Finding Emotions

Naruto woke up to the sound of birds in his open window. Smiling on remembering what the Hokage told him yesterday he was excited to finally leave but before he could get up and jump out of the window, the gambling blonde walked in.

"Before you leave, let me check your wound." She spoke softly with a smile, seeing how happy he looked. Placing her hands above his chest and allowing the warm green glow of chakra to spread into his body, "It seems like you have a scar but the wound is closed. Just be careful to not open it back up." Tsunade began walking out of the room before she turned back around, "And come to my office tomorrow."

"YES! A mission!" Naruto jumped out of the bed and fist-pumped the air, causing the older blonde woman to chuckle as she left the room. Her mind filled with pictures of her grandbabies running around a training ground as she filled out the paperwork before returning back to her duties at her office.

'I wonder where Ino went.' Naruto couldn't help but blush at what he had woken up to the night before.

"I was cold and you were warm" These words kept repeating in his head as he made it back to his messy apartment. Sneezing from the dust falling off the door as it opened for the first time in a week. "I don't wanna clean!" His shoulders fell forward and his head pointed to the ground before he straightened himself for the mountain of a mission that was cleaning his apartment.

After two hours, Naruto stood looking at his now sparkling floors that no longer had any traces of trash or even a speck of dust on them. Wiping the sweat falling down his forehead he couldn't help but be reminded of the hospital room he spent days in. 'I need some more color in here!' With that thought, Naruto only had one destination in mind.

Ino had woken up from the sun landing across her eyes. Frustrated, she tried to turn over and go back to sleep against the cool air of the early morning. She tried to reach further into the warmth beside her before hearing a low groan. Pale blue eyes shot up to the source of the noise before her face turned red. With her mind stuck on the events of a few hours earlier she decided she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. Letting out a sigh she sat up to stretch. While she was comfortable the bed was pretty small and didn't allow for much movement between two people, leaving her body extremely stiff.

She got up looking at the sleeping blond boy and was reminded of a sunflower.

"Flower… Flower… The flower shop! Mom's gonna be so mad!" In her own pain and desperation for her friend, she forgot to check in on her mom and the flower shop. Rushing off in the direction of her home to change.

Walking downstairs into the flower shop she sees her mom, the earth brown hair tied up into the large bun Ino is so used to seeing. The deep brown eyes turn to meet her own teal ones.

"How is your boyfriend?" Inoue smiled at seeing her daughter turn red.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Inoue laughed as her daughter began checking on her favorite flowers.

"You say that but you were there for a week. You even cried when you came home to ask for some time off." Ino didn't answer back but her face got brighter. Ino kept her focus on the flowers to avoid any more teasing from her mother, and Inoue kept writing on the clipboard, sorting out the appointments they have.

Hearing the bell ring from the shop door, Ino's head shot up excitedly.

Naruto is lost in thought as he walks among the streets of the village he has sworn to protect. Ever since he woke up in the morning he has felt an emptiness, like he was missing something, or forgetting something. Before he knew it he was walking through the door of his destination.

"Hello, welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop, we hope-" Inoue's standard introduction was cut short when her daughter appeared in front of the customer.

"Hey, Naruto! What are you doing here?" Wiping the dirt onto her apron. "How are you feeling? Have you been training too hard already?" Her eyes began to narrow before the blonde in question could even open his mouth.

"N-No I was just cleaning my apartment. I was looking for a few flowers to add some color." Naruto's hands were waving in front of his hands, worried that he was going to get berated. Alternatively, Ino's pale eyes stayed narrowed.

Inoue walked up and put her hand on her daughter's shoulder, "Why don't you take a look around and find out what you like." Naruto nodded and smiled before looking at Ino as he started walking the rows of colorful plants.

Endlessly he walked up and down, picturing each flower in different places around his apartment. 'Aw man there are so many choices! How am I ever supposed to pick?' Almost as if on queue Ino appears behind him. Seeing his indecisive looks she decides to help him out.

"Why don't I pick some out for you?" Naruto could see lights going off behind her eyes as she thought of all the different flowers for him.

