Well, here we go again, chapter 2. Should I be giving these titles?
As I stated before, I do not take full claim for this story as of right now. The original story, 'The Professional', written by 'Another kind of hero', has been adopted by me, with the author's permission, and so I will, in a sense, be picking up where the story itself left off. The way I understand it, the original author is currently unable to continue his/her work, and just the same, has lost interest in this specific idea, so I'll be taking up the original story idea, and running with it, in a sense.
Obligatory disclaimer goes here: I do not own Naruto.
That stated, let's continue.
As ecstatic as the night was for the Yamanaka family, not everyone was having such a time. In fact, for once in what seemed a very long time, Konohagakure was actually quiet. Sure there were the gamblers who hung out at clubs, and the late night shoppers hoping to get everything they needed without having anyone crowd the lines, sure there were the diners that stayed open until midnight or later for that special couple, or couple. But other than that, Most of konoha was lulled asleep at this point, resting for the day to come. Everyone was sleeping... everyone, except the shinobi and anbu who stood guard over the place, at least.
They were the silent protectors of the night. They were the guardians of konoha. The proud, brave ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu warriors of the world... the shinobi of the leaf. There was a saying, one that represented the true honor and strength of a konohagakure ninja by comparing it to a flame... the honorable, steadfast...
"This job is killing me... why did I pick night hours...?"
...Ninja.
"Quit your complaining, Haru... it's guard duty. It's not even hard!" Haru was a 24 year old insomniac. His family, a long line of shinobi from the older ages of konoha, had decided for him at a very young age, that when he grew up, he'd become a ninja. And so, he became one. He grew to be a chuunin, and eventually passed the jonin qualification. Deciding to take up a steady position in the konohagakure defense system, Haru applied, and became a guard of the eastern gates of the village. Yes, Haru thought this was an excellent job for him, as his grandfather had been a gate guard, and said the job was always exciting. It meant that Haru would be a part of the great defense that held konoha safe! He even applied for 10 hour night shifts, seeing as most nights he couldn't sleep anyway. And thus, he ended up with the job he had now; Eastern guard duty along with his assigned co-worker, Chozu Hishiori.
"It's not even hard, he says... I wish it was, all we ever do is sit here and pick on travelers..."
He couldn't have hated his job anymore than he already did. He felt ripped off, in a sense. He took a job as a gate guard because he thought there would be action involved! Yet, the only action he ever did see was a weary traveler every now and again... or a monk. God, he hated monks. And to top it off, Konoha's east gates saw the LEAST amount of travelers and newcomers of all four gates! More animals even passed in front of the other guys than what they saw here! It was an annoying, taxing job, made worse by Choza, who was so much a realist that anytime Haru had even the slightest idea of entertainment, the slightest hair-brained scheme, he'd shoot it down instantly.
"Haru, we don't 'pick' on travelers..." Choza, who much like Haru had taken a comfortable position sitting on the ground at the side of the large eastern gates, spoke up in a rather tired, yet admonishing tone. He, unlike Haru, was not an insomniac. He had as much energy as a sloth at the moment, and the fact that Haru wouldn't shut up and let him rest wasn't helping him much. For the three years that they'd worked together, he never understood why exactly Haru continued to put up with this job if he disliked it this much. He always complained, constantly, and it always brought Choza to ask that very question, which Haru would reply with a small, "It's complicated." It never failed. "We interrogate them, not pick on them. We can't just let anyone into Konoha, you know that."
Haru glared at his partner. "Oh yeah? Well what about that woman from last week? You remember, miss "Tonya", was it? The one with the rack?" Choza didn't respond immediately, but after a few moments he looked away with an upset, embarrassed face. How could he not remember that woman!? She had the most perfectly sized, naturally shaped body he'd ever seen in his life, outside of magazines. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her long enough to help Haru, who noticed she had a blade poised up her sleeve, to detain her. "Look, that was... a moment of weakness. I mean, really... she was freaking hot."
Hearing this, Haru, who'd been watching his reaction triumphantly, stopped and chuckled. "Well... I can't lie there, Amen to that." A smirk took the place of his glare, which melted away mid-sentence. "I mean, really... she was like something out of a damn movie... Too bad she had the grace of a flopping moose." Haru had long since forgiven Choza for being so wrapped up in thought that day. After all, the girl wasn't even really a threat. She attempted to stab Haru so sloppily that she nearly cut herself in the process. "I wonder what happened to her..."
Choza looked up, apparently contemplating this. "I was never informed that she was executed. Probably still under Ibiki's custody, if I had to guess." He said blankly. Haru shivered. Ibiki... now that was a terrible fate, to have him of all people overlook your execution. Whatever beauty the woman had... Haru now imagined that she no longer retained. After all, Ibiku was Konoha's top rated special Jonin in terms of interrogation... his methods, sometimes more mental than physical, could leave a person scarred for life... well, so much for miss Tonya.
"You know, if I was in the interrogation squad, I might have been able to secure a private session with her before Ibiki got her..." Haru said, a sudden smirk coming to his face while he looked to Choza, who rolled his eyes... both men missing the fact that a few feet away, something moved.
"You know, if I was in the anbu black operations unit, I might just have had to kill you for saying that." Choza responded with a dead serious tone. Moments passed, and both men stared each other down for a moment's time... before equally suddenly bursting out with laughter. They may not have been common on much ground, but Haru and Choza were friends enough... in there own special way. And so, they laughed, and laughed. And they laughed until something suddenly caught odd, shocking even, caught there attention.
There were three voices. Someone was laughing with them.
Both men suddenly jumped up from there sitting positions, scrambling to there feet with haste and looking around to locate the owner of the third voice, the owner of that mysterious, eerie laugh that continued now, even though both men had stopped laughing and the situation had lost it's humor. It didn't take them too long, however, before they found the voice, seeing as it came from in front of them, only 15 feet away.
To say the figure looked like a wraith was an understatement. It stood at seemingly 7 feet tall, covered in a cloak that was so tattered and ripped that it seemed as the the darkness itself was covering him. The shoulders of the cloaked figure were shrugged over, giving off the obviously lanky look. From beneath the hood of the cloak, snow white hair could be seen... though it was so lifeless, so limp that it simply draped out, individual hairs splitting at the ends. But most noticeably, hair aside, was the fact that the man beneath the cloak was... smiling. Odd enough.
"You there! State your name! What business do you have hear in Konoha?" Choza beat Haru to the point, speaking up while the young man was still grabbing his trusty kunai from it's pouch. The look of seriousness in Choza's eyes was prudent... any sign of weakness seemed to have disappeared for the moment. He was on guard now.
And then, just like that, the cloaked man took him off his guard again.
"KWAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" The figured practically shrieked, scaring both Haru and Choza into nearly pummeling him with kunai and shuriken. Both men seemed evenly unnerved now, and apparently this fact alone gave the cloaked man a bit more confidence as he stepped forward now. "Name, irrelevant. Business? I haven't figured that out just yet... bite me." He said with such a smooth, suave tone.
Haru and Choza face faulted.
"...Very funny... But if you have no business here, then please move along." Haru spoke up this time, as Choza was still recovering from the sheer ridiculousness of this man. He stood a bit more ready now, prepared not to get thrown off by any of this man's... eccentricities.
