A/n: Thanks for waiting guys here's the next chapter. And a special thanks to beautifulgeek11 for being my beta. You're awesome.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Naruto had yet to let her hand go. The two teens sat in a deathly silence. Neither one of them knowing what to say. All Ino could think about was the kiss that happened a few minutes ago. She had no idea what Naruto was thinking. He was most likely thinking about the same thing. Ino stood up from the bed. She then walked over to the window. Naruto could only stare after her.

"You just kissed me. Oh my god, what are we going to do?"

Naruto realized that the aftermath of the kiss was starting to get to her. He wouldn't be surprised if she was close to having a meltdown. The platinum blonde seemed to be close to going over the edge. He watched as she started pacing back and forth.

"Ino-chan, you um kissed me back."

At this, Ino stopped pacing. She had not forgotten that she had indeed kissed him back. The kiss had caught her by surprise. However, she would be lying if she said the kiss hadn't felt wonderful to her.

"That was my first kiss." Naruto admitted.

She turned back around to face him. Naruto was not looking at her. He seemed completely focused on his hands for some reason.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Hey do you want to know something? You weren't bad for not having kissed someone before. That was the best kiss I ever had." She told him.

When she said this, he looked up to meet Ino's gaze.

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah and I've only been kissed once in my life. Who would have thought huh? Uzumaki Naruto shares his first kiss with Yamanaka Ino."

"Yeah." Naruto nodded. "I wouldn't have ever thought so. I always wanted my first kiss to be..."

"With Sakura I know."

"I'm Sorry."

"It's okay. You were only being honest Naruto. I think that I should go."

She started for the door. Naruto knew that he couldn't let her leave this way. They had things that they needed to discuss. Things like their relationship, and where was it headed now. What we're they going to do?

"Ino-chan please don't go, at least not yet, anyway."

"Give me a reason why I should stay."

"We have to talk. We just kissed. I think that this is something worth talking about."

"That kiss..." She started. "What can I say it was an amazing kiss. I don't know what else to say."

"Now what Ino-chan. What are we going to do now? We can't pretend that it didn't happen."

Ino knew that her spiky headed friend had a point. And as much as she wanted to disappear right now. She knew that she couldn't. They really did have to talk. They had done something that they weren't supposed to do. The two blonde's had shared a kiss. It wasn't just any kiss either. It was the sort of kiss that a real couple would share. The only problem was that they were not a real couple. They were just friends.

"Hai, you're right. We can't pretend that we didn't kiss. But do you want my honest opinion?"

"Of course I want your honesty, Ino-chan."

The platinum blonde folded her arms across her chest. She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned up against the wall. After a few moments of silence she opened her eyes. The blue eyed girl stared directly at him.

"I don't think that you meant to kiss me like that. You probably got caught up in the moment or something."

"Huh?" He questioned.

"Well, weren't you just trying to get me to shut up. What better way than to kiss me, right?"

"What?" He wondered.

"Tell me this Naruto. Who were you really thinking about when you kissed me?"

Naruto didn't quite understand what she was getting at. It sounded like she was trying to say that he wasn't really thinking about her when they kissed.

"Ino what the hell kind of question is that?"

"Well, whom were you thinking about? I think that you were probably wishing that I was Sakura or something."

Naruto held his mouth open in slight disbelief. Was Ino being serious? Of course, he hadn't been thinking of Sakura during their kiss. The only person he was thinking about at the time was her. Sakura hadn't even crossed his mind.

"Ino-chan I..."

"It's alright." She whispered. "I understand. You don't have to explain anything to me I get it."

It pained Ino to have to say those words. Nevertheless, whom was she fooling. Even if she did admit her her feelings to Naruto, what good would it do her. He had to still be hung up on Sakura. Those kinds of feelings didn't just die overnight.

"I'm sorry for the kiss." She apologized. "It probably shouldn't have happened anyway."

"She wishes that it never happened."

"I'm going to go now Naruto. I'll see you around. Maybe we can both try to put this behind us."

She opened the door then turned her attention back on to him. She gave him a sad smile.

"Bye."

"Um wait."

It was too late the platinum blonde was gone from sight.

"I didn't get the chance to give you your gift."

He sighed sadly then laid down on his bed. Ino was gone and for some reason he didn't have the strength to get up and go after her. Ino stood there for a minute gazing up into the sky.

"I know that the kiss meant something to me. But I was right in not getting my hopes up. He still wants forehead, we both know it."

