Authors note: I originally posted this story onto ffnet but deleted it a couple of chapters in to focus on the ao3 version, (I find fixing little errors on ao3 infinitely easier than the system on this website.) Now that I've finished it and don't really plan on doing any more editing I'll be posting the entire work now :)
Naruto was sitting in Sakura's overly decorative, pink but otherwise comfortable bedroom, lulling about on the softly carpeted floor, idly brushing her hand through the ends of one of her pigtails. Her back was up against an equally girlish bed, donned with a frilly pink duvet. It was relatively peaceful. Relatively. Sakura was casually painting Ino's nails while Ino in turn carried on about her colourful love life.
"I mean he was pretty cute but, ugh. So annoying." She drawled. Sakura nodded sympathetically.
"He kept carrying on about how he spent the summer on his uncle's rice paddy. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a working man but like, he didn't even enjoy it. It was so annoying having to sit through him complain about getting paid to spend time with his distant relatives. And to think, I went on three dates with this guy? That's just how cute his face was." Ino sighed. She rolled her eyes. "I should stop giving civilian boys a chance, I just can't understand them."
Sakura chuckled. "I know what you mean. I love my parents, but I would never marry a civilian. Being a kunoichi is hard enough without some guy breathing down my back about how it's too dangerous." She quirked slightly mockingly. Naruto just hummed in agreement.
If Naruto was, to be frank right now she honestly didn't understand what the big deal was here. Why would Ino date somebody she considered annoying just because they are cute? She kept that thought to herself as she wasn't in the mood to be swiped at with Ino's magazine. Or even worse, Sakura's fists.
Naruto had realised relatively quickly that boys were a peculiarly touchy subject with her more feminine friends. She found it uncharacteristically easier to just avoid causing any unnecessary pain. In situations like this, her best course of action was to nod in agreement when it seemed like that was the right vibe.
While she hummed along with them in agreement, she idly considered if this perhaps wasn't such an ideal time to hang out with Sakura and Ino. They were in a weird mood right now where they wanted to do stuff like put nail polish on each other and gossip. Naruto examined her nails that were perfectly applied by Sakura's sturdy hand. So pretty. They were as orange as her oversized jacket.
But now that her little moment of pampering was over things had gotten kind of boring. Probably not as boring as if she were in her tiny apartment gambling with her shadow clones on who gets to eat her favourite limited-edition cup of ramen. As she listened to them jabber on over silly stuff like who would you rather marry Gai or Lee she decided it wasn't so boring after all.
"I mean if I had to choose, I suppose it would be Lee." Sakura reluctantly admitted.
"No way, Lee? He looks like a child, and his voice is so high and squeaky. Gai is obviously the better option of the two. He looks like a man." Ino claimed sounding almost too sure of herself.
"Ew, Ino! It sounds like you're interested in him." Sakura paused from painting Ino's nails to throw her a look of disdain.
Ino smirked and leered a little. "What can I say, I like older men." Her voice was so flirty that Sakura and Naruto shivered a little in disgust.
Naruto chose that moment to look back down at her nails and felt admiration for them wash over her. She wished they would stay perfect like this. It was so annoying how they would chip off as soon as she started training. It always looked so dirty when that happened. How is it that Granny Tsunade can keep her nails so prim and perfect even after she has completely slam-dunked on somebody. If Naruto could figure out her secret manicure Jutsu, maybe she wouldn't even need to have her nails painted over and over when Sakura has deemed it necessary.
Before she knew it, she had completely blocked out Ino and Sakura's yakking and was imagining her future with a perfectly executed chakra control and even more perfect nails.
"What about you Naruto?" Ino cut into her nail polish-driven reflections. Huh, what about Naruto now? They aren't still talking about Gai and Lee were they? Sakura barked out laughing.
"Naruto doesn't date! All she thinks about is training Ino, you should know that!" Sakura seemed to be done painting Ino's nails now and was carefully screwing the brush back into its little glass bottle. Put out, Ino huffed in annoyance as she brought her hand up to blow on it.
"Sakura, come on. We are not little kids anymore. Sure, she might not be dating anyone, but there's no way our little blonde bombshell right here hasn't noticed the physically alluring charm of the opposite sex." Ino practically purred with glee. She rather seedily looked Naruto up and down making her feel all kinds of self-conscious.
