Disclaimer: Alas, Naruto will never be mine
Chapter 4 - Glasses
Ino was in a carefree mood as she walked to the academy for her afternoon class. Earlier at the flower shop her mom had been such a pill. She had immediately noticed Ino's good humor after her breakfast with Shikamaru and began asking all those delicate parental questions that were as subtle as hammers.
"So how is your boyfriend?...Good! What did you guys do this morning?... Really?... Is there anything I should know about?...Hmm... It's never a good idea to rush things... You are being safe right? When I was your age I would think..."
Ino had to threaten the entire crop of Konoha orchids with a metal rake to get her to stop.
Now that she was "older" their relationship had changed. Her mom was more like a friend in a lot of ways and Ino cherished that, no really she did, but the roundabout conversations about safe sex had to be put to a stop.
Today though, even her mother's tactlessness couldn't put her in a bad mood, especially with the orchids so close to bloom. A rare night-blooming flower, Konoha Orchids were given by the Yamanakas as an oseibo gift to every unmarried girl in the village at the Firenight Festival. Her father said it was how the family gave back to the village for a year of faithful patronage. She loved doing it.
The entire family would mix up vegetable dyes and wait up the night before to watch the flowers open and then careful highlight the creamy pale blossoms with vibrant reds, purples, yellows and blues. No two flowers were ever the same. All the young women would clamor at their stall at the festival. They would all be desperate to find that perfect flower to match their kimono and look irresistibly for that special someone. Membership certainly had its privileges and Ino would make sure to get the perfect one for herself before the rush.
"It will be a bright blue with yellow slashes. Maybe even a little purple along the edges," she thought. "Shikamaru won't be able to take his eyes off me and then he will say..."
She broke out into spontaneous squeals of delight as she brought her hands to her mouth to muffle them. Feeling eyes on her she turned to see Mr. Tanaka, their local butcher with a side of beef pausing in mid-chop to stare at her through his shop window. Embarrassed, she waved at him good-naturedly before quickening her pace again.
"I am definitely reliving twelve all over again," she thought to herself.
She entered the small yard that stood in front of the Academy. The lone tree in the front of the entrance always seemed a little sad in the summers. Its swing sitting idle but for the passing breeze until classes resumed after August.
Classroom 6-B was empty when she got there, which was strange because at least some of the kids usually got there early. She sat at the desk and went to open the drawer where she kept her lesson plan when the door burst open. A nin dressed in the classic green pants and flak jacket of the Leaf shinobi entered. He was young looking, but an old thin scar bridged his nose giving him a sense of maturity to match. Despite the mark Ino would still have killed to have his otherwise blemish free complexion.
"Ino! There you are." Iruka said.
"Iruka-sensei. Do you know where my class is?" she asked.
Iruka made a face she knew too well after being both his pupil and understudy. The man truly loved his vocation of working with children, but his temper always seemed a little too lightning quick for her taste. Still he never held a grudge against any child and would always give the troublesome type some often needed positive reinforcement to go with his stern lectures.
"Yes," he said. "Those two troublemakers in your class Ryoji and the Inuzuka boy..."
"Tsume," she filled in recognizing Kiba's kid brother.
"Tsume...brought a snake into the classroom and the three girls you have wouldn't stop crying till I let them all leave. I took them over to room 3-A on the other side of the school." He started to look under tables. "It should still be in here somewhere… "
Ino heard a slight rustle of paper coming from inside her desk. She opened the bottom drawer carefully before calmly extracting its new and sleepy looking resident. Spotted grass snakes were nighttime hunters of squirrels and mice. As small reptiles that killed their prey by constriction and were completely harmless to humans.
She grabbed her lesson notes from the top drawer and along with the snake who appeared to settle on her arm for the ride and started out to roundup her class. The situation well in hand she and her mentor walked out to the hallway.
"I think I have it under control now, arigato sensei."
"Iie, no worries, Ino. You are a wonderful teacher, " he commended her, before turned abruptly away towards his office.
"He still seems angry about something," she thought as she followed him out to the hallway.
"Iruka sensei, is everything ok?"
He turned back to her with a forced grin. "Oh no! Nothing I just had a bad morning is all."
She nodded and turned to go when he interrupted her departure with his own question.
"Ino, what do you know about Hatake Kakashi," he asked trying far too hard to seem casual about it.
She looked at him curiously, then not wanting to scare him away gave him the honest and straightforward answer.
"He's an amazingly strong jounin and he was also Sakura's genin sensei. I know she respects him a lot. The Hokage holds him in confidence as well. I'm not sure what Naruto's opinion is of him, but then you know how Sasuke feels about him." She watched Iruka gaze off to ponder her comments.
She was too inquisitive for her own good. She had to see.
Ino's tone became slightly saccharine. "I hear he's gorgeous too, but no one's ever seen him without his mask. Iruka-sensei, have you ever seen what he looks like under all that?"
"No!" he snapped back. "I don't care what he looks like either."
The first traces of blush inched onto the headmaster's face as he spun away to leave. Ino could still hear him muttering about "loose morals" before he disappeared around the corner.
She grinned.
"I'm not sure what exactly happened, but if it looks like what I think it looks like, then it would do him a world of good," she thought. "And If it all worked out there would be almost an entire age demographic of Konoha women who would be seriously heartbroken. Iruka would probably need round the clock protection."
Ino was highly entertained by caddy thoughts of shonen-ai as she wandered out to the cross the central yard to 3-A on the other side. The academy's structure was laid out like a large square frame which surrounded a large grassy space. This was where outdoor practice and training took place. The targets and equipment that normally dotted its expanse were gone today, away in sheds and clubhouses till next term.
