Thank you to BlueDragonGirl1 for proofing.
I'm home so I've been reading the Ranma ½ series again, so I'll probably bewriting some more stories for that series soon too.
ooO
Mutts and Dumb Blonds
They weren't going out. Really, how could they be? He wasn't her type at all! He was loud and dirty and messy and too confident considering his skill level.
She told him that on a regular basis, he responded by calling her a 'bitchy fan girl'.
There was no way she could like a guy like him. She'd prefer Shino over him, and he had those bugs.
"What's taking you so long, ya dumb blond?" he called out to Ino, who was indeed trailing behind. He didn't mention that he thought she was a hot dumb blond.
"Shut up, you dumb mutt!" she called back, "I'm trying to stay down wind from you!", she didn't mention that it also provided a good view of his backside.
They weren't on a mission; they were going out to eat lunch. A platonic get-together, with someone from another team for no other reason then the members of their own teams where unavailable.
Who cares if neither party actually checked to see if their respective team was or was not available?
Shikamaru and Chouji were probably off somewhere cloud watching.
Hinata was spending more and more time at home training, and Shino was always so difficult to find.
And so they settled on each other.
So what if he took a whiff of her smell every time she walked by?
So what if she took a few minutes of time whenever she spotted him to annoy him?
So what if when they fought together like this they felt it was the most natural thing in the world?
She just wasn't his type. To bossy and demanding; not at all like Hinata.
So what if her mere presences demanded his attention more and more?
So what if he was looking forward to her coming up and starting an argument with him?
So what if he was starting to seek her out as well?
Neither was the others type. Nothing would come of it.
They conflicted too much.
The only things they shared were a well picked training spot and a sparing score of 8-5.
He would never be able to match up to her ideal of Sasuke, so she could never be happy with him.
She would never let him be 'the dominant male', so he could never be happy with her.
They knew they did feel something for each other. Neither was as dumb as the other said.
But they also knew nothing would come of it.
If they ever had anything it would be short and fast and leave neither happy.
A ninjas' life was too short to waste on something you know won't come through.
But still they played their games, laughed at each other and occasionally with each other.
They knew in their minds that they should stop right now before one of them took a step neither would back down from. But they were teenagers, and a teenager is always dumb when it comes to matters of the heart, no matter their IQ.
And so when they found themselves holding hands one day after training themselves to exhaustion, neither knowing who exactly initiated the hand holding, they didn't mind.
After all, this way at least the blame could easily be passed to the other party of this unhappy tale.
Hiding wasn't their style, so by the next day everyone they knew was surprised to hear that they had gotten together.
Just like they expected, it was fast and painful and neither was happy, but neither was willing to give up quite yet. They were both too stubborn for their own good.
They were already Chuunin and often trained together to prepare for the Juunin exam.
The exam came and they both passed. Instead of congratulating each other they claimed the other only passed because Kahona was desperate for new Juunin.
But this night, four years after they started fighting with each other, one year since they started being with each other, they consummated their feelings for each other.
By this age the average ninja has either found someone to marry or has entered into an arranged marriage.
A ninjas' life is short, and so things move much quicker then they do outside the village where the 'ordinary' world resided.
It was awkward and neither was quite sure what to do. There was more swearing then sweet nothings and at the end both wished they hadn't started.
Missions kept them occupied and sometimes they wouldn't see each other for months at a time. The sex got better with practice, but they both still preferred a good spar.
Life wasn't turning out like either of them thought it would.
Time passed and soon they were twenty-one and felt like thirty. Their friends were married and starting to raise the next generation of ninja, who could then go and proceed to screw their own lives up.
But this village just didn't seem to know any other form of life.
It was a tough mission and someone cracked and their position was blown. He had stayed behind to make sure the rest of the group was able to get away and complete the mission.
He miraculously stumbled back into Kahona territory about a week later. He wished that he had just died on the field.
He lost Akumaru, and he lost his ability to be a ninja. While still a better fighter then the average muscle man, his body would no longer be able to take the strain of a ninja-on-ninja fight.
She didn't know about it until she came back from her own mission two weeks later. She found him in his drab private hospital room, staring blankly out the window.
She had never seen him this quiet and still before.
"Marry me," she said calmly after a few minutes of silence.
"Sure, why not?" he replied just as calm as she.
He took her name. She was the only Yamanaka child after all and had the duty to carry on her clans' ability.
His sister was the Inuzuka heir and what honour could he bring to the clan now?
She was the only one that would spar with him seriously now. A repayment of sorts for being one of the few people who would spar with her seriously during their younger days when life had actually held the promise of... anything really.
A month after the marriage, after they got use to the false congratulations and smiles, she joined the ABNU.
They saw and spoke to each other even less after that.
But that was okay. She never felt like sharing the darkness of the world he grew up with, but could never return to, with him, and he was semi-content raising dogs. Not ninja dogs, but dogs that could run through the park and not worry if his speed would be fast enough to help his master during the next battle.
"Quit ANBU.", he said one day.
"...Why?", she responded, feeling slightly offended.
"Because I want to have kids," he said in a gruff voice, their continued battle for dominance.
"...Why?" she said again, more to piss him off then anything.
"Because.", he said, not really sure.
They were twenty-three and wondering why they felt like fifty.
Neither was quite sure what they were like when they were younger anymore, but they were sure they had more hope for the future then what they actually got.
They do remember that moment when they first held hands, and sometimes wonderered where they would be now if that had never happened. They don't know whether to like the thought or not.
They were twenty-seven and have had two children who love to help their daddy raise the puppies and watch their parents spar.
Ino went back to her Juunin duties shortly after having the children, leaving Kiba to do the majority of the child rearing. Neither minded as much as they thought they would.
When her first child turned three, she decided she wanted to take more missions closer to home so she could actually see her children grow.
Both of them marvel at the love for life their children show that at some point they seem to have forgotten.
At the next Academy graduation, Ino took on her own Genin team. Some part of her wants to make sure at least three people in this generation are able to keep a love for life into their adulthoods.
The first thing she told her team was that life is not always good, and then she asked them to tell a little about themselves. After they are done she tolds them to hold onto those dreams.
Sometimes she has them do odd things that other teachers don't, like write down their fondest memories or most embarrassing moments and to keep them safely tucked away in a box. That way when they grow up and are wondering what all this is worth they will be able to look through that box and remember that there are good things in this world.
Like a child's laughter or a dog's bark or simply holding hands with someone you care for.
More time passes and their first child enters the Academy and the second wants to raise dogs like their dad. But who knows what time will change?
One day the two of them were lying in bed, holding each others hand and just feeling.
They aren't exactly happy, but they aren't exactly sad either. They suppose they are content, and in the life of a ninja, that's good enough.