Loose Lips

The subject of Naruto being the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki is often described as the worst kept secret. What if that was actually the case.

—/—

Ino didn't often find herself out this late walking the streets of Konoha, not that she was technically told not to though. That didn't make it any less likely her parents were worried or stop the lecture she was in store for.

She sighed, what was she even doing? Believing some rumor that Sasuke was seen walking around this part of town was more than hopeful, it was desperate. And Ino didn't like to consider herself desperate. That was Sakura's thing.

"What's that thing doing here?!" A loud shout tore her from her reverie, drawing her attention to a ramen stand further down the road where she was headed.

She huffed, 'Why do people have to be so loud?'

A crash, the sound of wood cracking over something hard and a splash of ramen that spilled out onto the street froze her in place. 'Was someone fighting?'

Suddenly a figure dashed out of the curtain. Naruto, why was she not surprised. He caught her eyes, fear, she didn't expect that he usually had that stupid smile stuck to his face, turning to embarrassment as she could see the start of a bruise under his hairline, ramen in his hair. He turned, she wasn't sure if it was ramen broth or tears that shook from his face before he fled.

Ino's attention then fell to the ramen stand, Ichiraku, she didn't know much about Naruto but she knew he liked ramen, aside from being Hokage and Sakura, it was all he talked about. She didn't think he'd be stupid enough to prank a place he'd like to eat at, but then again, it was Naruto. The shouting from the stand made it seem like one of his bad ones, he'd never learn.

"How dare you?!" Yeah, he'd never learn.

"How dare you Teuchi?!" Ino stopped, now only a few yards from the stand. That was a different voice. Naruto wasn't the cause. Why did he get chased out, why the ramen spilled over him and the bruise?

"You attacked a child!" The first voice shouted as the curtain moved again and a man in a chunin vest backed out, stumbling, obviously drunk.

The man's flushed face was twisted in anger. "A child?! I attacked a monster, one you choose to feed!"

A second man, older, wider and holding a large butcher's knife, like a civilian, threateningly at the other. "He is a child! Hated for no reason!"

The chunin stepped forward, the knife no real threat, "No reason." He hissed, "That thing killed my brother, I will never stand the Kyuubi existing in this village."

Ino froze, 'the Kyuubi?'

The older man's eyes widened and he quickly turned his head up and down the street. Her instincts and academy training were the only reason she made it to the cover of the stand before he spotted her. The chunin would have noticed if he wasn't drunk, she let out a relieved sigh.

"There are laws about speaking of that," he stepped closer, the knife now much more firm in his grip, "same as laws about not attacking him. I should go straight to the Hokage."

"Laws that protect that monster are a joke." The Chunin replied darkly.

"That boy is not the monster stuck inside of him!" The ramen proprietor hissed. "Now get out of here before I dirty my knife."

"You could try." The chunin goaded before they stared at each other long enough Ino became afraid of actual bloodshed.

The chunin tsked, "Your food isn't good enough for my money anyway old man. Enjoy feeding a monster."

"Enjoy your stay at T&I." The proprietor mumbled one the man was a good distance away. He turned back into the stand, "Ayame, can you close down the stand, I have to go talk to someone."

"Okay father, please be careful. I don't like you being so angry. Are you going to check on Naruto?" A female voice called out.

"Nah," the man spoke back, "it'd just embarrass the boy. Don't bring it up when he comes in next either; just offer a bowl on the house."

With the woman's assent being heard the man quickly walked down the street, Ino noticed that at some point he put the knife away.

And then she was alone. She could hear the sounds of cleaning inside the stand but the road was empty, it had been since before the argument. It would have been if she had gone home like normal, but no, now she was here. And she couldn't remember what was so important that she was.

She ran.

She ran from the stand and from what she heard. Naruto wasn't the Kyuubi, the villagers hated him because of his pranks right? Yeah, there was no other reason people hated a 10 year old right? No, the anger was fair.

It had to be fair.

Otherwise why did she and the others treat him so bad? She made fun of him for as long as she could remember… long before the pranks. Her breath hitched.

