Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Warning: This is full of enough sugar to rot all of your teeth. (Also, timeline wise, Kiba has just headed out the door as Hana leaves the village for the Capital.)
"He, is nothing but trouble."
"Trouble, yes," She nodded.
"But not nothing. Not nothing."
-Atticus
The first time Ino meets Inuzuka Kiba, she's watering coral roses off to the side of her father's shop. The boy who barges in is a whirlwind of noise and color and movement. "Hey, Ossan!" He bursts through several rows of greenery straight towards Ino's Touchan. "What're Neechan's favorite flowers?"
Touchan turns to him with amused eyes. "Your Neechan is?"
The boy puffs out his cheeks maddeningly, and Ino has to admit, at least to herself, that his cheeks are really round, and the way that there's lightning sparking in his eyes is really rather cute. "My Neechan's Inuzuka Hana." He announces, as though the girl's a goddess. "She's the best Neechan in the entire world."
That might be a bit much though. Ino thinks hesitantly to herself. But he sounds so assured. Maybe he's right. Ino didn't have a comparison after all. She is an only child.
"Hmm...I don't think that your Neechan has a favorite flower, Inuzuka-kun." Touchan leans back against the counter, and looks around at all the flowers.
The boy stamps his foot. "I'm Kiba not Inuzuka-kun." A little white puppy pokes his head out from the collar of his baggy jacket, and barks. The boy tilts his head down. "Yeah, you're right, Akamaru." Kiba turns back to Touchan. "What flowers does she get for Fuga-tou?"
And that's just so clueless that Ino has to help him. "That's not what flowers are for." She steps out from behind the coral roses.
He blinks at her stupidly. "What?"
She takes him by the hand. How can he be so illiterate? Flowers are the most important things in the world. "What are you trying to say?" She asks him.
He frowns. "Flowers say things?" He pulls his hand from Ino's grip. "I just wanna give flowers."
She sets her hands on her hips. "That's really dumb. You wouldn't want to offend people by giving them bad flowers right?" He still looks mutinous, so she gives him a reasonable example. "Cactus flowers mean lust, do you wanna say that you wanna kiss the person you're giving them to?"
He looks vaguely horrified and completely disgusted. "Eww. Who'd want to do that?" His puppy barks, and he looks even more horrified by the moment. "Akamaru, that's gross."
Ino can't help it, she giggles, a hand over her mouth. He looks so stupid like that. Another, countering thought, pops up. He really looks kind of cute.
"Since you don't want that, isn't it better to know what you want to say?" She takes him by the hand to show him the flowers. "What did you want the person to know?"
Kiba looks down at his feet, a vivid blush rising in his cheeks. He shuffles back and forth, but for some things, some people, Ino can be patient. "What him to know that he's 'preciated." He says at last. "Fuga-tou not Tou-san, but still Tou."
Ino tilts her head back, running down the list of flowers that she found appropriate for gift giving. "Rosemary for remembrance." She decides. "Daffodils for respect, and anemones for sincerity. You'll have sincere respect for him for always."
His eyes grow wide. "That's so brilliant."
She turns around to actually look at him. He's dancing about on sandaled feet, waving his white puppy in the air. They are both barking furiously at each other. And Ino's surrounded by happy people, but this boy shines with happiness like a small star has descended down to the flower shop. "Brilliant." He repeats. "Will you show me what the flowers you mentioned are? The-the rose thing and the aneno-whatsits."
She laughs. "Rosemary and anemones and daffodils." She loops an arm through his, and leads him down the rows. 'See, these ones are anemones." She picks up a cluster of little white flowers and offers them to him.
He takes them very carefully, as though afraid of crushing them, with furious nodding. "Un. Un."
She wants to know where this goes now, so she leaves him in front of the rosemary and daffodils, so she can go back to Touchan. "Touchan? Can I go with him?"
Touchan's eyebrows draw together. "You sure you'll be alright out there, Cosmos?"
Ino slumps forwards. I'm really really tired of Touchan not letting me outside.
