Disclaimer: Yadda, yadda... see 1st chapter.

Chapter 6: A Mysterious Stranger

The bowl smashed against the floor, shattering into a million pieces. The blonde sighed, and bent down to clean up the mess. She was being really clumsy today, for some strange reason. As she picked up the remains of the glass bowl behind the counter, she heard the doorbell tinkle, indicating that someone had entered the shop.

"Hello?" the voice was a man's one, smooth and deep. Cultured, she decided. Probably from a noble family of some sort. He seemed a little surprised to find nobody visible in the shop. As she frantically hurried to clean up the glass pieces so that she could attend to the customer, she heard his footsteps walking over to the counter.

"Err… oh. Excuse me," he said politely. The blonde woman turned to find a handsome, dark-haired man peering over the counter at her. He was trying to keep his eyes from straying to her bottom, which just so happened to be facing him at the moment. Hmmm… he's cute, she thought, before she jumped up with a bright smile and turned around to face him, sweeping the remains of the glass underneath the counter with a foot. A sharp twinge of pain made her regret that decision, but she refused to show it and turned all attention to the man standing in front of her.

He was standing with a slightly nervous air around him, as if he was unfamiliar with a situation like this. She knew at once that she had never seen him around the village before. If she had, she wouldn't have forgotten it. He looked to be slightly older than her – probably in his thirtieth year. A sharp nose, glossy black hair and clear-cut features gave his face a distinguished – almost cold – profile, but large brown eyes and the smile tugging at his lips hinted at a warmer nature inside. He looked like a lamb trapped in a lion's body. She felt a twinge of something in her heart that may – or may not – have been the beginnings of a crush.

That all died with the next sentence he spoke.

"I was hoping you would help me with assembling a bouquet for my fiancée."

Why are all the good ones taken?

She suppressed a sigh and smiled brightly at the man. Oh well. If I can't get a man for myself, the least I can do is make sure that lucky girl appreciates this one. She was getting a little sappy and soft-hearted lately. It was probably due to the fact that two of her closest friends were already married with children, and she was still stuck minding the flower shop or going on missions, alone. Having her mother nag at her to find a husband didn't help much either. Somehow, all the men she had gone out with never seemed to strike a chord with her. Perhaps she was just being too picky. But that didn't mean she had to grumble about it. She really did enjoy helping people find flowers for their loved ones. Which brought her back to the issue at hand.

"All right," she said. "Do you have any particular idea you wanted to express? Oh, and what does she look like? It's very important to find a flower that will match your fiancée's appearance."

"Um… actually, I'm not sure," he confessed. "I haven't met her before."

"What!" she was bewildered. How could he not know what the girl he's going to marry looks like?

"It was an arranged marriage," he continued, slightly sheepishly. "Our parents made all the necessary the arrangements while I was away on business. I'm supposed to go to her house and meet her for the first time later."

"Oh." It made sense, she supposed. It was rare to have arranged marriages in Konoha, but she had heard that it was still widely practiced in the other countries and among the nobility. "Well, in that case, you'll want something simple. Since you hardly know her yet, you don't want to come off as being overly-ardent and pushy, but at the same time, you would want to let her know of your interest in her."

"Right, right," he nodded, looking even more embarrassed. She guessed that he didn't have much experience with girls. It was surprising, because she would have thought that the combination of his looks, manners and the air of culture he exuded from every pore would have had flocks of them at his doorstep. But then again, maybe he doesn't get out much. "Something friendly. Not too romantic."

"Well, let's have a look around the shop, shall we?" she said, feeling a slight twinge of excitement. If he's only beginning the courtship, he'll want more flowers, and he'll be bound to come here more often. She started walking around, displaying the various flowers her family had for sale, and showing him which combinations were the best for the different moods. A part of her wondered why she was making such an effort for this stranger, but another part of her firmly told the first part to shut up. She did have a highly-disciplined mind, after all.

"Well, most likely, roses will be your best bet," she said, after about 10 minutes of conversation. "But we have at least five different colours of roses – white, red, pink, yellow and blue. Although they all mean different things, it should be okay if it's your first time together. But it would really help me if you could give me any sort of description about her."

"Um, I can tell you she has dark hair," he volunteered, after a bit of thought. "Every member of their family that I've met seems to have dark hair, so I think she probably would have, too."

"Oh, that's good," she prattled happily. "Dark hair is easier to pick from than light hair, particularly if you have these colours. The only rose that goes really well with dark hair is the white one. Now, if she had been blonde, like me, then we would have had a tougher choice between the red, pink or blue ones." She held each rose in turn up to her golden locks to demonstrate the effect.

"Yeah…" he breathed, seeming slightly stricken. "The red rose looks particularly good…"

She was a bit irritated. Wasn't he listening? "No, no… white roses are better. Red roses won't do for a first date with someone you don't know."

"Oh," he was taken slightly by surprise. "Oh no, I meant that the red rose looks good on you, like you said. White would be best for dark hair, I guess."

It was her turn to be taken by surprise. "Oh. I see." Some part of her was pleased at the compliment. The other part again shut the first part up and told it that engaged men were out of bounds. She lowered her eyes for a moment, and realised that her foot was bleeding slightly.

"Oh drat," she muttered under her breath, as she remembered the glass shards. The man picked up on her sudden change of mood, and followed her gaze to the floor. He drew a slight breath, and then pulled up a chair that happened to be nearby.

"Here, why don't you sit down, miss?" he invited her, patting the chair. "I'm sorry I made you walk across the shop like that – I didn't realise your foot was injured."

"Oh, no, it's not really necessary… it's just a slight accident. I'll be fine, really," she demurred. "Let me just record your purchase of a bouquet of white roses, and I'll be able to tend to it."

"I'm in no hurry," he said nonchalantly. "Besides, it would not be chivalrous of me to leave a lady injured while I casually strolled off. So please, sit down." His voice had taken a slightly firmer tone. She glanced at his face. Perhaps the resemblance to a lion did have some basis of justification, after all. Meekly, she sat down. And wondered what she was doing.

"It looks like a splinter of glass has entered a cut in your foot," he said professionally, kneeling down to examine the wound. "I can get it out in no time." He withdrew a small pair of tweezers from one of his pockets and started to probe the cut.

So there she was, sitting in a chair, holding a bunch of roses, while one of the handsomest men she had met knelt at her feet.

If it wasn't for the fact that he was engaged, she would have found it horribly romantic.

Author's Notes: Dedicated to The Prime Minister, who was the first person to actually make me fall in love with Ino, in the story "Worth the Trouble". Go read it. Seriously. Anyway, having introduced everyone again, you can expect to see names coming up in the following chapters. But those won't be posted so soon, because I'm still writing. (The real trouble is that I want to READ this story, not write it! And yet, if I don't write it, I can't read it. Being the author is so... troublesome. :-P)