Chapter 6: The Tale of Ino... and Chouji

"Ino! Would you please deliver some arrangements to the Hyuuga residence?" asked that morning Ino's mom. Of course she had no choice but to obey as when she wasn't training with Team 10 she had to help in her family shop, but with only a month before the Chuunin Exams her training was supposed to come first and today that was not happening.

"Sure mom!" answered Ino and looked at the huge amount of flowers she had to deliver now. 'Seems they are having a big party... Agh! Why Asuma sensei had to pick this day to rest!' complaint inner Ino.

"Come to think about it, we don't even have a three man team to take the exams this time. I wonder if Shikamaru has chosen a suitable sustitute" added her when a certain Hyuuga called her attention. "Hey! There's Neji-kun. Maybe I can make him help me with these flowers"

"Neji-kun Ohayo!" called Ino once she was out of the shop.

"Huh? You were one of the rookies from the Chuunin Exams right?" replied Neji in his usual monotone voice.

"How rude, why is that you don't remember my name?" answered her.

"I remember you because I do pay attention to minor details" said Neji not even bothering to look at her and starting to continue his way.

"Ha?" Ino's face dropped. 'What's that supposed to mean?!' added inner Ino.

"I must keep going. I have to meet someone" Neji finally said and dissapeared from Ino's sight.

"Geez he's so cold. I was only trying to ask him something" complaint her.

Giving up, she turned back to the shop but a paper in the floor called her attention. "Huh? What's that on the floor?" wondered her lifting the paper. "Maybe Neji-kun dropped it"

I've been watching you recently and must admit you're a talented shinobi worth of my time. I'll be looking forward to meet you.

Ino read. 'Oh my god! I have an admirer!' cried inner Ino. 'Of course, who wouldn't admire me' giggled inwardly.

"Ok! This comes first! I have to discover who my secret admirer is!" squealed her and rushed in the opposite direction Neji took, leaving her shop behind.

"That's odd, I haven't seen this calligraphy before" said as she walked by the streets of Konoha analyzing the letter. "But I know who'd help me!" added her and started running towards a certain teammate's cloudwatching place.

Empty. Shikamaru was not in his usual place. "Maybe Chouji knows where to find him" and with that, she left to the nearest BBQ restaurant.

"There he is. Chouji!" called Ino once she saw him.

"Ino? What brings you here? We were not having trainig today. Are you here to take my BBQ?!" demanded Chouji.

"Calm down. Calm down. I'm not here for your food" Ino stated. "Geez Chouji, can't a teammate visit you without you thinking its about your food?" added her crossing her arms.

"I don't know, lately Asuma sensei's been saying that we have to eat well in order to function properly" pointed him. "Even Shikamaru's been in trouble with his protein diet"

"Err..." Ino had a nasty look in her face. She didn't want her sensei to put her on a diet, not right now as she was in one already for losing some pounds. "Anyway, Shikamaru finds everything troublesome" she added. "By the way, have you seen him? I've been looking for him through all the Village"

"Oh he's left on a mission" Chouji answered as he started eating again.

"What?!" yelled Ino. 'There it goes, my last chance to find my secret admirer' cried inner Ino.

"Yesterday after training, Tsunade called him to his office. He parted early in the morning" informed Chouji. "Why were you looking for him, anyway?" asked him when he saw his teammate collapsing in the seat in front of him.

"I was hoping he'd help me with something" answered her a bit depressed. "Look what I've received this morning" added her handing her letter to Chouji who started reading it.

"Looks like a challenging note to me" pointed him.

"Of course it's not!" growled her taking her letter from Chouji. "It's from a secret admirer, you see? I was wanting to discover who it was but I don't know anyone as intelligent as Shikamaru that'd help me solve the mistery"

"Well your secret admirer wants to meet you. Maybe you should wait until he gets the courage to do so"

"No way! I need to find him immediately" cried Ino. 'So then I could show him to that forehead girl' added inner Ino evily. "Do you recognize the calligraphy?"

"No but... he could have asked a friend to write it for him, don't ya think? Why don't you start with possible candidates and ask them about the letter?" suggested Chouji. It wasn't a great idea but she had no option.

"Ok Chouji, you'll help" and with that she dragged him out of the restaurant.

"Can you repeat me why I'm doing this, again?"

"Come on Chouji! I'll give you an all-you-can-eat ticket I won the other day for BBQ" explained her. "Can't you help a hopeless teammate?" added her receiving a 'hmp' from him.

"Well here's the list of possible candidates" said Ino handing Chouji a paper. "I've included some shinobi of our age group and others that visit the flower shop frequently"

"Hey what about Neji-kun? You told me you were talking to him when you found the letter"

"Nah... he doesn't even remember my name" added her. "Besides he's always been rude to me. Remember that time during the Chuunin Exams?"

"Well then, maybe a friend of him told him to deliver the letter to you"

"A friend of him?" wondered her. She didn't remember him hanging out a lot. Maybe his team were the only friends he had. "Come on Chouji, I don't think he's the type who'd do that kind of favors" added her with a worried look. "His only friends might be his own team"

"You may have a point" answered him in deep thought. "Then it would be Lee..."

