Reviewer:

Kzzzzzz: Yeah, I really REALLY wanted to hold Sakura back there. It was hard to not do the classic Naruto gets slapped trope, but girls are beautiful and men can't help but look. Also...I just wanted to give Naruto that second chance, like everyone deserves.

Here we go everyone! So glad that so many people are reading my story. Today, we break 10k words! Let's go!

Enjoy!

Glazed Emeralds: A Hallmark Story

Chapter 4: Served Breakfast with a Twist

Once decently dressed and hair still defying gravity with little effort on his part, Naruto made his way towards the stairs, watching as he noticed two older women making their way across the courtyard below to the bathing area.

"I thought I was the only one staying here." Naruto mumbled as he trekked downstairs and over to the door that Sakura had shown him before to the dining room, and as it was wide open, he supposed that meant that breakfast was ready to order.

Stepping inside, Naruto glanced to the right where in a small alcove of a second doorway, he spotted Sakura with her back to him, her hair put up in a neat braid behind her, wearing a tight apron that covered over a knee length dress upon her frame. Naruto fondly gazed as she expertly handled six burners at once, her motions of both hands and feet fluid and precise. Flipping the eggs with one hand as she seasoned the meat with the other, sashaying side to side, and taking small taste tests at every turn, Naruto was trapped in awe.

It was like watching a surgeon in their element. He could imagine this woman in an emergency room, surrounded by nurses and saving people's lives with the way that she had mastered her craft. As she moved on to pouring the batter onto the pans, he couldn't help but smile at her, his vision blurring with bright light around the sight of her. So enamoured was he that when she turned around to start plating the food on the kitchen counter, her eyes looked out the door and his smile dumbly widened as he raised his hand towards her.

Sakura just stared at him for a second, her eyes boring into his own, her lips not moving up or down at his arrival. As quick as she spotted him, she looked away, continuing on with her tasks. Naruto took the hint and moved deeper into the room, his ears deaf to the sound of a plate breaking and a string of curses that would make a lustful woman blush.

Naruto spotted a small two top by the window available and made his way across the room, sitting himself down as he took the chance to glance around, noticing the number of people here. Over by the bar counter, with a fine collection of wines and spirits behind it, was an elderly couple, eating and conversing quietly.

Over in the corner, opposite the entrance was another older man, who appeared to be drunk this early in the morning, his head lulling back as he took regular swings from a flask, the contents clearly showing what was inside. Finally there was a four top table that he'd passed to sit at his, with two young women, maybe in their thirties, each with a small kid at their sides, all eating together as the children kicked one another underfoot.

Now he understood why he'd seen the older women earlier entering the bathing area. His innkeeper was right; she served the whole town here, and people came to talk, eat, and freshen up. It was a place to congregate and be merry and-

"Here is your coffee, sir." Came a melodic voice and a glistening bare arm placed the cup and larger container off to his side before retreating. Naruto looked down at the coffee and then back left to thank the one who prepared it, but Sakura had already retreated to the kitchen once more, being as efficient as possible. Naruto looked down and as he took a sip, his grin widened. He hadn't even ordered it, but damn this was good coffee.

"Morning everyone!" A feminine voice called out.

The cafe's door rang with a classic bell as it opened to show the town mayor, and Naruto's eyes bulged slightly as Ino stepped inside, wearing a pair of deliciously tight jeans that followed her figure from the low hip of her waist to the contour of her slim legs and a loose golden blouse that appeared see-through in design over a black undershirt that his eyes sought out through the sheer fabric. Naruto watched as she expertly made her way through the people here, greeting the drunk with a shoulder squeeze and a smile; making a joke to the older couple at the counter, throwing the little girl in the air and rubbing the other's head as she spoke quickly to the mothers as she did so. Naruto shook his head smiling. Ino knew how to work a room, or maybe this was just a small town routine. Either way, he thought that she would have made it big in the city, until her innocence was crushed and her moods dampened to more realistic levels that is.

"Hey, Naruto." Ino greeted as she approached his table. "I see you took my advice to stay here."