Was she in school with a monster? She scanned her memories for Naruto, it wasn't much, she never gave him much notice, he was loud, she remembered lots of yelling, he was prideful, she could remember the blasts and the failures… he was lonely, she remembered the lone child in the playground no one played with.

She cringed at how she yelled at Choji and Shikamaru for spending time with him the couple times they did.

She couldn't remember dangerous, or murderous, she couldn't even remember angry.

Did she make fun of him just because others did, she thought she set trends, did she just follow them. Her mind fell onto all her magazines… of course she did. She didn't like that at all.

Her mind twisted and turned through all kinds of emotions before finally making it to the entrance to her clan grounds, the family's familiar sign marking the walls.

Her father stood at the entrance to her home, his concerned face quickly shifting to suspicion and anger once he saw her see him.

"What are you doing out so late?"

"Is Naruto the Kyuubi?"

They asked at the same time. There was no answer in that moment from either but her eyes were locked on his and the way her father's eyes widened she knew.

Before she could press her questions her father ushered her into the house forcibly and she found herself in the living room before she fully understood what happened.

"Noriko! Ino's home, but I'm going to talk with her about her actions tonight!" He called deeper into the house.

Her mother poked her head into the room just to see her, "Ino, your father and I have been very worried." She turned to her husband. "Inoichi, don't let her off easy or you're in trouble too."

Her father shuddered slightly, "Don't worry dear, this'll be quite the serious talk."

She didn't know why her mother believed him, her father buckled on every punishment he ever tried to give outside of helping at the store, but that wasn't even a punishment most times. But when he turned around his eyes were hard. In that moment she was glad to be a Yamanaka, being trained on how to read people was taught to her at the same time as how to read letters, if she hadn't she wouldn't have been able to see the small amount of fear deep in them that softened their edges. She'd never seen that before.

"Where were you tonight that you'd ask that?" His voice struggled to remain even and she couldn't tell what it wanted to hint at.

She thought about lying, she thought about coming up with a story that would keep her innocent to everything even being late. She decided honesty would get her to her questions faster, "I was across the village looking for someone, a boy," she added when her father's expression seemed doubtful, now it was just alarmed, "I lost track of time and on my way back I got stuck hiding from a fight." Her father looked like he was going to interrupt; she pushed through his burgeoning question. "A drunk chunin attacked Naruto at that ramen stand, Ichiraku, what I think was the owner got into a fight with him—"

"Old Teuchi?!" Her father's alarm cut through her story.

"Even brandished a knife and accused him of attacking a child." Her father's eyes started to widen, he knew where this was going, but she needed to see his reaction. "The chunin called him a monster, said he was the Kyuubi and got run off for it. The old man said there were laws." Inoichi swallowed and Ino knew it was all true. Now she just needed a bit more. "How is Naruto the Kyuubi?"

"He's not." Her father's answer was quick, too quick.

Eyes narrowed she pressed again, "How does he have it in him?"

An answer tried and died in his throat seeing her glare. His lips pursed, "The Yondaime, he couldn't kill it, it's a being of pure chakra given malice. It had to be sealed."

Ino's eyes widened, "In a child?!"

Her father winced with how high her voice rose. "The chakra has to blend with who it's sealed in, an adult would die. The younger the better so the chakra would develop together, chakra is shaped while young, it's why we start ninja training at such a young age, for sealing the Kyuubi, the younger the better. So why not a newborn?" His explanation fizzled at the end. At the time it made sense, the destruction and death were terrible and any reprieve seemed worth it then but now saying the words, looking at his own daughter he couldn't justify it, or rather he hated that he could.

"Why didn't I know before?" Ino's voice was low, hurt. He hated the sound of it.

"There's a law, one I'm breaking even now but since you found out it's best you know completely. The Sandaime Hokage feared the people's response; people hated and feared the Kyuubi. He wanted it hidden. He hoped that if it couldn't be talked about and if he couldn't be attacked people would forget. No one under the age of 16 or 17 should know."

"Is he dangerous?" Her voice hadn't changed.

Inoichi sighed "I don't know, I don't think so, I believe in the Yondaime's sealing skills and aside from pranks I've never heard of him showing any sign of the Kyuubi's chakra, even if he did, unless the seal was broken even that wouldn't be too dangerous."

