Dear Cherry Blossom

by SkyKat

Ninja life, a failing marriage, betrayal, a cleverly formulated plan, and an advice column. SasuIno, SasuSaku, and others. Updates in my Bio. New Chap!

7. Filler part 2

Dear Cherry Blossom A.K.A. Sweet Serenity

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But for those of you who think I do, let's meet up at my place and we'll all fly over to Japan and see if anyone else there thinks so too. Okay bye! (Runs off to buy plane tickets)

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Filler part 2

"Naruto. Why did you do it?" The voice did not raise, but it was easy to tell the speaker's mood by the tone. "Why did you change into me?" Sasuke looked annoyed and edgy. Naruto shook off Sasuke's cold stare, not really worrying about the consequences of his actions, and prepared his hands. He lifted them to his chin level and clasped them together forming the necessary hand signs to change back. A few seconds later, in a puff of smoke Naruto appeared in his normal form in front of Sasuke. "Why did you call her?" Sasuke continued. Naruto looked at his friend, who was waiting for an answer, and simply shrugged making Sasuke even more annoyed.

They stood in silence, waiting for each other to say the next word, Naruto not sure how to explain why he did what he did. The words "because you're a stubborn little prick with a giant stick up your ass" desperately wanted to escape from Naruto's lips, but he swallowed them back. The last thing he needed was for Sasuke to have a reason to fight with him regardless of his bad foot.

Knowing that Sasuke would continue to be an ass if he didn't come up with a good reason for changing into him and calling his wife, he rolled his eyes and filled his lungs with enough air to explain in one breath. "I needed to imitate your voice. Besides, you said I could call her if I wanted to." Sasuke clearly wasn't satisfied with this answer, so Naruto came up with another. "You looked like you weren't going to do it but it needed to be done, so I helped you out a little." Naruto stepped a little closer to Sasuke put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "You're my friend and teammate. I'm here for you and-" Naruto abruptly stopped when Sasuke yanked his shoulder from underneath Naruto's hand.

Sasuke pressed his lips together, not sure as to whether he should be angry or thankful. While it was good that Naruto was concerned for him and Ino, he still needed to mind his own business. Sasuke was always uncomfortable when the subject of his rough marriage came up and with the tabloids constantly reminding him that everyone knew about his problems, there was no escape. His one wish for the moment was for everyone to just butt out and leave him alone.

"I'm sorry for blurting out what happened between you and Ino during the mission." Naruto said. "I may be the last person that you want to talk to right now, but if you ever want to talk about it, you can trust me." There was an unmistakable sincerity in Naruto voice and Sasuke did have enough confidence in Naruto to trust him. Telling everyone about him and Ino really wasn't a big deal. Married people have sex…it's no big secret. If anything, Naruto's big mouth helped make everyone believe that he and Ino were doing better.

Sasuke watched as Naruto yawn and stretch his arms up high above his head before bringing them back down to his sides. This was Naruto's way of hinting that he had all the time in the world to sit back and listen. He was definitely not the best person to confide in, but at times it was good to have someone to talk to, even if it was someone as dim-witted as Naruto.

It was rare for the ninja to have enough time to engage in casual conversation and the conditions couldn't have been better. Although lunchtime wasn't over yet, there weren't many people lingering in the streets; more than likely because lunchtime was way too short and the people of Konoha didn't want to use up the little time they had wandering aimlessly around the streets. Whatever the reason, this was a blessing for Sasuke because they would have no interruption from crazed fangirls or nosey people trying to eavesdrop on them.

"Five minutes." Sasuke growled. "We can talk for five minutes then you have to get lost, loser." Naruto decided to disregard Sasuke's last word because he knew that Sasuke was trying to cover up his pain. Naruto was positive that Sasuke needed some guidance and wanted to talk but, being Sasuke, he had to be a dick. Sasuke spotted a bench that was somewhat out of public view and slowly went over it. Naruto shook his head- a little surprised that Sasuke was willing to engage in a personal conversation with him when there others far more capable of handling that kind of stuff- and watched one of Konoha's top ninja stumble over tiny rocks before finally reaching the bench and sitting down.

Naruto followed behind and made himself comfortable on the hard wooden bench next to Sasuke, hoping wholeheartedly that he'd be able help out his distressed friend. He turned his head in order to make eye contact with Sasuke and placed one of his arms across the back of the bench, relaxing his body despite Sasuke's murderous glares. He was unquestionably angry, but Naruto wasn't sure if Sasuke was angry with him for calling his wife, or the fight he had with her the night before. Naruto guessed it was the latter.

"Tell me what happened." Naruto said in a soft, caring voice.

Sasuke rested his elbows on his knees, lacing his fingers together and bringing them under his chin. He didn't look directly at Naruto, instead opting to stare off into the distance. "I don't know," he said in a heavy breath of air. "We argued for a few hours but I don't remember exactly what she was saying. I must have blocked out about half of the conversation. In fact, I never really made sense of why we were arguing to begin with."

Sasuke had to stop and think of a way to describe what happened next. How was he going to explain the way he came onto Ino but was harshly rejected? His male ego as on the line and he had to be careful with the details. At the same time he needed to leave out the bad choice of words that earned him a wrack in the head. Even though it would be embarrassing, the only way for Naruto to have a clear picture of what happened was to just to go ahead and tell him everything that happened. "For a moment it seemed like we were about to reconcile, but then…what the hell is so damn funny?" Sasuke was getting that uncomfortable feeling again. Naruto sensed Sasuke's uneasiness and started to chuckle, making Sasuke even more annoyed than ever.

"Don't bother trying to explain what happened next. I think I already know." Naruto's words were muffled by his laughter, but Sasuke could still understand what he was saying. "You said something stupid didn't you?"

Naruto's question hit Sasuke hard. How did he figure that out? This made Sasuke remember the day before when Naruto blamed him for the problems in his marriage. Ah! THAT'S what it was. Naruto didn't figure anything out. He was just assuming Sasuke had ruined everything.

Damn it!

He should of known better than to trust Naruto with his private life. He needed to find some way out of this mess before Naruto dug up yet another reason say that his failing marriage was entirely his fault and not Ino's. "If you're going to sit there laughing at my problems and wasting my time, then I'm leaving."

"Calm down." Naruto quit laughing and held up his hand to keep Sasuke from standing up. "I'm not going to say how you were acting like an insensitive jerk and explain how everything was all your fault. I'm also not going to say you're a total moron and you need to swallow your pride and apologize."

Sasuke cocked his eyebrow and bit down hard on his lip. That was a hidden crack at him wasn't it? Naruto certainly is the sly one. "Then will you stop wasting time and get to the point?" Sasuke demanded coldly.

"Right. Why sit here and waste your time talking to me when you could just as easily be sitting at home and waste your time doing nothing?" Naruto thought sarcastically. He noticed Sasuke clenching his fists and becoming more impatient. It was time to stop fooling around and get to the point.

"This is what I think happened." Naruto explained. "While she yelled at you, all you did was sit back and pretend to listen." Naruto tried to reestablish eye contact with Sasuke but all he was able to see was Sasuke's profile since his head was turned. Sasuke must have been hiding his true feelings again, but it didn't matter. Under Sasuke's bad-ass exterior there was an almost insecure little soul who had spent so much of his young life being a loner, obsessive, and bitter (emo) that he never really learned how to properly handle the intimate situations that involved women. Naruto was pretty sure that he could help him by offering his expertise. "You paid more attention to her body than you did her mouth, didn't you?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows a little higher in response to Naruto's words. This was the green light for Naruto to keep going. "You kept noticing the way her eyes got all blood shot, the way her body trembled, and the little vein that popped out of her forehead." Sasuke leaned his back against the bench, intrigued though trying to hide it. Naruto was ecstatic to see that he was getting through to Sasuke without getting lashed at. "Soon you lost all control, and you found some way to satisfy your feelings and shut her up at the same time. Did she hit you?"

That question took Sasuke by surprise. Although he knew that Naruto wasn't stupid, Naruto was still a lot smarter than Sasuke had imagined. But he didn't understand what made that idea suddenly jump into Naruto's head. He shifted uncomfortably on the bench when his mind traveled back to the night before when he tried to have his way with Ino on the kitchen table.

He remembered how her body was hot with anger and frustration while his body was hot with something else. He blinked, biting down on his thumb and imagining how good she tasted when he licked her skin…how he wanted to get her naked and use his hands and tongue to explore every inch of Ino's body…how the way her hand brushed his hard-on as she squirmed from underneath made him want to take her right there in the kitchen. And then in a flash it was over. Sasuke's body tensed a little, and Naruto nearly did a double take when he saw Sasuke's skin turn a faint shade of blush pink.

"I'll take that as a yes." Naruto said all of a sudden, breaking Sasuke out of his brief lapse from reality.

"Where are you going with this?" Sasuke asked irately, accidentally dropping one of his crutches on the ground. It fell in a patch of dirt and kicked up a small cloud when it hit.

"Don't you get it? Fights between some men and women don't always end in a compromise. Reason being? Women tend to feel the female form of angry…violent. Men tend to feel the male form of angry…horny. Which coincidently is the male's form of sleepy, hungry, happy, bashful…but I digress. Women tend to hit things and throw fits while men just sit still, half smirking at the way certain areas of her body bounced every time she moved." Naruto waited to see if Sasuke was going to make any effort to pick the crutch back up but he didn't move.

