Authors Note: So I finally got my computer back! I want to thank *tealightbirdy99*, *kngrulz*, and *jojoba* for the reviews, I read them and I could not help but smile. Anyway, I wanted to write this chapter because it has been like a week or more since the last update. School is also starting back soon, so I want to update while I can. Here is Chapter 4!
P.S.- I don't own Naruto. If I did, you could just watch this in the anime or manga. Nevertheless, I am just writing this story. =)
And I am trying something new (Requesting reviews at the top of the page) Please Review!
What a Life
"I am so going to win!" I yelled back to my best friend, wishing my legs would move faster. "You wish Ino." Sakura yelled in return and moved a few inches closer to me. We raced across the playground towards our goal.
'Just a little further and I can beat her; if Sakura wins she gets to brag about it and I will never hear the end of it. Plus the loser gets the one that everyone hates. Run faster Ino, run faster!'
Time seemed to slow as I got closer to the end. I pushed my feet to take bigger steps and reached out in an attempt to succeed. I could feel my heart beating in my chest; I closed my eyes as I saw Sakura move slightly ahead of me.
"Whoa" and then the sound of something landing on the ground was all I heard before I touched the finish line.
"Darn it Ino, if I would not have tripped I would have won." She said as she pushed herself up and walked over the losers' podium. "I know Sakura, I thought you had it, but alas I win!" I said as I boosted myself up on the good swing and smiled.
Sakura moved to the other swing and sat down looking defeated. She pushed herself backwards slowly and I laughed as I heard it. "Screeeeeech" the swing moved back and forth, giving out a horrid sound as it did.
"Why doesn't someone fix this stupid swing anyway? I mean no one even wants to swing on it." Sakura said and I nodded in agreement. The swing had been like that for years and all the kids knew that it was a kill joy to be stuck on it.
As I looked around I saw other kids playing in the playground. Kiba and his new dog Akamaru were playing fetch; Tenten and a bunch of kids from another class were playing dodge ball. Everyone hated to play on the opposite team as Tenten, because she was so good at hitting people.
Neji and Hinata were walking towards the Hyuuga compound; although Neji still seemed to be fairly interested in the dodge ball game. Sasuke, being the super cute boy that he is, was sitting under a tree. He looked somewhat annoyed, due to the fact that Naruto was yelling how he could win something or another.
Even Shikamaru and Choji were here. Both were laying on the ground staring up and the sky and laughing about something. "Everyone seems to be here today Ino, with school starting up again tomorrow, I guess everyone wants to have one last day of fun." Sakura said to me as I turned to her and smiled.
"I can't believe that school starts tomorrow, it seems like we just got out of school. Tomorrow it is back to writing and learning and sitting behind a desk while Iruka-sensei talks." I said
"There is a good side to all of this. Going back to class means we get new seats. With every new seat change, there is a closer chance to one of us sitting next to Sasuke." Sakura said and started to mess with the ribbon that held her bangs back.
"You know Sakura; every girl in the village is in love with Sasuke. Do you every think that that could be a problem? I mean we are both competitive. Do you think that liking him could get in the way of our friendship?" Suddenly, after saying that, I got a sudden interest in my shoes.
"No way Ino, you are my very best friend and we will always be friends," she paused is if to think. "We should make a promise; no boy will ever come in the middle of our friendship. No matter what happens we will always be best friends."
She held out her pinky and waited. I looked up at her and smiled and wrapped my pinky finger around hers. "I promise." We said at the same time.
"What are you two doing? Aren't we all a little old for pinky promises or whatever, girls are so troublesome." I knew the voice without looking up. "Shikamaru, have you ever thought that you might be the troublesome one." I retorted back in an equally bored response.
He stared at me with a blank expression and yawned. "Okay, well I have had enough fun for one day, come on Ino I have to walk you home." Without another word he started to walk away. "Oh yeah, see you tomorrow Choji." He yelled over his shoulder.
"See you Sakura, maybe if we get into school early tomorrow we can talk Iruka-sensei into letting us sit together." I smiled, and then ran after Shikamaru, who was already half way across the park.
"Geez Shika you could have waited. I mean if I have to walk with you, you could at least wait till I can actually catch up." He ignored me and looked up toward the sky.
"What is so interesting about looking at the clouds anyway?" I said hoping he would at least talk to me. He turned his head toward me and said in a very unenthusiastic voice "Because it does not take any energy to look at clouds." Then he turned his head back toward the sky.
