Note: The unplanned hiatus of this is over, I believe. Right after I began this, my life became unexpectedly hectic (university and wedding nonsense, sorry) and it's become so neglected. Anyway, I know next to nothing about cooking and I've never owned a chabudai (a Japanese short-legged table) so there may be inaccuracies in this chapter. Also, I'm trying to keep the timeline a wee bit fluid so things may be boring and/or confusing. Beware.
I can see that now. I did this to myself. I threw my love around. I barely noticed if you returned it. As I leaned ever closer, you leaned more away. All that you wouldn't give, I thought I could just take. – Hey (the blow)
Seeing that gorgeous man standing outside her apartment made Ino's heartbeat speed up monumentally. Was that the word she would have used to describe it? Monumentally. Sure, sounds about right. His dark hair striking against his pale features all present as he leaned against the outside of her apartment next to her front door. She did have a headache from working, but this could be the right medicine she needed. He seemed to appear when she needed him most, lately.
We must be on the same wave length, she thought as she tried to ignore her migraine and let him follow her into her home.
"I have only been receiving low level missions lately. I'm not sure why, but it gives me the chance to see my friends more often. We're friends, right?"
She bit her bottom lip to suppress a grin and placed a cup of tea in front of him. "We're good friends, Sai. Would I make out with just anyone?"
He seemed thoughtful for a moment before smiling and saying, "Yes."
Ino's jaw dropped. "Hey!" She smacked Sai playfully on the shoulder. Was he flirting with her or just being mean? She didn't really care.
Her kitchen grew quiet as he took a drink of his tea. She watched him lift the cup to his lips to blow on the hot liquid. She was aware of how much he resembled her former love. There was a big difference this time, she told herself. This one returned her affections.
Wasn't that enough?
Date Four
"Now, get out some sugar and rice flour, Lee." Ino ordered, slipping a boring brown apron on. It didn't clash with her outfit color wise, but it was far too large and made her look like she was wearing a sack.
"Yes!" He rushed around her, opening cabinets and placing the ingredients on his kitchen counter next to some that Ino had brought over. "Anything else?"
Surveying the items before her, Ino shook her head. "Nope. It looks good." She turned to him, making as serious an expression as she could manage. "Are you ready?"
Lee, wearing an identical plain brown apron of his own, nodded exaggeratedly.
"Okay, first. . ." Ino pulled out a slip of paper that Hinata had given her earlier that day. It listed the recipe and methods for making sesame dumplings. Tenten's favorite food, Ino thought, delighted at her newest idea. She quickly read the first part of the directions then conveniently stuck the paper onto his fridge with a magnet. "First, you need to toast the sesame seeds."
"Yosh!" He immediately put the seeds into the pan and turned on his stove.
Ino stood by, hoping she wouldn't have to do much more than casually observe the whole process. She'd told him that a definite way into a woman's heart is to cook food for her. Then she had proposed the challenge that if he didn't make the food correctly, he would never get over Sakura and was doomed to live a lonely life in misery.
Then she planned to challenge him to give it to someone he knew who would like it. Of course that would be Tenten. Then the fireworks would spring forth and burst, a sun would set, waves would crash against a beautiful seaside. Lee and Tenten together forever.
Ino couldn't help but snicker to herself before Lee knocked her out of her thoughts with a loud, "Are they supposed to smell like this, Ino-chan?"
Heaving a sigh as if this were the most laborious task ever given to her, she pulled the pan away from the flames of the stove before turning it off. "Yes, that means they're done. Next, mince them."
"Mince?" Lee just looked at her, eyes wide.
"Yeah, like finely chop them."
Still just a blank stare from the man. She reached up and smacked him on the forehead. "Come on! I'm not the one trying to fall out of love here! Grind the damn seeds."
"Of course!" He dumped the seeds onto his counter. She didn't feel like pointing out that he would need a cutting board or something to keep from grinding the seeds into nothing but stains on his countertop. If he wanted to leave marks on his counter it was his own problem. It was a shame, though, because Lee had a pretty nice apartment from what Ino could tell even if she hadn't seen much of it yet.
When he pounded one of his fists onto the seeds, she jumped.
What is he doing!? She watched him beat the seeds a few more times, wondering how he wasn't busting apart the tiles of the counter in the process, before he stopped, looking over at her expectantly.
