A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY! :D 2011 ALREADY... WOW.
"Three words. Eight letters. Say it and I'm yours."
- Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl)
It was nice to wake up in someone's arms; The arms of someone you knew was there to protect you, comfort you, and care for you.
She could hear his light breathing, free of snoring, and his heartbeat could also be heard with her ear against his bare chest.
Making sure not to wake him, she moved her head slightly to take a glimpse at his face. He was still fast asleep, most likely tired from the previous night, or maybe enjoying his dream that was playing in his head. She couldn't look away from him. Everytime she tried, it hurt her, to not see him infront of her. She didn't want to waste any time by being away from him. Not one minute. Not even a second.
Was this... love?
"What's going on, Itachi?"
It was half a day after they woke up in eachother's arms. It was now hours after the couple had ate breakfast and the male had departed to return to his own home. Ino had received a brief text telling her to meet him outside her apartment building. When she exited the elevator after swiftly throwing on a coat, she could see Itachi standing outside, along with the rest of the Akatsuki. Quickly, she went to identify what the issue was.
"We're being sent out of the country for a mission. It's an emergency."
"When will you be back?"
"We're not sure of the details yet." He looked very distracted, avoiding any eye contact with Ino, trying to find something else to look at. "If it goes well it shouldn't be over two weeks."
His avoiding gaze didn't go by unnoticed through the eyes of Ino. "Is something on your mind? You look bothered, even for you."
Itachi hastily grabbed her small hand and pulled her away from the group without a word. He held her perfect face in both his hands and looked straight into her eyes.
"I love you, Ino."
Ino's heart skipped a beat and she felt something in her stomach. Did she have butterflies again? No, it was a different feeling. She wasn't nervous in an excited way. She was afraid. Scared. Realizing how incapable she is of handling those three words, Ino looked down at the ground as she shook her head, refusing to make eye contact. "Itachi, I-"
"Ino. Shh. I don't want you to feel obliged to say those words back to me." He tucked a few stray hairs behind her ear gently. "I just want you to know... I love you."
Itachi kissed her forehead. By the time Ino looked back up, Itachi was gone, and the tears began to fall.
"I love you, Ino."
Those little words rewound in her brain over and over until it made her dizzy. Why did he have to say those words? She thought she would be able to accept them by now but she couldn't. For her, it didn't feel right. Thinking how unnecessary love was for so many years, it was downright a pain in the ass when things like this confused her, playing with her mind till she lost all control of thought.
Her tears were washed away from the rain she walked through, overpowering them. Each step her feet took led her somewhere but she had no idea where they were taking her. What seemed like hours later, Ino's feet were stationary on the ground at a door as her arm reached up to ring a doorbell. When Ino realized the door was now open and someone was standing infront of her, she lifted her head up to see a woman.
"Ino! Is everything okay? Why are you all wet?"
"Can I stay for a bit, mom?"
"Mom. How did you know daddy was meant for you?"
Ino was now in cozy and dry, albeit rather small, clothes she had stolen out of her closet that was full of clothes from her young adolescent years. Her elbows were leaning on the surface of the long kitchen counter with her face placed in her hands, watching her mother prepare tea.
"My, what an awfully random question, Ino." Yamanaka Inora smiled at her daughter's unpredictable question. "Is there something that triggered the question?"
She shook her head as a fib. "Just curious."
"Well. As stupid as I thought he was, I loved him." Inora passed a cup of green tea to Ino. "He made me happier than I had ever been in my whole life."
Ino sat down at the dining table holding her cup of tea and nodded, beginning to understand the concept. Her mother followed her to the table, bringing a plate of freshly baked cookies.
"One day, you will meet a man who makes you feel as happy as your dad makes me happy." She gently brushed Ino's recently blow-dried hair with her fingers before walking back to the kitchen with a cookie in her hand. "And just like your father, he will be foolishly in love with you too, unable to live a second without you."
As if on cue, Ino's dad entered the kitchen with a bouquet of flowers in hand. He crept up behind her mother who was nibbling on her cookie and covered her eyes before releasing her only to spin her around to present the flowers.
They shared a kiss and many giggles before Inora playfully shoved her half-eaten cookie in her husband's mouth. Ino finished her cookie as she watched her mother gaze at the flowers and her father grinned satisfyingly, oblivious to his daughter sitting just a few metres away.
Ino stood up from her chair, grabbing her father's attention. "Since when were you so romantic, daddy?"
"Princess! What are you doing hiding over there? Come here!" Yamanaka Inoichi opened his arms in a welcoming manner for his daughter as she ran over to hug him. He lifted her up and spun her around, just as he did ever since she was just a child.
"Ino wanted to stay for the night." Inora found a vase next to a nearby window for the new flowers to rest in.
"Is that so? Since when did you want to stay here overnight?" Suspecting something, Inoichi looked at Ino with an eyebrow raised. "Is something wrong?"
"Everything's fine. Actually, I have to go somewhere really quickly to do something." She grabbed her still damp coat and put it over herself, forgetting what she was currently wearing. "I'll be back in an hour!"
She ran out of the door, leaving her parents stunned at her sudden departure.
Inoichi looked at his wife questioningly, "Did we say something wrong?"
"Itachi!"
Itachi turned around to be surprised at seeing Ino, whom he quickly embraced and soon released, his hands on her shoulders.
"Ino! What are you doing here?"
"I... need to... tell you... something."
Before she could say what exactly it was, Ino bent over, gripping her knees, trying to get her breathing to go back to its regular state.
"Are you okay?" Itachi frowned in worry.
She nodded her blonde head and raised a hand at him, indicating that she would be fine in a moment or two. Ino also reminded herself to not get used to Shikamaru and Chouji's lazy habits.
Upon noticing she would be okay, he chuckled momentarily. "What in god's name are you wearing?"
Ino nodded her head hastily, ignoring his statement and wanting to get to the point. She noticed all the other Akatsuki members watching her amusingly, especially eying her ridiculous outfit, but she didn't care. After catching her breath, she wrapped her arms around Itachi's neck and looked straight into his crimson eyes; Just as she did when she told him she didn't need love. This time, she said something different. She wanted her words to contradict what she said to him just a month ago in the park. Smiling, she gained the courage to open her mouth.
"I love you, too."
A/N: What a nice start to the new year, if I do say so myself. :)
PS. So hard choosing a name for Ino's mom... -_-
Reviewwwwwwww! :)