"Oh, right. I'll just head on home now. You know, you ninja have no manners... It's the middle of the night dumbass, where am I s'posed to 'move along' to!? You see a 'sleep in' Inn anywhere within 47 miles of here? I don't! As a matter of fact, I've circled this place five times, and I don't see anything but forests! This is stupid... Iwa and Sunagakure were the same, but at least THEY were more polite than you damn bush-heads! Not even a 'Well, it's nighttime, why don't you stay the night?' Noooo... Pencil pricks..." Haru couldn't believe his ears. What... in the hell was this man's problem!? Was he really ranting off because he told him to leave? And-- did he call him a pencil prick!? Steam pouted from his ears representing how low his fuse was, and if it hadn't been for Choza, who'd been holding him back at this point, he probably would have beat this guy to death twice now.
"Look, sir," Choza started this time, aggravated as well, though not to the extent of his partner, "We aren't excepting any new travelers at these hours. Now I don't know where exactly you came from, but you don't look you've traveled far. Now I'm going to have to ask you... nicely... to turn back and leave now, otherwise--"
Suddenly, the world became dark. As if the moon had been eclipsed completely, and the sun, which gave it it's light, had stopped shining. So much of what illuminated the world around him had vanished, and only the three men remained. A dark, cold feeling overran Choza's entire body, numbing him to a point where he no longer even knew if he was actually alive. His vision blurred, and he could barely tell now who or what he was looking at; green edged at his eyes, letting him know at least that his body had fallen to the floor. What was happening? His eyes darted around, trying to assess the situation, as they were the only part of his body that would respond. He could make out the vision of Haru, laying lifelessly on the floor just as well, though his vision got blurrier still. He tried to speak, to scream, to do anything, but his body wouldn't let him... it had shut down. The last thing that his eyes could make out now, not even a foot away from his face, were a pair of eyes... deadly, red eyes. And then, the world went completely black.
"Hey, you two, are you okay? You seem a little unconscious at the moment... sleeping on the job, maybe?" Standing above both men, with an oddly misplaced look of surprise on his face, was the cloaked man, who's white hair had fallen all over his face now. His was a look of such satisfaction that it almost seemed surreal. Mingled black clothing flowed over his body as the wind blew once, and he looked up to the upper part of the gates, making sure that there were still no guards on patrol at this exact moment. He had been smart about this. He'd been constantly waiting, watching the guards and he'd found that during the night shift, when the upper stationaries were switching active guards, it took them the longest... leaving the eastern gate near completely exposed.
"It's been far too long since I've last visited... it has grown far too quiet here." The hooded man spoke to no one in particular as he stepped over the body of the still sleeping Eastern gate guards. His eyes, like pools of darkness, took in the great sight of the wall surrounding Konohagakure, before a smile suddenly played on his face. With that, he pulled forth from his pocket a small vial of dark red... glowing liquid, and held it up to his face, so that it may illuminate the features of his face... his dark skin, his white eye brows, and that eerie... eerie smile.
"It's time to shake things up again... Heheheheheh... Hahahahahahah!!"
Morning washed over konoha with a lovely glow. The light of a new day peaked from the mountaintops, shimmering down from the great monument to the four lords of the leaf, and blessing the village with it's warmth. It truly looked spectacular, the sight of dawn's break, a sight which not many people were allowed to see. It came at such a time when most of the world was asleep, still quietly tucked away in there comfy beds, hugging there favorite pillow, dreaming of dreams unknown. But those who did get to see it could say that it was a sight second to practically only one. It was a shame, one Inoichi Yamanaka once thought, that people could overlook something so beautiful.
Well... not as beautiful as his wife's sleeping features, of course. He stood beside their bedside, fully dressed and clothed in his standard konohagakure jonin attire, looking down at the woman of his dreams, lying still peacefully asleep under lavender covers. She had the perfect, cherubic face in his own mind, made more gorgeous by her ever flowing, beautiful auburn hair. The perfect woman... his perfect woman, at least, and he wouldn't dare change a single thing about her. His gaze upon her falter only a little as she suddenly began to stir, something that no matter how trained he was, continued to catch him off guard. Slowly, gracefully, Amaya opened her eyes in a oddly confused, blissful way. It took her a moment to adjust to the light, Inoichi figured. He sat down onto the bed next to his wife, and with his left hand, he moved to caress her cheek. Amaya didn't draw away from this at all, nor was she caught off guard by it; in a sense, you could say she was awaiting it.
"Good morning, love." She spoke.
"Good morning, love." Inoichi enjoyed the simple things in life. Being here, alone with his wife beside him, while the light of dawn creaked into there window... it was all he really could ask for. They sat there for a moment's time, simply enjoying each other's presence while Amaya, who was still half-asleep, tried to wake herself.
It didn't take long. Amaya was a morning person.
"Well," She said suddenly with a voice full of energy, looking to her husband with a smile, "Are you ready for today?" Inoichi, who smiled back to her, merely shook his head and shrugged. "I 'am' wearing my lucky boxers..." He said with a small chuckle, tilting his head. Amaya smirked to this, having had to bite back quite the sassy comeback here. Instead she literally 'jumped' out of bed like a 10 year old ready for school, while Inoichi watched, admiring her energy which, he had to admit, sometimes just came from pretty much nowhere.
"I don't think I'm ready for today though..." She said with her first sigh of the day, looking to the ceiling for a moment's time before looking to the floor. Inoichi, who looked a little confused, shrugged once more. "Well, dear... you're still wearing a night gown." He said with something of a smirk to his lips. Amaya turned and gave him her patented 'sun-heated' glare. Inoichi's response was automatic; he threw up his hands in defense, almost as though saying 'Just kidding'.
"You know what I mean... I don't know if I'm ready for what's coming today." She said with a sudden seriousness to her tone, looking to Inoichi with worried eyes. Inoichi understood the subject instantly. Ino. "...I don't know if I really want to continue and go through with this..."
"We could always quit. It doesn't change much." Inoichi blatantly said. Amaya glared once more.
"No, that's not what I mean, and you know it. It's Ino I'm worried about, not Naruto... I'm worried that this might be too much for her... you saw what a state she was yesterday, and I haven't even told her the news yet... she's still so young, I dunno how she'll take it." Amaya's voice sounded strained; half of herself wasn't even sure she wanted to argue this point. Inoichi, who long since recognized what Amaya was getting at, stood up.
"Ino is seven years old... she's getting top marks in her classes, and from what I can tell, she's going to be a talented Yamanaka. I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew, much less if she came to you about it before you came to her about it. The world has a plan, Amaya, a balance... I'm sure everything will work out." He said reassuringly, smiling warmly to his wife. Amaya, in response, looked to him and slowly, the worry on her face melted.
"I do hope you're right." She said quietly. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a playful smirk came to her face with an odd idea.
"But just in case... want to help me find my lucky bra?"
The rest of the morning was, oddly, more of the same in the Yamanaka home. Ino woke up at 7:00 am as she normally would, got out of bed, showered, got dressed and was ready for the day by 9. She greeted her parents at the table, who responded just as well. The only out of place question was her mother's "Did you have a good night's sleep?", which Ino stopped, contemplated, and afterwards smiled and nodded to. Once again, Amaya out did herself with breakfast, laying out a hearty meal for her family. And just like normally, Inoichi fixed himself quite a big plate. He did love her cooking, after all. However, unlike usual, Ino, who normally only ate a little, fixed a nice plate for herself as well, something which both Inoichi and Amaya had to stop and look to each other to understand. Ino normally never really ate... normally she dieted, despite her age, saying that eating too much would ruin her figure... which both her parents could never understand.
