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InoNaru IIIIIII
SasuIno IIIII

I wanted to say sorry to all those who think this story is dragging, the truth is I am purposly doing it like this because I don't want people finding the truth about Ino yet, normally my stories go too fast and it is really dull because of it. Plus I am trying to have a lot happen. I will admit, it will take time before they find out about Ino, but that is just how I am doing this one story, once again I am sorry :(

Also, Shizuka is not my character but a character Ravena Felidae created just for this story :D

Warning: None


Ino's POV

We didn't do much in my room, Shizuka was not a very talk-a-tive person really so I ended up doing most of the talking. I set Tino on my lap and stroked her but she would much rather jump down and run around a bit in my room. She sniffed at everything in the room. Shizuka had picked out some things from the shop that I needed and packed them all into a box. It included a bowl, a bag of dog food, two toys, a large doggy bed, a dog brush and some shampoo. She couldn't give me anything else for free because she got a lot of business for dogs (with Kakashi and Kiba's family) but if I worked hard them I could buy the rest.

I lay down the dog bed right beside of my bed, setting the dog food bowl beside of that, I stored the food up in one of the draws and set all the other things on my set of draws. Then I sat back down at the end of my bed and faced Shizuka.

"So... Do you like any guys?" I asked, watching Tino.

Shizuka said nothing but her face slowly grew pink along her cheeks and over her nose. I couldn't help but grin slightly.

"You do? So who is it?" I pressed

Shizuka shook her head and ducked down, trying to avoid looking at me. I giggled slightly but didn't push her any longer, I didn't want to come along as a bully.

Suddenly Tino jumped up onto the bed again. She wound around of Shizuka for ages until she was stoked, then she came over and rubbed her wet nose against my bare arm. I smiled down and her and took her face in my hand, kissing the top of her curly furred head. Then I let her go and she shook her head like she was trying to shake something off.

There was a knock at the door and Hitomi walked in carrying Makoto.

"Sorry to bother you, Ino, it is just if we are going to be keeping Tino then I would like her to get used to Makoto straight away" Hitomi said "Would you mind?"

"I guess not" normally I would have argued but if it meant that I could keep Tino then I would put up with my stupid brother.

I took the baby from her arms and sat him down on my lap in front of Tino. Makoto reached for her giggling, Tino took a second to sniff at his hand before he let him pet his head softly. He was a lot gentler than I thought he would be so I let him get slightly closer. Makoto leaned forward and tried to grab a hold of her to pull her into some kind of hug.

He pulled to hard and Tino barked loudly so I lightly slapped his hand and glared at him "No! Makoto you don't pull on her!"

"Ino, be careful" said Hitomi but didn't rush to stop me

Makoto reached for Tino again but this time he only stroked her paw gently and smiled at her, though Tino did pull her paw back she didn't seem to be in pain. After a while of letting Makoto and Tino get used to each other, Hitomi took her back and looked at Tino.

"So how old is she?" Hitomi asked

"We don't know, Shizuka told me" or mimed and wrote "that she found Tino wandering around on the streets, half starved with a broken leg. She took her in and helped her get better. That was only about a year ago"

"She really has lovely fur, or what's left" Hitomi said sadly, staring at a large pink hairless patch in her side.

"Maybe it will grow back" I shrugged but Shizuka had already made it half clear the fur was gone forever, at some point it had been burned off.

"Aw well, is Shizuka staying for tea?" Hitomi looked at her.

Shizuka looked at me "Do you want to?" I asked, she hesitaited but then shook her head softly "OK then, you can if you want"

Shizuka smiled and pointed towards my wall clock, another time I am guessing. Hitomi nodded and took Makoto from the room again, she shut the door and I turned my attention back to Tino.

The dog was jumping down and attacking a large soft fake bone made from different colours of string, yellow, blue, red and green weeved together. She began to shake it back and forth for a few moments before carrying it and jumping back up on the bed, she curled up in between of us and began to chew and paw at the bone in front of her.

