"Are you this dense?"
Ino was fuming. He was there to help her and not judge her. Shikamaru had been for some reason done a good job at that.
"I can't believe that I have been this dense yeah."
They were at a lockdown. Itachi had some absurd idea thinking that she actually was a prostitute. Ino would never. She had would never sell out her body in that way. Sure she undressed for money but that had always been something that made her feel empowered. It had been before she had been engaged with Itachi. Before their eyes really met for the first time and they instantly had a connection.
It hadn't been love.
It wasn't love at first sight.
Not for her the least. Ino would never allow herself to be that fragile and weak as to fall in love with a stranger. Yet she had. The man in front of her had become a stranger. They hadn't spoken in almost two years and they were only speaking because his bestfriend and she had plotted to break off his engagement and now because she was arrested for prostitution.
"I never even believed half of what she told me, but now I do."
Ino stood still. She didn't know who had told him what but she had some idea. She had a feeling who she was and she hadn't been speaking kind and true words.
"Not even she would have expected you to get arrested for prostitution."
Ino sat quietly on her chair with her legs wrapped along its legs. She had expected him to yell at her for possible blowing her case by admitting to have been with the man on the picture. The picture Itachi now was looking at with disgust. He didn't know the man.
There was one thing that didn't add up.
How could she be hooking while being with Deidara?
He would never allow that even if he prided himself with being openminded. There were limits even for the guy who went after his best friends girls. This was also a major hazard for his position. Sure he couldn't be arrested for buying sex, but he wouldn't risk it. Not for someone like Ino. Sure she was low profile, but she wasn't discreet when she invited them to her home.
There was another strike.
It didn't add up either. Ino was a smart girl. She knew better than to invite clients to her home. She had done good avoiding pesky customers at the club. She went through the procedure of coming up with a new name for her. They all did that, they had to protect their identity. What they didn't need to do was to take several different busses, changing several times, taking different busses everyday to make sure no one was following her. Apparently she had been successful too because not even Itachi had been ever able to follow her to her door in his car.
It started to make less sense. It started to sound suspicious.
"Tell me, aren't you making enough? Is that why you showed up tonight?"
There had to be a reason for her sudden appearance. She hadn't been seen in ages and suddenly she was there at his office party. She hadn't been invited so she was obviously with Deidara.
There Itachi met some problems too. Deidara hadn't been after her. He had been seen working on several of his female guests. He must have brought her but she wasn't his date in that sense. Deidara had promised him that he hadn't seen her all this time. Said that he had given up on her. He didn't want to destroy what special bond Itachi and Ino must have shared. He had never seen Itachi be real with someone else before so he would tap out of the race. He had admitted to bringing Ino home that night with the intent of sleeping with her. She had refused him, she was too out off it and she had apparently been asking for Itachi.
It didn't change the fact that she had gone after him as well. She had kissed him, but she had been honest about it if that made a difference. They hadn't defined what they were and she was always free to do what she pleases. Still it was a breach of trust. She was expected to be with Itachi only while they were going out.
It had been the most relaxing, fun and at the same time nerve wreaking week. It had all gone too fast and he might have come on too strong for her taste. It could have been him who scared her into the arms of Deidara.
"I make enough to get by at the club. I have done for years, why shouldn't I now?"
It made sense. She had always lived within her means. He had given her a taste of the good life thought. He had given her a look into his world and she might have liked it. She didn't have the funds to live that life. It had to be it. She was doing it to keep up with the life he had been willing to provide for her. Now he was providing it for someone else and she had gone after Deidara who was still free.
No, Ino was never phased with clothes with a high price tag, she seemed more pleased with stuffing her face with cheap noodles than going through several courses at a nice restaurant. She still lived where she always had. She had no reason or need to earn more money. She wasn't a climbing socialite. She wasn't living out the destiny her mother apparently had tried to give her.
"It doesn't make sense!"
Itachi was losing his temper with himself and her. In his life everyone had clear intentions. They weren't always made clear, but he had always been able to pin the out. There was always logic behind every action and everything was done with intent. He was always used to know what was going on. He was walked through everything or he was able to figure it out himself. There was never a blurry part in his life. Everything could be sorted out, figured out and taught.
Ino was a mystery.
Nothing about her made sense. Even learning some of her childhood hadn't filled any blanks. Sure it had filled some but it had only opened deeper and bigger questions. Questions even Itachi knew couldn't be asked. They could only be answered.
There had been a simple time where everything in his life was right and according to plan. There had been a time where he had been asked about himself and not what he could. He had been asked about himself and not what he knew.
There had been a time where he was on his own, there had been a time where he felt complete only to be broken in two losing the part that had made him feel so good. The part he hadn't known he had been missing all these years and it hurt now that it was gone.
He had been managing before this night. He had accepted his path in life and was ready to walk it. He had killed his law career tonight. He had destroyed his family company. He would enter a sham marriage to help himself. He did it with open eyes. She had signed the contract saying she would stay by his side for atleast six years. That gave him enough time to make something out of himself in the world of politics. Then she could have it all. He didn't care. She would get half of what he owned and he would get any possible children if children gained his new career. Not that he didn't want children and would love it.
"Feelings never does!"
It was true. Ino still loved everyone in her past that had wronged her. She still felt some love for her mother and all the friends she had once. Those who left her when she needed them the most. It didn't matter. She still had some love for them and nothing would ever change that.
She still have love for Itachi.
She had feelings she had for so long desperately tried to kill. Those she knew would only be killed along with her.
This was why she had to give them another shot. She had to make this right. If she didn't succeed hopefully she would get some closure and rest. She knew deep down that would never happened.
Ino had never believed in true love, the great love, soul mates nor the one.
Now she knew that there was only one man for her. The man that was furious at her. The one that looked at her with a scorn in his eyes. She was nothing to him and she should have known it. Yet it didn't make sense that she was her plaything. At times it seemed like he deeply cared for her.
He had even said that he would be willing to give her anything to be with him. That all he wanted was for her to love him and she did.
"You're not a feeling, Ino."
"I love you!"
