Chapter 7
The house of the stongest family in the Uchiha compound was filled with guest,laughter and giggling could be heard all around the house.
There were lantern hanging from tress around the courtyard providing great illumination and brightness to the courtyard,on the middle of the courtyard was an empty space with a shape of a circle with the tables surrounding it.
Inside the house,Sasuke Uchiha was in his room checking the mirror at himself,he was wearing a blue and white kimono with the Uchiha crest in the back.
After being satisfied with his look he went out to greet the guest,most of the guests were all members of Konoha's top clans as well as Sasuke's closest friends.
Everytime he greet them,they would always say a happy birthday to him,some of them even flirted with Sasuke,being Sasuke he would do the same thing back,but none of them was the person he was looking for.
His family was at a table entertaining one of the guest,he spotted Menma hiding at a pillar and started to walked towards him.
"Hiding from Hinata again,Menma"Sasuke said leaning on the pillar,Menma was dressed in his favorite orange and black color kimono.
"You have no idea,she keep pestering me for a date."Menma said looking left and right,he started to look up to see Sasuke."You looked bumped what happened?"Menma asked.
"I can't find Ino anywhere"he said.
"You aren't going to give up on her are you?"Menma questioned him.
" Me,Sasuke Uchiha give up on a girl beside Hinata,you must be kidding"Sasuke said using his finger pointing at himself,laughing.
"Sasuke,when are you gotta settle down"Menma said not finding it funny.
Sasuke started to changed his laughter to a smirked."When miracle happened "
"I wish it would happened quick then"Menma said.
"Oh ya,i forgot to ask you for a favor,could you help me ask Ino how she felt about me,i need to know how my target felt about me"
"Why me?"Menma asked.
"Caused she would not tell me"Sasuke replied.
"And she would tell me?"Menma retorted.
"I know you have a way"Sasuke said putting his hand on Menma shoulder.
Menma sigh."Your lucky i am your bestfriend,but shouldn't you already know she thinks of you as a playboy"
Sasuke shrugged."Maybe there is more reason to that"
"I have to go now,my mom might wacked me on the head if i did not see her this instant"Menma said,he was about to leave when a hand touched his shoulder,he looked at Sasuke.
"Thanks Menma"Sasuke said thankful to his best friend.
"Don't mention it,what are best friend for"Menma said and then walked away to the crowds.
Sasuke suddenly saw a flash of light blonde on the corner of his eye,he look to where it is.
It was Ino,she was wearing a beautiful kimono and was gorgeous as ever,he wanted to walked towards her but a tap on his shoulder made him stopped.
He turned around to see his one and only big brother.
"Little brother,mother and father want me to get you to the table now"Itachi said to Sasuke,he was wearing a black kimono with his bangs falling to his face, the rest of his hair was tied in a low ponytail.
Knowing Itachi,he would ask why Sasuke rejected going to the table with his family,so he had to say the opposit of no.
"Yes big brother,could you lead the way?"Sasuke asked his brother.
"Sure"Itachi replied and smiled at his younger brother.
They started to walked to a table that was finely decorated,the table sat his family,he took his seat beside his big brother.
Mikoto,Sasuke's mother,is wearing a black and red kimono that perfectly fit her,beside her was his husband,he is wearing a grey kimono.
The guest started to sit down on their seat,a few maids came and was carrying a few dishes on their hand and begin to serve to everyone.
Every time the birthday boy was eating, he would always try to look for where the blonde kunoichi was,everyone in the rookie nine was with their family,they all looked pleased with the the food they were serve.
When Sasuke was eating his last spoonful of his food he spotted her,Ino was sitting on a table with his father,he could see her chattering and laughing with her father.
He suddenly saw Ino taking something from her clothes, it was a yellow envelop,she was passing it to her father and saying a few things to him,Sasuke could do lip reading so he know what she was talking about.
They keep pushing back and forth and finally Ino surrendered and accepted the yellow envelope that contain money inside.
"Sasuke,what are you looking at?"Mikoto ask his youngest son.
Sasuke looked away from Ino and looked at his mother.
"Nothing Mom"Sasuke replied with a grin on his face.
"Sasuke,me and your father have been talking and we would like you to settle down,you are already 17 and you don't even have a girlfriend that could at least last a month."Mikoto said it in a sweet tone.
"But marriage would just tied me down ,no way am i going to do it"Sasuke refused.