After a while Shizuka stood, she needed to go home and we were not doing much today. I walked her down to the door, leaving Tino in her room, Shizuka had told me the main things I needed to know about Tino, anything I should know, like that Tino was actually afraid of flashing lights, so if there was a thunderstorm I would have to close the curtains and turn on the lights. Another was that she loved getting small flickers of water, not a fall bath but just somethings rots of water.

I waved to her before shutting the door and running back upstairs before Inoichi or Hitomi could call me for any kind of talk or to watch Makoto.

Hitomi's POV

The next few days were not as bad as I thought they would be. Tino was a well behaved dog that just ran around by our ankles a bit, yet somehow she managed to avoid knocking Makoto over when he was on the floor. If anything, Makoto attacked Tino more than the dog did him, but Ino quickly jumped in and saved the dog.

I think the dog was a perfect idea for her though. She was a lot more cheerful and cuddley with the dog. She was still very distant, she didn't like watching Makoto and even Tino could not stop her from going out daily to train, but it was a start. And it was good that she was making a new friend. Shizuka only came round a few times, she mostly avoided people but it did seem the two were hanging around with each other. I hadn't seen Sakura in a while so I assumed that she must have just had another row with her again... They had them a lot so it was good to have a friend to stick by her.

"Are you off again?" I called out to Ino as I heard her trudge down the stairs

"Yeah, Shizuka and I are going to go into town for some shopping, then I'll probably do some solo training before my shirt at the pet store" Ino explained, pulling on her shoes

"OK then, don't stay out too late" I said walking over to the door so I could see her off.

"No fear of that" Ino mumbled darkly under her breathe

"What was that?" I frowned walking up to her

"Nothing" Ino said quickly, turning to look at me she grinned and waved "See ya!"

I frowned as she ran from the house and down the street. Ino acted so oddly at times...

Just then Makoto began to cry, distrupting my thoughts as quickly as they started. I hurried to go see if anything was wrong but only found that Tino had jumped onto the table and Makoto wanted another stroke.

I sighed "I dunno, sometime's you are more like your sister than anyone" then, grinning I walked over and picked Makoto up, giving him a chance to stroke Tino before she ran off again.

Naruto's POV

I don't know what it was, but something about Ino was different. She passed by the ramen store with a girl I didn't recognise. She didn't look any different, I could hear her voice but it was the same as always, so I don't know why I quickly looked up and stared at her. She passed quickly and was soon out of sight.

"Hay, what you staring at?" Jiraiya smirked "A girl?"

"No! Just Ino" I grumbled

"Hate to break it to ya, but Ino is a girl" he snickered "Not a bad choice either, you like her?"

"No, I like Sakura!" I said quickly, I don't know why I was getting so defensive.

"Yeah, but you're young, you're gonna fall for half a dozen girls before you settle, or you'll be like me and you will never settle!" he laughed

I frowned at him, no way, Sakura was the only girl for me. But then why was Ino looking suddenly so different lately?

Shizuka's POV

Ino and I went into the town and looked around at the nearest clothes shop. I was not so much into this but it was fun watching Ino pick out clothes with large panda heads on the front. She picked out that yellow top with the panda as well as a pair of dark orange shorts before we went to find some matching shoes. Then we went to a pet store for fancy little collars.

I helped her pick out a nice dark purple soft collar, nice and new. It would look lovely on her soft fur.

Then we went down to the lunch room, we brought small meals and found a nice spot just beside of the large fountain where we could eat. It would have been OK but then a girl I noticed as Pauline walked over to us, she smirked as she stopped in front of us.

"You're Ino, right?" she asked, a sly smirk on her perfectly red painted lips.

"Um, yeah" Ino blinked "Pauline?"

"That's me" she giggled "I just wanted to invite you round a party at my house, it'll be so much fun, especially if you come"

"Um, sure, why not" Ino smiled up at her

"Cool, here is the address and time, it is tomorrow night, there will be drinking so lie to your parents about where you are going" she turned to me "Who are you?"