"So why does the village hate him? Why do adults hate him so much that even the kids hate him and don't know why? Why did I hate him?" Tears fought at the corner of her eyes, she hated everything she heard tonight, even that stupid rumor that started it.

Inoichi's lips pursed again, and Ino could see the regret in his eyes. "An elder who didn't believe the same as I spread the information before the law was passed and fear was ripe and information scarce. The law was an attempt to protect him but it didn't work, not fully. Your generation was supposed to be free of that fear but it seems the malice of the older generation has seeped downward."

"Do you hate Naruto?"

The question was a blow. Inoichi nearly bent over. "The Kyuubi nearly killed your mother and you." He said before he could stop.

Tears filled the edges of her eyes, "Is Naruto the Kyuubi?" She asked again.

"...no." He felt wretched, he never had to think of this before, he never dealt with him. He just had to turn his back on a child left alone, abandon the already abandoned, turn a blind eye to any and all misery a young boy faced.

"Do you hate Naruto?"

"I… I… never meant to," Inoichi sat on the couch, he really never meant to, "I abandoned a young boy to loneliness and bitterness, and never did anything to help. I never meant to hate him, but I did."

Ino faced her father, she could see the fear and horror on his face. Her father was a kind man, who couldn't even abandon a flower that was struggling but now he spoke of actively neglecting a boy because deep down he hated him and never realized. It was so unfair. "Did you teach me to hate him?"

Inoichi snapped out of every thought and a new wave of horror washed over him, "I… no," he shook his head, "but I taught you to ignore him, to think it was okay he was hated. And it is probably, no it is, my biggest failure as your father. I may be terrible at discipline and not know how to deal with your interest in," his teeth clenched, "boys. But to think I taught you that ignoring another villager's pain was acceptable is my worst mistake."

Ino didn't like seeing her father like this, he was questioning so much and all because she overheard a couple sentences. "Is this how the whole village feels?"

Inoichi shook his head sadly, "There are many who hate him simply for existing as a reminder of their fear or losses. Too many, and unfortunately there are even more like me that are affected by the others' hate and let it be. I can only think of a few people I know who actively or even passively don't hate him, I thought I was one until tonight." He sighed, "this isn't something you need to worry about."

"How could I not?!" She yelled, breaking him from his melancholy, "You just said you regret teaching me to ignore him and that's your advice!?"

His eyes widened, "No, of course not. This is just an adult matter."

"Well the adults suck!" The tears flowed from her eyes, she didn't even like Naruto but this was just too much. "It's so unfair." Inoichi was up in a flash, his daughter wrapped up in his arms as she cried.

"It is." Was all he could say.

It was late, and she cried herself to sleep. After bringing her to bed he found his wife still awake in their room and when she asked how it went all he could do was wrap her up in his arms too, and gain all the comfort from her he could.

—/—

Morning came all too soon for Ino who found that going to bed without cleaning, letting her hair down, changing, or wiping away the tears left her well below her normal standards for herself and most unfortunate was while remedying it she was left alone with her thoughts and worst yet, she was thinking of Naruto.

She sighed as she ran her hairbrush through the straight platinum strands, her usual favorite activity as his face appeared before her again. 'Stupid brain.' All she could think of was his face the night before, no stupid smile, no boisterous words, no defiant eyes. Everything was different and now she couldn't help but wonder how fake his normal expressions were and how she hadn't seen them. She was a Yamanaka for Kami's sake, reading people is what she does, even before her jutsu. After all you have to be able to act like someone to pull off the more subtle and powerful aspects of her family's jutsu.

She put her hair up and found herself finally presentable again, with a smirk that didn't quite reach her eyes though she sighed again. 'I'm just going to have to watch the doofus for a day, get it out of my mind. Sasuke won't be troubled to not have me for one day, Sakura will just annoy him and he'll be that much more focused on me tomorrow. Yeah, good plan.' She clenched her fist in the mirror, her smile looking much more genuine and headed down to breakfast, not to eat much but to fight the gnawing empty feeling from her diet and missing dinner.