"Is this minced enough?"
She gave the pile of dusty crumbs a once over, deciding that it was good enough. "Sure, although," she said, looking back up at him. "Usually you'd use a suribachi for this kind of thing but whatever, it's your call." She glanced at the recipe paper, noticing that it was next to an old photo of his team when they were all chunin. Gai and Lee were on each side of a sullen looking Neji, Tenten standing just in front of the Hyuuga, an unmatchable grin upon her blushing face.
"That was taken during Neji's fifteenth birthday party!" Lee told her with a grin. "It was a fun night. He was not at all happy with the gifts that Gai-sensei and I gave him."
The blonde turned her attention back to the man next to her. "What did you give him?"
"Gai gave him advice on wooing Tenten," Lee began, then he leaned forward and finished in a quieter voice. "I gave him permission to woo her. She is like my sister so I knew he needed my blessing first."
Ino's face fell. She huffed in annoyance, and read the next step of the recipe. "Back to work, lover boy. Put that sesame dust into a wok."
While Lee continued to cook, Ino stared at the photo and considered for just a second that maybe her plan was futile. Nonsense! I'm Ino. Matchmaker extraordinaire. The lovely – no, coquettishly beautiful heroine of this tale. She smiled to herself and nodded resolutely.
–
Once everything was finished, a very messy Lee served Ino a bowl of sesame dumplings in ginger syrup. Ino couldn't say it was her favorite food, but since it wasn't really for her and he had such a large, hopeful grin, she thought it would be best to just try it out and hope for the best.
Lee's expectant gaze caused her to be a bit dramatic when sampling the food. She took a quick bite and narrowed her eyes as she smacked her lips. "Hmm. . . I see." She looked down at the dumpling between her chop sticks then up at the anxious man. "Lee, this is wonderful."
"Yosh!" He literally jumped, beaming with pride. He sat across from her at his kitchen table, finally taking a rest for the first time since she showed up at his apartment earlier that afternoon.
Ino finished the first dumpling with an appreciative smile. "Have you made these before?"
Still beaming, Lee shook his head. "I have not! But now you must admit I met your challenge."
"Yeah," she conceded. "You won't live a terrible life as a lonesome hermit after all. Especially if you give this to a certain lucky lady." She pushed the bowl across the table to him, hoping he would take the hint.
"Lucky lady?" His large eyebrows rose in question.
Ino rested her chin on her hand, leaning lightly on the table. "You worked so hard on this meal. Can you think of anyone who would really love it if you shared this with them?" Really, do I need to be any more obvious, Lee?
"I made it for you, though," he said, his expression slowing revealing disappointment.
She snorted, waving a hand dismissively. "This was just practice for when you give some to your real girlfriend. So you don't know anyone you would want to share this with?" She reached across the table and picked up another dumpling, savoring the natural sugar that the ginger syrup added. She hadn't had anything sweet in so long, she was beginning to wonder if holding off of her pudding intake was such a great idea.
"No, I do not," Lee looked away from her, being a bit dramatic if you asked Ino.
Fine. I don't know why you're acting this way, but fine, she thought before finally voicing the main reason she wanted to have this date in the privacy of his apartment. She needed to have a long talk with the man in front of her. "We've been invited to go on a group date."
He returned his gaze to her, one large brow quirked this time. He didn't say anything so she assumed he wanted her to continue.
"We were invited by Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto and Hinata will be there, too. It's tomorrow afternoon at Sasuke's house." Ino calmly placed the chop sticks on the table, peeking up at him through her eyelashes. She wanted to gauge his reaction. How he reacted to this affected what she would do next.
"Great!" He was back to grinning and picked up the chopsticks to eat some of the dumplings himself.
She had a feeling he would like this idea. He had been keeping his distance from her best friend ever since that time in the bar weeks before. Surely he was missing her. "Excited to see Sakura?"
"Yes!" was his reply before he sheepishly scratched his head, shrugging, and amended, "I mean, not really."
She slammed a hand on the table, giving him a severe look. "You better not be! I'm sorry to tell you this, but her forehead is still larger than her bra size." She knew he missed Sakura, but this fact made her feel like her efforts so far had been useless. Of course, with Lee, things couldn't simply be "out of sight, out of mind". Withdrawing her hand, she leaned back in her chair, giving him a long look. "What do you like so much about Sakura anyway?"