"Not much of a choice really." Naruto chuckled as he set his cup down. "This is the only place in town."

"True true...May I sit with you?" Ino asked, pointing to the chair before him.

"Be my guest." Naruto shrugged as Ino sat down on the other side. Naruto smirked dubiously. He'd love for her to join him. He needed to yell at her anyways. "Ino, be straight with me. You knew I ran into Sakura yesterday, didn't you?"

Ino poured herself some coffee from his pot, all the while smiling bashfully in his direction. "I did, but I knew that it would turn out alright. I've known Sakura since we were three years old, and she would never hold something as small as ogling her against a customer. She likes to think the best of people, and besides," Ino paused as she gazed over the table to smirk, "she can't say no to a bleeding heart."

Naruto's eyes widened as he sputtered. "B-Bleeding heart? I'm not-"

"You probably apologized to her, right?" Ino interjected, pointing her finger at him coquettishly. "For ogling her?"

Naruto's cheeks reddened slightly. "W-Well, sort of, um-"

Ino smirked into her cup, reveling in the situation. "Don't tell me you asked her out, or worse...Did you?"

"What? No! I um...we started fresh." Naruto blubbered, his mind completely disoriented from the woman's mind games. Were they both the same age? She could ring circles around him despite the both only being in their mid twenties.

Ino hummed across from him, taking the answer as it was. She leaned in, and Naruto blushed as she fondly grazed his arm with her fingers, her blouse open to reveal a creamy section of skin with the top of her breasts bulging out. "Don't sell yourself short, Naruto. I think many girls find you attractive. No?"

"Well...I mean, there are girls at my work that have said some things but...nothing too forward."

"I want to doubt that. No one bending over or...coping a feel?"

Naruto smiled. "A few, but...they're married or dating."

Ino's eyes gleamed. "Oh! Aren't you a man in a very poor position. So all the females around you want a reboot on their mistakes."

"Probably true."

"Shame." Ino tutted, shaking her head. "Well, Naruto, what do you do? In the big city?"

"I'm a conflict resolution specialist."

Ino giggled through the steam of the coffee at her lips. "That sounds so pristine."

"It's really not." Naruto laughed. "I just work with people or companies who have issues and try to find ways to resolve them."

"So not actually talking to people?"

Naruto smiled, shaking his head. "Sorry to disappoint, Ino. I'm a straight up, stuck in the office worker. I have a desk, and a door."

"Well, a door sounds promising." Ino cajoled, and both laughed, leaning back into their chairs as the atmosphere lifted. Naruto really liked Ino. She was a relaxing, laid back presence that he could be honest with.

"So city-boy," Ino spoke up. "What are you going to do today? Seeing the town and all?"

Naruto smiled back at her. "I figured that I should get out to my claim, you know? See it and all that." Naruto dug into his pocket and pulled out the map that Ino had printed out for him yesterday and looked over to her, as she sipped at her coffee. "It seems a little out of the way of town. Where can I rent a car?"

Ino paused with the cup to her lips and started smiling at him. Naruto could only watch as Ino tried her best to hold in her laughter, but she snorted in the end, giving Naruto an image of a pig laughing at him.

"There's nothing like that around here."

Naruto's eyes furrowed in confusion. "What?"

"We don't have enough traffic for a single shop. The visitors in winter all bring their own. I mean, there's one in Suna county, but that's almost twenty miles away."

"Oh...so...no one owns a car here?"

Ino smiled back at him with a stink eye and Naruto gulped. He'd just insulted her and her treasured town, hadn't he? "We're not that broke, Naruto. We make enough in the winter months to last the rest of the year. Everyone has a car, but they use them to go everywhere. As you might guess, we're pretty spread out."

"Oh…" Naruto bit his lip, cursing himself for jumping the gun and taking the bus here, even though he himself did not own a car being in the city and all that. What was he supposed to do now? That bus only came to town once a week, so he couldn't even get to Suna county if he wanted to for a week. He was trapped here in town either way. Damn, what was he supposed to do?!

