As good of friends as she was with Naruto this was her first time seeing his home. It wasn't what she had thought it would be, she had expected a shack in disrepair not a perfectly normal apartment. The only indication that it was Naruto's was the wooden plaque on the door that said 'Uzumaki' in Naruto's sloppy scrawl.

According to Sakura, he hadn't come out of his home in three days. The death of the Third Hokage combined with Sakura's ill-timed break up must have been hard on him. That damn forehead, even when she was trying to do the right thing she messes it up in the most spectacular way.

Ino tapped on Naruto's door. "Naruto? You here? It's me, Ino."

For a while there was nothing. She knocked again. And there were footfalls. The lock clicked open, and the door crack open just enough for Naruto to stick his head out.

He looked liked shit. Like all of his energy and happiness had been sucked inside and locked away tight. Now it was her job to bring that spark of life that once defined Naruto back. "Hi, Ino."

"Can…" All of her magazines that went over how to help a friend that went through a breakup did not prepare her for this. "Can I come in?"

He pulled away and looked back into his apartment. "It's a mess."

"This surprises me how?"

Naruto shrugged and backed away from the door, allowing it to swing open. "Come on in."

The inside of Naruto's apartment wasn't a trash dump like she had expected it to be, sure there was what looked like a single player game of garbage jenga in the kitchen, but most of the mess was limited to a layer of dust that coated just about everything, and a few abandoned articles of clothing.

It smelled like mildew and ramen.

But the thing that caught Ino's eye was Naruto's modest collection of flowers. Sitting in the window next to the sink was the dwarf sunflower her mother gave him now fully grown. Next to it was a bed of blue violets said to represent trustworthiness, faith, affection, that was so teeming with life vigor that they were practically overflowing their small square pot.

"Are those Blue Violets?" Ino asked ignoring the filth in Naruto's apartment and making a Beeline towards the flowers. They were vibrant and healthy, and their color was just the perfect shade of purple. "You did a great job raising them Naruto, they're beautiful."

"Thanks," He smiled for a second and shuffled over to her, nearly tripping on a long forgotten shirt. The smile died as he reached out and plucked one of the flowers twirling it in his fingers for a moment. He sighed and placed it behind her ear.

Ino's brain stopped, so her heart took over and began to beat faster and faster. Was this Naruto rebounding? Why was he giving her another flower? Did he know what they meant? He read some books on that, didn't he? Oh god oh god, what should she do? Quick, stand there and blush like an idiot!

"They kind of remind me of you."

This jerk he wasn't sad at all he probably knew all along that this was going to happen and had just tricked her into liking him! That said, her favorite flower was now Blue Violets, for an entirely different reason than Naruto saying that it reminded him of her.

She should cover his house in them.

"Oh?" Ino tried to sound confident but it just came out as a squeak."What-what, makes you say that?"

Naruto just shrugged, his arms flopping to his sides like a bird failing to flap, his smile was gone now. "They're purple, and it's your favorite color."

That made a lot more sense. Still new favorite flower, and it was the third flower that Naruto had given her! That had to mean something right? Okay, calm down Ino, you need to take this slow if you rush into be Naruto's rebound it will only be a temporary thing. At Least if the magazines are to be believed.

"So, why are you here anyway?" Naruto asked her scratching the back of his head. "Not that I'm complaining, I just kind of want to be alone."

"That's exactly why I'm here!" Ino snapped, poking her finger into Naruto's chest. Her embarrassment vanishing under the flames of rage fueled by concern. "You haven't left your house in three days Naruto, for a guy like you, that's not normal! Now get your clothes on we're going out."

"But I…"

"Clothes, now!" Her scowl softened and she gave him her best pout. "Please Naruto."

"Guh, fine just don't pout!" Naruto threw his arms up and half stomped to his room.

Ino smiled, he really didn't put up much of a fight.

He came back dressed in his standard shinobi attire headband strapped proudly to his head. "Well, what are we going to do."

"Hmm," Ino pursed her lips and tapped on them. "I don't know walk, talk, and get ramen later?"

"So you didn't have a plan?"

"Well, it's not like you'd have one!" Ino huffed. "You'd probably show up in my window and be all like 'Ino a beautiful girl like you shouldn't be crying, here let me take you aware and make you forget all your troubles.'"

Naruto snorted. "That doesn't sound anything like me!"

"Whatever, now come on." She grabbed his hand. They were holding hands! This was amazing! This was a date right? Sure she'd be paying for it. But this totally counted as a date. Even if her date was depressed. "Let's go for a walk and you can tell me what happened for the month I didn't see you."

XXXX

"So after the pervert hit me in my stomach I was finally able to walk on the water!" Naruto shouted they were wandering through one of the many forested areas of Konoha. The path was rugged and littered with rocks and trees of various sizes. It ran parallel to a calm creek that was clear enough it's rocky bed could be seen.

"Oh? Maybe he unlocked a chakra point or something" Ino smiled at him, her arms behind her back, she looked really cute like that, especially the way that she was smiling at him. It wasn't much, but it was enough to forget about the last few days. "Are you sure it wasn't just gas and he shook you loose?"

"What?" Naruto gasped taking a step back in disgust. "Eww, no, how could you even say something like that? Don't girls think that stuff is gross."

Ino shrugged, tilting her head to the side. "Ehh, you're a gross nasty boy, remember how you beat Kiba? Your gas is not to be underestimated. Even if it is super gross."

Naruto frowned if he didn't know that's where the Kyuubi's seal was he might have believed Ino. "Please don't tell me that makes me the gassy Ninja?"

