Chapter 7: Once a cheater, and so on.
After the day of their date, everything seemed to be perfect. They had the perfect relationship, the perfect life, everything was going their way, and they were happy as can be. Inseparable, for weeks, as it had been already. Only in these weeks, they had finally been officially dating. Ino thought that things couldn't possibly get any better. But what she didn't think about, was if they would get worse. Kiba would have an unexpected visitor, as it seems.
---
"Kiba!" He heard his mom call. He growled and put a pillow on top of his head. He hated when his mom woke him up. She was so loud. He had woken up extra early that morning and left Ino a note attached to a white lily at her house. Then he went directly home and went back to sleep.
"Kiba, there's someone here for you!" She said much louder this time, through his door while she knocked on the wood rather violently. The Inuzuka boy groaned as he sat up in bed. He was wearing shorts, and threw a shirt on before opening his bedroom door. "Who is it, Ma?" He shouted down the stairs, to where his mother was now. "Someone I think you'll be happy to see!" She yelled up to him. The first person to come to his mind was Ino. And he looked terrible. He quickly changed into some normal pants and threw on his jacket. He looked in the mirror and grimaced, looking at his canine like teeth, and then glanced up to his hair. Messy, as usual. But there was never anything he could do about that. He looked like a nerd when he combed his hair, or so he thought.
He ran down the stairs, only to see someone very unsuspected. "Risa!" He stepped onto the bottom floor, eyes widened in pleasant surprise. Takeshi Risa, an old good friend, who'd moved to the Sand village, years ago. He remembered how he used to have a crush on her. She was a beautiful girl, with long, auburn hair and gorgeous dark blue eyes. Not to mention a figure that could kill, in the dark blue outfit that she was wearing. Of course, Kiba was no longer attracted to her. Or at least he thought so.
"Kiba!" Risa shouted and ran to the boy, pulling him into a tight embrace. "How've you been? Are things going well? There is so much I want to talk about!" Her words were fast as she pulled away and looked him over. "You've grown a lot." She smirked, winking. He couldn't help but get a warm feeling in his cheeks. "W-Well, yeah. It's been like three years, right?" He said, and nodded, answering his own question.
"Why don't you two go get something to eat at Ichiraku Ramen? You two have a lot of catching up to do." Kiba's mom gestured toward the door. "That sounds great. I'm starving." Risa said, smiling at Kiba, grabbing his arm and dragging him out the door.
---
Ino was walking with Hinata, spending the day with her. They hadn't hung out with just the two of them for a while, so Ino invited her to spend the afternoon with her. They looking for a place to eat at. "How about Ichiraku Ramen?" Hinata suggested and Ino shrugged. "I guess we could. Sounds good. I bet you just want to run into Naruto, don't you?" Ino teased, giggling when Hinata went red. "N-no. It's jus-"
"It's alright. We'll go there." Ino laughed at the shy and now slightly frustrated Hyuuga girl again as they made their way to the Ramen stand.
"You seem very happy, Ino." Hinata pointed out.
"Well, I suppose I am." The blonde giggled. "Kiba left me a note this morning, and guess what it said?"
Hinata just shrugged. "It said he loves me!" Ino grinned from ear to ear, and Hinata smiled softly. "I'm happy for you, Ino."
---
Risa scarfed down the Ramen that Kiba had ordered her. She wasn't lying when she said she was starving, he mused, observing her. When she finished happily, and glanced at him, he glanced away. She blushed slightly and cleared her throat. "Kiba, there's something I've been meaning to ask you about." She said. He acknowledged her words and direction his attention toward her. "Did you miss me, at all?"
"Well, to be honest. Yeah, I suppose. You were one of my best friends, after all." He replied casually.
"Well, I missed you. A lot." She stared at her empty bowl of Ramen. "I thought about you almost every day, Kiba."
Kiba felt a lump in his throat and he tried to swallow, but couldn't. What was she talking about? He didn't want to do anything that would get him into trouble.
Risa then quickly held Kiba's head in her hands and kissed him roughly. For a moment, he got lost in the kiss, and returned it. Then a certain blonde kunoichi's face flashed in his mind. Ino! He quickly pulled away from Risa. "Risa, I can't. I used to like you and everything. But it's not like that anymore. I have someone else now." He could see the disappointment appear on her face. "I'm sorry." He said quietly, and then noticed someone to his left.
Standing outside of the Ramen shop, was none other than Yamanaka Ino, standing next to Hinata.. She'd witnessed the whole thing, but evidently she didn't catch what Kiba had said to Risa after the seemingly everlasting kiss. Ino's eyes burned, tears threatening to unleash upon her cheeks. She quickly turned away and began to run, as fast as her legs could take her. Hinata looked completely distressed as she turned and ran after Ino.