Lee blushed at the question. "I knew I loved her as soon as I saw her. I did not even know her name, yet she filled my heart with such a power of youth I had never felt before. Then I came to learn she has a beautiful heart as well. That is what I like about her."
Ridiculous romantic babble. Ino hated it. Mushy stuff like that made Ino's stomach churn in odd ways. She deemed it the worst way of flattering a girl. She loved Sai's way of asking for kisses directly, skipping any unneeded flamboyant language. If Lee was so in love, she knew he was going to have a hard time on the double date. "This will be a big challenge, Lee."
His eyes lit up at that. "I will be the most romantic man on the date, and the tables will be turned!" A dumpling flew past Ino's head as he swung the chop sticks around as he spoke. "If I get over Sakura, she will fall in love with me! Then, I surely could not disappoint her so I will accept her love. She will be my girlfriend again!" He triumphantly continued to eat another dumpling.
Ino gave him a hard smack across the face, dumplings spewing out of his mouth. "You idiot! That defeats the purpose of what I've been teaching you this whole time!"
Rubbing the mushy remains of the dumpling off of his chin with one hand, the other hand rubbing his red cheek, Lee gave her a pleading look. "Ino-chan, I know you have been helping me a lot. I truly appreciate it, and I will return the favor one day, I promise to you! But I cannot go against my heart. Sakura is important to me."
Ino couldn't help but feel slightly distressed at his confession. "This isn't a matter of following your heart, Lee! You may be serious about Sakura, but she is serious about Sasuke. She's been in love withhim since the academy days."
"That is true, but – "
"Let me finish!" She huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "If you have any respect for her, let her go. It's the best thing you can do for unrequited love. I would know."
The two glared at each other quietly for a few moments before Lee's features softened. "You let go of Sasuke."
Releasing her own glare, Ino slowly nodded. "It's all I could do. I still care about him, but things are better. I'm over him now."
"How did you do it?" Lee questioned, his dark eyes flickering across her face, searching her eyes for an answer.
"I don't know." She fixed him into a hard stare. She really didn't know; she didn't like to think about it because the more she let it cross her mind, the more she thought she hadn't really gotten over the Uchiha at all. Sai occupied that place in her brain now. He was a good replacement. A replacement who showed interest in return.
And, yes, that was enough.
Tenten stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her complexion wasn't perfect, but she didn't have any noticeable blemishes. Her hair wasn't silky, but it was smooth and soft. Sure her features weren't anything exotic, brown eyes and brown hair. But they weren't ugly by any standards either. Sighing in resignation, Tenten accepted that she was just absurdly average.
Too average for Lee? She asked herself when she began to tie her hair up as she got ready for the day. She tried to dismiss the negative thoughts again. Maybe this would be the day she would just tell Ino how she felt about the situation. Then again, did she have any right to do that? Lee was her best friend. If he was happy, why should she stop it? Besides, Ino was her friend, too, even if the blonde bitch was dating her crush.
No matter how many times she thought about it, she knew she didn't want to date Lee. Not yet. She just couldn't stand the thought that he was dating Ino. Couldn't he wait for Tenten to come around to dating again? Her feelings for him were strong enough for her to be jealous; she just needed time to get comfortable with the idea of dating. Then she could love him for all he was worth.
To her, Lee was worth more than a dare.
"If I fail to get over Sakura by the end of this date, I will go on 300 more dates!" Lee shouted as he walked with Ino toward the Uchiha compound where they were to meet the others.
Yeah, I think not. Ino thought from beside him, wishing he were quieter sometimes. She let him wear his jumpsuit so he wouldn't have the added discomfort of clothes he wasn't used to. He was already nervous about seeing Sakura for the first time in so long. Ino even wore a short dress in a similar shade of green to compliment him. Sure, it wasn't her color, but she wanted to look good with her date!
As Sasuke greeted them at the entrance of his house, Lee slipped an arm around Ino's waist, pulling her to his side. Ino fought back a surprised yelp. She was a kunoichi for Kami's sake. But Lee was strong, and being pressed to his side suddenly made her feel smaller.