In the short but awkward silence that followed, Sasuke gave Naruto a look so strange that Naruto had no clue what he was thinking. So much for being smarter than he imagined. Of all the dumb things that came out of a Naruto's mouth before, this had to be the dumbest. "Do you expect me to believe that all men and women are like that?" Sasuke finally asked. He turned his attention to his crutch, now covered in a thin layer of dust, but let it lay were it landed, not seeming to care much about it.

"Not all of them." Naruto bent down and picked the crutch back up. He held it across his lap and dusted the dirt off of it with his hand. Sasuke didn't give Naruto a second glance.

Naruto observed Sasuke drifting even deeper in thought. Something he said must have touched a nerve and was causing some confusion for Sasuke. Naruto stretched out his arm and offered the crutch back to Sasuke, but he refused it. "You know," Naruto began, "it's both physically and mentally hard being a ninja. We experience more stuff in one day than most people experience in a lifetime. Is it any wonder our emotions go haywire?" He leaned the crutch against the bench but Sasuke still wouldn't take it.

"Are you trying to say that I'm emotionally unstable?" Sasuke huffed.

The answer to Sasuke's question came quickly into Naruto's head. "YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! Do you need me to spell it out for you?! Should I paint it on your forehead?! Why don't I just brand it on your ass?!" Naruto's blue eyes locked with Sasuke's. "Not at all. You're a male and Ino's a beautiful female. Do you intentionally make her angry because that's when you think she's at her sexiest?"

Sasuke took in what Naruto was saying. It was kind of making sense and he had to think about it for a few seconds. What was it about Ino that sometimes made her extra sexy when she was angry? Was it the bulging red eyes? The carnivorous fangs that sprouted from her gums within seconds like mushrooms? Or was it the heavy breaths she took in between sentences that thrust her breasts forward?

Sasuke quickly snapped out of it, refusing to be dragged any further into the strange world of Uzumaki Naruto. "Do you ever listen to yourself talk? What makes you such an expert on women?" Sasuke glanced up from whatever it was he was looking at, examining that stupid grin spreading across Naruto's face.

"Experience." Naruto said confidently. "Do you know how many times I've been beat up by Sakura, yet I keep coming back? Face it…we're both in love."

"You're an idiot." Sasuke answered sternly.

Wow. That was unexpected. "Okay let's try something else…" Just then an odd sound approached as if Naruto's last sentence was a cue for something to happen. It was not far from where they were sitting and Naruto whipped his head in the direction it was coming from. He noticed a large wagon being pushed by a vender who was selling trinkets on a street corner. A piercing spot of light shined from the middle of the wagon, making it an instant attention grabber. An idea immediately came to Naruto. "Maybe you should get her a gift. Check out that blue charm thing over there." Naruto pointed to a small jewel that sparkled as it reflected the sun's light.

"I've heard enough." Sasuke carefully stood up and maneuvered his crutches to balance himself. Naruto momentarily looked down at his feet, willing himself to not pick up a rock throw it at Sasuke's head. Instead, he shook his head in disappointment at his friend's stubbornness. He was about to get up when Sasuke stopped walking and turned back to Naruto. "Do you think she'll like it?"

Hearing this made Naruto perk up. "I think she will." Naruto gleefully walked over to the vender and waited for Sasuke to catch up. Sasuke rummaged through some of the items on the cart, pretending to be interested in some of the gaudy looking jewelry that were on display inside little velvet boxes with the lids wide open. Although he already knew what he wanted, this was both a great time killer and a good reason not to talk to his knucklehead friend.

"How about this one?" The vender pointed to the same blue charm that Naruto had chosen earlier. "It's very rare and very symbolic. Give this to your wife, and she'll forgive you right away. "

Sasuke narrowed his eyebrows in curiosity. Was there ANYONE in Konoha that didn't know about his marriage? "What makes you think my wife has to forgive me for something?" Sasuke's voice was pensive, but beneath it the vender heard a deep pulsing rage.

"You are Uchiha Sasuke, right?" The vender held up his hands as if to be shielding himself against a possible blow from the visibly angry Uchiha. "I read about the big fight you had with your wife in the paper this morning."

Sasuke's eyes grew wide and he glared at Naruto who was grinning with a look of uncertainty on his face. "Heh heh…news does travel fast, doesn't it?" Naruto took a deep breath and put his hands behind his head.

Sasuke fought back the growing urge to commit a double homicide and looked at the vender. "For YOUR information," Sasuke raised his crutch and pointed the flat end at the vender's chest, "My wife and I are doing FINE and there are NO hard feelings between us…why am I even explaining this to YOU?! It's none of your business!" Sasuke lowered the end of his crutch when he noticed the vender jump back in fear. Sasuke turned to Naruto for back up, but all he got was another stupid grin. "What the hell are you smiling at?!"

"It's something how you get all defensive when someone talks about you and Ino." Naruto answered.

Sasuke scowled at him. "Who asked you?!"

"You did." Naruto answered calmly with his hands behind his back and an innocent expression on his face.

Sasuke harshly pushed the narrow end of him crutch into the ground and sighed deeply. His latest argument with Ino was already on the front page of the Konoha news and he'll soon be hounded with an endless interrogation from intrusive neighbors and comrades. Not wanting to let this get to him, Sasuke picked up a box, inspected it, but then slammed it back down in his anger. "Show me what you have." He said through clenched teeth. The vender, making sure that Naruto was within arms length, did what he was told.

Sasuke followed the vender around the cart, blocking out his phony sales pitches of how certain stones came from far off lands and once belonged to royalty or how some of the others can only be found deep within the bowels of and active volcano and can retrieved once every five years under the twentieth blue moon that occurs every four months and…some other astrological crap.

Naruto seemed to be eating up every word the man was saying. He walked slowly around the cart, asking a few questions and answering back with an occasional "that's pretty cool", although whenever the vender's back was turned Naruto gestured to Sasuke by swirling his finger in a circular motion at the side of his head.

Some of the jewelry was valuable and some were not. The blue charm was more valuable because it was locked in a casing of thick plastic. Sasuke liked this particular charm because it reminded him of something that happened a year ago. The corners of his mouth curved into a small smirk when he thought of how perfect Ino would have looked that night if he had this charm back then. But then he frowned when he remembered what happened in the days that followed.

When he heard enough of the vender's mindless drivel, Sasuke pointed to the blue charm inside the case and told the vender that he had made up his mind. After listening to how this particular stone was found on the bottom of the ocean floor deep within a sunken luxury ocean liner, (A/N: Now where did he get that story from?) he took out a key and stuck it into the lock that held the case shut. He pulled it out of the case and raised it over Sasuke, letting it dangle from the gold chain that it was suspended from. Sasuke was in aw at the way it cast a blue reflection against his skin when the light hit it and a rush of excitement swept through him. There was no way that Ino wouldn't love this.

Naruto stood back and crossed his arms with pride as he witnessed Sasuke buy Ino's gift. In less than the time it took to make a cup of ramen, he was actually making progress with the moron. Ino was going to be happy, but something told Naruto that Sasuke might find some way to screw things up again. There needed to be a back up plan to provide some reassurance that they wouldn't fight at least for the next few days.

"Wait a minute." Naruto began. "Gifts are okay, but what about doing something more from the heart?" Naruto stuck his finger in the air signaling that he had a suggestion. "I know, you should write her a poem or something."

"Hell no!" Sasuke snapped. "By the way, your five minutes are up." He shoved the charm box into his pocket and shifted his body and crutches towards the opposite direction.

"Sheesh! It was only a suggestion! Stop being so crabby!" Naruto noticed the vender trembling and made an effort to comfort him. "Don't mind him." Naruto whispered. "He's still ticked off because he can't do much with a broken leg and needs a little more time to get use to the crutches."

"I heard that!" Sasuke yelled. "I am NOT an invalid!" Sasuke's once irritated demeanor had spiked to full blown rage at that instant. How dare they say that his broken leg hindered him from doing things for himself. Okay, they didn't say those exact words, but that's certainly what they were insinuating. "I don't need these damn crutches!" Sasuke said crossly to himself. Naruto didn't know if Sasuke was just upset or trying to convince himself because didn't let his crutches go.

Upon witnessing the scene the vender scratched his head. "He really needs a vacation." The man had never before seen such a display of uncontrollable emotions and stood even closer to Naruto for protection.

Naruto glanced at the vender and then back to Sasuke. "A vacation to clear the mind? That's a great idea!"

The vender nodded in agreement. "A good vacation is just what he needs to give his mind a chance to rest and help him get his emotions together."

"I AM NOT EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE!!!" Sasuke's voice echoed throughout Konoha. He grunted in exasperation and left Naruto at the vender's.

He was about fifteen feet away when he realized that now he was back to having nothing to do. Hobbling quite some distance away from Naruto, he spent the next few minutes trying to figure out some form of entertainment for the rest of the day.

Sparring was out of the question. Not only because of his bad leg, but also because the other Jounin were no doubt training their Genin since the Chunnin exams weren't far away. He would have gone to the training grounds anyway, but he was almost positive that his lazy Genin had slept in and were just getting out of bed even though it was past lunchtime. They'd better enjoy these next few days. They were going to be penalized for their poor performance during the Special Mission. After considering a few more options and eliminating them one by one, Sasuke figured he had no choice but to hobble home and wait for Ino.

Once he was certain that he was well out Naruto and the vender's sight, he slowed his pace and took his time getting home. His journey home needed to be longer than usual. With the mixture of emotions swirling through Sasuke's head it was difficult for him to focus on where he was heading and he needed a chance to calm down and sort out his thoughts. Dwelling on what had just happened wasn't helping him feel any better and his mind eventually went from completely confused to numb.

