There was something magical about her. The way she stood biting her lip in anticipation, anticipation for him no less, that made Ino seem all the more beautiful, her long platinum blond hair contrasted the soft red of her sundress. She was by definition, every teenage boy's dream, tall, blond, beautiful, funny, charming, smart.
How on earth was he this lucky? He shouldn't be this lucky! This had to be some kind of a mistake right? Why were his legs moving forward on his own? Not for the first time, Naruto found his body acting without any input from his mind as his legs began to move towards Ino.
Her eyes lit up the moment she saw him and a smile appeared on her face, not just any smile a real honest to god smile that made his heart want to leap out of his chest. It wasn't the kind of smile that shouted to the world that she was happy, rather it showed the world that she was happy by allowing the smallest glimpse into her soul.
"Hey, you," She laughed running up to him, her hips swaying with each step and continued to once she stopped. It was nice to know that she was as excited or nervous or both! About this date as he was. "What took you so long?"
"I'm sorry," Naruto scratched the back of his head, feeling incredibly underdressed for this. He felt like he needed to be wearing something fancy just to be on Ino's level of… everything! "I lost track of time staring at you."
Dammit! That was not the right thing to say! Now she was going to think he was some pervert… well, she probably already thought that but now she was going to-
"Aww," She grabbed his hand, entwining their fingers. "You're so sweet Naruto, I guess I can forgive you this one time."
She pecked him on the cheek. It was like the first raindrop to fall from the sky, he felt it, he could still feel it there sitting on his cheek but he had no proof that it happened, that it wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him.
Should he ask her to do it again? Should he do it to her? Why was this so hard?
"Now come on, I know just the place!" Ino backed up smiling and biting her lip for what had to be the ultimate combo of sexy and cute. She tugged on his arm just enough to get him moving.
"Wait? Isn't it my job to plan the date?" And pay for it, but that wasn't the point.
Ino snorted and fell alongside beside him. "Please, I've been looking forward to this for like three years now! Besides, you were probably just going to take me to Ichiraku's weren't you?"
"I was going to ask if you wanted to see a movie afterward," Naruto mumbled. Ino's hand was so soft, and warm, but not the kind of warm that made his palm sweat, it was the kind of warm that was just fun to touch. And she smelled good too, like… vanilla?
There was that smile of hers again. "Oooh, that's a good idea, dinner, and a movie, classic first date stuff."
"So, where are we going anyways?"
"It's a secret." She stuck her tongue out of him, highlighting the way her hair hid one of her blue eyes. "Trust me it's going to be sweet."
"You're taking me to a pastry shop aren't you?" Naruto laughed, pulling Ino's arm so that their shoulders were touching now. Being close to her was intoxicating.
Her face turned a shade of red and she huffed. "Maybe, but it's a new place that opened up a few months ago, and I wanted my first time to be with you."
They froze. Both of them. The redness of Ino's face quickly spread around her entire body as the realization of what she said made itself known. Naruto himself was fairing not much better. His time with Jiraiya had done a fantastic job of scrubbing away the innocents of his youth, there was no way that he wasn't going to pick up on what Ino had just said.
"Look!" Ino yanked his arm downward, she looked like a blonde tomato with steam coming out of her ears. "That's not what I meant! I don't want you to be my first time!" She blushed again. "Wait No! I mean I do! But wait! No! Look! Just forget that I said anything! If you promise you won't bring this up again I won't go into your mind and make you forget okay!?"
She was breathing heavily now, tears were welling in her eyes, and she looked ready to die of embarrassment at any moment.
"I'm just glad it wasn't me that said something stupid this time," He laughed, earning a well-deserved smack to the chest from Ino.
"You jerk!" She puffed, her face scrunched up like she just ate a sour lemon, but she was smiling. "You need to say something stupider to make up for it!"
"What why?"
"Because if we're going to do the dumb-blond power couple then I need to be the smart one!"
"What? No fair, you get to be the smart one, the pretty one, the sexy one, and the funny one? What does that leave me with?"
"The sweet loveable dumb one now please say something stupid I think I'm going to literally die of embarrassment." Ino placed a hand to her head with a dramatic flair.
"It's not that easy!" Naruto protest. "I can't just think of something dumb to say it just kind of pops out!"
Ino glared at him, lip trembling with a slight pout. "Please, I don't want to have to go inside your head on the first date."
"Uhh, I don't think there'd be room for you in my mind, I mean, you don't really cross my mind, you kind of already live there." Naruto bit his lip. That sounded stupid so it had to work right?
Ino turned redder than any rose he had ever seen. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were wide. She hit him in the arm. Hard. "You jerk! That wasn't stupid! That was beautiful! Like really Naruto? That's the best stupid thing you can come up with? Honestly, if we weren't about to eat chocolate I'd be seriously upset."
"So are you mad or happy?"
"I don't know, both probably."
Girls were amazing creatures, but really weird.
XXXX
Naruto had the natural ability to charm her pants off. Not literally of course. But he was just so… so…. Smooth, if she didn't know any better she could have sworn that somebody was feeding him lines. But honestly, she didn't know anybody that was suave enough to come up with Naruto's lines.
Or anybody that could say them without bursting out in laughter and blowing their cover.
Fortunately, she was currently stuffing her mouth with chocolate before she could say something else stupid. Also why the hell did she have to kiss him on the cheek earlier? She should have just kissed him! Right? Was that too fast? Who the hell does cheek kisses anymore? Grandma's that's who!
