Charming and Charmless

Chapter 10- Ino's Debut

"Will you tell me where we're going?" Ino asked anxiously, putting her hand out of the window of Neji's jet black convertible.

The wind as blowing dramatically like in the movies and her blonde hair was moving with it. It was like a dream come true. She had always wanted to ride in a convertible and let her her flow as she drove. She still couldn't wrap her head around the fact she was in a brand new convertible!

Neji had been driving for about fifteen minutes now and Ino had been yapping non-stop. He had never met anyone who had never been in a convertible or overly excited about the fact they could feel the wind blowing their hair. Ino though, was easily excited by it all.

He didn't normally drive on his own and this was proof that he should never drive on his own, especially if this woman was around him.

Ino put her hand back in the car and stared at Neji while he drove. It made him very uncomfortable at how quiet she had gotten.

"What?" He asked annoyed.

"Where could we possibly be going in this lovely car? Are we about to go to the country club?" She asked excited.

"Yeah right. I'd never put myself in such an embarassing situation. It's a club for classy people. There's a big difference in acting classy and being classy and just because you're pretending to date me doesn't mean you automatically turn classy either."

Ino stuck her tounge out at him and raised her fist to hit him, but she quickly smiled at him when he turned to look at her with a glare.

"You're no fun Hyuga." She smiled sweetly.

Neji rolled his eyes and clicked a button which activated the top of the car. Ino shook her head unwillingly. She didn't want the top down at all! She was enjoying it too much. She leaned over Neji, to the side of the door, trying to find the button that he had click.

"What the hell are you doing?" Neji asked, veering off his lane, trying to avoid the awkward position they were in. If anybody had seen them, they would have thought Ino was doing something naughty to him and he didn't like that thought at all.

Ino sat back up, unhappy had the fact that pushing random buttons, hoping one of them would open the top of the convertible again, but none of it worked.

"Hey! Why must you ruin my moment of fun! I told you I've never been in a convertible before!" She crossed her arms and pouted.

Neji looked at her again, sucked his teeth and shook his head.

"How old are you exactly?" He asked.

"You're never suppose to ask a woman her age." She retaliated.

"You're about 20 aren't you? You act just as immature as Hanabi." Neji mumbled, but Ino heard him. They had turn into an abandoned lot and he parked his car.

"For your information I'm twenty-five and I'll be twenty-six in two months." She scolded him, unbuckling her seat belt as Neji got out of his car.

"That explains the crow feet." Neji said, slamming the door of his car and began walking away and unbeknownst to Ino, grinning. He knew that would get under her skin because he figured she was the type of girl who cared way too much about how she looked.

"C-c-crows feet? Yah! You wanna die Hyuga?" She asked, slamming her side door, running to catch up to him.

When she caught up to him, she gave him a mouthful and he successfully ignored her as she continued to nag him.

When they got into the elevator of the building, she had finally shut up.

"Where are we anyway?" She asked looking around. The elevator they were in was transparent and all Ino saw were white rooms that they kept passing.

"You're at a photo shoot. Just do what ever they ask of you okay? Don't ask me anymore questions." He warned her.

"But-"

Neji walked out of the elevator and truth be told they were at a photo shoot. There was a man with a camera waiting for them as well as clothes and flashing lights in the warehouse. Ino had remembered something like this when she was younger and she use to model. She followed Neji, her mouth completely down to the floor with a delightful look of surprise.

"Mr. Hyuga, it's a pleasure to work with you! This must be Miss Ino." The man said, looking at her.

She looked at Neji, confused.

"Yeah, she's not usually this shy. She's actually very...talkative." Neji admitted.

Ino glaread at him, then looked back at the photographer, smiled and greet him politely.

"She's the one I was talking about. I want you to do a great job with her Kamenashi. You know you're my family's trusted photographer." Neji ordered.

"Of course sir! You won't be able to tell it's the same person when you see her in the pictures. Tsukiko, come get her dressed please!"

Before Ino could say anything, she was whisked away by a short woman who didn't even take the time to smile. She looked back at Neji for help, but he gestured for her to go on.

"I can tell she's already photogenic. She's going to be a great spokes model. She's gorgeous. She'll look even better in the pictures!" Kamenashi winked.

Neji nodded, believing in him. The man had been responsible for all the Hyuga pictures such as weddings, family pictures, and holiday cards.

