Chapter 4: The Explanation

They both knew the voice and Ino froze from the voice and opened her eyes wide and looked over at the tall man, it was Shikamaru. Naruto looked over at Shikamaru and then back at Ino and saw how she froze up just from his voice and he could feel her heart pounding, "I guess she still has feelings for him..."

Ino was still frozen as she looked at him in disbelief still and saw the man that had left to be with Temari in Sunagakure was now back, "Shikamaru?"

He flashed his smile at her and he took a step towards her and she took a step back as he spoke, "Ino, I have come back to be with you, I made a mistake."

Inos eyes went wide again as he said that and Naruto felt his heart drop at Shikamarus words and looked at Ino who looked to be in shock, "No..you can't do this to me Shikamaru."

Shikamaru took another step towards Ino and she was up against her door now and Shikamaru went to move towards her again and Naruto put his hand against Shikamarus chest and spoke in a defeated tone, "You should leave Shikamaru, she doesn't want you here."

Shikamaru gave Naruto a up and down look and saw how nice he was dressed then how nice Ino was dressed and he started to laugh, "Really, she replaced me with you? Get out of the way Naruto, I am here to talk to the woman who is in love with me."

His words stung Naruto at the thought of being a replacement to Ino "I probably am just a replacement for Shikamaru" but he stood firm in his resolve, "I will tell you this one last time, you should leave."

Shikamaru went to hit Naruto but Naruto grabbed Shikamaru by his shoulder and stopped his punch and threw a hard punch into his stomach. Shikamaru fell to the ground coughing and Naruto looked at Ino who was in shock and he looked away, "Sorry if I hurt him Ino."

Naruto put his hands in his pockets and walked away and Ino watched as he was walking away, "...Naruto?"

Naruto didn't stop though and just kept walking and she walked after him and when she turned the corner on the stairs he was gone, "...why did you leave Naruto?"

Ino looked back at a coughing Shikamaru and then went down the stair to find where Naruto went and she was asking everyone until she ran into Kiba, "Kiba, do you know where Naruto went?"

Kiba was scratching his head and looking down the street and then back at Ino, "Yeah he walked by and I said hi to him and he just kept walking looking depressed, I think he went to the bar. Whats up with him?"

Ino wasn't really sure what was wrong with Naruto, "I have no idea, we had an amazing date and we were about to kiss when Shikamaru showed up and then Naruto stopped Shikamaru from approaching me and then defended himself against Shikamaru and then said he was sorry if he hurt him and walked away and disappeared."

Kiba knew what was wrong then and looked at where Naruto went, "I know whats wrong with him then, I would leave him alone right now."

Ino gave Kiba a confused look, "I don't understand what you mean Kiba, why should I leave him alone and what is wrong with him?"

Kiba looked at Ino and with a very serious tone he answered her, "He figures that now that Shikamaru is back you are going to go back to him, Naruto is a very insecure person and goes under the assumption he isn't good enough after years of rejection from Sakura. I am assuming that you didn't kiss him because Shikamaru showed up right as you were about to, he sees it as you didn't kiss him because Shikamaru was back and you still have feelings for him. Right now he is probably through half a bottle of scotch in self pity and looking for the biggest guy to kick around."

Ino had a worried look on her face and ran off towards the bar and ran through the door and saw Naruto downing the end of a bottle of scotch with about 6 unconscious people around him, "Pussies."

Naruto threw the empty bottle at the wall and put money on the bar for the bartender and took another bottle and walked towards the door and saw Ino standing there looking at him, "...Naruto?"

Naruto blinked and rubbed his eyes and looked at the bottle of scotch, "Jesus this is some strong shit or else...hey bartender is she actually here?"

The bartender looked at the door to see Ino standing there looking at Naruto and he answered, "Well there is a blond woman in a black dress starring at you."

Naruto nodded his head and took a hit off of the bottle and looked back at Ino as he lowered the bottle, "I have to admit that I am surprised to see you here Ino."

Ino took a step towards Naruto and he looked at her in confusion and then tried to take a step back but the Kyuubi wasn't healing him as quick as he was drinking and was getting to drunk to take that step and regained his balance. He looked back at Ino who was now standing right in front of him and he sighed, "Why are you here Ino...I don't have to be his replacement now...he is back."

Ino looked at him and then slapped him and he went stumbling, to drunk to keep his balance after the slap, "Ow...why the hell did you hit me?"