She walked away from his apartment, not looking back once. All she thought about was the kiss. Ino could still feel his lips there. She had never dreamed a kiss could feel so wonderful. She hadn't even imagined that Naruto would end up being the one that she would kiss. It had all been so very unexpected.

"It doesn't matter anymore." She decided.

Back in his apartment, Naruto sat staring at the gift he had purchased for the platinum blonde. He had really wanted to give it to her. He wanted to see the look on her face when he presented her with the gift. The blond male was sure that she was going to love it. The only thing on Naruto's mind was the blue eyed girl. He thought about everything they had been through over the last few months. Him telling her about the Kyuubi, fighting alongside her against that stranger, spending so much time together that it resulted in them growing closer each day.

"How can I fix this if Ino thinks that I didn't want to kiss her. She thinks that I don't want to make this thing real, but I do."

He twirled the butterfly necklace in his fingers. The color blue reminded him of her eyes. It was pretty just like her. Everything seemed to lead to her. She was here with him right now even if it wasn't in person. He felt her presence. It was like she was haunting in or something.

"Ino." He whispered. "Oh well there's nothing I can do about this now. I better go get that shower."

Ino entered the house to see her mother sitting on the couch. Mrs. Yamanaka looked up to see her daughter. She gave her a smile.

"Hello dear, how was your day? Did you have fun?"

"Um sure, mom." She lied.

Mrs. Yamanaka heard the tone in her daughter's voice. There was clearly something wrong.

"Okay tell me what's wrong."

"Wrong." She repeated. "Why do you think that there's something wrong?"

Ino's mother gave her a knowing look. She motioned for Ino to have a seat besides her. Ino did as her mother asked.

"So what's wrong, Ino honey?"

The blue eyed girl sighed. She knew that her mother would want to know what she was feeling right this moment.

"Mom, I have a problem."

"Yes, I can see that. I'm your mother so tell me what's wrong."

"Well, I'm a girl that had feelings for a guy, that has feelings for someone else."

Ino could think of no other way to sum up the story. That was pretty much it in a nutshell. She had feelings for a boy that had feelings for someone else.

"You're talking about your feelings for Naruto-kun. Did you finally come to terms with them?"

"Yeah." Ino nodded. "I mean I guess that I just wasn't aware of them at first. Or maybe I knew for a while and I just didn't want to admit them. I was scared, I supposed."

The older blond nodded in understanding.

"It was the same for your father and I. It took us both awhile to come to terms with our feelings for one another."

"Maybe so mom, but this is different. Our situations are not the same. Naruto still likes Sakura. He's always liked her. You didn't have another girl in the picture when you were trying to be with daddy. I can't even begin to compete with that. I know when something is a losing battle."

Ino's mother frowned at her daughter's pessimism. Where did all the self confidence go? Did it somehow get thrown out of the window? She hated to see her daughter sound so down. As a mother, it truly hurt her.

"Ino-chan, I didn't raise you to have such low self esteem. Don't speak of yourself like your second best."

"In this situation mom I am. If I told how I really feel. I don't think that it would matter. It wouldn't matter because I'm not her."

"You are not second best dear. I had a feeling from the start that you two would be good for each other. In many ways you and Naruto-kun remind me of your father and I when we were younger. Well, Inoichi might have been a bit more nervous than Naruto."

The blue eyed girl raised an eyebrow in a suspicious manner. She couldn't picture her father being nervous about anything. It was one of those things that she could just never imagine happening.

"Daddy was nervous? I doubt that."

Mrs. Yamanaka chuckled.

"It was a ling time ago. Ino-chan, why don't you give it a chance. You may find that he feels the exact same way that you do."

Ino shook her head indicating a "no". She wanted to be able to trust in her mother's words. Yet, she found that she couldn't.

"I can't. I...I don't want to get hurt." She admitted.

"Ino did you ever think that perhaps he doesn't want to get hurt either. One of you has to make the first move; otherwise, no one will be happy. You'll be stuck wondering what if for the rest of your lives."

She became silent once more. She began debating on whether or not she should tell her mother about what happened today. Ino still couldn't get that kiss out of her mind.

"What's wrong dear?"

"He and I...we um...we kissed."

"Really? Well, now doesn't that show you that his feelings are mutual. I'm sure that Naruto-kun wouldn't just kiss you for no good reason. How did you feel about the kiss?"

