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

Chapter Three: The Dilemma

I, Yamanaka Ino, swear to god that I have never been more shocked in my life. There, standing on my doorstep, was Deidara. Deidara was definitely not Hinata-chan or Tenten.

Dei-kun was one of the artists I'd met in Tsuchi no Kuni while I was on vacation with Shikamaru. He cheered me up with his art and advice whenever Shikamaru was out for long periods of time. Deidara was a potter who had sold me a few various trinkets that I wore or now kept around my house.

"Come in, Deidara," I ushered him in, took his dusty black bomber, and we sat on the couch.

He studied me with an artist's critical eye and finally said after a moment or two, "you look awful, Ino-chan. Did Shikamaru make you cry?"

I didn't even hesitate to answer, knowing he already knew, "yes."

He smiled softly and opened his arms for a hug. I dove into it and let out a couple more tears before finally wiping away the tears and looking up at Deidara. His dark blue eyes always amazed me. He had deep dark eyes that you could get lost in, I envied him. My eyes were cornflower blue and superficial.

Using his thumbs to wipe out the tears from beneath my eyes, I noticed that unlike most guys I dated or held hands with, his hands were rough, calloused, and the pads held a terra cotta like permanent stain.

"Care to tell me what's going on, then, luv?" Deidara asked, reclining on the couch and adjusting me like a puppet to lean against his chest.

"Alright," and somehow, when I told him, it was like dead weight seemed to rise into the air. All the words seemed to find themselves and just drift up like lazy smoke. It was somehow a milestone to feel like I was shedding Shikamaru.

That night I had slept soundly, the best sleep in nights. Even better, Deidara made me pancakes the next morning. Mmm, they smelt so good.

"Good morning, sleepy head," he said as I placed myself at the island eagerly awaiting my breakfast.

"Good morning to you too, so what's cookin'?" a smile played on my lips.

"Pancakes, yeah, so when are you going to work?" he flipped two before turning to look at me.

I thought about it, "I'm leaving at around 9 o'clock; I have a photo shoot to get to."

He nodded and handed me two pancakes on a plate.

"Thanks, Deidara," I grinned before picking up my knife and fork, "itadakimasu!"

Work was hell as usual. Floral arrangements on a deadline were had to do, especially when nobody had a specific look they wanted. As usual, I just was still tweaking when they had placed it in the background before I finally settled. With the other arrangement I was in my element, small, but simple bouquets.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and pulled it out.

From: Deidara (020-4961-2358)
Wanna go for dinner sometime, Ino-chan?
Send me a reply later,
Deidara

I used the white lilies that reminded me of my secret admirer and put them in a little bouquet with red accents. Still, unfinished, I added some white lilies throughout and then moved on. I was getting tired and I wanted to reply to Deidara's text message.

"Ino-chan! There you are!" Tenten said as she rushed over.

I smiled; glad to see a familiar face that wasn't my boss, "Oh! Are you doing clothes?"

She nodded and I felt my phone ring in my pocket again. Tenten looked curiously as I groaned when I read the message. No fuckin' way…

From: Kaguya Kimi-kun (020-1439-4500)
Hi Ino,
Let's go for dinner tonight.
Send me a message soon, so I can book a reservation.
Kimimaro

"Ugh, Tenten, what should I do? They both want to go out for dinner," I half sighed. I chewed my bottom lip in confusion.

She laughed, "Go out for dinner with Kimimaro tonight and Deidara tomorrow night, but of course, you'll have to choose one."

I smiled, she knew how to cheer me up, "thanks, Ten-chan. I'll see you later?"

Tenten waved and went back to the clothes racks while I put together my last bouquet. Tonight was dinner with Kimimaro. Don't get me wrong, I like Kimimaro, he understands me and is a sweetie.

Deidara on the other hand, is like the artistic god. Also, Deidara understands my floral work because he believes that art is fleeting. When flowers are involved, especially cut ones, they don't last long.

