When Ino awoke, she looked beside her onto the bedside table,

and saw that it was 2:00 pm.

She groaned and got out of bed. She walked into the bathroom,

and was about to use the tub, when she noticed clothes on the counter,

and a note laying on top.

The note read: 'Dear Ino, I have some errands that demand me to

run around town like a lunatic. I bought you these clothes, and I know

these will fit, because Sakura told me what size you are. I'll be back by 7

or so. If you are hungry, which you probably are,' As though on cue, Ino's

stomach growled. 'You can go down the stairs that has all of the

paintings down it, and take a left, the kitchen is just down that hallway.'

Ino looked at all of the clothes. He seemed to have bought her

loads of clothes. He bought her jeans, tee shirts, tank tops, dresses,

skirts, everything. There was even a pair of black shoes on the counter.

Ino picked a dress out of the pile, and got into the tub.

When she had relaxed enough, she got out and tried on the dress.

It fit perfectly. It was a sky blue dress, with pink embroidered flowers,

and came just below the knee. It wasn't tight, but it accented her body

nicely. It was a 'U' shaped neck, and shoulder sleeves. It looked

expensive, and probably was. But then again, it could have come from

any cheap store, but Ino didn't think so.

"Aw, thanks Naruto!" She whispered to the empty room. She

followed the instructions, and found herself in the kitchen.

It was entirely a cooks dream. Bamboo floors, and an Island, with a

stove, sink and counter. The Island was oak, and it had bamboo wood

chairs.

There was an extra wide counter for baking, and with glass

cabinets above. The dining room was attached, but only one place was

set. Ino went over to the table, and looked in the bottom of the china

cabinet for place mats. She found them, took out one, and then tried to

find the plates and cutlery.

When she had finished, she looked inside of the fridge.

Since Naruto took me in, I might as well make him supper. It's the

least I could do, she thought.

She looked outside, and saw the humongous backyard.

"I could go collect flowers," She said to herself. She shook her head.

"Nah, I'll wait until I'm done in the kitchen."

Ino got out some ingredients to make soup, and she found some

sourdough bread. Perfect, she thought. We can use this for dipping.

She looked around for stuff that was inexpensive, and was already

open. Pretty much all of it was, and, although Naruto was much older, he

still seemed to love ramen.

When Ino had finished making the soup (Which wasn't ramen), she

left it on the stove to simmer.

Oh, she thought. Maybe he'll order in, I'd better tell him to come

straight home. But, I don't know his cell number. I'd better call Sakura.

She picked up the phone. Maybe the police are looking for me, and

they might be listening in on her calls. I'll just won't say my name then.

She dialed Sakura's number, and after three rings, someone said

"Hello..."

Ino started saying hello, when she realized it was the answering

machine. She tried again. One ring, and halfway through the second ring,

she heard a tired Sakura's voice say, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me," Ino said, sticking to her plan, just in case the police

really were listening in on the conversation.

"What's up?" Sakura asked. Ino heard Itachi talking in the

background. Well, no police then. "Yeah, hold on a sec, kay Itachi?" He

answered something inaudible to Ino.

"I just need to know what Naruto's cell number is," Ino blinked.

"Does he have one?"

"And why wouldn't he?" Sakura asked.

"That makes sense, okay, what is it?" Ino asked.

Sakura gave her the number, and Ino wrote it down. She said her

goodbyes, and called Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Came Naruto's voice.

"Hi, Naruto, it's Yamanaka Ino," She said.

"Oh, hey. Are you okay?" Naruto's voice was tinged with worry.

"Yes, I'm fine, I just wanted to know if you were ordering in or

anything."

"Do you want me to?"

"No, no, I'm just wondering."

"I wasn't planning on it. Oh, I'll be home early, like around 6ish or

something like that."

"Oh, okay, see you then!" Ino said.

"Okay, bye," Naruto hung up the phone.

Around 6ish, huh? Ino looked at the clock. It was almost 5.

She started hurrying. She made a salad, and didn't add the

dressing, because waiting an hour would make it soggy and gross. She

stored the salad in the fridge, and got out ingredients to make

cheesecake. She was really thankful that her mother taught her how to

make supper on her own.

She finished completely, and there was still enough time to go and

get flowers.

She opened the screen door, being cautious that no one could see

her.

She walked out to a tree and found some flowers that looked like

they grew wild. She picked two and went back inside.

She found a small white vase over the sink, and filled it up with

water and placed the flowers and the vase on the center piece of the

table.

Ino made sure everything was ready, and when she heard Naruto

come in, she called him into the kitchen.

He said something about being right, back, and then after a few

minutes waiting, he came in.

"Just sit down, and relax," He did so. Ino went over to the fridge,

taking out the salad, and putting the dressing on it.

"I really like that you did this for me Ino," He said. "I'm really glad.