Her father didn't mention any of their talk the night before, she could see the start of bags under his eyes but otherwise he acted like normal and aside from a warning from her mother of making sure to be home by dinner it felt like the night before didn't exist. So much was normal she almost abandoned her plan until the smell of ramen wafted along her path and her mind filled in the scene of the last time she smelled it. 'Fine, just to get it out of my mind. One day of my attention, that's all you're getting Naruto.'

"What's wrong Ino-pig?" A voice cut through her thoughts. "You realized you're never going to get Sasuke and decided to let your face show your real personality?"

Ino could feel that her scowl couldn't deepen and briefly wondered how long she walked through the village like that. "Shut up forehead, your delusions should stay in that big head of yours not poison the village like that."

Sakura scowled harder than Ino and she simply waved her off and walked on before she could hear the reply.

Sakura ran by, turning as she passed, "I'm going to beat you and sit next to Sasuke today."

Ino fought the desire to chase and barely held on but she refused to let Sakura have the last word, "Enjoy your desperation Forehead!"

She saw the stutter as Sakura ran and knew that would mess with her all morning. 'Maybe this is a good plan after all.'

It seemed that her words shook Sakura more than she thought as she was still in the hallway outside the room when Ino walked onto the Academy floor. And Ino probably took too much pleasure in the frustrated scowl she earned with a simple smirk and flick of her hair as she approached.

Sakura, seemingly satisfied with how long she waited to not seem desperate, turned into the room slamming the door behind her. 'Huh, I should play the patient and confident type more. Drives Forehead up the wall.'

Pushing open the door calmly she found the room to be in its normal state of pre-teacher chaos. A dozen students chatting away about the newest fads and rumors, half a dozen bimbos drooling over her man, a couple people snoring, and through it all she could still hear Choji open a bag of chips. Before she could choose what to address first her attention was brought to the stairs leading up the center of the room where Naruto blocked Sakura from getting to Sasuke's side before any other number of fan girls could work up the courage to try.

She smirked, Naruto always did know how to annoy a person most. She wasn't even sure he knew how much just his current position annoyed Sakura, let alone him trying to chat her up.

"Hey, Sakura!" He was always so loud. Ino made sure to take the smallest step to the right to catch his face. His large stupid grin plastered over his face. "After class we should go get some ramen!"

Ino had to give credit where it was due, most boys were either too shy, frightened, or intimidated to try and ask a girl out, and the others usually used dreadful flirting advice from magazines and movies but Naruto put himself right out in front, no hesitation or shame.

Ino expected it was an act, an attempt at normalcy after his embarrassment last night but when she studied his face there was no emotion hidden behind his smile and hope tugged at the edge of his eyes. She was aghast, he knew what was going to happen, how could he be that happy and hopeful? He'd done this every other day for months with no change.

"No Naruto." Sakura hissed, striking him on the head hard enough Ino could hear his teeth clatter.

The class laughed, or rather a good majority of them did. She would have too. Before.

"Kami Forehead!" Her voice broke out before she could stop it, her eyes already seeing a bump in the other blonde's hair. "He just asked you a question; you don't have to be such a heinous bit-."

"Shut it Ino-pig." Sakura cut her off, "What's it to you? It's just Naruto."

Naruto gave off a small chuckle, rubbing his head, as the rest of the class laughed. Ino's eyes fell to his smile, still genuine. There was something else now but the smile wasn't as fake as it should have been in her opinion.

Ino huffed, focused back on Sakura, "Geez, I don't know how you expect to get anyone to think you're a girl being that violent." It was a common argument she threw at the anger prone girl but it's bite was cut as Ino saw Sasuke's eyes shift away from her.

He had looked at her, in the last few months, even years; she couldn't remember him glancing at her, Sakura, or any of the other girls vying for his attention. But she just had it, for a moment he looked at her. Why?

Naruto jumped up, "Hey! Don't insult Sakura like that!"

Whatever Sakura had said in return was drowned out by her own thoughts and the now very recovered Naruto in front of her. Her eyes immediately scanned his hairline and top of head, it helped that he was shorter than her, the bruise she saw forming last night was nowhere to be seen and even the bump she clearly saw swell moments ago was gone as well. 'That's not normal. 'Is that the influence of the Kyuubi?'