She was seven, afterall. Who could she possibly want to look good for?
Breakfast was mostly eaten in what was a suddenly uncomfortable silence for Amaya and Inoichi... Amaya more so. It was, as they say, now or never time for her. She had figured that now was the best time for her to talk with Ino about... 'it', while she had their whole family together. She said she would talk now, while she had Ino here with her... but her mind was, at the moment, a complete blank. She was choking, in a sense, scared and uncertain of how to bring this up... or how her daughter would respond to it... but the silence was just as horrible... She couldn't make a decision, and thus, the silence continued.
Inoichi rolled his eyes. "Ino... have you ever considered having a little brother?"
Amaya had stuffed her face so full of bread that she made herself incapable of of reacting to this question with any sound of some sort. Her hands, which had been peacefully sitting atop the table, were now shaking in a very uncomfortable way. She took every bit of self restraint within her soul and committed it to staying calm, quiet, and not speaking a single word that might upset the current conversation. Ino looked up from her food, having been eating a side dish of rice, and oddly enough, simply shrugged.
"Yeah, I thought about it once."
Inoichi smiled. Amaya looked as though she would faint. There was no turning back on this now. "Ah. Do you like the idea of it? Having someone else around the house so you aren't the only one here most times?" How nicely worded the question was. The older man was just as suave as he normally was. Ino tilted her head at the question, as though actually considering this. Within a few moments, however, she simply shrugged once more.
"It sounds okay, I guess."
"I see." Inoichi surprised himself. He didn't figure that this conversation was going to go so smoothly... he had always thought that if asked, the girl would have immediately shot the idea down. Inoichi liked to think that he had his daughter figured out at times. The only child type, a person who surrounded herself with others around her age. Popular, cunning, smart, but perhaps selfish at times, closed-minded... This 'Yeah,' this 'okay, I guess'... this was weird, different... it wasn't like Ino to ever say 'I guess'. She was too decisive for 'I guess'. Amaya seemed to have picked up on this too, Inoichi noticed, as the panicking look on her face, changed to a more... serious, worried one. Inoichi decided not to press this, and continued on.
"Well, the reason I asked was because... your mother and I were considering having another child." Inoichi said calmly, almost timidly, his eyes locked on Ino for any sudden move, anything at all that would or could suffice as a reaction to his words. "We had the idea playing in our heads for a little while, and... we wanted to know what you thought about having a sibling around." A part of him expected confusion, and another part of him expected Ino to return his gaze full of obvious disdain at the idea. Actually... a large part of him expected the latter... but not one bit of him, nor any part of Amaya, expected what she did respond with.
"That'd be okay, I guess." Ino said blankly, taking another bite of the fish she'd picked, not looking up.
Rarely did Inoichi ever get frustrated. It just wasn't like him. He was a calm, cool, suave, laid back guy who, in most people's opinion, was never caught off guard by anything. Amongst his peers, he was known for two things; his cool, and his resilience to any sort of throw-off situation. And yet, without much energy, his very own daughter had managed to defeat him on both his best areas of his persona. Inoichi... was frustrated. 'I guess'. He didn't know what to make of Ino at the moment... whether she was purposely trying to be carefree about the subject to get back at him for something... Or if she really just didn't care. Whatever the case was, it deeply disturbed Inoichi, who now ran a single hand through his hair in confusion. Amaya was seeing something that she'd only seen once in her life before, and that was on her wedding day... she was seeing her husband, unnerved.
"...Ino, is something wrong?" Amaya finally found her voice, and at good timing; Inoichi looked as though he was out of ideas. Her daughter looked up from another mouthful of rice, and as though she hadn't just been acting the strangest she'd ever been, she titled her head in confusion.
"Umm... No, I don't think so." She said blatantly, as if it were a dire question. Amaya frowned, not noticing the fact that her food was going cold. She looked straight into Ino's eyes now, looking for any such form of emotion, something like hurt or pain... she found nothing but the regular old Ino looking back at her. "Are you sure...? I mean... your father just asked you if you were okay with us having another child in the family..." She stated as though Ino hadn't heard him clearly enough.
"I know. And I said I'm okay with it." Ino responded simply. Inoichi had long since given up on trying to evoke something... anything out of Ino, and as such, he'd gone back to eating... obviously dumbfounded. Amaya, who now found herself in the same position as her husband, stared confusedly at Ino for a moment, before nodding. "O-oh... I see." She said quietly before going back to her own food, and taking to her soup before it got any colder.
It was a minute's time before anyone said anything else.
"...So who were you planning on adopting?" Ino finally said.
Inoichi, who'd been half way through eating a fish, choked. Amaya, who so luckily happened to have swallowed the spoon-full of soup she'd had, suddenly gasped harshly, her eyes widening in shock. She stepped back, almost knocking over her chair in surprise, before it suddenly donned on her that her husband was choking, and she rushed to his aid. All the while, Ino sat back and laughed her heart out the scene of this chaos theory in action. It took five minutes for both her parents to return to the table... and for her father to catch his breath again. "I-Ino..." Amaya started now, looking at her daughter with such shock and confusion that she wasn't sure she was really Ino anymore. The young blond girl shook her head, and then took another mouthful of rice.
"C'mon, I'm not stupid, Mom. I can tell when you're keeping secrets, and I know that you and dad have been taking trips off to the orphanage when I'm out with Sakura and my other friends." She said with such a triumphant smirk. Both of her parents were still staring at her oddly.
"But, how did you--"
"Naruto told me. Apparently you've been doing a bit of research on the kids there...?" This was such a moral victory for Ino. It wasn't even the afternoon yet, and she had managed to stump and shock BOTH her parents! Her father was a ninja... a JONIN no less, and she even confused him! And to think it was all thanks to Naruto that she'd figured it out... that boy had his moments, she supposed. She almost felt like getting up and doing a victory dance... but no, she wouldn't. She'd keep her cool. No need to taint this win.
"A-ah... Naruto." Inoichi sighed in realization as everything started to piece together for him. With a shrug of defeat, he looked over to his wife with a sheepish smile that literally said 'the jig is up', and shook his head. Amaya just sat back in her chair, mulling this over. Inoichi sure hadn't been kidding... Ino was a talented Yamanaka.
"So? Who were you looking up?" Ino asked again, seemingly back to her old self at this point. Her parents looked to each other yet again now, before looking to Ino cautiously yet again.
"Well Ino... are you sure you want to know? I mean, we haven't even finalized anything--"
"Oh come on! Tell me! It's not like I wouldn't find out eventually..." Ino smirked now, as both her parents cringed at this little statement. Oh yes... she would wave this victory over their heads for a long, long time. Slowly, Amaya looked to Inoichi this time, who in return simply nodded... he would be the one to tell her, he took it. So, he sighed, looked to Ino, and took a deep breath before letting out the truth.
"Well... It's Naruto." He said finally.
Silence.
"...What?" Ino blinked. Amaya flinched now. Inoichi simply watched her daughter's response. She showed obvious confusion on her face, quite obvious... Inoichi felt it best he continued.
"Ino, like we said, nothings been set in stone as of yet, we just went in for an interview of him and told him not to tell you. We haven't finalized anything--" Ino cut him off here... but oddly, not in the way he'd expected. He expected an uproar, an immediate shout out against this. He expected her to disagree, to argue it as hard as she could... after all, she and the young boy never did see eye to eye...
