Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any music I use.

Old Friends

Chapter Two: Flowers and a Drink

Even after all my supposedly 'sneaky' maneuvers, I still found myself sitting in Otogakure, the hottest club in Oto no Kuni. Sakura sat over with Sasuke and his friends while I sat with Tenten and Hinata at the bar, dancing and mingling.

After my second drink Sakura waved me over and made room for me to sit next to Suigetsu. I sat down and accepted the seat gracefully. Suigetsu tried to be charming; I have to give him that.

"Ino, am I allowed to call you that?" he asked.

I nodded and took another sip of the sake in front of me and then adjusted my black D & G Bustier Top Dress. I had been originally going to wear another little number, but Sakura went and got it first. Sigh.

He grinned, "I heard you're interning at Oto Jutsu? How is that?"

I smiled, "it's a good gig. I love it, but I miss being at home."

Suigetsu frowned, his blue hair was soft as he leaned in some more, "why, where did you live before, Ino-chan? Sakura didn't mention it to me.

I shrugged nonchalantly, "I used to live in Hi no Kuni, but I was born in Yuki no Kuni. What about you, Suigetsu? All I know about you is that you went out with Temari before."

Suigetsu laughed at me and we both smiled, "I'm from Mizu no Kuni. Isn't Yuki no Kuni the epicenter of the whole technological advances?"

"I thought this was about you, Sui-kun."

His lips curved into a smirk and he continued, "I went to the Academy there and graduated before they changed their graduation test… but afterwards I came out to Oto to pursue my career."

I looked at him and nodded, he was interesting. Mizu no Kuni was the smallest country, but it had the toughest final exams of the continent. Apparently they were brutal.

"Yuki no Kuni is the epicenter of the technological advances. We already had a phone resembling that awful iPhone thing about two years ago. This Blackberry I have to use is so old school, but Yuki no Kuni is totally uptight about their technology spreading, but that's so whatever. Other countries' service providers can't even support my phone and long distance bills are a bitch," I shrugged as a waiter weaved his way through the crowd towards me.

He smiled at me as I caught his eye and he put the drink down in front of me, "Ah, Miss? A young man sent you this drink."

I marveled at the odds, this was my favourite kind of sake from Yuki no Kuni, "oh my god! This is like my favourite sake ever! It's from Yuki no Kuni!" I gushed to Suigetsu, who was looking kind of annoyed.

"You like the strong stuff?" he said sniffing it and taking a little sip.

I took it back from him and wagged my finger at him, "bad Sui-kun, this is my sake." He looked affronted and for the rest of the night we talked about cats. Yes, cats, it would seem that Sui-kun is a cat lover. That's weird, but I own a big fluffy cat, so I don't care.

Ugh, I woke up the next morning and threw on a Morphine Generation tunic with a pair of 7 for all Mankind jeans and put on a pair of flats and big sunglasses. I had a killer hangover, and knowing Tenten, she would too.

You see, my job at Jutsu magazine, which was the hottest magazine. It was all about the lifestyle of the luxurious. We had both done this for a couple years and were on track to getting a lot of money as employees.

I prowled through downtown Oto in my Mercedes and then went to greet Tenten who was most likely in the office. With a sigh, I sat down at my desk and wondered about who sent me the drink. I knew it wasn't Shikamaru, he hated doing anything of the sort and was not into the whole club and alcohol scene.

Briefly, I thought of a certain artist from Tsuchi no Kuni, but simply shook it off.

"Good morning, Ten-chan!" I called in a sing-song voice.

She moaned and glowered at me, "it's too early, and I have a pounding headache."

"Cute dress, is it Diane von Furstenberg?" I asked, eyeing the cute dress.

Tenten grinned and said, "of course! You know Orochimaru likes his D.V.F.!"

With a chuckle I sat down to start my work and started printing off some e-mails. I had to put together a whole floral arrangement to be the centre pieces of the tables.

As I gathered my materials, one of the receptionists from downstairs came through the doors to my office, which I shared with Tenten.

"Hey Tayuya," I smiled at the pretty red head, "who gave you those flowers?"

She smirked back, "actually, Ino, these are for you and damn am I jealous."

My eyes widened and Tenten whistled. The bouquet was pure white and had two kinds of lilies. It was huge and I almost could not see Tayuya over the bouquet. Wow.

"Are you sure?" I wondered if it was from Shikamaru as I opened the card.

Ino,
I'm sorry I couldn't stay to see you at Otogakure yesterday. I got caught up.
Please accept these as an apology; I know they're your favourite.
Love,
Your Secret Admirer

No way in hell this was Shikamaru! He would never send a girl flowers saying it was too "troublesome", whatever that meant and he didn't even know my favourite drink. So, who could it be? Two dark eyes flashed in my head and I down played it as nothing. I had floral arrangements to get to!

