Part 3 – Another Plan
The next morning, Ayame hurried over to the flower shop. The pretty blonde girl was behind the counter. Ayame rarely bought flowers. She only needed them on special occasions for her mother's grave. She knew little about flowers and nothing about what a man would like.
"Excuse me," Ayame said to the flower girl, "can you help me pick out an arrangement for a man?"
"For a man?" Ino repeated in surprise. How strange, but quite a novel idea, could open a whole new market if advertised properly…
"Yes, I would like to send some flowers in apology. Do you think it's a good idea?"
"Of course it is! There's no rule that says a man can't receive flowers! I'm sure he'll greatly appreciate the gesture. Let's see…a manly arrangement…I can do it! This is a test of my superior flower arrangement skills. I was first in my class you know…"
"Er, that's nice…now what do you think would be appropriate for a guy?"
"Hmm…wait, aren't you the waitress from Ichiraku? You're, I mean, you were going out with Iruka sensei weren't you?" Iruka's been one of my best customers! I have to get them back together! "I'm terribly sorry about…your situation. I'll do my best to help. I'll even give you a discount!" Not really, I'll just round down the numbers but everyone likes to think they're getting a discount.
"Oh, thank you very much," Ayame said appreciatively. How come everyone seems to know my business? At least they've all been sympathetic.
"Okay, let's see…how about some forget-me-nots? They're a nice blue violet color. They're small flowers so we can add them to something larger and more impressive…"
Ino proceeded to carefully arrange a number of different blue, violet, and yellow flowers. Ayame had to admit she was impressed.
"That's so beautiful, just send them over to…"
"I'm sorry we have no delivery service today…"
"What!"
"There's only me today so I can't leave the store."
"What if I watch the store and you bring it over?"
"I can't do that! What would you do if customers came in? Do you know anything about flowers at all? I can't afford to lose any customers."
Ayame just then looked out the window and saw Sasuke walking by. She ran out and called to him frantically. "Sasuke! Sasuke-kun!"
Sasuke looked back, saw the ramen girl, and continued walking. But Ayame was not to be ignored. She ran up to him and grabbed the sole remaining Uchiha by the arm.
He glared at her dangerously. "You shouldn't do that. Not unless you want a fight."
"Fight? Me? A civilian?" She laughed, "You're very funny despite what everyone says. No, no, I need you to do me a favor…"
"No." Sasuke pulled his arm away.
"Please, please, I just need you to deliver…"
"No." He started to walk away.
"Please! I knew your parents!" Not really but something like that always works, Ayame thought, a bit guiltily.
Sasuke stopped and just looked at her.
Ayame scrambled for something to say. "They used to come to the ramen stand all the time, before you were born." She added the last part in case he claimed he had no memories of them eating at Ichiraku.
"What would they order?" Sasuke asked as if testing the veracity of her statements.
"Uh…" think, think, "…uh, your dad liked the beef ramen and your mom the house special." It was a complete guess. Sasuke usually ordered beef ramen so she chose that for his dad. Like father like son, she hoped. And everyone likes the house special ramen, she hoped.
Sasuke said nothing but just nodded as if Ayame passed the test.
Ayame sighed in relief and continued with her request, "I need you to deliver these flowers and this note to Iruka sensei at the Academy."
"I hear he doesn't want anything to do with you. I doubt if he'll accept them," Sasuke said unsympathetically. Slut, whore, he added to himself.
"Well…you can force Iruka sensei to read it! Can't you? I mean, you're an elite Uchiha and he's just a pathetic chuunin with no hopes of making jounin, right?" Ayame felt bad about insulting Iruka, but she needed Sasuke to help her.
Sasuke seemed to seriously contemplate beating up on his former sensei. Finally he nodded and accepted the flowers and note from Ayame.
"Make sure he reads that note! Drop by the ramen stand later! Let me know how it goes! Free bowl on the house today!" Ayame yelled at his retreating form.
-…-…-…-…-…-
Iruka was in the middle of class when Sasuke rudely interrupted. "These are for you," he stated bluntly.
"Flowers? For me?" The kids in the class started giggling and Iruka's ears turned red.
"They're from the ramen girl."
"From Ayame? I want nothing more to do with her! Take them away!" He shoved the flowers back at Sasuke.
Sasuke removed the note from the basket and held it out for Iruka. "Just read the note then."
Iruka took the note and was about to rip it in half when he felt a cold hand clamping down on his arm. "I've been given instructions to make sure you read that note, no matter what." Sasuke then punctuated his threat by turning on his sharingan eyes. Poor Iruka started to sweat. He swallowed, hard, before nervously opening the note. This kid's as crazy as his brother!
NOTE:
My dearest Iruka-kun,
Please forgive me, I swear there is nothing between me and Kakshi anymore! I made sure of it!
I love only you!
XOXOXOXOXOXO Ayame
'I made sure…" I can't believe she made such a decision without consulting me! Kakashi must have pressured her into it! Iruka mistakenly assumed that Ayame had terminated her pregnancy. "All right, I read it. Please leave my class now," he coldly said to Sasuke.
Sasuke shrugged, left the flowers on Iruka's desk and exited the classroom.
-…-…-…-…-…-
Next up: Kakashi returns from his mission.
