A/N: Okay, so I'm back with the next chapter of our wonderful story. The only thing I ask of you all is to show me a little mercy on this chapter. This is my first time writing an action scene, so please forgive how weak it is. And don't judge the whole chapter based on the action scene. Its a pretty good chapter nonetheless. So please enjoy. And thanks for all the reviews last chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
The morning came, Ino felt the bright sunlight peering through the window. She put her hand on to something firm. Whatever she was laying on was certainly warm.
"Hm, what is this?"
A pair of blue eyes slowly opened. She looked up to see that she was sleeping on Naruto. The young man was asleep with his mouth wide open, and there was a drool line running down his chin.
"Oh, it's just Naruto." She closed her eyes again. It took Ino a minute to realize what was going on. Ino immediately opened her eyes.
"Naruto!, I was sleeping on Naruto. What the hell is he doing here?"
"Naruto?" She shook him.
There was no response from him. He looked like he was a heavy sleeper anyway. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of snoring.
"Boy, he can sure snore."
"Naruto, wake up." She shouted in his ear.
The second blond opened his eyes, and focused them on to Ino. Did she really have to be so loud this early in the morning. He didn't know what time it was. But it had to be too early in the morning for her to be shouting.
"Oh, Ino-chan you're awake."
"Yeah." She nodded. "Naruto, I just have one question."
"What is it?"
"What the hell are you doing in bed with me?"
At this point Naruto sat up as well. He hadn't forgotten that she had found her way into his bedroom last night. How could he have forgotten that little detail. They had fallen asleep so close to one another, and on top of that she refused to let him go last night.
"Calm down Ino-chan."
"No way, how did we end up like this? What happened? Didn't I tell you to try and resist me?"
Naruto frowned at this. Ino clearly had no idea what happened the previous night. He could see that he would have to explain to her what happened.
"Hey, hey you came on to me." Naruto told her.
"What!" She exploded.
"Well you did." Naruto nodded. "You don't remember, you were sleepwalking, and you found you're way in here. You got into bed with me Ino. I thought I told you not to have your way with me while I was trying to sleep."
"Shut up." Ino snapped. She suddenly grew quiet as realization came over her.
"Oh, I was doing it again huh."
He blinked, she didn't strike him as the type of person that would sleep walk. Ino let a yawn escape her.
"I'm sorry then." She apologized.
"Wait, you've done this before. So I'm not the first guy that you've jumped into bed with, I'm hurt." Naruto feigned sadness.
Ino held her mouth open slightly. She resisted the urge to hit him upside the head.
"This is serious. I used to have really bad nightmares around the time Asuma-sensei died. I started to sleepwalk every time I had a nightmare."
"Ino..." He started.
Suddenly the door opened. "Naruto-nii-chan good..." Inari stopped when he noticed the two blonds in bed together. They stared at him for a moment. A smile appeared on to the dark haired boy's face.
"Whoa, it looks like I've interrupted something. I thought that I told you two no funny business."
Ino turned red. "That's not funny, shut up Inari." She spoke and threw a pillow at his head. "For your information we're in bed like this by accident."
Inari dodged the pillow, he then let out a laugh.
"Yeah, alright, sorry." He apologized. "Anyways mom is making breakfast. Come down whenever you're ready. I'll go now." Inari then closed the door behind him. Ino was the first one to get out of the bed.
"Ino-chan, how often do you sleepwalk?"
"Not all the time, usually after a nightmare. Funny thing though, I really can't remember what the dream was about."
"Well then maybe it's a good thing that you don't remember."
"Maybe." She agreed. "Listen, I'm sorry about coming in here like that. I probably scared the hell out of you or something."
Naruto just shook his head. He was a little surprised, but he wouldn't say that she had scared the hell out him. If anything he was probably worried about her.
"No, I'm glad that you're okay now."
"Thanks, oh wait." She remembered something. "What was that crap last night about how I would never go for you?" She asked him.
"Huh, oh..."