"Or maybe the same sex…" Ino added thoughtfully. Sakura blushed and made a face that seemed to take those words under consideration.
"Uhhh… what do you mean? Alluring boys? Same-sex? You guys are always so confusing about this stuff." Naruto's head strained. Alluring like how Ero-Sennin writes those overly graphic novels that he forced Naruto to read drafts of during their time spent away training?
"Well, I guess I do kind of know what you mean…" She trailed off, thinking of those rather embarrassing lewd images induced by Jiriaya's writings. Se sputtered a little to try and explain herself, "I'm not interested in that sexy girl stuff you know? I don't think I was ever that interested in all that stuff Jiraiya used to write, I guess you'd say 'not my cup of tea'? I understand why some people would like it! And it's not like I necessarily hated it, I just never got into them…" Naruto felt the hot heat of shame crawling up her neck as though she just admitted to something sacrilegious.
"Naruto you Idiot! We're not asking you if you're a lesbian." Sakura interjected but a rather low murmur coming from Ino "well I guess that clears one thing up" claimed otherwise. Sakura sauntered her way over to where Naruto was sitting rather comfortably on her lovely fluffy carpet. Naruto flinched, ready to be smacked into that other dimension that Sakura so frequently enjoys sending her to when she seems to have said something utterly tasteless. Instead, a hand landed rather heavily on top of her head and patted her. She blinked up, not that she wasn't relieved, she felt as though what she had said this time was more embarrassing on her part rather than anyone else's.
Sakura heaved a sigh, "You can't help it I guess. You've been training for most of your life and spent a majority of your puberty with Jiraiya." She stressed the name as though she was stopping herself from calling him something else. Ino nodded in agreement. "It's a miracle really, that you didn't end up as dirty as that old man with his smutty novels." The pale blue-eyed blonde added in astonishment.
"But I honestly can't believe you're still so utterly oblivious to all those insatiably hot guys throwing themselves at your feet." Ino regarded with a rather thoughtful look.
"What do you mean? No one has even intentionally thrown themselves at my feet, that's ridiculous. That kind of stuff only happens when one of my shadow clones sucker punches them into the dirt!" Naruto exclaimed with pride.
"Ugh, Naruto. That is not what she meant. I mean I guess you could read it that way too I suppose. It does seem like that every guy you have beaten to a bloody pulp becomes utterly infatuated with you. Your hand has some kind of love hormone in it that activates in mortal combat." Sakura shook her head pityingly and continued to pat Naruto's head comfortingly. Naruto looked down at her own fist curiously. She did tend to make friends with her enemies after she beats some sense into them.
"I've never really thought about it I guess." She commented still eyeing up her hand with intrigue. Ino and Sakura both share a look as if they were having an internal debate of sorts with each other.
"Well…" Ino drawled and got up from Sakura's bed to take a rather close seat next to Naruto on the floor, her skirt-clad thigh rubbing up against Naruto's dark pants. Her face was implying mischief. "Perhaps now is the perfect time to think about it." She grinned. Naruto blinked even more confused. She looked up to Sakura who was still standing above her as she just smiled back and took an equally impersonal seat on Naruto's other side. At least Sakura wore tights under her skirt.
"Oh my god. This is IMPOSSIBLE!" Ino exclaimed.
Sakura looked equally dejected. Her shoulder slumped in total disappointment.
"Don't you at least think Sasuke is kind of hot, Naruto? Surely you have eyes." Ino drawled. She felt Sakura tense beside her at the mention of his name.
"Well yeah, I guess so. Sasuke is pretty, it's a little girly actually." Naruto pondered on the thought. "But he's like a nasty older brother to me." She felt Sakura relax. "Poor Sasuke. He's going to be so heartbroken." Ino replied ignoring the indignation of two women beside her.
"You guys, I don't see what the problem is here. I love Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Kiba, Shikamar-"Ino's hand stopped directly in front of her face, successfully silencing her.
"We get it. You love Konoha. You, however, seriously don't get it." She sighed and leaned back against the bed behind them. Ino looked up to the ceiling in despair as though trying to make a silent prayer.
"Honestly, none of this is surprising. Of course, Naruto cannot figure out how to separate her feelings of love, her hearts too big to notice anybody might be a bit more special to her." Sakura then rested her hand gently on Naruto's head.