However, he found himself interrupted by a... smiling Ino.
"D-dad, wait, wait, it's okay!" She tried to stop him, her head tilted to the side in embarrassment. He sure had that excuse ready... He was waiting for her to show even the slightest dislike towards it, Ino guessed. Was he really expecting her to say 'No I don't want him, you aren't allowed to adopt him'? When Ino thought it through, it almost hurt as much as she thought it funny. Her parents were actually about to ask her permission for something she really had no control over. "I-I really don't have any problem with that. I think it's... a good idea." She said after pausing, maintaining her smile.
Amaya's eyes widened; you could almost see the shadow of a tear in them. Inoichi sighed in relief. And Ino watched them both, once again concluding that they must have been planning this for a pretty long while... breaking it to her must have been the hardest part of their whole little scheme. How mischievous her parents could be. "I'm... surprised, Ino..." Her mother spoke up, a small smile on her face. "I didn't think you'd accept the idea at all... I'm so surprised." Ino shrugged.
"Is it bad that I accepted it?" Her mother immediately shook her head, and with that confirmation, Ino continued. "Yesterday, when I was talking with the hokage... I think I realized something. I realized that Naruto's not... as annoying as most make him out to be. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about the fact that maybe there's more to him than what everyone gives him credit for..." She paused, trying to word her sentence in a proper way. "I think... what dad said about Naruto yesterday is kinda true... I think maybe he really does just act out because he wants to be noticed. But people don't like the way he acts, so they don't like him... but at least they notice him. That's how I think Naruto thinks." Ino took a moment to contemplate what to say next. "...But maybe that's not the kind of noticing he wants, I think he really just wants... acceptance. I dunno... acknowledgment. Hokage-sama asked me, if I could change one thing about Naruto, what would it be? And I was scared to answer then, but I think my best answer is that... well, maybe if Naruto had a family, and people who actually cared... maybe he wouldn't be so much the way he is." Ino finished with a sigh.
Quite frankly, her parents were blown away. Inoichi was debating whether to scream out a 'Huzzah' for the fact that someone else finally shared his common viewpoint of the boy, or to simply walk over to the other side of the table and embrace his brilliant daughter. Amaya, on the other hand, was so taken aback by this sudden outburst of overwhelming insight that she was on the verge of crying proudly for her daughter. Whatever the case was, Ino, who sense the room about to get a bit too... 'sentimental' for her liking, pushed back her chair and stepped down from her seat, stretching.
"Whatever's the case, it's your choice, mom, dad. Breakfast was great, thanks mom." She said brightly, before stepping away from the table. "I'm going to go see if I can catch up with Shikamaru and Choji now, ok? I'll be back later!" She called behind her, as she'd already gone to go put on her shoes, and much energy to burn, headed out the door. Now alone in the house, Inoichi and Amaya stared at each other from their places still sitting at the table for a while. It was a minute's time before either spoke.
"...I told you so." Inoichi said with a smirk, standing and gesturing to his pants. "Lucky boxers. They never fail."
Finding Shikamaru and Choji proved harder than expected for Ino for the first time in years. Normally, the duo of sloth and gluttony could have been found at the nearest barbecue to either one's house; either there, or they'd have been lounging around under any given canopy, staring at passersby. The beauty of this was that either location was so random, so vague, that if you hadn't been hanging out with them to begin with, it was near impossible to track them down. That, and the fact that they never really did stay in one place for too long... It really put things in perspective for Ino, for once in her life. Ironic, almost, how any other day they'd come and find her, and yet the day she actually went looking for them, they were nowhere to be found. It was disheartening, even, because some part of the blond girl felt as though they were avoiding her. They'd never done something like that before... they were, after all, like the three amigos.
Ino searched, and searched, and searched until she couldn't think of just about any place they'd normally frequent. Seeing as neither was home, she knew they had to have been somewhere... she stopped near midday to take a break at the small riverside in the eastern district of konoha, catching her breath. That was some serious running around, anyway, for 2 hours...
"O-Oi! Ino, there you are!" She had been staring off into the river's ever calm waters when she'd heard the familiar voice of a rather... chubby friend. She looked up, turned around as she stood, and sure enough, not too far away from her position by the riverbank was Choji and Shikamaru... and oddly enough, accompanying them today for the first time in a while from Ino's honest memory, was... Naruto.
"I told you she'd be here." Said blond boy said triumphantly, a large grin on his features. Choji shrugged, looking to his side at the boy curiously. "You weren't kidding, either; she was right in this place! You sure know your stuff Naruto." Choji praised the boy, who beamed back at him in response. Shikamaru, on the other hand, simply shook his head. "Who would have thought... Naruto, of all people, using his head for once. Miracles happen, I guess." He said with a slight smirk, which earned him a prompt bonk on the head, courtesy of the blond boy. Ino merely shook her head, chuckling under her breath.
"How'd you know I'd be here anyway? I never told anyone I was gonna stop here." Ino asked, genuinely curious at Naruto's sudden tracking skills. In response, the boy tapped himself on the head, as if gesturing to his brain.
"You and Sakura normally hang out over here, don't you? Choji asked if I'd seen you around, and I said, 'well if she's not with you... maybe she's with Sakura'? And sure enough! Hah, and they said I'm not a thinker!" Ino looked oddly surprised, and yet, impressed with the answer. The oddest thing was, Ino never did actually realize how much she tended to frequent this place, with Sakura or without. The nicest daisy flowers grew out here, by the river, and she'd always liked to come and look at them... Interesting. Even more interesting, was that to Ino's best memory... this was her little secret hideout...
"Oh? So tell me then, does that mean you've been stalking us, 'cause I don't remember ever bringing you here..." A smirk grew on Ino's face suddenly as she spoke, having elicited just the exact reaction she'd wanted out of Naruto. He flushed, almost instantly, and Choji and Shikamaru, unable to control themselves, exploded into laughter.
"W-wait a minute, I'm not--" Naruto tried to defend himself, but Ino cut him across the point.
"Or perhaps you came out to smell the flowers, huh Naruto?" She continued, baiting the boy further.
"No! I'm-- what are you trying to say!?" He almost yelled back, which, oddly enough, was enough to make Ino begin to laugh herself.
"Oh, nothing... STALKER!" The girl managed to get out before joining Choji and Shikamaru in complete laughter.
"Quiet! I'm not a stalker!" Naruto returned, hot under the collar now, but Ino paid it no mind. She was... having fun. With Naruto. It was something she'd never... ever, done in her life before. Sure, she had planned on finding him at some point today and taking some time to sit and talk with him for once, but this was so much better. It was... nice. She couldn't explain it, but sitting here now, getting him riled up like this out of sheer fun... Ino felt silly that there was a time in which she wouldn't have been caught dead doing this. Shikamaru and Choji could probably never account to this; Shikamaru never really tried in class, so he earned grades just as low as Naruto last year... and Choji, well, he was never the most popular kid in school anyway. From what Ino gathered, the three of them were always pretty much just outcasts from the start... and with at least that in common, they must have found some form of kinship with one another. Needless to say, Unlike Ino, neither really had much of a problem with the boy. Ino was coming to envy that... the fact that her two friends probably had a better relationship with the boy she never really wanted to know than they might have had with her... Ino didn't want to think of that at the moment. Right now was her time to have fun, and that's what she did; have fun. They all did.
