Disclaimer: I am not Kishimoto-sama; therefore Naruto doesn't belong to me. Got it? Good...

Takes place after the Sasuke retrieval mission, in the three months before Naruto leaves on his training mission with Jiraiya.

Bound Together

Chapter 3: Broken Promises, Broken Chairs

"Speech" - talking

'Speech' – Naruto thinking

Speech – flashback

"Speech" - Ino's talking

"Speech" - Kyuubi talking

"Naruto, snap out of it!"

He started at the sound of his name and snapped out of his 'meditation' to see Sakura shaking him roughly, a Styrofoam cup in one hand as the other let go of his shoulder.

"You ok? You zoned out for a while."

Naruto was surprised to notice a hint of concern in her voice.

'Sakura-chan… worried about me?'

"Of course she is! You're her teammate, and she cares. She was a total basket case while waiting for you and the others to come back!" quipped Ino in response.

"I'm ok, Sakura-chan, don't worry about me! I was just thinking of things... Can you get the old hag for me? Ow!" His request was answered with a smack on the head.

"Show some respect, idiot! I'll get her, she was on her way when I passed her earlier. You. Behave." She gave a final Sasuke-esque "hn" and stormed out of the room. Naruto paid it no mind however and dug into the ramen she left behind.

"Yum…"

"This is really good! I haven't had any in a long time. Diets get really boring you know, and I've missed noodles. What flavor is this? It tastes familiar." This was a new experience for Ino, her technique never lasted long enough to eat while in control of someone's body, and she never experimented. Evidently she could share all of his senses, but figured it wasn't worth explaining to him.

"It's miso. It's your favorite, remember?"

"This one is called miso. It's my favorite!" exclaimed little Ino.

The two blond children were sitting together at a ramen stand while waiting for Ino's mother to finish shopping for school supplies. It was Ino's first day at the ninja academy tomorrow. It would be Naruto's as well, but ignorant as always, he only learned just what a ninja last week, and he had to make do with just the minimum he was given as an orphan, and he wasn't too happy about that. Ino decided to cheer him up and introduce him to her favorite food, something he could never afford to eat before.

"Yummy! This is the best food ever!" The little boy was ecstatic at such a great tasting free meal, and it showed, much to the girl's delight. Fully occupied in their eating and conversation, neither was aware of the approach of two older and none too friendly looking boys behind them...

"You're right. I had forgotten about that. About a lot of things I guess… Enough with the ramen, you eat too much as it is. I'm not going to be trapped inside of Chouji Jr. for the rest of my life if I can help it! Get up and check on my body!" Evidently Ino got bossier on a full stomach, Naruto concluded, as he swung himself out of bed and looked over at the room's other occupant.

Numerous monitors were situated around the comatose girl, which told Naruto exactly nothing about the state of Ino's body, vacated as it was. If anything, he wasn't used to seeing the blond so…quiet. Somehow it made her look more beautiful, although he was careful not to express that opinion in words. (He didn't think he could handle Ino getting a big head; Kyuubi alone had enough ego for the entire rookie nine as it was.) Carefully, he leaned on the railing that lined the bed, reached down, and lifted one eyelid, noticing her blue eye, which seemed green in this light, looked vacant and dilated.

"No one's home," he observed.

"My body's pretty much a vegetable when I use this technique. However more powerful Yamanakas like my tousan can perform the Shintenshin and still remain conscious. With enough Chakra you can transfer your mind to someone else's body while yours remains conscious and can think on its own just like a Bunshin. I've got nowhere near enough to pull that off though, and won't for a long time," Ino explained, the disappointment evident in her voice.

Naruto took this all in, once again envying Ino's abilities. Still, he had a demon's near limitless chakra, regeneration that could heal wounds fatal to most people, the Kage Bunshin, which few could muster on the scales he preferred, the Rasengan...ok, so maybe it was a fair trade. He turned to look at the girl once more, taking in all the details: her pert little nose, the graceful way her hair fell around her head when released from her ponytail, how she almost seemed to be smiling...It reminded him of when they were little and some of those smiles were directed at him.

Carried away with his fascination with the young woman in front of her, as teenager boys are wont to do, he never noticed the railing he was leaning on was collapsible, and he was leaning precariously forward. Nor did he notice the other girl had returned and was watching him with interest.

Sakura was not used to her blond teammate ever being quiet or contemplative, but she had come to realize in recent days that he seemed to know and understand more than he let on. What surprised her the most however, was the way in which he was looking at her former best friend. To the best of her knowledge they barely knew each other, except in passing or on joint missions. The tension that had made its way onto his face since the rescue mission seemed to disappear as he studied the girl, lost in thought as though remembering something. She was loathe to spoil the moment, but Hokage-sama was here.