He felt guilty for the way he treated Naruto, but not guilty enough to go back and apologize. That's when it dawned on him that having someone to confide in did in fact help him get some of his problems off of his chest. But something still plagued him. He wanted to stop fighting with Ino, yet he intentionally fueled her anger the night before. While Naruto was to some extent right about it being a turn on that night, another reason was because he wanted to put her back in her place. The only way he could to that was to dominate her just when she felt she was the one in control.

"We're both in love." Naruto's words repeated in Sasuke's head. Sasuke always felt that loving someone and being in love with someone were two different things. For him, love was a feeling shared with family and friends that served as a motivation to care for their well-being. Being in love was a feeling that was shared with only one person; making that one person- that one special person- the thing he couldn't imagine living without. Someone he'd easily give his life for. His weakness.

But he hated weakness.

While he was still a teenager the thought of being in love never crossed his mind. As far as he was concerned, being in love was a distraction that made people weak. He never took into consideration the prospect of falling in love with someone when he was in the process of choosing a wife. Maybe it was because he didn't let himself dwell on something that wasn't very important to him. Now that he was married, he had to think about it.

He loved Ino, but was he IN love with her? According to Naruto, he was. If Ino was in fact his weakness, then he couldn't say that he hated all forms of weakness because he didn't hate her. She was special to him, but he wasn't sure just how special. On top of that, he had a dirty secret-he almost hated himself for it- that he kept to himself and would never admit to anyone EVER. Even though he loved and cared for her, he wouldn't give his life for her. It was an awful thing to admit especially since she was his wife, but he was the last hope for the Uchiha clan. After him there would be no more. It was wrong yet it was valid…right? Why was this so confusing and hard for him to understand?

Then there was the question of their arguing. Now that he thought about it, a lot of their arguments did end with her giving in and apologizing. If the apology wasn't enough for him, she'd give him make up sex. If not right after, then about a week later. The sex was important to him. Why? He knew why. Alas, this was no way build a successful marriage. He came to a decision. As soon as Ino came home, he'll talk with her. But this time there will be no coming onto her and no allowing his ego to keep him from apologizing first. He was going to figure out once and for all if he was indeed truly in love with Ino. If he were, then he'd work for them, starting with altering his views on weakness. From that day forward, things were going to change.

He was about to turn down the road that would lead to the Uchiha district when an idea popped into his head. In all of his gibberish, Naruto mentioned something about giving Ino a gift that came from the heart. The idea of writing a poem was certainly not what Sasuke had in mind, but Naruto may have a point about this whole doing something more from the heart thing. At that moment, he thought of a way to do what Naruto had advised and entertain himself for a little while longer. Perhaps he should make an extra trip to visit his father-in-law at the flower shop. Hopefully a certain smart mouthed client would be there as well. He assured Ino that he'd take care of everything and a good Uchiha always kept his word.

Naruto remained in place as he watched as Sasuke slowly disappear from sight. He didn't bother to catch up with him because Sasuke looked pretty pissed after finding out his personal life was made public and needed some time alone. Life's got to be hard for him. Going through a troubled marriage, having to deal with his criminally insane brother, spending months training a squad of elite Genin only to have one of them almost die and the others prove to be cowards; that would be rough for anyone. To top it off, it was obvious that Sasuke had warped views on being in love. It will take some time, but Naruto will be the one to help him straighten himself out. Sasuke had a load of problems to work out and was in desperate need of some direction. Fortunately for Sasuke, he had a best friend who will always be there if he needed him.

"Excuse me." The vender tapped on Naruto's shoulder. "Perhaps you have a special lady that you would like to buy something for?" He motioned his hand to towards the other jewelry inside the plastic case.

Naruto turned back to him and beamed from ear to ear. Maybe Sakura would like something too.

---

The great stare-off between Sakura, Neji, and Ino had lasted about ten minutes before Neji finally looked away and dropped his eyes to his plate. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating, acting as if nothing had happened. Both the kunoichi breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed after getting lost in the maze of Neji's mind game. Ino grabbed the teapot and refilled her and Sakura's cups, grumbling impatiently at the fact that she; Ino of the Yamanaka clan, the masters of mind and body control, had allowed herself to be taken in by Neji. The ordeal was over, but they both still wanted to know what Neji was doing in the first place.

"That was weird." Sakura whispered, almost to herself. Ino was still too upset and bewildered to listen to what Sakura was saying. Ino's body shook with puzzlement. Her much needed lunch break with her best friend had been ruined without a logical explanation, and Neji was only opening his mouth to shove food in it rather than talk. She gave a disgruntled groan before turning her attention to her friend sitting across the table. Sakura, sensing Ino's tension resurfacing offered a suggestion. "Don't you think you should go talk to him?"

"No." Ino replied. "I'm sure it was nothing." That was a useless lie that Ino didn't have to tell. It was evident she was just as curious about Neji's actions and Sakura couldn't figure out why Ino was pretending that it wasn't a big deal. They gave Neji another glance, though this time wary of getting trapped in his mesmerizing stare once more. Apparently Neji was looking at them again because he quickly looked away when he noticed them.

Neji kept doing this abnormal activity, making the kunoichi more and more baffled each time. His actions made it clear that he came into the restaurant and specifically targeted Ino but for some reason he was putting off talking to her. Sakura tried to read Neji and Ino's body language for clues. There had to have been something going on between the two that she wasn't aware of. When she didn't find any answers, Sakura reluctantly stopped worrying about it. Why go through the trouble of racking her brain trying to figure out what was going on? He had to explain himself eventually.

But the suspense was too much! She didn't want to wait for him. Since Neji wasn't done with his food yet, Sakura decided do some investigating by striking up another conversation with Ino. Even though they were best friends and usually told each other things that they could never tell anyone else, there were still a lot of things that Ino kept from Sakura. With any luck if she prodded a little deeper into Ino's past with Neji, she would be able to figure out for herself what was going on.

Sakura picked up her teacup and held it with both hands in front of her. She then brought it down on the table hard enough to make a noise that subtly got Ino's attention. "From what I remember, the last time he looked at you like that was when you two were dating. Sakura held her cup in front of her mouth and grinned behind it. "I always thought you and Neji made a nice couple."

"That was years ago. Why are you bringing that up now?" Ino asked, giving Sakura a strange look. Sakura had to think of a good response for saying something so odd to a woman married to someone else.

Sakura half-smirked, wishing that Ino would stop looking at her like that. "I'm not saying that Neji is the one you should be with. I guess a part of me is still amazed that you two didn't end up together." She tilted her head to the side and allowed Ino to see her smirk grow into a full-blown smile.

Ino wrinkled her nose at Sakura's statement. "From what I remember, you thought the same about me and Shikamaru. You and Chouji annoyed me to no end with your flawed attempts at setting us up together." Ino didn't cover up the disdain in her voice. The thought of her and Shikamaru as a couple never did set right with her.

The conversation was going in the wrong direction much to Sakura's dismay. Nonetheless, it was best go along with it. One should never be too obvious with ones true intentions especially when one's trying to pry into someone else's personal life. But on the bright side, conversations like this were good for getting even more juicy information than originally intended.

"Why didn't you ever date Shikamaru anyway? Or even Chouji for that matter?" Sakura asked for lack of a more interesting topic to start off with.

Ino scoffed at Sakura's question. Sakura was bringing this up because Ino had once admitted that she wished she didn't treat Chouji so badly because of his weight. She once went as far as to let it slip that Chouji may have had a fraction of a chance had she known then what she knows now. But, like everyone else, she had to grow up and mature. Plus, Chouji wasn't exactly her type.

"Both Shikamaru and Chouji are too much like brothers and I've always thought dating a teammate would be too awkward. I mean we basically grew up together." Ino explained. "Besides, Shikamaru's mother was too busy playing matchmaker and trying to set him up with a new girl every month." Damn, this information wasn't juicy enough.

"Dating a teammate is not that awkward." Sakura nearly choked when she realized what she had said. She bit down on her lip, completely aware that in her hasty need to get information out of Ino, she had inadvertently given Ino ammo to retort back at her.

"Are you referring to you and Naruto?" As anticipated, Ino wasted no time in throwing Sakura's relationship with Naruto into the conversation.

"Must I explain this to you again?" Sakura replied angrily, trying to avoid the ensuing taunts about her and Naruto that Ino was good for doing. She squeezed her teacup hard as a result of her growing irritation. Ino pried the cup away from Sakura before she could shatter it with her bare hands. Sakura calmed herself when she saw that Ino was getting the message to ease up on the joking. She hated when Ino used Naruto to make fun of her. "Naruto and I never really went out. We're just good friends."

"Really…"

Neji tried his hardest to listen to what the two were talking about but he was sitting too far away and the restaurant noise kept him from hearing everything. Too bad his ears were not as gifted as his eyes; supersonic hearing would be a wonderful addition to his byakugan. From the few words he did pick up he could tell that they were no longer talking about what had just occurred.

"Typical female chatter," he thought to himself. "Always straying off the main subject." He gave up trying to listen in on their conversation and unenthusiastically went back to his plate. The taste of the food in front of him was not something he was enjoying. It was only reminding him of why he never ate out more so than quell his hunger.

"Will you stop implying that Naruto was ever my boyfriend?" Sakura spat out.

"Only if you stop saying that I should have dated Shikamaru or Chouji." Ino answered back.

"Fine." Sakura crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. She didn't want to cause any more trouble between them, but she wasn't through picking Ino's brain yet. "You are Neji were still a nice couple."