To: Deidara (020-4961-2358)
From: Yamanaka Ino (020-5493-4100)
Hey, Deidara! I'd love to go for dinner with you tonight.
I'll see you tonight, meet you at my place?
Ino

But then again, there's Kimimaro who understands what I love and why I have my insecurities. He understands why I like to be wanted. I sighed and slumped backwards onto the grass and took a small catnap. Knowing Orochimaru, even though she was done, he would want her to be here. Sleeping was an accepted part of the job – if you weren't busy.

"YAMANAKA!" screeched what I had come to know as my boss.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. Orochimaru was a scary creep, but was one of the four head bosses of Jutsu magazine, so I respected him immensely. The other three were Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Sarutobi. Each ran a division and made it all their own.

"Yes, Orochimaru-san?" I asked politely.

He scowled and flicked his tongue in a snake-like manner before pointing at Kabuto, his bitch, "Help Kabuto, Yamanaka. He needs someone to keep an eye on him."

I wondered briefly about why Orochimaru would want me to watch his supposed most trusted advisor, but knowing Kabuto, he'd have a hidden agenda. So, anyways, I headed over to the photographer's area where Kabuto kept an eye on all the jewelry and various over the top items.

"Hey, Yakushi-san!" I smiled and he nodded curtly at me.

"Good evening, Yamanaka," was his short reply.

I sat on a bench and arranged myself into a comfortable position for the next three hours. Photo shoots were always like this; arrange flowers for the morning, have a short lunch, watch Kabuto until the shoot is over, report to Orochimaru anything strange, and leave.

A hand fingered my Blackberry and I messaged Kimimaro back.

To: Kaguya Kimi-kun (020-1439-4500)
From: Yamanaka Ino (020-5493-4100)
Hey Kimimaro!
Wanna go for dinner tomorrow night?
I think I can ask my boss to use his lake house.
Bring some picnic stuff and we can have a candle light picnic.
I'll forward you the address later.
XOXO,
Ino

At about quarter to 5 o'clock Orochimaru waved me over.

"Well, Yamanaka? What do you have to report on Kabuto?" he said in a clipped tone.

I stood quietly for a moment, gathering my thoughts, "Kabuto's been getting some." I blurted it out.

He looked at me, "explain."

"He has two hickeys on the back of his neck; also, he didn't curse anybody out for the longest time. Aside from that, Kabuto was eyeing the jewelry quite a bit, but otherwise, nothing seemed out of the ordinary," I summed up neatly.

Orochimaru looked amused for a minute before sighing, "You're my top intern this year. Don't get into too much trouble this year."

I nodded, "Orochimaru-sama? Do you think I could go up to the lake house tomorrow for dinner with a friend?"

He nodded again and dismissed me, which meant I was allowed to go home and get ready for my date with Deidara. Yay!

When I got home I changed into an S.W.O.R.D. leather jacket, which was a present from Orochimaru to the interns, and a sexy backless, black silk Rag & Bone dress with a pair of Cesare Paciotti leather stilettos heels, also courtesy of Orochimaru.

Once I had put on the finishing touches to my outfit, I heard Deidara ring the doorbell. I appeared at the door all 'dolled up' as Sakura put it, and a bright smile.

"Wow, Ino-chan, you look amazing. I love your hair; it looks all sophisticated in a French braid. Anyways, let's go out to dinner, there's a lovely Tsuchi no Kuni specialty restaurant in the area I'd like to go try," Deidara murmured in a jumble of words.

Dinner was awesome. Sure, the Tsuchi food was good, but the conversation was intriguing. This was definitely gossip worthy.

"So, I used to work with Orochimaru, way back," he looked at her and waved her fork around, "except, he took our secrets from Akatsuki Corp., yeah. He left behind a lot of bad blood."