However it was far from empty.
There in the middle of the yard was a shirtless young man who moved swiftly in the performance of martial arts style Ino recognized quite well. He was a flurry of movement as he slid from stance to stance, strike to counter, making it look more like a beautiful dance than one of the Leaf's most powerful taijutsu. A hint if metal flashed from his right leg where he now kept his forehead protector tied on his long dark blue pants. She watched his training in candid admiration. To see such a display of grace and power no one would ever believe him to be less than a jounin, yet his rank was the same as hers.
She walked slowly towards him, knowing he was near the end of his routine. Finishing in a ready stance he began to wipe away the sweat from his bare forehead and bent to pick up his plain blue jacket, unadorned and long sleeved, even in this heat.
Brushing the dead grass off it, he turned to her with a welcoming smile.
"Konichiwa, Ino"
Ino watched him as be put the jacket back on. He was still one of the most stunning men she had ever seen. Though no taller than Shikamaru, his proportions were such that you never cared to note his lack of height. His powerful body rippled with the smooth muscles that seemed carved on him. His torso was an artist's masterpiece with the lone exception of a strange and ugly marking on the side of his neck. His dark hair was so long now that it was tied back loosely in a simple tail that hung down his back. Finished dressing he stooped again to recover the final piece of his disguise, the wire-rimmed glasses he now needed all time.
He said he found it to be very ironic, an Uchiha who needed glasses.
She smiled back cheerily.
"Hey Sasuke!"
Ino was the closest thing he had left to a friend in the village. Besides her and Rock Lee, no one really talked to him since everything had happened now four years ago. Well no one else, that is, except Sakura, but there was so much there with that one it was impossible to define the relationship. Of course, Ino felt tragic masochism was one of her best friend's most defining features.
Even now Ino only knew the tiniest bits of information. Sasuke had left quietly in the middle of the night when they were still rookies. A search party had been formed and set out immediately. It had included Naruto, Shikamaru and some other genin. A couple days passed and they returned back without fanfare, but Sasuke had been rushed immediately to the Hokage.
When he was finally released and allowed to return to his home two pieces of information were quickly circulated in the village. First that Uchiha Sasuke was never to leave the village again on pain of death and second he had lost the ability to use chakra and along with use of his blood limit technique, the Sharingan.
The longhaired ninja noticed her little companion and gently extracted it from Ino's forearm.
"Is this the demon snake that I saw your class fleeing from earlier?" he asked wryly. The little serpent slid to twine itself around Sasuke's arm. Oddly, it seemed to be enjoying all the attention.
"Yup. Can you put it back in the bushes somewhere the kids won't find it again. I'm already late."
"Sure. In fact, I'll ask Lee to take it outside the village when he comes. He should be here shortly."
"Thanks for handling that," she said meaning the reptile. "Jaa."
She walked towards the classroom that was her students' refuge as she stepped up to the covered walkway that lined the yard. The students all popped their heads out of the window calling to her.
"Ino-sensei!"
"Ino-sensei did you get the snake?"
"Hai, hai"
"Ino-sensei! Can Onii-chan teach us today too?" asked a little boy who wore the hood of his sweatshirt up all the time. Goro, the small white puppy with a lone patch of dark hair surrounding his left left sat on the boy's head was his constant companion.
"No, Tsume. Sasuke-sensei needs to see the head of the Hokage's personal guard for more training. You'll see him tomorrow for shuriken practice."
"Don't you think he's pretty, sensei?" observed the pale little girl Kaede at the end. Her voice was like a loud whisper.
"You're stupid," snapped Ryoji. "Boys can't be pretty, Sasuke-nii is wicked cool, ne?" He looked to the other boys who gave quick nods of agreement.
A small gender war began to erupt when Ino took charge.
"Ok, class! Talk won't learn jutsu, everyone in your seats. Now!"
Ino opened the door to her classroom and stole a glance back at her childhood crush. Rock Lee was there now standing talking with Sasuke. It still seemed odd to see them so friendly with each other and training together almost everyday. Lee to his credit had never hesitated in agreeing to help Sasuke master the spinning leaf style, but then his great compassion was one the things that defined his standing in the village.
Lee, to no one's surprise, looked the spitting image of Maito Gai. Gai left a great impression on Lee-san and now the young man carried on his way of life. Since Gai's tragic death over two years ago his emulation no longer seemed peculiar to the village in fact now people viewed him as an honorable shinobi of great character.
When Lee had made chuunin many were shocked at Tsunade-sama's choice of him for a bodyguard, yet Ino had understood immediately. After she had healed his horrible injuries from that first test the Hokage and her patient had developed a special bond. There were jounin stronger than him, but none had the trust she and Rock Lee shared. The Hokage also said she liked a man who could take a strong punch and give as good back in return.
She enjoyed working with Sasuke she realized walking into school. He was great with the students and seemed truly concerned with their education. His demeanor from their rookie days was gone and if anything he seemed mild-mannered now. The old Sasuke was just a faint memory. All in all, Ino felt more comfortable with him now than she had ever felt before.
Not that she'd ever tell Shikamaru that, unlike her he was clearly the jealous type.
Ino entered to begin the lesson just as her "problem" children were, well...causing problems.
"Akane, put Goro down!"
"But sensei you said he was a weapon."
"Yes the Inuzuka clan uses dogs as ninja weapons, but that doesn't mean you can take Tsume's dog and hit him with it."
"Hai, sensei."
"Goro, Goro! daijoubu!"
TO BE CONTINUED