"Ino! Ino, wait!" Kiba yelled as he got up, forgetting Risa was there, and left her at the Ramen stand to go and find Ino.
As she ran, everything seemed to spin about Ino, like she couldn't focus. She felt as though her world was crashing down. It felt like the longest she had ever run, when she knew, she'd only run about a block down the street. But it felt like an eternity. She had been running away, when all she wanted to do was run back, and listen to his reason. But what reason could he have to do be kissing another girl? He said he loved her! And she was going to tell him, the very next time she saw him, that she felt the same way, too. Her legs got tired after a little while, and Hinata finally caught up to her. "Ino..." She muttered, setting a hand on her shoulder. Ino pushed Hinata's hand away. "I'm fine!" She yelled, triggering the flood of tears that began to flow freely down her pale cheeks.
"Ino!" She heard someone call. She knew that voice, all too well. That Inuzuka bastard had the nerve to come after her after that! She looked around the area she was in, and spotted Shikamaru. And just as Kiba arrived a few feet from her. She turned to him and scowled, holding back her tears now, though a few managed to escape and roll down her face. "Inuzuka Kiba, we are through! I never want to see you again!" She yelled and stomped straight to the lazy Nara boy and grabbed him by his shirt, planting a hard kiss on his lips, causing him to get extremely flustered, and he turned a bright red.
"Ino I--" Kiba paused as soon as he witnessed the scene. He tightened his fists and clenched his teeth, feeling the anger raising in him self.
Ino immediately began to run again. Leaving a very angry Kiba, a flustered Shikamaru, and a confused and helpless looking Hinata.
Hinata's eyes then narrowed, and she seemed to muster up a certain boldness that no one had seen before. She trotted right up to Kiba, who looked a bit shocked to see Hinata looking so angry, and slapped him, hard, right in his face. His expression now turned to one of complete shock. "Inuzuka Kiba, what is wrong with you?!" Hinata yelled, "You tell her you love her, and then go off and do things like this?!" She glared hard at him, her voice quieted down, "I thought you were different than that." She looked ashamed to even be in his presence. "I am! She kissed me!" Kiba defended. Hinata made a "hmph" noise, "Well it sure looked like you were kissing back!" She said and turned on her heel, walking away from him.
---
Ino sobbed uncontrollably into her pillow as she lay on her bed crying. How could he do this to her? Didn't he just, that day, leave her a note saying that he loved her? Was all of their relationship just some kind of joke?
She heard a knock on her door. "Go away." Ino yelled.
"Ino?" She heard a familiar, feminine voice call through the door. "Ino, it's Sakura." The voice continued as she opened the door and walked in. Ino still lay there, practically lifeless in her bed. "Hinata told me what happened."She said quietly as she sat on the bed. Ino sat up, tear stains and puffy, red eyes making it obvious she'd been crying for a while. "You deserve better, Ino." Sakura looked at her best friend, and old rival. She looked so hopeless. A few years ago she would have been happy to see this happen to Ino. She would have loved to rub it in her face that she wasn't good enough for a guy to keep her. But Sakura knew that would have been a lie. "No one I know is good enough for you." She whispered. It was the truth, in the pink haired girl's eyes. She still looked up to Ino, in a way. She'd always been so strong, so independent. And as Sakura grew, she became more like that. But Ino helped her get to where she was today, and she appreciated that. It pained her to see the blonde girl in such a condition.
Ino looked up, her blue eyes welling up with tears. She sniffed, "Do you really mean that?" She bit her lip, keeping herself from erupting in sobs again. "Of course. Ino, you're an amazing girl. And if Kiba can't see that enough, then he must be pretty stupid. He's already stupid, for doing something like that, and letting you go." Sakura replied with sincerity and gentleness. She rested her hand on Ino's. "You're going to be okay." She said softly. "Thank you, Sakura." Ino gave her a small smile before hugging her.
"I've seen and heard the last of Inuzuka Kiba." She muttered as they pulled away.
---
Kiba, in his own house, lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. How could I be so stupid... I kissed Risa, completely forgetting about Ino... He thought about the blonde kunoichi, and wondered how he even forgot about her. To him, she was the most amazing thing to ever walk into his life. And now he was just going to let her walk right back out. There was nothing he could say to her as an excuse, because he didn't have one. He couldn't just tell he that he forgot. That would infuriate her even further. She obviously had no desire to be with him anymore, and she shouldn't, he knew, after what he'd done. He knew that he didn't deserve her. He never did. He knew that even though it may hurt, and he did love her, he just was going to have to let Yamanaka Ino go.
Well...I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!