"Hey Ossan!" Kiba's back with his hands cupped gently around his flowers. "'M sure that, that-" He flounders, turning back to her. "Hey, what's your name anyway?"
"Ino." She presses a hand to her mouth in a vain attempt to stifle her giggles. "My name's Ino." You haven't even learned my name?
"Yeah!" He rallies himself. "'M sure that Ino-chan'll be great if she came."
"What if she gets hurt?" Touchan pins him with an unimpressed look that's sent of plenty of potential friends running.
The boy before her doesn't even quail. He straightens his shoulders and bares his teeth. "She won't get hurt." He sounds so perfectly assured that she believes him. "I'll bet my life on it." His white puppy barks.
"Your life?" Touchan asks, his voice low.
Kiba crosses his arms over his chest, and frowns so hard that Ino feels it right down to the marrow of her bones. "I'm betting my life not Akamaru's." His chin juts out. "I can afford that."
Touchan chuckles, and the tension bleeds out of the air. "There's no need to be so serious. I believe you'll be kind to my cosmos."
"Fuga-tou says that I shouldn't say anything I don't mean." Kiba pulls a series of bills and coins out of his pockets, and reaches up to set them on the counter. "Said was willing to bet my life." He grouses. "Meant it. Wasn't a metaphor."
He pulls her out the door by the hand, his flowers in a big bouquet on his arm, his dog stuffed down his shirt, and bends down to pick up a paint can, which rattles and clanks, with the other hand. He stands in the sun for a moment, the light catching his hair and setting each strand aflame, the tips bright gold, and the roots a deep earthy brown.
"So." Ino begins. "Who are you giving your flowers to?" He'd said Fuga-tou over and over again, but she didn't know who that was. And she'd thought that she knew every person who was important in Konoha.
"Fuga-tou." He replies, and then blinks. "I 'pose that you don't know who that is." He pauses and considers it as they walk down the street. "Uchiha Fugaku-san." He says at last. "That's what Neechan says his name is anyway. I just call him Fuga-tou."
"Uchiha Fugaku-san?" She squeaks. The Military Police Force Captain? The Uchiha Clan Head?
"Yeah." He smiles, and it's almost blinding. "Fuga-tou works down at the station. But don't worry." He says, mistaking her trepidation for disappointment. "He's at home for breakfast today. He said so."
"We're going to the Uchiha District?" She asks, and her legs quake. But the Uchiha are...important...She's the daughter of a clan head. She knows that, but she's never found Touchan the least bit scary. Uchiha Fugaku, who only ever showed up at the flower shop in May, is a scary man. He'd glared and hned his way through an entire conversation with Touchan.
"Yup!" The boy besides her bounces. "And after we give Fuga-tou his flowers-and you got him some really nice ones-we can go play with my stupid Otouto." He pauses for a moment. "D'you like candy? Or hair clips or jewelry and things?"
"Um. I like plum candies." She offers.
He considers this very hard. "C'mon. We can take a detour to Baasan's candy store. " He steps off of the main street, and heads down an alleyway. Ino follows him, completely lost in the maze of streets. "I like lemon candy." He announces out of the blue. "But plum candy is nice too." He still has a hold of her hand, and his dog barks again. "Yeah, Akamaru agrees. If you liked strawberry candy we won't be able to be friends anymore."
"We're friends?" She hadn't many friends, but never have they declared so out of the blue like this. The thing is, she half suspects that he's serious.
He blinks at her. "Course we are. You helped me find some flowers, and I'm gonna go buy us candy for the trip to Stupid Sasuke's house."
And maybe friendship is really that simple.
By the time they pass the gates of the Uchiha District, Ino's learned more about Kiba than she ever thought she would. She's also laughed more than she has in the past week, because Inuzuka Kiba has such an infectious laugh-and he's always laughing-that it makes everyone else around him bright and happy as well.
"-And then we dropped a paint bomb on its back." He's let go of her hand to mime dropping bombs and giggles so hard he almost falls over. "And you should've heard how loud that dumb cat yowled." He laughs. "It ran around for twenty blocks, we had to dunk it back in the river to clean it up. Left paint prints everywhere!"
