Chapter 61

Flower Shop

After breakfast they were ready to set off to start their day. Hinata grabbed a flower from her garden and set out to leave. Naruto held Hinata's hand as soon as they were outside the house and walked toward the village.

"Is that for Kurenai?" He asked her as they kept walking.

"No," she replied. "I try to visit Neji everyday and leave a flower for him." She saw the look on Naruto's face was surprised and crestfallen. "It wasn't your fault, you know that, right Naruto?" She asked as she looked up at him.

"That's what your father said too, I just wish we had another choice in that moment, that's all."

"Me too," she said as she squeezed his hand. She felt it was important for Naruto to see her usual routine and learn more about her. She had spent so much time already being wrapped up in him that she didn't really expect for him to get to know her. By the time she faced that mistake she was leaving the leaf village and saying goodbye to the only love she ever wanted. She had to make sure things were different this time.

They reached the grave of Neji Hyuga and she handed the flower to Naruto to lay down and she said a prayer for Neji. When she was done she stood up and prepared to leave until Naruto bent down and also began a prayer for her cousin. Hinata was touched by his prayer and after he was done Hinata grabbed his hand and they headed off to their next stop.

"Where to next?" He asked in an excited tone.

"I thought we might stop by the Namanaka flower shop and pick something up for Kurenai before we visit." She smiled.

"Why not just get something from your garden, you have plenty of beautiful flowers," he pointed out.

Hinata started to blush, "Thanks Naruto. I don't grow her favorite flowers, they only have them at the shop." She explained.

When they reached the shop they saw that Ino was working. Ino immediately noticed that they were holding hands and planned to ask plenty of questions before they left.

"Which ones are her favorite again?" Naruto asked while walking around the shop with Hinata.

Hinata started laughing, it was obvious Naruto was out of his element. "We'll find them, just be patient," she replied, remembering patience wasn't his best quality.

Other patrons came in and Ino started to lose her focus on the love birds. Sai came in and was looking at different flowers arranged on the wall. She noticed that he came in every week and bought a nice arrangement and wondered which lady he was buying flowers for? "It seems like everyone's dating someone but me sometimes," she thought to herself.

She approached Sai to see if there was anything she could help him with.

"No, I don't think so," he replied.

"So who's your girlfriend? I see you in here buying flowers for her every week." She inquired.

"Oh, I don't have a girlfriend," he replied.

"Are you sure," Ino pushed, "or maybe a girl that you're interested in?"

"No, I always pick up flowers for my brother." He replied.

"You're brother likes flowers, huh?" She asked him.

"I'm not sure if he does or not," he replied.

"What kind of answer is that? If you give them to him every week wouldn't you know?" She started to pick up that Sai was a little bit odd.

Sai smiled and winced his eyes at her "he's passed away, I usually come here for flowers to put on his grave."

Ino instantly felt guilty for her rudeness and tried to apologize. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize, I assumed they were for a girl."

Sai was puzzled, which was usual for him "Why would you assume that," he asked.

"It's just that judging by your looks…" she didn't know how to finish. She thought Sai was pretty good looking and his single status surprised her. Then again, she reasoned, she didn't really know anything about him and maybe there was a reason for him being single after all. Then, she thought, maybe there was a reason she was also single. This thought made her angry until Sai interrupted.

"Well I could say the same thing about you," he pointed out. Sai was just making an observation but Ino thought he was giving her a compliment. She smiled at him and returned to the front counter where she continued to ponder her single status.

Naruto spotted Sai and took a deep breath. Although he had come to like Sai he still pushed his buttons from time to time, especially when talking about Hinata. But he realized that he probably did owe Sai and apology.

He walked over to Sai and nodded at him. "Naruto, you're back from your mission," Sai said in a happy tone.

"Yeah, I got back yesterday," he replied. "I wanted to say that I was sorry for being so stubborn when you tried to point out that Hinata liked me, I should have listened to you." He admitted.

"I know," Sai replied, "if you had listened then she probably would have never left in the first place, right Naruto." Sai smiled, being his matter of fact self.

