Teachers and their Pets

Chapter 18

"Ok then," Noriko's smile seemed genuine, but Asuma couldn't help but feel vaguely horrified. He was having flashbacks to back when he was sixteen years old, being grilled by girlfriends' fathers because he'd brought them back home past their curfew. "Shall we go sit down?" Noriko began leading the way to the living room and Ino followed promptly afterwards, dragging Asuma along with her.

Inoichi followed behind them and Asuma was well aware of the heated glare upon his back courtesy of his lover's father.

They entered the living room. Asuma had been here hundreds of times. It was a small, unassuming room with two wooden benches sat opposite each other. He'd shared many a laugh and joke in this room but now, in the light of the recent revelation, the whole place seemed a lot more sinister. Shadows crept around the walls and Inoichi's glare still burnt into his body, almost paralysing him.

Grand. This was grand.

Noriko stopped by one of the benches and gestured to the one opposite her. "Sit down Asuma Sensei,"

Asuma barely felt as if he could move, but Ino took control, pulling him over to the bench and seating them both. The blonde's arm did not unsnake itself from around his limb and Asuma suddenly had the awful feeling that they were sitting far too close to each other. He shifted slightly, but Ino only held on tighter.

Inoichi's eyes narrowed even further. Asuma deliberately looked anywhere but him. The Sarutobi wasn't usually one to avoid conflict, but this was a…delicate situation, to say the least. He brought his gaze over to Noriko, though he kept his eyeline trained on her shoulder, not wanting to look the woman in the eye.

There was a short silence, in which Asuma was one hundred percent certain all the Yamanaka's could hear his heartbeat, and then Noriko opened her mouth again.

"So then-"

"Ino, move away from him."

"Dad!"

"Inoichi, control yourself," Noriko's brow pulled down and she gifted the blond male with a scalding look before turning back to Asuma. "Obviously Inoichi and I have a few questions, as this isn't exactly a quotidian situation."

There was another silence and Asuma eventually realised that Noriko was expecting him to reply.

"Uh," he coughed and shifted slightly, feeling very aware of Ino's grip on his arm. "Yeah. No, uh. It isn't."

"And, of course, there are some things Inoichi and I, as parents, are worried about." Noriko smiled gently.

Asuma tried to calm himself down. He hadn't done anything wrong. The relationship hadn't begun while he was Ino's teacher. It was going to be ok. He was going to be fine. There was nothing to-

"Yes," Inoichi sounded grim as he spoke. "Like the fact that you are Ino's Sensei and I trusted you."

"Dad!" Ino grumbled. "He is not my Sensei anymore! And how many times do I have to tell you that this relationship has only just started? Asuma is not that type of guy!"

Inoichi's facial expression only seemed to grow more exasperated as his daughter spoke, and he stayed looking at Asuma.

"I trusted you to look after my daughter! Not…not look after her!"

"Dad!"

"Inoichi for goodness sake," Noriko shook her head disparagingly at her husband before turning back to Asuma. "I must beg you to forgive him. We only found out a few hours ago and so I don't think he's really thinking straight."

"Not thinking straight!?" Inoichi returned, looking aghast. "I'm the only one in this house who still has an ounce of sense left within them!" He pointed at Asuma. "This isn't right!"

"Why?" Ino shot back. "We make each other happy."

"You're eighteen and he used to be your Sensei!" Inoichi looked like he was on the verge of pulling his hair out.

Before Ino could bite back at these comments, Noriko quickly intervened once more.

"Yes, Asuma, that is one thing I must question you about,"

Asuma turned his wide eyed gaze onto her, his expression not shifting from one of horrified awkwardness.

"I need to know when this relationship began," Noriko glanced down at her hands, which were entwined upon her lap. "Of course, due to the fact you used to be her Sensei, questions will arise. Now, can you tell me, with complete and utter sincerity, that you never looked at my daughter in anyway other than as a Sensei in the period she was entrusted to your care?"

"Of course I didn't look at her any other way!" Asuma's response came out a lot more defensive than he'd intended, and he could see Inoichi bristling in the corner. "I…she was my student! And she wasn't, uh, it wouldn't have been-"

"Oh my God." Ino placed her face in her hands.

Thankfully Noriko seemed to believe the man, as a small smile made its way onto her face. "No, it wouldn't have been legal, nor ethically right," she agreed. "But can you see why, perhaps, we would be worried? Ino has always looked up to you and other men may have seen that as an opportunity to-"

"-To take advantage of her! To fornicate!"

Asuma, Ino and Noriko all turned to look at Inoichi, their eyes wide. Inoichi, himself, looked rather embarrassed by what he'd just said, but he continued onwards anyway.

"Sarutobi I respected you and thought of you as a friend, and now, now I find out you're…you're…" the blond couldn't seem to bring himself to say the words and so quickly shook his head, his eyes closed and his fists balled. "It's just wrong!"

Noriko breathed out quickly through her nose and shut her eyes for a few moments before looking back to Asuma and Ino.

"Inoichi is finding it hard to get his head around," she explained. "And I must say, I too, am finding it rather strange, but of most import to me is Ino's happiness-"

"That's mine too!" Inoichi managed, even as Asuma nodded.