So much so, that none of them happened to notice a certain cloaked figure standing off in the distance, eying them all, especially Naruto, with curiously deadly crimson eyes. He sat and watched for a while, a blank look on what could be seen of his face. Before long, however, he shook his head, a small smirk on his face as he turned and left the scene of the river bank, unnoticed.
Time passed. Before long, the sun had passed a bit over there heads... Ino assumed it must have been at least 3, maybe 4 in the afternoon now. The four of them had tired themselves out. What was at first a simple back and forth between Ino and Naruto evolved into his chasing her around the river, which evolved into Naruto's first ever four-way water fight between himself, Ino, Choji, and an agitated Shikamaru. Eventually, they settled on a truce, and Ino agreed to drop the subject of Naruto's voyeurism (yes, he went from stalker to voyeur, thanks to Shikamaru) so long as he agreed to stop dunking her. Honestly, that boy truly never ran out of steam, even in the water. They lay out in the fields, staring up at the clouds and trying to guess what each cloud closest resembled. It was when Naruto noted that one particular cloud looked like a family of clouds put together that Ino suddenly felt a sudden stiffening in her chest, which was followed by a small smile and a nod of agreement.
"A-Ah! Speaking of families, I gotta get going back to the orphanage!" Naruto suddenly recollected with a frown, sitting up from off the ground and standing hastily. Ino, Choji and Shikamaru looked to him confusedly. "I've never seen you in such a hurry to head back to the orphanage," Choji muttered, obviously astounded. "Something good going on? A party?" Naruto was debating answering him or just running off to make sure he wasn't late. He settled on a crossroads of the two.
"Choji, no! Oh crap, I was having so much fun I forgot to mention it!" He spoke recklessly, hoping up and down excitedly as though given the slightest chance, he'd book the scene. "Choji, Ino, Shika-- Someone came in and arranged an INTERVIEW with me! ME! I-I might get adopted!" He looked to there faces for their responses, and wasn't disappointed. Choji literally popped up off of the ground, a most impressive act considering who it was, and spun so he could face Naruto and give a giant "WHAT!?" Shikamaru, on the other hand, looked actually... surprised... and excited. For the first time in history. "N-Naruto, that's- that's great news!" Shikamaru spoke in a still disbelieving tone; it was just like he'd said earlier then... miracles do happen.
It was Ino who still lay back on the ground, simply looking up at Naruto with a knowing smile. It felt so right to be in the 'know' about things for once in her life. Naruto wasn't going to an interview. He was going to talk with her mother and father, and then he was going to be a part of her family. That was no interview by Ino's standards.
"I can't stay for too much longer-- I dunno who these people are yet, they might be new in town, I don't know-- Guys, I'll catch up later-- Bye!" Each word, each fragment of a sentence was said between running steps. By the end of the sentence, he'd been nearly 20 ft. away, his voice a fleeting sound in the distance. Choji and Shikamaru watched him off the whole way, still mildly surprised that someone would adopt Naruto, even though it would obviously mean trouble for their family. Once he was gone, they simply looked at each other and shrugged, not truly knowing what to say at this point. That had been the biggest news they'd heard all day.
"Hmm... well, I'd better get going too. Mom is probably looking for me; I told her I'd be back shortly..." Ino yawned, physically drained for the moment's time, and stood up. Both Shikamaru and Choji looked to her now, as if she had something interesting that would top even Naruto's news. But she just shrugged, a serene smile on her face as she walked passed both of them. Nice one, Ino. They probably didn't even realize a single thing that had just happened just now.
"Now hold on a minute, Ino." Shikamaru spoke up suddenly, stopping the girl a few feet away from them. "You... you know something about this whole interview thing with Naruto?" He asked, obviously suspicious about the fact that for whatever reason, she was leaving now of all times... exactly when he did. With a deep breath, Ino turned on her heel to face the both of her friends, who waited expectantly for an answer. They got one... though they'd never truly realize it.
"How should I know? What do I look like, his sister or something?" She said finally, and with that she turned away and began walking again. She was leaving the boys in the dark about this for now, leaving them in silence, obviously contemplating this. And thats when suddenly, she remembered yet another thing that was on her agenda for the day. She stopped, closed her eyes, and sighed. Might as well get it off her chest...
"...Shikamaru, Choji...?" Ino slowly spoke up once, looking away at the sky. The aforementioned boys stopped, turned back around and looked at Ino with curious faces.
"...I'm Sorry."
Evening rolled in faster than expected. Ino made it home pretty much just in time for her mother and father to tell her that they were about to go ahead and leave for the interview with Naruto, and to tell her that they would be leaving her in charge of the store for a little while. It was a really big boost to the girl's pride for this to happen, as she'd never been left solely in charge of the store before... she'd helped out with the flowers around the place, and even co-cashiered with her mother before, but never had she run the store herself. She wasn't nervous, though. She knew all there was to running the store... growing up, she'd learned all the basics and the like, so it couldn't have been too hard, especially seeing as in the evening time, business slowed to a crawl. And so, saying their 'brb's, Inoichi and Amaya left for the orphanage, leaving Ino sitting at the front desk they'd made of their frontal room.
Oddly enough, Ino found herself wanting company more and more now, despite the fact that she knew that business would bring in much. No one came to buy flowers for what seemed like and hour... and Ino, who'd already been quite tired to begin with, sat down in the chair at the front desk and laid her head down, deciding that just a small little nap wouldn't hurt anyone... besides, who would steal from a flower shop...? Slowly, her mind began to wander, her thoughts fading away...
A jingle could be heard from the doorway of the shop. Ino's head shot up out of reaction, and as if she'd been rehearsing the lines forever, the girl automatically spoke without even looking to see exactly who it was.
"Welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop! Today we're having a special on violets, where if you... buy..." A small shiver ran down the girl's spine suddenly, as he eyes adjusted to the figure in the doorway. Her voice cut off, and her eyes, which had been heavy-lidded and dazed, now snapped to attention. Standing there in the doorway, as quiet as the breeze outside, stood a tall, cloaked man. Ino couldn't see or tell much about him at all... white hair lifelessly lay flat outside of the hood of the cloak, some of it covering his face just a bit. All that could be seen of his face was his lips... which had a small, quaint smile playing on them.
"Hi, hi, little blond." He spoke in an even tone. "Is the sole proprietor of this flower shop home right now?" Ino took a moment before responding.
"I'm running the shop right now." She said curtly. "How may I help you?"
The man stopped and, oddly enough, took a moment to think that statement through. "How can you... help me... well..." He scratched his hooded head in obvious confusion... which, funnily enough, confused Ino in return. "...I don't exactly know how you can help me." The girl face faulted. Was he being serious!?
"...What did you come here for, then...?" She tried to maintain the even tone in her voice... she already didn't trust this hooded man as things were, and his strange attitude wasn't gaining him any points. Shrugging, the cloaked man smiled sheepishly.
"Well, I was actually looking for some wolf's bane, if this store sells any." He said honestly, looking around.
"Wolf's bane?" Ino repeated. "I've... never heard of it."
The man appeared to have been surprised, but Ino couldn't really tell from under his hood. He started pacing, making a 'tsk, tsk' sound as he did so. "My, that's unfortunate. Unfortunate that you've never heard of it, of course. Curious flower, the wolf's bane." He said with something of a shrug. "It has a green stem, and a bulb opening, much like a rose. However," He stopped here to make a odd sound, something like a mixture of a hiss and a sigh, "The petals, unlike a rose, are purple. Nice shade of purple too; much like the color of your outfit. Yes." He stated blatantly. Ino looked down at herself stupidly; she'd somehow forgotten that she'd been wearing her normal outfit.
