Implied NejiTen

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"A huckleberry?! What in the world makes you think Shikamaru is a huckleberry?"

"Because, they look like any other blueberry but in reality are not. They provide good nutrition to a verity of animals in the wildlife and are a rare find."

The slim blonde beauty raised one of her delicately trimmed eyebrows as if to mock.

"A rare find, you think that Shikamaru is a rare find."

Ino did not mask the sarcasm in her statement. Sure Shikamaru was a great guy and a good shinobi, but a rare find? Come on.

"Fine then, why do you think Sakura is an iris?"

Chouji's internal call was to defend his reasoning for the huckleberry, but Ino never did think that Shikamaru was anything particularly special despite his uncommon intelligence. He would just have to prove her wrong with another.

"Well the iris can mean a number of things faith, hope, wisdom, all of which I believe represents her. But the biggest connection is that the iris represents the eternal promise of renewal, rebirth and the transformation from boredom to happiness."

Pink lips stretched into a satisfied smile as she gave herself a mental slap on the back. There was no doubt in her mind that her friend was an iris, her explanation gave a hundred percent guarantee on that.

"You think Sakura had been dull?"

Within the realms of his mind, Chouji agreed with the assessment presented before him. But he didn't want to go easy on Ino.

"What? No! I was just referring to how much she's changed over the years. Besides I'm not the one who called Neji a nut."

Dull?! Sure maybe she shouldn't have put her thoughts in those exact words, but he should know her better than to think that she would think her friends as boring.

"Boiled peanut, I said he was a boiled peanut because of their hardened shell and difficult to crack exterior; that and they are good with sweet tea."

Oh Kami, maybe he shouldn't have named Neji that. If word got around saying he thought the stoic Hyuuga was a nut…he didn't want to know what the consequences would be.

"That's another thing you can't say that Tenten is sweet tea."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a beverage. Not food."

There was no way she was going to let him cut corners like that.

"Anything that is a substance that provides nutrients checks as food, but if you don't agree with me that's fine. I still don't see how Naruto is a gladiolus and not a sunflower."

In his book, it didn't matter what state of matter the material was in. If it went into the stomach, it was food.

"Gladiolus represents strength of character and had been known to be given to victorious Roman gladiators. That's way more romantic than saying he's an onion."

She tried to keep her cool down, but knew that it was only hanging on by a thread's chance. Her theories and calculations bore on more romantic appeal than that of her friend, it was obvious. It was cute how he continued to try, but he needed to face reality that she was beating him at this game.

"Onions can be romantic. They've been known to absorb negative energy and are a representation of protection and dreams."

He knew that she was stubborn. Knew that before they started this contest on the representation of love and he also knew she would always be stubborn. But a part of him had hoped (and still did) that she would open her mind and apprehend that he was right as well. That everyone had their own way to communicate and the differences in their speech made them beautiful. But, he was realizing that insight might forever be lost to his dear friend.

"Chouji it was a good try. Seriously you did a lot better than I expected, but I'm still not convinced that food is romantic like flowers. Sorry."

Her legs were stiff, back rigged and arms crossed to show that her decision was final. But her blue eyes shone empathy. Just because she won didn't mean she wanted to be smug about it. No, not to Chouji.

"What did you have picked for me?"

"What?"

"What flower did you have to represent me?"

For a split second, he was going to sigh and call defeat when his teammate announced that she still was not swayed. But then…he remembered they still had not revealed what they thought the other was in terms of flowers and food. It might have been pointless to an onlooker because she had already won in numbers. What would one change? But to him he only needed one to alter her mind.

"Well I thought you were a lisianthus."

She thought it was odd how he was still going on about this, but figured it was more out of curiosity. She herself wondered what type of food her friend had classified her.

"Lisianthus?"

The word felt foreign on his tongue. After coming to visit Ino at her family's cozy flower shop for so many years he was able to paint a picture in his head of all the names of flowers she spoke of, except for this one. She must have detected his ignorance for she pointed to a set of flowers behind him. Following the direction of her delicate finger he saw a collection of purple and lavender flowers. The colored petals looked soft to touch and their wide, ruffled nature tended to take up their neighbor's space.

"They look like roses."

"Only in their double-form, in their single-form they look more like tulips. They tend to have a long vase life."

Blue eyes scanned the hefty man carefully. She didn't understand why, but she was eager to see his reaction.

"What do they mean?"

"Appreciation and a calming presence, also they communicate when given that the person has a good and friendly personality."

He couldn't help but stare at the beautiful flowers consisting of different hues of purple. Appreciation, good personality… those words seemed to inflate his heart. If there was an ever a day he believed that Ino put their friendship on high regards, it was today. Warmth spread throughout his body.

"Thank you."

The smile on his lips, the twinkle in his brown eyes, the gratitude in his baritone voice, it made her feel flustered in a way. She didn't reveal her softer side often, but had felt safe enough to do so in his presence. But she wanted to get rid of this sudden uncomfortable yet pleasant feeling.

"What about me? What food am I?"

"Barbeque."

He had to stop the smile of amusement when he saw the twitch in her eye.

"Barbeque?! You're saying that I'm grilled pork!"

How dare he say such a thing! And even after she said those things to him!

"No Ino, I'm saying that you're Korean barbeque."

Barbeque was a good, hearty and well-liked meal. It was hard to grill because if it spent too much time above the hot coals the meat would turn to a black crisp that would leave the awful taste of charcoal on your tongue. Grilled too little and the meat would be toxic to your health due to its rawness. But grilled precisely and it was simply delicious.

There are also many forms of barbeque, all of which have their own unique style. He has tried them all and has given his own stamp of approval to each mouth-watering piece. But out of all kinds of barbeque there was one he liked best. One he found better than others. And it was common knowledge among his friends that Korean barbeque was his all-time favorite food.

Korean barbeque is his favorite.

That's why he named Ino as so. That's why comprehension grasped her features when he specified what kind of barbeque. That's why he smiled when an uncharacteristic blush adored her cheeks.

"Oh, I see."

She felt it when her cheeks burned. It felt weird for them to do so when anger was not the cause and that just made her cheeks pinker from embarrassment. She felt further mortified when she felt a dorky smile tug at her lips from being named favorite. Since when did she get overly mushy from a compliment?

"So, you still feel that flowers are the only thing romantic?"

He wasn't sure what kind of answer he would get. With Ino everything was unpredictable. But that's why she was his favorite and that in his heart he knew, he won.

Pink lips upturned strangely and dazzlingly blue eyes fixed on him with glassed over emotion.

"We can call it a tie."

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The End

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A/N: Hope everyone enjoyed the final chapter. :)

I tried to pair up the best I could based on the research I did, hopefully you agree.