Naruto sighed again as he watched his sunlight dance on his palm. He was bored, sitting in his cloud chair. The Night Court had called a meeting to discuss Neji's collapse. It must have been a long discussion, because Naruto had to hold the Day three hours longer than usual, since Sasuke wasn't here to take his place. Not only was he bored, but he was worried about Neji (Tsunade won't be able to tell them what happened till the Night Court has been informed since that is Neji's court), and he was anxious to meet a certain Immortal. And, no matter how much he wish it was, he didn't mean Sasuke.
Ino had been avoiding him. He had tried to meet her several times in her domain to talk about the rest of summer and she had fled to the Mortal Realm. Then, when he tried to follow her, she went back to the Immortal Realm. Naruto knew it was serious when Ino hide out in Sakura's domain and asked her not to let him in.
Thinking about Ino made him think about the reason she was mad at him, Sasuke's kiss. Just thinking about it made Naruto blush. And the kiss brought too many emotions. Anger for one, of Sasuke kissing him without at least letting him know what he was going to do. But once the anger died down, he felt excited, and wonderful, and wanted, and so damn happy, he felt like he would burst. It made him want more, to feel Sasuke closer, to burn him alive with his addicting kisses. And that frightened Naruto, because he had never felt anything like this before, even when he thought he was in love with Sakura. It also left him confused, how could he go from hating (ok maybe not hate, but he certainly never liked the Moon God) to feeling something that felt a lot like love for the cold bastard. 'He certainly wasn't cold when I kissed him though. No, his lips sure were warm. And soft. And delectable. And demanding. And-no, no, no. I will not think about his lips, no matter how kissable they may be. Gah, there I go again.'
Shaking his head, he thought about the last emotion the kiss brought. Guilt. He was Ino's friend, he knew, though everyone knew, that she liked Sasuke. Even if he didn't agree with her (Naruto couldn't see how Ino didn't see that Sasuke wasn't interested), he was supposed to respect that. Respecting it meant not kissing the God she liked. Which he did. And she walked in on.
Naruto sighed and slumped more into the cloud he sat on. 'The worst thing,' he couldn't help thinking, 'is that I don't regret the kiss. I may regret that Ino caught us kissing, but not the actual kiss.' And that, to someone as loyal as Naruto, made the guilt worse, because he was supposed to regret kissing his best friend's crush, right? But no, the kiss felt too right to regret, felt too much like how Iruka described how mortals felt when they fell in love.
'Does this mean I love Sasuke? Or do I just think I love him, like I thought I loved Sakura?'
Naruto was interrupted from thinking further on this question by the appearance of Ino. The two stared at each other, and, for the first time in thousands of years, there was an awkward silence between the two. Or maybe just Naruto felt it, because he was the only one to fidget. Ino just stood there, staring (or maybe she was glaring) at him.
"Well? You've been pestering me for the last couple of days, trying to get me to talk. So talk."
Naruto winced. He didn't realize, until Ino broke the silence, how mad she was. To be honest, he didn't think she would be this mad, because he thought that she was starting to forget Sasuke in favor of Shikamaru. Guess he was wrong. Naruto opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He was too shock on how mad she was.
It turned out that he didn't need to say anything, because Ino had plenty to say for both of them.
"No, how about I talk." Ino started pacing, stalking across the clouds like one of Kiba's lioness. "Do you even realize how heartbreaking it was for me to find my friend, my best friend, kissing my mate? No? Well, let me tell you." Suddenly, Ino spun around and pointed angrily at Naruto, who was sitting, stunned in his seat. "HOW COULD YOU?! How could you, Naruto, do that to me? Huh, what do you have to say for yourself?"
"I-I-I-" was all Naruto could get out before Ino was off again.
"Of course you have nothing to say. What could you say, 'sorry, Ino, for ripping out your heart and stomping on it.' Like that could make up for what you did. But it's ok, I have the perfect solution."