"You shouldn't sell yourself short. You did manage to get me into bed with you, right?" She laughed.
Naruto frowned. "That's not funny Ino-chan."
"Yeah, but seriously don't be so down on yourself. I'm going to go I'll see you downstairs."
"Okay Ino-chan."
Naruto watched her leave. He really was glad that she was okay now. In the back of his mind he wondered why she had found her way into his room. It was probably nothing more than a coincidence. But she had found her way into his room. Out of all the places she could have ended up, why his room? He supposed that it was a good thing that she ended up there. At least she didn't get hurt.
Naruto went downstairs. He took a seat next to Inari. Tazuna was already seated at the table. Inari smiled at Naruto before turning to his grandfather.
"Gramps, guess what?"
"What is it?"
"Guess where I found Naruto and Ino-chan. They were in bed together."
Tazuna's eyes widened to the size of saucers, and he began to cough loudly. Naruto glared at Inari. He should have known that little boy would pull something like this. He should have realized as soon as he saw him smiling.
"I thought that you were only friends Naruto-kun."
"We are." The blond nodded.
"I hope that you were, um, careful." The old man spoke with his eyebrows raised.
"What?" Naruto spoke.
Inari laughed at the confused expression on his friends face. Clearly Naruto didn't get what Tazuna was trying to say to him.
"He means that he hopes that you used protection." Inari laughed again.
"What!, there was no reason to be "careful". Inari is totally taking things out of line. Yeah, we slept in the same bed last night but nothing happened."
"Oh, really?" Tazuna asked with his eye brow raised again. He didn't believe Naruto.
"Yes." Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, Naruto-nii-chan is right. They were both fully clothed, thank god. Not that I would mind seeing Ino-chan naked, she is so hot."
Tazuna and Naruto grew silent. Neither one of them having anything to say right now. Inari hadn't noticed because he was too busy drooling, and off somewhere in his own world.
"Um Inari." Naruto started.
"Inari, if I were you I'd run."
"Huh, what, why?"
There was now the sound of knuckles being cracked. Inari gulped, he turned around to meet the pissed off face of Ino. She looked less than pleasant right now.
"You want to see what, Inari?"
"Um..."
"You have 5 seconds to run." Ino told him.
He didn't wait long. The dark haired boy got up and ran off, moments later Ino was running after him.
"Get back here you little perv."
Tazuna and Naruto could not contain their laughter. Inari ran out of the front door with Ino hot on his heels. She had no intention of giving up.
"Damn, she wont give up." Inari thought.
"Naruto, you better go make sure that everything is okay out there." Tazuna told him.
Judging by the sounds of Inari's screams and pleas, Ino was showing little or no mercy at all.
"Okay." Naruto laughed. "I'm going."
Naruto walked outside to see Ino holding the younger boy in a headlock.
"Ino-chan, please let me go." He begged.
"No, not until you apologize for being a mindless pervert."
"Okay, okay I..." Inari looked up to see Naruto standing there grinning.
"Nii-chan help me."
"No way. You got into this mess, you get yourself out."
Inari sighed. He saw that Naruto would not be of any help to him. He would be on his own on this one.
"Apologize." Ino spoke threw clenched teeth.
"What, for saying you were beautiful."
"You know why, you idiot."
Inari struggled to break free of Ino's strong grip.
"Inari, Naruto-kun, Ino-chan, come in breakfast is ready."
Ino slowly started to loosen up her grip on the young man.
"I will let you go if you say sorry."
"Inari, you better just apologize." Naruto warned him.
"Alright already, I'm sorry Ino-chan."
"What are you sorry for?" She grabbed him again.
"I'm sorry for being a mindless pervert."
"That's a good boy." She smiled and then let him go.
Inari picked himself up off the ground and ran back into the house. That was the first and last time that he would ever piss Ino off. She was truly merciless. And Inari didn't want to die at the hands of a girl, no matter how beautiful she was.
"You scared him pretty good Ino-chan."