"This is Shizuka" Ino said quickly "A friend of mine"

"She can come too, if she wants" Pauline shrugged "But remember, be quiet about it around adults"

I didn't say anything but I knew there was no way I would be going to that party and I hoped Ino would see sense and not go either. After a while, Pauline disapeared back with her group of friends, leaving us alone again.

"You wanna go?" Ino asked and I shook my head "Oh, well I do, it'll be fun" I shrugged, it was probably not a good idea but I could hardly stop Ino, and I was not about to rat her out to her parents.

The rest of the day was pretty boring for me but I kept up a soft smile and followed after her. Ino went to a book shop and then a little accessorie shop. She got some nail polish and some perfume before we made our way back to the shop. Ino planned to walk me there before going home and soon she would come back to take over her shift at the pet shop.

I always admired Ino, she was very pretty and she was never afraid to say what she thought. She was much stronger than most females I knew despite other people saying she wasn't. I was glad that I could now be friends with her.

And then I saw him... Shino.

Ino's POV

I don't know why Shizuka stopped where she was. At least I didn't until I watched her duck her head as Shino and Hinata passed. And I doubt that she was hiding from Hinata. I waited until they were gone before I turned to Shizuka.

"Something wrong?" I asked playfully

Shizuka shook her head quickly, her hair bouncing on and off her shoulders.

"Do you like Shino?" I teased

Her face turned a light pink and she walked ahead without answering. I smiled but left it at that, I never liked it when people teased me about my crush on Sasuke, so I was not about to tease her about Shino.

We walked down until I was dropping some things off at the shop. I gave Shizuka a hug and set off to the fields again while she started up shop. Working at the pet shop was fun and it meant I did not have to work at the flower shop as much, or help babysit Makoto. Plus I practically chose my hours meaning I had plenty of time to go and train.

I walked holding the strap of my back pack and pushed down the street. No one called for me this time which was good, it meant I didn't have to ignore them.

When I reached the field I set my bag down and began to do push ups and sit ups to begin with, I had to build up my body strength before I could really find those bastards that ruined my life and pay them back for what they did to me. After I had done a few body strengths routine's I then moved onto practicing my balance and agility.

The time passed quicker than I thought it would and soon I was lying on the ground, breathing heavily and staring at the sky as the cool wind brush over my body and through my blond hair that was sticking to my forehead and the back of my neck. I was not very attractive at the moment but that was why I came out into the middle of no where to train instead of in front of people.

I waited until I had calmed down, and then I made my way back to the pet shop. I pulled a bottle from my bag and sprayed myself to cover up most of the smell before replacing it. I walked down the street and stepped into the shop... only to stop when I saw three other people there alone with Shizuka.

I blinked and the eldest, a jouinin looked up "Hello, you must be Ino?"

"Uh yeah... and who are you?" I asked as politely as I could

"Nice to meet you, I am Hikaru. I am Shizuka's sensei" he explained walking over and holding his hand out. He had dirty brown hair that fell down to his shoulders, his head band was slightly hidden and his eyes were hidden by a thick pair of glasses. He was wearing the traditional ninja clothes as well as a set of blue plain arm bands around his elbows tightly. He pointed to the other two in the room, one boy and one girl "This is Nina. And this is Kay"

"Nice to meet you?" I practically asked

Nina was a spotty faced girl with short ginger hair cut right down to her head, she had a hard face and was scowling at me with thin eyebrows and a slim figure. She was wearing a white shirt with a red circle, blue square and green triangle all squished in the middle with a dark red jacket over the top and blue jeans on.

Meanwhile Kay was very short and stumpy but had that kind of face that showed he could be very attractive if he tried a little harder. He had short blondish redish hair with dark green eyes and a thick hands. He was wearing his own darky grey short sleeves shirt with matching white shorts and black boots.

"You are Shizuka's team then" I noted

"Yeah, we are" Kay nodded

"Nice to meet you" I nodded back at him awkwardly then asked "Is something wrong? Is that why you are here?"

"Actually we were going to find your team" Kay said "Shizuka said she trusted you and we need another team to come away with us for a mission"

I blinked, another mission, I wonder what this one was.

To Be Continued