Though Neji felt he had already seen Ino at her best at the Uchiha's party, he wondered what she would look like in the photos.

Ino stared at the short woman then back at the ball gown. She had just came from getting her make up done and now she was wearing a wedding dress.

"Excuse me...why am I wearing a wedding gown? I-I'm not getting m-married!" She stuttered. She hoped to God that Neji had not told people that they were getting married because the lie would have to stop there.

The woman stopped in front of her, finally smiling at her...It was weird.

"You're here to take pictures for the family's new Wedding dress line. Your head will be cut out of the pictures, but Mr. Hyuga just felt that you were the right kind of model we were looking for." She bowed.

Wedding dress line? She didn't even know Neji's family sold wedding dresses.

"Uh...okay."

The lady led her out of the dressing room to the hall where they had came from. She was hoped that she wouldn't mess this up for Neji or his family's business.

"Wow! You look gorgeous!" Kamenashi smiled as Ino walked shyly up to him.

Neji had been fiddling with his phone when he heard the commotion around the set. Many of the workers had been whispering about the model and how amazing and natural she looked.

He walked towards the set and Ino was already there, in a wedding gown, smiling as if she was really getting married.

She looked nice, pure and simple even though gown itself was obnoxious and puffy. Neji had seen beautiful women plenty of times, but this woman had to be the most natural looking he had ever had the chance of seeing and her smile was contagious. He couldn't help but smile.

Maybe choosing Ino to be the model for his family fashion line wasn't such a bad idea. He could confidently win his bet with Gaara after all.

After about twenty-five different dresses, ranging from wedding gowns to casual sundresses, Neji was ready to go. Ino on the other hand was having a blast.

"You are a natural Ino! Have you done this before?" Kamenashi asked, after the shoot was over.

"I wanted to model after high school." Ino admitted aloud. Ever since things went down hill with Sakura and she didn't get the modeling debut she deserved, she had never said to anybody else besides those she were close to that she wanted to be a model. It had seem like such a far fetched dream.

"What happened?"

She smiled nervously.

"I just never got the chance to, that's all!"

"Well, here's your chance!" Kamenashi winking, congratulating her on a job well done.

On their way back to Ino's apartment, the car ride was quiet, but in a comfortable way. Neji noticed Ino's pleasant mood since she kept smiling like there was no tomorrow.

"What are you smiling about?" He asked, still concentrating on the road.

"How did you know?" She asked him.

"Know...what?"

"I always wanted to be a model. That was like a dream come true for me." She gushed, her smile getting bigger.

He actually didn't know about her interest in being a model. If anything, he was doing this for himself not her.

"Remember when we met at the mall the other time?"

She giggled.

"Yeah, and I was about to kick your ass."

"Uh...sure. I heard you telling your friend that you missed the audition. Ironically, I was the one holding auditions for my company that, figured I'd pay you back. Besides, I figured you looked the part anyway so it was better than having to look for another model." He shrugged, putting his good memory into use.

"Wow...did you just call me pretty?" Ino asked in shock.

"I never ever said that." Neji denied.

"You totally did! I mean you didn't say it word for word but you said 'I figure you looked the part'. Models are usually very attractive people so technically you just told me you found me very attractive."

"You're delusional. I never said such a thing." He refused.

Ino laughed amused. Neji smiled, causing Ino stare at him,then joined back in smiling.

"Thank you for making my dreams come true. I won't ever forget it." She said softley.

"This is creeping me out." Neji said, dissatisfied with the mushy mood.

"Guess that rules out giving you a hug." Ino teased

"Unless you want to get into a car accident, I wouldn't try it."

Ino smiled, enjoying the comfortable mood between them.

* Five Days Later *

"Ino Yamanaka, if you do not open this door in ten seconds, I will break it down!" Karin's loud voice screeched causing both Deidara and Sai to cover their ears. It was nine in the morning and she was already this loud.

Ino, on the other hand, turned over in her bed lazily. She could hear Karin's voice but she chose to ignore it.

"Instead of listening to Karin's annoying voice, how about we use a key?" Deidara said, reaching for the item in a flower pot Ino usually kept outside of her door.

"So you knew there was a key there the whole time and yet you made us listen to Karin's screech?" Sai asked annoyed.

Deidara shrugged as he opened Ino's apartment. Karin pushed the two out of the way as she ran with the magazine in her hand to Ino's room.