Ino sighed in defeat. "There's a reason why you keep talking about me and Neji. What do you want to know?"

At last! Now it was time to find out the real good stuff. Sakura sat up straight and leaned over the table in order to bring her head closer to Ino. "Since you insist that I ask …" Sakura smiled deviously and placed both of her hands on the surface. "I remember you were always saying how you were SO in love with him. Every single day you bragged about how wonderful he was and that he was the best boyfriend you've ever dated… I also remember an incident between you two."

Ino's skin immediately turned two shades redder she felt herself get hot. Sakura observed the change in Ino's facial expression, not sure how she was going to react. "PLEASE let's not get into that." Ino begged, sinking deeper in her seat when Sakura refused to stop giving her that smug look.

"Too late I'm interested." Sakura watched as Ino nervously fiddled with the end of her ponytail. This had to have been good if it got Ino all flustered. She raised one of her hands and rested her chin on her knuckle. Since Ino was refusing to talk, Sakura cleverly formulated a plan to use her knowledge of Ino, and her arrogant need to prove herself, against her. All she had to do was say something to make Ino feel there was something she couldn't do. Then Ino, being as proud and cocky as she was, will spill everything to prove that she never failed at anything. "I think it's funny that you couldn't tame him."

That did it. Ino let go of her hair and shot her head up. Her eyes bulged and her hands balled into fists. "You're just jealous because I know more about how to tame a man than you do!"

"What did you say?!" Sakura's reaction was similar to Ino's. Her plan was backfiring.

"Admit it" Ino closed her eye's and sneered in her usual boastful manner. "I dated before you, I had a steady boyfriend before you, and got my first kiss before you." Ino had turned the tables on Sakura. She slightly opened her eyes and peered at her fidgety friend across the table. Now she was going to have some fun with her. "It sucks that I was your first kiss, doesn't it?"

Sakura's jaw dropped. "You were not!" she argued, snatching her teacup back from Ino like a spoiled child and gulping down the little bit of tea she had left at the bottom.

"Oh yeah." Ino responded in a stuck-up tone, signifying that she was about to say something to further annoy Sakura. "I forgot that Naruto got to you before I did. Although, I don't know how he managed to do it with that huge forehead of yours getting in the way." This time Ino was the one grinning slyly. She did it again!

"You're trying to avoid the subject, Ino-pig!" Sakura was now feeling even angrier than earlier. She managed to compose herself enough to sort out the mixture of insults that she wanted throw in Ino's direction. Getting information was going to be tough, but Sakura was more than willing to take on the challenge. First, she had to turn the tables back in the other direction. "I remember how you came running up to me saying how you were ready to loose your virginity to him. It's been years and yet I still don't know what happened between you two."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ino's voice was hesitant, indicating that she was lying. Sakura was too smart to buy into this and she was going to make sure Ino didn't find some way to weasel out of the discussion.

"You may as well tell me now. I'll just keep bugging you if you don't." Sakura noticed how Ino was avoiding eye contact with her as well as sneaking a glance at Neji every now and then. This must be good!

"I hate you." Ino finally said, knowing that Sakura would indeed bother her until she came clean about what had happened between her and Neji. "All right, fine. I think I'll start the day before we first started dating…"

(A/N: I sense a flashback!)

It all started a few weeks before Sasuke's return to Konoha. Days had passed since any of the shinobi were able to get together and act like everyday teenagers and five of the top Chunnin and a Jounin were taking full advantage of the time they had. It was during a Truth-or-Dare game between Sakura, Ino, Sai, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji. They were all sitting outside the training grounds-Shikamaru griping something about how childish the game was- and trying to have a little fun after a hard day of training.

"Sakura, truth or dare." Kiba called out to Sakura, the first victim. Sakura instantly got nervous. She had never played the game before and she was afraid of what the others might have her do. Picking truth may be a little safer, unless they asked her what she and Naruto did on one of their "dates"…which was absolutely nothing. (Nothing that anyone would be interested in hearing anyway.) Sakura took what seemed like an eternity to open her mouth to spit out her answer.

"Why do you even bother asking her? You know she'll pick truth!" Ino laughed, cutting Sakura off before she could talk. "She's too shy to do anything bold!" Everyone nodded in agreement.

Sakura stared defiantly at Ino. She may be a brave and powerful ninja, but they were right. There where some things that she was still to shy to do. That damn Ino just had point that out. Now was the perfect time to show Ino and the others that she could easily overcome her shyness whenever she wanted to. "I pick DARE…shit!"

Kiba snickered a little. He was plotting something conniving and from the looks he exchanged with the other males, Sakura knew that they all had something planned out before the game even started. "Sakura, I dare you toooooooo…kiss Ino on the mouth!"

"You can't be serious!" Sakura yelled. "I bet you horny males had that planned the whole time!"

Ino grimaced. "Yeah, you guys are sick!" they looked at all of their fellow male shinobi, all of who were grinning wildly at the two females. No doubt getting excited at thought of seeing some girl on girl action. "Besides," Ino continued, "you all know that she'll never be able to do anything like that because she's too weak."

There Sakura was, being called weak and shy again. Well, not this time…she'll show them who's weak! A sudden jolt of boldness flashed through Sakura's body and she grabbed Ino by the shoulders and forcefully pulled Ino closer to her. Ino's body froze completely as Sakura kissed her hard right on the mouth. Though it was only for about three seconds, none of the males could control their erections. Sakura broke off and gasped for air, not believing that she had actually done that. Ino just sat there in shock. Both were embarrassed.

"Oh nice one, Sakura!" Chouji exclaimed raising his balled fist next to his head.

"Girl kissing! Hell yeah!!!!" Sai shouted.

Ino gasped and flailed her arms frantically. "Are you really that much of an idiot, Sai?!" Her voice warned the others to not say anything else, but Sai was audacious.

"No, I just like seeing girls tongue each other." Sai answered haughtily. Ino and Sakura stood up and walked closer to Sai, ready to clobber his ass if he dared to say anything else. He quickly got up and ran behind Chouji.

"And he wonders why he never gets any." Shikamaru sighed. Once all of he excitement died down, Sakura took her turn. Everyone figured that Sakura would do something to get revenge on Sai and looked at her warily. There was a chance that she'd have him do something to make him look stupid like go streaking across the streets of Konoha. Strangely, for some unknown reason, Sakura choose Ino. No one saw that coming.

"Ino, truth or dare?" Sakura asked earning a chorus of relieved exhales from the male members.

This was peculiar. Sakura had the perfect opportunity to exact her revenge on the males, yet she wasn't taking it. This could only mean that Sakura was plotting something special for Ino. Lucky for Ino, she didn't get intimated very easily. "Dare!" Ino shouted assertively, showing that she wasn't afraid of any dare Sakura came up with.

Sakura stood in silence for a minute and then beamed evilly at Ino. She knew Ino would pick dare. "I dare you to do something dangerous." Sakura said with the same amount of evilness as her smile displayed.

"This should be no problem. I only do that like everyday of my life!" Ino crossed her arms and smiled in confidence. What could someone like Sakura possibly come up with?

"I mean REALLY dangerous like… tell Hyuuga Neji that you like him, and ask him out!" Ino exhibited no thoughtful reaction to her dare. In fact, she sighed and shook her head, sinking to the ground and reclining back onto her elbows, throwing her head back. The other's had no idea why she was acting like Sakura's dare was nothing.

"A stupid dare as expected." Ino answered. "I can't ask him out because he's dating that Sand girl or whatever her name is."

"That's just a rumor!" Shikamaru shouted and jumped to his feet a split second after Ino finished her sentence. His sudden outburst took the others by surprise and everyone looked at him suspiciously. This wasn't the first time he blurted out like that when someone implied that Neji and Temari were dating. He turned red and pathetically shoved his hands deep into his pockets, eyes dropping to the ground.

"See?" Sakura said, "now you can ask him out with no problem." This got the reaction from Ino that Sakura was waiting for.

"O-Okay." Ino said quietly, "That's still actually not so bad. All he can do is turn me down, right?" Everyone recalled what happened the last time Ino tried to seduce Neji. A rejection would seriously hurt Ino's pride and they guessed this was the reason Sakura came up with the dare. Little did they know that this was not enough to satisfy Sakura.

"This is where it gets better." Sakura pressed her fingertips together and brought her hands to her nose. "You have to ask him out while he's meditating." Now Ino was clearly afraid and Sakura was enjoying every second of it.

"Are you nuts?!" Ino exclaimed. She shot up with blank eyes and her clenched fist in front of her face. "I can't interrupt his mediation, he'll kill me!"

"You have to do it, or face the consequences." Sakura informed.

"What are they?" Ino asked.

"Hard down tonguing with Chouji for one whole minute." Sai answered. Sakura felt a delight forming at the center of her body from the thought of having the upper hand over Ino. She also glad to have the backing of her obnoxious teammate.

"What's with you and your tongues, Sai-baka?" Ino demanded. The looks that everyone was giving her made her realize that she had to stop stalling and make her choice. She had to take some time out to think to herself. What was the lesser of two evils? Risking her life to ask someone on a date, or making lip contact with her overweight teammate with pork rids on his breath?

"If you don't like that consequence you could always make out with Sakura again." Sai added. The females glared hard at him for a second time.

"Oh shut up, Sai!" Ino took a swing at him, but he managed to duck and avoid her fist. Sakura had better aim with her fist and was able to send him flying into Chouji and the two went crashing to the ground. "Give me another consequence, PLEASE!" Ino pleaded.

"No way!" Sakura insisted. "You have to choose one or the other." Ino kept quiet, trembling where she stood. Sakura was loving this.