"That'd be great Ino-chan thank you!" Not much longer Naruto is seen bolting for the door in an attempt to rid himself of the headache of the many different flowers and their meanings.

"Wait! I don't know where you live!" Naruto was already out of the door and quickly disappeared from sight leaving Ino helpless. 'Baka! He probably doesn't even have a vase.' Ino let out a sigh and she heard her mother chuckle from behind the counter. Deciding to worry about it later she got to work on making a one-of-a-kind bouquet just for him.

In an attempt to rid his mind of the many vague meanings and confusing names of such simple plants he decided to do what he does best, train. "Granny said I can't even do anything. How am I supposed to get stronger if I can't practice my jutsu!?" Now aggravated, he decided to run some laps around Team 7's training ground. He started off with a light jog but after he noticed that he didn't feel anything wrong with him he picked up his pace.

With the blistering heat of the midday sun, he took off his jacket and was now running his final lap shirtless. Coming to a stop in front of the logs he was reminded of the time he was tied up and instead of being forced to watch his teammates eat, they shared their food with him. He was also reminded of his now deserted teammate. With his promise to the pink-haired kunoichi at the front of his mind, Naruto summoned a shadow clone. They both closed their eyes and without a word ran towards each other, throwing a punch.

The shirtless blonde was found laying down in the middle of the grass, sporting a few new bruises and cuts across his body and a smile on his face. 'I missed training…' The fair-skinned man felt lighter, having let out his aggressions on his shadow clones. He almost fell asleep there before he was pulled down into the sewers of his subconscious.

"Don't you forget that scar. Let it be a reminder of how foolish and selfish you were, boy." The great fox did not lift his head but his eyes were locked with Naruto's. "You are alive today thanks to me, I will not show you the same pity twice." The words came out as sharp as kunai cutting through Naruto's ears.

"I said I was sorry…" His eyes dropped to the murky water below as he was reminded of one of his biggest regrets, "Thank you… It won't happen again." He finished with a bow which was only met with a huff of indifference from the Kyuubi. With that he was brought back to the real world as he opened his eyes, not hiding his surprise when he was staring up at the annoyance colored in a pupil-less teal.

"I've been calling your name! Were you ignoring me, Uzumaki?" Ino now straightened up. She would've put her hands on her hips if they were not holding up a vase full of different colored flowers.

"N-no sorry I was just… just meditating." He nervously chuckled before sitting up and turning around to face the newcomer. "What are you doing here?" Naruto was surprised on seeing Ino in his team's training ground especially since she said she'd be picking out flowers for him.

The angry kunoichi shoved the potted plants in his face, "You left me in the flower shop and didn't tell me where you lived! And you went off to train after the Hokage herself told you not to!" Naruto was left scratching the back of his head before he stood up. Ino now looking up to keep her eye contact, less she let her eyes wander to his well-sculpted frame.

"Sorry about that Ino-chan, I just needed to clear my head." The taller blonde shined his famous ear-to-ear smile. Hearing his words, Ino's eyes softened, worried he was having similar thoughts as a week ago. "I'll take those to my apartment." Naruto began reaching for the vase.

"NO!" She pulled the vase away from him before her face lit up, clearing her throat, "N-no, it's okay I can carry it, and I want to know where you live so that if you need help with the flowers I actually know where to go. Plus I can't have you killing them already!"

Faking an offended look towards the shorter girl he grabbed his jacket and led the way back to his apartment. "So why'd you pick these ones?"

"Well this one," She started, pointing at a hanging blue and purple bell-shaped flower, "Is a Bluebell and it stands for humility, while this pink Hollyhock stands for ambition. The fire-looking one is called a Chrysanthemum, but I call them mums, and then the Basil means 'good wishes' and since you just got out of the hospital it seemed fitting."

"What about the mums?"

"Oh uhh...It means umm… strength." Ino's face was almost as red as the flower in question but the taller blonde didn't seem to notice her blush. "That's an Oak! Ino you baka!' Thankfully Naruto nodded in agreement. For the first time ever Ino was happy that someone hadn't been listening to her, remembering that she had told him the meaning of the Oak while in the flower shop.

