Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Pairings: InoxShikamaru TentenxNeji SakuraxSasuke HiantaxNaruto
Vampirewitch: Yes, there will be.
The Wallflower Massacre: Thank you for that comment.
HeartAngel: Here's more to make you happy. Hope it does.
lazymashimaru: Thank You!
Kajiin: Sorry about the similar titles.
iLychLuna: Thank you!
Death-by-Masamune: I really thank you for being honest.
Thank you to all who reviewed.
"Sakura-chan! I think I've found something that's perfect for Hinata." Ino held up a pad of dark blue eye shadow.
"Ino, she doesn't use makeup." Sakura stated. 'Ino should know that.'
"I know, but she should. If she did, she'd look like an angel, not that she doesn't already look like one. Who knows? It might give her some confidence. Naruto and Hinata need to spice up their relationship." For the last comment, Ino winked.
"Ino! How can you say that?" Sakura was furious at her friend for thinking those thoughts.
"Well, I still think it would accentuate her beauty. She needs to show it more often. Naruto may like the change too. " Ino bought the eye shadow for her friend. Ino continued on her way to buy things for herself.
After 40 minutes, Ino asked, "Are you done Sakura?" A dozing Sakura was awakened by the sound of her friend's question.
"Ino, I've been ready for the past 30 minutes!" Sakura yelled. 'Wow, Ino bought a lot of makeup.' Ino nodded and took her friends hand. "Where are we going now? Didn't we finish shopping?"
"We did, but I'm starving. Let's go to the little cafe in the mall that I love. Its right this way, after we're done, we can go to my house. There, we can fill out Valentine's and send them to people." Ino walked through the mall next to her friend. Ino walked pass a group of boys.
"Hey, you with the blonde hair." One of them shouted.
"Me?" Ino asked looking around for someone else with blonde hair.
"Yea you. And your friend. How would you like to get together later tonight?" The teen smirked and walked towards the two of them. The rest of the group followed the one who was apparently the leader.
"We're taken," Ino spat out. She began to turn away, but the boy once again spoke.
"I'm sure your boyfriend won't mind." The boy made a move to grab Sakura, but the pink haired kunoichi jumped out of the way.
"Oh, I'm sure they will. We're kunoichi of the Leaf. Our men are shinobi of higher ranks than us. They'll kill you before you would even realize what's going on." Sakura was behind the teen and spoke into his ear. She held a kunai to his throat.
"You better learn to respect women, if you don't it might end of killing you." Ino whispered so that only the group of teens could hear her. Her voice was low and had a dangerous tone to it. Sakura released the boy she was threatening. He scrambled away and the others followed his lead.
After a while of walking Sakura inquired, "Do you think that we were a little too harsh?"
"Nah," Ino replied, "It's the only way for guys like them to learn to respect girls like us." Ino and Sakura reached the café and they grabbed a seat. Nobody often came to the store because of its size. They thought that just because it was small, the food wasn't of very good quality. Ino inhaled the scent of fresh baked goods and warm coffee. "I'm getting hungry just sitting here and breathing."
"Sakura, Ino, welcome." A woman in her early thirties smiled at the two young women. Chouji's mother owned the quaint little café. "The usual, or would you like something different?"
"The usual," Sakura answered with a smile of her own. The cheerful woman went to get their orders. "Ino, what do you think I should do for my third anniversary of being in a relationship with Sasuke?" Sakura asked, "I know it's early to be thinking but I have no clue what to do."
"Haven't you planned the first and second anniversary?" Ino questioned. Ino took her purse out and began to search for something. Ino looked up to see Sakura nodding her head. "Let Sasuke plan it for once. I mean he's just, well… Sasuke. He'll think of something. See what your boyfriend can do."
"I suppose you're right." 'I'm glad I have a friend like Ino. She knows so much, it's like all those many years ago. She told me everything about how to be the best you can be. And I still left her standing all alone until I realized it was my fault. She lost Sasuke in the end. Somehow she still stood tall and found someone else.'
Ino pulled out a pad of paper and began to write something down with a red pen. "Ino, what are you writing?" The blonde put one finger up in the air to signal that she just needed one more moment. Sakura sat back down in her seat and waited.
