Hello! I know I am not writing much, but think of this as an appetizer. Hopefully more will follow. If I do get some reviews, I will surely write more. Enjoy:)

Yamanaka Ino was not happy about the day. In fact, the day was horrible. She started off almost late, then lost a race to the forehead (though she would never admit it, even in death) and then, worst of all, she got stuck in a team with a lazy-ass and that fa... she meant big-boned boy. Her sensei seemed like a gruff old man but was surprisingly a normal person, if not somewhat slow paced one. Besides she was being taught by the youngest son of the hokage.

That was before he told them that he would test them before he took them as students. Now she had to be tested by him in order to continue on her chosen profession.

The day had also given her some things to think about, especially about a young blond. His proclamation of being the Kyuubi Jinchuriiki had startled her. Could the orange loving, pranking pipsqueak really be the Kyuubi?. There was only one solution to this problem, her father.

To Ino, her father, Inoichi Yamanaka was the person who provided all the answers. No matter what sort of question she had (father, how are children born?) he would always answer her (to the appropriate level). The fact that he was also the ex-head of the Torture and Investigation Department of Konoha meant that he knew a lot of things.

Ino made it to the Yamanaka Flowers, a beautiful little flower shop right at the center of the Market District. At least that was what was to civilians, what even most Shinobi didn't know was that most of the building was under the ground. The Yamanaka grew all kinds of plants; they also made all sorts of poisons. Her mother, though without Ninja training was quite the master at that art. Some said she rival Chiyo of the hidden sand at the art. (her mother was always coy when someone told her that and claimed"oh, they are exaggerating")

The identity of Konoha's genius poison maker was a mystery to most countries and the Hokage had commanded that it be kept that way. Most of the clan didn't know that it was Inora Yamanaka, Ino's mom was Konoha's "Poison Edge". But, at home she was just Inora, a sweet caring mom who was very sociable. In fact, Ino had learnt most of her social skills from her mother. Her mom had pretty much the entire clan on her wire and friends in all corners of the village.

"Mom, I am home." Ino shouted out as she reached home. Ino lived with her father and mother in the first floor of the apartment opposite to the Yamanaka flowers. Legally the entire area around the the shop was Yamanaka territory, but the Yamanaka's had urbanized. They set up apartments, wth entire floors to families. They also set up many psychiatric clinics and counseling centres around the district. Most of the area was enclosed by beautiful gardens which gave the entire area a sense of happiness and serenity. It was really no wonder that whenever some apartment was put up for lease in the area, they went out like hot cakes. Shinobi and civilians alike loved the "flower district."

Personally Ino thought it was the best place in all of konoha. By the evening, couples from across the village often came to the parks in the compound to spend their time with the loved ones. Ino adored watching them from the windows of her house. By spring, when it was the season for sakura viewing, restrictions were normally imposed on who could enter the compound. It was one of Konoha's prime areas.

"Okaeri, how was the day dear?" It was her mom who asked. Her dad also came around to know how his daughter was on her very first day. Ino immediately started chattering about the day.

It was only by the time the family had started dinner that Ino reached. "Dad, you know, the class idiot Naruto?" she started while watching the reaction of her parents. It was a testament to Inoichi's kill that not even a change of emotions appeared on his face. "Yes dear, I heard he was quite the prankster. He was the one who painted all the Nara deer's antlers orange. Wasn't he?"

"Ya, that one. Today he shouted out in class that he was kyuubi's holder or seal or something. He said we could come home and discuss about it."

At this Inoichi's eyes went wide.

"Is it true papa? Or was the jerk just lying again."

"He was not lying dear. No one. Not even a great genius like the fourth could kill something like the kyuubi. So he had to save the tail beast to save the village."

"So then isn't he dangerous?" Ino asked. She could not believe something like the kyuubi was allowed to roam in public.