Standing in front of the door with his hands showing off the door. "Well, here we are. Home sweet home." The words came with a bitter-sweet smile attached to them. Ino noticed the two numbers barely hanging and there was only a piece left of the last number making it unreadable. "Welcome to Naruto's humble home!" Ino couldn't stop smiling at her customers' goofiness as he opened the door.

Ino wasn't really sure what to expect inside of Naruto so when the door opened and she was met with almost shining dark wood floors and a neatly organized kitchen she was pleasantly surprised. She did notice that, while clean, his apartment was just… boring. There was no color on the walls, no paintings or random pictures, leaving the muted white walls bare. The only change in the walls was the various cracks and small holes dotted about. Even his furniture was plain and pretty desaturated in color, while also being left in a similar state as his walls. Drawers were missing handles; his couch had some tears along the thin cushions, and even the fridge's handle was threatening to fall off if opened with too much force. 'You've lived here almost your whole life?' Ino was conflicted because while the space was small, it was clean and pretty cozy but everything still looked run down.

"Just put them down wherever you think is best." The taller shinobi said with a wave of his hand before heading off into what Ino could only assume was the bathroom.

'I don't even want to imagine what it's like in the bathroom.' Ino could only shudder. If his fridge was falling apart, what would his toilet and shower look like?

The platinum blonde stood in the middle of the small living and kitchen area, trying to find the place with the least color, or most muted colors to put the flowers there to introduce some contrast.

"Please keep an eye on him." Ino heard the Hokage's words ring through her mind once again. Deciding the table was the best place for his new flowers, she quickly formed a plan in her head before nodding to herself.

At that moment she heard the door, to what she assumed was the bathroom, opened "Well that was-" She paused when Naruto stepped out in only a pair of white shorts that had a thin blue stripe down the side. Ino cleared her throat, "Hem, that was quick." She finished as this time she allowed her eyes to freely roam across his almost god-like torso. 'It's like some carved him out of stone!... I bet they're as hard as stone too.' Her face seemed to shine red in the colorless room.

"Yeah there's no hot water today so I got out as quickly as I could." The oblivious blonde chuckled before throwing his towel over his shoulder and clapping his hands. "So! How much do those costs?" Naruto pointed to the flowers sitting on his scratched-up table.

The shorter blonde waved off the question with a smile, "Oh don't worry about it!"

"Come on Ino-chan I gotta pay you after you went through all that trouble" Naruto retorted

"No, really it's okay Naruto-kun."

"What kind of person would I be if I stole all of those pretty flowers from a friend." Naruto had already grabbed his frog-shaped wallet.

Ino wasn't going to back down, placing her hands on her hips she said, "Uzumaki I told you don't worry about it."

"And normally I'd listen to you but you carried them all the way to the training ground and then back to my apartment." It seemed like Naruto also didn't want to lose this small argument.

"Fine you don't have to pay for these flowers but you have to pay for my dinner!" Ino blurted out before blushing red once more. Naruto also turned a little pink before nodding and putting his wallet back down on the counter. "Now go put on a shirt you pervert!" Once again she was bright red, although she wasn't alone as Naruto all but ran into his room to find a clean shirt. After a short time digging through clothes he came back out to find Ino staring at his various tattered furniture with a frown. "She turned back to him after a short while, "Thank you, now let's go, you need a new couch."

Naruto summoned ten shadow clones who all got to work in carrying the different assortment of furniture back to his apartment. After they left the original whisker-marked shinobi turned to his teal-eyed companion, "Thanks Ino-chan, I didn't like that old couch but I could never pick out a good replacement."

His companion turned to him and smiled, "Well it's my pleasure to help one of my friends, but don't think we're done Naruto-kun!" Naruto's shoulders slumped forward followed by a heavy sigh.

"What now? We've been shopping for hours and my feet hurt!"