Ino's eyes snapped open when she felt someone hoovering over her like a predator. She woke up to three different pairs of eyes staring down at her.

"Seriously guys, it's too early in the morning for this! How did you get in my apartment anyway?" she asked, turning her face back into the pillow.

Karin's sat on top of her and grabbed her golden hair, causing her to cry in pain.

"Get off me crazy! Are you guys just going to watch?" Ino pleaded, trying her best to push Karin off. Sai and Deidara just turned their heads. Karin was very rough...even to men.

"I'll let go once you explain this!" The red-head said holding the magazine to Ino's face.

Ino unwillingly looked at the magazine only to find herself in it, smiling like there was no tomorrow.

"How did you get this?" She asked, grabbing the magazine and managed to get Karin off her.

It was the picture she took five days ago .

"You the one who should be telling us how you got a six page spread in AneCan, probably Japan's top fashion magazine!" Karin exclaimed.

"Six pages?"

"Should we be worried that you don't even know that there are a gazillion pictures of you in a popular magazine?" Deidara asked, uninterested in the topic. He didn't know why Karin woke him up at eight in the morning to announce this to him.

Sai sat on the edge of his bed, his arms folded as he tried to put two and two together.

"I was wondering what you've been up to the last few days. I haven't seen you in a while! Why didn't you tell us you got a modeling job?" He asked, delighted for her.

"Honestly, I don't even know what's going on! I need you guys to get out so I can figure this out." She demanded as she got off her bed and began to force them out.

Neji was so dead!

Sakura sat at her office, drinking coffee and listening to music like she always did every morning before a photo shoot. Lately, she had been very fidgety since meeting Ino. It had been a few days since they ran into each other at the party and things had quieted down and she hadn't see Ino again at any social gathering since that night.

She had been hearing rumors that Ino was Neji's new girlfriend which made no sense because Ino was no where near Neji's type. She felt better when at each social gathering, Ino was not there to confront her again. She couldn't risk loosing everything especially since she had to degrade herself to get to where she was today.

"Sakura! Sakura! Have you seen AneCan's new spread!"

Sakura looked up at her assistant Kin, who was running towards her with a magazine.

"AneCan? You mean the spread I couldn't do for them?" Sakura asked as Kin passed the magazine to her.

"Yes! It turned out to be a six page spread. They got a brand new model. It's all over the news too! They're calling her the new "it girl" already!" Kin panicked.

Sakura was never really one to worry about competition. She was already at the top of her game and prided herself in the fact that no new model could replace her. She was Uchiha Sasuke's girlfriend after all.

When she turned to the spread how ever, that confidence dropped and that feeling was replaced by fear and shock.

Here was Ino Yamanaka, in a six page spread in one of the most widely read Japanese magazine in the world.

Sakura quickly skimmed through all the pages in order to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Unfortunately for her, all she saw was Ino, posing and smiling graciously on each page. In anger, Sakura threw the magazine across the room startling Karin.

"S-Sakura!"

"Leave me alone right now!" She demanded.

Kin scurried off, leaving Sakura by herself.

"Shit!" She yelled angrily, knocking the cup of coffee over.

Ino was back to get her for the incident that took place seven years ago. Sakura had no choice but to take her down before Ino got the chance to bring her down too.

She had to find Gaara!

Ino hid behind the wall of Neji's building. For the first time in her life, people were following her and taking pictures of her.

She didn't mind the attention but she was not in the mood for it at the moment. She tucked her hair under the baseball cap and pushed the sun glasses to her face. What she was most upset about was the fact that her disguise did not match at all with her innocent look. She was wearing a white sundress with pink and black roses on it as well as a pink cardigan and black combat boots. Any other day this outfit would look good, but not today.

She finally came out of hiding as she quickly sneaked into the building.

She sighed as she took of the disguise. People took notice and stared at her as she walked straight to the elevator and pressed Neji's floor number.

Before the elevator could close, Gaara stepped into the elevator, giving her a seductive grin as he joined her.

"Going to see your boyfriend?" He asked as the door closed gently with no one else in the elevator but him and her.

Ino shyly greeted him as she nodded. She always felt strange and nervous around him. Something about him was very...bad ass. It drove her nuts! She liked the feeling.

Then she thought about how he was the one who started this whole ridiculous dating rumor in the first place. She made body language that showed she was upset with him.