Thank you. I've been meaning to try and use those ingredients, but I

never got around to it. I bought them like a week, or less than that, ago.

I just didn't have enough time to use them."

"Well, I made soup, and then I made a salad, and then I made

cheesecake. It's still setting though. It should be done shortly."

She brought the salad over and put some into Naruto's bowl, then

into her own.

They sat in silence, enjoying each others company, until the silence

got to Ino, and she asked, "So, what do you do? How do you make this

much?" She said, gesturing around.

He chewed, thinking, "Well, in all reality, it's just luck that I got like

this. I've got a stock market thing going on, so it's all good. I have a small

business that does random things, like, oh, I don't know, I just run the

money management, and the people work for me. I really just get by on

luck."

Ino nodded. She noticed all of the salad was gone, so she got up,

cut the bread, and brought it over as well as the soup. It wasn't a lot, but

just enough for one night.

"I see you're wearing the dress I choose for you. It compliments

your eyes," He said, looking up at her, as she ladled some soup for him.

She blushed, and sat down. "Thank you," She said. "I really like it,

it's so pretty. And I'm guessing it wasn't cheap, am I right?"

"Ah, now, if I told you that, you'd probably want to know the price,

am I right?" He asked her, looking into her eyes.

She found his bright blue eyes very piercing, as though he could see

the answer before she said it. She nodded, looking away, and then

laughed, "Yeah, you're right, I probably would."

He laughed. Ino noticed his laugh wasn't forced, but real. All the

time when they were little, when everyone tormented him, his laugh was

either never heard, or was forced. She liked hearing it. She hadn't heard

a real laugh in a long time. It felt good, it was like stepping into a shower

after a long night of partying.

They both started talking with ease, and when the soup was done,

Ino took out the cheesecake, and started to feel the effects of too much

food.

"Wow, this is really good Ino," Naruto said. "It's delicious. You must

tell me the secret."

"Family recipe, I can't," Ino said, teasingly. It really was a family

recipe, but nothing more then a couple of teaspoons of nutmeg, cinnamon

and ground cloves.

"I may know that secret one day though," Naruto said. Ino froze.

Did he realize what he just said? Probably not, so Ino let it go.

After dessert was finished, Naruto and Ino both decided to take a

walk outside.

"It'll probably help digest," Naruto joked. Ino agreed.

She went and grabbed her new shoes, and came back. They both

went outside. It was almost 8, so the sun was still up.

They walked around, studying the trees and flowers, and they had

a contest on who could name the most birds. Neither kept score.

It started getting to the point when the sun was going down, and

the mosquitoes came out.

Ino and Naruto went back to the house, and Naruto started the

fireplace.

Although it wasn't cold, both of them sat close to the fire. Naruto

brought up the subject of music.

"I play the flute, I just love the sound," Naruto said. "What about

you?"

"Oh, I play piano. Well, actually," Ino corrected herself. "I used to, I

don't anymore. My dad doesn't want me to be a pianist, but he wants me

to be a lawyer," She sounded a little angry.

"You don't like being a lawyer?" Naruto asked in his understanding

voice.

"Not really. At first, yeah, because it was a new experience, but

now it's just something I have to do, but don't want to," Ino said. She

looked up to Naruto, and her light blue eyes were captured by his bright

blue ones. They looked at one another for the next couple of minutes,

studying each others faces.

Ino blushed, and looked away. Naruto looked down, and said, "It's

getting late, you really should go to bed. You might want to get an early

start tomorrow."

"Okay," Ino sighed. "Alright, I'll go."

She stood up, and walked towards the door.

"Wait," Naruto said. Ino turned around. "You might want to wear

that dress and the shoes I got you tomorrow. Oh, and you also might

want to take a deeper look in your room."

Ino got excited. "Alright," She smiled. Naruto smiled back. "'Night!"

"'Night!"

She ran up the stairs two at a time, and jumped onto her bed. She

hugged the pillow, and squeaked quietly into it. She smiled, and when

the butterflies went away, she stood up and took the shoes out of the

bathroom, and changed out of her dress into her pyjamas. She brought

her shoes and dress and laid them out on the dresser.

She brushed her teeth, and started searching around her room. She

looked down into the bathtub, and she looked in all of the drawers, but

she didn't find anything.

A little disappointed, she climbed into bed. As she got herself

comfortable, and was about to turn off the bedside lamp, but felt

something poke into her hip.

She got out of bed, pulling back the covers, and she saw a diamond

and amethyst necklace in the shape of a heart, and a pair of amethyst

earrings, also in a heart. She pulled the covers back even further to find a

diamond and sapphire bracelet. In the middle of the bracelet was a drop

shaped purple amethyst stone.

Ino picked them up as though they would break. She brought them

over to the dresser and placed them upon her dress and shoes. They

matched perfectly.

"I think I like him," Ino smiled. No, I think I love him, she

corrected

herself in her mind.