Standard Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters. I earn no money or services form my fan fiction.
Chapter 3: An Old Mask Cracks
Ino looked up at the clock. She wasn't sure the lovable dobe giving her flowers was cause for her mother teasing her all a day. Yes, he was a lovable dobe, but she wasn't in love with him. More to the point, she knew nothing about him, and she was pretty sure no one did.
Ino had tried mind transfering into him once, but it only left more questions about him then answers. His mind was deep unyielding jungle with an island in the center. The farther she advanced into his mind the more this jungle blocked her way. She would always see Naruto's innerself on that island but she would never reach it.
The jungle was alive, and she could hear whispers in the trees. She could feel in her very blood that these thoughts, these voices, were not Naruto's. They came from very rock, tree, flower, and herb. They whispered of a hero, a champion, and they refused to let her pass. They seemed to call to Naruto as to plead with him to rise and claim the name Senju, and to accept their gifts. It didn't call Naruto by name, but there was no mistaking that they spoke to him.
The island was more confusing yet, and it was protected by a great whirlpool. The whirlpool had it own voices as well. They called for their advenger, and she was sure somehow Naruto was the hero they called for. It spoke of revenge, and how it ran with is kinsmen's blood. Just like the jungle it offered him it's gifts.
Ino could almost see a ranging beast causing the water to swirl, and she felt fear as it was the most terrible demon that could exist. If she had to give his beast a name, she would call it malice, but it made no sense to her as Naruto seemed to hate no one. Sure he had a rivilary with her dreamy Sasuke, but here was actual hatred and malice in Naruto's mind.
Ino saw Naruto on the island surrounded by graves as he just sat in the middle. They spoke to him of times long past, and they promised him an army at his beconing call. Two people she didn't know standing over him seemed to whisper promises that he wasn't alone.
One of them had firey red hair, and a sword as pale was the moon. This woman looked down on the sitting Naruto as if she would conquer the world for him. She looked as if she would give everything to hold Naruto, and chase away the coldness in his eyes. Ino didn't know why but this woman made her think of her mother.
The other one had long blonde hair and eyes bluer then the sea. This man could be mistaken for an older Naruto. He had a calm fierceness about him, and seemed sad that he couldn't stand between Naruto and the world. His face looked as if until he came to this place that he had never know sadness at all. Ino wondered why this man reminded her of her father.
No sooner then Naruto had looked up to see her trying to pass the jungle, Ino heard him speak. It was as simple as you don't belong her, and she returned to her own body. She knew she had somehow seen something too privite, and she had never tried to mind transfer into Naruto ever again.
Ino looked at the clock again as she broke free of her musings. It was still an hour to go til she would help 'The Dead Last of the Acadamy' improve his look, and he better not even think about orange. She was sure he would look better in black to bring out his somehow eturnaly young skin or blue to accent his endless blue eyes.
When she thought about it, It was the act of entering Naruto's mind, and the surprizes there that made her fear looking into Sasuke's. She had considered finding out what Sasuke thought about her and sakura, and who was winning his attention. She couldn't figure out how she would handle Sasuke's mind if it was as complicated as Naruto's.
Ino had tried to rationalize that Naruto for all of it's eerie scenery was still breath-takingly beautiful, but some part of her told Ino Sasukes mind might not be a beautiful thing. She knew Sasuke wanted revenge for his clan's downfall, and what if he didn't keep that beast of malice in check like Naruto did. Was Sasuke's mind haunted like Naruto or did he stand alone in his mind too good for the trappings of the past? She knew that in the outside world Naruto and Sasuke might have been the sun and the moon, and this made her really fear what she might see in Sasuke's mind.
This thought had lead her to wonder. Was Sasuke or Naruto the moon? Was Sasuke like the sun that you would burn if you got too close? Was Naruto with that pale beautiful if not lonely world he called a mind then the Moon? These thoughts filled her daydreams and nightmares, and more then once wished she had never used the mind tranfer on Naruto.