"Yeah I know." She grinned. "Oh well, serves him right. I'm starving, let's go get some breakfast."
Ino started walking towards the house. She didn't notice the nearby rock and ended up tripping. She almost fell to the ground, but Naruto caught her by the waist.
"Are you okay?"
She looked up, aqua orbs staring into his curious cerulean pools.
"Hai, I'm fine."
The two blonds stood staring at each other. Naruto had yet to let her go.
"Um..." He started.
"What's wrong? Are you going to kiss me for real this time or something?" She teased.
A slight blush rose to his cheeks. They didn't even notice Tazuna, Inari, or Inari's mother standing there watching them closely.
"Well, what are you waiting for boy go for it." Tazuna said.
"Yeah, if you're going to kiss Ino-chan, then do it already." Inari chimed in.
"And I thought that you two were only friends." Inari's mother smiled.
They turned their attention to the family. Naruto laughed and slowly he let Ino go.
"Ha, hah we weren't about to kiss. Ino-chan tripped I was just helping her up."
"Yeah." Ino nodded. "He wasn't really going to kiss me."
"Okay." The older woman spoke. "Come in so that we can have breakfast."
Tazuna shook his head in disappointment. Naruto could only shrug his shoulders. No more words were spoken, as everyone went back into the house to have breakfast. Ino and Naruto sat across from each other. Neither one of them giving the other eye contact. Instead they were both focused on the food on their plates.
"This is very good. It reminds me of my mother's cooking." Ino spoke cheerfully.
"Thank you very much Ino-chan."
"That's my mom. No one cooks like her." Inari spoke proudly.
The rest of breakfast went by pretty quietly. With hardly any conversations going on. Naruto couldn't really take the silence. It was starting to bother him, only at the same time be actually couldn't think of anything to say.
"Naruto, you barely touched your food. Is everything alright?" Inari's mother wondered.
"Oh, it's fine. I guess that I'm just not that hungry."
After breakfast Ino and Naruto sat outside talking about what their next move was going to be.
"Hey Ino-chan, do you want to go back to Konoha today, or what?"
I would like to stay a bit longer, but I never actually gave my mother all of the details. I just don't want my parents to be worried."
Naruto nodded in understanding. He could certainly respect that. So, they would head back to Konoha today.
"I understand, we'll go back today."
"Not that I wouldn't mind staying, They're all really nice people. I'm going to miss them."
"Even Inari." Naruto laughed.
"Yes even the perv."
Ino and Naruto looked up when they heard footsteps. There was Tazuna and his family, they were all smiling.
"It's okay if you two have to go. But remember you both are always welcome here."
"Thanks." Ino smiled.
"Yeah don't be strangers, Ino-chan, Naruto-kun. Please come back anytime."
"We will." Naruto nodded.
Once everyone said their final goodbyes, and Inari's mom handed them some lunch to take with them, Naruto and Ino left the house.
"Bye Ino-chan, Naruto-nii-chan." Inari shouted.
"Bye." The two teens spoke.
The journey across the bridge was a pretty silent one. Ino let out a sigh and put her hands behind her head.
"I'm really going to miss them. It was a fun visit."
"We can always come back Ino-chan. In fact maybe next time we can go to Suna. I know the Kazekage personally." Naruto smiled.
Ino looked over to her friend. She had no idea that he knew Gaara-sama in a personal manner.
"You know the Kazekage. How did you two become friends?"
"We um, have a lot in common."
If anyone understood the pain that he felt it was Gaara. They had been hated because they were both jinchuuriki's. Only Gaara had ultimately suffered more than Naruto had. Naruto was always grateful to have people like Iruka-sensei and the Sandaime. Although, now Gaara had no longer hosted Shukaku inside of him. He could definitely understand Naruto's pain.
"What do you have in common?" She asked.
"We, um both..."
"Yeah?"
"Well, he and I both understand what its like to be alone."
Ino blinked in confusion. Naruto started to walk ahead of her. She ran to catch up to him.
"Naruto what do you mean?"