'It does not take any energy. The boy is studying to be a ninja, doesn't he think that takes energy. I don't understand him. I mean I have known the kid forever and I practically see him every day. Why is he so, so what's the word I am looking for?' My eyes darted to him and the only word I could think of was troublesome.
I looked back ahead of my furious that I sounded like him. "Well Ino, here is you stop. See you tomorrow." He continued to walk away as I frowned at his back. Turning I went into the house and saw my mom cooking dinner.
"Hey mom, I'm home." My mom looked up and said "Good, did Shikamaru walk you home?" "Doesn't he always." Without waiting for a response I moved to the living room and found my dad reading the paper.
"Hey dad" I went and sat down beside him. "How was the park Ino?" He put the paper down and looked at me. "It was fun; I got to the good swing first today." He smiled at me, "That's my girl, and Shikamaru walked you home right? I don't want you walking home alone."
I glared at him "Yes daddy, he walked me home, he always walks me home. I don't see the point of it. I am training to be a ninja. I can take care of myself. I am not a baby anymore you know."
"Ino you will always be my little girl. When you get married, when you have a baby of your own, even when that baby grows up, you will always be my little girl. You are the only daughter I have and I will be damned if I will let you get hurt." He took a few deep breaths before continuing.
"If I were to stand up and attack you right now would you be able to stop me?" I frowned "No I would not. But that is different, you are my dad, you won't hurt me, you protect me."
"I know I protect you, but there are a lot of people stronger then I am, and some of them will not want to protect you." He wrapped me in a hug. My mom walked into the room and sat down beside us.
"Ino your father is just trying to do what is best for you. Neither of us could bear to have you get hurt. It took a lot just for him to let you be a ninja." My dad stopped hugging me and held my mom's hand.
"I gave into letting you be a ninja, but let's get one thing straight. You are way too young to be dating boys, talking to boys, or even thinking about boys. Do you hear me?"
I gave him a confused look. "Dad we weren't even talking about me dating boys or talking to boys." "I know that, but while we are all here I figured I would cover the bases now." My mom laughed and removed her hand from his.
"You know Inoichi, when we were Inos' age, we met each other. As I recall about the time we you graduated from a genin you already had kissed me."
My dads' face got really red and he all but yelled "There will be no kissing by anyone in this house!"
"I don't see what the problem is. I went to the movies and had a great time. Why did you have to do that?" I yelled as I stomped past my mom into the living room with my dad following close behind.
"I told you years ago that there would be no boys, no dating, and especially no kissing in this house. He was a boy, whom I have never met before, you went on a date, and if I had not walked out when I had, he would have kissed you."
"Well dad, maybe I wanted him to kiss me. I am a genin, I have been on lots of missions where I could have been killed, and I have never had my first kiss. I don't want to die and not have my first kiss."
'Time to make him feel bad for embarrassing me.' "I could die tomorrow, and I would never have my first kiss. He was leaning in to kiss me and you embarrassed me so bad." I said as tears ran down my face.
"Whoa, calm down you two." My mom said as she walked in the room. What is going on?"
"Dear, I was just protecting Ino. This idiot was" "Houki was really nice." I interrupted him "He paid to go to the movies, and he talked to me and asked if I wanted to go out again sometime. Mom, dad is so embarrassing, Houki was just going to kiss me. As he was leaning in, dad pushed me back and stood in front of me. Then he crossed his arms and told him to get lost. Dad even told him that if he ever saw him again he would use him a target for kunai practice."
My moms' jaw dropped as she stared at my dad. With tears still running down my face, I added "Houki will never talk to me again because of him." I pointed a finger at dad and ran to my room, slamming the door as I went.
About an hour after crying and pouting in my room, I decided to walk back out to the living room. "Good Ino, we need to talk to you please sit down." My mom said. I walked to a chair and sat, but not before giving me dad a glare that I hoped would make him know that I was not happy with him.
"Ino you are growing into a beautiful young woman. Boys have noticed you for a few years, but now they are getting up the courage to ask you out. Your father is extremely uncomfortable with this. But I have explained to him that he cannot embarrass you like that." My mom said.
"You father agreed to let you go out on dates; however unhappy it makes him." My father looked me straight in the eyes and said "Before you go in another date, we need to talk to you. You are not going to like this, and even after this you are not to let any boy touch you."
