(6 years ago)

Two weeks before Shisui asked Ino out, she had been flirting with Genma Shiranui. She was at the bar with Shikamaru and Choji when she noticed the occasional eyeing from across the room.

It was that look. You know which one… The one that everyone mistakes to mean love at first sight.

That look!

That stolen glance, which once your eyes lock on to, would pull you in, wrenching your spirit from your body and driving it towards the orbit of their gaze. Making you feel like you were the only one that revolved around that stare and everyone else had just disappeared… faded into the background as if they did not exist. It was captivating!

But it wasn't real. It wasn't love at first sight that is…

It was a look of sensual desire, and Ino liked what she saw very much. After a while of exchanging several glances at each other, the barkeep placed a drink before her and informed her it was from the guy she had been exchanging glances with. So, she made her way over to him with her chest raised up and a flirtatious lidded gaze.

"You sure it's wise to get a girl, whose Chunin exams you proctored, intoxicated?" she began, to which he had given her a side smirk before responding, "You're making me sound older than I am, Yamanaka. Besides, I only temped for Hayate, and I never proctored your match."

"It doesn't change the fact that you're much older" she supplied, "But, luckily for you, I'm into older guys…" she finished with a coquettish tone and placing her palm onto his hand.

"Lucky, you say?" he grabbed the hand she touched him with, "if someone like you can be interested in me, then I am lucky for sure"

They had a few drinks, but not too many, and decent conversation, but it had to end at that.

Genma left for a mission that night and it wasn't for another 5 weeks that he would return to the village.

On the other hand, Shisui Uchiha looked at her differently. His gaze didn't lock her in and wrench her soul. His gaze promised to turn her world upside down, and the intensity of it made it difficult for her to hold that gaze. Often, she would shy away, and he loved having that effect on her.

But it wasn't just the way he looked at her. Ino would feel floundered anytime she felt his touch. Whenever they made physical contact during training or their fingers would accidently brush against each other when they would hang out, electricity would flow through her body and cause her little hairs to stand.

This was real.

Shisui would make her feel a pleasurable discomfort; she would always be on edge around him. He made her heart restless and her body all jittery. That's how she knew she really liked him, and all thoughts of what could have happened with Genma just slipped away.

Until he showed up again…

Ino was working her shift at Yamanaka Flowers again, when Shisui paid her a visit. They've had several dates since their first one, and this Uchiha just couldn't have enough of seeing his girl. So, he rushed over to see when she would get off her shift so they could grab dinner together.

"My shift ends in an hour" she informed him, and Shisui groaned, "that's too long" as he wrapped his arms around her and linked his forehead with hers, "you think you can slip out a bit earlier?" he asked in a quiet tone close to a whisper.

His warm breath on her face and the secure feel of his arms had her in a daze, "I wish I could, but my mom won't be able to take over for another hour" She sadly informed him. Shisui's response came in the form of a longing kiss, and when he broke it, he said, "Then just leave it unattended, I missed you" she locked him into another kiss, and would break in between to supply a few words, "that." kiss, "would be." Kiss, "Verry-" longer kiss, "Irresponsible of me"

He placed a comforting palm on her cheek and then his fingers grabbed longingly onto a lock of her hair, "alright" he conceded in a nervous whisper. "I'll be back in an hour then" he kissed her once more before leaving the shop and looking back at her as he stepped out the door and gesturing with his hands over his heart that it had been broken.

Ino tilted her head to the side and giggled, 'so dramatic' she mused and then released another longing sigh of her own. She would rather be with him now than manning the shop.

Things were quiet and she hadn't received any customers for the first half of her shift's final hour. This made time move slower for the Yamanaka, and she was feeling very eager to see Shisui again. A ding at the door had indicated that a customer had stepped in, taking her out of her thoughts, but when she looked up, she realized it hadn't been a customer at all.

Genma had walked into the store, with the prospect of asking her out on a date. 'Oh shit, I forgot about him' she was surprised by his appearance and recalled the little flirtatious scene they'd had over a month back. "Genma, what a surprise" she said flustered. She was nervous because she knew she'd have to turn him down.

Genma made his way over to her saying, "I just got back from my mission…" when he reached her, he grabbed her hand to kiss it and continued, "I was about to head to the bar with Raidou, but then I recalled that we had some unfinished business. What do you say we pick up where we left off?" Genma was just as flirtatious as she was. It's one of the reasons they hit it off so well before he had to leave to his mission. He was still holding onto her hand, and Ino was becoming more flustered by the second. "I, um… well…" she was searching for the words to let him down gently, when another ding was heard.