"Naruto-chan, I'm flattered about how important you consider us all to be… but you can't exactly start a harem with us all." Sakura patted her soothingly.
"H-Harem!?" Naruto gasped. She was intimately familiar with the word harem from her days proofreading Ero-Sennins practice draft of Icha Icha Kingdom.
"I don't want to do anything like that- and with all of you- not that I don't think you're cute Sakura-chan, Ino-chan-"
Donk.
Sakura's rather tenderly pat somehow turned into a fist on the head.
"I was joking, you utterly brainless girl!" She hissed, although the venom was discounted by the rather pink fluster on her cheeks. "Oh." Naruto mouthed.
"Maybe we should go outside." Ino moaned. "I need some food and preferably not under parental supervision." She eyed up Sakura who didn't exactly disagree.
Naruto got up and stretched. "Maybe I'll go out too then and train. Sitting here has got me feeling so lazy." She yawned. Ino grabbed her by the pigtail. "You." She hissed. "You are not leaving my sight until I have you figured out." She growled at Naruto.
"Give it up Ino, this is an impossible task. You should just let her train." Sakura commented. Ino shook her head vehemently in response. "We just need some fresh air and some new perspectives." Sakura just giggled and escorted them out of her room.
Their relatively short walk to the busier streets of Konoha was rather peaceful. Sakura hummed happily while Ino admired the handy work done on her nails. The lack of investigation into Naruto's seemingly non-existent sexuality was put to a halt and in its steed were promises of dango and tea.
"I still think that if we're hungry, ramen is the better choice. It's too hot for tea anyway." Naruto moaned.
"Then get iced tea. Besides, how can it be too hot for green tea when you want ramen? God Naruto, you are so strange." Ino scoffed. Naruto just scuffed the ground, only mildly annoyed. They rounded the corner to the sweet shop where Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were already sitting outside. They were talking idly amongst themselves beneath a blooming Sakura tree that was surrounded by a platform of wooden seats.
"Oh, this is just what we needed." Ino gleamed with delight and called out to the three of them, picking up her speed to jolly on over. Hinata looked up, shocked as if she was just thrown out of another plane of existence. She does that a lot, Naruto mused. Hinata smiled at them but then blushed heavily when catching eyes with Naruto.
"H-hello-"
"About time you three showed up!" Kiba barked, cutting Hinata off. Ino looked at him incredulously. "What's this? You were expecting us, huh?" She leaned in close to him with a little smirk on her face as Kiba started turning a very pretty shade pink.
"Kiba here has been talking about you three since we met up at this very tea shop. That is because he has a bet running on who will kiss the other first. Kiba believes that the three of you are closeted homosexuals. This is because he believes every group of tight-knit girls are actua-" Shino's gentle voice was cut off by the calloused hand of a panicked Kiba.
"Don't go spouting your mouth off like that! It's lies, trust me! I'm an honest guy I would never…" He physically sagged at the sound of knuckles cracking.
"Shino is lying, is he?" Sakura sauntered over with a dangerous glint in her eyes that promised an untimely murder.
"Or is it the moron who can't keep his dirty fantasies out of his filthy mouth!?" She thundered passing an award-winning punch into Kiba's right cheek knocking him right off the wooden panel he was seated on.
"Honestly, I'm not even surprised." Ino drawled. "I'd think that Kiba himself was in the closet if I didn't know how weak he was to a woman's charm" She sighed.
"I'm not weak!" He cried out from the dirt path.
"Whatever you say, dog boy." Ino flipped her hair uncaringly and took the now vacant seat up, next to Hinata. "That's dog man to you!" He jumped back up, flustered. "I mean man or beast-man. But a man nonetheless!" He flared about.
"Okay, beast-man" Ino purred suggestively before barking out her own cackle at his instant embarrassment. "Whatever, anyway that's not what we're here for. I can assure you there were no secret kisses." She looked at him unimpressed before continuing. "Sakura, you know what I like. Get my tea for me, will you?" Ino threw her purse towards Sakura.
"Yes, your highness," Sakura replied mockingly. "Come on Naruto." She latched onto Naruto's arm. Naruto gave them a toothy grin before departing to the tea shop. "Awesome punch Sakura, the look on Kiba's face was unforgettable!" The blonde laughed. Sakura just sighed and murmured ya' think so?