"Don't worry about it Ino-chan."
"How can I not." She whispered.
Once across the bridge Naruto noticed something in the grass. His eyes lit up at all the ryo lying on the ground.
"Look at all that Ino-chan. Maybe someone dropped it."
He quickly ran over to the spot under the tree. Ino looked around in a suspicious manner.
"Naruto, you probably shouldn't..."
He bent down to pick up the money. He turned to her and grinned.
"Ino-chan, it's okay. I..." Suddenly a net came flying down and captured the surprised Uzumaki. Ino sighed, she tried to warn him that it might be some sort of trap. She pulled out a kunai and ran over to free him.
"You idiot, did you really think it was not a trap."
"Oh, look at what we have here. Two little Konoha shinobi." A man spoke.
Ino and Naruto looked up to see a dark haired man standing in the tree.
"Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked.
The man let out a laugh. He leaned on his sword for support. It looked like a heavy sword. Naruto was instantly reminded of Zabuza's sword and Kisame's sword Samehada.
"My name is not of importance, little boy."
Ino released Naruto from the net, she helped him up from the ground.
"Aren't you the tough one." Ino spoke. "That's a pretty lousy trick to pull."
"I don't think its so lousy. Your foolish little friend over here fell for it right away."
Naruto squinted his eyes. He glared at the tall stranger.
"Oh yeah, you freaky looking bastard. Come over here and say it to my face."
The stranger jumped down from his spot in the tree. He slung his sword over his shoulder with ease. Naruto didn't even wait another second before running towards the stranger.
"Naruto wait." Ino called out to him.
"Don't you worry Ino-chan, I'll take this bastard out, its no problem."
The man swung his sword at Naruto. The blond dodged and jumped. He grabbed Naruto by his shirt collar and then threw into a nearby tree.
"Shit." Naruto cursed.
"You're quite the impatient one aren't you?"
"You just got lucky."
Naruto stood up quickly. Ino wondered why he didn't seem to be in any pain after colliding with that tree.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu."
Five clones appeared around him. The stranger just let out a laugh. Was this boy serious with a simple jutsu like that. He knew that he could take it easy around these Konoha shinobi. All of the Naruto's ran at him.
"Well, I just have to slice each and everyone of you down until I find the real one."
He instantly sliced through all of the clones. He spotted the real Naruto, he ran forward grabbing him.
"You're a pathetic little boy." He spoke.
"Naruto be careful." Ino tried to warn him.
It was already too late. The young man was now trapped in a genjutsu. Naruto looked to see that he was alone. There was no Ino to be found.
"Ino-chan." He called out.
He received no answer. Suddenly the sky started to turn a dark red. He looked up to see the stranger in black. He had that same twisted grin on his face.
"Hello there."
"Where is Ino-chan?"
The man let out a laugh. He could see that Naruto was starting to get agitated.
"Don't fucking laugh, you bastard. Where is she?"
"Oh, you mean you're pretty little friend." He reached around him to reveal that he had captured the platinum blond.
"Ino." He tried to run to her. Only he couldn't because he was now being held back by two very large men. He wasn't going anywhere.
"Naruto?" She called out to him.
She tried to free herself from the stranger. But he had her legs and arms tied with ropes. She was now stuck in his clutches.
"Now you get to watch as I slice your pretty friend to pieces."
"No!" He shouted. "Let her go." He struggled to break free from his current state.
"Naruto, it's okay. I don't blame you for this, I still..." She was cut off when the man shoved a sword into her stomach. Naruto flinched when he heard an ear piercing scream.
"Ino!"
"Naruto..." She breathed. "It's okay."
He took two more swords and continued to stab the platinum blond. Naruto could do nothing except watch this scene play out before him.
"Fuck, I gotta get out of this genjutsu."
Naruto knew that he needed to get out of this. He needed to make sure that Ino was okay. Meanwhile Ino was leaning up against a tree. She needed to help Naruto get out of that genjutsu he was trapped in.