"….But...I have one you can use." Ino offered quietly, her eyes glancing around herself before grinning at him. Like an angel appearing with a soft glow behind her, Naruto looked at her with a beaming smile that made Ino's skin shiver.

"Really? No joke? I'm sure you're plenty busy. I mean, I am here a whole month. Maybe just down to Suna and back and- wait, then you'd have to take a day off or-"

Ino's fingers rubbed up his arm, causing Naruto to shiver in delight. "Don't worry about it, Naruto. Think of it as me being….'neighborly'." Ino's voice lowered a tone deeper, her eyes glimmering at him with a darker hooded shade that Naruto couldn't decipher, stroking the knuckles on his hand.

"Neighborly, huh? Well, that sounds great."

"Glad I can help."

Naruto smiled over, leaning closer. "Well, I know that this would be an inconvenience for you, so I couldn't take it off your hands like that. How about I pay you? How much?"

Ino sucked on her teeth, nodding along as she looked up at the ceiling. "Well...I would be giving it over for a whole month...so...I suppose $70 a day wouldn't be bad…"

"I see." Naruto responded with a smile. Back in the city, it would be twice that just for the initial fees. "That sounds reasonable."

"We can shake on it." Ino smiled, and extended her hand in front of him. Naruto grinned and reached out to shake. Ino was so nice. So helpful and caring and...neighborly. What a fun phrase! He might adopt it. Naruto smiled brighter as he reached forward. What a nice town this was. Maybe he was right to come-

"Mmm!" Naruto grunted as his hand came within an inch of Ino's hand, before another feminine hand wrapped around his wrist and twisted it backwards, causing Naruto to sit sideways to relieve pressure from his arm.

"Excuse me, Naruto." Came another angel's voice, and Naruto looked through pained eyes as Sakura appeared next to the table, her presence powerful and dominant and- 'What the hell?!' Naruto mentally screamed as his eyes caught sight of her.

Here he was, twisted in agony, and Sakura still had a neutral face?! No smile or frown, no expression while she put him in absolute torturous pain?! Did she like him or hate him? "S-Sakura?" Naruto croaked, but it appeared that he was all but forgotten as he watched Sakura's eyes beam across at Ino who had turned into a nervous addict trying to cover up a drug deal gone sour.

"Hello Ino." Sakura spoke with a monotone.

"Oh! H-heya Sakura." Ino nervously gulped back her coffee, her cup rattling along the plate as she put it down and leaned back in her chair. "F-fancy you being here, huh?"

"Right." Sakura dryly spoke with an annoyed expression on her face as Naruto watched Ino gulp deeply for a second time. "I own the place, Ino. And you'll be paying for that coffee. I don't approve of schmoozing my guests for your addiction."

'Wait!' Naruto thought as his mind abruptly halted in place. His entire frame of mind altering from that comment. Sakura wasn't just a local girl working at the inn? She was the owner too?!

"So…" Naruto spoke up, drawing the girls' attention over to him. "Young mayor and a young business owner?"

Sakura cast him a fleeting nod as she summarized for him, sounding off like a true local who knew their history. "My last name is Haruno, for the name of the inn. There are a lot of old families that began in the town and still live here. They therefore own a lot of business here, so the next generation runs them, either in cooperation or on their own. Ino's father for example is a lawyer for the land office and the town psychiatrist so Ino assisted him until she got elected two years ago."

"Yeah." Ino piped in. "Daddy really wanted a boy, but he got me and he was excited when I told him how I wanted to follow the family business."

"Do people not want to take over?" Naruto asked with a hiss as he tried and failed to dislodged himself from the vice around his wrist.

"Sometimes, no one in a family does, and they sell it to others or others just take it over." Ino smiled flirtatiously over to him. "We've never had a mediator for arguments before though."

"Um…" Naruto gulped as Ino tried to reach forward, but Naruto held in another whimper as Sakura twisted his arm further away, making him turn to face her, though at least her eyes had morphed into one of concern as she looked into his own.

"Anyways; was that right I heard, Naruto? $70 a day for a car?"