Her grip on Naruto tightened somewhat. It wasn't unpleasantly tight. "I don't care who you have a crush on or ever develop feelings for as long as it's not that guy" She jabbed one of her thumbs in Kiba's direction.
"I'm not exactly sure about what you mean by that, but I guess I love Kiba too. He makes me laugh, and he is so weird around girls. I just find it hilarious. But I don't think that's really what you and Ino are talking about." Naruto chuckled to herself, Kiba was annoying sometimes too but she loved the way he would get all heated up when Ino starts pulling her moves on him.
Sakura just hummed. "Mmm, I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah you love all of us. Do me a favour though, please never tell Kiba that. He'd probably get over his shyness of approaching you and it will be hell to watch him try and flirt with you and think he's doing a good job."
Naruto just tilted her head. "Kiba flirting with me? No way, we are so alike. I'm nothing like the girls he tries and puffs up to." She scratched the back of her head with her free hand.
"That's exactly why he would flirt with you." Sakura moaned. Naruto and the concept of what love is just way too complicatedly simple. How can someone who has never had their heart flutter from a stare understand how heart-racing romantic love was.
"Well, I'll try not to," Naruto promised with a little smile, not a care in the world this one. Sakura mused on that with a breathy chuckle. It was a good thing Naruto remained so carefree. After all the heart-wrenching events that happened with Kaguya, Madara, and even Sasuke it kind of made Sakura happy that Naruto remained her same overly excited, kind of oblivious but overall ray of sunshine of a friend. She smiled contently as Naruto beamed at the Dango she apparently hadn't wanted in ramens stead.
On their way back to the other four shinobi whilst juggling sweets and tea, they came into earshot.
"You're kidding me, Naruto has never had a crush before? Well then, maybe this my chance." Kiba started fixing his hair while Hinata looked at him aghast. "Kiba-kun you c-can't" She stuttered out.
"Not a chance." Sakura deadpanned from behind him. He spun around, shocked. Swallowing nervously at Naruto's humoured face. He could feel the heat rising as his dark eyes made contact with her own soulful blue orbs. Sweat started to form on his brow as all that confidence that was oozing from him moments ago was dissolving.
"I love you Kiba" She gave him a toothy grin and his shoulders hunched up at attention. Sakura's mouth dropped as she immediately sharpened a glare of disbelief at Naruto. Kiba, however immediately perked up.
Maybe this was his chance! Kiba always considered Naruto a total babe after she came back from that trip with the great toad sage back when they were 16. He did however tend to consider most of the girls in the village fairly good-looking. Girls were like kryptonite to him when they paid him enough attention. But even so, those times when Naruto would shake off her annoyingly loose jacket when she was overheated, only to reveal a delightfully tighter black tank top made Kiba want to howl at her beauty like a dog in heat.
"You're like a brother to me." Her smile got even wider while her eyes squinted shut. It was a nice smile, but it only succeeded to fizzle him out like a deflated balloon. Ino looked at him sympathetically. "You are an idiot, Kiba." She sighed.
Naruto carefully held out one of the iced teas she had been juggling in her arms amongst the dango and pushed it out towards Hinata who looked back at her in surprise.
"I noticed you didn't have any tea Hinata-chan. And I always see you drinking this flavour so I thought I should try it too." She smiled. Hinata was strange but Naruto liked her, she was shy but kind and strong. She just wished that Hinata would speak up around her more. It aggravated Naruto somewhat that Hinata has managed to remain quite the enigma around her after all these years. This tea offering seems to bring Hinata out of the trance-like state she was in and she smiled at Naruto gently.
"Thank you very much… you didn't have to get me anything. I-I'm very grateful!" She looked determinately at Naruto with complete sincerity. Naruto smiled back and took the other vacant spot next to Hinata. While Sakura and Ino continued poking jabs at Kiba in the background.
Naruto jabbed a straw into her iced tea to get her first real sip. Wow, no wonder Hinata always gets this stuff, it's so sweet and refreshing. Naruto made a little noise of delight and felt Hinata beside her suddenly relax, not noticing how tense she was in the first place. She looked at Hinata and tilted her head.
"What's wrong Hinata-chan?" Hinata suddenly tensed up again making Naruto furrow her brows in confusion.
