"All right, how about I drop you off at your place, pick up some ramen, and we meet up at Hokage tower for an early lunch? Then we can finish off the paperwork, and maybe train some more." Naruto asked lightly.
'You're a good friend, Naruto-kun.' She thought softly smiling, then answered, "that would be great, Naruto."
Helping Naruto with paper work while he ate ramen became a part of her daily routine. It had been a solid month post-Shikamaru, and she now considered this time to be a sort of stress relief. Which is odd, because who thinks of twenty plus pages of political jargon and feels relief?
'Well at least I don't have to spend this time alone.'
Her gaze flitted over towards the Hokage who, at this moment, was wolfing down his third bowl of ramen. Smirking, she asked a question that was bothering her. "Naruto, do you know how Hinata-chan is doing? I haven't seen her in a while," frowning slightly at that last statement, she really needed to get up to date on the latest gossip.
"Well last I heard dog-breath is planning to propose to her next month," he answered distracted, trying to decide if he should go get more ramen.
'WHAT, how did I not know?!'
Internally screaming, Ino had a look of shock plastered to her face. "They kept it low-key, I'm kinda surprised, too. I only know because he was muttering about rings before accepting a mission," Naruto snickered at her facial expression.
She hmphed at him stuck her tongue out at him, and all that she got out of him was a raised eyebrow and a smirk. Turning back to the work in front of her, she attempted to hide the blush she knew without a doubt was staining her face.
'Why does he have to be so handsome?!'
She fretted, and thanked Kami as the blush started to recede from her face. Peeking up at his face she immediately looked down, having caught his eyes in a glance. Leafing through packets of papers she had yet to get to, she bit her bottom lip in exasperated concentration. A hand softly grabbed her own, bringing her nervous motions to a halt.
"Ino-chan, would you like to go eat with me? Have a break from all this nonsense?" Naruto asked once she looked up. Nodding, she got her things, and asked, "ramen or Barbecue?" With a grin. Going for the element of surprise, Naruto replied, "Barbecue sounds great!"
Sitting across from the Hokage, she ordered her regular dish, plus a little extra. She hadn't been able to eat well lately, and was becoming a little bit too thin for her tastes. Being thin was fine, but she had gotten used to her more voluptuous figure. Naruto had gotten a smaller dish, since he'd already had three bowls of ramen.
"Itadakimasu!" They both said before diving in to the mouth-watering food. Seeing Ino eating without restraint brought a feeling of joy over Naruto, allowing him a sense of relaxation he didn't expect. In between bites Ino glanced up and noticed Naruto had finished and was gazing at her with a soft smile. Pausing from her food, she asked him why he was looking at her like that.
He replied, "because I enjoy how you're eating without so much restraint, I can see you don't restrict your intake in some kind of diet you didn't need in the first place."
Without a reply, she went back to her food with blush stained cheeks. Finishing her food, she sneaked a glance at Naruto to see him calling for the check. Gathering up her money, she lightly placed the correct amount onto the table. Sliding out of the booth, she stood to find herself in front of an irritated Shikamaru.
Raising an eyebrow, she looked towards Naruto and back, "how are you, Shika?" Irritation flared in his eyes as he questioned instead, "why are you ignoring me?"
"I have a busy schedule now. Why do you care, Shika?" She answered calmly. Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "now, I have to go or else I'll get behind at my job. You ready, Naruto?" She moved to stand beside Naruto, and they made their way out of the restaurant.
Peeking over at Ino, Naruto could tell she was angry. If you weren't looking close enough, you would think she was calm, but the repetitive clenching of her jaw and forced exhales threw up red flags. Wrapping one arm around her shoulders, he guided them to an unoccupied training ground.
"You need to hit something, it'll help with the anger." He spoke calmly to her as they got closer to a beaten log. Lowering his arm, he backed away, and gave her room to lash out.
Thirty minutes passed to find Ino leaning against the log, that now looked even worse than before. "I'm sorry I can't help with the paperwork tonight Naruto," only a slight tremor was noticeable from her previous lack of breath.
"Don't be. I'm just glad you beat the shit out of that log instead of internalizing your anger. Besides we still have time to go work on those infernal things." Naruto said, coming closer to help her up.
Slightly leaning on Naruto, she laughingly sighed her acceptance, and walked with him to his office. Releasing pent up aggression does a number on the body, especially if it's released by beating a hard log. Despite the added strength from the training sessions, she decided, kicking a log was always going to hurt.
Despite Naruto's promise to find someone else to help with papers, he never seemed to be in search on one. That was quite all right with Ino since this routine of training, and help Naruto seemed to bring her out of herself more so than any previous attempts. She was legitimately happy, and it was noticeable to anyone with eyes.