"Here's your order and happy Valentine's Day." The woman from before placed their food on the table and was about to walk away when Sakura stopped her.
"Wait, you gave us a box." Sakura was very confused. Ino was still scribbling down things on the pad so she didn't pay attention. The box was very big and was wrapped in red paper with a pink bow on the top.
"Just think of it as a Valentine's gift from the Akimichi family" Chouji's mother walked away. Ino looked up and inspected her plate, then looked at a beautifully wrapped box. She took the box and began to open it. Sakura began to do the same and carefully opened the box.
"Oh my goodness, I can't believe I'm seeing this." Ino was very shocked at what she found in the box. Ino pulled out an item that looked like a gumball machine. The top part was a glass snow globe that had an image of and angel who was supposed to be Ino sitting atop a cloud. One the cloud a bit to the side and below her's was a boy who laws supposed to be Shikamaru. The angel looked like she was pulling the boy up to her. On the bottom was an area where something was suppose to some out. The bottom was made out of wood. Ino couldn't figure out how to get it to work though.
Sakura looked at her gift and just stared at every singal detail. There was a glass candy jar in the shape of a tree. There was a bottom area which was a grassy field and a carving of a river. On the bottom area was a girl who was supposed to be Sakura, laying down. In the tree was a boy who was supposed to be Sasuke. Sakura was trying to figure out how to get the candy out of her gift. The treats were visible through the transparent glass.
"Sakura, could you help me get whatever is in her to some out?" Ino was completely puzzled. Sakura took a look at Ino's and found an opening in the back. "Ino, do you have something that's remotely heart shaped?"
"Yea, I have the locket Shika-kun gave to me." Ino took the necklace off and handed it to Sakura. The girl put the locket into the space and pressed it in. Little snowflakes in the snow globe on top began to fall. Then, a candy fell out from the bottom. "Whoa, I have to thank Chouji and his family thoroughly." Ino was completely dazed by what had just happened and felt lucky to know the kind, cheerful Akimichi family.
"Ino, I have no idea how mine works." Sakura was seriously stumped. Even though she was one of the smartest kunoichi, her mind refused to come up with an answer. Her hands wandered around the item trying to find something loose. Then, the girl spotted it. 'There!' She thought to herself. Sakura pulled a little branch and a piece of round chocolate came out through an opening in the tree and ended up in the river. "I got it!" The green eyed girl exclaimed.
Ino smiled and began to eat her food. She occasionally took a sip of coffee, but stayed quiet most of the time. 'I wonder what's wrong with Ino. She opened her gift and then she was quiet.' Sakura sighed inwardly. 'She was writing something on the pad of paper before.' "Ino, what was on the paper?"
"I wrote down a list of people to give Valentine gifts to." Ino handed the list to her friend. Sakura read the list over and would occasionally cross some things out with the pen. 'I wonder why my heart and mind seem to be somewhere else right now. If they went anywhere I hope they're with the ones I care about. ' Ino looked down at her plate, the food was gone. She glanced over to Sakura's plate, no food. "Sakura-chan, let's go to my house." Ino smiled, but her eyes showed no trace of happiness.
"Hold on." Sakura told her friend. Sakura wrote a note and paid for the meal and gave a tip.
The two girls got up and opened the door to leave. Chouji's mother came to clean up the table when she found a note.
Dear Mrs. Akimichi,
I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day. Thank you for the wonderful gifts. They were absolutely splendid. We're sorry that we did not give you a gift so we tipped extra.
From,
Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino
The woman smiled and looked at the tip. The girls had paid twenty dollars for the meal and tipped more than the meal cost. She looked down at the fifty dollar bill and smiled. 'Such nice young women.' She thought.
The two walked wordlessly to the exit of the mall. Rain was pouring down like there was no tomorrow. A cold gust of air greeted them as the door was opened. The two girls ran quickly to Sakura's car as the rain beat down upon them. They both opened the doors and shut them quickly. Ino took both their bags and placed them in the back seats. "Thank you Ino-chan." Sakura buckled her seatbelt and started the car.
The drive to Ino's home was unbearably silent. The only sounds were the soft breathing of Ino and Sakura, the rain beating on the car, and cars from outside. Sakura couldn't take it anymore. "Ino what's wrong?" Sakura asked softly.