"She just hit you idiot," Her eyes fell onto his and she saw that he noticed her looking for the bruise, the smallest bit of fear and embarrassment fighting into his expression, "at least make her work before you're whipped."

The class laughed but she didn't really mean it as an insult, she somehow hoped he'd take that advice but she doubted it as he simply huffed and moved off to a seat before throwing his feet up on the table in front of him. Normally she would have expected a retort from him and his mumbling implied he had one but held his tongue, doubly weird and as she walked past Sakura gushing over an apathetic Sasuke she caught his eyes moving away again. 'Was her plan actually working?'

She found her backup seat past Choji and Shikamaru at the back of the room and glanced back at Sasuke before noticing Naruto's gaze, suspicious, before he quickly turned away. He was suspicious of her? Why? Because she saw him last night? Her eyes widened, 'Could he be thinking I'm waiting to bring it up to embarrass him? Is that why he held his tongue? He must not be used to people letting that kind of stuff go.'

"What's up with you today, Ino?"

The question caught her off guard; she looked over at the snacking figure, one of his eyes more open than usual peering sidelong at her. It would have looked accusatory if she didn't know him better, simply copying his lazy best friend in trying to get away with as little movement as possible. She sighed, "What are you talking about?"

"Naruto." She was surprised to hear from him, head still down on the table but turned to her, one eye gazing boredly up. Shikamaru was awake.

"What about him?" Ino asked impatiently.

"You usually just laugh at him getting knocked around," Choji spoke through the sounds of crunching chips, she'd tried to get him to stop talking while eating for years but at this point she was waiting for him to choke on something so she could say I told you so, "but you told Sakura off and didn't even yell at him when he got in your face. You feeling okay?"

"You were staring at him too," Shikamaru added lazily, "looking over him like the nurse does if you go in with a scrape."

"He just got hit, and Forehead is like a gorilla," she made sure to raise her voice for the last bit ignoring the angry shout from Sakura, "I didn't think he deserved that for just asking her out."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, a shocking display of interest and surprise that was doubled as Choji stopped his hand halfway to his face, the sound of crunching momentarily paused.

She raised her eyebrow back at them, challenging them to explain. Choji broke first, as always. "You never cared before, I'm not sure you even paid attention to half of what she does to him."

'She did more?' Ino couldn't argue his point since she obviously hadn't but the sudden stuttering and defending himself and trying not to offend her was unhelpful and she dropped her gaze to Shikamaru.

After a moment stare down as Choji continued to fumble around his words trying to make it sound like she wasn't a horrible person Shikamaru rolled his eyes and huffed out a "Troublesome." She smirked knowing she won. "What Choji means is: since when?"

Choji, grabbing onto the lifeline for his life, stopped mid-word and nodded vigorously, the crumbs from his snack shaking out onto the table.

"What do you mean?" Ino asked, hoping for a little more from her blunter friend.

Shikamaru sighed again, turning his face downward but managing a muffled continuation, "What happened that made you go from laughing to defending Naruto?" The way he positioned himself made it so only she and Choji could have heard and only because they were paying attention. It looked lazy but she knew he was fishing, he was curious and this was his way of showing it, trying to keep it private.

Ino looked down at him, he was one of the few people she ever saw spending time with Naruto, and not like the Kiba dog-boy who liked using him as an excuse to get in trouble but just walking around or cloud gazing, even if it was rare. 'Is he concerned about a friend?'

Ino glanced at the rest of the room, no one was paying her any mind and only Hinata seemed even inclined to be looking around although with her eyes Ino could never know where she was actually looking. Quickly she leaned in over Shikamaru's head, a sign for Choji to do so as well. "Ask your dads about Naruto."

"Huh?" Choji asked and even Shikamaru turned ever so slightly so she could see the confused and suspicious look in his eye.

"Ask them," she hissed in a whisper they could barely hear, "about him and the Kyuubi."