I shrugged, "Orochimaru-san can be psychotic sometimes, but everybody respects him. Half of the reason I came out here for the internship is because Tsunade's a crazy, drunken, gambler. Sure, we respect her, but hell, no one wants to work for her. Sakura idolizes her, though."

Deidara smirked, "Akatsuki does its best to bring down Orochimaru, Ino, and you wouldn't want to be caught in the crossfire, yeah."

A cattish grin formed on my face, "but Deidara…you wouldn't let me get caught, would you?"

Deidara laughed, but avoided my question, "c'mon, let's go back to my place for a little bit, yeah?" He put his signature, a messy flourish, on the bill and he left with her.

"C'mon, let's go back to my place for a little bit, maybe introduce you to Akatsuki, to, you know, keep you outta trouble, yeah?

I smiled and got into his pretty little convertible, once again and we sped into the night. Now, I'm sure that I'm not supposed to meet anyone from Akatsuki, seeing as Orochimaru has a dartboard with their faces on it, I couldn't help it. I wanted to be involved in Deidara's life.

We met up at Otogakure with his friends who were partying it up. I spotted a black haired guy who looked suspiciously like Sasuke. Hm, this must be his hated older brother, Itachi. I had to say, now that I had seen them both in the flesh, Itachi was way hotter.

As perfectly delicious as the elder Uchiha looked, he was hanging out with some freaky fish dude. From having Orochimaru as a boss, I recognized him to be one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist.

"Ino-chan!" Deidara called over the loud music.

I looked at him and smiled as he led me over to their table, "Ino-chan, this is Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, yeah. Itachi, Kisame, this is Yamanaka Ino, yeah."

Itachi raised his glass in toast and licked his lips while Kisame nodded.

"It's nice to meet Dei-kun's friends," I purred charmingly, while not breaking eye contact with Itachi. Afterwards I just smiled cutely and turned back to Deidara who had spotted someone else on the other side of the club.

He pulled me to another table with a Venus Flytrap-esque man, a red-head, a guy with too many facial piercings, and a woman with blue hair and a flower accessory in it.

Once again, Orochimaru's rantings came in handy. Venus Flytrap man was Zetsu, Orochimaru always mumbled something about a split personality. The red-head was a puppeteer of sorts, his name was Akasuna Sasori. The guy with all the studs in his face is Pein. Pein was Orochimaru's rival editor-in-chief. The woman is Pein's 'personal' advisor.

Orochimaru just says that it's a fancy way of saying that he's boning her.

Deidara held me close to him, "Ino-chan, this is Zetsu, Sasori and Leader-sama." Even though Pein's personal assistant didn't need an introduction, it would have been nice to have something to tell Orochimaru about.

"Nice to meet you," I flashed them a soft smile before tugging on Deidara's sleeve. I cast a meaningful look at Itachi and Kisame's table and he understood. I was not comfortable in the presence of Pein and as Itachi resembled Sasuke, I could deal with him.

We spent the rest of the night grinding and sitting at Itachi and Kisame's table. I also got to talk to the blue headed woman. I have to say, I give her credit for putting up with all those guys. They seem like they can be a little much. I have to say, I do admire her and what Orochimaru says only seems kind of true.

Alright, you must realize that my internship has brought me a lot more than just using my ikebana skills or sitting around at photo shoots spying on other employees. For some reason, Orochimaru thinks I can go far and is training me personally. Tenten is under Kabuto's watch, even though he doesn't trust him…

Sometimes I hate my job, sometimes I love it. I don't think I'll tell Orochimaru any of this though, especially now that I'm close friend with Deidara…

I don't know if I could lead either one on. God damn, I was faced with a dilemma; I mean… they were both important. Kimi-kun was a childhood friend and Deidara had been my rock in the sea of Shikamaru.

Deathrosekitty: if you squint there's a moment between Itachi and Ino, just for you, hehe.
Transluscent Entity: Perhaps you have some suggestions as to how I can make it more original? Hmm?

A/N: Reviews would be nice, please:)