"You have never seen the fourth in action. That man destroyed entire armies like it was nothing and the seal on Naruto is his final legend. I definitely trust the fourth. He meant for Naruto to grow older and drain the power of kyuubi. That was what the third also told us. And Naruto is just another person who has sacrificed a lot like the fourth himself. He lost all his family and had such a burden put on him from very birth. Have you seen the looks he gets from the villagers child? If anyone else had been receiving them from childhood, they would have either suicided or turned into psychopaths. No child, he might be obnoxious but he is definitely not dangerous, He should rather be considered a village hero."

This gave Ino a lot to think about. Her parent's had never mentioned anything about him before. But since all the other children were always avoiding him Ino had always disregarded the child, infact abused him more than the others. Memories flew threw her mind. All the times she had called him a baka, the times she had said hurtful things about him in efforts to please sasuke, the boy looked hurt but just bounced back in a moment's notice. The yamanaka's were a clan of mind walkers to the rest of the world, but to themselves the yamanaka's preferred to be a clan of mind healers. They hated leaving a painful actions on others.

Ino made a resolve. She would definitely treat the blond in a better way. He was obnoxious, dumb, stupid, annoying. But he, and no one, deserved to be ignored like that. She was definitely going to behave better to the village hero.

"Dad. He also came and told me that he would come to meet you afternoon. He is not here yet though. Why is he coming?"

At his Inoichi smiled. "Ah! I had forgotten about it. Ino, now that you are a genin, we will start training on our other family art. Hokage-sama mentioned that Naruto also seemed to have an affinity to sensing. So he will also be with you for sensing.

The yamanaka's took up flower shop shifts and learning from a very young age. Psychology and mind jutsu start at around the second year. However sensing training normally began only after the genin exams. Any chakra user who could focus into himself, an essential part of mind jutsu's could easily focus outside, so Yamanaka's always hard an easy time with sensing jutsus. Ino was also fairly confident she could do it, but for an outsider to be trained with the Yamanaka clan head itself meant he should have a considerable amount of talent.

Ino thought. "Though he isn't anywhere as cool as the sasuke-kun, I guess it's pretty awesome that he stood up to all he faced in life. I should behave better towards him."

As if on cue, the bell rang. Ino, who usually had the job of attending the door ran to it. She peeped in through the viewer to see that it was Naruto.

Naruto was definitely not sure about his reception would be. Though he knew the Inoichi Yamanaka, the chief of the Information and Logistics department of the allied Shinobi in his past life, he had no deep connections with him. Ino was the Konoha 12 members he knew the least. While he had done a few missions with him, she was more of Sakura's friend than his. He had no clue about Ino's mother's name also. He had just seen her around the village and thought of her as "Ino's mother."

Naruto was happy to see that Ino was smiling, in fact he was slightly suspicious. "A trick?" Then a thought dawned on him.

"Is she showing me sympathy? Damn. I should have known this was bound to happen if I told everyone."

Then a voice told him. "No, Naruto that is not any sympathy towards you. She is genuinely trying to change her behavior towards you. She believes she was affected by the behavior of the crowd towards you and we yamanakas hate being manipulated against anything. It was Yamanka Inoichi.

Both of the youngsters were surprised. Ino seemed to get over her surprise quickly and huffed. Naruto on the other hand had to marvel. "This man is really good. He read both of us like clear books if Ino's expression is anything to go bye. I have to be careful around him. If he notives anything and reports anything and reports to jiji I will face more questions."

Inoichi was still watching but he haad set his face in a polite smile. "Oh, he was intimidated and definitely had the "I-should-be-careful-around-this-guy thought. Interesting. Poor Ino-chan seems a bit pissed, I will have to face her after he is gone"

"Both of you come with me. As you can guess, you will be training with each other. Try to get along and not give me a headache." Both of them followed him to the floor above. It was a meeting hall were the clan meetings were held. Right now it was bare. Inoichi sat on a chair and asked them both to sit near him.