"I'll get her to make up her mind" Shikamaru said. He walked over to Ino and placed his hand around her shoulders. "Forget what they said. If you don't ask Neji out while he's meditating, you'll have to walk around for a whole week in second hand clothing."

Ino's eyes grew so wide that they almost consumed half of her face. "Anything but that!" She was begging again, but none of her teammates were changing their minds. Ino sighed to herself. She was out of options. "Okay. I'll ask Neji out. " She slowly started walking towards the place where Neji liked to meditate. She took a few steps but then stopped, looked over her shoulder, and stated fiercely to her best friend, "you'll pay for this, Sakura."

The others followed, not far behind but out of sight. Sai watched Ino walk towards Neji with a look of disbelief on his face. "I can't believe she'd rather die than be seen in second hand clothing."

"Then you don't know Ino very well." Shikamaru answered.

They all followed her to a wide tree with thick full branches in the middle of a clearing in the woods. Sure enough, Neji was there by himself, deep in meditation. He was sitting under the tree, cross-legged with his eyes closed. The tree branches blocked out a wide range of sun, but Neji chose to sit where the shade bordered the sunlight on the ground, keeping his back well shaded, but his front in the sunlight.

Ino leisurely approached, careful not to make too much noise with her feet. Before she could open her mouth to say his name, a shuriken went spiraling from his direction close to her face, nearly clipping off a few strands of her hair. Neji didn't even open his eyes when he threw it. Had she not developed her quick ninja skills, the shuriken might have gotten her right in between the eyebrows. Ino swallowed hard and came even closer.

"Neji? Sorry to bother you, but-" This time about three shuriken went whizzing past her head. Ino quickly hit the ground to avoid them.

"If it's not important, take the hint and go." Neji hissed, not changing his position. He was in the direct light of the sun's rays, giving his skin a faint golden tint. The gentle wind made his extremely long hair sway behind him. He must have finished training not too long ago because he didn't have a shirt on revealing his muscular build. It was impossible to deny that he was sexy. This gave her a little more courage.

"It is important or, it's not that important, but it's kind of." Ino was struggling to formulate a coherent sentence, but her brain would not cooperate. Even the most experienced Jounin knew not to bother Neji while he was meditating. He looked up, and stared at her with those cold pale eyes.

"What is it?" His voice was vicious. He pulled out what appeared to be two more shuriken, held up each one, and placed them around two of his fingers.

Ino looked back at her friends who were beckoning her to continue. "I like you." Ino said rapidly. She placed her arm protectively front her heart, which was wildly thumping in her chest.

"Get lost!" Neji went back to his meditating. Ino exhaled her once shortened breath deeply. She was somewhat hurt by the rejection, but she had completed her mission and survived. She was about to give a thumbs up to her friends, but they were still motioning her to do something else. That's when she remembered that she was supposed to ask him out. "Why are you still here?" Neji asked in an even harsher tone.

Ino gathered the little courage she had left and took a breath. "I want to ask you out on a date." Neji stopped what he was doing and slowly stood up to make eye contact with Ino. Neji's eye's blazed with such wild fire that Ino could almost feel them scorching into her. The four remaining teammates could have sworn that they saw all of the color drain from her face and arms, leaving her skin a ghostly white.

Sakura noticed that Neji was growing increasingly impatient and it was only a matter of moments before he'd do something to her. "I think we should save her." Sakura suggested. They all agreed and rushed to Ino's side. "It was just a game." Sakura informed Neji while attempting to pull Ino out of harms way.

"You disturb me for a game?" Neji's fists clenched hard and he stepped closer to the group of lesser ninja. "Back away from her, she's going to fight me!"

Ino's pounding heart rose into her throat and she gulped it back down. She was still a Chunnin while he was a Jounin. There was no way she could beat him.

"Look, man." Shikamaru said offering his body as shield by standing in front of Sakura and Ino. "She asked you out because we dared her too. There's no need to kill her."

Neji stopped for a second and then took a step back. He looked as though he were thinking about something for a moment before he spoke. "I didn't say 'no'. If she fights me, I'll go out with her."

"Forget it!" Ino spun around and stormed further away.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow." Neji said to Ino's turned back making Ino stop dead in her tracks. "If you're not ready by the time I get there, I'm coming after you. And I promise you won't like what will happen next." Ino's eyes widened and she turned to look at her friends. There was nothing that they could do to help her at this point and Ino had no choice. Sakura was so dead.

The next day, Ino to made sure to be ready well before Neji got there. Earlier, she had no clue how to dress. His obsession with training made Ino positive that he had never been on a real date before, making Ino's decision on what to wear tricky. In all her experience with dating, this one was going to be the most unique and possibly the most difficult. On the one hand, he didn't like doing all that "fancy" stuff like going to a nice restaurant or a movie. On the other hand…there was no other hand. Neji's only idea of fun was meditating.

She heard somewhere that he was dating that blond Sand chick, but whenever the subject came up, Shikamaru would be so adamant about it being a rumor that eventually she believed him. Other than that, she has never heard any other story about Neji having a relationship. One important thing to remember is, if Ino hasn't heard about it, then it obviously hasn't happened.

Based on the type of person that Neji was, they'd more than likely be training, so she didn't put on anything that was too dressy. Her usual training clothes were good enough. She brushed her hair back, gathering and tying it behind her head. Checking her looks in her full-length mirror, she remembered that she was going out with Hyuuga Neji. The one guy who blew her off all those years ago. There was no point paying all of this attention to her looks because he was not going to fall for her outward appearance. It was her skills as a ninja that he'd be more interested in.

There was no sense in spending all of this time on her face and hair if she'd be drenched in sweat before the night was over. Even so, she didn't immediately tear herself away from the mirror. Even when she didn't look her best, she was still hot. She armed herself with her kunai, placing it carefully into it's holster on her leg. After she was done, she looked like her usual self. She was ready.

She didn't have to wait for very long because Neji was right on time. Ino heard him ring the doorbell once, and she became more nervous with each passing second that it took to reach her front door. She wanted to take as much time opening the door as possible, but remembering his threat, she swung the door open. She nearly dropped dead when she saw him standing at the entrance dressed a little more formal than usual.

He stood outside her front door and didn't make an effort to come in. He leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded staring at her with a look of disgust. "You don't think you're going anywhere with me dressed like that do you?"

Ino's jaw dropped to the floor. She had to think fast. "I'll go change. It will only take a minute!" She hurried back to her room, leaving him outside. Ino tore through her closet, hysterically searching through her large collection of outfits. When she found something suitable she threw it on. She was only able to give herself a quick glimpse in the mirror to make sure her clothes were on straight. Had she kept Neji waiting any longer, he'd be pissed. Within minutes she was back at her front door. Neji was still standing there with his arms crossed.

"You weren't ready."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know-" Neji held up a warning hand to get her quiet. "Let's go." Without saying anything else they left Ino's house into the dark streets of Konoha.

They walked some distance, side by side, with only the sound of their footsteps breaking the silence. Ino was desperate to know what Neji had planned for her, fearing that he'd hold true to his threat of it being something she wouldn't like. There where a million possibilities going through her mind, every last one of them involving some form of violence. A heavy darkness blanketed the streets and nothing in the area looked vaguely familiar to her. She looked around at her surroundings, hoping to find at least another person, but the streets were empty. She was alone with one of Konoha's top Jounin and even worse, she had no clue where she was.

Her throat was blocked as a direct result of her own anxiety, making it hard for her to ask where he was taking her. She was grateful that Neji wasn't saying anything either, because then if she attempted to answer, he would just hear the squeaky sounds that her throat only enabled her to produce. But then she had to ask herself why was she so unnecessarily scared. There was no way he was going to kill her for no reason. He may injure her, but not kill her. This self-reassurance failed to help her feel better. Her stomach tightened anxiously, threatening to release to contents of her last meal at any given moment.

There was no sense in using up energy to run away because he'd most certainly catch her. It's not like she could hide anywhere either. His byakugan would find her in no time. She was stuck. In her nervousness, she reached for the end of her hair and began twirling some of the strands around her fingers. This was a recent habit that she had picked up and was the best way to keep her shaking hands steady.

A faint glimmer of light from a street lamp shined among a thick bunch of tree branches in the distance. Although the area was still unrecognizable, Ino soon realized where Neji had been taking her. The light illuminated the Hyuuga symbol on the gates making them more visible as they got closer. This must have been at the back of the Hyuuga district because Ino had never seen these gates before.

"Why are you bringing me here?" Ino asked when she was finally able to swallow whatever it was clogging her throat.

"I don't want to risk you being seen at the front." He answered. Figures those snooty Hyuugas wouldn't allow very many outsiders into their precious district. Rumor (the gossip column) has it that they were even stricter when it came to marriage. If they're so up tight about non-Hyuugas marrying into the family, then how does the clan still exist? There must be some serious inbreeding going on. (cough)

When they reached the gates, Neji placed his hand on her shoulder to keep her from going any further. A long time had passed before he spoke again. "I was going to take you this place outside of the village. But since you weren't ready, we'll have to do something else." Ino was about to follow him inside the gates, but her step faltered when Neji stopped her again. "Wait here." He disappeared behind the gates, leaving Ino alone in the darkness.

Now was a good time to run; Neji was out of sight and there was no one else around. She backed away from the gates, steadily taking one step at a time, keeping her eyes and ears open to any sudden movements or sounds. But then, for some odd reason she stopped. It was almost as if something had grabbed her by the ankle and was holding her in place. She soon recognized that it was her own inquisitiveness that was keeping her from going anywhere.