"You're all over the paper. You're very gorgeous, you know?" He smiled, grabbing the magazine out of her hand and opening to the spread she was featured in.

"Thank you." She was starting to feel like she was suffocating. Gaara was making her woozy. She felt cramped in the elevator with him.

"I guess I should be the first in congratulating you on becoming the face of Hyuga Fashion International." He grinned, holding out his hand for her to shake it.

She wanted to question him, but ignored it as she shook his hand. She would ask Neji about everything anyway.

The elevator door opened and Ino gracefully made her escape and ran straight to Neji's office, Gaara watching her.

"I have such a creep for a little brother."

Gaara turned his attention to his older Temari who had her hand crossed, shaking her head at him.

Neji wasn't surprised when Ino barged into his office, demanding an explanation. He had been waiting for her all morning actually to come and ask a billion questions like she was currently doing. She was very predictable.

"Are you listening to me?" She asked annoyed.

"You told Kamenashi you always wanted to be a model right?" Neji asked.

"Yes, what does that have to do with anything?" She asked.

"Well he was the one who got in contact with AneCan and convinced them to give you the spread. I was simply going to let you keep the pictures, not use it to turn you into a model over night."

Neji didn't know if being around this intimidating girl made him become a liar or perhaps it was Gaara, but he had been lying through his teeth lately to almost everyone. He knew his intentions when he asked for Kamenashi to take the photos and distribute them to his business partners. He never expected them end up in a fashion magazine either.

Almost every entertainment center and modeling agency had been calling his families office to get a hold of her and her manager.

Ino sighed as she slumped into his chair and sat down.

"Don't you want this? Why aren't you running with this chance? You said it yourself that you wanted to become a model. This might never happen again for you."

Ino thought about it. He was right. She hadnt really taken the chance to look at the photos until now. They had turned out beauriful. She felt like it was a different person she was staring at, not herself.

"You're right..."She said, still unsure. "This is what I wanted my whole life. I deserve it!"

"Good, glad you think so because you have a press conference in three hours. Let's go." Neji said getting up from his chair.

"Press conference? What if I didn't agree to being a model?" She asked surprised as she followed him.

"Oh trust me, you would have." He said walking out the door.

The two walked to his secretary's front desk.

"I'll meet you at the elevator." He told her as he shooed her off.

Ino stuck her tongue out at him as she started to walk to the hallway where the elevators where. She couldn't believe she was about to become a model. She couldn't help but walk in glee, almost dancing to the elevator. Her attention how ever was diverted when she saw a familiar looking spiky bun.

She couldn't believe it at first, but Shikamaru was standing at the elevator, waiting patiently for it to come up.

This was perfect! She good tell him the good news then and there and maybe impulsively tell him how she felt. She knew she was going to far, but she was in such a great mood, she felt like she could do anything.

She smiled happily as she started walking faster to catch up to him until something made her stop in her foot tracks.

"Shika-" She called, her voice fading as she saw a blonde hair woman with an eye color that was identical to her's. She was wearing a black dress and was gorgeous.

The woman folded her arms, staring him up and down, almost amused. Shikamaru smiled back at her, the lazy smile Ino had been so use to. The lazy smile she had been convinced was only meant for her.

"Yamanaka!"

Neji's voice almost cut through the silence. His voice echoed through the hallway and before Shikamaru could see her she turned around and started walk back to the lobby.

She didn't know what she was feeling. She didn't know what that smile he had given that woman meant. She knew however, that she didn't like it.

Hello! As always, thank you for the lovely reviews, most of you guys guessed right about Ino and Sakura. I truly enjoyed writing this chapter, probably my favorite so far. I will put the link to the wedding dress on my profile. I do not own AneCan. It is an actual Japanese magazine. Ino sure has a lot of antagonist huh? Neji too is kinda turning into a liar...dun dun dun dunnn...What could Sakura be up too? And Gaara? What's going on with Shikamaru too? And no, Ino won't become addicted to the lime light...hopefully...

All to be answered very soon! Please excuse the grammar, spelling and other mistakes, I did not edit. Also sorry about the awkward uploading day. I figure it'd better to upload now than on Friday...I'll probably regret it. Thank you for also supporting me on wattpad (insert smiley face). If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out my original story on wattpad. My name is SolarNaylor. Sorry if I forget anything. Thanks for reading and see you soon!