Disclaimer: These things are so annoying. But they're, like, legally required and that jazz so… I don't own Naruto or any characters/places associated with it. For what seems like the gazillionth time.

Friends with Benefits

Chapter Eight

Part One

Conclusions

"Pass my congratulations on to Hinata, will you? You two really make a perfect couple, ne?"

Naruto stood dumbfounded in the street trying to figure out what had just transpired. He'd finally convinced himself to confess to Ino (again, though really the first time hadn't counted), but first she'd said she already knew what he was going to say, and the she'd said some crap about him and Hinata being a perfect couple. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Wait, did Ino think that he and Hinata were...together!?

"NANI!?" Naruto exclaimed, drawing the attention of passers-by who had been studiously ignoring him. Naruto had come to tell her that he was in love with her, but she thought that he was in love with Hinata!? What the hell!? First off, Naruto couldn't figure out how Ino had even come up with the idea of him and Hinata being together--just the thought of it was enough to make him shudder. Hinata was practically a sister to him, and it was only blatantly obvious that Hinata was head over heels for Kiba. Sure, Hinata used to have a crush on him, but that was when they were like twelve!

It was about this time that Ino's parting comment finally registered in his befuddled mind. "I think I'm going to have the abortion after all. I'm just not ready, you know?" His heart seemed to stop beating altogether and all of his senses dulled beyond recognition. The street he'd been standing on faded into a deep, black abyss that absorbed everything--scenery, people, air, sound--and the overwhelming sense of loss and loneliness that washed over him was like nothing he'd ever felt before. It was ten times worse than the feeling of having your veins flooded with liquid nitrogen that accompanied rejection, and it was twenty times worse than that feeling of drowning in icy water that had nearly stopped his heart when he'd seen Sakura and Sasuke walking past him on a street that time--Sakura had been clinging to Sasuke as usual, but Sasuke hadn't scowled and pushed her away as usual.

And then there was suddenly too much sound. The vibrations resounded throughout his entire body as he heard Ino's voice echoing endlessly, bouncing back at him in the darkness, "I think I'm going to have the abortion after all. I'm going to have the abortion. I'm just not ready, you know? I'm going to have the abortion." The cacophony became incoherent as the words all blended together, and soon the only word he could make out was "abortion, abortion, abortion."

Naruto didn't know why, but he had a feeling that the baby slowly growing inside Ino's belly was the only connection left between them--that Ino was trying to sever all ties with him and push him out of her life forever. But why would she want to do that? Was it because getting pregnant had made her realize what exactly she'd let herself get involved in and she didn't like where things were headed? Was it because she hadn't been quite as drunk as he thought she had been that night and she knew? Was it because of what she thought was going on between him and Hinata?

So, either she got bitch-slapped by reality, she was avoiding him instead of rejecting him flat out, or she was jealous and hurt. Naruto hoped it was the last one. Not that he wanted to hurt Ino, but that was the only scenario that offered him any chance.

He needed to know. He needed to know where they stood. He needed to know what they were. He needed a label to stick onto this thing that had been evolving between them. He needed to find Ino.


"Where the hell is she!?" Naruto exclaimed, bursting into the Hokage's office to face the surprised Hokage and her two stunned students.

"Naruto! Just what do you think you're doing, barging in here and shouting?" Sakura demanded with her hands fisted moodily on her hips.

"Where is she?" he gasped out. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving as he practically gulped in needed air.

"You'll have to be more specific, brat," Tsunade responded coolly as she surveyed the new dent in the wall next to the doorway.

"Ino! I can't find her! And I have to tell her!" Naruto explained frantically, gesturing wildly about him.

"Tell her what exactly?" Sakura muttered sarcastically, "The sky's falling?"

"No!" Naruto snapped back exasperatedly. "I have to tell her that I love her! That me and Hinata are just friends! That I'm not sorry I got her pregnant. And that I don't want her to have the abortion. I mean, I know it's her choice, but still, I want her to keep the baby. And I want to tell her that I want to help her raise it and be a permanent part of her life! I want to tell her that I want to put a label on this! I want to tell her everything before it's too late!" he babbled hysterically while yanking at handfuls of golden locks.

"She's…having the abortion?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

Naruto suddenly fell into one of the chairs in front of the desk and slumped forward. "That's what she said."

"Well what did you say? Did you try to talk her out of it?" Tsunade inquired, watching Naruto's deflated form worriedly.

"I didn't say anything! She was already walking away!" he wailed.

"Why didn't you go after her!?" Sakura demanded.

"Why the hell do you think I'm looking for her now!?" Naruto exploded, lifting up his head to send her a steely glare.

Sakura glowered right back at him and was about to step forward to punch his face in when Shizune placed a hand on her shoulder placatingly. "Sakura-san, do you know where Ino-san might be right now? Someplace she might go when she's upset, perhaps?"

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed, still glaring at Naruto, who'd suddenly taken to looking up at her hopefully. "Sakura-chan," he said pleadingly.

Looking to the side with a sigh, she mumbled, "There's a field of wildflowers near the training grounds that she likes."

Naruto shot forward and engulfed Sakura in a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you," he whispered against her hair before pulling back and darting out of the office.

"Good luck brat!" Tsunade called after him.

"I hope he can stop her from having the abortion…" Sakura said quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Ino doesn't want to admit how she feels about him. But she wants to have his baby. She wants to be with Naruto. If she goes though with the abortion, she'll be miserable. She doesn't want to give up on Naruto and she doesn't want to give up his baby," she elaborated while she watched through the window as Naruto ran past on the street below.

"Don't worry. Naruto will make sure everything works out the way it should. He'd never give up on Ino, even if she gave up on him. He's too stubborn. He'll badger her about it until she has no choice but to admit how she feels. And he'd never let Ino be miserable. There's nothing to worry about with those two. What's meant to be will be, and I get the feeling that they're meant to be," Tsunade reassured her.

"Tsunade-sama's right. Ino-san is one of the luckiest girls in the world to have snagged Naruto-kun," Shizune added with a grin.

Sakura quirked a small smile in return. "But I'm the luckiest girl in the world, ne? Since I snagged Sasuke-kun."

"I don't know," Tsunade drawled, "If I was your age, I'd choose Naruto over Sasuke any day."

"Eh? Why?" Sakura exclaimed in indignation.

"He's going to be Hokage, don't you know? What girl wouldn't go for the next Hokage, especially when he turned out to be so handsome?" Tsunade countered.

"Sasuke-kun would make just as great a Hokage as Naruto," Sakura replied defensively.

"Maybe, but I didn't offer the position to Sasuke, now did I?" Tsunade fired back with a smug smirk.

"Eh!?" Shizune and Sakura shrieked. "When did that happen!?"

A/N: I am so sorry for not updating sooner. Honestly, I have all of the rest of this chapter except for short section written out in my notebook, but things have just been so hectic lately that I haven't had any time to post. Today's the first day I've had a break from school work in weeks. T.T Hopefully I'll be able to post the rest of this by this weekend. If not, I'm really sorry!

-mH

P.S. Hmm. That last poll went pretty nicely, though you still don't know what's gonna happen. Will I go by what the reviewers voted for? Who knows. Let's try a new poll this time! How do you think Naruto should confess to Ino?

P.P.S. I seem to have added in a plot here at what is supposed to be the last chapter of this fic. Oh well.