"Welcome, Ino, Lee." Sasuke seemed entirely unfazed by Lee's overly gracious grin and Ino's confused expression and allowed them inside once they removed their shoes.
It seemed as though Ino and Lee were the last ones to arrive because Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura were already there, sitting around a long chabudai. Lee sat on the opposite end of the table from Sakura, being very obvious about not looking in her direction. Ino sat between him and Naruto, smiling at everyone and trying to ignore Sakura's grin aimed at Lee.
Ino felt a pang of guilt in her gut. Here she was trying to help Lee get over someone, this would be like a mini torture session. She's seen and been apart of her fair share of torture, but the pang she felt gave her a feeling of hatefulness toward Sakura for wanting to complicate Lee's progress. Ino would help Lee even if it drove her crazy! She didn't realize she was in such deep thought until everyone at the table became quiet and looked at the newest additions to the group.
Sai smiled minutely when he sat on the opposite side of Lee, joined shortly by Tenten who looked completely uncertain. She slowly looked at everyone at the table, stopping on Lee who greeted them before anyone else as Sasuke finally joined them.
"Hey!" Lee exclaimed, slapping an arm on Sai's back. The friendly gesture was accepted as Sai returned the energetic man's grin. "You have come with Tenten as a couple?"
Ino leaned forward to look past Lee, staring intently at both Tenten's and Sai's expression as he answered. The brunette's eyes widened and Sai's face became blank, and Ino could tell immediately that Lee's assumption was incorrect. Why would Sai come to a group date anyway? Ino thought it was a bit shitty of him to show up with another woman. Didn't they have something between them? She cared a lot for Sai, and this kind of hurt.
Yes, alright, she was here with Lee, but Sai didn't exactly know that. He just knew they were there together, not that they had come as a couple. She waited for his answer, hoping he would deny any relationship with Tenten.
"Yes," Sai began, "But it is mostly because we didn't want to be left out."
Tenten's expression changed from uncertain to annoyed in a flash. "Yeah, it's a date for us." She nudged Sai in the side but it had absolutely no affect on him. Why did he have to mention the last part? That was the excuse she gave him to justify their coming. Immediately after she learned Ino and Lee were going to be there, she wanted to be apart of the event. Sasuke and Sakura hadn't invited them, but Naruto had mentioned it to Sai who relayed it to her.
"Well. . . We're glad you came," Hinata expressed with a warm smile.
The first several hours of the group date involved heavy eating and drinking, so everyone with the exception of Ino, Lee, and Sasuke who opted out of drinking altogether, were slightly drunk. Ino watched with annoyance as Sai would share drinks and food with Tenten who giggled and blushed just a bit too much, if you asked Ino. Every time Sai would say something to Tenten, the weapons mistress would gaze over at the couple in green, making sure Ino was paying attention, and then proceed to fawn over the pale man. Nothing goes unnoticed by Ino, so every sigh, every touch between the two were like slaps to the blonde's face.
Ino slipped her arms loosely around Lee's left arm, clinging to him like she had always done to Shikamaru to annoy him when they were younger. He looked at her curiously, making no move to get away from her.
"Hey, loverboy," she purred, looking up at him and batting her eyes. If Tenten was going to get flirty with Sai, Ino could play the same game. She didn't know why Tenten was so flirtatious with Sai, but it was making her uncomfortably jealous. She hoped to kill two birds with one stone by making them both jealous in return. At least, she wanted Sai to get jealous, too. Whether or not he actually would was another thing. "You're so strong. You make me feel like a delicate flower." Lee blushed lightly at Ino's words before opening his mouth to say something in return.
Unfortunately, he was interrupted. "So, Lee, I haven't seen you around, lately."
For the first time during the night, Lee looked at Sakura. Though it wasn't visible, Ino could feel him tense.
"I have been training a lot lately," he responded, smiling despite himself. He had missed seeing Sakura.
"More like he's been hanging out with Ino a lot lately," Naruto added to the conversation in between bites of food. He was the only one still eating. He would probably be eating until Sasuke showed them out.
"That's the damn truth," Tenten murmured. She hadn't meant to say it out loud, but as soon as all eyes were on her, she realized her accident.
Sai blinked a couple of times before saying, "That upsets you."
Immediately, the brunette became defensive. "Lee loses focus when he's infatuated with girls, of course I don't enjoy that on the training grounds. He's less of a challenge."