Naruto normally would have been agitated, but his relief at having Hinata back was stronger. "Right," Naruto replied. "Are you getting flowers for a girl?" He asked.

Ino had been eaves dropping and spoke up for Sai. "Um, no, they're for his brother," she began as she looked at Sai, hoping to save him from the same conversation twice.

Naruto knew the history regarding Sai's brother and didn't probe like Ino had. He did look back and forth between Ino and Sai and wondered what Sai might have told her. He didn't usually talk about his brother. He wanted to ask if there was anything between them when Hinata called for him.

"Naruto, I found them," she called out. He walked to meet Hinata and saw the flowers she was holding.

They walked to the counter and Hinata pulled out some money for the flowers until Naruto held his hand up. "Let me, it can be my apology to her."

Ino came to the counter to help them out. "Going to visit Kurenai I take it," Ino inquired. She had a habit of being nosy that Hinata was used to.

"Yes Ino, we're going to visit her shortly, it's been a while since I've seen her." Hinata returned.

"So you're going together?" Ino put a lot of emphasis on the last word.

Hinata waited for Naruto to answer and looked at him.

"Yeah, Hinata's my girlfriend," he said as he grabbed her hand. He wanted to show Hinata he wasn't going to make the same mistakes he did before.

"Well, I'm glad that you stopped chasing Sakura," Ino blurted out, "She'll never stop loving Sasuke, unfortunately." She added.

Both Naruto and Hinata had no response to this. Ino really did know how to make a conversation awkward.

"Naruto stopped liking Sakura a long time ago," Sai interrupted. "He told me so when I visited him in the hospital. He already liked Hinata but didn't know how to tell her."

Naruto started to turn red, "Sai, you can't keep your trap shut, can you?" he replied.

"That wasn't what I heard," Hinata spoke up in a quiet voice.

"What, Hinata?" Naruto asked, surprised at Hinata's response.

"I overheard your visit because I was bringing the healing balm back and I heard you say you only thought of me as a friend…" Hinata recalled that painful memory. She didn't like bringing it up in front of Ino, but the moment had presented itself.

"No," Sai replied, "He was talking about Sakura when he said that. He kept telling us to leave because he was looking forward to your visit."

At this moment Naruto was happy for Sai's big mouth.

"Hinata, why didn't you tell me?" He asked her.

Ino had her head in her hands and her elbows on the counter, focusing on each word and not missing a moment.

"How was I supposed to? I waited for you to reveal your feelings but you never did…" she replied.

"I'm sorry Hinata, It will be different this time," He brought the back of her hand up to his lips and kissed it while looking in her eyes. "I promise." Hinata started to blush again.

"Awww," Ino started "That's sweet."

Sai could see that Ino was the type of girl he had read about in books, she had a superficial view of love. "If it's okay, I'd like to buy these," Sai pointed out.

"Oh, they're on the house Sai," she felt guilty for her comments earlier and wanted to make it up to him.

"Really?" he asked, "I've read that when a pretty girl shows kindness she must have a big heart," he replied.

Naruto sighed, 'Sai is always reading stupid facts in books,' he thought.

Ino didn't realize that Sai was speaking literally about what he had read and took this also as another compliment. She started to blush.

He took out a scroll and drew some scribbles and then activated his juitsu. A bouquet of flowers came off the paper and he handed them to Ino. "This is to say thank you," he offered.

She took the bouquet stared after him as he left. 'Why have I not really noticed him before,' she thought.

Sai's speeches had pulled Naruto out of his conversation with Hinata and back to reality. He laid the money for the flowers on the counter and looked up at Ino. She was still dazed from her conversation with Sai and looking at the door he had just walked out of.

"Ino?" Hinata asked. The look on Ino's face was familiar to her as Hinata had that look many times herself.

"Oh, sorry," she replied. She was too caught up in what had just happened to push Naruto and Hinata for any details. She took the money and handed Naruto back his change.

"Have a nice day Ino," Hinata said as they walked out of the shop holding hands.

"You too," Ino replied as she admired her flowers.