"Naruto?" she called out from right behind him.

Startled, he tipped forward, and with a bang, the railing collapsed, sending the boy sprawling forward.

This was a new sensation, he noticed, as he opened his eyes and saw…he was kissing Ino right on the lips.

"Oh wow…"he mused. Unresponsive as she was, it was still fireworks to him. Better than his first one with…well that first one didn't count!

"Fireworks, huh? So this is what kissing a girl feels like...Hey! I was saving my first kiss for someone who deserved it! Now get off me you klutzy excuse for a ninja!" hissed Ino.

Blushing deeply, Naruto obeyed and broke away, hesitantly, and lifted himself off the girl's motionless form. As fate would have it, as he did so, his hand ended up on top of something soft and slightly squishy…

"Squishy…? You pervert! Get off me NOW! Oh Kami, he's got to first and second base with me on the same day…My reputation is ruined!" She shrieked. Naruto wondered for an instant if one can go deaf from a voice in one's head, before panicking at the realization of what she was referring to, and backed away from the bed in a hurry. Much to the dismay of a shocked Sakura, he stumbled, fell into her, and the two tumbled back into the chair she had vacated earlier, which promptly cracked in half, unceremoniously dumping the two teens onto the ground. Naruto lay stunned for a moment before turning his head to see whom he landed on, and came face to face with Sakura, her face close enough their noses almost touched, and looked straight into her sea-green eyes...

"My, Naruto, you certainly have a way with the ladies…" Both teens blushed as they picked themselves off the ground and turned to the owner of the voice, who was now laughing hard and deeply. Beside Tsunade stood Shikamaru, with a bouquet in his hand and a card under his arm, both probably for Ino. He took one look at the blonde haired boy before shaking his head and muttering, "How troublesome...".

"Hiya, Shikamaru, Obaa-chan. I-its not what you think!" Naruto blurted out, trying to recover his lost dignity at being in such an embarrassing position.

"Busted..."

Naruto could almost hear Ino smirking with satisfaction in his head at his being caught red-handed, while the deeper vulpine chuckling could only belong to Kyuubi.

"I'm sure…Now, what did you want to tell me about Ino's condition?" Tsunade asked, once she caught her breath.

Naruto paused for a moment, glancing at Shikamaru and Sakura, who had moved to stand next to the Hokage, still faintly blushing with embarrassment. He couldn't properly explain it with them around, but he had to let the old lady know somehow. Fortunately, in his head resided the number 1 kunoichi of their year, who just happened to have an absurdly simple idea.

"Just repeat what I tell you," she directed, "I figure you don't want anyone to know about Kyuubi, so I'll be subtle."

"Ino's still in my head, and we have to get one of her family to put her back, but she got screwed up because she met you-know-who and it changed her so she cant return using her own power without help...She cant stay there without a possession seal, and if she stays in mine she'll be absorbed by the you-know-what. You-know-who said whomever sealed Gaara can help." Naruto explained in two long breaths. Mentally he turned back to Ino.

"That was subtle?"

"For you it is. Consider it payback for that stunt you just pulled with my body." came her retort, accompanied by a mental image of her sticking her tongue out at him.

"How mature."

"Naruto, Gaara told us he was bound with Shukaku by the Kazekage, remember? The one who's been dead since the Chuunin exams?" Shikamaru interjected. He had noticed that Naruto had been nodding his head whenever he paused in the middle of his explanation, as though he had been listening to someone unseen dictate his words to him. Perhaps Ino was inside him after all, he lazily mused.

Naruto on the other hand was not nearly so sedate in his thoughts.

"Damn! Now you might really disappear!" Naruto began to truly worry at the chuunin's words and what it meant for the girl in his head..

"Damn! Now I'm gonna die!"

"Damn...Now I'm stuck with both whelps."

Tsunade took charge at this point. "Not to worry Naruto, I'm not a legendary sennin for nothing. I remember reading about this once, so I know what to do. Shikamaru, summon Gaara to my office. Naruto and Sakura go and fetch Jiraiya. I was coming to discharge you anyway. You know where he'll be, so use force if and when you see fit."

"Hai," replied the pink hair girl, unsure of just what she was agreeing to. Naruto nodded, knowing exactly what her reaction will be to his pervert sensei's favorite past time.

"Gaara? Temari will want to tag along...how troublesome," drawled Shikamaru while he set down the flowers and the card, which Naruto promptly swiped as the three teens left the room and exited the hospital, with Shikamaru heading towards the east end where the sand siblings were staying, and Naruto and Sakura going west to the hot spring district.

"Temari? Is something going on between them that I don't know about?" questioned Ino, once Shikamaru was out of sight.

"She fought beside him during our rescue mission. That's all I know" Naruto explained.

"Figures. He never tells me anything either."

