She gaped at her blonde buddy, stunned completely into silence at the way he simply stood there with that rapturous expression on his face. They had just entered her family shop and he had jolted to a stop with a surprised look on his face and closed his eyes. She settled her weight to one foot and quirked an eyebrow. Naruto was acting weird again.

His tanned face turned up slightly and she watched his nose twitch as he scented the air. She fought back the giggle that resulted from this action- for it reminded her of the curious cat she had once seen as it walked into a field with catnip. Her emotions settled down into amused curiosity with only the faint edge of impatience- she was a stubborn boar after all and Naruto was taking to much time doing…whatever it was he was doing.

"You…have a great home!" he beamed at her and she looked at him as if he was crazy…which he usually was.

"Naruto…it's just my house." She looked around the flower shop, soil and earth and pollen greeting her nose.

There was the table she had fallen against when she was three and her dad had to carry her up the stairs to her mother to get her knee bandaged…that particular shelf had fallen over once, and she had laughed as her father paced and cursed with the knowledge that her mother would come home and whap him in the head…that was where she had seen her father kneel before her mother with that little twig only sporting one leaf and her mother had blushed…over there was where her mother had almost fallen over laughing because the flower she had been trying to uproot had sent her stumbling and gotten her all dirty…

It was just a regular house, where she had grown up and not anything like those awesome clan houses where everything was a testament to their heritage and character…

Naruto grinned and brought her out of her musings with the theoretically unattainable brightness of it all. "It's still awesome!" His head tilted in his closed eye expression of curious thought, and Ino found herself holding back a smile from the Naruto-ness of that pose. She had yet to see anyone else pull it off. "It's not your house though." Before she could whap him for the stupidity of that statement he grinned and crossed his hands behind his head of blonde uncontrollable spikes. "It's your home."

And he leaned against the counter where he could wait with a whistle, paying no attention to her as she slowly walked up the back stairs to their overhead house…home… to get what they had originally come for.

Home…

She kind of liked the sound of that.

And her eyes softened from their usual dark hard blue as she wondered if Naruto had a home…

Then she shook her head, rushing about to gather her stuff and grabbing the unsuspecting blonde compatriot by his arm and dragging him out of the store at a dead run. She had just the thing to find her sunny blonde friend a home…who better to than her and all the rookie nine…the friends of this little bundle of mischief that was currently flying behind her pace with a surprised expression on his face.

He was an orphan, this she knew from whispers and a reluctant Sakura. That meant he never knew what a home was and would feel all the more affected when he entered some place where family was family. It kind of helped that her family were kind of connected by their special blood ability…

She wasn't surprised when he was able to pull her to a stop…he was strong.

She was surprised when he smiled and his eyes lit up as he spotted their old academy teacher Iruka. And she watched the two exchange something that completely changed her mind…changed her perspective.

Naruto had his home already. She watched detachedly as he greeted their friends and some people she had never seen before, startling her greatly when she saw him greeting some of the homeless who mirthfully greeted him back.

He didn't have a house; he didn't have a house for a home…he had people that he called home. And Ino found she could live with that.

She smirked as she remembered some of the things she had heard around the town, and remembered some of the things this blonde had done, and then recalled how Sakura was around their little brother figure….

Her eyes drifted into memories, and that was okay too. She could remember her home, where her family accepted her because they were similar and special and loved. And she could be a part of Naruto's home, where everyone wasn't the same and all were accepted as long as they knew one thing.

Naruto was …

Naruto.

And they were his home and that was all that mattered to him.

It wouldn't matter that they complained and sometimes ignored him, he wouldn't care that they weren't always there to say hi or talk, it didn't make much of a difference that other things had their attention sometimes and he had to act the fool to grab it again. They didn't need to be related by blood, they didn't need an actual building to call their own, and they didn't need to listen to what anyone else said about it. Naruto didn't care that they were different or stupid or obnoxious or tainted…they were his friends…his home.

And as Ino stepped into the field her friends were congregating in with her head tilted and eyes half lidded in an expression reminiscent of a cat that had gone into a field that contained catnip and rookies looked at her oddly with a little grin… it was okay.

Because it was Home…

..x.X.x..

..x..

Was going to have all of 'Team 10; Asuma cell' but I got carried away with Ino and decided I could give you Chouji and Shikamaru when I am finished with them…not that I own them U--. I might even do Asuma if I get inspiration. I am looking for suggestion for others (ie; not team 10) like whom and why they changed and what they saw…help appreciated.

HOPE YOU ENJOY!

If you are offering Miss Selarne...it would be much better. No one has offered to beta me, and I do have a life outside of writing fanfic with little alotted computer time. I would find it rude to request a beta, since it would take time out of their schedule and ruin the whole surprise of my plots. I'm sorry, I enrolled in a typing class to help my skills. Hope it helps in the future- and thanks for pointing out the mistakes! When you keep on reading something (especially if you went over it in your head before you ever typed it up) your eyes skip over words and grammar mistakes because you know what you are reading...lol. So Thanks! And you have to admit I usually do have passable grammar and spelling. U--