She glanced towards her ever so charming date and locked eyes with him. This was the fifth time since they had sat down at the table! It was so… heart quickening, he didn't even have pretty eyes! They were just blue! Sure that was rare and she supposed they were alright looking, but there was nothing special about them. Aside from the fact they had the special ability to make her face warm and her heart race.
"Why do you keep staring at me like that?" Ino mumbled taking another bite of her chocolate.
"Huh?" Naruto asked in the confused he always did right before he said something that was literally going to make her heart split in two and get in a cage fight with itself to so that it could beat faster. She didn't need to worry about a diet around Naruto, just being around him was cardio enough. "Why wouldn't I stare at you. Don't you know how Into you I am?"
R.I.P. Ino Yamanaka death by flirting.
"You're sweeter than this chocolate," She huffed taking one last final bite of her dessert.
He stood offering her his hand once more. She took it again. His hand was so warm and rough, big too but somehow it felt like her hand was the perfect fit for it. He helped her stand, making her bounce to her feet, he was so tall now. But somehow he was still the same adorkable Naruto he always was. There was just more of him. "So where to now?"
"Hmm," Ino smiled interlocking her arm with his, she was so tempted to rest her head on his shoulder. But would that be too far? She already kissed him on the cheek? Was this too fast? It didn't feel too fast. She was going to do it! His shoulder was firm, but so inviting. It felt like the easiest thing to fall asleep to. "Well, we can walk around for a bit, or head to the movies, you lead I'll follow."
"Hmm,"
"Actually, wait," Ino smiled, walking like this would be awkward, but holding onto Naruto like this during a movie would be a wonderful idea. "Let's hit the movie first, ramen afterward okay?"
"Yea sounds good." She really liked the way he smiled at her.
With each passing moment, it felt like Naruto was growing more attractive, as he began to relax around her. It felt good seeing him so happy all because of her. He was so tall now, a lot taller than she ever would have thought a shrimp like him would have become, maybe he wasn't done growing either?
What did he look like shirtless?
"So, did you think about me a lot while on your training trip?" Ino pressed a hand to Naruto's chest, trying to feel it in a not so subtle yet probably still subtle way.
"Do you remember when you flashed me your bikini that time we went shopping?" His face turned slightly red.
How could she forget that day? It was both the happiest she had been in a while followed immediately by her heartbreaking for the first time. "Yea, that was a fun day, what about it?"
"I think that image has been burned into my mind, whenever I close my eyes I see it."
"Perv!" She slapped him in the chest again lightly, did that mean that he thought about her when he… oh, oh god, he did didn't he totally thought about her when he was alone at night, in her yellow polka dot bikini that was… she was Thirteen then! A most devious idea crossed her mind. "You know, I still own that bikini, maybe it's time to update your memory?"
Naruto came to a sudden stop, causing her to jerk slightly. His face was red and he was looking at her with great big red eyes. He swallowed hard and looked at her with a fire in his eyes. She took it back, he had wonderful eyes. "Are you trying to seduce me?"
"Depends?" She bit her lip and raised her eyebrows. "Is it working."
"What do you think?"
XXXX
Ino stood in the doorway of her home. The sky was dark save for the lone moon shining above them, bathing the streets in its pale light. It was the cool mid-autumn air that was biting her heels making her regret not taking a sweater one their date. "Well, I had a lot of fun tonight Naruto."
"Yea," He said softly, flopping his arms slightly. "Do you think we can do it again sometime?"
She laughed pushing her bang out of her eye. "We can do this whenever you want Naruto."
He grabbed her hand and stared at it for a moment, and looked her in the eyes begging for permission. She nodded, and he leaned down and kissed her hand. It was so cheesy if she had been lactose intolerant it might have killed her. Her hand burned where he had kissed it, part of her never wanted to wash it ever again. "Does that mean you'll be my girlfriend?"
Her heart leaped into her throat and nearly jumped out so that it could scream 'yes' to the world and kiss Naruto. But her mind reeled her in. "We've only gone on one date Naruto."
"So?"
"So," Ino fumbled trying to find the words. "I like you okay, I like you a lot, but I don't want us to have a great couple of months and then break up. I want us to build something that will last. Something that won't ever end. I know it's silly but -"
"It's not silly," Naruto almost shouted, taking a step between them, still holding onto her hand. Another step and the only thing that separated their bodies was the combined width of their hands. "I want something that will last with you too, but it's just whenever I look at you it makes my heart beat faster."
"I'm not going to kiss you right now." Ino bit her lip and stared up at Naruto. He was so close, so tall, so handsome under the moonlight. If she didn't hold onto her restraint there would be nothing to stop her teenage hormones from making a series of wonderful mistakes. "But I wouldn't mind if you just grabbed my face and kissed me."
He did just that.
His lips were chapped, and he sucked at kissing. They both did. But it was undeniably wonderful. It lingered as they separated, eyes fluttering, hearts beating.
"I planned on waiting until the second date before we kissed." Ino touched her lips as they formed into a smile. "But something about you just makes me want to do stupid stuff all the time."
"So, sure." Ino smiled kissing him again. It was so easy to just let go. "I'll be your girlfriend."
He reached out to one of the pots in front of the store. "This is a gillyflower right?"
She nodded. And he placed it behind her ear keeping the hair out of her face. "I know it's supposed to represent a long life and beauty. But lets hope it'll mean that I can have a long happy relationship with my beautiful girlfriend."
AN: So... remember how I ssaid Iw as going to work on What is Due? I lied. I mostly just got super excited about this chapter and ended up writing this. Anyways, I'm starting a minivacation from writing tomorrow to play Xenoblade Chronicles 2. So see ya'll soon!