"So both of you are sensors and we will start you training now. Since hokage-sama sent you, you must have some idea Naruto so for now I will just show Ino the ropes. Ok?" He went on to tell Ino how to extend her chakra and how to feel the outside world.

"Go on. Try it Ino." He said.

Ino nodded ad closed her eyes. She was familiar with probing into her own mind, which was the first step in any Yamanaka jutsu. As she widened her sense towards outside, she was met with a fog, a warm fuzzy bright fog which felt quite comforting. Ino began to panic slightly. She was the clan heads daughter and the future clan head, what if she couldn't do it? But however she tried the result was the same.

Dismayed, she opened her eyes. "No father I can't feel as you said, I just feel like a huge fog is surrounding me." She was sure her father would give her some consoling words but he smiled. "Excellent, that was Naruto you were sensing. This was one of the reason's I decided to train you together. Naruto has one of the greatest amount of chakra in this village and his is largely uncontrolled and widespread. Most starters and even some experienced sensors wouldn't even be able to feel past him. So if you can make past that you would have finished a good part of your training." He told her.

"Hokage –sama told me even you can't sense well because of your own chakra Naruto. Isn't it?" Naruto nodded.

"So let's get started with your first challenge both of you. Feel past Naruto".

An hour flew as Inoichi gave them tips and had them search for Inoichi's chakra. Neither of them made much progress but by the end of an hour they were able to slightly ignore Naruto's chakra, not good enough to feel anything but an improvement all the same.

"Don't be worried. This isn't supposed to be all that simple. Let's leave it at this for today. I believe both of you have an interesting day for tomorrow."

Naruto's stomach let out a loid noise immediately. Ino turned angry. "Bakayaro, it isn't polite to make such noises." Inoichi laughed. Trying to be nice or not, Ino or her mother wouldn't tolerate any impolite behavior from anyone. He said "Why don't you have supper here Naruto. I believe we should have some leftovers from dinner"

Naruto's eyes widened at this, he was flustered "B…but I shouldn't impose on you"

It was Ino who replied, "Just shut up and come with us" Even if the words were harsh, she said it in a friendly way and Naruto accepted. They came to the dining hall and Inoichi asked Inora to warm the leftovers for Naruto. As Naruto sat at the table, Ino and Inoichi also had seats and Inora also sat by them.

Naruto was very nervous and he was sweating. He had never been a part of a family dinner like this. The closest he had was Jiji or Iruka-sensei buying him ramen or Ero-sennin getting him icebars. Seeing his problem Inora smiled kindly "Go on Naruto. Please have our food"

This was the cue Naruto needed. He was really careful to use all the table manners he learned from Ebisu-sensei.

Ino laughed "Gosh Naruto, I was half expecting you to attack the food like a barbarian" Naruto was now sweating intensely.

The conversation went on. Inora asked "Naruto dear, how was your day? Who is your sensei?" She really wanted Naruto to feel at home with them. She thought he was a bright ball of sunshine who deserved more than all the neglect now that she had seen him and noticed how uncomfortable he was with a family.

Naruto was very happy to answer.

"Oh, our sensei is Kakashi Hatake. He is a weird guy with a half mask and his head band covering one eye. All we get to see is one quarter of is eyes and he came three hours late. I was really pissed and I pranked him….." Naruto was in full swing. He loved having someone to talk to. Years of being alone tended to do that to anyone.

At the end of the meal, all four of them had talked quite a lot and Naruto was starting to feel vaguely like he belonged here. "So Naruto I will see you here next week at the same time. Is it fine with you?"

"Of course Dattebayo!"

All the way back to his house Naruto was thinking about how nice the Yamanaka's were. Only by the time he was in bed that his thoughts came back to the day ahead of him. "The meeting had gone just like last time. The old scarecrow and his act! I am gonna surprise him this time around…or should I not?"

Just a bit more char-development because I have not decided on what to do with the plot. Review please, even if it's criticism, shower it on me. Your reviews keep me alive! Btw its Unedited.

CharmerDark