Naruto cocked his head cutely, confused why she would ask such a thing. Another strained hiss from his lips finally alerted Sakura to her rough grip and she abruptly let go, as Naruto rubbed at his arm, smiling wide back at her.

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded. "I realized that I was in such a pinch since I got into town by bus, but my claim requires a car to get to. And just when I was moping about it, Ino's being really friendly and helpful!"

"Is she now?" Sakura smiled whimsically back to her friend as Naruto watched Ino gulp a third time, and airily giggle without sound.

"Y-Yeah. She's offering me her car which I know people need to get around out here, and it's a huge inconvenience for her to be without it."

Sakura looked back at him, and Naruto himself gulped at the piercing gaze she sent his way, her emerald irises bearing into him so fiercely. Was she always this direct? She was friendly enough last night. He swore that she was demanding his attention standing there before him. If she asked for something, was there anything he wouldn't do for her? He doubted anything else outside her face would distract him from her sight. Damn, this woman was irresistible.

"Naruto, how much are you paying me for a night?" Sakura asked him.

"Well, $70…" Naruto began, before pausing as Sakura leaned closer, and he swore her eyes were telling him to think things through. 'Well,' he thought to himself. 'A car costs the same as a room for the night? That seemed a little steep but in a small town maybe? Um…wow.' Naruto lost all train of thought as Sakura sent him the barest of smiles as she rubbed her fingers along his bruised wrist, as if apologizing for hurting him.

"Things cost less here than you think." Her voice lowered to a soft gentle breeze.

"Oh…"

Sakura turned back to Ino who was waiting for her and popped her hip out, Sakura's finger shaking as she dictated new terms to her on his behalf.

"He'll need a car here for sure, but he could always ask me for availability of people's cars, which I do keep a list of for clients in the summer. If you want exclusivity, Ino, then he'll pay $40 a day, plus the $30 it takes to fill up that clunker of yours."

"Oh come on Sakura!" Ino giggled as she stammered to argue back. "I'm giving him a good car and it's still low in mileage. Surely $60 will-"

"Sorry, Ino, but I've seen your mileage and eighty thousand in five years is nothing low in this town when you live so close. Besides, you don't need the bonus income like others would. It's not winter yet."

"Well, but I...alright alright! $40, plus gas."

"Which you'll fill up before you hand it over."

"Right right." Ino sighed, defeated.

With the victory won, Sakura nodded and turned back towards the kitchen, Ino grumbling about losing some extra money into her coffee cup that she would now have to pay for. Ino glanced over, and caught Naruto watching her friend spin her way between the customers and furniture and rolled her eyes at the way too familiar sight.

"She is very attractive, Naruto." Ino commented, smiling at the way Naruto idly nodded in agreement, his eyes eagerly watching her rear slide back and forth in his vision. It made Ino smirk into her cup. "Too bad she doesn't put out."

"...It wouldn't be worth it if she so easily did." Naruto muttered, not truly listening to her. Ino smiled over at the guy. He wasn't the first traveler to be interested in her best friend, but with her fiery attitude and lack of trust in men, most lost interest quickly. Naruto was obviously of a different caliber. Maybe he liked being shot down. Some men did.

"You'd better eat up before it gets cold."

"Huh?" Naruto uttered as he looked down at the hot food on the table. Had she delivered it when she interrupted the car deal? Naruto shook his head to clear it. He was getting too deep into that woman. She could be dangerous for all he knew...and yet...

"Has she always owned this place?" Naruto couldn't help but ask. He was a glutton for punishment, but he had her childhood friend sitting with him, so maybe she could shed light on some things.

"No. She worked off and on when we were younger, as all the kids do here. It makes everyone smile seeing a kid try to do the same things." Ino giggled, remembering fond memories, before her smile faded into a frown. "She left town for a bit to chase her dream; not everywhere is as nice as here, so she came back soon after, but her mom died a year later."

"Everyone thought that this place would close, and no one knew what to do with it. No one knew how to run an inn, and the Haruno family had run it by themselves for generations. But after only a week to mourn, Sakura took charge then; she demanded we let her try, and it's honestly the lifeblood of the town now."

