reviwed by Dny Schr-Mlln Shtlnd
Ino felt uncomfortable, she felt naked in front of Itachi. She had never talked about her father's death. She'd had no one to tell when he was gone. Ino was the Ice Maiden because she had frozen in her state of loneliness. In herself she had no company. She was her own biggest enemy. Not the childhood friend that had betrayed her. It was herself, Ino blamed herself for her father dying. If she had done more, she was sure he would have been alive today. Deep within she knew that wasn't true, but it did not help how she felt.
"I'm sorry to hear that." He sounded mellow and sincere.
"I didn't… I just don't…"
He shook his head. She did not need to word her feelings to him.
"I enjoy your company," she said instead. He enjoyed having her around too. "I think it was a good thing I came over. We should go feed the ducks." Feeding pesky birds with Ino sounded more tempting than work for once. "That is if you don't mind." He never minded spending time with Ino.
"I've always loved spring. It's my favorite time of year." They were walking along the pond; Ino had linked her arm with his. "All that once was dead and gone now comes back as beautiful as ever." Ino had always enjoyed the beauty of flowers.
"I've always liked the winter, I enjoy the cold and simplicity," Itachi told her.
Ino did not enjoy winter or the cold at all. "Winter is too cold! I seem to freeze no matter what. Without proper heating it's like it's colder inside my apartment then it is outside."
Itachi had always had proper heating. That was one of the things he enjoyed about winter, it was having warmth waiting for him inside. He realized just how deep their differences were. It was more than the cash he had in the bank; it was about what that had made him into, what shaped him. He would gladly give up his money to make their relationship work, but it would not change the past.
"We used to feed the ducks every Saturday as a family." He didn't know what had happened to her mother, but he was sure she was no longer a part of her life. Itachi still had both of his parents, at most time he would not mind if they had been gone.
Ino threw some of the bread they had bought in the pond and watched how the ducks swam towards it. "I would never want to be a duck in this pond." She spoke handing Itachi some bread to feed the ducks with. "If nobody were to feed them, if everybody stopped giving them food most of them would starve. I would hate to be that dependent on anyone."
He knew that she would hate being in a relationship where he took care of her in every way he wanted. Ino was a free spirit, and she would never let herself be tamed by any man. Itachi was not any man. Ino was not just a pole dancer.
"Is it really living, if you can't live on your own?"
"You still exist, so therefore you're still alive."
He was taking the question literally. To him you were either dead or alive, they were absolutes. She had seen how it was to be dead with your heart still beating.
"It's kinda cold outside." She was still wearing her clothes from last night.
"You should have dressed for the weather."
Ino was surprised before she realized that he had only been joking. He took off his jacket and put it around her. "It wasn't what I had meant, but thank you." His jacket smelt good and clean. Itachi did not mind giving her his jacket; he would be warm even without it. "What's your favorite fruit?" Ino asked.
Itachi surprisingly loved fruit, "Mangoes."
Ino had not taken him for the sweets kind of guy; she would have guessed something like green apples or oranges. "I love mango, but my favorite lychee."
Ino finished feeding the ducks, Itachi had mainly watched her. It was hard not to.
"If weasels are your all-time favorite animal, what's your favorite jungle animal?" Ino had been asking him about his favorite everything as they were walking in the park. He had to think about it, he had to think about most of her questions. Nobody had ever asked him about his favorites, so he had never taken the time to find out.
He had made up his mind, "Okapi."
Ino had started laughing, he did not know that was so laughable of liking the okapi. They were very cool, like miniature giraffes in a moose and zebra coating.
"Ask me mine!" She would normally tell him herself without being asked. While she was still laughing he had asked her "You!" Itachi chuckled at her childish joke, she was out of it. "Hey! You said I was your favorite, that's something."
"I'm hungry again."
The girl ate a lot, Itachi had not expected it. From what he understood, girls hardly ever ate proper food out in public. They especially did not eat much around males that they were attracted to. "We'll have to go somewhere and eat then."
Ino seemed excited. "There's a really good Asian restaurant close by! We should totally go!" If she meant that they should totally go Itachi could do nothing but obliged and was dragged along.
The restaurant wasn't like any other restaurants Itachi had ever been to. It was cheap. There was no rule to wear a tie and they had tacky stereotypical Asian décor. Ino seemed to enjoy it, she knew just what to order: spring rolls for starters and Pad Pla Keun Chai for a main meal. Itachi had no idea what it was. He knew that chai was a tea that was popular a few years back. He decided to go for the safe option, spring rolls and green chicken curry.
"I used to come here a lot as a teen."
Itachi had no idea just how much before an old lady came up from the basement and started speaking with Ino in Thai. Itachi did not know that Ino's Thai was broken at best. He did not like not being able to understand what they were speaking about. Ino had a smiled plastered on her face. He saw her blush at one point shortly after she had mentioned his name. It was the one thing he understood from their conversation. He was used to always knowing what was going on.
"That's Buppha, she owns the restaurant. She thinks you're proper man candy." Ino said it so casually.
Itachi wasn't sure if he had ever been called man candy before. Women adored him, he was the perfect man in the eyes of shallow women. He was quiet, good looking and rich. Qualities Ino did not seem to care about. Ino didn't care about his wealth or how he looked. That meant that she cared about him.
