Dancing with Gypsies

Chapter Nine

Gossip

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Ino Yamanaka considered herself the queen of gossip, if there was something to be known about, she knew it first. She was relentless in this pursuit of information. She would do absolutely anything for the newest scoop to share at drink night with her two best gals, who always pretended not to be interested until someone they knew was involved.

Ino liked to think she was good at the gossip due to her uncanny ability to spot when something was amiss. Any nuance in the conversation she could hound out and ground into the dirt. She was a sleuth for information, but she also liked to think that she was trustworthy of her closest friends. She would never tell any of their gossip. That's why they generally didn't hide anything from her. Until now that is.

That's where Ino found herself, slumped over the counter in their usual luncheon restaurant, picking at her noodles with graceless strikes as her two best gals stared in worry at their friend's behavior.

"I don't know what he's hiding, but when I find out I swear!" She threatened again. Looking out the large window at the passersbys.

"Ino your lunch is getting cold." Hinata was at the pacification stage. Where she was still fruitlessly trying to calm her friend and ensure that no violence would take root.

"I don't give a damn about this soup right now," she hissed, "I want to know what's going on and I know that somebody knows something…" She then turned a vicious blue eye on them, "And you're going to help me!" She exclaimed.

"Ino …." TenTen said, her voice hesitant, getting involved in Ino drama was never a good thing.

"No, no.. this is big. I can feel it," she said pumping a fist on the table and taking a long sip of her tea. Her shoulders relaxing slightly.

"What's going on Ino … we can't get involved." Hinata was still trying to pacify, only noticing her mistake, when Ino's gaze snapped to her face, zoning in.

"What do you mean.. what's happened… you know what's happening?" She asked her voice vaguely threatening.

"No..No.. well, kind of.. yes, but I really can't say anything." The ebony haired girl was pleading.

"Hinata, do you have any idea how important this is to me? This is Shikamaru we're talking about, this is my teammate, and if something is going on with him, well… I deserve to know," she said, "He didn't show up to practice yesterday. Choji and I looked everywhere for him. His father said he'd been gone for a few days, and when we checked his apartment no was there. … that isn't fishy? Come on Hinata," she said gripping the chopsticks a bit too hard, snapping one of them.

The Hyuuga stressed underneath the stare and broke, picking absently at her meal, she confessed: "It's a clan thing. Neji's in on it too. They're doing courting processes. Shikamaru is probably a suitor."

Ino gasped.

"So is Itachi-sama," Hinata admitted and went about trying to drown herself in her cup of tea.

The table was encased in silence as two of the girls absorbed the information. "Neji-kun? Are you sure…" TenTen trailed off thinking of her friends suspicious behavior over the course of the last few weeks. He was there are training but his mind seemed absent. That didn't keep him from kicking both his teammates assess all up and down the training yard...but he wasn't all there. He'd started using his owl again. A creature that he only summoned when he needed the utmost stealth. One that he usually only used to spy on the clan heads, but the owl had been summoned multiple times this week. Then, for the first time ever, Neji declined a mission from ANBU stating he had a family matter to attend to.

Ino shuttered, "Shikamaru is chasing a girl? For his clan, that doesn't sound right. The Nara's don't care about that stuff," she said. She sounded a bit hysterical. "How the hell did I let this happen? Wasn't I in the junket? Why aren't all the hot shinobi in Konoha chasing me?" The blonde's face was flushed in anger. "Who the hell is it?" She snapped.

"She's a civilian," Hinata said.

"A Civilian!" She screeched.

"Her family has some sort of chakra enhanced womb. It retains power." Hinata said. "Or something like that."

"Well," Ino said setting a wad of money down on the table, "Lets go find her."

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Sakura flicked through the racks of dresses that lined the walls. The shop was located on a strip of business near the hospital and she was on a mission.

The hospital annual funding banquet was coming up and she wasn't wearing a hand-me-down like she'd done the year before. With her new income, she was going to purchase herself a new dress, or at least the pair of shoes that she couldn't stop staring at on the way in.

She woke in that morning to one of her companions gone, and other drooling on the floor. She kicked him awake and put him through the shower before urging him out the door. He was already late for something or that's what she picked up as he was shoveling cereal in his mouth. She fended off knowing looks from her mother as she gathered up her money and her satchel, promising to return before lunch.

She had jet out before her mother could begin to ask her lots of questions. She knew there was a dinner of some sort coming up that her mother wanted to discuss, but she was evading that conversation until absolutely necessary.