"She opened the place up, redesigning all the renovations herself, turning this dining room into a little café to eat at, allowing people to pay to use the geothermal energy in the back and the pools. It's well run now." Ino sighed with a content smile. "It's been real nice having her back for these last six years. I missed my friend, and...I was glad to get her back."

As Ino spoke, Naruto listened to the respect the mayor had in her voice. His eyes followed his innkeeper as she moved towards the door and greeted another customer warmly, with a professional smirk, and as she directed them to a seat, Naruto's heart blossomed. She'd been through so much in her life, like his own background. She'd lost her mom and took up the responsibility of the entire town. Look at what she'd built since then. Naruto wondered if he could do what she had with his Godfather's companies and money. It was daunting for sure but seeing someone else accomplish it...It made him...respect her a hell of a lot.

"Hey, Ino?" Naruto turned back to the mayor. "One last question?"

"Shoot."

"Does she...actually ever smile?" Naruto nervously grinned.

Ino smiled as she sipped her coffee. "Only for the ones she likes."

"Oh…" Ino heard him croak utterly dejected as he looked back to watch her some more.

Ino struggled to not giggle. Oh Sakura and her ridiculously high bar for respect and admiration before she ever committed to another. When she'd first come back to town, she couldn't smile at all, too distraught from her time in the bigger world, and Ino had been there with her. Over the years, she learned to smile for the townspeople, the ones she knew well and trusted.

But Ino smirked as she looked out the window to her land office across the street. Sakura did truly smile whenever her customers flirted or commented on her appearance, but there was something deeper going on here. Ino had known her friend long enough to know when Sakura was holding back, because when she was really, deeply, and truly attracted to a guy, she held her emotions down, and acted aloof.

Ino shivered with anticipation. She was the town gossip after all and ran a small printer newspaper as a hobby; this could be so juicy if she slept with her only customer. After all, they had the place to themselves. Ino turned back and shrugged as Naruto ate his meal. But it could just be a crush. After all, he did just get here yesterday.

Naruto moved back down the stairs, having changed into better attire for trekking through the forest to his claim. With cargo pants and a light jacket, he walked towards the front door, and paused.

Yes. He paused. He watched through the doorway as Sakura cleared a table of dirty dishes and utensils, wiping it away with a clean wet rag, her lower half straight as she bent over to clean it. He shivered. Why was he always behind her like this?

Naruto straightened as she turned around and watched her body freeze in place as she stopped within inches of his body, the two almost colliding together. He wouldn't have minded that in the least. To feel her hands on his body or otherwise, he desired it so.

"I-is…" Sakura gulped back, and rested the small pile of dishes on her hip. "Is there anything you require?"

"Well, uh, no. But I wanted to…" Naruto blubbered out. He paused and took a breath. He should thank her for earlier. "I just wanted to say thank-"

"-Enjoy your stay, Naruto." Sakura looked back up into his eyes and quickly slid past him in the hallway, leaving the room as fast as a whirlwind, leaving Naruto gapping at her ghostly form.

"-...you." Naruto whispered, before he frowned and moved outside. His mood was shattered. She didn't like him. It was obvious now. She was just looking out for herself; making sure that her customer was well taken care of and that he wasn't hustled by the people in town. He could leave her a great review on Yelp or something.

Yeah...that's all it was. But...Naruto wanted to berate himself as a small smile appeared on his face. He shouldn't be happy from that, but he was. She'd said his first name. She'd said it...and he wanted to hear her say it as much as possible while he was here.

Ino stood outside the land office, and beside her was a nice looking SUV, with a fresh wash, but wheels that showed the caked on dirt from rough trails ahead. As Naruto approached, Ino smiled and slid the keys into his hand.

"Enjoy yourself, Naruto."

"Just for the month, Ino." Naruto affirmed. "I promise to not use too many miles. I know how generous you're being."

Ino smiled as she walked away, Naruto smirking at the way she threw her ass side to side, tempting him as she did so. She was such a flirt. "Don't worry about it, Naruto. I live in town."

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