"Uh. No. Nothing. I was just really glad, it looked like you liked this flavour… and I know you only got it because of me… so I was very happy." She relaxed again as though she got the weight of the world off her shoulders. Naruto threw her another smile.
"It's great. I don't drink tea often, so I didn't know what to get, and then I thought of your face and remembered this one is the one that you always get so I knew I had to get this one then." She beamed at Hinata. "And it's really good!"
Hinata blushed and quickly averted her eyes. Naruto shrugged it off uncaring. She used to think Hinata's cold behaviour indicated that she hated Naruto like most of the kids did at their Academy. As the years passed by, she came to realise that this was just Hinata's personality.
"Uh... Naruto-chan, is it true you've never had r-romantic feelings before?" She asked shyly, glancing upwardly towards Naruto. Naruto threw her head back as if pained.
"Not you too Hinataaa." She moaned, drawing out her name in exasperation. Hinata swiftly looked back down at her feet as if burned.
"I'm sorry Naruto-chan. It wasn't my place." Her voice quaked a little, unlocking an emergency instinct of panic in Naruto. She hated hurting people's feelings, particularly Hinata's. Hinata was just so kind all the time and she put her life on the line trying to protect Naruto on numerous occasions. She held Naruto's hand throughout the war fearlessly. She felt so stupid pushing her annoyance out onto somebody who did not have a malicious bone in their body.
"No- Wait. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so hasty. I am always so quick to respond sometimes I don't even think. Please don't be sad Hinata, it's not your fault Sakura-chan and Ino-chan have been hounding me on this for hours." This seemed to comfort Hinata a bit because she cautiously looked back up at Naruto. Naruto sighed and placed her tea beside her before leaning back.
"It's not like I don't understand what they're talking about. You can't train with Jiraiya for three years and not understand what attraction is… I've just never felt that way about anyone before" She looked up to the sky. A small frown gracing her face.
"I guess I was just too preoccupied with Sasuke-teme and the Akatsuki to have really put any thought into it. I mean I was never really sure what would become of me, all I wanted to do was make sure I was strong enough, you know?" Naruto absently tugged at one of her pigtails before continuing, "And now they keep bugging me with this 'you don't at least think Sasuke is pretty' nonsense and saying my love isn't the right kind of love and it's just becoming a bit of a headache. I'm sorry if it seemed like I was angry with you or something like that. I promise, I'm not. There's just something wrong with me I guess." She slouched a little bit.
"No!" Hinata cried out. "There is nothing wrong with the way you love Naruto-chan!" She said without stuttering. She looked at Naruto, an absolute seriousness reflecting in her eyes where a bright flame burned beneath them with a hidden passion. Naruto perked up a little, it was rare to get such a heated reaction out of Hinata.
"B-but…" Her voice quietened down a little and her nervous stutter returned. "You don't want to have children N-Naruto-chan?" Hinata blushed and her eyes reverted down to her hands the spark that was ignited in them fading into something more docile.
Naruto tilted her head curiously at the woman, "I never thought about that… I guess so. I suppose it would be nice to have kids of my own one day…" She trailed off thoughtfully. Naruto had never spent much time thinking about having kids in her last nineteen years of life. She sometimes thought about what her genin team would be like when she finally got a chance to take the jounin exam. She loved Konohamaru and his little team of ratbags that he ran around with. The image of one or two of her own little tikes playing around her mischievously induced a tingling warm feeling in her belly.
"Yeah, that would be nice." She let out gently. Unaware of the silence that has settled around her and Hinata's conversation.
"Now this is interesting. I knew coming outside was a good idea." Ino's voice melodically drifted into her contemplation of a tiny little boy version of herself donned in orange.
"I didn't realise that's all we needed. Perhaps she isn't such a lost cause after all." Sakura resounded cheekily.
"Are you guys kidding me? Naruto with kids! That's a terrible idea! She would try and raise them on instant ramen!" Kiba sputtered loudly.
Shino shook his head in disagreement. "I think you are wrong Kiba, Naruto would be a wonderful Mother. This is because although she may be loud and overly enthusiastic she also loving and nurt-" He was inevitably cut off.
"Well, well, well Naruto. Such a maternal nature you have hidden in all that gruff boyish exterior of yours. Isn't Sasuke planning to restore his clan? I'm sure he would be glad to help." Ino leered at Naruto. Sakura stood up to attention, her Dango dropping carelessly into the dirt.