This time that she broke free of he musings. Naruto was standing in front of her with very flower he had craddled in his hands when she was in his mind. She had looked it up those three years ago to see if it had any mean, and here was Naruto presenting her with the Jungle Flower. It was the only flower according to the old stories that grew in the wasteland that became Konoha, and it was the symbol of her home as well as it's hidden meaning of endurance of life.
It took Ino a second to realise the most precious part of Naruto's gift. This almost extinct flower that had been almost destored by over building of the village had SEEDS! She felt it so ironic that she wanted Sasuke to hunt for rare flowers as proof of his love for her, and here was a boy she never considered anymore then a face in the crowd giving her the one flower she craved the most.
Ino's father had once told her of the Jungle flower being the whole reason he started the flower shop. He hated that in a rush to rebuild or just expand it had been lost, and he was determind to make sure it never happened again. It was his love of this one flower that made her mother Ina fall in love with her father. It was also the reason her father called her princess in public but his rare blossom in privite.
Ino could take no more, and she started crying. He called for her mother and father as loudly as she could. They showed up and stopped dead as the saw the Jungle flower with seeds in their daughter's hands. None of them even noticed to very confused Naruto stareing trying to figure out what he had done wrong.
Naruto, of course, had no idea that the Jungle flower was special to anyone other then him. He had found it when he was little. As far as he knew before he started growing them in his garden, he had listened to the nature around him and merely found the last that had but a single seed. To him, the flower was the symbol of his home, part of his blood history, and most of all love itself. It was the gift Hoshirama gave Mita then later Minato could only have his mother's hand once he gave her one. Naruto, however, had no plans on telling Ino that.
Once everything calm down, Naruto had to laugh. Ina and Inochi had to do careful 'surgery' on the flower to make sure not one seed was lost. They interagated him as to how he had kept the flower alive, and where he found it. He even admitted that half of his greenhouses were reserved for said same flower, and that was currently the only one that had gone to seed in the last month.
Ino dragged Naruto away from her parents, and made him promise to show her the greenhouses as her payment for the shopping trip. Naruto warned her they took up most of a far out training ground he had bought. He even confessed that he always had a love of nature in all it's forms.
Ino would later forget all about this date, but would never forget that gift. She was on auto-pilot most of the date. She never noticed that she was dragging Naruto from shop to shop by the hand. She would never remember telling him how mesh would be prefect for showing off all his delious muscle. She would never remember telling Naruto to get a mix of blue and black outfits to comment his prefect skin or dreamy eyes. Nor would she remember that she made Naruto promise to never where kill me orange again as she refused to let him die and leave her.
Naruto, however, would never forget a single moment, but he had to admit the trip to the greenhouses was the best part. They slowly filled the night with information about flowers. Naruto would talk about their growth, care, and feelings. Ino would go on and on about how rare they were or their meanings.
Naruto took of his old coat as they walked back to Ino's house. He lovingly drapped it over Ino so that she wouldn't be cold. He got her to her door and without thinking Ino kissed him.
"See you tomorrow, Naruto-kun." Ino purred.
"Yeah tomorrow, Ino-chan." Naruto said as he turned and left before he could mess up this prefect day.
The moment Naruto was out of slight Ino realised what she had done. She wasted no time with the warmth of Naruto's kill me orange jacket to protect her from the cold. She reached Sakura's house and banged on the door until Sakura let her in. No sooner had Sakura brought her to her room, Ino blurted out the reason she had come.
"I KISSED NARUTO...Sakura, I need advice from my bestfriend!" Ino blurted out.
Arthor's Note: No Ino and Naruto aren't together yet. Something just sweep you up. Now come the inner war of Ino. She has to figure out her feeling for Naruto and Sasuke. She also has to come to understand Naruto's inner world that she witnessed when she was 9.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did writing it. It will cause new and interesting problems between Ino and Sakura. Let's put it this way Sakura never once gave thought that Naruto might stop caring for her and she now has to come to grips with this. She never saw Hinata as a threat but Ino is a different story. How will this effect her? What will Ino do if Sakura starts showing interest in Naruto? How will Hinata act when she actually has rivial's for Naruto? Was Hinata stalking Naruto on his 'date'? Does shit hit the fan in the next chapter?