"-which is why I need to know-" Ino's mother gifted Inoichi with a quick narrowing of her eyes as she continued. "-that your feelings for my daughter are genuine."

There was another silence and Asuma felt like there was a lump in his throat. He was scared. How could he and Ino possibly walk away from this ok? Inoichi was never going to give them the all clear, even if Noriko did. And what they were doing…it was wrong. Surely it had to be wrong? Even if Ino wasn't his student anymore. All the doubts that had been bubbling underneath the surface suddenly seemed to burst forth, destroying the dam of denial Asuma had built in his mind. The silence stretched on and Asuma felt like he was almost in another world. His head felt like it was spinning. Beside him, Ino shifted and the man looked down to see she was watching him with a concerned look, her pretty face twisted with worry.

But…it couldn't go back to normal either, and Asuma didn't know if he wanted it to. With Ino he'd found himself happier than he had been for a while. When he was with her he hardly felt worries. He felt like anything she said could make him happy. He felt new and amazing when he was with her. His heart clenched when he thought about her. Everytime he made her laugh it felt like he'd won a marathon, everytime he saw her smile it was like seeing a sunrise for the first time.

Did the idea of not being with her hurt him more than the idea of facing the oncoming storm of backlash?

The Sarutobi knew the answer.

"Noriko," he bowed his head slightly. "Inoichi. I love your daughter. I know that it doesn't seem right and I understand your anger and reluctance, but…that's the fact. I love your daughter. It happened quickly and it took me by surprise and I would never have even viewed it as an option before, but now…now that it's happening, I can't imagine a life without Ino," Asuma kept his eyes trained on his own legs, not wanting to see the reactions. "I'm sorry. I agree with you about everything, it shouldn't have happened and it isn't right, but it's too late for me to turn back. If I have your blessing I would like to stay with Ino. But…I…uh…I understand if you say no."

Ino let out a half choked sob and grabbed him a little bit closer, resting her forehead upon his arm as she did so. "I love you too." She murmured.

Asuma took one of her hands into his and held her hard, feeling her small slender fingers under his.

Then they waited.

"For goodness sake,"

It was Inoichi. Both Asuma and Ino raised their heads -Ino with tears pooling from her eyes- to see that the blond man had one of his hands over his face.

"Ino couldn't you have fallen in love with someone else?" The man let out a huge shaky sigh. "The Third Hokage's son, your former Sensei, someone 13 years your elder,"

Asuma ducked his head slightly, dreading the final decision.

"My friend," another sigh. "Ino, I love you, I only make decisions based on my love for you, you know that,"

"I…I know father," Ino's voice was marred by sadness, Asuma's heart clenched. "But-"

"No buts," Inoichi spoke through her. "Asuma,"

Asuma looked up, meeting the other man's eyes for the first time.

"If you hurt my daughter I swear to you, I will make it so that you won't be able to walk for one second out in the village without getting spat on. Same goes for if I find out that this relationship started sooner than you both claim,"

Noriko was smiling at her husband, looking pleased.

"I…" Inoichi closed his eyes and breathed out deeply through his nose. "I can't believe I'm saying this but…you have my blessing."

"And mine." Noriko added in.

Ino looked like she could hardly believe it. "W…what?" She questioned, her voice shaky.

"We love you Ino," Noriko said. "Your father and I both only want what is best for you, and if Asuma makes you happy and you truly love each other then…" A wide smile spread across her face. "Then we approve."

"Ahh!" Ino leapt up, screaming joyfully as she rushed to her father and engulfed him into a hug. "Thank you!" She moved back and kissed him on the cheeks before running to her mother and hugging her tightly. "Thank you so much!"

Inoichi looked uncomfortable but he nodded his head, scratching the back of his hair. "Just…just be careful."

Asuma went red and the two adult men met eyes again. They nodded at each other and then both of them coughed gruffly.

"Uh, so, yeah. I'm…I'm not happy about this, still,"

Ino and Noriko looked up as Inoichi spoke directly to Asuma, who still sat upon the sofa, feeling extremely small.

"But I'm allowing this to happen for my daughter's benefit."

"I understand." Asuma mumbled.

They'd done it. They'd got through the hardest part.

Ino rushed back to Asuma and engulfed him into a hug. A hug that the Sarutobi gladly reciprocated, even while Noriko smiled on and Inoichi looked anywhere but them.

Up next his friends, Shikamaru and Choji, and then the entire village.

Oh God.

Um. I'm going away at the weekend and won't be back till Tuesday and I have a lot of work to do so I hope that's ok. Please be gentle with me about this chapter D:

Anyway. Thank you so much to the people who have favourited and followed this story so far. I still find it crazy amazing.

Also, thank you to: deathrosekitty, Tangly, guardiana, AnneLea, AkariNeMellia, Laurie, Mishi Nagano (Actually, this sounds gross, but Sakura actually, uh, licked it all up aha), harvestangel99, Trunksmybaby, CaitlinIntolerant, Shika The Brain, Bella, ctm07 and electrickpanda for your reviews, they really mean a lot to me. I can't adequately explain how much they mean to me.