Choji leaned back looking confused at her but she shook her head, she wasn't explaining more. She wasn't even sure she could. Shikamaru caught her gaze, he scanned her face just as thoroughly as if he was a Yamanaka. Sometimes she wondered if he was with the way he could read people when he tried but she knew the Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka clans kept records of marriages and kept the three from mingling in that way more often than not. Something about keeping their alliance strong.

Whatever he found seemed to satisfy him and he rolled over and rested his head in his arms and it didn't take long for the soft sound of snoring to replace his normal breathing. Just in time for Iruka to come in, not that that would be enough to wake the lazy boy. It took Choji barely a minute longer to return to his snack.

—/—

The rest of the day went by normally. Ino wished she could have garnered Sasuke's attention at any other point; the morning had given her such hope that her plan might be working but no such luck it seemed. Although Sasuke noticing her change in behavior could only be a good thing, only Choji and Shikamaru, and she supposed Naruto noticed, so him noticing must show he paid attention before. 'Take that Forehead, I got plans, and they're working.' Maybe not completely, but at least a little.

Class was wrapping up and she was determined to do a final check before the day was over, both of Naruto and of Sasuke's reactions. If both went well she'd be sleeping soundly tonight. As class ended it didn't take long for most to leave, even Shikamaru was quicker than normal saying something about clouds as he left with Choji. "Don't forget what I said."

Shikamaru gave her the laziest wave off but Choji bothered a quick, "We won't," before they left.

She usually ended up in the pack of girls trying to see if Sasuke would join them for something after school, but as she sat and watched the chaos she couldn't help but cringe, it all looked so desperate. A few other boys that got close were pushed away but Naruto, who had been in the row in front of Sasuke, had been bodily tossed over the table and onto the floor.

She slowly made her way past the group, ignoring the glares from the few in the back that she didn't even know the names of, and walked down the stairs toward the disheveled and grumbling blonde. She stopped at the final step with the sudden realization that she had no idea how to even try and talk to Naruto.

"Geez, what's the big idea!? What's even so great about the teme?!" Leave it to Naruto's big mouth to give her an out.

"You wouldn't get it." She said walking the last couple steps to stand above him where he still sat on the floor glaring, at the girls or Sasuke she couldn't guess.

He whipped his attention to her, obviously surprised she was there, let alone talking to him, "What? Why? You don't have a reason do you?"

She sighed, shaking her head at the poor socially awkward boy, "Oh, I have reasons, just not any I think YOU'D understand."

"Try me!" He yelled. "I'm not stupid dattebayo!"

She glanced at the group and Sasuke barely visible within once again barely catching him looking away before he finally stood up and hopping over the row ahead landed next to Naruto. "Don't be so loud, dobe."

Ino was caught off guard. He had looked at her, and now she was hearing him talk. Sasuke rarely spoke when she or any of the others tried but he'd just throw out an insult to Naruto, just like that. "Shut up, teme! I'll wipe that smirk right off your face, dattebayo!"

Naruto was right. As annoying as that thought was. Sasuke offered the smallest of taunting smirks, arguably good natured but she knew she was biased, at Naruto. "Never gonna happen, dobe." And with a final jab he walked out of the room, the rest of the girls filling after him within a matter of moments.

"What the hell?" Ino asked aloud.

"What?" Naruto once again realized she was there, "Hey, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be chasing that pompous dick?"

She deadpanned, "I'm taking a break, that whole group is a little bit too desperate for my liking."

"You're usually at the head of that group." Naruto didn't miss a beat and his smirk told her he knew she basically just called herself desperate.

She fought the anger and the blush, "Well I never saw it from the outside before. Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow now."

"Don't bother." Naruto was quick again. "Sasuke's a douche."

"Sasuke is not a douche!" Ino finally yelled. "He's dark and mysterious, a broody bad boy, handsome and serious. And he's a good ninja." She laid it all out like a lecture, honestly Naruto should take notes.

It was Naruto's turn to deadpan, "That's crap."

"What?!" Ino wasn't doing well fighting her anger anymore.

"That's all crap," Naruto said with a confidence she wasn't expecting as he stood up, "all you fan girls give him all those traits 'cause he says nothing. But he says nothing 'cause he doesn't care. Mysterious and broody, the teme is a cocky prick who needs out in his place!"