She looked up at the sky, cursing under her breath for not choosing to run away now that she had the chance. A part of her wanted to know why Neji decided to go on a date with her. Aside from Sasuke, Neji was the only person who didn't fall for her charms, yet under these strange circumstances he agreed to go out with her. It's definitely going to be interesting to see how the rest of this goes.

Pacing back and forth she waited for Neji, feeling almost like a faithful dog tied to a stake while its master went about his business. A few minutes later he came back out wearing his training clothes. Ino looked at him in curiosity.

"You didn't have to leave me out here!" Ino stood firm and placed her hands on her hips. Screw the fact that he was one of Konoha's great and all-powerful shinobi. He had no right to make her of all people wait outside in the dark while he changed his clothes.

"I warned you." That was all he said before leading her away from the gates. She stayed closely behind, although uneasy about where he was taking her. She had a right to be edgy. He was leading her to the training grounds. They arrived a few minutes later, Neji picking up his pace along the way in order to be a good distance away from Ino. Ino's shoes were not really meant for walking long distances, and her feet soon began to ache, hindering her from catching up with him. This whole ordeal was driving her insane and she couldn't take it anymore.

"Can we take a break?" she abruptly stopped and sank to her knees, " My feet are killing me!"

Neji walked a few steps ahead, but not too far so that she could still hear him. "You owe me a fight."

Was he crazy? She couldn't fight him any other time, let alone now with what she was wearing. Not only that, but she wasn't going to mess up her nice shoes either! He must have gotten the message when he saw the blank look on her face.

He watched the series of worried and confused expressions that appeared on her face and lightly laughed at her. He wasn't really planning on fighting her. He just wanted to see how she'd react if he scared her a little. "Come on. I have a lot to catch up on." He held out his hand to her. She looked at him for a little while, not sure what to do next. He went ahead and grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto her feet before leading her to the same special tree that he mediated under.

Ino wasn't prepared for what happened next. He sat under the tree and closed his eyes allowing himself to drift into meditation. Ino remained standing in front of where he was sitting, looking at him in enragement. The date sucked right from the beginning and Ino was fed up. She was deciphering whether or not to head back home when Neji woke up and called out to her.

"Aren't you going to join me?"

"I really don't know how to meditate." He lifted his head and looked at her awkwardly. Ino immediately knew why. She knew how to meditate. All shinobi knew how to meditate. She could have just flat out said that didn't want to do something so boring on a date.

"You can go if you want. But I wish you'd stay." His voice was different. It was calmer and not as strict and demanding. There was something about that voice that made her want to stay with him, but she wasn't sure if she could trust him completely yet. She cautiously stepped a little closer to him, keeping her guard up the whole time. When he sensed her approaching he placed his hand on the ground next to him. "Sit here. I'll show you." Right then and there, her fears melted out of her body and she joined him.

So for their first date, they meditated for hours. In fact, that was all they did on subsequent dates. Ino didn't like these dates, but she didn't tell Neji. She also didn't turn him down whenever he told her that he'd be picking her up again the next day. All she wanted was to stop. Stop wasting hours meditating, stop being forced to spend her free time with him, and stop watching her step around him in fear of making him upset. That's how things went for the next few days until one day after meditating Neji relaxed against his tree and looked at her.

"Why don't you ever say anything?" he asked. "I know you don't like meditating and I've been waiting for you to suggest something else."

What the hell? Ino wanted to hit him. All this time of living in fear for her life she always had the freedom to say she didn't want to meditate? "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" If it weren't for his fingers sliding and interlocking with hers, in a brief moment of fury, Ino may have slugged him one good time. (Hell hath no fury like a pissed off woman.)

"Relax." He tightened his grip on her hand before releasing her. "It was kind of funny watching you cower in fear every time I told you we were going to meditate," he answered. To Ino's surprise he was actually smiling, which was something she had never seen him do before. "Why would you let someone control you like that? I thought you were supposed to be one of the top kunoichi in the village."

"You IDIOT!" Ino was enraged. She stood up and clenched her fist, apparently regaining her backbone and forgetting who she was talking to. "We're going to fight right now!"

Neji stood up, still smiling at her. "How about we go to this place outside of Konoha instead?" Neji casually strolled away from her. She watched him for a little while, her eye's narrowing in on him flinging his hair over his shoulder. Although she was angry couldn't help but smile. He had taught her a valuable lesson that night and new feelings for him were starting to surface. She followed behind as he led her to the place they would have gone for their first date.

Not long after that, Neji declared her his girlfriend. All their friends were shocked and could never figure out what made him do this. This came as a surprise to Ino as well, but it was a pleasant one. She loved being around him, often finding silly reasons to spend even a few seconds out of the day with him. Now, she didn't have to make excuses. As his girlfriend, she was required to be with him.

Being Neji's girlfriend wasn't so bad. He spent all of his free time on the training grounds; so Ino it was easy for her to find him when she wanted to see him. They still spent half of their dates mediating, but spent the other half doing something more date-like. Amazingly, he was not the shady, cold-hearted, introverted, didn't give a damn about anything but his destiny bastard that a lot of people thought he was. At least not that much.

Every now and then he'd hold her hand in public even while everyone was looking. Every once in a blue moon he'd kiss her on the forehead after a date. He wasn't much for conversation and Ino never had to worry about finding things to talk about. Although sitting quietly for hours in a park was not Ino's idea of a good date. But slowly she got used to him, and was starting to fall in love with him. Though she did not know how he felt about her. Then one day, out of the blue, he told her that she was beautiful. This was all she needed to hear.

That day Ino came to a decision. "I'm ready to lose my virginity!" She excitedly told Sakura, astonishing her best friend.

"Did I just hear you right?" Sakura asked narrowing her eyebrows. "Neji actually agreed to this?"

"Well, no. But I'm sure I can get him."

"Do you honestly think you can get Hyuuga Neji in the sack?"

"Of course I can." Ino was in her typical streak of confidence that often started many fights between her and Sakura when they were younger. "And I'll tell you something else. I can get him before the end of the week."

"Let's make a bet." Sakura paused for a possible objection. When she didn't get one, she continued. "I bet you a dinner that you can't. And I'm not talking a cheap dinner at Ichiraku's."

"Oh yeah. Gotta save something for your dates with Naruto."

Choosing to ignore Ino's comment, Sakura added her last provision of the bet. "I'm talking about that really nice and really expensive restaurant that just opened up.

"Do you know how much that place costs?! A damn appetizer is worth more than we make in half a year!"

"If you're afraid…"

"You're on!" Ino gabbed her hand in Sakura's direction and they shook on it.

Three days later, after spending an hour on the training grounds, Neji was ready to leave. They didn't spend as long this time because Neji was eager to get back home. Today was the day Neji was to show he was a man by moving away from his uncle and into a house by himself. He was going to be spending that night unpacking and Ino volunteered to help him. Neji couldn't believe the amount of enthusiasm she displayed when she told him that she'd be glad to be of assistance, but he was thankful for the helping hand. If only he knew why she was so desperate to help him that night.

The trip back to the Hyuuga district was nice, although for Ino it wasn't fast enough. They walked with their hands clasped together down the path that took them to a small section of land not far from the Hyuuga main house. Neji wasn't sure, but kind of it felt like she was pulling him. By the time they got there, it was already getting dark. Ino figured that it wouldn't take too long to get everything unpacked. He and his family should have done much of the work by now. Unfortunately, it turns out that being a man also meant no help moving in from the rest of the family. There were boxes everywhere.

"Just because you're a girl, that doesn't mean you won't be doing any heavy lifting. You can get started on that box." Neji informed, pointing to a huge box sitting on the ground. "You've had to have learned something from Tsunande-sama." He picked another large box off the ground and proceeded towards the house. Neji wasn't kidding when he said heavy lifting. The boxes were extremely heavy. Thanks to Tsunande's training, she was a little stronger, but after three hours of lifting, her muscles were too sore to continue. She feared that she wouldn't have enough energy for her night with Neji. It seemed like forever before he said, "All we have to do now is bring in one more thing."

"Thank goodness." Ino was kneeling on the floor massaging her tired biceps." Where is it?"

"Over there." Neji pointed to an extremely large object a few feet away. It was a couch.

When it was inside, Ino flopped her exhausted self onto it. Her body ached from head to toe, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. She was expecting him to come sit next to her, but to her disappointment, Neji went back outside and began arranging and cleaning the rust (and blood) off of his kunai collection. Tired of waiting for him to finish, she went out and stood next to him.

"Neji-kun, I'm worn out and it's getting dark." She knelt next to him a wrapped her arms around one of his.

"You know the way back." He said slipping his arm out of her grip.

She slid her body behind him and rested her head against the back of his shoulder. "Actually my feet hurt too much to walk now all the way back now. Do you mind if I stay a little longer?"

"Lie down until you're ready then." Neji had finished cleaning the rust off the last of his kunai, but he didn't get up.

"Will you join me?" Ino was trying to sound as seductive as possible. That enticing voice didn't work during the Chunnin exams, but things were different now. After dating all this time, he had to have fallen in love with her by now.

"I'm busy." He said picking up his next kunai and scraping the pointed end with a stone to sharpen it.

This wasn't going right. He was snubbing her off like he did during their first Chunnin exam. She would need a different strategy. Neji wasn't the type to fall for a pretty face and seductive body language; therefore Ino needed to think of another way to get him inside the house. It was pretty simple. In order to get a Hyuuga, she had to think like a Hyuuga.

