Searching For More
By TheCrackShipper
I'd like to thank PretendingxPepper, kiwi4me, Aikori Shukrai, mi5tan, shelvesinthecloset, shyguy1818, Celtic Reaper, and yansuke for the wonderful reviews! They made me so happy and this chapter is dedicated to all of you guys. A big thanks to those who put this on their favorites and their alerts as well! Thank you!
Chapter 1: Nowheresville
Ino had always known her shopaholic tendencies would be the death of her. If she ever needed a hip transplant when she was 90 (she prayed she'd never live that long) she wouldn't be able to because she'd have spent all her money on cool shoes. She was weak when it came to the perfect pair of shoes, but now she was mentally cursing out her expansive closet.
Sakura had looked up the most culturally unaware little town in the middle of nowhere-Konoha- for Ino to take her mini "break". It was perfect, no one had ever heard of Ino there. She'd be free of the paparazzi and heartless ex boyfriends and their vindictive, new girlfriends. She was carrying around a fake I.D that said her name was Sakura Li (Sakura had a twisted sense of humor) but she was a crafty one. Everyone and their mom were named Sakura and it would let Ino blend into the crowd with such a common name. The plane ride had gone smoothly, she had landed at the nearest airport, and she had hailed a taxi. Damn, that was difficult, she'd never hailed a taxi in her life, she'd had a chauffeur since she was seven. The taxi driver had dropped her off at the gates of Konoha, leaving her to deal with her very large suitcase.
Sakura had insisted Ino pack one suitcase. She'd never manage to be inconspicuous if she dragged around her entire wardrobe, and Ino had agreed, albeit very reluctantly. But now she wished she had packed lighter. Even though she was very well built on account of her excessive training regimen the suitcase might as well have been made out of lead. Dragging it all the way to the hotel she reserved was not appealing at the moment, especially since she was so jetlagged. Usually if she needed something done for her she'd turn on the charm or she'd flash her wallet but ever since the he-who-must-not-be-named incident she'd temporarily sworn of guys. She couldn't pull out her wallet because from what Sakura had told her, civilians didn't bribe people. It was quite the conundrum she was in, but she didn't have a choice. Firmly, she planted both hands on the handle, took a deep breath and heaved. She managed to lift the ready to burst suitcase a few inches from the ground, and slowly, cautiously made her way down the sidewalk.
It was a quaint, little town, Konoha, charming in its complete normalcy. Ino would have to go sightseeing later because right now, she was fairly sure she was going to pull a muscle, and words like 'quaint' and 'charming' weren't exactly running through her head.
Open markets and side street performers abounded, and it was all so very unprofessional. It would seem that every single business in the area was family owned. How self sufficient.
Suddenly a 6 foot something hulk of person hurtled into Ino. She fell over onto the suitcase, the suitcase, exploded releasing makeup bags, certain toiletries, her shoe collection, and, embarrassingly enough, her underwear landed on the street surrounding them. Ino was enraged, she was boiling mad. Back home she was famous for her temper. One time the paparazzi had a field day when she had gone kung fu at a high society party when some creeper had tried to grab her ass. She turned to her assailant, her blue eyes blazing.
"Watch where you're going d-bag!"
"Oh man, I'm sorry miss!"
They spoke simultaneously and Ino flushed in embarrassment. She hadn't expected him to be nice about it. She lived in the city. But he smiled good-naturedly.
"Well, let this d-bag help you with your stuff," he offered, and began to collect Ino's things from the streets. Ino was left nearly speechless, but she began to collect her things off the sidewalk. Surprisingly enough, people didn't grumble about having their route blocked, some people even stopped to help! Ino would have found it nice if she hadn't caught a few guys staring at her bras, and she could have sworn she had seen one guy off with a pair of underwear. Pervs.