"Noo!!" cried Ino not letting Chouji finish his sentence. Rock Lee was too weird for her taste. "Ehm... I mean... he already loves forehead girl right? I mean he likes Sakura" added her after receiving an accusing look from her teammate. She knew he was friends with Lee and didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Yeah, I remember that time at the Chuunin Exams when he risked his life for protecting her" reasoned Chouji. "I doubt he'd forgotten Sakura-san so easily" added him making Ino feel a bit sad. How was that Sakura had someone who loved her that much to the point of risking his life and she didn't. Even if Lee was ungly, that girl was sure lucky.

"So who do we have in the list?" continued Chouji who had taken his role seriously. An all-you-can-eat ticket was worth it and he had watched Shikamaru in some occasions.

"Maybe your list wasn't that complete" commented Chouji after hearing his teammate yell in frustration. They had spent all the morning interviewing the shinobis in the list but apparently no one had sent Ino the letter.

"Look, there it comes Shino" said Chouji.

"Oh yeah, we haven't interviewed Team Eight yet" added her cheerfully.

"Sorry Ino, it wasn't me the one who wrote that letter" apologized Shino when they told him the story. "But we can trace the author from its smell" added him.

"Wow really?!you guys are amazing!"

"The only problem is that..." started Shino pointing to Akamaru that was running straight to Ino.

"Akamaru?" wondered her but was cut off when the mentioned dog jumped to her head and then continued his way leaving her hair all ruined. "Akamaru!!" yelled her with all her fury.

"So that was it?" commented Chouji taking out his chips. Luckily for them Kiba appeared after that.

"Kiba! I'm gonna kill your dog when I'll find him!" yelled Ino.

"I'm sorry Ino, I don't know what's gotten into him today" apologized him.

"He went in that direction, if you want to know" added Chouji.

"I can tell you where he is now" continued Shino.

"I already know where he is but he's moving really fast that I can't go after him without runing into angry shopkeepers"

"Yeah you'd be thankfull I wasn't at my parents shop or you'll be a dead man by now" added an angry Ino who was trying to fix her pony tail.

"You just have to search in the next places he's going to appear. I'm going to help you. Follow me" said Shino and started walking ahead, leaving Ino and Chouji.

"Ehh... ok. Bye Chouji! Bye Ino, and sorry!" yelled him and rushed behind Shino.

"Agh!! Kiba's so out of the list!!" cried her to Chouji.

"Team Eight, no" added Chouji writing something in the list.

"Ok I give up! Maybe I should wait until he takes the first step" groaned Ino returning to her shop.

"You're still giving me that ticket right?" asked Chouji. "I'm really hungry, lunch time has passed already"

"All you think about is eating right?" complaint her and searched in her pockets. "Take it, I don't need it anyway"

"Oh look who's coming" added Chouji after placing his ticket in somewhere safe.

"Forehead girl?"

"She looks weird today, doesn't she?"

"Hey Sakura! What's with that face? You look as you've seen a ghost" teased Ino receiving a death stare, literaly, that froze her. "Err... I didn't mean it... really... maybe we can talk about it..."

"No it's ok, I guess" answered Sakura shaking her head. "What about you, Ino-pig?" added her and Ino flinched, she wouldn't let her know about her failed search of her secret admirer.

"Ino and I were looking for..." started Chouji but was cut off when Ino placed a hand in his mouth.

"What he wants to say is that we've been looking for Shikamaru to train new moves but we couldn't find him. Yeah, that's all" explained Ino giggling nervously when a boy came calling Sakura's name.

"Sakura.neechan!" it was Konohamaru's voice.

"Konohamaru! Long time no see. What brings you here?" Sakura welcomed her little friend.

"Well I've come to pick some arrangements for Hinata-neechan's father" explained Konohamaru. "You are Yamanaka, right?" asked him looking at Ino.

"Oh no!" panicked her when she heard Hinata's name. "I totally forgot the Hyuuga's delivery!"

"Yeah. His father asked Hinata-neechan to pick them but she had some problems and I'm here instead"

"What were you doing all day, huh?" teased Sakura.

"Well Ino if you don't mind I'll be leaving now" said Chouji handing Ino her secret admirer letter. "All-you-can-eat BBQ, here I go!"

"Hey what are you doing with that?!" cried Konohamaru when he noticed the letter in Ino's hands.

"That-That's not of your busines" replied a flushed Ino.

"Will it be a love letter?" joked Sakura.

"Of course it's not!" cried Konohamaru a bit upset. "That wasn't supposed to be for you. I wrote that to Neji-chan... Oh then that's why he didn't even want to fight me!" complaint Konohamaru not noticing Ino's face who changed from a shocked one to an angry one. A scary face that'd only compete with Sakura's.

"You telling me... that all this day... I've been looking for the author... of a letter that wasn't for me!!" growled Ino giving him death glares at Konohamaru.

"Hey, calm down, Ino-pig" said Sakura suppressing a laugh.

"Yeah! It was your fault for reading other's people mail" Konohamaru tried to answer back but he didn't seem to be doing it well as at each word of Ino, he had stepped back and was now in front of Sakura. Placing himself at behind her he added. "Isn't it right, Sakura-neechan?"

"Of course Konohamaru-kun. That's what you got for being so curious, Ino-pig" replied Sakura grinning evily. "Now Konohamaru-kun, I'll help you deliver those arrangements. It's not safe to leave you alone with her"

A/N: Hahaha you didn't expect that, did you? Oh my! this turned out to be the longest º-º!! Well it answered a lot of questions, ne? Hope you liked it... and the next one: the tale of Shikamaru... yey! two more to go.