"Hm?" The dark haired man looked around for any sign of Ino. "It looks like you were abandoned by your teammate. How unfortunate."
Ino really wished that she had Shikamaru here. He would always watch over here whenever she left her body. Since there was no one that could watch over her. She dared not even attempt her jutsu.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu." She whispered. Unfortunately she was only able to make two clones. But it would be enough to cause a distraction.
"Distract that creep, while I go help Naruto."
The two clones and nodded and they ran off. Ino ran through the bushes making sure to keep hidden.
"Oh, what's this." He noticed the two Ino clones. "Not this silly little trick again. I guess I better find the real one."
Ino noticed Naruto on the ground in his unconscious state. She crawled over to him and put her hands over his chest.
"Release."
Blue eyes instantly popped open. He sat up with the help of Ino.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah I'm fine. I've never been good at genjutsu." He smiled.
The man turned around to see that Ino had released Naruto from the genjutsu.
"I should have realized this. It was a foolish era on my part, never mind that. It wont happen again."
The dark haired male came charging at the two teens. Ino put her arm around his shoulder and lifted him up, together they jumped dodging his blade.
"Naruto, if you watch my body I can get into his mind."
"No way Ino-chan. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Where are you both hiding now, you little punks."
Ino then realized that she still had her arm wrapped around his shoulder. She quickly let him go.
"Naruto, I'll be alright. You distract him with your shadow clones, and I'll get into his mind."
Naruto shook his head no.
"I don't like your idea, I'm sorry Ino-chan."
He sent her a smile, before running back out to face the man.
"Naruto!"
"Okay you bastard try this on for size."
Ino watched as the young man started to perform his rasengan.
"Rasengan." He cried out and went charging at the man. He used the blade to shield himself from a direct hit with the rasengan.
"Pretty neat trick kid. You put a dent in my sword."
Naruto only smirked.
"Don't worry, next time I'll get you."
"Who says there will be a next time." He tried to strike Naruto with his sword, but Naruto jumped back. Ino pulled out a kunai and ran forward.
"I can't let you do everything, Naruto." She smiled.
She tried to slice him with the kunai, only he dodged.
"You missed girl."
"Whatever." She smiled. "Shinranshin no jutsu."
It was over, she left her body and entered the strangers. Naruto leaped forward to catch her body from falling to the ground.
"Heh, this guy isn't so smart after all."
"Ino-chan?"
"Yep, Naruto take care of this punk."
"With you inside of his body. No way, I don't want to hurt you."
"I'll be okay."
Suddenly the man hunched over, holding his head. He was trying to get Ino out of his head.
"Stupid girl get out of my head."
It didn't take him very long to get control of his body. In a matter of minutes he casted her out of his mind.
"Ino-chan are you okay?"
"Hai, I'm fine."
"That was a pretty neat trick girl. Too bad it didn't work."
Naruto lifted Ino off of the ground. The two of them jumped back from the stranger's blade again.
"Ino, you stay over here. I'll take care of this guy."
"But..."
"Trust me it'll be alright." He smiled. "Okay, now let's get serious." He told the man.
"You mean you were just kidding before, alright let's get serious. Come on." He motioned for Naruto to come charging at him.
Ino cursed herself for not being able to help him right now. She felt useless while watching Naruto do all of the fighting.
"I'm no good to him right now. I can't even help him."
While fighting Naruto, the stranger in black got an idea. He would use Naruto's weakness against him. He could think of no other weakness than Ino. She was his comrade, naturally he would want to protect her.
"Who do you want to protect?"
"Huh?" Naruto asked.
"Who do you want to protect? I think that you want to protect your little girlfriend over there."
The man stepped back and flung his sword in Ino's direction.
"Oh shit." Ino cursed.
That blade was going to pierce right through her. She needed to move out of the way, and she needed to do so now. She closed her eyes anticipating the feel of the blade. Only it didn't come. She opened her eyes when she didn't feel anything. There was Naruto standing in front of her. The sword had went through him. She noticed his blood leaking on the ground.
