I'm so nice- that last chapter was short, and so is this one, so why not publish them both? Why not reward me with a little review? Arigato, and enjoy as the suspense builds!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters; if I did, the girls wouldn't be fawning over that damned jerk Sasuke; they would be concentrating on their training so they could get stronger and thus be less lame!

The first thing Naruto did when he got back to the village was to run to Ino. In fact, he ran so fast, he almost ran her over.

"BAKA! Can you watch where you are going? Sheesh Naruto!"

"Ehhh, sorry Ino-chan...errrr..."

"BAKA, what do you want already, spit it out!"

"Hmmm...would you...help me...find some flowers?"

Ino's face instantly lit up. "NANI? Oh!" Ino squealed and Naruto thought, No wonder Sakura-chan nicknamed her Ino-pig. "Naturo-kun, for sure I'll help you! I'll even do it for free- in return, I just want one, teensy weensy thing..."

Oh dear lord Naruto groaned inwardly. This can't be good.

"I want to know who they are for!"

"Er...ok, Ino-chan. But flowers first!"

"Ok, but pinky-swear first that you'll tell me!"

"Pinky swear! Dattebayo!"

"Ok, deal! I know a good clearing not too far from here with some OUTRAGEOUS tiger lilies that are just starting to bloom! And..."

Ino droned on about flowers while they began to walk; Naruto just nodded his head silently. Can I trust Ino to keep her mouth shut about this? Maybe I should lie about who these are for? Nah...I'm a terrible lier...well, why not just tell her the truth! They are a "thank you" to Hinata for fighting to save me. That's normal enough...

"Naruto, are you even listening? Sheesh, you're worse than old billboard brow. Anyway here they are- and don't tell anyone where you found these flowers, this lil' place is a shop secret!" Ino winked. "And now Naruto-kun," Ino purred, "who are they foooooor?"

Naruto sighed momentarily, then grinned as he knelt down to cut some flowers with his kunai. "They're a thank-you! I still haven't thanked Hinata for what she did, standing up for me and getting almost killed...you know..."

"You still haven't thanked her baka? You do understand that she's in love with you, right?"

Naruto sighed again. "Uh-huh."

"I mean, love loves-"

"Yeah, Sakura-chan explained it to me."

"Well, how do you feel about her?" Ino squealed again.

"Don't know."

"Are you ganna start dating?"

Naruto simply shrugged.

"Well," Ino huffed, "aren't we being a tad laconic today." After she saw the confused look on Naruto's face, she continued in a grimace, "I mean you're tight-lipped- baka! Get a dictionary!"

"Uh, whatever Ino-chan. Ok, got to go find Hinata- later!" And with that Naruto disappeared. "Well," Ino muttered to herself, smiling, "this is getting interesting! Oh my God, I have got to go tell Sa-ku-ra-chaaaaaaan!" She did a little happy dance, giddy to have some juicy gossip.

On her way back to the village, she was met by a group of charming genin- Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi. "Well, hello adorable ones, what's up?" She noticed that they were carrying a large yellow envelope and they were all wearing shit-eating-grins, as the saying goes. Things just keep getting more interesting all the time...Ino thought to herself amusingly. These guys are up to something! Call it my womanly intuition, but I know something is definitely up...

"Have you seen Naruto-nii-san?" Konohamaru said oh-so-sweetly. Too sweetly! Ino thought. What in the world are these little brats up to?

"Yeah, I just saw him a little while ago..."

"Oh yeah! Where? Where?" Moegi jumped up and down with excitement and looked up at Ino with her adorable little puppy eyes.

Ino sighed. "He went to find Hinata-"

"ARIGATO GOZAIMASU!" The three ninjas screamed in unison, and then disappeared as quickly as they had come.

"Sheesh!" Ino smiled at the dust cloud they left behind.

Don't worry- the next chapter or two will be edited and ready to go up tomorrow- that's when things really get cooking! Stay tuned!