But a lot of people had stopped the help, and even more surprising no one had tried to shove them aside! That was more than she expected out of anyone. She certainly wasn't that benevolent. Once they had managed to shove all her possessions back into the suitcase, she profusely thanked everyone who had helped. They were all extremely gracious, waving it off as though it had been nothing. The last one in line was the sheepish blonde man who had barreled into her.
"Let me carry your bag to wherever it is your going," he insisted, taking a hold of her bag, not giving her a chance to protest. She crossed her arms against her chest, he lifted the suitcase as though it was nothing. She had chipped a well manicured nail dragging that thing through the streets, and she certainly prided herself on her athletic ability. He shifted the purple suitcase to the other hand.
"Where is it you're staying?"
Ino rummaged in the tight pockets of her designer jeans and fished out a small slip of paper where Sakura had written down the address. She squinted to try and make out the illegible scrawl.
"Hokage Resorts?"
The man's eyebrows shot up, and he nearly dropped the suitcase. Ino felt her stomach dropping, she was beginning to panic.
"What, what is it?"
He shook his head and continued down the sidewalk. Ino had to jog to keep up with his long strides. How could he walk that fast with the freaking demon suitcase?
"Nothing, it's just," he hesitated slightly, as though embarrassed, "It's just a little pricy, that's all, most people from around here can't afford it."
Ino cursed under her breath, she wanted to blend in and stay away from the luxurious and extravagant. When she had seen the price it was certainly nothing compared to the rent on her apartment and it was the only hotel in the damn place. She was going to have to think fast.
"Well how pricy?" she asked, turning on the actress inside of her, "I'm kind of on a budget and I'm going to be her a while, but the guidebooks said it was the only hotel in the area."
She widened her eyes a bit, and made her chin tremble a bit. It was the perfect damsel in distress look that she'd used in her first movie.
The man frowned, obviously angry, "Those thieves pay for the guidebooks to print them, they're really big on paying millions for advertisement instead of working to improve the village."
He turned to her, a hard steely glint to his own blue eyes, "I know a place where you can rent an apartment for a month for a day at that scam convention."
Perfect, absolutely perfect, she was saving money and she would be merging into the background without a problem.
"Thank you," Ino smiled winningly, she knew how to gain someone's trust. It was easy when you were as innocent looking as she was. He didn't seem to buy it though, because his facial expression didn't take on that 'I'm a sap for pretty blonde girls'. He abruptly spun around and headed in the other direction.
"So what are you here for?" he asked conversationally, waving at the occasional market seller.
"Just to take a break," Ino decided the truth wouldn't do any harm, "Things were really going bad back home, and I went through a nasty break up, and I thought this place seemed so quiet."
He chuckled, and peered at her out of the corner of his eye, "You'll find it phenomenal here miss, Konoha's just got that special something that everyone falls in love with, you'll end up staying here, mark my words."
Ino mentally rolled her eyes. As if. There was no way she was that depressed. If she knew herself like she thought she did, she would be up and running after a month, and even another week in this dull place would drive her insane. She was made for the fun and the exciting. This was nice, but the city and he job were what captivated her attention.
"Your ex has got be insane," he commented goodnaturedly.
Ino felt herself puff up a bit, "Well, I certainly think so."
The man threw back his head and laughed, a deep throated, genuine laugh, "It's nice to see a girl so confident in herself; most girls I've seen are devastated after break ups."
Ino had to stop herself from saying that she was devastated, that she was so heartbroken she had to run away from her problem instead of facing him.
"I'm Naruto," he stopped to shake her hand.
Ino held out her own hand, her mind was still on Shikamaru, "Ino,"
Oh crap. Now would be a great time for her resourceful side to kick in, "Is my nickname, Li Sakura is my real name, but it's so plain don't ya think?" she tilted her head, and prayed that he'd buy it.
He smiled a wide smile that reached his eyes, "I agree, Can I call you Ino?"
Ino doubted she'd see this guy enough to give him a chance, but she nodded encouragingly, "Of course, you've been so kind to me."