"Neji-kun, will you help me with my meditating? There's something that I don't quite understand."

Neji stopped what he was doing. "You haven't learned yet?" Ino shook her head and looked at him naively. "Fine. Sit here." He pushed his weapons off his lap and cleared the area for Ino next to him. Only Ino didn't sit in the spot he cleared for her. Instead she crawled into his lap. Neji placed his hands behind him, propping himself up to support the sudden increase in weight, not fully comprehending what was going on. "What are you doing?" Neji's altered his body, trying to slide from underneath her.

"I want feel the amount of chakra that your body releases while you meditate." Ino used her hands to position herself better on his lap, making sure that at least one of them "accidentally" grazed the area close to his manhood. Neji cocked an eyebrow. That sounded dumb, but he stopped trying to get her off of him. Neji sighed and told Ino to close her eyes. For the next half hour Neji meditated with Ino in his lap, not knowing that Ino was growing increasingly frustrated. She was going to try one more time.

Ino braced her hands on either side of Neji's knees and push herself off his lap. "I think I should get going." She was now kneeling next to him, waiting for him to kiss her forehead. If she timed everything correctly, she'd be able to grab him. But he didn't move. He just muttered, "Until later." And went back to meditating.

Ino was so mad that she wanted to hit something. What's with this guy? Why was he blowing this perfect opportunity? They were alone, it was dark, and they had the entire house to themselves. What man wouldn't jump at this chance?!

She got to her feet while holding onto his arm, encouraging him to stand up as well. "Will you at least walk with me a few feet?"

He reluctantly allowed her to help him get to his feet. He walked with her couple of steps, and then turned back to the house. Before he could get any closer to the front door, she stopped him by tugging on his arm. She wanted her good-bye kiss. He leaned his face towards her forehead but was stopped when she placed her fingers on his lips. "Please," she pleaded, "not the forehead this time." He heard about this about females. You date one for a little while, and then they want to get all romantic…gross. But then again, he had just declared himself a man. There was no harm in a kiss in a different location. He kissed her on the cheek and went back inside…just as she figured he would. Now for the next phase of her plan.

"Neji-kun?" Ino lightly felt around her forehead as if something were missing. "I need to come back in. I think I left my hitai-ate."

This sparked Neji's curiosity. What was she plotting? She hadn't worn her hitai-ate in years. Before he could say anything, she casually sauntered past him and into the house. Surely he must have realized she rarely wears her forehead protector. That should make him figure out that she wanted an excuse to come back in. She stayed in plain view, hoping that he'd watch her as she pretended to look around the living room for it.

"How about quit playing around and tell me why the hell you came back." Neji said sternly. Ino stopped searching and faced Neji. "What are you doing?" he asked, looking at her in confusion. She didn't answer. She just quickly stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him in the process. This was a daring move to make on the unsuspecting Hyuuga but oddly enough, he was compliant. He gently put his arm around her waist without breaking away from her.

(End Flashback)

"Wait a minute." Sakura interrupted. "You mean to tell me that you, the expert temptress was having trouble getting a guy to fall for you? I knew I was right!"

"Falling for me wasn't the problem." Ino's finger absently circled the brim of her teacup. "It's not like I've had any experience with getting a guy like Hyuuga Neji in the sack."

"True," Sakura nodded in agreement "but what I don't understand is, if you got that far how did you end up losing the bet?"

"We, or rather Neji, kind of ran into a little problem." Ino observed Sakura leaned a little more forward to get closer to her. Sakura's eyes grew wide with burning interest and she didn't want the everyday restaurant noise to cause her to miss a single detail. This put Ino in a sticky situation that involved telling Sakura about her incident without breaking her promise. "Let's just say that Neji's definitely a virgin and completely inexperienced."

"You came on too strong and scared him, didn't you?"

"Let me finish." Ino glanced over at Neji, checking to see if he was still looking at her. She didn't want to chance him hearing her talk about what happened that night, so she got up from where she was sitting and found another place to sit that was closer to Sakura. When she was certain that no one could hear her, she continued to explain the rest of that night carefully without telling Sakura about Neji's secret.

Sakura had no idea what Ino was talking about and Ino wasn't giving her any of the vital details. It seems that this secret between the two was so big that Ino couldn't even tell her best friend. The conversation was still intriguing because Ino was graphically describing the more intimate details that always grabbed a listener's attention.

(Once again. The Flashback.)

Ino dug her fingers into his hair and kissed him even harder. Neji was now beginning to feel uncomfortable and pulled away from her.

"You need to get going." He held his arm out in front of him to keep the persistent kunoichi at arms length from him. "I'll walk with you about halfway."

"I'm not ready to leave yet. Will you please sit with me a little while longer on the couch?" Ino knew she was being very forward, but she had gotten too far to end it here. She pulled hard on his out stretched arm and he nearly fell over by the force of her jerking him to the couch.

"A few more minutes." He growled, and they relaxed next to each other, sinking on the soft cushions. Neji didn't have time to react when Ino climbed on his lap and kissed him again, continuing where they left off. They leaned back against the arm of the couch with Ino on top of him. Neji was meticulous and she knew that she did not have much time to get him aroused enough to keep him wanting more. Little by little she carefully slid her hand from his neck to his stomach. He didn't respond to her roaming hand, so she kept going. Soon her fingers were sliding along the hem of his pants.

She moved the tip of her fingers under his pants, but he enclosed his fingers around her wrist, blocking her from moving any further. She wasn't sure what had just happened, so she tried again only to get the same result. She discreetly felt his manhood with her leg to see if there was a change, but there was nothing. His heart was normal and there was no heat radiating from him. He was not getting excited at all. Neji may not have been a typical male, but he was a still a male. There had to be a way to get him aroused. A few minutes must have passed, because Neji suddenly broke away from her and straightened himself up.

"It's time to go." Neji's eye's fought so hard to not be mesmerized by her that he was forced to close them tight, but his skin was turning red. Ino took this as the first signs of male arousal. Neji ran a hand through his hair to smooth the mussed strands caused by Ino's attack and placed one foot on the floor.

"Please, just a little while longer." Ino slid her hand behind his knee and pulled his leg back on the couch. She was getting aroused and sure as hell wasn't ready to give up yet. She began kissing him down his neck and rubbing her hand up and down his thigh. He knew what she was trying to do and he tried to resist at first, but then she put a hand under his shirt, raising it to expose his navel and circled it with her tongue. He may have wanted her leave earlier, but her tongue was feeling kind of nice. He gave up trying to make her stop as she worked around his abdominal with her mouth. He leaned back and put his hands behind his head relishing in the sensation that flooded his body. He was a male after all.

Her warm breath blew and his skin, sending a pleasurable feeling over the wet region her tongue had touched. From time to time she'd kiss his belly lightly, making him shiver in response. She tasted the salt of his once sweaty skin and licked it off as if she were cat, desperately trying to clean off every area that her considerably small tongue could reach. Normally this would have disgusted her but she was indulging in it, pulling his shirt even farther up to expose his entire chest.

Almost instinctually, Neji's hands moved from behind his head and found their way under her shirt, caressing her back. Ino stuck her tongue right in his navel and twisted it, touching the sensitive spot located inside and triggering his stomach to suck inward. When she was through tormenting his navel, she followed the indentations of his ab muscles to the upper half of his chest. Neji sighed in delight, pressing his fingertips deeper into her skin and inhaling through his clenched teeth. Damn this feels good!

Her hands swirled over his chest moving up to the rise of his shirt. Since it could go no further up she grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. He raised his arms in compliance as she peeled it off and dropped it on the floor. His hands moved from above his head to the back of hers, gently pushing it closer to his, their lips meeting as they settled back into the arm of the couch. Time keeping was now replaced with the desire for heated passion and both were too deep into what they were doing to notice how late it was getting.

Neji, however soon snapped out of whatever hold Ino had on him and was determined to put a stop this. He grabbed her on either side of her waist, forcibly holding her still, and flipped her over so that he was the one on top. He pinned her wrists above her head and looked her dead in her eyes.

"What has gotten into you?"

"You're a man now prove it!" Ino freed one of her wrists and lifted the top part of her body as far as she could and reached behind Neji's head to pull him closer. She stuck her tongue between his lips again requesting entry and he let go of her other wrist. He broke away from her one last time and raised himself up, his knees on either side of her hips in a straddling position, looking down at her. His body looked as though he wanted to stop, but his eyes were saying something totally different. He was breathing heavily and threw his head back to look at the ceiling. It was like he was fighting himself, his hands struggling in a losing battle to not touch her.

In the end, his male urges got the better of him and he lowered himself onto her. The shirt she was wearing was made to expose her midriff, giving him clear access to her navel. His hair completely engulfed the two of them and Ino couldn't see what he was doing, but she could feel it. The combined pleasure of his tongue drawing circles around her navel and his hair lightly brushing her bare stomach caused her to moan, though he didn't hear her because his thick mass of hair covered his ears. Ino used her leg to feel his manhood again. Her knee lightly pressed in between his legs, but he didn't feel any different than he did earlier.

She knew what to look for in Neji, but she never found it. Between she and Sakura skimming threw the pages of the forbidden volumes located in the backs of adult bookstores, camping in the woods during missions with two pubescent males who often woke up stiff the next morning, the training as a Medic-nin that exposed her to some very interesting things, as well as the number of unfortunate male ninja she had to lure into ambushes that always led to their untimely demise, she'd seen enough erections to imagine what one felt like.