Suddenly the blood drained from my face. 'They are not actually going to talk about that are they? Please no, please no!'
My mom cleared her throat and started talking. "Ino, when two people love each other" I felt my face heat up and threw my hands up to stop her from talking. "Mom, oh my gosh, please tell me you two are not going to give me the talk. You don't have to; I learned everything I will ever need to know in school. I went on one date and did not even kiss the guy, this is completely un-called for."
Half an hour later, after being scared for life, my parents finally finished talking to me about sex. As if on cue, Mr. Nara walked in along with his wife and Shikamaru.
"Well Yoshiro, you just missed it. Inoichi and I just gave Ino the talk. Shikamaru look at you, you look so nice in your flak jacket." My mom said, as if the talk was the most normal thing in the world. "Mom!" I screeched. 'I cannot believe she just said that out loud.' I stood up and started out the door. "I am going to Sakuras' house." I called over my shoulder.
After the Chunin exams, Sakura and I became friends again. Although we were still rivals, it was nice to have her to talk to.
'Walk faster, faster!' "Ino dear, Shikamaru is going to walk with you, it is dark outside." My mom yelled as I moved out the door. 'Damn it!' I focused on the ground when I heard footsteps beside me.
"Did you have a nice conversation with your parents?" My head shot up and I glared at him. He just smirked and looked at me. I pushed him away and stood in the middle of the street.
"You think this is funny? First the whole incident happened at your house, after a while we all got over that. Today, I go on a date and I am finally going to get a kiss and my dad embarrasses me and the guy is never going to talk to me again. Plus, there is the fact that I cannot be upset over Sasuke leaving. He left Sakura on a bench and I cannot even say his name, due to the fact that it makes Sakura cry. To make matters worse, my parents just explained the wonders of sex to me. Then, my dad told me that if I ever let a guy touch me and he finds out he will castrate him. This is not funny Shikamaru, so stop smirking, stop laughing, and stop looking at me like I'm crazy." I turned on me heel and started walking in some random direction.
'Sakura can wait, I need to calm down and I need to get away from Shikamaru.' I walked faster trying to stay away from him. Of course, he kept following me, and he would continue to walk with me until I saw Sakura.
I walked until I got to the park. 'It has been a while since I was here.' I stopped walking when I got to the swing. When I sat on the swing I heard the "Screech" and knew Shikamaru was sitting on the other one. We sat there swinging for a few minutes, in silence, unless you count the screeching from the bad swing. It almost made me want to laugh.
"Does it bother you that much? Everyone has the talk with their parents. It is uncomfortable and awkward." He said. I jumped off the swing and stood up. "But when your parents had the talk with you, you best friend and team mate, who is also someone of the opposite gender did not walk in the room."
I refused to look in his direction; eye contact would just make everything worse. "Ino, you are so troublesome, I don't know why I put up with you." Before I knew what was happening he was standing in front of me. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me close to him.
Neither of us said anything. He kept hugging me and strangely it made me feel better. I moved my hands to his chest and lightly pushed him away. "Thank you Shika." I said it and it was barely over a whisper, but he heard it. "You`re welcome Ino."
I looked up and smiled. "Okay, I have wasted enough time, let`s go to Sakuras` house so you can go home." I did not notice before but the streets were quiet. Most of the shops were closed my now, no children were running around. The only sound was the sound of our shoes scuffing the ground.
I stopped at Sakuras` front door and knocked. "Ino" I turned expecting Shikamaru to have gone. "If that guy isn't going to talk to you again because of something as stupid as being scared of you dad, he is not worth your time, not worth you being upset over, and defiantly not worth your first kiss."
I looked at him in amazement. 'He actually listened to my ranting, I though he just ignored me when I got upset with him.'
"I will see you Monday morning for training." Then he walked away. The door opened behind me and Sakura said "Well Ino-pig are you going to come in or are you just going to stare into space for the next hour?" I turned and walked inside once again, like all those years ago, trying to calm the butterflies that were flying around my stomach.
Authors Note: Okay so this is my longest chapter yet! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I have another idea whirling in my head for the next chapter, so expect it in a day or two. As always I am going to beg anyone who is reading this to review, because not only are reviews a ray of sunshine, they also give my life purpose! (Okay a little dramatic, but hey if it gets people to review… =) Until the next chapter…
Blondegirl09