Ino felt Lee's arm slip away from her in one quick motion as he leaned toward his teammate in surprise. "Is this true, Tenten?!" He seemed completely horror-stricken at the idea of being less of a challenge than he had thought.
Tenten, enjoying that his full attention was on her for the first time that night, nodded sagely and maybe a bit exaggeratedly.
If Lee's eyes could get any wider, they would have then. "We have to train right now!" He shot up, grabbed her arm, and they ran from the room. The group left behind sat in silence once the sound of sandals being shuffled on and the front door being opened and closed sounded through the house.
"I think we should call it a night," Sasuke announced, standing up from the table and stretching.
Sai offered to walk Ino to her apartment, and she enjoyed the company, feeling that the group date was a triumphant success even though she did feel a bit empty with the way Lee had lefft. It was so sudden and rude, she thought. He didn't even look in her direction before just getting up and leaving. She walked slower than she normally would, tossing away all thoughts on the matter and relishing in the attention from the guy she fancied.
"You are very close to Rock Lee," Sai stated, giving her what she would consider an inquisitve look.
"I suppose so." She shrugged, her hair swaying behind her shoulders. "You seemed pretty intimate with Tenten tonight." She fought to keep her voice from sounding accusatory. She wasn't Sai's girlfriend. She didn't know what they had, if anything. And she sure as hell wasn't going to assume they were something, even if it was what she really wanted.
"Intimate?" Sai thought this over for a moment before nodding. "We were very friendly tonight. It was fun."
Ino felt a second pang that night. This time, it was in her heart. "Yeah, it was a fun time."
"I like having fun with you," Sai admitted as they approached her apartment and stopped walking.
"Just like you enjoy having fun with Tenten?" Ino faced him and felt like her heart was dropping into a pit somewhere within her.
Sai looked troubled for a moment before shaking his head. "No, being with Tenten is a different kind of fun."
A different kind of fun? Is that a good thing? Ino's mind raced. She was too emotionally tired at the moment to think about all of this, though and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Goodnight, Sai."
As she walked away, he called to her, "Can I join you tonight?" She looked back at him, pausing in her ascension to her apartment.
"Not tonight." Definitely not tonight. Is that the only kind of fun he considers me?
Closing and locking the door behind her, she flopped onto her small couch with a heavy sigh. From feeling abandoned by Lee to worried that Sai and Tenten were suddenly a thing, she suddenly had a lot to think about. A strong heroine would know how to get through this, and Ino wasn't going to disappoint herself.
Sweat covered Tenten's face and neck as she lied on her back on the cool grass of the training ground. Lee was somewhere nearby doing complex push ups that always made Tenten roll her eyes. When she finally saw him appear above her in the darkness, she smiled.
"You're suddenly my toughest opponent tonight, Lee," she complimented. "I've missed this determined side of you."
He didn't sit beside her so she stood up to made it easier to converse. He seemed a lot less concerned about his apparent lack of strength than before so it looked like he had gotten it all out of his system.
"Was I really in that bad of shape?" He asked, puzzled at why Gai-sensei would allow this to happen.
She nodded slowly, although this was a complete lie. He hadn't been slacking off in training at all, but if the only kind of attention he was willing to give her at the moment involved sparring, then she was going to take what she could get and use it to her advantage.
"About you and Ino," she began before hesitating.
He waited, his wide eyes searching her face curiously.
"Are you happy?" She finished, looking down at her feet.
Lee didn't expect that but responded immediately. "Ino has helped me a lot. She has a better heart than I had thought."
A better heart, Tenten thought, a cross between annoyed and amused. He always brings up girls' hearts.
"Could you be happy with my heart?" she blurted, looking back up at his face.
This caught him off guard more, and he took a moment to answer. "What do you mean?"
"Um, just," She gave him a hopeful look. "Just, Lee, my heart, there's a lot of love in it. Could you just- could you wait for me?"
Lee wasn't stupid; he had an idea of what she meant. He didn't want to disappoint her because he knew what she said was true. She did have a lot of love in her heart. So he reluctantly nodded yes.
Then her lips were on his.
Sorry for any grammar mistakes and that most characters are pretty flat. I'm just writing for fun, and I'm not as practiced as I'd like. Thanks for reading!