This is my second story ever! I have this fondness toward Ino and I think she suited everyone just perfectly fine! So here I am. I'm trying to make this multi chaptered so look forward to it. :)

And by the way, of course Naruto is not mine, so .. Enjoy!

ps : I did some change on the prologue ;)

If it wasn't because of his lack of understanding about human emotions, the damage could have been minimized. He was the one who ruined it all; but without him, no truth would be unveiled. All it takes was countless of meaningless conversations with countless people and countless of reading between the lines. It took great patience but Sai was not taught to feel tired or bored.

But before all that, it was all started with one little curiosity of his: The prettiest girl in Konoha.

XXX

He was so certain that Haruno Sakura was the one worthy of the title. People sung praises for her contribution during the war and admired her mastery of medical ninjutsu. She had receive dozens of love letters but none was accepted. She politely refused to each man who sent her that one, and Sai didn't have to figure out why. It was obvious. However, after a longer observation, another name surfaced. That girl received dozens of love letters as well, going out with a few that she deemed worthy, but it never last long enough. Heads turned when she walked the street and there were a lot of gazes that last more than five seconds toward her, and Sai was pretty sure that it was not a gaze with the intention to kill. And before he knew it, his small notebook was filled with everything about her. He talked to a lot of people, and he found a lot of amusing things that proves that what men said was not always the same with what they had in mind. The question was fully answered now as every information pointed at her as the answer. She is the prettiest girl. Yamanaka Ino.

XXX

There was something enthralling about her his young mind couldn't have a grasp on. She was the first person in the whole academy who extended her small hands to him.

"Here's some herbs for you." Her hand extended to give him a brown bag.

Naruto looked up and their gaze met. Her eyes matched the sky and the sunlight behind her back made her look almost angelical. Even someone as small as Naruto could tell a beautiful girl when he saw one.

"I don't need your stupid herbs!" Naruto folded his hand and looked away. "This is going to be my war scar." It was one of his fight with Kiba. They were arguing over the territory in the playground and then things got rough.

Ino looked at him with disbelief before letting out a loud sigh and sitting next to him under the tree.

"Your wound will be infected otherwise. Put that salve on." She insisted, her tone was bossy but Naruto was not known for his obedience either. He let out his tongue and Ino smacked his head. Naruto made a painful growl as he rubbed his head and Ino used the opportunity to put the salve on his knee.

"That hurts!" Naruto yelled. He instinctively pulled his knee away from her but her hands was holding the knee still.

"Why can't you just stay out of the trouble way?" It was more like a grumbling rather than a question so Naruto didn't answer.

"It's much easier to look for Shikamaru who laze around all day or Chouji who eat his chip all the time." She said as she looked at her work with Naruto's knee and nodded in satisfaction.

"I don't ask you to look out for me." He was glad that somebody actually cared for him, but a class prankster was not supposed to be much of a soft-heart.

"Don't be stupid." She smacked his head again. "I'm the president of our class. Of course I have to look out for everyone."

Nobody was supposed to like him. He was alone and everybody in his class avoided him except Ino who was fiercely fair toward everyone, mostly because of her role as the class rep. Sure, she swooned over Sasuke just like every other girl was, but she never regarded him as less. Naruto had seen people mocking her whenever she was just talking to him but she shrugged it off.

"Why are you talking to me, Ino?" Naruto asked one day.

"Because I need your help with the plants." She answered as she worked with the soil.

"Ami mocked you the last time you talk to me."

"It's because Ami is stupid and inconsiderate." She said before ordering Naruto to hand her the scissors. Naruto handed her the scissors and looked at her curiously.

"Inconsiderate?" He asked, his vocabulary hadn't caught up with the word.

"Now that we talk about Ami, I think you and Sakura would make a really good couple." She ignored his question. "Black plastic bag."

"That's great! Sakura-chan's very beautiful." Naruto said eagerly as he handed her the black plastic bag.

"Yes, and then the two of you will be bullied by Ami until the eternity."

"I'm not bullied by Ami." Naruto defended himself. "She just doesn't like me for some reasons I don't know." Ino didn't respond to his statement and continued tending the plant.

"Ino?"

"What?"

"You said that Ami is stupid and incosiderate. What is inconsiderate?" Ino let out an exasperating sigh.

"Let's just leave it at Ami is stupid. Now let's be useful and help me with the plants, Naruto."