"Why, did you like him or something?"

"He grew on me, what can I say? He's the only guy who talks to me on a regular basis! He wasn't interested though, he believed the whole fan girl routine, plus relationships are still 'too troublesome' to him, and despite how I have to act in front of everyone else, I know when to get over someone. See what was written in the card? 'Get well soon Ino!'"

"Yeah? What about it?" He looked back down at the card in his hand he read moments before.

"It's not his handwriting. His mother probably had to write it and pushed him to even come. I'm barely even his friend, just the girl on his team."

"Well I'm your friend again, remember? By the way, sorry about the kiss…and touching your...touching you."

"You're forgiven, Naruto-kun. Just ask me first next time, you didn't catch me at my best after all, and for crying out loud, be more careful!"

"Is Ino-pig really in your head?" Sakura suddenly asked, distracting him from his silent conversation.

"Yeah, of course she is!"

"Prove it." she challenged.

"How?"

"Tell me something only she would know."

Naruto looked pensive for a moment, then burst out laughing. Sakura glared at him when she saw bystanders turning to watch.

"What's so funny?"

"The first day you wore a bra, you stuffed it with toilet paper so you'd look bigger than Ino, but so did she to be bigger than you, and when you both went to Sasuke's house to see who he'd ask out first, he asked if you two were allergic to bee stings! Ahahahah-Ow! What was that for Sakura-chan? You asked!" Ino definitely couldn't punch as hard as Sakura just did, he decided while nursing his latest lump to the head.

"You could have used something not quite so embarrassing." she countered.

"You deserved it anyways. Don't worry about it Naruto-kun, she's just not proud of remembering whenever she failed to measure up to me. If it makes you feel any better, that was the first and last time we ever hit Sasuke."

"Hah! Sasuke-bastard got owned by his own fanclub! That's even better!"

"Why did you take Ino's card?" Sakura asked, changing the subject. She could see he was about to start laughing again.

"She asked me to so she could read it, since she can't do anything on her own. She can only see what I see and hear what I hear."

"You're worried about her, aren't you? I saw how you looked at her in the hospital."

"What about it? She's my friend," Naruto replied.

"You barely know her Naruto! And you kissed her!" remarked Sakura, a scandalized look on her face as she remembered it.

"I happen to know more about her than you think!"

"That's just because she's in your head and I cant hear what she's saying to you!"

"I knew her before you did." Naruto quietly stated, trying to take the wind out of the pink haired girl's sails. It worked.

"What?" Sakura was taken aback for a moment. She was sure that Ino never mentioned him.

"She was your first friend, right? Before that, she was my first friend too."

"But kaasan, he's my friend! I had to help him," whined a five year old Ino, while sitting on the counter inside of Flowers Yamanaka next to said friend, a first aid kit between them after their brief tussle with the bullies in front of the Ramen stand, while Ino's mother patched the two of them up.

Patched up her daughter anyway, the demon boy can fend for itself in her opinion, as she sees the boy's regeneration at work.

"But nothing, Ino-chan! He's a bad influence! He's a troublemaker! He got you injured. He-" Mrs. Yamanaka's rant is cut mid-stream.

"He's sitting right here!" shouts Naruto, fed up at his treatment at the hands of his only friend's mother.

"You be quiet! It's because of you that my little girl was put in danger. You've only been friends for a week, but that's going to end right here and now. You're never to talk to or see each other again, you got that!"

Naruto could not respond to this edict in any other way than to start to tear up, jump off the counter, and storm out of the flower shop.

Naruto trudged back to his apartment, trying his best not to cry. He was tired of being judged, of being hated. As long as he could remember, it was like that with everyone. Everyone except Ino, that is. All she ever did was smile around him, and that somehow made it easier to forget the glares, even when she hit him for being an idiot. The rapid pattering of footsteps behind him turned out to be the girl in question, carrying a purple blossom of some kind in her small hands. He stopped and looked at her, noticing that she too looked on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry that my kaasan doesn't like you. I don't know why. But you shouldn't let people get to you like that! Lots of people may not like you, but I do." Ino uttered the last part softly.

"You shouldn't. It'll just make you cry to see people pick on me, and I don't like it when you cry. We can't be friends anymore, so pretend that we never were, or people will just do to you what they did today. You can't let anyone get to you either, and don't ever show it when they do."

"But we promised!" By this time Ino was in tears.

"We have to break it. From now on, every promise I make will last for a lifetime, just not this one, replied Naruto sadly.

"Alright, but the next time we're friends, nothing will end it, Ok? And take this. It's a fox glove, my favorite flower. I don't know why, but it reminds me of you. Please take it and remember me in case I can't ever show I remember you."

She handed him the blossom, hugged him tightly, and then walked back into the shop, never looking back once.

