あなたは恋人です
You Are My Love

Four: Chouza and Tomomi
Genre: Romance
Word count: 978
Warning(s): OC, no plot
Disclaimer: We're still doing this? Fine. I don't own it.

"Oi! It's that weird girl again," muttered Shikaku, looking over his blond teammate's shoulder at the dark-haired girl across the room.

Inoichi grumbled, ducking his head. "She hasn't seen us yet, has she?" he asked, eyeing the door and guessing how long it would take to get there. Too long, he decided.

As their corpulent third member turned his head to look, Inoichi swatted at his arm.

"Don't look! She'll notice us for sure," he hissed.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Chouza whispered, gingerly rubbing the sore spot Inoichi left on his arm.

"'The big deal'? That girl gave me chocolates for Valentine's Day!" Inoichi's voice cracked with the abandonment of his composure. "I mean, look at her! She's fa- ... Er, curvy," Inoichi corrected himself before massive property damage could get them kicked out of yet another business.

Chouza shrugged, "They were good chocolates. You should have had some instead of freaking out."

"Chouza's right," Shikashi added. "About the freaking out thing, anyway. Troublesome as it is, if you had just told her you weren't interested, she would've probably left you alone."

"Should-a, would-a, could-a," retorted Inoichi. "How do I get rid of her now?"

"Well, White Day is in a few days. She'll probably get the hint when you don't give her anything in return."

"Great," was Inoichi's sarcastic reply.

Tomomi sighed, running her fingers through her cropped pixie-cut. It was obvious that she was being avoided. The way his friend gave her the stink-eye gave it away instantly. It was too bad that avoiding him in return was nearly impossible.

"Tomo-chan!" her mother suddenly called out to her. "There you are. Hurry up and take your shift in the kitchen."

Tomomi pouted, but did as she was told. One would think that being the daughter of the owner of the most popular hang-out in Konoha would have some benefits. Unfortunately for her, all it earned her was a mountain of dirty dishes to wash every day.

Chouza checked the time and blew out a breath. The restaurant had closed over an hour ago, and Tomomi still hadn't come out. He supposed waiting for her like this was silly, but he honestly couldn't stand to see the girl's heart get shattered on White Day. He'd just tell her gently that Inoichi wasn't interested, so the poor girl could move on.

When the back door of the kitchen finally swung open, Chouza spun to see who had come out. And since Tomomi was the only person still there, it wasn't at all surprising to him when she stood in the doorframe, blinking at him.

"Ah, hello," she said, eyes wide. "What are you doing out here?"

In retrospect, Chouza realized that standing in the dark, waiting for a girl to exit her workplace alone was probably a pretty creepy thing to do.

"I need to talk to you about something," he rushed to explain, hoping that it would relax her.

"Oh." Tomomi look down, unable to meet his eye. "Is this about Valentine's Day?" she asked meekly.

Chouza nodded, though it seemed she already understood where this was going. "Y-yes. You see..."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be a bother," she tried to smile, but it got lost along the way. "I just... Well, I can't help the way I feel."

"Don't be sorry," he replied. "It's nobody's fault. Sometimes the people we like just don't like us back..." Chouza rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. "Sometimes they like somebody else."

"Well, I hope she returns your affections," Tomomi said sincerely, though he could see the shine of unshed tears in her eyes when she looked up at him. "You deserve to be happy."

Chouza tilted his head, looking every bit like a bear doing algebra. "I... What?"

"The girl you like," Tomomi clarified, forcing herself to smile. "I hope she likes you back."

"Who, uh..." Chouza gaped at her, grasping for a coherent thought. "Who said we were talking about me?"

"Who else would we be talking about?"

"Inoichi!"

"What?" She looked around as if she suspected he was pranking her, and there were people secretly watching them. "Why would we be talking about him?"

"Because he... I mean, you..." Chouza felt utterly defeated. This conversation wasn't going at all the way he'd thought it would. "Didn't you give him chocolates?"

"Yamanaka Inoichi?"

"Yes."

"No," she seemed almost offended. "Why would I give him chocolates?"

Chouza was getting more and more confused, "I don't know, but you did."

"I did?"

"Yes!"

"Well, it was an accident! It took a lot of courage for me to walk up to you guys, and then you expect me to carefully make sure the right person gets it?"

"I don't know how you planned for it to get to the right person, otherwise. You didn't put a name on it."

Tomomi's mouth snapped shut, and she ducked her head, utterly mortified. "I am an idiot," she mumbled into her hands.

"No, no, no, no. It was an easy mistake... I guess. Maybe." When that failed to comfort her, Chouza put a hand on her shoulder. "They were good chocolates, anyway. You could probably make a living selling them," he told her.

"So... You ate them? And you liked them?"

Chouza nodded vigorously, "Uh-huh. If I could eat them every Valentine's Day, I could die happy. So if Shikaku turns you down..."

"Shikaku? They weren't meant for Shikaku," she protested not even noticing what he was about to say.

"Then who?"

"You!"

"Me? Really?"

"Yes, really."

They spent almost a whole minute just staring at the ground and blushing, both too nervous to look at the other.

"Say, Tomomi..."

"Yes?"

He scratched the side of his face, averting his gaze once more. "I was wondering if you'd... sorta, maybe... want to get some dinner with me?"

"Right now?" she asked, ignoring the fact the it was nine PM, and therefor much too late for dinner.

"Yeah. I know this place that serves the best donburi."

Her eyes lit up, "Really? Lead the way!"

He laughed and they began to walk side by side, until he remembered something.

"Won't your parents be worried about you?"

"Oh, no. They won't even notice I'm not home," she assured him, as they continued on.

As it turned out, Tomomi's parents did notice when she didn't come home, and punished her thoroughly when she finally returned a little after midnight. But for all the scolding in the world, Tomomi wouldn't have traded that night for anything.

A/N: I've had this done for a while, but I debated whether or not I should upload it. I'm not as proud of it as I have been of other things. But, in the end, I didn't have the heart (or energy) to rewrite it. As some of you may have noticed, Tomomi doesn't have much of a personality, and that's probably due to the fact that I couldn't really pin down how she would have to act to make a suitable wife for Chouza.

Sigh. Let's hope the next one goes more smoothly.