The younger blonde stood up from the couch. There was a somewhat far off look in her eyes. She had her back turned to her mother for a moment. She took a second to gather her thoughts. Ino then turned back around to look at her mother.

"Mom, it was the most amazing kiss that I've ever had. I can't even start to describe in words how it made me feel. I wanted that kiss to last forever. I wouldn't have minded to feel his lips against mine again. I..."

"I understand Ino-chan. You must really like him a lot."

"I do." Ino nodded. "Naruto is one of a kind. He's fun, sweet, and once you get to know him it's very hard to forget about him. He's special." She finished.

"Then you need to tell him just how you feel."

"No." Ino shook her head. "I told you mom I don't stand a chance against his feelings for Sakura. It doesn't matter that we kissed when his heart belongs to someone else. Mom thanks for the talk but I kind of want to be alone now."

"Alright dear I understand."

The platinum blonde walked up the stairs to her room. She closed the door and sat down on her bed. The conversation with her mother had been an interesting one. Her mother seemed to believe that Naruto had feelings for her as well. She only saw herself as his friend. Ino didn't think that Naruto liked her in that way. Sure, they had been through a lot together. However, in her heart, she felt that Naruto still had feelings for Sakura and there was no way all of those feelings he had for the pink haired teen could be gone.

"I don't want to get hurt. I don't want to be Naruto's second choice. It's better that I don't tell him how I really feel."

Meanwhile, Naruto decided that he would go back out to Ichiraku's. He was feeling a little on the depressed side. And there was nothing better than a bowl of ramen. It was his answer to any problem.

"Hey Naruto where are you headed?" He soon heard a familiar voice.

"Oh, hi Iruka-sensei. I was just going to get some ramen at Ichiraku's."

"Okay, that sounds good. I'll join you if you don't mind."

"No, I don't mind."

The sensei and his former student sat down together. Iruka could see that there was something on Naruto's mind. It didn't take a genius to figure that out.

"Naruto what's wrong?"

"Wrong." He whispered. "What makes you think that there's something wrong."

"Because you barely touched your ramen. Therefore, I know that there's something wrong."

"Iruka is right, Naruto, you seem down." Teuchi noticed.

Naruto swirled his chopsticks around in his food. He sighed to himself. Iruka knew him very well. Of course, he would be able to tell that something was wrong.

"Do you remember that talk we had awhile back, Iruka-sensei?"

"Sure, I do."

"Well things just got a little more complicated. We um, we kissed."

Iruka smiled for his former student.

"Is that such a bad thing. You seem depressed almost. Was it a bad kiss?"

"No, not at all." Naruto spoke. "It was great and I enjoyed it. I just don't know what to do now. I don't think she wants a relationship with me. I don't think she returns my feelings."

"Naruto, you won't know unless you ask her. By sitting here like this you'll never know for sure."

"She thinks that I didn't want to kiss her. She thinks that I still have feelings for someone else."

Iruka nodded in understanding. Naruto finally decided to eat some of his ramen. It took a moment but Teuchi had remembered something.

"Oh yes, Naruto Ino-chan came in here looking for you earlier. I forgot to mention that."

"Thank you Teuchi-san. I, um caught up with her a little while ago."

Iruka began to see that Ino was the girl that Naruto was talking about.

"Naruto, is it Ino? Is she the one that you have feelings for?"

Naruto only nodded.

"Yeah I guess I didn't want to really acknowledge my feelings for her. Or maybe I always had them and just never realized it. But now I know for sure that I do have them."

"Hm. And she still thinks that you have feelings for someone else. Well, Naruto how do you feel about this other girl? Do you still have feelings for her? I'm afraid that you're the only one that can answer those questions."

Naruto knew that Iruka was right.

"Iruka-sensei, the only thing I know for sure is that I like Ino-chan. There's more to her than I first thought. She's so much more than just a pretty girl. She always speaks her mind, she has so much determination, and she's hard to forget."

The brown haired male finished up his ramen and then turned to the blond.

"It looks like you have your answer. You should find her so that you can tell her how you feel."

"No, Iruka-sensei, I can't. I already told you that I don't think she returns my feelings."

"And I told you that you wont know until you ask her."

"After we kissed Iruka-sensei she said that it shouldn't have happened. So, she must not like me the same way. I can't tell her. I... I don't want to get rejected not again, not like before with Sakura-chan."

It all began to make perfect sense to Iruka. Naruto was reluctant because he didn't want to get rejected. And he seemed down right afraid to ask Ino how she really felt. This wasn't the Naruto that he knew at all.

