Chapter seven: Trying for perfection.

Ino stared at the mirror before her. Sakura sat on her bed, smirking and giving her opinion every now again as Ino got dressed in something else.

"What about this one?"

It was around the tenth outfit that Sakura finally snapped. "I told you already, Ino, the third one was the best!"

The outfit she was talking about was an innocent, white dress that fell to Ino's knees in a perfect way.

Ino sighed. "Sorry if I'm driving you crazy, but it needs to be perfect."

Sakura grinned. "Why? From what you've told me, you don't even like the guy."

Ino gasped. "I like Sasori! I just have no intention of falling in love with him, that's all."

"Same thing."

Ino rolled her eyes, changing back into the third outfit that she had already tried on. "Yeah. I think we have a winner."

Sakura's left eye twitched visibly. "IF YOU HAD JUST LISTENED TO ME, WE COULD HAVE BEEN DONE HOURS AGO!" she shrieked.

Ino snickered. "Why? You got plans with Naruto, or something?!"

Sakura's cheeks flushed. She said nothing, saying it all.

"Yep," Ino continued, "Called it."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Ino."

The blonde in question rolled her eyes playfully at her best friend.

"Hey," Sakura said suddenly, "I met this really cool girl three days ago. She's from Suna and a genin."

Ino chuckled. "Let me guess; she hurt herself doing training or something."

Sakura chuckled, thinking of the REAL reason why Matsuri had been in the hospital. "Well, that's one way to put it; but it's more along the lines of someone wanting her dead, so they sent an assassin after her."

Ino choked on air, but Sakura took no note, continuing, "I heard that the guy who brought her to the hospital is now guarding her But strange thing..."

Ino was now thoroughly interested. "What? What? Come on, you gotta tell me."

"...She didn't seem to like him. Even though he saved her and he was TOTALLY hot."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Word of advice, don't tell Naruto, or else he'll kill him."

Sakura laughed, knowing full well what her boyfriend was like. "Oh, I know. But I love him to bits!"

Ino shrugged. "Yeah. You do."

"Well, have fun on your date. I should probably go. Naruto will be waiting for me."

Sakura hugged her best friend, then ran out of her room, down the stairs, out the door, all the way to Naruto's house.

Ino watched her go, smiling.

I hope you have your perfect date. Let's just hope my date turns out as good as yours does.

Ino entered the shop, making her mother glance up. She smiled at her daughter. "You gonna be okay?"

Ino nodded. "Of course. Besides, Sasori will be with me."

Ino's mother smiled. "Yeah. I just worry. Okay, I'll leave this to you then."

Ino nodded. She watched her mother leave.

"She seems nice," came a calm, familiar voice.

Ino whipped around to face Sasori and she gasped. He did not look the way she thought he would.

He was wearing a black tux, his hair seemed a bit less messy than usual. He gently scuffed his shoes on the ground.

Was he... nervous?

"I hope I'm not too late," he muttered.

Ino shook her head, resisting the sudden urge to laugh. "No. You're five minutes early."

His scuffing immediately stopped. "Good. Is there anything I can do for you?"

She shook her head once again. "Nah. We're not really busy. See?" she gestured around the store, which seemed to have only about three people in it, excluding the two in question.

He nodded.

"I've got a chair right here, if you wanna sit down." She gestured once again to the small seat on her other side.

He nodded, walking behind her, and sitting down. "Is it usually this empty around this time of day?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "I guess it depends,. really. But right now; yeah, people most likely want to be with their families'. This is around the holidays- which, as you well know are one of the only times people get days off."

He understood. "So business won't be booming?"

She shook her head. "Nah. But my family's totally fine without it. We always have at least ONE year-round customer. Although, winter gets a bit tough, I suppose. Not many flowers bloom in winter."

He nodded quietly, not quite sure what next to say.

Ino got there first. "Let's stop talking about business stuff, okay? Too boring. So, what's your favorite color?"

He was taken aback by the new conversational turn. "What?"

Ino rolled her eyes at his cluelessness. "Oh my God, this is a date, Sasori! Please tell me you remember that you're suppose top get to know the person you're having your date with?!"

He sensed a bit of teasing in her voice, but also a bit of nervousness. "Sorry," he said, looking down somewhat, "I don't really go on dates."

This time, it was Ino's turn to be taken aback. "Huh? Why?"

He shrugged. "I guess I'm always busy," he paused in order to give her a small shrug, "Besides, I guess there's no one that has come even close to making me want to get to know them."

Ino rolled her eyes. "You know, if I didn't know you any better, I'd say that you're a narcissist."

He chuckled wryly. "Yeah. Something like that."

She gasped. "You, Sir, are shameless. How does your mother ever deal with you?"

Sasori thought back to when his parents were still alive. He'd been so young, so naive. He hadn't yet understood the real world and its many workings. He was still to young, too dumb to do anything but make his puppets. They were the only comfort he ever got.

"I don't know," he answered aloud, and while he felt a twinge of sadness, he changed his tone to amusement instead, sensing that Ino was joking and that he should do the same.

She laughed. "She sounds cool. My mom makes me want to be girly! How stupid is that?!"

He didn't quite understand. "But... you're a girl. Aren't you suppose to act like one? You are a girl... right?"

She rolled her eyes mockingly. "No!" She cried sarcastically, "I'm a dude." She broke out laughing, "Nah, I'm a girl. But it's not always good to act like one when being a ninja. For one thing, we're not suppose to cry... so, basically whenever I want to cry and I can't, I'm telling my hormones to screw themselves."

Sasori resisted the urge to laugh. Ino was hilarious! Every word that fell out of her mouth was either dripping with sarcasm or was meant to be mocking. She did not have a filter!

"You're ridiculous," he muttered fondly. "You're so strange, so weird."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I get that a lot actually."

"Do most people also say that it's endearing?"

She shrugged. "More or less. Now, stop trying to get out of the question. What's your favorite color?"

He sighed. "Red. You?"

"Purple."

"Hm. Yeah, purple looks good on you."