Special thanks to Orange205 for being the hundredth reviewer – yeah I got a hundred reviews... turns out my readers are just that awesome.
Please be okay, please be okay...
Sakura had shown up during their spar and pulled Naruto aside to tell him that Ino had been in the hospital. With a quick thanks for the info, Naruto was gone in a whirlwind of leaves.
"Do you know where Yamanaka Ino is being held?" Naruto asked.
The girl behind the desk jumped at his voice and looked up wide eyed at him.
"Y-your Uzumaki Naruto!"
Oh crap, the receptionist just had to be new.
When you defeat a man that had already destroyed the village and more than half its population and somehow turned him into a good guy and consequently brought every one who had died back to life... your name gets thrown around a bit.
"Yeah I am, so... can you tell me where Yamanaka Ino is being held?" Naruto asked politely.
"Oh my god, can I get an autograph?" The receptionist asked, scrambling for a piece of paper.
"Um-"
"Naruto?"
"Ino!" Naruto yelled, relieved. He turned to face her and smiled.
"What are you doing here?" Ino asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sakura told me you were in the hospital and I came to check on you. Are you okay?" Naruto asked, stepping in front of her and assessing her for any injuries.
"Of course. I may have been a bit too... enthusiastic with our prisoner and I may have accidentally, um, crippled him for life." Ino answered quickly. Naruto eyed her for a moment and she blushed under his scrutiny.
And then he laughed.
"Shut up." Ino muttered, wrapping her arms around his neck. Naruto continued to smile even as he bent down to kiss her.
The moment was ruined by a very high squeal.
"Oh... My... God." The intern fanned herself with a piece of paper from her desk and hopped over to the other side in one breath.
"You have to tell me what its like to date THE Uzumaki Naruto because there was this rumor going around that he was with Uchiha Sasuke and my friend was totally into the idea but I thought Uchiha-sama was asexual and that you guys are just really close friends and it looks like I was right and-"
"Whoa, whoa... back up. Girls think I'm..." Naruto paled for second, "with Sasuke." He finished whispering. He choked on his saliva before looking at Ino for some support.
"You know," Ino started with a contemplative voice, "the girls do have some merit."
"I-Ino!" Naruto yelled blushing. She wasn't supposed to agree.
"No seriously. First off, is/was your dedication to bringing him back. From a shinobi's perspective it doesn't seem weird at all but for civilians I guess it seems a bit extreme and now that he's here, you guys are practically together... all the time." Ino stated, emphasizing that last bit.
Naruto gulped and chuckled awkwardly.
"Yeah, thats what my friend said." The receptionist agreed as she nodded her head.
"Hey, um, can you keep this a secret?" Naruto asked.
"Why?"
"Yes, Naruto, why?" Ino echoed. Naruto sweat-dropped and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"B-because I wouldn't want any of my more... eccentric fans to be mean to you?" Naruto said in a questioning voice.
"Oh! You want to protect your girlfriend!" The receptionist supplied. "Aw, no problem!" She said perkily, swooning at how cute they were. She obliviously went back to her station.
"Nice save." Ino said. She smirked before she started walking away. Naruto blinked before scrambling after.
"Y-your not... mad?" Naruto asked, wincing at his tack or lack thereof. He hoped his mention of said emotion didn't make her madder.
Ino paused at his inquiry and looked to the side to roll her eyes at the question. Her attention was taken away when she happened to look at a janitor's closet.
"What would you do if I was?" Ino countered, looking at him mischievously. Naruto calmed but eyed her cautiously. Ino liked to pounce him when he least expected.
Which was hot.
And Naruto wasn't disappointed.
She immediately grabbed his shirt and pushed him back. But instead of wrapping her arms around his neck like she usually did, her hand shot passed him and a barely audible click resonated before Ino kicked him.
Kicked him.
And then she latched onto him. His back hit the wall hard but he ignored it in favor of wrapping his arms around her thighs and hoisting her up against him. Ino obliged and wrapped them around his waist.
The world just... disappeared and all her senses could pick up on was his entirety.
Ino gasped when Naruto bit her lip and flipped them around so that she was the one hitting the wall. But the slight throbbing of her head and lower back was ignored in favor of running her hand through his hair and shoving her tongue down his throat.
Ino wasn't as vain as people like to think she was – there was an actual reason why she didn't date. Maybe it was naïve of her to but she liked to think you had to at least have something with person for there to be anything resembling a healthy relationship with someone.
Sasuke had taught her that.
But she'd been completely blindsided about the amount of passion Naruto and her were able to produce with a few well placed kisses.
With his mere touch he was able to get her heart racing and it was the things like that made her contemplate that the thing they had going was really something special.
And then his lips went to her cheek and then her chin to her neck and she had the sense to open her eyes for a moment and then she remembered that they were in a janitor's closet (which she had to admit, she'd always wanted to do i.e. the impulse) and also conveniently remembered that she had to go back to T & I before they had an ANBU track her down – normal procedure.
Which she'd really rather not happen seeing as they were doing this whole thing in 'secret' anyway.
"One of these days..." Naruto breathed. Ino shivered at just how sexy his voice sounded with the declaration and couldn't exactly find a way to answer him so she opted at nodding her head... to whatever it was he was talking about.
And they held each other, looking into each other's half lidded eyes and slowly the world started again and Ino could hear voices, foot steps, and reality started up again.
"Crap! Gotta go!" Ino untangled herself from him, kissed him on the cheek, and shunshined out toward T & I.
Naruto blinked before groaning.
He'd left Sasuke in the training grounds.
But despite his annoyance at being left alone in a janitor''s closet, he couldn't wipe the silly lopsided grin off his face.
Totally worth it...
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