Naruto scratched his forehead, "It's not a problem, after I ran into you like that, anyone else around here would have done it."
Ino continued walking, Naruto followed, "In the city, no one would even think of doing what you did."
"I'm sure if it was a guy they would have," Naruto pointed out, "Some guys would kill for the chance to talk to a girl like you."
It seemed as though he was flirting with her, hoping to catch some action on the rebound. He obviously didn't get the sworn off guys memo. But she supposed a little, harmless flirting wouldn't necessarily mean they were dating. It was just a bit of verbal fun. And he was just so nice looking, and his build wasnt bad either. As long as it stayed just fun, she didn't have anything to worry about.
"Yeah well, most of those guys aren't really worth my time," she feigned disinterest, and threw him her best seductive glance, her eyes not fully open, but not exactly closed. She stepped a little closer to him, and he flushed. Ino had forgotten how nice it was to flirt. She had been with Shikamaru for two years.
"We're here," Naruto pointed out an ancient, wooden building on the outskirts of the town. It was on a very nice lake, but other than that Ino was horrified. It was practically falling apart and it certainly didn't seem as though it could accommodate life, especially not her life.
"You like it?" he grinned, oblivious to her flirting, and her dismay. Maybe he hadn't been flirting with her, and maybe he was more clueless than she thought.
"Uh-huh," she choked out an answer, hoping he didn't hear any underlying tones. He didn't because he lugged her suitcase up the wooden steps and through the door. She was shocked that they didn't collapse under the combined weight of Naruto and her demon suitcase.
"Hey Old Lady Tsunade," he yelled from inside, "We've got a new tenant."
Ino expected to see a sweet, old granny figure sitting behind the reception desk. Instead she saw a, dare she say it, hot blonde woman, with a sake bottle in one hand, and an ancient key in the other.
"You can have room 5 if you want," the woman grunted, drinking the last bits of her sake, "Do you want to check it out before you pay?"
Ino forced a smile. Anything this woman showed her would not be pretty. She would pay now.
"No thank you," Ino reached inside her shirt, where she kept her wallet, and pulled out a crumpled wad of money. Tsunade nodded approvingly. They were two of a kind.
"Thank you." Tsunade tucked the amount of money into her shirt, "Pleasure doing business with you."
"Here I'll take you up to room 5, it's one of our nicer rooms, probably because you're not from around here." Naruto explained.
Ino couldn't believe that this place had 'nicer' rooms. They reached a whitewashed door, and Ino stuck the key into the rusty lock. The door flew open at the lightest touch. Ino made the slightest meep noise at the back of her throat, but Naruto didn't seem to notice. It was furnished and it was clean, but that was as far as it went. The couch was of a dark green cloth, not dark purple leather. The walls were a pale blue that totally clashed with the green furniture. There was a wooden coffee table, and a rickety white table in the kitchenette with two chairs that didn't look too stable. There were no pictures on the walls, and there were no electronics. Not a t.v or a radio or anything! No wonder this was the most culturally unaware town in the country. With a grunt Naruto dropped the suitcase next to the couch.
"Let me show you around," he smiled.
"There's more," Ino murmured under her breath.
"This is the bathroom," he opened a door off to the side of the kitchenette, "And here's a closet," he opened a door in the living room, stacked with a few fade pink, threadbare blankets.
"Down this hallway," he pointed down a mini hallway next to the bathroom, "Is the bedroom."
Ino couldn't even a force a smile, her eyes were so wide, and he mouth was slightly open.
Naruto stepped over the suitcase and leaned against the frame of the door, "Tomorrow, I can introduce you to some of my friends."
Ino shook herself out of her reverie. Well, she obviously wasn't going to be doing anything in her super awesome room. "I'd love to," she flashed him one of her famous smiles
Naruto grinned back, and shut the door behind him.
A/N: Chapter 1 of Searching for More is done! I hope you enjoyed it and reviews would be lovely :)