Ino had a furious look on her face as she starred at him, "You are not his replacement Naruto, he said that not me!"

Naruto moved his jaw around, she had a surprising amount of strength, "I saw how you reacted when you saw him, its like I wasn't even there anymore until I stopped him from getting close to you..."

Ino looked away from him, he did have a point that she froze and stopped noticing him when she saw Shikamaru, "I can't deny that Naruto, but I have a lot of hurt feelings from him and seeing him again brought them back to the surface."

Naruto took another hit off of the scotch bottle and looked at her, "I am going to ask you a very simple question, do you still have romantic feelings for him?"

Ino froze at the question and Naruto looked down and then drank the end of the bottle of scotch then grabbed another and walked past her not saying anything and disappeared again. Ino looked back at the door from where she stood and whispered to herself, "...Naruto you didn't even let me answer."

She walked out the door to the bar and saw Kiba standing there again and she looked at him, "I told you that you should of left him alone, all you did was make it worse."

Ino glared at Kiba and then walked off towards Narutos apartment and left Kiba there smiling, "Mark my words Kiba, this is far from over."

Ino arrived at Narutos door and saw the lights on and sensed that he was in there and she pounded on the door, "Naruto open this door right now."

Naruto was sitting on his couch as she pounded on the door and demanded that he let her in, "Why is she doing this to me?"

Naruto ignored her and then she was standing in his living room and he was looking at her, "How did you get in my apartment?"

Ino looked back at the door and then at him, "You forgot to lock the actual door Naruto, easy to get in that way."

Naruto sighed as he realized that he didn't lock the door, rookie move when you are trying to avoid talking to people, "...why are you here Ino?"

Ino looked at the depressed and partially drunk man in front of her, "You never let me answer your question back at the bar."

Naruto drank the end of the scotch bottle and let it drop to the floor and with a more depressed tone, "You did answer the question though Ino, when you didn't answer that was an answer in itself."

Ino walked over to Naruto and stood directly in front of him and kicked the bottle out of the way, "No it wasn't Naruto, I was surprised by the question is all, I do not have feelings for Shikamaru Nara anymore."

Naruto looked at her and Ino thought she saw a little bit of hope in his eyes and then it faded, "Its fine if you do Ino, I understand."

Ino gave him an irritated look and pushed Naruto all the way against his couch and straddled him, "Naruto Uzumaki, I do not have feelings for Shikamaru Nara, I have feelings for you...now I want to finish what we started earlier."

Naruto gave her a confused look and she leaned in and pressed her lips to his and he kissed her back, she could taste the scotch that he had been drinking and they broke the kiss, "Now are you going to just walk away from all that we can have as a couple Naruto because you are insecure because of what Sakura did to you?"

Naruto closed his eyes and thought for a second and then opened them to see her still looking at him, "Am I the only one that you want to be with?"

Ino nodded and looked at him, "You are the only one that I want to be with Naruto, am I the only one you want to be with?"

Naruto smiled at her answer then nodded and looked at her, "You are the only one that I want to be with Ino-chan."

They smiled at each other and Ino got off of Naruto and she looked at him, "I hope that we don't have to have this conversation again Naruto."

Naruto looked at her and sighed, "Well...I can't necessarily guarantee you that we wont have this conversation again Ino-chan."

Ino just continued to look at the man and looked at his whisker marks and then rubbed them and he let out a small moan and pulled away from her as she giggled, "Those are sensitive you know."

Ino smiled at Naruto and then went and started to rub them some more as he moaned a little more and she laughed, "Now I know your weak spot Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled at the fact that she called him Naruto-kun for the first time and pulled her down and smiled at her, "Guess I will just have to find one of yours."

Ino smirked at him and she stared at him and then he kissed her neck gently and she held back a moan but Naruto felt it and kissed her there again and she let out a small moan and he smirked, "I guess I found one."

Ino gave him a evil stare and she kissed his cheek and got back up, "I don't really want to go home Naruto-kun, he might still be there."

Naruto nodded at her and pointed her towards his room, "You can sleep on my bed Ino-chan, I can sleep here on the couch."

Ino smiled at him and then pulled his hand and lead him into the bedroom and laid him down on the bed and then laid down next to him and wrapped his arm around her and fell asleep as he laid there blushing until he finally fell asleep.