Ino had finally allowed Shikamaru to apologize to her, and had made peace with Temari. That didn't mean they were friends again, but the stress of avoiding them was now gone. Leaning against the bar, Ino hummed a melody she had never heard, and worked on arranging some lilies into a bouquet that was ordered for today. A small tinkling bell alerted her to a customer in search of some peonies for his date.
"It's her favorite flower," he admitted shyly.
Smiling at him, she tied the small order in a beautiful bouquet style, and wished him luck. Placing the money into the register, she went back to the arrangement to add any final touches. Humming again she danced around the shop, her thoughts set on a certain blond that was not herself. Months had gone by and her relationship with Naruto had gotten much closer, but they had yet to actually ask each other out. With Hinata's wedding coming up, however, Ino was going to change that.
Giggling at something Naruto had said the night before, she failed to hear the door open. Hearing a happy laugh, her movements ended. She turned to see her childhood friend, Sakura. Grinning widely, Ino walked up to her and hugged her.
"Now Ino-pig, what has you so happy that you're practically dancing around the store?" Sakura asked laughing as Ino pulled away from her.
"I can't just be happy, Forehead?" Ino asked walking over the counter to sit down.
"Well, yes, but word is around town that while I've been gone two blond-haired individuals have been glued to the hips and inseparable." Sakura replied with an eyebrow raised in amusement.
"So, what? Naruto has been a great friend to me these past months." Ino claimed nonchalantly, her cheeks going red.
"From where I'm looking, he's been more than a friend, Ino. Why didn't you tell me about it?" she whined. It's not every day your best friend starts practically dating your brother!
"Oh, Forehead… It started off as him helping me with my training, and me helping him with paperwork, but now I can't imagine living without him. He makes me happy," Ino sighed dreamily as Sakura giggled.
"Anyway," Ino remembered herself, "where have you been? I thought you were only going to be in Suna for a couple months, you've been gone for six!"
"You do realize building new medical buildings and training the people to run said place takes a while, right?" Sakura continued, "besides, I was also learning about the plants around Suna, and the toxins made from some of them. The whole thing took longer than I thought it would."
"Well I'm glad you're back, Forehead!"
She giggled watching Sakura's eye twitch from the name. It never got old. Looking over to the clock, she began pulling off her apron and turned the open side over. Explaining to Sakura that it was lunch time, and she usually ate with Naruto. Opening the door for Sakura, she shut the door to the flower shop and locked it, before walking next to Sakura.
Sakura smiled watching her friend talk animatedly about Naruto, and her daily routine that began almost five months prior. Arriving at Naruto's office, Ino knocked once before letting herself in. Ino giggled at the familiar sight of paperwork-hidden Naruto. Naruto peeked over the papers and stood up to show a wide grin.
"Hey Ino-chan! Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed on his way around the table.
Sakura didn't miss that he hugged Ino first before her. Filing that information away she laughed at Ino's blush.
"How are you Sakura-chan? How was Gaara-san?" Naruto asked leaning on the edge of his desk.
"I'm great, just tired. Kazekage-sama said to tell you he hopes you are well, and that once everything is settled he will send you a letter. Mentioned something about needing a kunoichi, but that's all I heard about it." Sakura said holding back a yawn.
Chuckling, Naruto looked over to Ino who had already turned to him.
'She is so breath taking.'
Seeing her light blush made his observation even more true.
"Sakura-chan, wanna join us for lunch?" He asked, feeling guilty because, while he did want to catch up with her, he wanted to be alone with the other blonde in front of him.
Lightly laughing, Sakura refused the offer. Choosing instead to go home and steal some sleep before she expected back at the hospital. Ino giggled, and agreed with her logic while Naruto just grinned. The threesome walked together out of Hokage tower till Sakura broke off to head home. Naruto wrapped his arm around Ino's shoulder and continued to the Barbeque shop since they had had Ichiraku's ramen yesterday.
Opening the door for Ino, Naruto walked slightly behind her, greeting the other diners. The owner still seemed excited to be serving the Hokage, despite it now being a normal routine. Settling into the booth, that had basically become "theirs", the waitress came around to get their order.
Ino laughed at Naruto who, at this moment, was still trying to convince the owner to let him pay for the food. Just because he was Hokage and 'savior' of the village, it didn't mean he felt entitled to take advantage of people's offers. The restaurant still had to make money too, didn't it?