She can picture the disgruntled cat, and Kiba chasing it around town. The thought is so amusing that she has to stop and bend over laughing. Her new friend is a good story teller.
"Kiba-chan." An older woman smiles at them. "Did you eat breakfast yet?" They'd been crunching candy from a bag of hard candies that Ino has been holding, but no breakfast yet.
"Nope! Not yet, Reiya-baasan." He sketches a clumsy bow in the older woman's direction and Ino hurries to do the same. "But don't worry! I'm going to Fuga-tou's house. He promised that he'd be home today!"
Reiya-san pats him on the head fondly. "You really are such a bright ray of sunshine, Kiba-chan." She pinches his cheek and hands him a wrapped package. "Remember to share with your friends too, alright?"
He beams at her. "Course!" He nudges Ino forwards and then gestures as enthusiastically as if he's presenting a princess. "This is Ino-chan, she's my newest friend!"
"Oh, aren't you cute." Reiya-san leans down and pats Ino's head as well. "Yamanaka Inoichi's daughter?"
"Y-yes, Reiya-san." She bows forwards. "It's very nice to meet you!"
Kiba pulls her up. "Don't need to be so formal, Ino-chan! Reiya-baasan doesn't mind." And then they're hurrying down the street again, among all the Uchiwa on each of the houses, Kiba shouting greetings to practically every person that they passed.
"I'll paint your fence this afternoon, Kidan-jiisan!" "Save me a space at the game later, Haru-chan!" "We're going fishing next week, right Kagen-san?"
He knows so many people. And they were all bright and happy, and smiling. She's never seen so many Uchiha smile before, but they're smiling for him, for this bright boy who laughs like plum rain.
"Miko-baa!" He calls as he steps out of his sandals and sets them by the door, gesturing for her to do the same. "We're here!"
The most beautiful woman Ino's ever seen steps out into the hallway, her face brightening as she lays eyes on Kiba. "Kiba-chan? Good morning!" She then turns to Ino. "And who's this?"
"This is Ino-chan!" Kiba announces. "She's my new friend!" He turns back to her. "And this is Miko-baa, she's Sasuke's Kaa-san."
"It's very nice to meet you!" Ino bows forwards, and prays that her hair looks alright. This is the Uchiha Matriarch. She reminds herself. I can't be rude. But in the back of her mind, she's not concerned about manners or etiquette. I didn't know that Uchiha-san's wife was so pretty.
"Oh, there's no need for that." Miko-san helps her up. "Come have breakfast with us."
And then she's pulled into the kitchen with a laughing Kiba. There's a man at the head of the table already. "Fuga-tou!" Kiba bounces forwards with a hop and a skip holding the flowers before him like an offering. "I got you flowers!"
The man raises his head, dark eyes questioning, a hand rising to take the bouquet from Kiba's proffered hands. "And you are saying?"
"Uh..." Kiba rubs his neck with his free hand, and Ino can see the gears in his head turning furiously. "There's rosemaries and daffodils and anemo-whatsits." He plops into a chair besides the Uchiha Patriarch, who is still waiting for him to finish patiently. "They're supposed to mean...respect and stuff. Cause I mean it!" He slumps forwards. "Ino-chan said it lots better."
"Sincere long lasting respect." Fugaku-san rises to place the flowers in a vase. "Is that what you meant?"
"Yeah!" Kiba bounces in his seat. "Hey, Ino-chan! Come sit down!" He scoots over on his chair, and pulls her over so that they sit on the same seat. "This is Ino-chan." He announces to Fugaku-san. "She's the prettiest girl in the world."
Fugaku-san's eyebrow rises minutely. "Indeed."
Ino feels her entire face flush a dark purple. "Yamanaka Ino!" She squeaks and bows awkwardly from her seated place at his table. Kiba-kun thinks I'm pretty? "Very pleased to meet you, Fugaku-san!"