"Ino! You need to stop making these stupid jokes! Naruto and Sasuke are practically family! That is incest! I-I mean it's not actually, but emotionally!" Sakura cried out.
"The more the merrier." Ino implied with a suggestive glance at Naruto who looked mortified at the prospect. Sakura continued to flail about. "I'm right aren't I, Naruto? You wouldn't want that with Sasuke. Not that there's anything wrong with Sasuke, It's just-" Sakura cut herself off. As if her soul had managed to float out of her mouth during her little spiel. She fell back down to her seat lifelessly.
Ino raised her eyebrow at Sakura. "Sheesh, I was just playing around Sakura. No need to get you knickers in a twist over it." Sakura just nodded lifelessly as she slowly regained herself.
"I just can't see Sasuke like that. Sakura's right, he is definitely like a brother to me in here." She tapped at her heart and smiled gently at Sakura. "And Ino you know how Sakura feels, you really shouldn't tease her that hard over it." She berated, pouting a little bit. Ino just rolled her eyes.
"Good luck with that, Sakura. Sasuke is probably even more oblivious to that stuff than Naruto. At least Naruto had a notoriously seedy romance novelist to guide her somewhat. Sasuke was hanging around a total creep who was obsessed with young bodies. I dread to think what kind of influence that was on him." Ino side-eyed Sakura who sputtered in response. "He's not like that." She blushed. "Whatever you say, Sakura." Ino eluded that it was not whatever Sakura said.
"But now that I have found out this rather succulent little piece of information I think I've come up with a pretty good psychology experiment to test out on our dearest Naruto-chan." Ino declared, busting her way up from her seat in excitement. Making her way over to Naruto, Ino stood suspiciously above the pigtailed girl and closed her eyes with a deep breath.
"Uhh… you're not going to do any weird jutsu on me, Ino-chan?" Naruto peered up at her reluctantly.
"No, I'm just trying to clear my head before I begin. Don't worry, there will be no chakra involved in this little mind game" She assured. Naruto, however, did not feel any reassurance from those words.
"Okay, Naruto. I want you to close your eyes with me and breathe with me." Ino took a slow and deep inhale, she paused for a moment and then just as calmy released it. Noting that Ino didn't make any suspicious hand signs Naruto hesitantly did as instructed. It was rather mediative, she wondered briefly if sitting around like this and breathing so routinely would open her up to sage mode. They repeated the exercise for a couple more deep breathes. Everyone around them waited in curious silence.
"Now I want you to imagine yourself in a meadow, lulling on the soft green grass." Ino voice came out gently. Naruto liked Ino's voice when she wasn't being snarky or making crude jokes.
"Are you picturing it?" Oh right, the meadow. "Uhm… yup! I'm in the meadow." She commented. Ino breathed in and out again and Naruto mimicked her rhythm.
"Imagine brushing your hands through the soft grass, think about how bright the sun is above you while the wind blows through your hair and rustles through the trees." Naruto sighed contently. She loved the way the wind felt, so refreshing on a hot day. The noises that the wind creates as it makes its journey through life, breezing through the leaves and the rivers that cut through Konoha is so cathartic.
"I want you to look at your hands as they brush against the grass." Ino reverberated through her mind.
Naruto hummed pleasantly; she imagined the grass was long enough to peek through her fingertips as she rubbed against it.
"Look up and see you have a little girl running around while a little boy chases her, the kids that you want to have."
They were so cute, the little girl had a ribbon tied into her hair that billowed behind her as she ran. The boy had a sharp smile and toothy grin much like her own, they were both glittering with joy as they giggled at each other, both of them kissed with dirt that danced on their clothes from vigorous play. She smiled at them contently.
"What is their father like?" Ino asks out to her within the meadow. Naruto paused and looked around not seeing anyone else around. "I can't see him here." She replies.
"Tell me what he is like," Ino stated rather than asked this time. Naruto thought about it as she looked towards the playful children. "Kind." She breathes.
"He's playful too." She added as she watched the little girl stop and look at her before she set back off into a run after her brother, Naruto's heart warmed just looking at them. Then the little girl trips and the boy stops running, he makes his way over to help her up.
"And he's patient. More so than me." She watched as the young boy hugged his little sister while she sniffled, and then he too looked at Naruto helplessly as if asking her what he should do now.