"Anyway," He started again, catching her attention, "It's a pretty curious flower. You know, it smell something like a mixture of lavender and sea salts... or, well... that's how it smells to some, at least. Some say that it smells like morning dew. Hmm. Dew. Yes. But the problem is... not a lot of people know what the wolf's bane... actually smells like. Yes." He continued pacing, making the strange sound once more as he walked. "You see, as many people have claimed they've smelled it as have people who actually have... so how do you tell who knows how it actually smells?" He asked now, which Ino obviously had no answer to. Shrugging, he continued. "It's actually quite simple. You see... people who have actually smelled... smelled wolf's bane's true smell, die. Plain and simple. So no one 'alive' knows what it smells like, they say. Yes..." He stopped for a moment, looking down at a yellow rose in a vase. Ino, who'd been listening quietly, was about to speak up now, but the man cut her off.
"You want to know... why people who smell it die." He said blankly, licking his lips for no reason in particular, not looking up from the vase. Taking her silence as a yes, he continued. "Well, miss lady, It's a funny story, actually... people go off looking for this mysterious flower out of sheer curiosity. They travel off into forests of a temperate weather, because that's where... they grow." Making the strange sound again, he looked up from the flower he was staring at, and continued. "They go out, and they explore. They look... everywhere." Here, he made a jazzy wave of his hands to reiterate his point. "And then, when they give up hope of finding it, suddenly... there's a smell within the air... it's very attractive. Like honey and pure pheromones... nectar that you really can't understand why you want to smell it... The smell isn't very strong, it's feint... but you want more of it. You want to smell it, taste it, feel it... your body suddenly thinks to itself that it 'needs' this smell... you try to follow it, but the... smell, never grows stronger. Makes you do crazy things, when something you want is just out of reach." He wheezed, but continued. "Before you know it, the world goes black, except your immediate surroundings. You can't hear anything. Your blood runs cold... but you can't feel it, because your body is numb from top to bottom, except for your eyes... you can still move your eyes... and close by, you see something on the ground... vines... yes. And on the vines...? Well, theres... a umm... purple bulb. Every few centimeters on the vine... it's covered with purple bulbs."
Ino's eyes widened. The entire story had now sent her heart racing. "...Then... the wolf's bane..." She couldn't finish the question. The cloaked man smiled, though it was unnoticeable for the most part. "Oh, yes. Yes. I must have forgotten to mention it at first. Wolf's bane is quite poisonous. The venom is comparable to that of a black mamba snake. Yes, quite a terrible fate get poked by a thorn of wolf's bane. Yes... Yes. Actually, it's quite horrible to actually smell it as well. The scent of a Wolf's bane flower is laced with a paralyzing agent, you should know. It's named appropriately, if you think about it. Hariyama Koyosuke, dead heir to the fallen dragonfly country, named the wolf's bane for it's ability to 'lure it's prey unto vulnerable grounds, and finish it off.' Moon wolf tactics, I've learned. Yes. Terrible. The poison of a wolf's bane is thus far fatal at touch, as there's never been a single person to take a wolf's bane's stem fluids and create an anti-venom. True fact." He said finally, looking outside. It had grown quite dark. Ino took some time to recover from the story, but when she did, something suddenly dawned on her.
"H-hey, wait a minute...!"
"You want to know why I asked if you sold it, if it's so lethal." He said, cutting her off again. "Very simple. It's still sold none the less, you know. Only the strongest men... or otherwise, harvest it, though." He said matter-of-factly. Ino still frowned. He saw this and chuckled lightly. "But why would you have it? Well two reasons, one being that it does... grow... in the nearby forests..." Ino blinked, shocked at this revelation, but he continued. "And reason two... simple. Because I believe that the sheer curiosity of humankind will forever cause humans to be unable to understand that there are unstoppable... yes... un-tamable forces in this world which... if you try to control... only make you corrupt."
"Corr... upt?" Ino repeated blankly, not exactly understanding the man's reasoning. He nodded, and bent back down to once again examine the rose-filled vase. It seemed to have had his attention for the duration of the time, but he said nothing about it. "Nice design," He commented, shrugging once more. "I have... a common belief that people are born innately... senseless. Neither good nor evil. People just get... 'influenced', by everything around them. Everything has... influence. The problem is simply that it's not always good... to be influenced. If influence turns bad... you become corrupted. You'd think that means that a person being negatively influenced means that they're being corrupted... but there are positive corruptions as well, I like to think. Things that throw the balance of calamity out of whack... like gravity. You give it a push in the wrong direction and..." A small, light chuckle escaped his lips here, which caused Ino to shiver. He looked up from the vase again now, looking outside at this point, and then sighed.
"Time to go," He muttered in an almost dissapointed tone, looking back at the young blond now, for one of the first times since entering the store. Ino simply stared back, unsure of what to say at this point... and even if she did, like before... he probably knew what she would say before she said it. "Well, it was nice to have this little conversation with you... see ya around, miss lady." He said quaintly, with a small wave of his right hand, and then turned and left out of the store just as simple as he'd arrived.
Then, something interesting happened. As soon as the door began closing from his departure, it opened once more. A second person... or people, were walking in.
"Ino, we're back! We didn't take long, did we?" Entering the doorway of the flower shop were none other than Ino's parents, Inoichi and Amaya Yamanaka, who, from what Ino could tell with only the light of the room, looked quite pleased, and at the same time, amused with themselves. More so was her father bearing his ever-serene, amused smile than her mother, however, who showed a bit of relief upon walking in and seeing nothing out of order in the shop. "Did you have any customers while we were gone?" She asked, stepping in a little more so that Inoichi, who was holding a set of papers, could enter as well. Ino blinked in confusion.
"U-um, sorta... that one guy who just left, but we didn't have what he was looking for."
Inoichi looked up from the papers he was holding, while Amaya simply returned her daughter's confused look. "Hmm? What 'guy', Ino?" She asked, a proper question considering how vague the answer was. Ino, who thought her mother was kidding, smirked and shrugged. "You saw him, that cloaked guy that just left out of here! I don't even know who he was." Ino said. Her father actually had the sense to look back, back at the doorway, as though they'd missed something entirely now. Her mother simply held her confused gaze. That concerned Ino, a bit. "...You did see him, didn't you...? He- he couldn't have even been inches away from the door when you walked in!"
"...Ino," Her mother started in a weary way, looking to Inoichi as though he knew something she didn't, "We... didn't see anyone on our way in. No one." Ino looked almost baffled. That was impossible, to say the least. How could they have not seen that guy!? The door hadn't even closed from his leaving by the time they walked in. "But- but he was right there! He opened the door and left, and you two came following in afterwards-- the door, it wasn't even closed yet!" Ino blathered on, trying to justify her logic. Both her parents simply continued to stare.
"...Ino, we opened the door. There wasn't anyone there. Perhaps you were seeing something? And illusion? Are you sleepy at all, Ino?" Her father answered her, sending her deeper into absolute confusion. No way in hell did she imagine that guy! They had a whole conversation, afterall! She couldn't have imagined that... With a sigh, she shook her head and closed her eyes, attempting to clear her thoughts of the ordeal. Sadly, she hadn't been paying attention to the window at this particular point in time... as a man shrouded in shadows stared in it for a moment's time, before walking off, a smile on his face.