"Oi!" And another boy their age has appeared in the kitchen. "Who's the girl, Kiba-nii?"
Kiba turns to stick his tongue out at the new boy, Akamaru barking furiously. "That's Kiba-niisama to you, Sasuke!" He shrugs. "And this is Ino-chan. She's our newest friend."
"I don't remember being consulted." Sasuke sits down on the other side of his father, a frown working its way onto his face. "Besides, why do we want to be friends with her anyway?"
And Ino decides right then and there, that she doesn't like Uchiha Sasuke very much. "Because I am so Kiba-kun's friend!" She jabs a finger in his direction. "And you can't do anything about it."
"Otouto..." Another boy's made his way to the dinner table. "Don't be mean to other people. It isn't kind." He bows to their father. "Otou-san."
"But Niichan!" Sasuke protests. "Kiba-nii made a friend and he didn't bring me with him!"
"People can do things without you, Sasuke." Another boy drops into the chair beside Sasuke. "Nice to meet you, Ino-chan." He winks at her. "I'm Shisui."
"And I'm Itachi." The first boy says from the seat besides Ino.
They're much nicer. She decides, and smiles pleasantly at them. "It's nice to meet you."
"Why don't I get a nice to meet you?" Sasuke grouses, with a baleful glare in her direction.
"Cause you weren't nice to her." Kiba sends him a look that can best be translated as long suffering. "You dummy, course she wouldn't like you."
"Boys!" Miko-san sets a tray of breakfast dishes on the table. "Be nice to our guest." She beams at Ino. "There's no need to be shy here, Ino-chan."
After breakfast, Itachi and Shisui take leave of the house, and Miko-san has charity work that takes her out into the wider village.
It's just the stern man at the head of the table, the boy beside her, and the boy across from her left at the table. "So." Kiba begins. "I brought the paint can."
"Boys." Fugaku-san sets his hands on the table. "Find something else to do. The cats deserve a rest."
"Yes, Otou-san." Sasuke looks bitterly disappointed, and sends Ino another look. It's all your fault. His eyes seem to say.
"Well." Kiba pushes himself up from the table. "Let's go to the park!"
The three of them gather themselves together, and prepare to trudge out. Ino hangs behind the other two, waiting for a moment to thank Fugaku-san.
"Thank you." She whispers, and bows in his direction. He hadn't said much, hadn't been welcoming, but it had been his house, and she'd eaten breakfast at his table. He deserves her thanks.
"Think nothing of it, Yamanaka-chan." He sweeps past her, on his way out the door. "Hurry." His last words are dropped pieces of paper in his wake. "Or you will lose them."
She jerks upright, and sees Sasuke turning a corner down the street, and Kiba not far behind, Akamaru running after them. "Hey!" She shouts. "Wait up!"
By mid morning, they've built the biggest sandcastle she's ever seen in the sand pit that they've claimed, complete with eight turrets and four moats and a wall. "You're not bad at this." Sasuke says as if he's surprised.
She sticks her tongue out at him. "Well, it serves you right, duck butt."
Kiba snorts, and flops back, laughter choking from his throat in short bursts. "Oh, that's a good one, No-chan!" He wipes a tear from his eye with the back of his hand. "Wah, duck butt."
Sasuke pounces on him. "What did you say?"
Kiba growls. "I said duck butt. That's what I said."
They roll straight through the sandcastle, and sand sprays everywhere. All that hard work. Ino laments as she dives out of the way. Wasted.
"Kiba-kun! Sasuke-kun!" She pulls Kiba off of Sasuke with a rather lot of difficulty. "We shouldn't do this here." She whispers.
There are mothers pulling their children away from them.
"Oh eww." A girl from close to them turns up her nose. "What's a girl like you doing with them?" And she doesn't like Sasuke very much, but she likes Kiba. He's funny and kind and friendly. What's wrong with him?
Kiba sits up, his hands clenched in fists. "Oi!" And she knows that he's just about ready to charge in.