There was one ninjutsu assignment that made him realize that Ino was the girl. The class had been divided into a pair and naturally, everybody coupled up with their closest friend. Ino was paired with her dream boy, Sasuke and she looked really satisfied. The thing was, the number of student was odd and Naruto was left with no pair. Everybody who can tolerate to be paired with him (eg : Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata ) had paired up with somebody else and the rest of the class didn't want to be on the same team with him. At that rate, he'll be forced to work on the assignment alone. Things seemed to be happening that way and he was too deep in his denial ( "I can do this alone!") when Ino approached him and sighed.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm pairing with you, idiot." She told him and let out another sigh.

"Aren't you supposed to be with Sasuke?"

"Sasuke-kun is smart so he can do this assignment without even on the other hand, suck at ninjutsu," She gave her words a thought before continuing, "And every other departments actually. So I'll pair with you and save your day."

Naruto looked at her in awe. She really looked out for him.

"Gee! Thanks Ino-chan! I know you can't resist my charm!"

She's the girl, but he's not the guy. How could he, when she's so beautiful and smart and the top of the class? It was only a harmless teasing from Ino's side at first, but in the end, Naruto decided that Sakura was indeed the right girl for an underachiever like him. He hated to admit it, but Sasuke was the elite ninja Ino was suited with. She was half the reason, somewhere deep in his mind, as to why he obsessed over Sasuke. Yamanaka Ino was why he wanted to grow strong so bad, why he wanted to be a Hokage, why he wanted to be better and better. It was all for that one day, when he could look at her in the eye and stand next to her equally that he'd finally tell her the truth of his heart.

And until that day comes, Sakura will do.

XXX

Uchiha Sasuke was not the happiest person when the ranks of their class came out. His report card was very satisfying, but he was not the top of the class. He's rank second, and it was to that Yamanaka Ino. Sasuke snorted as he looked at the only D in his report card, it was for cooperation and networking skills. Who will need cooperation and networks when he avenge his family? However, this doesn't make him feel any better either. He shot a venomous glance at Ino who was talking with her group of friends. She unexpectedly notice and smiled widely and waved at him. He looked away. Stupid girl.

Things repeated again and again for another three semesters. The D in his report was doing a huge blow on his overall score, but Sasuke never tried to mend his relationship with the others either. Girls still swooned for him, but the boys couldn't care any less. He once gave Tobio, a random boy in their class, a cold shoulder and the boys have been avoiding him ever since. He didn't care. He didn't need all of them when he kills Itachi.

"Sasuke-kun." Her voice was filled with confidence and Sasuke hated it. Just because she outscore him in the class, it didn't mean that they are equal.

"What?" He gave her a deathly glare and he could see she was a little bit intimidated.

"Let's team up together for the assignment that Iruka-sensei just gave us." She said as she showed him a paper. Sasuke observed the paper. It was a group assignment to compile the list of at least 50 ninjutsu and its handsigns. Ino flashed him another wide smile, she was obviously enjoying every seconds she talked to him.

"If we did good in this assignment, maybe your cooperation skills will get better this semester."

"I don't need your pity. Go away." He focused to his textbook again.

"Please?" Ino asked and Sasuke didn't answer.

"Shinobi rules number 27, silence means agreement. Then, I'm going to submit our names together." Ino hummed and when Sasuke didn't answer, Ino cheered happily.

"Yeay! We are going to score the best, Sasuke-kun!" She gave him a one-sided hug and went away to join her group of friends who were giggling and whispering. What smells like grapes still lingers in his nose. He stole a glance at her. She was very beautiful, her short hair shone brightly under the sunlight and there was her smile. Her smile was so sincere. Sasuke made a fist with his own hands.

If only, if only they had met in different circumstances.

Sasuke was standing still as the rain started to fall on the Valley of The End. Naruto was lying unconscious beneath him and Sasuke had checked that Naruto was still alive and can spring up any moment if he didn't go as soon as possible. He glanced at him one last time before walking away. Naruto was strong enough, he could make it safely back at Konoha. It was then when he was reminded of the shining platinum blonde hair, the cerulean eyes, and the smell of grapes that has changed into lavender after they graduated from the academy. The cursed mark clouded his judgment, but his memory of her was still vividly clear. The memory of his last meeting with her was replayed once again in his mind.

