Ino was working in the flower shop, currently in the back dressed in a pair of cut off overalls and a sports bra as she dug in the soil and re-planted the flowers that her father liked to use in his smaller arrangements. Ever since her mom had died, Ino and her father had to fight to keep the shop open because of missions that they both had to go on.
The bell above the door chimed and Ino looked at the clock overhead, it was seven in the morning no one ever came in that early…unless Shikamaru.
"Listen, Shikamaru. I am not dropping ou" she stopped mid-sentence when she realized that it wasn't the spikey haired genius but the one with pale eyes and even longer hair.
Dear kami, I didn't think that I would see him again Ino thought to herself as she approached the counter and suddenly felt self-conscious of her stubby French braids and her dirty hands.
"You should consider dropping out" the genius said as he wandered among the flowers.
"What can I do for you, Hyuuga-sama" she managed to growl out.
Neji turned to look at her. She was pretty he couldn't deny that, but she was weak. Almost as weak as Hinata, with that thought in mind he spoke "I need calalilles" he said.
Ino didn't even bother trying to figure out what the hell Neji wanted with calalillies, instead she just weaved around him and gathered the flowers. Feeling artistic she added some fiddlehead ferns and a instead of wrapping it in the usual newspaper, she wrapped it in white paper and tied the bottom with a baby blue ribbon.
"Thank you" Neji said as he bowed shallowly to her and walked out the door of the flower shop.
Ino released a breath that she really didn't think that she had been holding. Damn Hyuuga she muttered more to herself than to anyone else.
She wandered to the back of the shop and continued digging and replanting the plants. When she finished she stood up and stretched. Her knees were sore from kneeling on the ground for a few hours. She walked to the front of the store and was about to open the door when she nearly ran into Shikamaru.
"Can I help you?" she asked with a huff.
"You have dirt on your face" he said. Before Ino could move he reached his hand up and ran his thumb slowly from just above the middle of her upper lip and diagonally across to the left corner of her mouth on her lower lip.
Ino felt her cheeks heat up. "Anyway. What do you want?"
"Asuma wants us to meet him at the training grounds" he muttered looking away as the slight pink that appeared on his cheeks was beginning to fade.
"Awesome, let me grab my holister and we can be on our way" ino replied.
"What? No make over before we head out?" Shikamaru teased.
Ino groaned before shoving him out the door and locking it right after she flipped the sign to 'closed'
Asuma took in Ino's appearance when she arrived at the training ground with Shikamaru. She wasn't dressed in her typical attire, instead she had soil on her knees and was wearing a pair of cut-off overalls.
"New look?" he teased.
Ino narrowed her eyes at him "No I was at the flower shop and didn't have time to change" she replied.
Asuma nodded. Hmmm…Ino is usually too vain to ever be seen not in her purple outfit, maybe she is taking this seriously. He thought to himself.
"What are we doing?" Shikamaru inquired with his hands in his pockets.
After training with Shikamaru and Asuma, Ino headed to another one of the training areas with the dummies. She hadn't bothered to change clothes, No point in getting clothes dirty.
After spending an hour beating against the dummy she lay on her back in the grass and closed her eyes.
She cracked open one eye when a figure loomed above her their shadow blocking out the sun that was warming her face.
"Sleep somewhere else, I need to train and the other training grounds are taken" Neji said.
"Don't the Hyuuga have theirown training ground?" she asked.
"Not one that would allow Tenten and Lee" Neji replied.
Ino opened both eyes and saw the other two members of Team 1 standing a few feet behind.
Ino sighed. "I wasn't sleeping, I was resting I have been beating on those dummies for a while" she replied "so technically speaking I was training."
Neji narrowed his eyes. Once again me and my big mouth, she sighed dramatically and climbed to her feet.
"I'm leaving, don't get your panties in a bunch" Damn.
Neji was on her in a minute, his arm wrapped around her tiny waist and a kunai to her throat. He inhaled her floral scent and whispered against her neck "Don't push your luck Yamanaka. I really will kill you. Do I make myself clear?"
Ino looked over at Lee and Tenten who were staring with shock but also had their weapons drawn. At least these two wouldn't let him kill me she thought.
"Crystal" she managed to gasp out before he released her. She stumbled forward but kept her footing as she turned and glared at Neji she opened her mouth about to say something again when Tenten came forward and slapped her hand over Ino's mouth.
"Are you stupid?" She hissed at Ino.
Ino almost nodded, but didn't.
"Get out of here" Tenten said to her.
Ino nodded and grabbed her things before forcing herself to saunter cockily out of the training area. Just because he scared the hell out of her, didn't mean that she was going to let him know it. She had to be stronger now and that included mentally. She turned and looked over her shoulder at Neji who was staring at her retreating form with his hands clenched at his side.
He knew the message that she was trying to send to him. And he read it loud and clear.