"Weird... whatever; anyway, how did it go? What happened? You- spoke with Naruto, right?" Ino's sudden bridling energy at the turn of the subject caused Inoichi, who'd looked back down at the papers he was holding, to smirk. Interesting, he thought, that yesterday this outburst would have been so shocking coming from her that neither of her parents would have believe it. Amaya shook her head, smiling a bit.
"Yes, yes, we spoke with him. Curious little boy, that Naruto; I never thought I'd see him shy in my lifetime. But we talked for a while, and I asked a few questions about how he'd feel with the whole 'adoption' scenario. All in all, I'd say that it went quite well. But he was... wet, oddly. Damp really, as he'd been trying to dry himself so rigorously; I asked him why he was so wet and he looked as though he'd have a heart attack out of fear, like he'd done something wrong... and it was interesting, all the while, to see the caretaker of the orphanage's face so filled with disbelief the whole time..." Amaya chuckled and trailed off, as though remembering a far off, peaceful memory...
"AND? Well, what's the verdict? Did he..." Ino couldn't imagine, for a moment, why Naruto wouldn't want to be a part of anyone's family. If there was anything, family seemed like something that Naruto of all people would want more than anything in this world, especially a family that loved and respected him as much as he could possibly want. There was no way he said no... right? The only thing he could dislike about the ordeal would be that... he'd have to be her brother. Ino internally cringed. She had no problem with the idea; but Naruto... the way she would normally treat him on a daily basis... sure, today they'd gotten along fine, but in his mind, did that make up for how Ino, whenever she was near him, treated him? "...Did he..."
Amaya seemed confused only for a moment's time, but it was overcome by a smile not too far afterwards. "He consented."
Once again, something like a giant burden had fallen from Ino's shoulders. "Ah- okay! That's great! Then- well, wait, so where is he then?" Ino deadpanned, shrugging and looking around. She obviously had no idea how adoptions worked, and as such her mother opened her mouth to try and explain this, but Inoichi cut her off.
"Well, it doesn't work like that, Ino. We can't just pick him and bring him home so simply. There's a 24 hour waiting period for the adoption to be finalized, as is konoha's law. So we have to wait a day before Naruto can... 'officially' be a part of our family. The waiting period really is just a reconsideration period, for if we change our minds, so until Friday, in a sense, we can't officially bring Naruto home." He spoke as though he were reading directly from a set of disclosed rules... which he was, actually.
"But- but you're not going to change your minds, right? He's really..." Amaya answered with a nod this time, and that was enough to make Ino sigh in relief. So this was really going to happen... Naruto was going to be a part of her family, her own brother... She'd had this idea play several times through in her head, but now that it was set, Ino honestly didn't know what to think.
Naruto... Yamanaka. Interesting.
"In the meantime," Amaya spoke up, a smirk rising on her face, "We, well... your father and I, were going to go and pick up Naruto tomorrow and maybe buy him some things... clothing, specifically." Her daughter tensed up instantly. Inoichi saw this, looking over to Amaya with an amused expression as to what she was up to now. Ino, who'd still been sitting up in the chair, jumped out of it, ran from behind the front desk of the shop, and looked to her mother with serious, fiery eyes. Her response was deadset.
"I'm so coming." Heaven forbid another orange outfit enter this house under her watch!
And thus, Thursday passed, quite the successful day for Ino. Oddly enough, shopping for Naruto had been the only event of that day, but it took up the entire day just as well. And what an interesting day it was, from beginning to end. From breakfast, the trio of Ino, Inoichi and Amaya went off to go and pick up Naruto, already fully dressed and ready, at the orphanage... an awkward moment for the boy, seeing as the fact of the matter was that only hours from then, he'd be officially a part of their family... and, from what Inoichi had told him, Ino's younger brother. What a moment that was for Naruto; it became impossible, yes, impossible, for him to look Ino straight in the eyes after hearing this. She may have known about this beforehand, but Naruto was still attempting to take this in stride; something he wasn't very good at.
They proceeded to head directly into shopping by Ino's idea. She was the one who more than her parents, no... more than Naruto himself, wanted to supervise his clothes shopping. Which, for Naruto, was a bad thing. Seven outfits he'd gone through, seven, were near immediately shot down by the blond-haired girl, almost all of them for the very same reason; orange. One outfit was a jumpsuit not too different from his own current one, except instead of blue, it was underlined and laced with black instead of blue. Another outfit consisted simply of an orange and black t-shirt, and casual orange shorts. A third outfit was a men's... er, boy's kimono, which was, yes, you guessed it, orange for the most part. Ino felt as though she'd go blind from all of the color.
"Look, Naruto," She started, trying to figure a way to press her point without... 'pushing' it on him, "You don't have to wear orange with everything you get! It's called shopping because you normally go out and get something you DON'T already have!" She said with a sigh, shaking her head. Naruto, holding his latest outfit in his arms, a flamboyant black, orange and red top with orange and blue shorts, 'hmph'ed at her analogy. Ino, he was noticing, was one of the worst people to take with you when buying clothes.
"I don't tell you what clothes to get." He said simply, but even after defending his opinion, he put the clothes away. "Besides, I'm blond, I need something that's going to match my hair!" He added, with a bit more energy now. Ino ran a hand through her own hair.
"It doesn't have to be bright because of your-- I'M NOT TELLING YOU WHAT TO GET!" What was going on? Naruto was so much easier to tease and play with yesterday, Ino couldn't figure out why now of all times it was so much more of a hassle to just talk with him. "I'm just saying that, well, there are other colors that go with blond hair. Like, purple, for instance!" She said almost suddenly, gesturing to her own outfit. Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "I mean, look at my outfit, the darker colors bring out the color of my eyes and my hair! Perfect example. Maybe some shades of purple would be better, hmm? maybe some blue might even--"
"I'm NOT wearing blue." Naruto cut her across sharply. He wouldn't dare be caught in the color blue... not like a certain uchiha who'd recently begun to wear it. He'd be darned if he wore blue now. "I like orange, so I'm sticking with orange, and there's nothing you can say to change my mind."
"O-oh yeah?" Ino taunted back, but in reality she was really running out of ideas. Naruto was a stern boy. When he said something, he stuck to it. She was finding out that it would be harder to make him change his mind then it would be to beat her father in an argument... something she'd yet to do as well. "W-well... You know... Sakura always liked purple better than orange."
Naruto, who'd been looking through a rack of clothes further back in the store, obviously heard this, as he suddenly shivered quite obviously, and looked up at Ino with a dirty look. "That's not fair, that was so below the belt!" He said haughtily before looking back down into the rack. Ino shrugged, realizing with annoyance that even this wouldn't be good enough to cut him from his... 'obsession' of the color. With that, Ino was practically out of ammo. She'd tried being nice, mean, sneaky about it... she couldn't think of anything else. With a sigh, she turned away from the boy in defeat.
"Jeez, Naruto... I mean, no one's going to want to talk to you with all that brightness at school..." Ino said blatantly, ans unknowingly delivered a blow so low to Naruto that he dropped everything that he'd been holding at the moment. If ever there was a 'slapped in the face' expression, Naruto's current one suited the bill perfectly. Ino, having heard him drop the clothes, turned back around half-expecting to see him on the floor sprawled out with a silly 'oops' expression on his face, but she found herself oddly enough met by dead-serious, hurt eyes. Ino hadn't even begun to register what had just occurred. "...Naruto?"