"Shoo, shoo." She shooed both Shikamaru and Chouji in a bossy tone who went out of the room with Shikamaru grumbling about how troublesome it is. Sasuke and Ino were left alone on the hospital room. Sasuke was in a foul mood and he wanted to be alone. Her presence was not making him any happier, but he didn't want her to leave either.

"I heard that you met your brother."

"It's none of your business." He said harshly. She ignored his cold words.

"Are you going to look for him?" She asked. Sasuke didn't answer. There's no need to tell her anything because she surely would blabber.

"If it makes you any happier, you should look for him." Ino kept talking. He didn't answer and only looked faraway outside the windows.

"Just … please come back." Ino said. "I'll be waiting here, loving you."

Sasuke fixed his gaze at her. Sakura had told him that she loves him several times, but the sensation was different.

"Out." He squeaked. "Go away, Ino. You're annoying."

He didn't want her to shake his resolve.

Several more minutes, and he'd be arriving to the Land of Sound. Orochimaru will pick him up there and then his life would change. And it's okay. Sasuke was more than ready to submit to any kind of darkness in order to avenge his family. He's going to kill his brother and when he's done with it, he's going to come back. He's going to come back to her. He just hoped that she stayed true to her words.

He seriously hoped so.

XXX

Aburame Shino and Ino were not in the same circle of friends, but Konoha is too small for them not to cross paths. Especially, when it came to the bold Yamanaka Ino. During their academy years, she looked like she was just the same with others. Her attitude showed how she was vain and her love of gossips showed how she was shallow. Of course, it appears that Ino was indeed a very vain woman who took great pride in appearances and manners, but she was nowhere near shallow. In fact, she was the only one who would look at him with fascinated look and enjoyed his talk about the philosophy of everything. Ino had been going on a lot of mission with Kiba since they all passed the chuunin exam and hence had joined a lot of team 8 dinner. That was the beginning of all of the whirling feeling in his life.

"Shiiino." She hummed his name when she approached him that morning. Shino turned around and she saw her practically skipping over toward him.

"Are you busy today?" She asked when they were finally withing conversational range.

"I am training the bugs today. Why? Because the season's changing and the bugs needed some proper adjustment." He told her.

"Not busy at all." She grinned. "Accompany me shopping, will you?"

"I said that I have a training ..."

"Self-training." Ino cut him. "You know what, I'll join you in your training after you accompany me shopping." She told him as she folded her hand and kept the grin intact on her face.

"I'm busy, Ino. Sorry." He walked past through her but she chased him.

"Please? Everyone else I can tolerate while shopping is busy or on a mission and you're the only one left. I don't want to shop alone, you know. It's lonely and miserable." She told him.

That was pretty shallow, actually.

Shino looked at Ino. "The damage is done, Ino. Why? Because you implied that my training is not important." Ino huffed.

"That's not what I'm trying to say. I'm just saying that you can accompany me shopping before going on your training." She told him. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"Sure, you didn't." Shino agreed.

"So, will you?" Ino asked him. "I'm buying you an ice cream afterward."

Shino looked at her pleading eyes and gave it a thought. He was planning to train his bugs late in the afternoon, when the temperature is right. And her eyes … who could possibly resist those?

"Make that chocolate ice cream." Her eyes gleamed.

"Yes. Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, whatever. I'll buy you whatever you want."

"Did you just regard my choice of chocolate as not important?" He asked her and Ino shook her head immediately.

"No. Chocolate. You want chocolate ice cream. It tasted the best. Indeed." Ino said.

"Chocolate is the best pick. Why? Because chocolate has enzymes that makes one happier." Shino told him. Ino gave it a thought.

"Strawberry is better for women they said, the vague sour taste gave us a false feeling that one doesn't take as much calorie. The happier effect on chocolate would just eventually makes us feel guiltier." She said. Shino looked at her. Kiba would have gone noisy and said that choice doesn't always need reason. Hinata would have agreed with him silently and eventually order something else. She was, however, like his mom. She listened and offered another opinion.

"What's with the staring? Got a crush on me?" She teased him.

"Nothing." He looked away. He couldn't figure how Ino could tell that he was staring at her behind his dark sunglasses but she did. Then again, she read his mind.

"I mingle a lot with Aoba-san, you know. I could tell where you were seeing." She told him. "You can't hide anything from me."