Ino turned to see that Shisui had returned to the shop, "I decided I couldn't wait a minute longer, so I'll just spend your shift with-" he halted midway and looked dumbfounded at seeing her hand in Genma's who was standing too close to her. Ino's face flushed a deep red, and quickly freed her hand from Genma's grasp. Shisui looked at his flustered girlfriend and then at Genma who he had caught making a clear pass at her but was looking confused at Ino's reaction. "Shiranui." He greeted him in a grave tone. "Hey Uchiha! Who's the unlucky lady this time?" he jeered and Ino who registered his mocking tone raised an eyebrow his way.

Genma took in her expression and supplied, "This man has broken hearts all over Konoha. You must have supplied him with plenty of apology bouquets. So Uchiha, who's the girl?" prompting Ino to meet Shisui's gaze and she saw that his eyebrows had formed into a knot before he relaxed his expression and moved to stand by her side. He wrapped an arm around her and retorted, "you were flirting with her a moment ago, Shiranui" still not relenting the gravity in his tone. "What's going on here?" he turned to ask Ino, and she had her eyebrows in a knot now, "Nothing is going on here" she asserted, "It didn't look like nothing" he retorted.

"You two are going out?" Genma asked, and Ino and Shisui responded simultaneously, "Yes", "Yeah so back off! Shiranui" Ino turned to give him another pissed off look before she returned her gaze to Genma and said, "Sorry, Genma, we started going out after you left for your mission"

Shisui was getting irked, what was she sorry for? Did she want to go out with Shiranui. He was getting really upset and jealousy was taking over him. "What are you apologizing for, he should be apologizing for making a pass at someone else's girl" He emphatically proclaimed. Ino was getting irritated by Shisui's behaviour, "Can you stop whatever this is you're doing? I'm handling this" she threw back at him. "He was the one handling you, judging by what I walked in on" he retorted back.

"There's no need to be a jerk, Uchiha, it's my bad. I didn't know you two were going out-" Genma began so he would make the Uchiha calm down, but Shisui interjected with, "Well she should have told you" not taking his gaze off Ino, but the words were directed at Genma as well. "I was about to, before you walked in acting like a jerk" she retorted again, "It didn't seem like you were about to tell him, it looked more like you were enjoying his advances" the Uchiha barked back.

Genma was starting to become uncomfortable by the lovers' spat taking place before him, and so he said "Uchiha, you got it all wrong. You came in before she had the chance to respond. It's no big deal-" but he was cut off by Ino barking back at Shisui, "Why are you being such an ass?!"

"Maybe I wouldn't be such an ass if I didn't find my girlfriend flirting with another guy!" he bellowed back.

Genma began to slowly retreat, and he said, "I'm… just going to go and let you deal with this" but he was ignored as they continued to yell at each other, so he just left the store and those two with their argument that he really didn't want to be a part of.

"I wasn't flirting!" She howled at him to stress this again.

"Then why were you all red with your hand in his?! What the hell do you call that, then?!" Shisui fired back.

Ino's face scrunched into a deep scowl, "Are you listening? I said I wasn't flirting. We could have had a thing but that was before I went out with you, and nothing happened with us because he left for a mission. I was about to turn him down before you showed up being a jerk!"

"Oh, so I got in the way of you and Shiranui. Is that what you're telling me?!" Shisui howled back.

This jerk was seriously getting on her last nerve. Did he not know how she felt about him? Why isn't he listening to what she was saying, and why was he persistent to turn this into something it wasn't?

"NO! that's not what I'm saying! stop being an ass!" She yelled, and he yelled back, "Stop flirting with other guys!"

Is that what he thought of her? that she was just a flirt? Ino was hurt. She couldn't believe what she was hearing from him. This jerk! Did he not trust her? fury was taking over her and though all she wanted was to see the man before her and spend more time with him, this had now become the last thing she wanted because of his behaviour.

"Leave" she said.

"What?" he responded in disbelief.

"Leave! I don't want to see you right now!" she barked more assertively, as she shoved him towards the door and out of the shop.

Shisui was now staring dumbfoundedly at the store's door that displayed the 'Closed' sign. Ino stomped to the back of the shop with irate tears cascading on her face. "ASSHOLE!" she yelled to no one, "THAT JERK! I'm flirting with guys?! Well, seems like you're the one with the reputation you bastard!" She was dwelling over Genma's words.

Well, she shouldn't be surprised. Didn't Shisui tell her himself that he had had plenty of experiences. Ugh, still she was upset. He was such an ass!