"Well you have to,if you don't want to settle down quick,you would get married by the girl we chose,we have already asked one of the clan leader hand in marriage for their daughter and they said they will take in consideration"Fugaku said in a stern tone.
"The clan leader needs two years of consideration so we would give you two years to show us your bride or you will marry to the clan's leader daughter if they agree,if they refused we would change to other clan leader's daughter since you are still young and we do not accept a no from you,the amount of time is more then enought for you to find one"Mikoto added.
"Yes mom"Sasuke said reluctantly.'Hopefully i could find one!'He thought.
Seeing everyone was done eating,Fugaku stood up from his seat and thanked everyone that had came here to celebrate Sasuke's birthday and told everyone to enjoy themselves,he added to ask everyone to stand up and move away from their tables.
Wondering why,eveyone stood up from their seat and walked away from their table and walked to the empty space circle.
After the maids had cleaned the table,they keep the all the tables away and put it in a storage,making more space in the courtyard.
One of the maid started to put a rectangle table to the middle of the courtyard,on the top of the table was a cake with Seventeen candles,Sasuke started to walked towards the rectangle table and stood in front of the cake.
Everybody started singing the happy birthday song to him,when they were done Sasuke did what everybody would do with their birthday cake,blow the candles,everyone cheered and clapped for him.
After everyone received and ate the cake,some music start blasting and everyone started dancing.
On the other side of the courtyard,Ino was looking for Sasuke to give him his gift to him personally,since she saw the table that had been taken away by the maid was full of gift that was in a shape of a pyramid.
She felt a small tap on her shoulder,she stop looking for him and turned around to see who the person was.
"Ino,how are you?"the raven haired woman asked the blonde.'Who is she?I can't asked her that,she would think i am weird'Ino thought.
"I have been good,you looked great today"Ino said the only thing she could think of.
"You did not stutter anymore."she said confused.
"Well,i have been working a lot of my time practicing"Ino lied.
"Thats good and you look really beautiful today"she compliment her.
"Thank you"Ino said with a big smile,they begin some small chat,fortunately,the raven haired woman did not ask any questioned that only shy Ino knew.
"It was nice talking to you but i have to go now and entertain the guest,maybe next time i go to your flower shop i will bring Itachi and Sasuke with me since they hardly spend time with me"the raven haired women smiled warmly at her.
'Wait...Itachi ...Sasuke,entertain the guest,she is Sasuke's mother!'the blonde kunoichi thought,Sasuke's mother was about to leave when she heard Ino's voice.
"Wait"
"Yes,dear"she turned around and answered sweetly
Ino move the bag she was holding towards her."Could you help me pass this to Sasuke.I can't find him"Ino asked Politely.
"I would be happy to."she smiled and took the bag from Ino's hand,she gave a small waved goodbye to Ino and walked towards some people.
When Ino turned around,she met dark blue eyes,she almost jumped in shocked."Menma!you scared me"Ino said.
"Sorry Ino-chan"Menma said rubbing the back of his head,smiling nervously .'Why do they keep rubbing the back of their head,is it a habit?'Ino thought.
"Nah,it's okay,what do you want?"she asked.
"Could I would have a dance with you?" Menma asked.'Glad Hinata's family and her had gone home early or Ino would have to fight Hinata'Menma thought.
"Sure,i also want to ask you something"Ino replied.
Menma begin to lead her to the middle,he wrapped one of his arm around her waist and the other was clasped with her hand,Ino other hand was on his shoulder,they begin dancing.
"So what did you want to ask me about?"Menma asked Ino.
"Well,you are a water-type right?"Ino asked,Menma nodded.
"Me too and i want you to teach me all the water release ninjutsu.I'm not quite familiar with it"Ino said.
"I could teach you only if you answer my questioned,you also must be honest with it."Menma said.
Ino thought for a while and answered.
"Shoot"
"How do you feel towards Sasuke?"
The questioned took Ino by surprised."Sasuke told you to ask me this questioned didn't he?"Ino questioned him.
'Dammit,i forgot i am talking to a Yamanka,if i lie she would surely know it'Menma thought.
"Just answer my questioned please"Menma Pleaded.
"If you say so,i feel that he is a guy that would take advantage of what he has,he has a lot of girls that love him and he would just play with all of their feelings and then move onto the next"Ino said bitterly.
'I can't denied what she said was true'Menma thought.
"Meet me at the training ground at 6am"Menma said.
Ino smiled warmly at him.'I can't wait for my busy day tomorrow'Ino thought excitedly.