But for a brief moment, Naruto didn't answer. Instead, he looked down at the floor, his eyes burning with something akin to pain and anguish. Ino's words hit him hard, even from behind, and a part of him felt almost... 'scared' that they were true. "...You didn't... did you mean that...?" He said cautiously, looking back up at Ino with the most... sensitive set of eyes the girl had ever seen in her life. Now, she was sure she'd said something wrong.
But what did I... All I said was that people might not-- There. Ino noticed it almost immediately; she said that no one would talk to him. The rest didn't matter; she was sure that this was the part of her sentence that had caught Naruto's attention. She sat here now, almost ashamed of what she'd just said. "I... Naruto, I didn't mean you were, umm..." From what she could see of his face, her stuttering was not helping the situation at all. So, Ino sighed, and took a progressive approach. She walked to him, crossing the gap of a few clotheslines that separated them, and when she was close enough, she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. This act alone was enough to make Naruto, caught off guard, look up.
"Naruto, you're a cool kid." He looked to Ino with shocked eyes, and met her own smiling face. "I mean, sure, you've obviously got issues, but you're a cool kid past all of that. I really think that if you just didn't do stuff to push people away from you, you'd be alright." She said simply, and to the best of her ability, she did not look away from his eyes, which seemed to slowly revert to there calm, peaceful selves again. "...Seriously...?" Naruto asked yet again, although obviously in a different light. Ino's own smile brightened.
"Of course! I mean, there's some stuff you need to work on, of course, like I said, but... Hey, what are you doing?" Ino was going to suggest a few things, but now she felt offended. Naruto, in the middle of her speaking, had gone back to looking through clothes. When addressed, however, he stopped and looked back at Ino with an obviously confused expression, as though it wasn't the most apparent thing in the world.
"I'm... picking darker clothes?"
Yes, Ino considered the day quite successful indeed.
Finally, the day came. Friday. Ino woke up bright and early as she did normally... but not just for a relaxing morning. No, today, she woke up with a purpose. She was ready for the day to come now. The day that'd probably change her life forever. When she got out of bed, the first found that parents had already been dressed and ready, sitting downstairs in the kitchen. She muttered a 'good morning' groggily to them both, catching there attention quite easily.
"Oh, Ino, you've finally awakened." Inoichi spoke first, having just put down his cup of coffee coincidentally. "Me and your mother are ready to go already, so go on ahead and get ready, and we'll head on over to the Hokage's office while it's still early, okay?" He said assuringly, but apparently missed something seeing as Amaya, who'd been letting him speak, looked at him sharply all of a sudden. "Well, dear, she does have to eat something first, aren't you forgetting?" Inoichi blinked, looking to his wife curiously. "Really? I figured that her diet thing that she has going on wouldn't allow it." Amaya glared at him, and in return, he raised his hands defensively. "No, Ino is going to eat something first. Diet or not. This is an important day." She said with authority. Inoichi chuckled. "There's the possibility that she could be so excited that she might not want to eat. Ever figure that?" Amaya looked baffled. "Honestly, Inoichi, not everyone has as much energy as you do EVERY morning..."
Ino had long since left the kitchen, however, and neither noticed. She didn't need to be told to get ready; it was the only thing really on her mind at the moment... that, and how in god's name she was going to break the news to Shikamaru and Choji, and especially Sakura...
When Ino got dressed and ate (apparently Amaya won that argument), they headed straight for the Hokage's office, where they were, oddly enough, welcomed straight in without having to sign in, or even tell them of there appointment. It almost seemed to Ino that they had been expecting them to come... When they did reach the front door of the Third's own office, Inoichi found the door ajar. Odd. He knocked once, and was about to speak, before the strong, solemn, and... elderly voice of the Sandaime spoke up.
"Oh for goodness sake, Inoichi, come on in." Inoichi chuckled sheepishly now, and afterwards pushed the door open, revealing Sarutobi himself, sitting behind his desk with his traditional konohagakure robes on, hat and all. Ino could never... ever understand why, for the love of her, he wore it even indoors... Inoichi and Amaya bowed politely, and Ino, having blanked out for a moment, hurried to do the same. "Good morning, Hokage-sama." Amaya spoke first, a warm smile on her features. Needless to say, it was returned.
"I wish I had the pleasure of asking why you are all here this wonderful morning," He spoke now, putting out the simmer in his pipe as he had done before, "However, as I'm sure you've noticed from my assistant's willingness to allow you in, I have, actually, been expecting you." The man said in a mockingly serious tone. Ino giggled. She enjoyed listening to the Hokage talk, actually. His voice was older, but... so full of life and humor. It was hard for her to explain, but she felt... happier by simply being in his presence. "Ah," Inoichi nodded, looking back for a moment, "So that's why the door was slightly opened." The Hokage did not answer for a moment.
"...No, I must have simply forgotten to close it..." The very thought of it caused Ino to chuckle once more. Old man... "So then... you've taken to the idea of adopting Naruto." All three nodded to this. Sarutobi simply shifted some papers on his desk, stopping at one that he apparently needed now. "You've had 24 hours since the initial interview and agreement." He felt so stupid saying these things, knowing it would not change their minds. "Your decision now, what you tell me here and now, will finalize everything. Do you understand?" He said in an almost bored tone now. The three looked amongst one another now, before looking back to the Hokage.
"Lord Hokage-sama... we've made our decision." Amaya said quietly, Ino at her left side, and Inoichi at her right. The older man actually took a moment to take off his hat, apparently not wanting to miss a moment of what was going to be said next.
"And that decision is...?"
"...We wish to take Naruto into our full custody, as a member of the Yamanaka family." Inoichi finished. Sarutobi closed his eyes and let a peace reign over his body that he'd been unable to feel for seven years in the making now. He took a deep breath, and let it go, as if expelling the worries and clammed up feelings he'd accumulated to this period. The worst had come... and it had passed. It was over... Naruto would be safe now...
...No, it's not over. He corrected himself mentally. It's only the beginning of a long road for him... but the first hole was the deepest of them all for him, and with it bridged, he'll... he'll make it. I'm sure of it And if there's nothing else I can do for him... I hope that this act makes the ultimate difference. He nodded to himself, and then looked to Ino and her family, all of whom were awaiting anything else there was left to say... or rather, Inoichi and Amaya were the only one's waiting. Ino was practically ecstatic; trying to rally her parents on this was proving hard, though. What were they still so serious about?
"Of course... Now that he is to be a part of your family... it is time that I impart upon you, his family... Naruto's secret. " Sarutobi said quietly. Ino blinked and looked to him. "Secret? Naruto has a secret?" She asked blankly, looking from the hokage to her parents. Their returned glances, which almost immediately told her pay very close attention now, told her also that they must have known what was going on already.
"Yes, Ino. A secret... one that not even Naruto knows. One that is so important, that even speaking about it is enough to be considered a crime." Ino looked surprised, but did not speak. "Ino, you must promise me now, that this secret that I impart onto you, you speak of it to no one... no one at all. Do you understand?" He spoke calmly, slowly, but with more seriousness than Ino had ever heard. She immediately nodded, thinking she was ready for anything he could have thrown at her. Anything at all.
Boy, oh boy, was she wrong.
Second chapter uploaded. Look for the third chapter in a couple of days, very soon. Again, if you're new to the story/idea, feel free to review.