She unconsciously registered a scribbling sound next to her as sound unnatural to her musings but quite enough to not deter her imagination. In her little fantasy, she gets up to walk over to the children but stumbles on her first misstep, it felt much like when falling into the soft lull of sleep and then suddenly kicking. Strong arms catch Naruto, placating her racing heart and she feels the almost immediate effect of being drifted back into her daydreams. Content and embarrassed at being caught a flush crawling its way mercilessly to her cheeks.
"He's cautious too, he always looks out for me." She ignores the little snicker she hears out in the real world along with he would have to. Still, in her meadow, she feels herself being steadied on her feet. She turns her head to look at the person she's sharing this fantasy with but before she can catch a real glimpse of him a brown blur rushes by them. "And I guess we would have a dog?" She adds a little hesitantly.
"Can you see who is by your side, Naruto-chan?"
She glimpses away from the children as they are getting pounced on by a little brown dog and tries to get a good look at who it is exactly that has a heavy hand on her shoulder.
"Uhmm… I can't see him." She strains to try and clear her vision but it's just making it worse.
"He looks blurry, it's kind of really hard to focus… he has dark eyes I think?" She manages to come out with that much information. She hears some whispering around her that's it? And did you get it all down? Ino sighed deeply and took a hand off from Naruto's shoulder effectively breaking the spell she seemed to be under.
Naruto opened her eyes and blinked at them all. It seemed other than Hinata who was sitting beside her, everyone has surrounded her in a small huddle.
"What was that?" Naruto asks hazily as she struggled to adjust to the daylight. "You didn't use a jutsu on me while my eyes were closed did you Ino-chan?" she pouted.
"Nope, that was all your imagination, Naruto-chan. And as to what it was, it's simple really. I just took you into the ideal headspace to describe to us your perfect man without having to focus on any one specific person." Ino winked. Naruto brought her hand up to her chin thoughtfully pondering on what she just envisioned.
"It's not ideal, but at least we figured out you certainly have a type." Ino flipped her hair and turned to Sakura to snatch the notebook she had been reading over with furrowed eyebrows. "Hey!" She protested as Ino ignored her and looked at the list approvingly.
Naruto-chans type: As described by Naruto
Kind
Playful
-Not Sasuke
Patient
Cautious
Has dog?
Dark eyes
-What a cop-out. That's like 90% of the village.
"It's definitely not ideal." Ino reiterated. Hinata leaned up to try and peer at the notes curiously. "What's wrong with it Ino-chan? I think those are all great qualities…" She queried softly.
Ino huffed. "Sure, they are all great qualities, but other than dark eyes there are no physical preferences in here! Any girl would like all this patient and kind crap but whatever. At least I learned Naruto isn't a total shrewd. She is undoubtedly attracted to something." Naruto huffed a little at being referred to as a shrewd so blatantly.
"Don't go making me do this weird mind-stuff if you're just going to make fun of me for it Ino-chan!" She exclaimed bouncing onto her feet and leaning over a little to try and get a good look at what exactly Sakura had written. Ino just hummed a half-hearted apology as she contemplated the list.
"Dark eyes, playful and dogs? You did almost have a chance, Kiba." Ino commented. His ears perked up. "But patient and cautious. That's just not in your nature at all, you wouldn't even be able to learn that kind of behaviour." She whistled at his demise while he physically slumped. He straightened himself up again with pseudo confidence.
"I can be a gentleman to my woman!" Kiba screamed with cheeks on fire before he took off running down the path, stumbling just before he turned a corner. Akamaru went with him, trotting behind Kiba with a little whine.
"I think perhaps this has embarrassed Kiba," Shino stated gently. "I should go also, I would not like my friend to lock himself within his room in shame." He looked at Hinata expectantly. Hinata jumped up alert. "R-right. We must be kind to Kiba-kun." She bowed to the other three girls and they both slowly departed.
"If you keep pushing Kiba like this he's going to explode on you one day, Ino," Sakura stated blandly and Ino just smirked in response.
"Maybe that's what I'm trying to get him to do." She implied provocatively making both Naruto and Sakura blush as Sakura facepalmed.
Naruto moved behind Ino to lean her head over the other girl's shoulder so that she could coherently read the notes Sakura had written. She considered them for a moment, Sakura's gentle voice brought her musing to an end.