She had been right, the spring rolls were amazing and Itachi had been at many high-end restaurants. Ino was master with the chop sticks. Itachi was not too bad, but it was strained. Ino had no problems, not even dipping her spring rolls in sauce was a problem.
"These aren't actually that bad…" He had to admit it, he had expected shit. He did not know that cheap food could taste so well.
"I'm glad you like it."
Itachi was surprised when their main dishes came out. Ino had gotten a whole fish, skin, eyes and all. It did not look good at all, not even the slightest. It did not seem to bother her at all.
"Don't be deceived by the looks of it, it's really good. Wanna try?" Itachi did not want to try, but he picked up a fork and placed some on it. He tasted the fish and some of the celery stalks. It tasted almost like Chinese food. The fish had been fried and cooked in what must have been oyster sauce. Itachi wished he had ordered the same. "I think it's my favorite at this restaurant."
Itachi was surprised that Ino had eaten her whole plate of food. He wondered how much that small body of hers could fit. The old lady came up again. Itachi got out his wallet.
"I'll pay for mine!" Ino told him.
"It's really nothing, I don't mind."
Ino smiled, "Neither do I, and I'm willing to fight you."
Itachi took her word for it. "If you're to fight me you must mind not paying."
Ino slapped a bill on the table. Itachi did the same raising his eyebrows. "You're very generous leaving such a big tip seeing I've already paid for my meal."
Itachi had left more than enough to pay for their meal. The old lady seemed shocked looking at the pile of money.
"Very kind man!" She bowed. To Itachi it was mere change, to her it was a day's salary. "You very cute couple, you found good man, Ino."
Ino told her something in Thai again. Itachi imagined that Ino had told the lady off, he wasn't her man.
"I've had a great afternoon," Ino told Itachi outside the restaurant.
"I did not know you spoke Thai. Have any more surprises?"
Ino smiled. Of course she had more surprises. "I speak Italian, Japanese and some Danish if that's what you're asking."
It did not make sense, she knew a wide arrange of languages. He did not know why she needed know, and where had she learnt? "If you know Danish you should try it out on Deidara, he's the Danish ambassador you know."
She had not known, not at all. It made sense, blond, blue eyed and with that jaw line he had to be Northern European, possibly Scandinavian.
Itachi quickly regretted saying that. Deidara had a new girl in his sheets more often than he changed his underwear, mostly because he rarely wore underwear at all.
Ino would have never guessed that he was an ambassador and would be into someone like her. She could not understand it. "He kinda gives me the creeps."
Itachi was pleased with her response, "It's not the only thing he wants to give you."
Ino frowned, grossed out just thinking about any of that. "It's been a great day. Well the day isn't over… I mean, I have had a good time with you." Ino stumbled in her words. She was not sure how she should say goodbye. "I'll let you go home and get to work. It's Saturday after all." Ino felt like she needed to run by the store and buy some ice cream and reflect over her life, nothing made sense. She was a mess on the inside.
"I'll see you Monday?"
She had quit, but he was clearly willing to look past her outburst. She smiled and kicked some pebbles. "Yes."
She already knew that it was going to be odd Monday morning. She would also have to get in early to change into her work clothes that were still in the office. "I'll see you then."
He nodded and walked off. Ino didn't have to worry how they were to say goodbye, a hug or a kiss. He had just walked off.
Itachi cursed himself for just leaving her there. Not saying goodbye properly. He turned around, she was still standing there frozen. He should ask if she had a way of getting home. Where were his manners? She took off walking before he got the chance. The sun danced and played in her long blond hair as she moved. Her body moved ever so slightly to the music she had put in her ears and he wondered if she missed it. He wondered if she missed stripping for money; the dancing, the evocative suggestions and the admiration. She still got looks at the office, but men there were too smart to let her know. He had heard how they whispered about her among their friends. Itachi knew he had broken far too many rules by letting Ino stay in his bed and even more by going out with her. He trusted her to do the right thing and that they would be able to behave in the office. He would work up a contract when he came home to ensure that she wasn't up to anything. It would be horrible publicity if she decided to sue him.
Ino slammed the door behind her. She went straight to the kitchen and found a spoon for her ice cream. She had gotten deep into the mess now. She had lost control of her feelings. Why shouldn't she? She liked him, so why couldn't she have fun with him? She would not give up on herself, she would still be the same person. The company she kept didn't need to change her. She looked down on her ice cream, it had started melting on the way home. Eating ice cream had not been the brightest idea considering the central heating in her building had broken a few weeks ago. Her landlord did not seem too keen on fixing it, thankfully they were moving towards summer. After a while she should be able to move to something better than her apartment. Nothing had been updated since the 80's judging from the color scheme. Ino especially hated her neon pink living room, not that her pastel green bedroom with a giant hole in the wall was any better. It was all she could afford at the moment. She had never complained about it before, but it was nothing like Itachi's top floor palace. Sleeping on her Ikea mattress would be a nightmare compared to cloud Itachi had. Ino would not be surprised if she found out that a whole family of rats had moved in the night she was gone. She would make it through another weekend nonetheless, if not she knew where Itachi lived.
Reviwed by Dny Schr-Mlln Shtlnd