Ino bit her lip, glancing between her hand and the two grinning shinobi sitting across from her. She knew she was in a bind when the feral grins on both of their faces got lewdier and their eyes began to glint. Gulping down a bit of fear, she placed her chips in the center, matching the current bid.
"You know what the means, don't you Ino?" The voice drawled out of the young whisker marked blond, filling the small quarters the two men shared.
"It means that if you lose, you're out of chips…which means you have to start betting something else…" Naruto's snicker was cut short by a large dog nipping at his leg playfully.
"See that Naruto, that's what you get if you say perverted things around Akamaru". The rumbling laughter echoed out of a short brown haired man, red face marks cutting across his face.
"Let go you danged mutt!" Naruto ripped his pant leg away from the dog, and shot a pained look at Kiba. "It was your idea to play strip poker tonight Kiba if I so recall" Naruto shot at Kiba.
"Yeah, but he knows not to bite his master. Now, if I told him to go after a certain fox, he'd definitely be up for the hunt." Kiba's grin grew as Naruto got an even more pained expression.
Turning away sharply, Naruto reached over to his swelling stack of poker chips and tossed some into the center. "Alright, we all ready to see the river?" Naruto's hand swept over the cards as Kiba tossed in his last few chips. Up came an ace of hearts, a king of spades and a queen of hearts.
All three ninja turned back to their cards intently, focusing on their hands while trying to give nothing away. Naruto smiled in glee to himself, he had two queens and was sitting pretty at the start of this round. 'It won't be too much longer before the others are out at this rate' Naruto thought to himself.
The swinging light played over Kiba's hand as he hid his dismay. 'Damn, this ship ride is not my favorite way to reach the snow country. Plus, my cards suck tonight'. Kiba stared at a seven and a two of clubs, nothing in the river helping him out. He was down to less than a hundred ryo worth in chips as well. 'Damn that Naruto and his ever present lucky streek'. Kiba reached out and took a sip from his sake cup. 'His sake's always really strong too'. The Inuzuka winced as he took a draw from it before setting it down. 'Guess I better pass on this round'.
Ino looked at the river in disbelief. She had a king and a jack of hearts, and had managed to draw to an inside straight. She looked over her pitiful remaining chips, only five or so left. 'If I let either of those two idiots bid me up, I'm really going to have to go all in…unless I want to consider Naruto's option of a thousand ryo a clothing item'. Ino gulped, looking across the small table at the mall opposite her. True, she had grown to like the man, but she wasn't sure she wanted him to see her in her birthday suit yet.
Naruto continued to chuckle to himself over his cards as Kiba passed his chance to bid. Naruto's smile only grew wider. 'I'm so going to win this hand' Naruto thought to himself. His hand reached over to his pile, and he pushed in a hundred ryo worth of coins. "You in Kiba?" Naruto smiled as he watched Kiba flip his cards face down on the pile. 'Too easy'. "What about you Ino? Gonna take me on here, or maybe cash in some clothes for some money?" Naruto's smile only widened further as he watched the platinum beauty smirk back at him.
"You only wish you could get inside my purple skirt fox boy!" Ino's haughty reply caught Naruto offguard as she put in the rest of her chips. "Flip the cards Whiskers, I want to see what you came to play with." Naruto burned the first card, flipping the second to reveal a ten of hearts. 'Mine' thought Ino. "Hey Naruto, how about we make things real interesting?" Ino smiled as wide as she could, laying down a piece of paper. "You choose what you want me to take off for each 1000 ryo, in what order, and I'll do it if I lose. If I win though, you get first watch tonight and hand over the rest of the coin. I have far more clothes on then you have coin, of that I'm sure." She purred this out as the blond man began to blush and gibber. 'Wow, all this from the guy who mastered the Kyuubi and defeated Pain…guess we should be glad he doesn't fall to all kunoichi'.
The smile and blush coming from Ino had Naruto completely distracted. He feebly reached out and took the paper. 'Better to back out, Ino doesn't bluff…but the chance of seeing her, all of her…gah, what is she doing this for?' Naruto's hand trembled with indecision before he quickly scratched something down and shoved it with his chip into the pile. "You're so going down Yamanaka!" Naruto cried, burning a card and flipping the last one, a queen of clubs, the only one Naruto was missing. His smile was slow at first, spreading to his cheeks as he blessed his great luck. "Hah, four queens, ace high! Beat that Blondie!" Naruto shouted, throwing his cards down.
