(DISCLAIMER:I do not own Naruto, if I did,Hinata would be more outgoing,no offense to Hinata though !)

CHAPTER 9 ------------------------

Temari sat at the kitchen table of their Konoha appartment.Waiting for Gaara to finish getting ready to go back home,where he'd take up the position of Kazekage.
After a few minutes of waiting,he finally came walking down the stairs.
"Ready to hit the road?" Kankurou asked and his little brother replied with a nod.
"Anybody you want to say goodbye to?" Temari asked.
"Yeah" Gaara answered "I'd like to say bye to Naruto and the others."

Gaara said he'd meet his siblings at the gate of the village while he met up with the Konoha shinobi at Ichiraku.Shikamaru and Lee were having a spicy ramen eating contest,of course the green beast of Konoha won.
"Hey guys" Gaara waved and every one turned around and smiled "Hey Gaara"Naruto said" You leaving already"
"Yeah, just came to say goodbye"
"Good luck as Kazekage" Neji said " I hear being a kage is a lot of hard work"
"I'm sure I'll manage.Bye guys" As Gaara turned to leave he say a young flower girl dressed staring at him with emotionless eyes.What Ino had said to him in the he hospital hit him hard again, but he turned and walked away,waving goodbye to all his friends.

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For 3 months Gaara upheld the Position of Kazekage.Ino continued doing missions and working at her family's flower shop.Ino never once thought about Gaara, and overtime Gaara slowly forgot about her as well. Although he thought about her almost every day,the responsiblities of being the Kazekage kept him from daydreaming about the life he could have had if he and Ino ever began having a relationship.
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"I'm leaving!" Ino called to her parents as she left the flower shop for afternoon training with her team.
The first two people she saw were Shikamaru ,and Choji.
"Good morining guys, did you sleep well?" Ino Gleefully asked "I ate a great dinner last night so I slept like a log" Choji Replied " It was ok I guess."Shikamaru sighed Team 10 made their way to the training ground.But when their sensei finally showed up he didn't seem ready to train his students "Sensei is something wrong?You don't have any of your training gear today" Ino comment on him not having his shuriken holster.
"Nothing is wrong, but we have a d-rank mission today" He smiled "Sensei! we are all chuunin now, we should be able to get higher level missions by now!" Choji said "Yeah,Yeah, but this mission is to help decorate this years Union festival"
"Union festival?" Ino looked questioned " What's a union festival"
"Well it was called the United Kage-Lands gathering last year, but festival sounds a lot more fun. We are celebrating are unions with other shinobi countries and villages"

Ino walked amoung the streets of the town helping people put up colorful decorations around shops and stands.
After out the Ichiraku stand, she began to walk back to the Hokage's mansion to report to her sensei.She walked down the crowded street,until she heard some men yelling "Make way civilians and shinobi of Konohagakure!" Ino peered through the crowd and saw a large line of shinobi from Sunagakure,the village hidden in the sand. The most shinobi however, were gaurding a kago bearing the character for wind on both sides.
" Oh wow, the shinobi of the sand look very fearsome. I wounder who their Kazekage is" Ino thought to herself before turning around and continuing her way to the Hokage mansion.

She finally reported to the Hokage and she was done with work for the day.As she exited the building she nocticed the Sand shinobi's group approaching the Mansion.
"I guess the Kazekage is gonna meet the 5th" Ino looked to her left and Naruto and his group of chums (Neji,Lee,Kiba,Shino,Shikamaru,and Choji) were all waiting for the kago to pass.
"Hey Guys!" She ran over ot the group " Hey whatcha all waiting for"
"The kazekage" Naruto said" It's been a while since we last talked to him"
"What are you talking about? Are you saying you've all met the Kazekage before"
She turned around and saw Temari step out of the kago.Followed by her younger brother Kankrou.
The person Ino saw next made her eyes widen, Gaara of the desert bearing the Kaazekage's character on his back.

"Gaara!" Naruto and all his chums ran up and greeted their friend. the body guards didn't really seem to mind " I see your still as hyper-active as ever Naruto!" Gaara ruffeled up his hair again since naruto's hug had matted it down.
Ino silently turned away and headed to her flower shop.

The group decided to go out for dango and ramen, so they ordered the food and packed it up in " to go " boxes and ate in the park " Is it really okay for us to be eating lunch with THE kazekage?" Kiba asked " I don't see why not " Gaara said after swallowing a bite of his dumplings" The bodyguards know who you are"
"So I take you are here for the upcoming festival then?" Neji asked " Yes I am as a matter of fact, plus Temari wanted to try some of the leaf village's water chestnuts."

Ino was training at the training grounds,until in the blinkof an eye, she was tied to a tree with rope "Well if it isn't the Yamanaka flower girl". A shinobi from the grass viallage appeared before her "What a wounderful suprise, to see my rivals daughter beofre my eyes"
"What are you t-talking about!" Ino fought to say " Your father,Inoichi, has been my rival for several years now. I don't suppose he told you who I am no"
Ino just glared athim with viper-like eyes " I guess he didn't. Well then let me introduce myself, I am Himeno Yaguno"
"Why? What kind of grudge to you have against my dad"
"If your so desperate to know I'll tell you" Yaguno tugged on some strings which made the rope around Ino constrict her even more "Several years ago, he came to our village claiming to be on a mission. A few days after he arrived I found my two shinobi sons murdered.He had killed my sons because they had committed a crime against Konoha and was ordered to exterminate them.but I don't buy that. My sons would have turned themselves in if they commited a crime against an allied village"
Ino felt the rope get tighter and tighter around her body. Her eyes began to close as she faded into darkness..But just as she was about to give up shse fellt herself fall to the ground. She looked up, and saw a man dressed in a black turtle neck with a gourd on his back.
"I believe that it's you who is commiting a crime by harming a shinobi of an allied village" Gaara said.

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END CHAPTER 9