Standing outside the store still, was Shisui, who was starting to realize that he had perhaps gone overboard with his jealousy. HE was jealous? Since when? This Yamanaka was turning him into those crazy boyfriends he used to make fun of. He still felt angry though, but more than his anger towards seeing Genma flirt with Ino, was his anger at himself because he wanted to badly see her and spend time with her, but this was something he couldn't do anymore because he behaved like a complete ignoramus.

He wasn't going to give up. She had to leave the store eventually when her shift ended, which shouldn't be much longer now. He will wait and apologize for his behaviour. However, what Shisui didn't know was that there was a back door which Ino had slipped out from when her mom arrived to take over.

Mrs. Yamanaka walked towards the door to flip the sign back to indicate that they were now open for business again. Shisui was confused, as he hadn't seen her enter the store. He stepped in to ask about Ino and her mom informed him that she had already left. He rushed out to look for her, but it wasn't until a few hours had passed that he found her.

She stood still in the middle of the marketplace staring at him with a frozen gaze from a distance. 'Ugh! Why did he have to look so cute!' she mused when she registered his puppy dog eyes that were clearly telling her he was sorry.

Finally, he found her. She still looked angry at him though. He needed to set things right, but before he could start walking over to her, she was making her way towards him.

Ino was furious. All the while in her head she was yelling 'That jerk! That unbelievably handsome asshole! Ugh I could just AH!' She was of two minds. She wanted to both strangle him and fuck his brains out.

She took a step forward, then another, and another. Before she knew it her strides increased, and she was making her way to him with haste.

Shisui reciprocated her steps to close the distance. He needed to tell her he was sorry, that he didn't mean the shit words that he said. He was jealous and he had never experienced that feeling before, and so he didn't know how to handle that situation. He just needed Genma to back the fuck off.

The distance between them was closing in and within seconds they would finally… SMACK!

Ino sent a palm across his face slapping the wind out of his ears and leaving him stunned and dishevelled. She stared at him with a scowl on her face, heavily panting. Her breaths were loud

In

Out

In

Out

And then… Ino latched her lips onto Shisui's with such passionate aggression. The Uchiha was stunned and confused by her actions, but he was quickly sinking into it, moving his own just as passionately against hers. He needed to feel her embrace once more, to have his arms around her, his lips on hers, his cock rubbing against her firm ass, his hand choking that delicate neck of hers. FUCK she turns him on so much! All he could think about lately was her.

He moved his hands up to her hair to rub his fingers through the strands as another caressed her thighs then moved to her ass to grip it tightly. Their lips moved thrice more before she pushed his chest away to detach from the kiss.

SMACK!

She slapped him again then turned to walk away.

Shisui had a palm cupping his face with an astonished expression, but everyone around them who had witnessed the affair taking place was just as confused. They had an audience, and each time Ino had slapped him they would gasp then freeze with stunned expressions as she would kiss him.

She took four steps before turning again towards him, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him closer into another passionate kiss.

Shisui's confusion had him in a daze, but the whirlwind of emotions she was putting him through had him turned on more than ever. Fuck, she was good! 'I think I'm going to like being submissive' he mused.

His hands instinctively found their way back to her ass and he squeezed her so firmly, that she was about to let out a sensual moan. Ino pulled away again to prevent this. She was still pissed! She pushed him back, and yelled "you fucking prick shit, I hope you trip onto a horse's ass, face first!" She sprinted away this time and hopped onto the buildings to get away.

Shisui looked around and noticed the audience that had been staring at them. Flustered by this realization he chuckled nervously and said, "Uh… just a lovers' quarrel. Sorry about this" but one old lady yelled, "Well… go after her!" urgency had now filled him, and he nodded at the lady before leaping onto the buildings himself to chase after Ino.

(…Less than 3 years ago)

She had a smile on her face before she emerged from her inner thoughts when she heard a question directed at her once more. Why was she recalling that memory of Shisui again? Oh right… They were talking about 'The Look'. She knew the look very well…

Ino was at Hana's with Sakura and Hinata, and each were discussing the look they received from the men they were with. The look that indicated that it was real. Hana and Sakura had put this night together to support Ino. She had discovered that she had been in love with Itachi this whole time, but she also believed he didn't love her back. That was what they were discussing now…

Hana repeated the question for the third time, "Hello! Blondie? Well… did Itachi ever look at you like that?" They wanted to determine if he really wasn't in love with her, like Ino believed. Sakura had insisted that he might just be, and the ladies were trying to get to the bottom of this.

"I don't know" Ino responded.

"How could you not know? That look is obvious!" Sakura barked.

"Oh, and how long did it take you to realize that Kakashi wanted to fuck the hell out of you?" Hana jeered, and Sakura blushed.