"Don't say anything bad about my friends!" Ino flings a handful of sand at the offending girl. "You take that back!"
The girl steps back. "I was going to offer for you to join us." She glares down her nose at Ino, her arms crossed over her chest. "But I guess you're just as uncouth as those two. Ugly." The girl sneers, and Ino wobbles, and sits down hard. I'm ugly?
Sasuke steps between them, his hands shaking. "You take that back."
Kiba steps right up next to him. "Yeah! You take that back! No-chan's much prettier than you!"
The other girl takes a look at the two of them, both of them furious and sand covered, and flounces off. "Ugh. Who cares about you three?"
Sasuke turns around. "You didn't believe her right?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Kiba offers her a hand. "You're the prettiest girl in the world!" I only met you today. But you're nicer than Shikamaru, and more dependable than Chouji.
She takes his hand, rubs the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, like she's seen him do, and smiles. "Course I didn't believe her."
Sasuke scoffs, his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, you shouldn't." He looks kinder now. "You're pretty cool."
The three of them race down the street, Kiba and Akamaru leading the way. "C'mon! There's a yakitori place this way!"
"Slow down!" Sasuke calls after him, dropping back to a walk beside Ino. "He's always in a hurry." He mutters.
Ino laughs, wild and free and doesn't bother to cover her mouth. "That seems like him."
Sasuke nods, and holds the flap open for her, when they get to the yakitori place. "We're here with my brother. The boy with the dog who got here earlier." He clarifies for the greeter.
"Right this way." The young man leads them to a booth in the back, where Kiba's bouncing up and down.
"Where were you two? I'm starving." Kiba pats the place beside him. "Come sit here, No-chan!" He turns to Sasuke with a suspicious look in his eyes. "You stopped your jogging practice again, didn't you?"
"I don't have any idea what you mean." Sasuke shrugs. "It's not important anyway."
"Stupid!" Kiba thwaps the table. "Neechan said that jogging's an important part of becoming strong! And we can only protect people when we're strong."
"I'll run tomorrow." Sasuke concedes. "And Ino-chan can come with us."
Yakitori appears before them, and Ino nibbles on a skewer while Kiba and Sasuke hold an eating contest. "I'll eat you under the table!" Kiba announces.
Sasuke grins at him, sharp and glinting in the bright light of their booth. "I'd like to see you try."
Kiba wins in the end by half a skewer. "Hah! Take that!" He points at Sasuke, cackling. "I won again! That's a full week now!"
Sasuke glares up at him. "I'll win tomorrow!" He declares. "Just you wait."
The three of them wander down to the lake in the early afternoon. "It's too hot to keep running around." Sasuke had groused, and Kiba had conceded that sweat is pretty awful.
"We could go down to the river?" Ino offers. "It'll be cooler there."
Sasuke seems to make up his mind. "We should go to the lake instead." He bumps shoulders with Kiba and Ino. "Shisui-nii made a boat earlier this summer. We can go boating on the lake."
"Yeah, that's a good idea." Kiba slings a sweaty arm around both their shoulders that Ino doesn't even mind, and the three of them troop off.
The lake is shiny and very blue, and it looks so cool that Ino forgets that she doesn't like still water, and still hasn't learned how to swim.
They step into the boat docked at the end of the pier, Sasuke surefooted as a goat, Kiba too careless to care, and Ino wobbling precariously.
Sasuke rows them towards the center, and Ino feels her tension mount. "C-can we go back?" She asks, but Kiba leans forwards, and jabs Sasuke in the stomach.
Sasuke jerks back, and the boat tips precariously.
"Please!" She asks, louder this time. "Can we go back?"
The two of them stop their joking around. "What's wrong, No-chan?" Kiba's looking at her with worried eyes. "You're shaking."
"I can't swim." She admits. They're going to think that you're stupid. "And I'm afraid of water."
"We'll teach you later." Sasuke decides. "Swimming isn't hard." He does turn the boat around, and starts rowing back. "But since we don't want you to drown." The oars rise out of the water, and push back down. "We can go back."