"Naruto, you can't let that minor detail stop you. You've never let anything stop you before."

"Iruka-sensei, I'm just not sure. I don't want to go screwing things up further. I don't know what to do."

"So, you're just going to sit back and wonder "what if" for the rest of your life. That's not who you are, Naruto"

Before Naruto could say anything, someone's voice was heard.

"Iruka-kun I thought that I heard your voice."

Naruto and Iruka looked up to see Shizune standing there.

"Oh hello, Shizune-chan."

"Hey you, oh hello, Naruto-kun."

"Hey Shizune-nee-chan. Are you looking for Iruka because you two have a date planned or something?"

Both adults blushed slightly turning their attention elsewhere. Naruto's question was already answered.

"Well..." Shizune started.

"If you must know Naruto, the answer is yes."

Naruto nodded giving his former teacher the thumbs up.

"Way to go Shizune-nee-chan; Iruka-sensei, I knew it. I should go I don't want to ruin your date. I'll see you both later, enjoy."

Naruto waved goodbye to Iruka and Shizune then left Ichiraku's. For the most part, he wandered around the village with no particular goal. He thought more about his conversation with Iruka. He wanted to try and make things work with Ino. But what was the point if she wasn't even going to bother listening to him. Naruto felt that this was another losing battle. Before he realized it he was standing outside of Ino's house. He was trying to decide whether or not he should go in. He felt that their earlier conversation had been cut short. And there was still the gift that he had wanted to give to her. He stared up at the house not realizing that Ino could see him from her window.

"Naruto? What is he doing out there?"

Naruto stood there for a few minutes longer before heading back to his own apartment. A part of Ino wanted to call out to him. Nonetheless, she decided not to.

"Naruto." She whispered to no one.

That night in bed the platinum blonde laid awake in bed. She found it very hard to get to sleep. She turned over and tried to sleep in different positions only nothing seemed to be working.

"Damn, what the hell is wrong with me?"

Ino knew where her mind was. Her mind was with Naruto. He seemed to be the only thing that she could really think about.

"He's always on my mind no matter what I do. Did I maybe make a mistake today? Should I have just told him the rest of what I was feeling."

Ino was all mixed up. She wasn't sure about what she should have done. If she had told him one of two things would have happened. He would have either returned her feelings, or he would have rejected her in a gentle manner. She doubted if he would have rejected her harshly. Also maybe on some level Ino wasn't quite ready to admit her feelings to him. She knew that they existed. But she simply couldn't bring herself to tell him yet maybe at this rate she would never be ready. She feared the rejection.

"Why would he want me when he could have Sakura? That was one of the reasons why we started this whole thing." She sighed. "I just never expected to fall for him. What am I going to do?" Ino whispered.

(Ino's Dream)

The young woman felt a gentle breeze fill her room. She was pretty sure that she had closed that window. She opened her eyes when she felt a warm hand on her cheek.

"Hm,?" She looked up to see Naruto standing there.

She instantly sat up. She was more than surprised to see him standing there.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?"

"Hi Ino-chan, I know that it's late but I had to stop by. We need to talk."

Ino motioned for him to sit down besides her. She moved over and he sat down across from her.

"So what's up?"

"We should have talked more earlier, Ino-chan. You left so fast we didn't really get the chance to."

Ino only nodded. She knew that Naruto wasn't about to let this conversation go so easily.

"Why did you run away from me, Ino-chan?"

"I wasn't really running away from you, Naruto."

"But you did. We kissed and you left me. Why did you leave like that?"

Ino sat with her arms around her knees. She avoided the second blonde's gaze.

"Naruto you don't understand. I was overwhelmed. I wasn't expecting for us to kiss."

"Do you think that I was a mistake, Ino? Is that why you ran away from me, from us?"

"What? No, I...um I don't know. It felt too right to be called a mistake. But Naruto I..."

She was cut off when the whisker faced boy pulled her into another kiss. The platinum blonde did nothing to stop him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him ever so closer to her. Moments later, he ended their kiss by pulling away.

"How did that feel? It felt too good to stop right, Ino-chan? Do you still want to run away from us?"

"I'm scared." Ino whispered.

"You're scared." He repeated. "Scared of what of me, the Kyuubi, what?"

"No I'm not scared of you or the Kyuubi. I'm scared to give you all of my heart. I'm scared that you would choose Sakura over me in a heartbeat. I don't want to be hurt Naruto." She shouted at him.