That evening, Tenten and Hinata were hanging out in my apartment waiting for our old friends from Hi no Kuni to arrive. They had just gotten into Oto. After a couple minutes people started flowing and mingling before we headed out to Otogakure – again.

Tenten was sitting by the island with my old friends from high school, Tsuchi Kin, Inuzuka Kiba, and Sai.

Kin was a force to be reckoned with, despite her sweet as pie demeanor Currently she was wearing a cute blue Young, Fabulous & Broke shirt, with a short little denim mini. She had black hair and startling green eyes.

Sai was an artist and we used to work together frequently. Not too many people liked him, but my old group used to give him chances. He wore an open white dress shirt and black slacks. Classic.

Inuzuka Kiba was an old playboy friend. I was the only girl he didn't date because apparently, to him, I was the type of girl he would bring home to meet his family. He was looking for sex, not marriage, so we never dated. Kiba wore Hugo Boss sweats, and a JL sweater.

"Ino-chan, do you think we could make a pact?" she smiled softly, "no drinking for the night?"

I laughed and stuck out my hand, "for sure, Hinata-chan, not after yesterdays party."

We giggled and then went back to mingling.

"Ino-san?" I whirled around to find an old childhood friend standing behind me, a tentative smile on his face.

I squealed, "Kimi-kun? Kaguya Kimimaro? It is SO good to see you, darling!" And then I pulled him into a long overdue hug. We had been keeping up by e-mail over all these years and he finally come to visit me.

We sat down on one of the couches when Sakura arrived with Sasuke's crew. Yes, 'Sas-gay' has a crew. It's mainly his scumbag close friends. Ugh, I used to be in love with that jerk too, until I found out that he had tried to cheat on Sakura with that girl in his posse, the one with weird red hair.

Hozuki Suigetsu is the charming one who is all over girls and shit. He's a player. That's why I didn't want to get involved with him – and still don't. All I want to do is find out who has been sending me those gifts! But daaaaamn, he's cute.

Juugo was the weird one. He had some sort of weird personality disorder thing, but he was a sweet thing – usually. Apparently he's trying to become a veterinarian because he 'understands' what animals want. I thought that was kind of cool, since I have a cat of my own.

And last, but not least, there is Karin. She has weird ass hair and isn't even hot. One side of her hair is long and straight and silky while the other side is shot and unkempt. Also, she wore these hideous glasses. I didn't even want to look at her.

So, I took Kimimaro around and made introductions and then Tenten and Hinata rounded up everybody to head out to Otogakure. Being around Kimimaro was just so perfect. I wonder if it was him who sent me the drink and the flowers… He does know almost everything about me.

Hinata, Tenten, Kimimaro, Kin, Sai, Kiba, and I danced in a close circle. Kimi-kun had his hands on my waist and I could smell his Hugo Boss cologne. Mmm…

"Hey, Hinata, d'you think Kimimaro's cuuuute?" I purred to her.

She giggled and nodded and then proceeded to ask Tenten. Tenten, however, looked at him and shrugged with indifference. I laughed and turned to Kimimaro.

"Kimi-kun, I'm going to go get a drink, is that okay with you?" I looked up at him.

He nodded, "no problem, Ino-chan."

I weaved my way to the bar and ordered water when lo and behold I saw Shikamaru. Who would have thought?! Shikamaru! A club! Argh, I was going to kill him. Luckily, before I went over to punch his face in, Hinata and Tenten beat me to it. Each slapped him before turning around and heading deeper into the club.

"Ino-chan, would you like to go home?" Kimimaro's silk voice floated to my ears through the music. Hinata and Tenten probably told him what was going on.

I smiled gratefully and took his hand as he led me out of the pounding club. I headed out the door and everyone headed their separate ways. I drove carefully into the parking lot and then rushed up the stairs. I opened the door to my apartment, locked it, and flew into my bed.

"Nara Shikamaru, I hate you and stupid Temari!" I sobbed, before curling up into the big, fluffy comforter. I couldn't help it. This was not the way I wanted things to be.

Ugh, then, during my sob session, someone knocked on the door. I took a blanket with me and wrapped it around my shoulders and stumbled down the stairs. It was probably Tenten and/or Hinata-chan. Not caring about how I might look, I flung open the door and saw the shock of my life.

"Hello, Ino-chan, can I come in, yeah?"

A/N: Hmm, who shall it be...?

ino-chan love: I'm not sure about the crack pairing, yet, but Deidara/Ino does sound promising. Sorry if Ino's last comment seems homophobic, but Ino's pissed off, all she wants to do is stay at home and eat ice cream and watch 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'.
Night Beauty: I'm glad you're interested :)
Shinikage Mei: i'm glad you like the writing style.
death rose kitty: itachixino, eh? I'll try, I'm not sure if I can fit him in here...