Chapter 3: "IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT, GET THE !$ # OUT THE KITCHEN!" -_-

The week flew by and it was already Tuesday morning and Naruto was going by to see if Sakura and Shino were still up for tomorrow. He reached Sakura's house first. Naruto knocked a few times and waited for Sakura to answer the door. Right before Naruto was about to knock again, Sakura answered the door yawning wrapped in a sheet. She answered the door often like that in the mornings off her days off…

"Good morning Naruto…" Sakura yawned out and twitched as a warm chill zipped through her body when she yawned.

"Wait…Naruto, what are you doing here so early, get in here it's freezing out there…"

"Uh, k." Naruto hadn't really been inside Sakura's house before, it was really warm and cozy and everything inside complimented one thing after another and as soon as you walked in drowsiness set in. Sakura stretched out on the couch.

"What is it?" She asked sleepily. Though Naruto could smell coffee being made.

"I just wanted to know if you were still up for tomorrow?" Naruto sat down on the small couch across from the one Sakura was on.

"Mmmmmnn, I don't think so Naruto, I mean it's like you and Gaara's thing I really wouldn't want to intrude in you guys' thing, you know me and you can spar anytime…" Sakura then turned over facing away from Naruto and he could hear her soft snores.

Naruto guessed Sakura was out, which for some reason he didn't feel upset he kind of felt relieved…or something. Naruto turned off the lights in the room and quietly left and before he made his way to Shino's he got the spare key that Sakura had hidden in a false rock and locked her door then returned the key to the rock. Naruto went over to Shino's next who answered the door already dressed into his ninja gear. Which surprised Naruto a little, since he was wandering around in his evening wear (black pants and black sweater). Shino let Naruto inside.

"Let me guess, you want to know if I'll be participating tomorrow, correct?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"What other reason would you be hear so early, It's not like you come to visit me or anything." Shino added extra emphasis to visit. Naruto got the message.

"Well, uh I-" Shino cut him off.

"Don't worry about it Naruto I was only being a little sarcastic…," There was emphasis on a little. Naruto only sighed and looked down at his feet. Shino then sighed and answered Naruto's question.

"To answer your question no, I won't be able to participate tomorrow. Why won't I be able to? Because my team was assigned a three-day travel mission a few minutes ago and I won't be back in the leaf until at least Friday or Saturday." Shino walked over to the door.

"Plus, you and I can spar anytime…" Shino opened the door and waited for Naruto to go out then locked the door behind them. Naruto told Shino good-bye and wandered around a little more.

He was now lying down on a patch of the misty cool grass of their old sparring spot, luckily it had warmed up a bit by the time he got there. Naruto stretched out star fish style and yawned. His mind wandered, until he decided to go back and reflect on what had happened in the day so far: He cleaned his room, he had some ramen, he had a stupid argument with a homeless man about global warming, and he had verified that Sakura and Shino wouldn't be coming tomorrow. Which for some strange reason, Naruto was kind of hoping they decided not come. He gripped the grass. But why? Usually he wanted to get his friends together for stuff like that. I mean it wasn't wrong for Naruto and Gaara to be only together they were only sparring. But something about it this time made Naruto feel uneasy…

(The bigger the better, the more the merrier, right? It's like I'm counting on being alone with Gaara, which isn't wrong is it…..? No it's not, so what's this weird feeling I'm getting?)

"I don't like it!" Naruto yelled and rolled over on his stomach with his face turned to the left. Naruto's eye's lowered, and he then gripped the grass again and then as he thought about Gaara again he felt a warm, tingling sensation, not the uncomfortable cold tension from before. Which that also made him think about the food he got for them.(His Gaara sense was tingling :3)

"I should get home!" Naruto said quickly as he got up and rushed back to the village. His kitchen was a mess so he decided he should clean it now, or he'd waste too much time trying to clean it tomorrow and be late since they were going early. Not only that but he had to put a meat to simmer that usually took about a day to finish.

Naruto had finished cleaning the kitchen and finally got out the meat he wanted to simmer, but…Naruto didn't know how to cook something like this. Naruto groaned then sat down and thought of someone that knew how to cook…..a girl!

"Yeah that's it, all girls know how to cook, women are always cooking, but who should I get….." Naruto thought some more…Ino!

"Yeah Ino, I've heard from Choji that her cooking is amazing! Although I just need her to do the meat part the rest I can take care of."

Naruto rushed out to go find Ino. He went to her house first but she wasn't there so he figured she'd be at the flower shop. Naruto was running over to the flower shop. He could see Ino at the entrance outside the shop unlocking the doors.

"Hey In-" Naruto was cut off as he tripped over something and fell face first and slid the rest of the way to Ino.

"That was for global warming!" The man yelled as he ran in the opposite direction of Naruto. Naruto sat up.

"You old fool I already told you! Global warming is-" Naruto was cut off by Ino.

"Just leave it alone Naruto, ignore him and I'm pretty sure he'll quit…"

"He won't quit, he's the instigator!" Naruto yelled pointing in the direction the old man had ran. Ino only shook her head.

"Do you need something Naruto?" Ino asked as she unlocked the door to the shop and they walked inside.

"Well, you're not still busy with that wedding order are you?"

"No not really the weddings tonight and the last batch of flowers delivered should already be there by now…Why?"

"Because I was wondering if you could come help me with something…" Naruto said in a speedy tone.

"With whaaaat…" Ino said in a tone stating that he should have told her what it was to begin with.

"Cooking, I need help with cooking."

"You want me to come and cook for you!?"

"No, no, no, I need HELP so you see I'll be doing stuff to…"

"*sigh* Alright fine, I'm coming…" They both left the flower shop and went to Naruto's place (of course she locked the shop back.)

Once they arrived at Naruto's, Ino couldn't help it, she had to…

"Naruto this place is a mess!" Ino said in a tone, almost as if a mother were speaking to her child.

"You should really clean up more…" She suggested as she involuntarily started picking up and throwing away pieces of trash and dirty laundry in the hamper(perfect housewife material HO!)

"Well, I cleaned my room and the kitchen this morning…"

"Yeah, and now you should start on the whole house…Let's just take the food to my place and fix it there."

Naruto sighed and they gathered the food supplies and went over to Ino's place. While the meat was put on to simmer the two prepared the other foods that didn't require the same treatment as the meat did.

"Who's all this for anyway?" Ino asked as she wrapped another tempura sushi to go with their tempura roll.

"It's for me…"

"And…"

"…"

"Well you and who else because I know you're not gonna eat all this by yourself, and the only time you'd ever eat for two people would be when your shoving your face with ramen."

"….."

"Come on Naruto tell me, I'm opening the shop lat because of you…"

"…"

"Fine I'll just- Wait a second this is for Gaara isn't it?"

"…!" Ino could tell by the look on his face that it was.

"Well, why didn't you just say that, quit acting all weird about it, sheesh!"

"…"

"SAY SOMETHING OR GET THE #!$ OUT OF MY KITCHEN!"

"AAAAAAGH! Yeah alright, alright it's for Gaara, when he comes out to spar with me tomorrow!"

"See that wasn't so hard was it…"

"What's going on in here?" Ino's mom walked into the kitchen.

"Nuthin'…" The two answered in unison.

The two finished preparing the other foods and Naruto left to take the finished items to the Dumpling shop and asked if they could keep fresh for him until tomorrow. Ino also said she'd tell Naruto when the meat was finished so they could prepare the other foods.