After a few more minutes Naruto managed to convince the owner, yet again, that he didn't need a free meal. Sighing, Naruto lifted his head from their position in his hands to see Ino struggling not to laugh. Narrowing his eyes at her, he decided to mess with her a little bit.
"Ne, Ino-chan, have you found anyone worth dating?"
The look of panic on her face was gold. Forcing himself not to laugh, he continued watching her as her face flooded with a blush. She attempted, key word here "attempted," to hide it by drinking deeply from her cup.
'Kami, Ino! Get it together!'
She was pulled away from her inner turmoil by a deep laugh that could've only come from the man in front of her. Whatever progress she had made to push away her blush was for nothing, peeking up at Naruto she felt her face heat back up. Covering her face, she cursed the man she was seated with.
'why must he be so gorgeous?! It's not fair!'
A hand gently pried her own from her face, and kissed her knuckles. Looking up at Naruto, she smiled. They both knew they liked each other. Once she got her voice under control she asked Naruto the question she expected to ask him later.
"Naruto-kun…. Would you like to go to Hinata's wedding as my date?"
With a small laugh, he answered, "I was just about to ask you the same thing, Ino-chan!"
Smiling, she shook her head lightly, and thanked the waitress that brought their steaming hot pork. "Itadakimasu!" They broke apart their chopsticks and began to chow down. Between bites they chatted about their day. They ended up talking about Suna, neighboring villages, and ways to improve any outstanding problems.
Naruto cherished Ino's opinions about these things. She was honest, intelligent, and she cared about the people the actions would affect. While Naruto had Shikamaru for this same thing, he liked hearing Ino's take on these things. Resting his chin on his hand, he thought about how they had been dancing around their affections for each other.
'Maybe going as dates to Hinata-chan's wedding will jump start our actual relationship?"
Paying their bill once Ino is done, Naruto helps her out of her chair, and out of the restaurant. She wrapped her arm around his, and leaned into him as they made their way towards the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Pulling away from him she went to unlock the door, and turned back to him.
"My cousin said she could take over the shop tomorrow, so I can help you with your work. Are we still on for our morning training?" She said leaning against the entrance.
"Sure thing, Ino-chan! I'll see you tomorrow!"
And without any warning, Naruto leaned in, and kissed her cheek. Pulling away, he smiled widely and scratched the back of his head. He immediately turned, and began walking faster than necessary. Ino giggled happily pushing herself against the door to glide inside. That wasn't her first kiss on the cheek, hell, she had gone much farther than that with another man. But that man wasn't Naruto, and boy did she adore Naruto.
Coming into the store not even five minutes after, Shikamaru had a dark look on his face. Ino was humming and gliding to the flowers she needed for a new arrangement, still thinking about how adorable Naruto was. Catching a look at Shikamaru, she giggled at his expression.
"Hey Shikamaru! How are you today?" She asked, trying to weasel out why he looked like that.
"I'm fine Ino." His answer was clipped, so she decided that being subtle wouldn't work. Bummer.
"Then why do you look like you've been force-fed an extra sour lemon, hmm?"
Snickering at his expressions changing to annoyed, she figured she would ignore him until he wanted to say something. Going back to the vase, she lightly hummed the tune of a love song, and placed the flowers in an elegant arrangement. Lifting a rose to her face, she inhaled the scent before placing it with the others.
"Why have you been hanging around Naruto so much?"
"Ahh, so you decided to speak! I don't understand how that is any of your business, Shikamaru. Now did you come here to talk to me about something more important than my love life, or what?"
Looking over at Shikamaru, his face had resumed his natural expression of disinterest. Wrapping a protective cover over the flowers, she brought them to the shelving unit behind her desk for pick up.
"It's my business because you never go on missions with me and Choji anymore. All your time is spent with Naruto, and it's getting ridiculous."
"Oh yea, because you two have been on so many missions for the past five months, hm? You forget that I'm the one helping Naruto with mission assignments. Most of your missions are escorts for the Kazekage's siblings, and Choji has been busy taking over his clan duties. I'm starting to believe you're just jealous, Shika."
Smirking at the choking sound he couldn't seem to hide, Ino continued, "if you're jealous that I found the man of my dreams, you might want to go visit your girlfriend. Having a dry spell, are you?"
At the barely concealed murderous look he gave her, she outright laughed at him. Sitting on her stool, she watched him walk out her shop. The only indicator of him being angry was the noise of a slamming door.
'I wonder what pissed him off? Saying I found the man of my dreams, and it not being him, or asking if he's having a dry spell?'