"Stop complaining you, big baby! Your walls are too plain and we're going to add to them." Ino said simply before dragging the disheartened Jinchuuriki further down the road of the shopping district.

The following morning showed a happy and excited Naruto, eagerly running towards the Hokage's office. He breezed past the civilians so quickly some thought the Yellow Flash had been resurrected. One silver-haired shinobi had a flashback to his late sensei before calling out to the young blonde. "Yo, how have you been?"

In his haste to receive his mission he almost missed the Jonin's words. "I've been good, I did some light training yesterday before Ino-chan took me shopping. We got some new furniture for my apartment and she even made me get decorations until the sun went down!" The exasperation from his student caused Kakashi to chuckle a little bit.

"Well then I'll stop by sometime to check it out." He finished with an eye smile before walking in the opposite direction. Naruto picked up his pace again towards his destination. Once inside he bolted up the staircase straight through the door. The older blond behind the desk didn't even bother to look up from the stack of paperwork in front of her.

"Granny Tsunade! What's my mission?" A tick mark appeared on her forehead next to the diamond marking.

"How many times have I told you not to call me Granny!" She yelled as a neatly paper-clipped stack of paper flew at Naruto. "Anyway, I'm assigning you to work at the Yamanaka Flower Shop until Mrs. Inoue thinks you've made up for the time her daughter was gone." Naruto could only sulk at the monotonous task instead of the exciting action he normally thought of missions to be. The Hokage smiled internally as pictures began to form in her mind at the prospect of miniature versions of Naruto running around.

"But that's like a D-rank mission." The younger blonde groaned out.

"Use that time to reflect and clear your head." Her brown eyes softened when the normally happy, grinning shinobi brought his eyes to his feet and mumbled "Yes Tsunade-sama," before he turned to leave.

A week had passed and Ino noticed the flowers' colors seemed to pop a little more than normal. Certain that she was imagining it she turned to go check the far side of the shop with the various vases. A crash and some colorful language in the back of the shop made her rush to see what happened. Walking into the greenhouse showed her a tall blond covered in dirt with a single flower standing defiantly, covering the teen's eyes.

Naruto brushed the dirt out of his eyes and as soon as he opened them they were slammed shut again. "Uhh, Ino-chan…" He trailed as his face began to get warmer. He only received silence as his queue to explain himself. He could feel her annoyed gaze down at him even as he kept his eyes closed. Naruto tried to swallow his nervousness as he felt the fox sigh to himself. "You really are useless sometimes, boy." When the nine-tails finished his sentence Naruto felt his eyes forced open now a color of red instead of the normal azure, "Orange suits you." No sooner did the words leave his mouth did he throw his hands over his lips. "ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME KILLED?!" He screamed at the giant fox in his consciousness.

Ino stood over the clumsy ninja on the floor waiting for him to explain himself. She was confused when he opened his eyes only to close them immediately after. The pale blonde could've sworn she saw a blush on his cheeks after he tried to tell her something but the dirt was still hiding most of his face so it was hard to tell. Ino was still stood over Naruto with a hand on her hip and waited for him to explain what happened and how something like this even happens. "Orange suits you." Those words confused her and she was almost certain his ocean blues flashed a dangerous red while he talked but he shut his eyes quickly and covered his mouth with his hands.

She was trying to figure out what happened and what Naruto meant by that until her face flushed a deep red and her hands shot to the hem of her skirt before kicking the pervy teen on the shoulder and running back to the front of the shop.

[A/N] Hey guys, it's been a while.

So as most of you know I've been dealing with quite a lot over the past few months. Honestly, I have been at the lowest point in my life during this time, but I'm back to writing to try and get some emotions out of my system. There aren't too many people in my life currently and I've kind of been forced to deal with this alone and that has only made it harder.

I want to thank everyone who left words of encouragement in a review. It does mean a lot to me. As much as I would like to, I can't give a time frame for the next chapter but I will try to get it out before the end of this month at the very least.

Anyways I always accept constructive criticism so please, leave a review. Also if there is any confusion I would be happy to clear it up just PM me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. Until next time. Ja Ne.