Author's Note: Ooh, I got a lot of reviews again! Okay, I REALLY want to do Gaara+Ino, so…I'm going to do Gaara+Ino! Millie-chan, here's your Gaara+Ino chapter! Next, I'm planning to do Naruto+Hinata or Neji+Sakura as a challenge. Even Neji+TenTen will do, if many people want it. It's YOUR choice, people! I'll try to do as many pairings as I can! So, on with the fic!

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me…Not even the flowers, cuz they belong to Mother Nature! (Just kidding!)


Bellflowers

Yamanaka Ino was standing by the counter of her family's flower shop. She was reading a magazine about flowers. "Great," she muttered. "Another boring day without customers…" She absentmindedly flipped the page that she was reading. On the page were meanings of flowers. 'A zinnia means friendship, eh? That's something that even I didn't know…Let's see…' she thought, and scanned the shop. Finally, she spotted a pot of zinnias. Holding the magazine in her hand, she walked over to the zinnias.

"Whoops, I forgot to water them today!" she exclaimed, and headed back to the counter to grab a water pail. After sprinkling some water on the zinnias, she sighed. 'Sakura is dating Sasuke-kun, Neji and Tenten are together…What about ME? Don't I get a happy ending, too?' she thought. She looked at the magazine page.

"Magenta zinnias mean lasting affection, a mixed bouquet of zinnias mean memories of absent friends, scarlet zinnias mean constancy, white zinnias mean goodness, and yellow zinnias mean daily remembrance…Gosh, I've got to remember these meanings!" she mumbled, and looked back at the pot of zinnias before walking to the counter. She sat down and sighed again. 'Man, I feel a bit lonely…' She turned the page. 'Bellflowers and verbenas? So, yellow lilies mean gratitude and verbenas mean may you get your wish…' Outside the shop windows, Ino spotted a couple sitting together with the man's arms around the girl. The girl smiled and blushed as the man handed her a red rose. Ino sighed. 'I wish that I could be happy, too…' she thought, smiling a little. Suddenly, the door swung open.

"Welcome to the Yamanaka flower shop!" Ino said brightly, hiding the depression on her face. But she was quite shocked when she saw who the customer was. "G…Gaara-san?" exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" Gaara stepped into the shop with a calm face.

"Tomorrow is Temari's birthday…I would like to get a flower for her…" he replied, eyeing all of the flowers in the shop.

"Um…okay. So, what flower do you want?" Ino asked, a little bit uncomfortable.

"…I don't know." Gaara answered with his face still emotionless. Ino felt a bit of pity for him.

'The poor guy, he probably doesn't even know what a rose means! Well, everyone said that Gaara-san is harmless now, so…I guess I'll lend a hand to him.' she thought, and smiled.

"I'll help you. First of all, each flower has a different meaning, so you should choose a flower that has the correct meaning you want. What do you want to say to Temari-san?" she asked.

"…I want to say good luck to her. She's trying out for the jounin exam soon." he said after a moment. Ino nodded. She looked around.

"Oh yeah! How about an apple blossom flower? They mean 'good fortune'." she exclaimed, and headed towards the apple blossoms. While she was picking out some apple blossoms, Gaara noticed the magazine on the counter. He looked at the meaning for bellflowers.

'Gratitude…as in thanks…' he thought, and a pot of bellflowers nearby caught his attention. 'Bellflowers…' Suddenly, Ino came up to him.

"I found them! Here!" she said breathlessly, some leaves stuck in her hair. She was holding a beautiful bouquet of apple blossoms. They were tied with a big purple ribbon at the end to hold them together. Gaara looked curiously at Ino, and then at the bouquet.

"…thank you." he muttered, and took the bouquet from Ino. Ino smiled warmly.

"If you ever need flowers, come back here, okay? Now, as for the money…" while Ino checked the price at the counter, Gaara looked at the pot of bellflowers again.

'Gratitude…' he thought. He then bent down and picked a small bouquet of bellflowers from the pot while Ino wasn't looking. After that, he headed towards her.

Meanwhile, Ino was searching for the price of a medium-sized bouquet of apple blossoms.

"Um…let's see…" she murmured, scanning through the list of prices. Suddenly, she smelled a sweet fragrance in front of her. She looked up, and the first thing she saw was a small bouquet of bellflowers. "Huh?" she exclaimed, but then she saw the usual emotionless face of Gaara.

"It's for you." he said calmly. His voice was calm, but Ino swore she saw some kind of emotion in Gaara's eyes.

"Uhh…for me?" she asked, just to make sure. Gaara nodded. Ino's confused face broke into a sweet smile. "Thanks!" she said happily, and Gaara wordlessly gave her the money for the bouquet of the apple blossoms. After he had left the shop, Ino sighed.

"I wonder what that was about…" she muttered, and looked at the bellflowers. "These flowers are from this shop, too…" She blinked.

'Huh? Bellflowers? Why bellflowers? He could have given me a rose or a daisy…but why did he give me bellflowers?' she thought, and realization dawned on her. She quickly ran towards her flower magazine, which was on the counter. 'Bellflowers…the flower of gratitude…So does that mean…Gaara-san was trying to say 'thank you'?' Ino was kind of surprised, but she also felt somewhat glad or happy.

"For some reason…I feel better!" she said to herself, and smiled. 'Gaara-san…no, Gaara…thank you.'


So, how was it? Sorry if it sucks, but this is the first time I did Gaara+Ino! And sorry if it's too short! Well, I might do Naruto+Hinata next or I might do some other "unusual" pairings like Sasuke+Hinata or Neji+Sakura! Or, I might do pairings that I've never done before like Naruto+Sakura, Lee+Sakura, and Kiba+Hinata. Sorry, but NO ONE can be with TenTen except for NEJI! SoNO Lee+TenTen, Gaara+TenTen, or anyone+TenTen except Neji!

Oh yeah, and this chapter wasn't really romance-ish, was it? Well, I could never imagine Gaara+Ino in a "lovey-dovey" relationship, so I decided to do HINTS of Gaara+Ino or Gaara+Ino "friendship" kind of thing. If you really wanted romance, perhaps another time I'll do some. By the way, I have an excellent idea for a Lee+TenTen+Neji friendship chapter…Care to consider it? PLEASE VOTE FOR PAIRINGS AND REVIEW!

By the way, please forgive me if I haven't been updating lately. It's just that I have SO many things to do after school and I'm really busy...I'll try to update as soon as I can!