"It wasn't obvious to me either" Hinata began, "I didn't know Sasuke thought of me that way, until he almost stared a man down to his near death when he saw him flirting with me" she chuckled at the recollection.

"That's it! Ino, did he ever show any signs of jealousy when a man made a pass at you?" Hana asked, but Ino quickly shook her head and explained, "I haven't really been around other guys. Itachi and I are usually alone when we're together."

"And you two never once got intimate?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at her in disbelief.

"Itachi isn't like that" Ino reminded her.

"Sasuke isn't either… He insisted we court in accordance with our family's traditions" Hinata supplied. "Well, Blondie, maybe that's it. Maybe he'd rather take the traditional approach too." Hana supposed.

However, Ino knew better. She knew Itachi didn't mind being non-traditional. He just needed to be in love. This thought made her feel even more depressed. "Yeah… maybe. Anyway, I want to know more about you, Hinata. Sasuke is courting you?! I can't believe you two will be the first to get married among us!" she chimed to divert the subject away from her and Itachi, but she was also genuinely curious to catch up with her friend.

"Yes…" she chuckled, "… I was surprised by him. He was always …" Hinata paused to find the words to describe Sasuke, and Ino supplied a few, "Arrogant? A total asshole? The biggest jerk to ever exist in Konoha?" Hinata blushed, recalling that she had thought similarly to the blonde, but Sakura quickly interjected, "He's just terrible with dealing with people. Sasuke is actually very sensitive and caring" Hinata smiled and nodded in agreement, "He's very attentive, and sincere. I never thought I would ever fall for Sasuke Uchiha, but after spending those last few weeks with him, I don't think there is any other man for me"

Ino smiled and said, "You deserve nothing but the best, sweet Hinata. That Sasuke better be nothing but the best with you" she threatened.

"Speaking of marriage, I have some news to share too" Hana began, "Fu proposed"

"WHAT!?" Ino squawked, "When did that happen?!"

"Two weeks ago, the day after he returned from the Kage summit" Hana replied.

Ino raised an eyebrow at her, "I saw you that day! why didn't you tell me?" she inquired, and Hana retorted, "Well, it just happened, and it wasn't right to come in with my happy news when you were having problems of your own. Besides, I'm telling you now."

Ino went to hug her and said, "Oh, we're going to become family! This is so exciting!"

"Yeah, yeah! Don't get all sappy on me blondie" Hana jeered but returned a smile to Ino.

"Well, it seems everyone is getting married! I'm really happy for you both" Sakura expressed, "I have some news too, but nothing that big. Kakashi and I are officially together"

"Hah! We figured with all the sex you've been having!" Ino remarked.

"Ino!" Sakura bellowed the blonde's name in astonishment.

"Pft! I've been trying to see you for the past two weeks, and each time you were too busy for your best friend because you were fucking your sensei!" Ino said more crudely. A flustered Sakura barked in response, "Wasn't that your advice! Just keep fucking him until it becomes normal?!"

"Easy Pinky, Blondie here is just teasing you" Hana remarked, and Ino was laughing at Sakura's reaction. Ino placed a loving arm around Sakura and said, "Forehead, I'm happy it worked out for you"

Sakura smiled and reassured her friend, "Ino, it will happen for you too, and if Itachi is too blind to see how amazing you are, then I'm sure you'll meet someone better who deserves you"

But Ino didn't want someone better. She wanted Itachi. Her face reflected her thoughts, and she was getting depressed again. She shook the thought out and joked, "Well, if I get desperate enough, there's always Izumo" she chuckled.

"Actually, he's seeing someone too" Hinata informed her, "Kurenai Sensei hooked him up with a friend of hers on Asuma Sensei's request"

"Great, now I'm really depressed" Ino groaned.

"Ah, cheer up, Blondie. There's plenty of guys out there. Maybe try your luck with Genma again" Hana suggested, "Or just start dating again. Who knows, it might just workout for you" Ino considered this suggestion for a moment, "Where do I even begin?" she mused aloud.

"You're still young! Go to the bar. That's where all the single men are. A flirt like you will have no trouble securing any dates" the bar… well, what did she have to lose. "Fine, but I don't want to go alone. Will you all come with me?" Ino asked, "Of course we will! We have two prospective brides to celebrate too!" Sakura reminded them.

"I'm always down to get drunk, you don't have to ask me twice" Hana informed them, and Hinata responded favourably as well, "I'm in too"

"Alright, tomorrow night then, Ino Yamanaka makes her return to dating!" Ino chimed.

Although she sounded enthusiastic, she was already dreading the affair…