"It's nothing." Ino replied looking out the window.
"Oh it's something all right. Is it about Shikamaru?" Sakura glanced over to her friend who was looking out the window and sighed.
"I just can't explain what this sensation is. I'm just not feeling right." Ino looked over to her friend. Sadness was evident in her baby blue eyes.
"All right, but feel free to tell me if I can do anything." Sakura sighed. The blonde nodded her head still facing the window.
The rest of the ride was silent until the two reached Ino's house. The pink haired kunoichi stopped the car. "Ino-chan, it's time to get out of the car." The two grabbed their things and ran to the front door. They walked into the building and took the elevator up. Ino's face seemed to look more cheerful now and Sakura was relieved that it was that way.
Ino unlocked the door and walked in. She placed her things down and proceeded to close the door behind her friend. "Let's go to the bedroom, we'll figure out what to do first after I place my new clothes in the closet." There was happiness in Ino's voice again.
'No surprise, she remembered the clothes and now she's happy.' Sakura thought. They walked into the room and Sakura sat down on the floor while Ino began to organize the clothing. The white satin sheets of Ino's bed were still smoothed out since the morning. It created a calming effect for the room when compared to the wall, which was a nice shade of royal blue. There was a table in the corner of the room which she supposed was Shikamaru's. The desk was next to a door which opened to a balcony. The balcony had a roof over it so the rain didn't wet it.Sakura had often sat there with Ino to talk about certain things.
"Ino-chan?" Sakura called out.
"Yes?" came the reply.
"I'll unpack the gifts for Valentine's Day downstairs."
"Alright, I'll be down in a minute." Ino shouted. Shikamaru had enough money to buy the whole apartment building because of his success in his second job, writing. He wrote everything from novels to children's books. Being a genius helped his second career along with his first greatly. The couple did indeed buy the whole six level apartment but it didn't go to waste in any way.
The first level was a bookstore which Shikamaru's mother managed. It contained everything that Shikamaru himself wrote. There were also medical books from the Nara family. There was a huge variety and children and adults of all ages would visit wanting to find something for their reading. Kakashi was a big customer there.
The second level was a flower shop managed by Ino's mother. The shop was a beautifully decorated floor with plants of all sorts. The flower shop like the bookstore contained a huge variety and many different people would come to find something. The fist and second level were linked by a staircase in the middle of the room. The two women who managed the shops would often sit there to talk when business was slow.
The third floor was mainly for tourists who wanted to sightsee and find good places to go. There were souvenirs for the people to buy and brochures to introduce areas of the fire country. There were maps and articles of information that people could buy.
The rest of the floors belonged to Shikamaru and Ino. The fourth floor was a work level for the two ninja of the Leaf. Shikamaru would often need time to formulate strategies to avoid war and keep peace between nations. He was an important aspect the Fire Country and needed to figure out how to keep the countries in balance. The genius would also write on this level when he needed good ideas. Ino would need time to think about evidence on cases and would often come to this level to look through documents and research. There were also weapons of the couple thatwere stored on the level.
The last two floors was Shikamaru and Ino's home. The bottom floor consisted of a laundry room, kitchen, dining room, living room, family room, and bathroom. The upper floor consisted of a bedroom, two guestrooms, a bathroom, and a weapons room. The couple had guestrooms because they honestly had nothing to do with the extra space. On the levels with stores, the couple told the owners that the store needed to be closed by seven for personal reasons.
Sakura began to empty out the gifts from the shopping bag onto a table. 'Let's see here, we have chocolates, candles, stuffed animals, flowers, cards, wine, and books. We bought more than I thought.' The pink haired girl began to organize and put things in piles. The rain still beat down on the window and the light was beginning to flash on and off. "Ino, I think the power is going to go out. I'll light a candle that I bought." Sakura shouted up to her friend.
Just as Sakura had predicted, the lights did go out. The kunoichi was a bit startled and frightened at the same time. Sakura had a fear of being alone when it was raining. It made her shiver. The thunderstorm did not make Sakura feel any better. A few moments later, Ino came running down the steps holding paper and pens. "I think I have everything we're going to need for the next hour. "'I just hope that the weather clears up soon. I have a feeling this won't end good.'
Thank you all for reading. Until next time!