She had to admit, she didn't have much evidence to deny him and she hated that her first instinct had been to hit him. The way he glanced at her hands told her he expected it too. But why, she never would have hit anyone else for this, maybe Shikamaru or Choji but those were basically her annoying brothers and never as hard as instinct just told her to hit him.

"Then why don't you?" She challenged instead crossing her arms over her chest to avoid any uncontrolled instinct.

Naruto stared at her chest; she might have called him a pervert if she didn't know better. He was still expecting her to hit him. When his eyes finally popped up his normal cocky smile was replaced with a small scowl. "The last thing you said about him might be true."

'Last thing? That he was handsome? No. Oh!' "You think Sasuke is a good ninja?" Ino couldn't fight the smirk; she had never heard Naruto say something nice about anyone except Sakura before.

"I never said that!" Naruto shouted, "and if you tell him I did, I'll tell him you called him broody!"

"That's a compliment idiot!"

"Not to orphans." It was quiet, quieter than anything she could have ever expected of him. No scowl or smile, just a plain face and eyes that dared her to deny him.

But how could she, she knew Sasuke was an orphan, the massacre hadn't happened even two years ago. It was only this year that she and the other girls felt they could even approach him given that horror he had faced. What she never thought of was that so was Naruto, all his life from what she understood.

"What do you mean?" Her voice was quiet now too.

"Doesn't matter." Naruto waved her off, walking past her towards the door before turning to her with an over exaggerated scowl. "What'd you want me for anyway, Ino?"

It did matter, something was there that she didn't understand, would hopefully never understand. And it affected both of them. She often thought of them as opposites, not even being on the same coin, but now? Sasuke regarded Naruto, the only other orphan in the room, and she'd seen it before too. If it wasn't Iruka or Mizuki then Naruto was the next most likely person to get him to speak. Maybe that was why he looked at her today, she interacted with Naruto. The only question was if that was a good or bad thing in his mind. They definitely weren't friends.

Unfortunately that wasn't the question at hand, no, she had to deal with the harder one first. 'Kami, Naruto had to make this difficult, didn't he?'

She sighed knowing she had been quiet too long by the suspicious look on his face. "I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out… or something." Kami, she wished she planned this far ahead, now she was being awkward.

His eyes widened. "Like a da—"

"Finish that sentence and I'll—" she cut herself off watching his hands fly up as she stormed forward. She hadn't been about to hit him but she knew from his experience with Sakura and her own threat it probably seemed that.

She sighed again, now only a couple feet from him, "Not like that idiot, as… classmates. Friends?" The last but sounded far-fetched even to her and she could see how truthful it sounded by the look on his face.

"We're not friends, Ino." Well at least he was honest.

"Yeah," she scanned the room looking for a reason and landed on her backup seat, "but you are with Shikamaru and Choji, and they're my friends, kinda… It's a family thing." Her mind couldn't really find the right words for them. It was a family thing, something she couldn't call friendship or kinship, they were annoying brothers but also distant friends, if even considered such at all. But as she scanned the rest of the room before turning back to Naruto, her words trailing off, she realized she didn't have many friends anymore. All her girlfriends were now in the mass of fangirls competing after Sasuke's attention and she hadn't talked to any boys aside from the three she did today. And that counted Naruto. 'Kami, when did she get so pathetic.'

Naruto looked surprised, "What? Friends? I mean Choji seems cool and all but we don't really talk without Shikamaru and he… doesn't really talk. I've cloud watched with him a couple times because he doesn't seem to mind but that's all. You don't have to push yourself."

Was he denying being friends, "But you have, Shikamaru hates when most people interrupt his cloud watching." Why was she defending this, she didn't even know if Shikamaru did consider him a friend, hell she didn't actually know if he considered her one.

Naruto grimaced, "I mean of course I bothered him, who can just watch clouds for hours?"

Ino laughed, she didn't mean to and normally probably would have only huffed out a small acknowledgement but so deep in her thoughts about Shikamaru's considerations that any jab at him was funnier by sheer chance, "Right? I've never met anyone lazier than him."