"Y-you do?" Naruto stuttered out, still trying to catch up with what was happing. Something was defiantly wrong. They had had fights in the past before, and she had never gotten this ugly. Of course, he had never kissed her crush before.
Ino turned to smile at him, but it looked more like a sneer. "Of course, you just have to stay away from Sasuke."
Naruto blinked. "Stay away from Sasuke?" What was she talking about?
Ino nodded. "When you exchange the Day for Night, don't say anything to Sasuke, don't even look at him. Of course, I rather you not be near him at all, but since that's not possible, this will have to do. Oh, also don't even think about sitting near him at the dinners. Kay?"
Naruto slowly stood up, trying to be as non-threating as possible. Ino was clearly not thinking right, so he had to handle this carefully. "What about the meetings, Ino? I have to meet with him, on Tsunade's orders."
Ino laughed, not her usual laugh, no this had an ugly undertone. "Oh, Naruto. You just have to tell Tsunade that Sasuke and you are getting along now. Then you don't have to see him."
"But I don't want to stop seeing him." Naruto's eyes went wide when he realized what he just said. He didn't want to stop seeing Sasuke. Didn't want to not argue with the teme, didn't want to not get to know more about him, and didn't want to never feel his kiss again. He didn't want to stop seeing Sasuke.
Naruto started to smile even as Ino's eyes narrowed, because he just answered the question he had been asking himself before Ino arrived. When Sakura asked him to stop asking her out, he felt sadden, but it was nothing compared to the pained feeling in his chest at the thought of never talking to Sasuke again. That had to be love, right?
But the happy feeling of getting that question answered was short lived as Ino growled out, "What did you say?"
Naruto turned his attention back to the angry Goddess in front of him, his own eyes narrowing. He may be Ino's friend, but he wasn't going to let her control his life on the off chance that Sasuke did have some feelings for her. Mentally preparing himself, Naruto replied "I said, I don't want to stop seeing Sasuke."
Ino gapped at him. "How can you say that, Naruto? You know I love Sasuke."
Naruto shook his head. "Yes, but Sasuke doesn't love you back."
Slap. The two fell into silence, one disbelieving that Ino had actually hit him, the other riding the anger that boiled in her stomach. "How dare you say that!" Ino finally said.
Naruto turned his head back to her, finally getting angry. "How dare you hit me! I'm your friend"
"Were my friend." Ino spat out.
It felt like she had slapped him again. "How could you say that?"
"How could I? How could I? How could you say that Sasuke doesn't love me? No friend of mine would ever say that to me."
"No, a friend would say that to another friend, if they thought that was the truth. And, whether you like it or not, it is the truth." Naruto ignore the hurt look that flashed across her face. She went too far now, no backing out. "Not once has Sasuke shown you any affection, not once had he acted like he even enjoyed your presence. Why can't you see that Ino? Why can't you see what I noticed, that the one who did those things was Shikamaru, not Sasuke?"
"Don't you dare you bring Shikamaru into this!" Ino screeched.
"Why shouldn't I? It's the truth, and the truth is something a friend will tell you, no matter how much you wish it wasn't true. And, no matter what you say, I am your friend."
The two had an angry stare down for a couple of minutes before it was broken, once again, by Ino. "You know what? Those villagers were right about you, you are a monster. If only I had listened then." With that, Ino disappeared, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
Naruto gaped at the spot Ino was. 'Monster, she called me a monster.' It was the one word he never wanted to hear again. Suddenly, he was bombarded by flashbacks of angry faces, their sneering mouths hurling venom at him, their eyes filled with such hate, he had never seen so much hate before. 'No, no, no, no! The past is the past, I am not a monster, I am not a monster, I-I-I am n-n-n-not a m-m-m' Naruto couldn't stop, the tears came hard and fast and he fell to his knees, curling up. All Naruto could feel was old pain, old fears, and old tears. The past came crashing back, crippling him till he was lost in his memories.