Naruto looked taken aback. He saw the tears in Ino's eyes. All of her emotions were taking over and rushing to the surface. He leaned over and hugged her, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

"You can't promise me that."

He pulled away from her and wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"I can't make you see reason, can I? I suppose that you're just going to have to come to terms with it yourself."

Ino watched ad Naruto walked away from her.

"Naruto, wait?"

"I better go Ino-chan."

"But..."

"I'm going to leave. That's what you want isn't it? You want me to leave. You're too afraid of us, aren't you? Bye."

"No, Naruto!"

The blond girl awoke from her dream. She sat up in bed all of her thoughts on her dream. She sighed to herself.

"That dream felt so real. It felt like he was actually here."

She put her finger to her lips while her mind was still on her dream. A part of her wanted that dream to be real. She wished that Naruto was here with her right now. She wanted to feel his lips pressed against hers again. Was that really so much to hope for? Was she simply living in some type of fantasy world? Naruto would never be hers if he still wanted to be with Sakura. Ino knew that this was a losing battle. She found that she didn't have the will to fight.

"I can't tell him not, when I don't stand a chance." She whispered.

The platinum blonde fell back into her bed and closed her eyes. She had no idea that her blond counterpart was having his own problems sleeping as well.

Naruto gazed into the ceiling. The only things on his mind was his conversation with Iruka and a certain blue eyed girl. His mind seemed to race to her. He found himself wondering if she was alright? Was there a chance that she might be thinking of him too. Naruto knew that Iruka had made some valid points during their discussion. He would have to prove to Ino that his feelings were real. And that they did indeed exist. But there was another problem, Naruto did not wish to be hurt either. And by the way Ino sounded earlier she regretted their kiss.

"She kissed me back. If she didn't want to she wouldn't have kissed me back. Unless she felt sorry for me."

Naruto didn't know what to think anymore. Sure, there was the possibility that her feelings were mutual. Then again there was the possibility that she didn't feel the same way that he did. Yet, that kiss had felt so right, how could she not feel the same things that he did? There was so much on his mind he didn't know where to begin. He closed his eyes and finally started to drift off to sleep.

(Naruto's Dream)

He found himself in the special flower field that Ino liked to go to. He saw the platinum blond standing there with her back turned to him.

"Hey Ino-chan?"

She didn't respond to him instead she remained standing with her back facing him.

"Um...what's wrong?"

She finally turned around. Her aqua colored orbs staring into his cerulean blue pools.

"Naruto." She whispered.

"Are you okay?"

"Do you want me?" She asked honestly.

He stood there for a moment, just watching her. The shorter blonde walked over to him. She placed her arms around his shoulders.

"I asked you a question, Naruto-kun. Do you want me?"

He didn't answer her right away. He looked down a her putting his arms around her waist.

"Yes." He answered. "Yes, I want you."

She then pulled away from him.

"If you want me then you have to fight for me. You have to prove to me that I'm really the one that you want."

Naruto blinked.

"So that's what you want Ino-chan, you want me to fight for you."

"Yeah." She nodded. "I want you to fight for us. We'll never be together if you don't."

"I have to know what I'm fighting for Ino. Why should I be the only one fighting for us? You're the one who regrets our kiss."

Ino flinched at his words.

"Didn't you ever think that maybe I said that for a reason?"

"Huh? What reason?"

"If you can't figure it out then, I'm not going to bother with telling you."

The blue eyed girl turned around and began walking away.

"Hey wait."

"I'm going to go."

"But I don't want you to go."

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"Ino-chan I..."

And with that the young man awoke from his latest dream. Naruto sat up in bed. His hair falling into his eyes. A sigh escaped the blond haired boy. He wondered if maybe there was some truth to that dream.

"What's her reason?" He whispered.

A few days later a certain whisker faced youth was sitting up on the Hokage monument. He liked to come up here to think and right now he needed the time alone. He had a lot on his mind. A gentle breeze filled the air. It was yet another beautiful day.

"It's really nice today."

The weather was perfect but other aspects in life weren't. He hadn't seen Ino at all in the lase few days. He found that he missed her. It was as if she had vanished from the village, either that or she was completely avoiding him because of their kiss. He hated it if that was what she was doing.

"Ino." He thought.

He closed his eyes for a moment. He allowed himself to enjoy the cool, gentle breeze blowing through his blond locks. Just as he was getting lost in his own thoughts, he heard his name.

"Naruto?"