She breathes a deep sigh of relief when they make it back to dry land.
They spend another four hours lounging about on the pier and the shallows, splashing and outlining prank ideas in the sand.
They walk back through the market, and Kiba dives towards a stall without any warning, dragging the two of them with him. "Hey, Baasan!" He points towards two hairpins. "How much are those?"
The two pins that he's pointing to are silver butterflies, so pretty that Ino doesn't even know what to say.
The woman behind the stall names a price, and Kiba muses over it for a moment, his mouth set in an uncharacteristic thin line. He seems to be wrestling with some sort of decision. "I'll take them." He says at last. "And don't wrap them."
He digs into his pockets, pulls out a chewy dog bone wallet, and reluctantly counts out the bills. Then he picks up the hairpins very carefully and turns to her. "Turn around." He mumbles. "We need to stick them in your hair."
She isn't sure that he's really good at hairstyles, but she turns around. They're so pretty. She thinks. I have to get him a present just as good. He's so been nice all day.
He passes the hairpins to Sasuke. "Hold them for a moment." And then with a sigh of deep contemplation, gathers her tangled hair and twists it up rather messily. He's not very good, but it works anyhow. He has a Neechan. Ino reminds herself. He probably practiced with her.
And then he sticks the two prettiest pins that Ino has ever seen in her hair. "There." He says, with finality. "Now No-chan's really a butterfly."
She blushes. Sasuke scoffs. Akamaru barks sharply once as if in agreement, and Kiba pulls them both onward. "And I 'pose that No-chan has to go home."
Sasuke peels himself away. "Niichan!" He shouts and waves. "Sorry, Kiba-nii!" He tosses over his shoulder, racing through the crowd towards Itachi-san. "I've gotta go home with Niichan!"
Kiba takes her hand, now that they're alone. "Well, we should probably go back."
"Yeah." Ino agrees, heart bursting. Every movement of her head sets the butterflies jangling. I met the nicest boy today. She smiles, and feels that her face must split in half.
"We're back!" Kiba opens the door for her, and she dances through the door.
"Touchan!" I've got so much to talk to you about! She spins two circles across the floor and Touchan sweeps her up in a tight hug.
"Ino!" He doesn't sound very happy. "You've been gone the entire day."
"Touchan!" She giggles. "I've got so much to tell you about." She gestures wildly with her hands. "Kiba-kun and Sasuke-kun had a Yakitori eating contest. We built the biggest sand castle, and oh! We spent so much time down at the lake too! And, and-"
Touchan lays a finger over her lips. "It looks like we have to thank your new friend." He observes, looking up at Kiba and Akamaru, still shifting awkwardly from foot to foot by the door.
"Not a problem, Ossan!" He laughs, and rubs the back of his neck with a hand. "I gotta go to dinner, yeah? I'll be back tomorrow, No-chan!" He says, and then flees through the door.
Ino turns back to her Tou-chan. "Do you think I'm the prettiest girl?" She asks, and gestures to her hairpins. "I think I'm prettier now."
Touchan stares at her for a long time. "Of course you are, my cosmos." They turn to walk hand in hand back to dinner. "You'll always be my prettiest girl, with or without your new hairpins."
"It was this, him, and times like these
that she lived for and willing to die for
time and time again."
-JmStorm
A.N. So I got hit by a case of the feels, which means we have a short on the Kiba, Ino, Sasuke friendship now. This was, while planning occurred, practically always a thing that was meant to be.
Thank you so much to LittleMissSugarLess, Yuki Suou (Yeah, Tsume has some clouded vision when it comes to those scenes, but she does recognize that somewhere along the line, she's also failed.), hasan9206, AnimeFreak71777, Cannibalistic Apple, Cooked Ghost (It's all fluff this time! There's nothing to cry about!), libraryrockerr, DuxTell (I'm glad that they're inspiring!), Guest, fernandfeather, and Shion Lee (I will write more Kakashi. He likes to appear in random places.) for reviewing!
And for everyone who favorited and followed.
~Tavina.