She didn't understand. During her life as an older teenager, getting a man excited was never a problem. She had encountered numerous men that could never control themselves when she walked in front of them, wearing her revealing training clothes, swinging her hips, and talking in a voice that turned them into incoherent idiots.

Neji was noticeably shifting himself away from her leg and may have even been deliberately keeping his lower half away from her exploring hand. For some reason he wasn't getting hard although she was ready. She had to take things a step further. She gathered some of his hair in her fists and used it to coax him to move closer to her face by lightly jerking on it. He untangled his hair from her fingers and raised the top half of his body up, propping his hands for support and looking down at her in protest. His eyes virtually jumped out of their sockets at the sight of her delicate fingers unfastening the buttons on her shirt.

She removed her shirt completely and discarded it on the floor next to his. His eyes traveled hungrily over her the half naked female below him. This girl was perfect! She was slender, but she wasn't pencil thin. She was muscular, yet feminine. Her narrow waist gently curved out to her hips, and her breasts were…what the heck was this purple lacy thing she was wearing under her shirt? It was like nothing he had seen before. He couldn't help himself. He had to touch her.

He used his finger to trace an imaginary line around her lips down the middle of her throat to her chest. He then bent down and followed that same path using his tongue. When he got to her chest his tongue licked around one nipple, and then the other, right through the fabric. He brought his head up to hers and planted his lips on her forehead, his thumb and index finger teasing her by sliding along the length of her bra strap.

"Your scent." Neji whispered and buried his head into the base of her neck, his teeth grazing her skin. Ino's heart fluttered in anticipation of what he was going to say next. She was relieved when he instead busied himself with nipping the tip of her earlobe. As far as Ino knew she smelled like sweat. As to be expected from spending hours training and lifting boxes. Oh well. If he wasn't going to say anything else, then she wasn't going to question him.

As one of the top Jounin in all of Konoha, he was amazed at the amount of control she had over him. She was looking exceptionally appetizing and he instantaneously responded to her demand to be touched again. His fingers gently pulled the strap down a little, partially exposing her. Ino whimpered faintly when he placed a soft kiss on her chest and then took her nipple into his mouth, sucking it gently and flicking the very tip with his tongue.

The whole experience was unlike anything she had ever dreamed-she had always imaged her first time would be with Sasuke- and everything was going perfectly. If only she could see his member, she would know what to expect when he went inside of her. From what she could feel through his pants it had to be a least average size. The stories of it hurting the first time didn't scare her. She just wanted to know how much it was going to hurt. She had never gone this far with a guy and felt that saving herself for Neji was more than worth the wait.

With each passing minute, Neji was becoming more deeply entranced in their activity. Now it was time to pull out her wild card…and his manhood. Direct contact was more than likely to best way to get him hard. She rolled over made her way on top again, getting a little rougher than before. He made the mistake of letting his mind drift and he didn't notice her once again fumbling around his pants with her fingers. But he snapped out of his trance when he felt her tug hard at them. He jumped up in an effort to stop her, but it was too late. She had gotten his pants low enough to expose what he had been trying to keep her from finding.

"What the hell?" Ino's eyes nearly jumped out of her head when saw it. She pointed at him with her finger shaking in shock. "How…how…" Neji jumped back. He almost fell off the couch when he panicked. He struggled while getting his pants back up, too embarrassed to look at her.

"You need to go." Neji pick up both of their shirts, tossed Ino her shirt, and slipped into his.

Ino quickly put hers back on and fastened the buttons. This was hard to do since she was still trembling after seeing what she just saw. Neji was pacing around the room continuously asking himself how could he have let things get this far. "Neji," Ino got off the couch and grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Just go." Neji went to the front door and held it open. Without another word, Ino nervously got up and went out the door with her hand covering her face. She made it a few feet away from his house when she heard him coming up behind her.

"Wait." Neji caught up to her. "I'll walk you home." He took her by the hand and led her down the path outside the Hyuuga gates.

"It's okay. I over reacted." Ino said in her efforts to comfort him. "I promise I won't say anything else about it." Neji didn't answer. They didn't say another word for the rest of the trip.

They arrived at Ino's house, not feeling any better. Neji's head was hanging in shame and Ino stepped back a little, waiting for him to say something. She spoke up after a lengthy silence. "Does this mean that you'll never be able…?

"I don't know." He interrupted with the same coldness in his voice that he had before they started dating. He raised his head and stepped closer to her wrapping his arms around her waist and holding in a tight embrace. "Your scent." He whispered. "It's sweet." They held each other for a few minutes and he slid his arms from around her. He left her standing there as he made his way back home, not even turning his head back to give her one last look.

The next day, while Ino was working in the flower shop, Sakura came in to get all of the details. "So how'd it go?" she asked.

"Shut up and put on a damn dress! We're going out tonight." Ino slammed her watering can on the counter and stormed into the back room.

That night in the restaurant Ino speared at all of her food with her chopsticks, she barked at the waiter for being late with their food, and drank sake by the gallon. In one instance Sakura mentioned to the waiter that this was their first time at the restaurant. When the waiter asked Ino if her first experience was pleasurable, Ino responded with a loud "Fuck you!" and guzzled down more sake. Sakura sat back with her mouth shut, not daring to ask Ino what happened the night before.

Neji and Ino would continue dating for a little while after, their next date being under the meditating tree, but they never meditated. He lay on the ground with her next to him, her head resting on his chest. It was as if they were trying to enjoy the little time that they had left. He kissed less often in public after that, and the number of times they saw each other gradually decreased until they ended altogether. Ino was upset, but the pain wouldn't last long. Not long after that, the first man that she ever fell in love with would return to the village.

(End Flashback)

"I don't believe what I just heard." Sakura said. "I have a feeling that you're not telling me everything that happened. You would not just call it quits and walk out like that… there's a huge gap in your story."

"What gap?" Ino asked, "I told you everything."

"So what you're saying is, you saw something that freaked you out and it hurt his dignity? I don't think your night with him ended that way. You know I'm going to find out eventually."

"Honest. That's the way it happened." Ino answered. Her voice was a little shaky. Recalling this memory had an effect on her, almost like she was reliving her episode with Neji all over again.

Sakura offered a comforting hand on Ino's shoulder. The first true love is always the hardest to get over even if both members had since moved on (albeit with one's own cousin and the object of someone else's desires). Sakura, in spite of everything Ino told her didn't fully understand what happened that night but she had an educated guess. "Let me get this straight. The two of you broke up because he's not well endowed?"

"Well…No! It's because-" Ino gave Sakura a sharp look. She was on the verge of breaking her promise to Neji and she had to watch what she said. Instead she provided Sakura with the half-truth. "I know it seems like we didn't last because he was too self-conscious about what happened, but I actually think it was because his family thought I was interfering with his duties as a ninja and his commitment to the Hyuuga main house."

Sakura had a feeling that that event was what put the rift in her relationship with Neji. From what she remembered, neither of them said anything about that night and things went okay for a little while after, but they weren't the same. From what she had gathered from Ino, a combination of the Hyuuga pride being severely injured and interference from Neji's family was what put the brakes on the two of them.

"Well, you two were still a nice couple." Sakura playfully shook Ino's shoulder.

Ino's body moved rhythmically to Sakura's movement on her shoulder until she gently knocked her hand off. Her mood brightened when a new thought raced into her head, pushing out the bad memory of herself and Neji. "But Sasuke and I are nicer, right?"

"Rrrriiiight…" Sakura had to force that answer out of her mouth and the muscle-straining smile that went along with it practically made her jaw cramp.

"Can I tell you something?" Ino came closer to Sakura's head. She cupped her hand between her mouth and Sakura's ear and whispered softly "You know, I've always thought the same about you and Naruto."

"We were NEVER a couple!" Sakura's body jolted away from Ino.

"Okay, okay." Something hit Ino. She pondered for a few moments and then moved a safe distance from Sakura. What she was going to say next was more than likely going to set Sakura off and she didn't want to be anywhere near her potentially swinging fists. "But what about now? He's gotten hotter over the years and you're single and available. He's also really compassionate and a top ninja"

"If you think he's so great, then YOU date him!"

"Hel-lo! Married!" Ino held up her hand to show off her ring finger. "Besides, you know he still loves you after all these years."

"Will you give it a rest? He needs to grow up some more." Sakura had enough with Ino constantly referring to her and Naruto in the same sentence. Naruto was and still is a really good friend, but that's all he was. A friend. True, they dated for a while, but she never considered him her boyfriend and that was a long time ago. Presently, she had no intention of being with Naruto or anyone else for that matter except…

In Sakura's peripheral vision she could see Neji signaling to the waiter that he was finished eating and was ready for the check. After he paid his bill, he got out of his chair was ambled by the table where Sakura and Ino were sitting. The girls, taking notice of him, had to fight the impulse to look at him when came dangerously close to their table.

The two sat completely motionless when he walked by, both wanting, but at the time not wanting to know what Neji was up to. He walked by the table, not looking at the two, but slowing his pace as he walked a few steps past them. When he made it a little further past the table, he stood still without turning around and spoke.

"Ino," he paused. "Come with me." He then resumed walking towards the entrance just as mysteriously as he came.

"What do I do?" Ino looked at Sakura.

"Go with him I guess." Sakura shrugged.

Ino's skin was now brighter than any shade of red Sakura had ever seen. She sat still, paralyzed with uncertainty her eyes not once blinking. Sakura, on the brink of madness, darted her head between the two, wondering if Ino was going to do as she was told. All suspicions about Neji and Ino were confirmed. It was beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was something going on between the two. This was the perfect time to put her skills as a ninja spy to use.

This was too good to miss!