Now here she was, two stores deep and no dress, with nothing to prove from her trip. She promised herself she would wait until late afternoon before seeking out her new friends. Excitement bubbled in her chest at the prospect of having people to talk to that don't just work with her. Friends. She hadn't experienced such camaraderie since leaving the mountains.

She shrugged helplessly at the girl at the counter before exiting the store, shooting one last longing look at the shoes, before turning to make her way to the next one, but she paused mid step at the figure leaning against the storefront. A long dango stick dangling from his mouth.

"Uchiha-san? Out of the hospital already I see." Through the thudding of her heart, she tried to sound brave. He could probably smell fear.

"Due to excellent healing I have managed to recover rather quickly." The answer was swift, said in a monotonous tone that was fictitiously bored.

"Good. You'll have to thank the doctor," she said. She began to walk, hyper aware of him walking next to her.

"I'm going to have to thank my nurse first," he said. She stumbled on her next step but quickly recovered.

"No thanking is needed. Is that what you're here for?" She asked. Stopping, she turned to look at the man, an ink dot in all the color of the day. He was dressed to kill in all black. His inky hair blending in with his black shirt, but his eyes, once again, surprising her in their brightness.

"No, I came to inquire about my brother," he said. She rose a brow at his honesty. "I would like to know what he talked to you about last night."

She steeled underneath his gaze.

"You don't know?" The sarcasm dripped like caramel off her tongue. He narrowed his gaze at her.

"Honestly… he came to warn me off you, ya know. Told me you weren't the best pick of the three," she almost balked at her own honesty. Verbal vomit landing all over her conscience.

"Three? Oh… the Nara," his voice trailed off.

"I've got to commend his bravery, but you'll have to excuse him. He's defiant," he drew the sentence smoothly.

"And you're not?" She blurted.

"Not what?"

"Defiant."

He got a distant look in his eyes, "I suppose I am," he said.

He drew a black envelope out of what appeared to be thin air and handed it to her.

"I hope you will accept," he said and, like all the other shinobi in the this town, he disappeared in cloud of smoke.

In his place was a thick, black feather. She picked it up off the ground, absently fiddled it between her fingers, and stuck it in her satchel.

Since moving to this town, she found herself surrounded by individuals that were just like him. Interesting, mysterious, powerful, and, while she found herself enraptured with the behavior of the people in this town, she was beginning to miss the plain life of the mountains.

"I'm sure there's more where that came from." She spun around at the voice that came from behind her shoulder.

"What is this pick on Sakura day?" She asked him grouchily.

"People are picking on you?" He raised a snarky brow.

"I thought suitors were supposed to be nice." She began to rant. His brow raised even higher. "I thought that they were supposed to shower you in flowers and promise their hearts in return for a single kiss and all that jazz, protect you from the thorns on roses, and all that. Not just come in go in clouds of smoke," she said.

She began to pace away, still ranting. "I don't understand. Everything I know about Shinobi is just up in the air. All of you are just a bunch of street cats. I don't understand, I just don't." He pulled her arm to stop her and spun her to face him. They were almost in the middle of the busy street.

"Shut up." Her mouth snapped close. "First of all, I believe you did get showered in flowers, and just because you gave them all away doesn't mean that it never happened. Second of all, the only thing that you don't understand is dynamic. The clan dynamic in the town is a lot more complicated than in other villages. Lots of cloak and dagger," Shikamaru said.

"Dynamic," she tested the word out then shrugged, "Doesn't make it less confusing."

A smirked tugged at the edge of his lips as he racked his gaze up and down her form one solid time, "Thank goodness you've got a genius as a suitor," he said.

She huffed, "So you are suitor. Not just someone who wants to be my friend."

That made him take pause, "Just because I'm courting you doesn't mean I don't want you to be my friend."

She brushed it off for now. "So genius?"

He scoffed, "So I'm told."

"You going to show me the ropes?" She asked.

He peeked over her shoulder.

"Another time. Tomorrow," he promised.

"Why not today?"

Before he could answer his hand made a quick swipe for the black feather in her hand and vanished in, you guessed it, a cloud of smoke.

Before she had time to identify what had taken his place, she was shocked from her skin from a howl behind her.

"Sakura Haruno?"

She turned around and was met with what could only be described as an angry, blond, muscular woman. Whom must have been half goddess half kunoichi.

"Yes?"

"I've got a problem with you."

To be Continued.


Hello Everyone!

I'm so glad you liked the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one just as much!

I do not own Naruto

Chapter ten is almost done!

Coming Up on Dancing With Gypsies: Conversations