"I can't believe she never told me!" Sakura fumed. Evidently she hated being left out of secrets.

"It was for the best, and we're friends again now, so maybe there's a second chance for you too Sakura-chan."

"Maybe..." She wasn't quite so optimistic.

"I remember that now! I guess I kept up my end too well, and believed my own lies. I really did forget we were friends for such a short time. I'm so sorry I never looked back Naruto-kun."

"It's ok Ino-chan. I don't hold grudges unless you're a Sasuke-bastard."

The rest of the walk played out in silence, until-

"We're here." Declared Naruto. Sakura had remained silent since he dropped his bombshell, and didn't seem to realize where she was.

"Here?" She was puzzled. Why would Naruto bring them to the hot spring district?

"He's around here somewhere."

"Why would Jiraiya-sama be here? How do you know him?"

"Ero-sennin has been my sensei since before the Chuunin exam finals."

"Ero-sennin? Why do you call him that?"

"Because he wrote the whole Icha-Icha series and this is where he conducts his 'research'."

"YOUR SENSEI WRITES THOSE TRASHY SMUT NOVELS THAT KAKASHI-SENSEI READS ALL THE TIME AND GETS HIS IDEAS FROM PEEPING AT NAKED WOMEN!"

Several birds from the nearby trees took flight as the minor earthquake in the form of Haruno Sakura let loose her fury. Even Naruto looked slight unnerved. His head was now ringing again. Just as he intended, her fury retort set off further screams all around them.

"Kakashi-san does that too? Asuma-sensei has every volume in the series; he just never reads one where Kurenai-san could catch him at it. No wonder you're a pervert."

"Hey!"

Naruto turned outwards again as the object of their search came crashing down in front of him. Jiraiya had landed on his back with his legs over his face, the imprint of a woman's shoe clearly visible on his horned hitai-ate.

"Ero-sennin, it gets easier to find you every time," said Naruto.

"Baka. I was collecting great data! Oh ho ho, who's this?" complained the frog sennin, as he picked himself up and turned a lecherous eye to Sakura.

"I am Haruno Sakura. I am honored to meet such a legendary shinobi as yourself, Jiraiya-sama." Sakura bowed and introduced herself through clenched teeth, while Inner Sakura fumed about perverts with a vengeance.

"Ku ku ku, she's a cutie Naruto, you've got good taste. She's rather small in the front, but Tsunade was the same size at her age. I can't wait..." said Jiraiya, rubbing his hands together in obvious delight.

Wham! Jiraiya is down on the ground again.

"Now I know why Tsunade-sama mentioned force."

"She hits like Tsunade too. Oi, Naruto, what do you need me for?" complained Jiraiya, dusting himself off yet again.

"Obaa chan sent us to look for you. It's about red chakra." said Naruto pointedly, jerking his head towards the girl as they made their way to the Hokage's Tower. He retold the story from the beginning, with Sakura filling in the blanks, including Naruto's 'misadventure', while conveniently neglecting to mention her own mishap.

Jiraiya was impressed, both that Naruto had the foresight to use code in front of his companion, since 'red chakra' could only mean something to do with Kyuubi, and with his unexpected charm with the ladies. Evidently the one sharing his body had both looks as well as wits about her.

"Finally Naruto, you have taken your place in the long prestigious line of the perverts of Konoha. This will make for a great chapter in my book. Making out with a girl in a coma, huh? Even I have never considered that one before..." he intoned, enjoying Naruto turning a darker shade of red every second.

As they arrived in the Hokage's office, Naruto noticed Gaara and his sister already there. Shikamaru had indeed guessed correctly that Temari would tag along, as she had his hand in hers.

"Tramp." Ino could not suppress a scornful remark, even though the object of that scorn obviously could not hear her, still sore about losing Shikamaru to the sand kunoichi. Naruto took no notice and turned his attention instead to the other sand genin.

"Hey Gaara, how're you doing?"

The redhead leveled a blank stare at Naruto; though not as murderous as it once was it could put any poker player to shame.

"My sister is infatuated with the lazy strategist and I've got a bloodthirsty demon in my head. What else is new?"

"I've got Yamanaka Ino in mine."

"That blond girl who fought the pink haired girl in the Preliminaries? You have my condolences."

So ends chapter 3. Read and Review. My focus here is on character development and interaction Next chapter will have action though, but I'm a newbie at fight scenes, so bear with me then. I'm trying to keep everyone in character, while bringing in gradual changes as Ino and Naruto become closer. If the flashbacks seem out of character, keep in mind that 6 years is a long time for kids, and in a world where preteens are expected to kill, precocious kindergarten aged children aren't so out of place. I also edit a lot, bu is slower to update than I do, so check back, my final draft isn't always so final.