"Naruto?"
"I told you that I didn't want you to get hurt." he coughed. "Hey Ino-chan, it looks like you got what you wanted. Something did happen to us on our trip."
"Naruto, you idiot. What were you thinking?"
Naruto turned back to look at the man. His eyes flashed red.
"You tried to hurt her."
Naruto pulled the sword out of his stomach. Ino watched as more blood leaked on to the ground. Naruto went charging at the dark haired male. No one got away with hurting, or attempting to hurt one of his friends. Ino felt helpless once more, while watching Naruto attack the stranger. He pushed him to the ground and proceeded to claw at him.
Ino's eyes widened in surprise. Naruto was not showing any signs of slowing down. She wondered how he could keep going with all that blood pouring from his wound.
"Naruto?" She ran forward putting her hands to his shoulders. She needed to get him to calm down. "Naruto, stop its okay. You can stop."
After a few more moments of slicing up the man with his claws, he slowly started to calm down.
"Naruto." Ino pulled him back. "Naruto, calm down. It's alright, come here so that I can heal your wound."
"I'm fine. I'll be fine."
Ino blinked. How could he possibly be okay, after that sword wound through the stomach.
"You've got to be kidding. You're hurt."
"I'll be fine." He nodded. "Is he..."
Ino checked for any signs of life. The man wasn't dead, but he was badly injured.
"No, he isn't dead. But you seriously need to let me heal your wound."
Naruto slowly stood up, only he didn't stay up for long before falling back down. Ino moved to him. She put her hand over his wound and a green light emitted from her hand.
"There, that wasn't so bad was it. Naruto what the hell were you thinking?"
"I had to...I had to protect you."
She stared at him and he stared back at her. The two blonds not really knowing what to say at this moment. Ino opened her mouth to say something, but Naruto cut her off before she had the chance.
"Come on, let's go before this bastard opens his eyes."
Naruto didn't wait another second before walking off. Ino saw that she had no other choice,except to go after him. She still had one major question on her mind though.
"How can he move around after what happened?" She wondered.
The two blonds walked back to Konoha in complete silence. Ino had a lot of questions on her mind. Questions that only Naruto could give the answers to. Only at this time, she found that now wasn't the right place to ask them. As they were approaching the gates of Konoha it had begun to rain. The rain seemed to only come down harder. It didn't look like it was going to stop. The traveling companions entered the village. Naruto stood there for a moment. He then turned back to look at Ino. She was already staring at him with a curious expression on her face. She wanted to know what he was thinking, only she knew that now was not the time or place to invade his mind.
"Naruto?" She started.
"'Ino-chan, it's raining really hard right now. Let's go back to my place okay. I'm sure that you have some questions for me right?"
Ino only nodded. She felt that this conversation would be a serious one. They walked side by side to his apartment. He unlocked the door and stepped aside so Ino could enter first.
"I'll get you a towel so that you can dry off, and I'll make us some tea."
The platinum blond sat down across from his bed. She waited for him to come back with that towel and tea. Ino freed her hair from its ponytail. It was now cascading around her shoulders. When Naruto came back he stood there for a moment, just staring at her. She looked so beautiful to him right now.
"Wow." He whispered.
"Wow what? What's wrong?"
"Um nothing. Here Ino-chan." He handed her the towel. Their hands touched for a minute. Naruto quickly let go, but he could still feel the warm touch of her fingers. He walked over to the window, and began to stare out of it. The rain didn't appear to show any sign of letting up.
"Thank you Naruto, for the towel and the tea."
"Sure, no problem."
A sigh escaped the young male. Deep down he knew that he should tell her about the Kyuubi. Now was a perfect time than any. There was no real reason why he should hide it from her.
"What's wrong Naruto?" She wondered.
"Ino-chan, may I ask you a question?"
"Sure go ahead."
"Is the tea okay?"
Ino frowned slightly. She had a feeling that wasn't the question that he wanted to ask her. Why was he purposely stalling? What was he so afraid to say?