Cackling, she took the arrangements to the back of the shop to keep the fresh until tomorrow. She shut down the shop, and seeing that it was still early enough, headed to Hokage Tower. Heading up the stairs to his office, she passed Choji and promised she would come to his compound after helping Naruto. Letting herself into his office, she noticed his absence and began to poke around. Hearing footsteps nearing the room, she sat down and waited for Naruto.
"OH! Hey Ino-chan! I thought you had to work the rest of today?"
Naruto's cheery voice fell around her like a warm blanket. Closing her eyes, she felt herself relax.
"Yeah, but I finished all my orders for tomorrow. I figured I could come and help you instead."
"How can I refuse you? Thank you Ino-chan."
Opening her eyes to see him standing in front of her, she smiled at him. Standing up, she brushed by him to begin sorting the papers. Naruto gently moved her bang to the side, and kissed her cheek before moving behind his desk to continue working. Ino paused for a moment, and blushed before going back to her task.
The small kisses had continued the next week. Some initiated by Ino, most of them from Naruto. They even got to the point of actual kissing. Which was great for them. The paperwork? Not so much. Of course, Ino forced him to actually work on the paperwork, withholding kisses turned out to be a great motivator. But, somehow, Naruto had found a way to convince Ino to let it slide some times.
They struck a deal to try and fix the problem. Ino decided that instead of just making out all evening in his office, they would get more work done if they waited until after they got the paperwork done to make out. To motivate Naruto further, if they couldn't get the work finished before it was time to go train, he would only get a couple of kisses instead. Ino wasn't looking to punish herself, after all.
Late one evening, while Ino cuddled up to Naruto in front of the TV watching an action movie, there was a knock on her door. Groaning from her comfortable spot under her warm blanket, she nuzzled her face into his chest, hoping the person would just go away. Apparently, Ino wasn't the luckiest person, because a second later the knock was louder and more urgent.
Dragging herself off Naruto was harder than she thought, but the nagging noise at the door forced her to anyway. Walking lazily over to the door in a baggy shirt (that belonged to Naruto) and some yoga pants, she opened the door. Choji was happy as always as he came through her door, but Shikamaru still hadn't lost the attitude he'd had a week before.
'Oh, great. Why do I have to deal with this again?'
Sighing, she turned to go back to the living room, instructing Choji where the leftover food was placed in the kitchen. Hearing Choji exclaim his thanks, she shook her head. She figured Shikamaru was smart enough to close the door behind him. She snuggled back into her spot by Naruto's side and continued with the movie.
When the movie was over, she glanced up at Naruto to find him asleep. Smiling softly, she kissed his chin, and snuggled into him. She had a feeling that she was being glared at. She looked over to the chair that was off to the side of the TV to find the problem. Looking beside him, munching on some of her homemade pasta, was Choji.
'Well, at least Choji doesn't have a problem with it. Why in the hell is Shikamaru here though?'
Getting tired of being glared at, she spoke softly, so as not to wake up the slumbering man beside her.
"Hey Choji, how are you?"
She received the expected, "I'm great! Ayame-chan sends her love! She hopes you can visit!"
She looked back to Shikamaru, who had barely moved an inch, and asked him what his problem was. By this point, she didn't really care whether he said anything or not. She continued chatting with Choji for the next thirty minutes. There was much more to talk about then she expected. At the end of the night, she asked if he could shut the door when he and Shikamaru left.
After hearing a, "Yeah, sure Ino-chan," she snuggled closer into Naruto. She was almost asleep when she heard Shikamaru muttering. Too tired to sit up and ask him to repeat himself, she just laid beside Naruto hoping he would leave. A moment later she sighed.
"Shikamaru, go home. Write a letter to your girlfriend, or ask Naruto tomorrow if you can go to Suna. There's no point in being a jerk to me. If you're not with Temari, find another girl to be with. I choose Naruto. Goodnight Choji."
She got three reactions to her statement. A cheery 'goodnight!' from Choji, a growl from Shikamaru as he followed Choji out of her house, and the arm beside her had tightened itself around her to bring her even closer. Giggling, she kissed a grinning cheek.
"So, you were awake that whole time?"
No point in sounding angry, is there?
"Not really, only for that last part. Don't worry, you can get territorial over me as much as you want."
Turning onto his side, they both laughed until he ended it with a long smooch. His fingers wound themselves into her hair, pulling her closer. Breaking away for air, she smiled and pushed him back onto the floor. Getting comfortable, she snuggled into him trying to convince herself to go to sleep. She needed sleep, or she wouldn't be able to function correctly. Besides, they still had training in the morning.
AN:
Soooo, what do you think? This chapter was a little longer, thankfully. I'll try to make them longer. I hope you enjoyed!