Ino awoke to something that she had not expected, sunshine. A few thin rays of morning sun peeked through the window and illuminate the dusty room. Ino rubbed her eyes and stretched. She continued sitting there and staring out the window while she tried to remember last night.
She had been having a nightmare. She remembered that. Then the nightmare disappeared, it had dissolved. The dream began to come back to her. It had dissolved into a night sky. Yes, Ino had been among the stars. It was a wonderful dream. The first good one that she had since…well…forever. Also, she noted, she had slept through the entire night.
The entire night. This experience was so foreign to Ino that she didn't know quite how to react. How, why, when… questions rolled through her head. Finally she gave up. All that she knew was that she had actually had a good night's rest. And as wonderful as it felt, Ino was confused.
Ino clutched the blanket and pulled it over her soldiers. Wait, when had she gotten the blanket back? She held the fabric out in front of her, and inspected it. It was defiantly her blanket.
She had given it to Gaara after she found him passed out on his desk. Ino cautiously sniffed the blanket. Immediately she inhaled the scent of Gaara. A strong, rich aroma now coated the blanket, and it made Ino wonder if it was really hers.
He must have returned it to her sometime during the night, but how? Ino had always been a light sleeper. The slightest of noises would jolt her awake and ready for action. So how had he been able to come in and return her blanket? Maybe he hadn't. But how would that explain the sudden return of the blanket.
Any way it didn't madder, she had her blanket back.
A blanket…such a silly thing to become attached to. Ino knew that it was childish of her, but she had come to rely on it during some difficult times. It served its purpose and so much more.
Ino hugged the fabric one last time before folding it back into one of the pouches on her belt.
She looked around the room. Funny how she had already been here so long, yet she had never seen the house in day light. The sun reflected off the light yellow walls and made shapes on the floor. The corners of the room didn't seem so shadowy and dark. The cobwebs and dust were almost homey touches to the house. A safe house.
Ino had decided that she liked it here in Suna. She had a set location of a home, food available to her. Good food too! Not at all like the demons that she had to devour to remain alive. Ino had even made a "friend", Gaara. They didn't talk much, but she liked his company. She enjoyed being in the same room as him. Of course she didn't know if he felt the same way about her. But still, having a purpose was nice. The more that she worked for him, the more she learned about Suna. Ino liked being needed by someone. Even if it were only for errands and troublesome tasks.
Ino set out it fetch Gaara's breakfast, she was already late. They had never set an exact time of arrival, but Ino had developed a routine time of showing up for work. So she tried to hurry.
However something caught her eye on her way back to the office. Practical Cooking, a small cookbook sat displayed on a book cart next to her. The cover showed delicious looking scrambled eggs and hash browns with shaved peppers as a topping. Ino must have been staring at the book, because the vendor asked if she was going to buy anything. Ino purchased the book without really thinking about it, and stuffed it in a pouch on her belt.
Gaara barley realized that Ino was late until his stomach started growling for food. Just then the blond came leaping through the window with his breakfast. She set it down on his desk and issued a prompt apology for being late.
"I'm sorry. I…overslept." Gaara waved his hand indicating that it was ok, and handed her the day's assignments.
Now that he thought about it, Ino had always been early. The first night she told him that she couldn't sleep. Then he had seen her pacing in the window on the night of the second demon attack.
Come to think of it, he had seen her lights on late into the night. He had even caught glimpses of her sitting on the roof, and appearing to be star gazing.
It was obvious enough that Ino had troubles with sleeping. Even though she possessed no rings under her eyes to show for it.
Gaara was glad that his assistant got a good rest for once, one thing that he desperately needed. She deserved it.
The rest of the day continued normally. Gaara and Ino had almost eradicated the massive pile of papers that had stacked up. At this rate, he might actually get some free time off from work.
The next day Ino had awoken from another nightmare. So they were back again, not like she expected them to suddenly vanish. But it would still be nice to get a little more sleep.
It was still too early for the market place to be open, and there was not much to do around the house. That's when she remembered the cook book. Ino pulled out the paperback volume and opened to the first recipe that she found. Scrambled eggs and cheese on potatoes. Ino read over the instructions with interest. It would be nice to have a good freshly cooked meal instead of the pre-packaged ones that had become their usual diet. It all seemed simple enough, so she set out to purchase the ingredients.
Ino returned with a bag of produce. The house was stocked with cooking materials, so she didn't need to worry about those. Ino had been "cooking" her own meals for a while; granted most of the stuff that she ate was raw. However for some reason, she felt comfortable in the kitchen. She had even cooked a rat over the stove here!
So Ino began to slice the potatoes with her knife. Once they were peeled and ready, she used the blunt handle of the blade and mashed them into a pulp. The eggs were simple enough. The directions instructed her to crack them over the pan and dispose of the shells. Ino cracked the eggs, but why throw out the shells. They were perfectly edible.
After the eggs were done, she scooped them onto the bed of mashed potatoes. The heat of the freshly cooked eggs melted the cheese and created a mouthwatering aroma. She then packed two separate meal boxes with the food and headed off for work, hoping Gaara will approve of her cooking. She hadn't really cooked for someone else before. It made her happy.
Ino arrived with breakfast as usual. She set it down on his desk and collected her assignments. Gaara had been leaving them in a small bin next to his desk now. First she had to deliver the checklist to the front guards, and see if there were any updates on the demons. Ino left before she could start eating.
Gaara opened his food container and was surprised to find steam coming out of it. At first he was alarmed, but the heat and aroma told him that this was a home cooked meal. Had Ino actually cooked something? He used his chopsticks to pick up a bite and sniffed it. It did not smell of anything suspicious. He ate it. Not too bad. He had never really wondered much about how Ino had gotten food in the past. Perhaps she had made it all herself. So why didn't she cook here? The second bite reviled the answer. The eggs had a slight crunch to them, eggshell. Who puts eggshell in the eggs. He remembered the first time he had seen her eat eggs, downed them whole. He sighed. Well she certainly had the spirit of Suna, waste nothing. The potatoes were fine at least. A normal desert hawk perched outside the window. Gaara didn't want to hurt Ino's feelings, so he fed the eggs to the bird.
The eggs might have been wrong, but he had never really had anyone cook for him before. Of course he was the Kazakage, so when he was visiting villages or other countries, he would often find that they had a meal prepared for him. However he had never had someone simply cook him something for a normal occasion. Let alone a woman. The simple gesture was…nice.
Ino arrived back at the office to find that Gaara had eaten all of his breakfast. Had he liked it? She was still unsure why it meant so much to her, but it made her glad that he had liked it. Picking up her own food, Ino began to devour the eggs. Then the potatoes. The meal mad her proud. Strange, something as simple as this. It came so naturally, had she done it before? Ino dismissed the thought. Trying to remember the past made her brain ache. For now, she will focus on the present, with Gaara.
*Sigh* I know, uneventful chapter. I had a writer's block and needed something to keep the story moving. Update once a week, or atleast try...any way it is your reveiws that kick my lazy ass to keep writing. So please reaveiw! More action to come in the near future. ;)