Naruto's large smile covered his face as his hands rested behind his head. "Never, I don't know how Choji even deals with him."

"He's corrupting him is how," Ino felt so much better being in familiar territory, she could nag about those two with anyone, "Choji's actually got some energy so he can't pull it off but he's starting to copy Shikamaru more and more."

Naruto stuck his tongue out, "Ugh, I couldn't imagine two of them, don't get me wrong, they're both decent guys but it rubs me wrong that Shikamaru sleeps all class and still does better in tests."

She laughed again, Naruto was bad mouthing them too but there was no malice, no real anger and it made it all seem so light hearted. Just two people talking about the annoying habit of their friends. "See, you're their friend, you get them."

His smile dropped to something small and thoughtful, but not sad, more resigned. "Nah, no one wants to be my friend, I'm just a failure, a no-good prankster. That's why I gotta be Hokage. Everyone will have to respect me then." She almost missed his last sentence, the words more breath than conscious effort.

"Why do you think they wouldn't want to be your friends?"

Naruto met her gaze and she didn't like the look, he was calling her an idiot with just his eyes, "No one wants to deal with being around me." He sighed, "You saw." It was barely said but he made sure it was loud enough.

He knew what she saw last night; he knew what probably everyone in class had seen at one time or another. The hated and abandoned boy.

"I don't need pity." She had been too quiet. His eyes had hardened and then softened, "I don't need friends to prove myself, and everyone will like me when I am strong enough to protect them."

'No they wouldn't,' she thought, 'they'll fear you more for being powerful.' She swallowed that thought, his blind optimism felt so misplaced she was swinging the other direction. "But do you want them?"

She saw the twinge of sadness cross his features, the ache in his smile that gave her all the answer she needed before it was gone. She gave him so little credit before today, but he was honest, straightforward, and had an emotional resilience that she didn't think possible. "Sure, and I'll make some. When it's not so hard." His smile near about glowed.

She swallowed again as he started to turn, and had to fight the tears that wanted to flow. If he was sad or angry this would be so much easier, so much more understandable. But he honestly believed it'd get better, that he could get everything he wanted if he became Hokage. Believed he would get there despite being the worst in class. She'd have called him naive if she hadn't seen and heard that he knew full well he was hated, that he wasn't good enough, that even those that dealt with him didn't truly call him friend. Why did he make everything so much harder?

"Naruto." Her voice was stronger than she expected.

"Hmm?" He turned to face her.

"Let me be your friend?" 'Oh Kami, what was she five, that was so stupid.'

He didn't respond, half turned to her his hands still propped up behind his head, his eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. Good, she could salvage this.

"This is going to sound selfish, I know I haven't treated you very well, even bullied you, but can we start over?" She stuck her hand out and saw his eyes follow it.

He stared at it, "Ino, but you saw."

Yes, she did, "And I don't care." That night changed her entirely, "no, I do care." His eyes shot up to hers a sad defeat pulling down his shock, "friends care when their friends are hurt and last night? I cared." Sorta, she didn't to be entirely honest, last night she was dismissive, then curious, then angry. It was today that she realized she cared. As Sakura, the entire class, and then the fan girl group she was normally at the head of dismissed him in a way no one else would be subject to. And not even because of their opinions but the adults' around them, and for something that wasn't even his fault.

No, she cared, now.

"You know what?" She continued as his face ran through a gambit of emotions she hadn't fully been able to identify but now had settled on a mix of shock, hope, and fear. Good she could work with that. "I'm not giving you a choice," she reached out and grabbed his hand giving it a shake, "Naruto, you're my friend now. And I'm yours."

Naruto gazed down at their hands before she let them drop, his smile shakily finding its way into his face again. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She nodded as his stupid bright overly large smile came back onto his face, which reminded her, "now as your friend there are some things we need to work on."

"Huh?" His face dropped. "What things?"

Ino smirked, "Well," she put on her best playful voice, "let's start with all the yelling."

"What!?" Naruto proved her point. Immediately. She was looking forward to changing that, it wouldn't be easy. But it would be so worth it.