"It's fine, but that wasn't what you really wanted to ask me was it?"
"No, you got me." He grinned. "What I wanted to know was how you felt about earlier. Ino-chan did I scare you today?"
She blinked, her eyes never once left him.
"You mean when you wouldn't stop attacking that guy?"
"Yeah." He nodded.
"You really worried me Naruto. I was kind of afraid that you might have killed him. All of your behavior concerned me. But Naruto I..."
Naruto turned around to face Ino. The two blonds were now staring at each other from across the room. He wasn't really surprised by her response to his question.
"Hm." He nodded. "I'm sorry that I scared you."
"No." She shook her head. "If anything I was just really worried about you. I never seen you act like that before. And then when you protected me from getting hurt, you were losing so much blood. You could have bled to death. I still don't understand how you were able to keep fighting. I guess its that strong will of yours huh?" She managed to smile.
Truthfully she didn't know what to believe.
"Ino-chan?" He whispered.
"Naruto, what's really going on. And don't tell me that I'm imagining things. There's something on your mind right?" she asked him.
His silence was all the answer that she needed. There was something on his mind that he was thinking about. He was scared to tell her, she could feel it.
"Well..." He started. "There is something."
"Okay, well tell me. Or do I have to invade your mind." She threatened in a somewhat cheerful manner.
"No, that's not necessary Ino-chan. Do you remember when I said that Gaara and I had things in common?"
"Yeah, you said that you both knew what it was like to be alone. What did you mean by that, and please answer me this time."
"Alright, first let me show you something."
He quickly pulled off his shirt. Ino felt her cheeks flush red. It faded soon enough when she noticed that he had a seal mark on his stomach.
"Naruto?"
"Yeah, you're probably wondering why I have this seal mark on my stomach. Do you know anything about Kyuubi, and the attack that happened here 17 years ago?"
She blinked again. She didn't really know much about it. The only thing she knew was that the Yondaime sacrificed himself and killed it.
"Well, my parent's might have talked about it before. You're talking about the fox demon that the Yondaime killed, right?"
Naruto gripped his fist in an attempt to gather up his courage. He only hope that things wouldn't turn out the way that they did in his dream. No matter what, he didn't want that to happen.
"Kyuubi was never killed. The only way to get rid of it was to seal it away, inside of someone."
Ino's eyes widened. She had a pretty good feeling where he was going with this.
"Naruto, you..."
"Yeah." He nodded. "He sealed Kyuubi inside of a newborn baby, 17 years ago. I'm not really surprised that you don't know much about it. None of the kids our age were told about it . Gaara is the only person who could understand what it's like to be a jinchuuriki. A holder of one of the tailed beasts."
The platinum blond felt the tears threatening to come down. Naruto was sharing something very personal with her. He had thought of her as someone that he could confide in. This was a big deal to her.
"The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside of me. When I was little I used to wonder why everyone hated me. Why no one wanted to be around me? I used to wonder what I did wrong. What did I do to make everyone despise me. It's the reason why I fought so hard to be noticed. I wanted people to stop looking at me like I was some sort of monster. It's one of the reason's why I want to be Hokage so badly. I just want to prove to everyone that I am somebody. That I'm not the Kyuubi."
Ino imagined how difficult it must have been for him, with people shunning him all the time. All she could think about was a small Naruto crying his eyes out at the pain. She had no idea that he had lived such a difficult life. She had never even bothered to find out. Ino felt badly for that. She should have took the time to really get to know the blond haired boy. Not that she would have really had any way of knowing. Naruto had never once complained. And he always wore a smile no matter what. She began to realize that the smile was a facade. He used that smile to pretend that everything was okay.
"He's always using that smile to pretend that he's alright."