There was a lurch in the ship suddenly, all three grabbing their cards, the lamp light swinging precariously. "What the hell was that?" Kiba asked, Akamaru quickly by his side, sniffing the surroundings. Naruto's eyes closed quickly, snapping open with a cross highlighting his features, his signature balance of fox and sage chakra.
"It doesn't seem to be anything unusual Kiba" came the rough voice of Naruto. "The waves are really getting rough though, and it feels like a storm is coming towards us. Still, we should be fine." Ino stood, calming her senses, pushing them out to check for any genjutsu intrusions. All three of them were on high alert, the recent wars having put an edge into the young shinobi. Slowly, Kiba and Ino returned to the table, satisfied that nothing was coming through the cabin doors or the ships floors. Still, none of them liked being blind in the ship cabins. If it wasn't for the fact that ninja were not supposed to be seen with their escort, they would be by her side. They would be by her side when they arrived to the Land of Spring.
"Come on Ino, I'm waiting to see you remove those clothes in the order I set down" Naruto smiled cheekily, his mind already returned to the game.
"Sorry to disappoint whiskers, but you lose. Ino laid her hand down slowly, pulling the cards from the river towards her displayed flush. The ten first, then her jack, then the queen, her king lying next to it, and finally the ace completing a perfect flush. The two men stared in absolute shock, unable to stand the sight before them. Ino's hands raked all the chips towards her waiting arms. "Well, it was fun boys, but we've got serious business to discuss now." She had to bite back a laugh as she looked at Kiba, who merely scowled, pulling his coins back towards himself. Naruto was worse, his face stuck in complete shock as he tried to comprehend what just happened. Deciding to open the note Naruto wrote, Ino let out a real laugh, waking Naruto from his reverie.
"Wait, please don't read that outloud!" Naruto reached out, trying to pull the note back. His hand fell just short though, the Yamanaka pulling it out of reach. Naruto's face fell as Ino opened the note, only to have her face turn a very bright pink shade.
Rip it all off like you did that night we went out drinking. Ino had thought he had forgotten that night from the heavy drinking they had done the next night. 'I guess not' she thought smiling. She quickly folded the note, hiding it from Kiba who had been circling to get a look. "Don't worry Naruto, I'm not going to read it out loud. I wouldn't want to spoil Kiba's good imagination" The note quickly disappeared down her shirt, the blush spreading to her cheeks.
"All right, so, here's the news for the mission." Ino reached into her back pocket and pulled out a scroll. Unsealing it, she laid out several pieces of paper. "It seems that the Land of Spring has been invaded following the recent fall of Pain, Sasuke, and Madara." Naruto nodded, grimacing to himself over the loss of his former comrade. He and Killer Bee had taken out Sasuke together. Madara had fallen after the seven other bijuu were released and combined within the two ninja. After Killer Bee had fallen, the rest of the Bijuu invaded Naruto, who by some miracle of willpower held them all together to defeat the ancient Uchiha. It was several months before the tailed beasts were again separated by Naruto, giving each one to certain villages. "It seems that the majority of the Akatsuki fled in different directions. We have reports from the land of spring that Zetsu and Kisame are moving around there. It will be up to us to hunt them down while managing an escort for the princess of the fire country. The princess is to marry into the family of Princess Yukie, a lesser male cousin to allow for a full treaty between the lands." Ino paused as she looked over at Naruto, who was frowning at the last statement.
"Does this kid want to marry into the family? I mean, how old is she?" Naruto paused as Ino sighed in a parental manner.
"Yes, she wants to marry him Naruto. He's been courting her for the last few years. It is something both the Hokage and the Daimyo approved of". Ino shook her head as Naruto's face lit up. "Allright then, that's the mission. Go and get ready now, it's going to be a while yet before we get there."
With that, Ino turned and left the boys to their room, smiling as she closed the door. 'So he did remember that night, huh? Sounds like he might even want some more…' Ino had a fairly lewd smile on her face as she remembered the last time she went drinking with Naruto.
Author's Note: Sorry for the long hiatus, had to deal with college and first two years have been rough. But, I'm back after much waiting, and will continue the story after this first little entry. The first chapter is really just to attract attention, from here on out the story progresses normally. If you want some background on the Naruto x Ino story, check out my oneshot "Do you remember?" Until then later folks! Note: The level was upped to mature, this will be a much different than before. College did great things for my writing skills.