"At Least you'd be silent but deadly."

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth hanging open as he looked at Ino. "Did you really just say that?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." She hopped forward pressing a finger to her lips. "But even if you tell anybody they will never believe you."

Why would he tell anybody? "You don't have to worry about that Ino."

She grabbed his hand again, her hand was so soft, and warm, and delicate. He liked it when she grabbed his. He liked it when she paid attention to him. It made him feel wanted. With a pull, she dragged him off the path and towards the river. "Hey, do you think you can show me how to walk on water too?"

"Huh, you don't know how?"

"Nah, now come on, it'll be fun!" She pulled him again and walked onto the rocky shore of the creek. Her smile was infectious, with every laugh and giggle he was beginning to feel more like himself.

"But I don't know how to teach it!" Naruto protested he was actually getting kind of hungry. And didn't Ino say something about ramen?

"Oh please, I'm a fast learner." Ino laughed. With one hand she tossed off one shoe and then the other. "If you want extra motivation I can go get my Bikini."

"What? No! I'm not like the pervy sage!" Why did he say that? Wait, why was he thinking that? The memory if Ino showing him her itty-bitty-yellow-polka-dot bikini for the first time was something that was seared into his mind.

"Please Naruto, I already said I would give you ramen later." Ino was pouting again. That was just not fair, she could get away with anything with that pout. "Pretty please?"

He sighed and took a step onto the water. "Fine… the first thing you have to do it…"

XXXX

"Hey, don't be so depressed just because I learned how to walk on water in a day," Ino smiled rubbing a hand on Naruto's back as they walked towards what was becoming her favorite restaurant, mostly because whenever she went there it was with Naruto. "Remember girls have better chakra control than boys."

"I know but still, you didn't even get wet!" Naruto's pout was something that could melt her heart on a cold day. "Like you made it look so easy!"

Because it was easy, almost as easy as being happy around her fellow blonde. All of this was to cheer him up, and yet she couldn't recall the last time she had been this happy, probably when they went shopping. "Yea but you wanna know what you make look easy?"

"What?"

"Eating ramen." She laughed and grabbed his hand again, all but sprinting towards the stall. Screw diet! Any date with Naruto was worth a messing up any diet! Besides he already thought she was pretty.

Still, what if the shopkeeper said something? Didn't Naruto use to take Sakura here? What if they asked if she was his new girlfriend? What would Naruto say? Would he blush and bumble like an idiot? Or would he waive it off saying that she was just a friend?

Should she say that it's a date? Would that make Naruto happy? How long was she supposed to wait before asking someone out that just got their heart torn out and thrown on the ground? Probably more than three days.

She'll just handle it in stride and continue to support Naruto, yeah that sounded like the best idea.

"Hey old man!" Naruto shouted the second they entered the small stall. He spun onto a seat next to her and waited for her to sit down. "One Miso ramen please."

"I'll have the Shio ramen!" Ino chirped, she had made the right choice having a light breakfast.

Ino smiled as her stomach rumbled happily at the bowl of ramen that was placed in front of her. Moments later a bowl was placed in front of Naruto and he smiled at her, he looked just like his old self, was this her doing? It felt great knowing that she could heal him like this.

"Let's dig in!" Naruto shouted breaking his chop-sticks.

"Yea!" Ino laughed joining him by slurping up the delicious noodles. Oooh, what should they do after this? Go for another walk, maybe go to the movies? Is there a scary one on? There was that one chick flick playing but that would just bore Naruto, a good scary movie would give her the opportunity to be ever so slightly clingy. "So, Naruto…"

"Ohoho, so this was where you were." A deep jolly voice said as a tall man with a mass of white hair entered the stall, "I've been looking for you all day Naruto."

"What do you want Pervy-Sage?"

The man scowled at Naruto, then looked at Ino and his face turned into a wide smile. "Are you sure you want to let your little girlfriend know that you're being taught by a pervert."

Ino sucked in a noodle and tried not to freak out. This was it! The moment of truth!

"What? That's Ino."

Well, that told her nothing.

"Well, whatever, I need you to finish up here brat. We have a mission, and I'm going to be teaching you a super awesome technique on the way." The Pervy-sage laughed and slapped Naruto on the back.

Ino did not like this man.

"Really? that's great Jiraiya." Naruto leaped from his chair a giant smile on his face as he wiggled out of pure excitement. He then looked at her, and his excitement died, then it grew again. "Hey, do you think Ino can come? She's a super good ninja too, she learned how to walk on water in just an hour!"

Wait, did Naruto just say Jiraiya. Jiraiya as in one of the three legendary Ninja? Teammate of the legendary Tsunade? And here Naruto was calling him a pervert.

"Nope," Jiraiya said with a pop. "This is just a mission for you and me."

"Aww but why not! Forget it if Ino can't go then I won't."

Ino smiled and rolled her eyes, getting out of Konoha was probably exactly what he needed…. If her magazines were to be trusted. "Naruto it's fine, I have to help with the shop tomorrow anyway."

"Look brat, my hands are tied, I only have permission to take you." Jiraiya sighed, "Now come on, we need to get going."

Naruto looked at her and frowned. "I'm sorry Ino I really did want to hang out more."

"Don't worry Naruto." She had no idea how she ended up hugging him. "We can do this again when you come back."

She wanted to say date. She really really wanted to say date.

"I'll be sure to hurry back then."

AN: OOOOh, second date? second date! also look we're back to the fluff! Next chapter is the last chapter before the time skip. And it might be a little shorter than average. But hopefully its still good.