"Gaara understands what it's like to feel what I've felt. He knows what its like to have everyone hate you. To have people look at you like your some kind of freak. All because of something that's not even your fault. I'm so proud of him for becoming Kazekage, for proving to his entire village that he wasn't really a monster. It's why I fight so hard to catch up to him so that I can become Hokage one day. Well..." He managed to smile. "Whenever Tsunade-Baa-chan decides to give me the title." He laughed a little.
"Naruto, that day when that man called you a monster..."
"He was talking about Kyuubi."
By now Ino could not stop the tears from flowing down her eyes. It was all too much to take. She wished that she would have know about this a lot sooner. She would have been a hell of a lot nicer to him. Maybe, just maybe they could have been friends a lot sooner. Ino knew that she couldn't change the past. But she could make up for it right now. Ino stood up, she wiped her tears away from her eyes.
"Naruto!" She cried out and ran into his arms. She placed her arms securely around his shoulders. He looked surprised by her behavior. He soon wrapped his arms around her waist.
"You are not a monster. I don't care what that drunk bastard said. I don't care what anyone says. It wont make me change my opinion of you. You are Uzumaki Naruto, not the Kyuubi."
"Please Ino-chan don't cry for me."
"I'm sorry." She apologized. "I'm sorry for everything. You should have never had to be alone, not for a single second. I'm sorry for not becoming your friend a lot sooner."
He felt the young woman's heartbeat. It gave him a warm, comforting sort of feeling.
"I'm not alone. I had people like Iruka-sensei and old man Hokage."
"You'll never be alone again, I'll see to it. You wont be alone because you have Tsunade-sama, Iruka-sensei, Forehead, all of your friends, and...and me." She added lastly.
She slowly pulled away from him. The blue eyed girl put her hand to the seal.
"I can't pretend to know how you and Gaara-sama feel. But I can understand. It must have been very painful for the both of you. It must have been so difficult."
"Yeah." Naruto nodded. "For Gaara more than me. He was always alone, I was lucky to have Iruka-sensei and everyone. I sometimes think that he's free now, at least he doesn't have to be a jinchuuriki any longer."
Ino blinked curiously.
"Gaara-sama is no longer a jinchuuriki?"
"No, it's a long story but he died. When the spirit of the beast is taken from the holder, the holder will die. This old lady named Chiyo brought him back to life."
Ino froze at Naruto's words. She didn't want to even think of something like that happening to him. He had become someone very important to her.
"Naruto, I don't want anything to happen to you. You have to promise that you'll be alright." She spoke teary eyed. Naruto then reached over and wiped the fresh tears out of her eyes.
"No problem there Ino-chan. I'll be fine, I still have to become Hokage don't I." He smiled.
"Yes, you sure do." She managed to smile back.
Ino turned her attention outside, a sigh escaped her.
"It doesn't look like the rain is going to stop anytime soon."
"Yeah." He agreed.
"Do you mind if I stay here the night?"
She didn't even wait for him to answer. Instead she had a seat on his bed.
"Ino, are you sure?"
"Yeah." She let out a yawn. "I'm pretty tired and there's no where else that I want to be right now." Ino admitted to him.
Naruto sat down in the chair across from the bed.
"Alright Ino-chan you can stay if you want."
"Come over here, lay with me."
"Huh?" He blushed.
"Well, its not like we haven't shared a bed before, remember?"
"Yeah, but that was different. You were like, unconscious or something."
"It's okay I don't mind. Besides its your place, who am I to kick you out of your own bed."
Naruto reluctantly placed himself besides the platinum blond. There was silence while the two blonds laid there staring into the ceiling. There was a good amount of space between them, so there were no problems.
"Naruto, it was probably hard for you to tell me your secret huh?"
"Yeah it kind of was." He nodded.
"I'm glad that you did." She yawned. "You...you can trust me."
Before Ino completely realized it she was fast asleep. Naruto turned to look at the sleeping girl. Based on impulse he put his arm around her, and that was how the two of them fell asleep, right in each other's arms. With nothing but the sound of the rain hitting the window pane.
A/n: Okay so I hope that you all enjoyed. I will see you for the next chapter. Read and Review please.