"Does it make you think of anyone in particular?" She asked politely, although there was a tone in her voice that although it was soft seemed to covey there was something more to her simple question.
"I guess if you were to minus the part about a dog… I kind of think of Iruka-sensei." Kind brown eyes, a gentle but supportive smile and the patience that you would expect from an Academy teacher drifted around harmoniously in her head before she shook it out. "But no way, he's like family. I love him but not like that."
Ino snorted.
"Seems like everyone is like family to you." She stated. Naruto shook her head. "No, but with Iruka-sensei it's special, he's become something like a father to me, almost. He taught me how to cook curry, and always gives me advice when I need it." For once it seemed like Ino was not going to make any seedy comment and allow the warm sentimentality to make its run. Almost.
"Daddy-kink?"
Sakura choked and looked ready to murder Ino. This got Ino in a fluster for once and she held up her hands protectively. "I'm sorry! I was just joking! I understand, it's just pure father-daughter love!" She cried out, sweating. Ino hated getting bruised almost as much as she hated allowing suggestable comments to fly by her. This seemed to relatively placate Sakura but kept a narrow eye on the seedy little woman.
Naruto pouted a little bit. She loved Iruka dearly and didn't appreciate the comment either but decided to forgive it for now. "Please don't make me have to think about Iruka-sensei like that." She said moaned, disheartened.
"Hey, Naruto. When I was writing what you were saying down, someone did come to mind…" Sakura trailed off while Naruto and Ino looked at her curiously. Sakura started blushing a little suddenly very reluctant to carry on.
"Sakura baby, you can't say stuff like this leave me hanging. I feel like a pirate and you're holding all the treasure in that massive brain out yours." Ino moaned. Naruto looked curiously at Sakura's forehead when the apparent treasure was being held. She wasn't afraid to admit that she was also infinitely curious about who Sakura hypothesised her ideal was.
Sakura took the list back from Ino and her finger traced slowly over each word.
"At first I was thinking patient and kind and playful… That sounds a lot like sensei doesn't it? Kakashi-sensei I mean." They remained silent. Naruto felt a little shocked. She supposed sure that sounded like Kakashi-sensei but it also sounded like most mentors if she were, to be frank.
"And then the dog. Kakashi-sensei is the only shinobi I know off who keeps ninken. And dark eyes? Well other than his white hair, his almost black eye is his only distinguishable feature." Sakura finished softy. Ino shot up with clenched fists as if she got a shot of adrenaline straight to her veins.
Dog
Dog
Dog
The little brown dog on her fantasy. She didn't focus on the little furball too much, little floppy eyes. It kind of looked like Pakkun. Naruto's face exploded. She was mortified. She felt hot, more embarrassed than when she accidentally fell on Sasuke and kissed him in front of the whole genin class. Her heart was racing a mile a minute.
"Oh my god, look at her face!" Ino exclaimed, sinking her into even deeper shame. "And I think it's getting redder!" She continued unhelpfully. Naruto felt her vision swirl a little bit. Kakashi giggling gleefully behind Icha Icha Tactics as he peered perversely above the novel danced in her mind.
"I… uh-" She couldn't say anything. Kakashi raising his headband to reveal the swirling tomoe, his face dead serious as he pushes Naruto behind him.
"She's speechless!" Ino continued to gush in front of her.
I'm really starting to like you! Kakashi smiling at her during her training while she was trying to create a rasenshuriken causing her to falter and back off in embarrassment.
"No!" Naruto squealed. Her hands came up to hold her hot cheeks to try and cover the shame.
"Wow, it's like I'm seeing a whole new side of you." Sakura put an arm around Naruto's shoulder to try and comforts the girl on the verge of a breakdown.
"I'm impressed. Sakura you're a genius. And Naruto I didn't think you would have such fine taste if I'm going, to be honest." Ino nodded her head approvingly.
"Older men know what they want in life. They are so much more reliable. And Kakashi-sensei. Well, you don't need me to tell you, he's a total babe." Ino continued rattling on while Naruto melted into Sakura's sympathetic arms.
Sakura snorted, "how can you say that, you haven't even seen his face!"
Ino shook her head dismissively. "Call it female instinct, but I can just feel it in my gut. He's a handsome guy."