"Yes sir"Ino said with a light giggle.
With the crowds,Kushina was with Minato.
"Minato, look over there"Kushina said pointing to two blonde.
"I think our son like her."the red headed woman said to his husband.
"It's about time he got one,ever since Hinata threatened all the girls in konoha that had asked him out,he never had a date again "Minato said.
"Isn't that Ino?"Kushina said looking closely.
"Who's she?"her blonde husband asked.
"She is Ino yamanaka,her family own the yamanaka flower shop.I usually bought my flowers there,she really have a great talent in arranging flower,she is very shy and would always strutter with words,but today she looked...not shy and beautiful.I almost can't recognize her."Kushina said.
"Maybe she needed a new look and changed."Minato said.
"But i have a feeling that there is more to that."the red headed woman wearing a green kimono with the Uzumaki clan on the back said.
"Maybe your overthinking"the blonde male wearing a light blue kimono said.
"Yeah,maybe i am"she replied.
Near by was was Sasuke,he was surrounded with a swarm of girls around him,he looked up to see that Menma was dancing with Ino.
He narrowed his eyes'Why am i feeling like i want to pull Ino away from Menma'the young Uchiha thought,he went back to the swarm of girls but he would steal glances to Menma and Ino.
When the song was finished,Menma said he had to do something and they went to their separate ways,Sasuke saw Ino out of sight with Menma and went toward him."Menma,why are you dancing with Ino?"Sasuke asked.
"Well i have to get information..."Then Menma mind suddenly snapped."Don't tell me you are jealous"Menma said grinning very wide.
"Me,jealous.I don't even know the meaning of it"Sasuke said.
"Yeah,right"Menma said sarcasticaly."
"Back to the questioned,what kind of information you got?"Sasuke said changing the subject.
Menma begin to told him what Ino said about him,Sasuke smirked hearing that.
"She is really a challenge"Menma said.
"I know"Sasuke said and walked towards the blonde kunoichi that was talking to the Hokage.
"Blondie where is my happy birthday?"
Ino turn her head to faced Sasuke.
"Blondie, really?"Ino was oblivious that the Hokage had already slipped off.
"It fits you"Sasuke defended.
"Hardy haha,happy birthday Sasuke."Ino said with a smile,Sasuke can't help but smile too.
"You know i am not going to give up asking you out "Sasuke stated.
"And if i refused?"Ino challenged.
"Come on,treat it as a birthday gift."Sasuke said.
"Sorry,but i am busy,starting tomorrow i would have a lot of things to do.I had to train and go to the hospital and maybe go to the flower shop.I can't keep relying on Tsunade-sama for money"Ino said.
"Then could i at least walked you home after and before your work at the hospital "
"Your choice."Ino said and left.
Sasuke gave a wide smirk and walked towards the Hokage.
"Sasuke, it's good to see you,happy birthday"the Blonde woman said.
"Thank you,i wanted to ask you if you know what time Ino would be at the hospital for her work.
"She just came and ask me that too,she would be at work at 12am to 10pm,anything else you want to know Sasuke?"Tsunade asked the raven haired man in front of her.
"Nope,nothing else.I will go now"Sasuke said,the fifth hokage nodded and he left.
After everyone had went home,his family started to went inside the house to prepared for bed,Sasuke just got out of the bathroom with his towel on his waist.
He suddenly heard a knock on the sliding door,he quickly change and went to the door and slide it,it revealed his mother,he started to walked to his bed and sat down.
"Yes Mum?"he said as he took the towel from his bed and use it to rubbed his wet hair.
"I was just came here to give you this"Mikoto said handing a bag to his son.
"Thanks Mum,but didn't you give me a gift already "Sasuke said taking the bag from her hand.
He knew that the gift his mother gave him was different from others because none of them was his mother.
"It's from Ino,she could not find you so she ask me to give it to you"His mother said.
"Ino?"Sasuke asked.'She knew my mother?'Sasuke thought.
"Yup,i have to get back to bed,goodnight"Mikoto said kissing Sasuke's forehead.
"Goodnight"Sasuke said,Mikoto smiled at his son and left the room,Sasuke begin to took out the gift in the bag,he begin to unwrapped the gift,it was a box, he open the box and it revealed a bracelet,he stared at it in awed.
He then begin to tried it on.
"Thanks Ino"Sasuke said as he admire every inch of the bracelet.
This chapter is much longer
to make up for the slow update
for last Chapter!^_^
enjoyed it and
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