughed. "I'll makean effortto remember that, Ino-chan. See you tomorrow and good night."
"Night," came the reply.
TBCReview or I'll 'accidentally' delete the next chapter.
Kaara