One hanging out together was not the reason Shino fell head over heels for her. It was the countless 'shopping date' afterward. It seems like Ino went out of her way to find him whenever she wanted to go shopping. He was such a gentleman, she said.

"Ino had seen you a lot, huh?" Kiba asked him one day.

"Yes. Why? Because she wants me to accompany her shopping." Shino answered as they made their way toward the ground 44. Kiba scoffed.

"Isn't she just using you?"

"No, she's not using me. Why? Because she needs a friend when she's shopping and I'm willing to do that. That's what friends are." Shino told him. "Friendship are very important to built because in the case that something bad happened we will have people who get our back."

Kiba rolled his eyes. "I stop listening after 'Why?'" He said.

"You should listen more to people because with more listening there will be much more …"
"She's only taking you to shopping! Because you're obedient and quiet and that's it!" Kiba cut him frustratedly. Shino looked at him. He indeed had felt that way for sometime now, but he didn't want to believe that. Then again, life showed him that it was not the case at that very moment.

"Geez! I'm looking for you everywhere!" Ino shouted.

"Ino!" Kiba greeted him.

"Kiba!" Ino greeted back. "Akamaru!" She gave Kiba's dog several caresses and sniffs and kisses before standing up and shove Shino a huge winter melon.

"I was picking fruits that Chouji might like and there's this huge melon." Ino said. "It reminds me of you. You love them, right?"

Shino looked at the winter melon and then looked at her.

"Thank you. Gifts are very important. Why? Because it strengthens the bonds of ..."

"Shut up, Shino." Kiba cut him. Ino grinned.

"Oh, please. I wanna hear." She looked at Shino eagerly.

"... Never mind. I don't like saying the same things twice." Shino said.

"Fine." Ino said. "Then I'll be going."

Kiba growled. "Nothing for me, Ino?" He asked. Ino stopped and reached his skirt pockets.

"Bubble gums?" She offered him some from her pockets. Kiba took it.

"Sweet! Thanks Ino!" He laughed. Ino spouted a 'you're welcome.' and she's gone. They both looked at her back before they continued their walk.

"She's not using me. Why? Because ..." Kiba ignored this and popping a bubble from his new bubble gum. Shino frowned to his friend's behavior.

"Kiba, listening is very important because ..."

"Yeah, yeah. She's not using you." Kiba said.

It was probably his personality that makes her comes to him more often that it used to. She'd just drag him to a restaurant to accompany her eating while she was complaining about Shikamaru's laziness or Chouji's unwillingness to diet. He loved it, because at some point, she showed him how much she cared for those around him. Those are just impulsive acts for her that she didn't give much thought, but Shino loved her for that. And of course, he's not the only one. Kiba was obviously jealous whenever Ino approached them and asked Shino to hang out together with her. Hyuuga Neji often approached her to talk whatever Hyuuga business has with the Yamanakas. Shikamaru would go a great length for her and was very protective toward her. And he never heard Sakura being praised by Naruto whenever Ino's around. Shino fully realized that he had competitors even though no one for some reasons had made a move. Even the brassy Kiba was not making the move. On Shino's side, it was because he didn't want to ruin what they already have. Classic, but true. He didn't want to take that risk. That risk of not getting kidnapped suddenly to some random stores or restaurant. That risk of being unable to listen to her complains anymore. He's not that brave.

Aburame Shino was a man of few words, but he made sure that each of them had meanings. However, no matter how deep his words are, none was able to convey his feelings to her. In the end, he'd just quietly savor his chocolate ice cream as he followed the blonde.

That is good enough for him for now.

XXX

Her smell are the best in the world. It was vague and not overwhelming, but it exists and unique only to her. It was probably because she made her own perfume, nevertheless, he could smell her from miles away. Kiba had had a crush on Ino as soon as they made chuunin and were put on a lot of tracking mission together ever since. Tsunade loved to pair the two of them together with one of a fighter type ninja on the team. Of course there were some leadership crisis between them, as Kiba thought himself to be the leader – because he's the man – but Ino was not an obedient woman as well. She was controlling and always had something to say to anything, but Kiba was used to controlling women in his life. Her mother and her sister were the examples.

"I told you that we should have gone through the Grass Country instead." Ino said as they ran past through the thick forest of … an endless forest green. Kiba scoffed.

"Really, we're almost lost and all you said was 'I told you'?" He asked. "And you got to ride on Akamaru during the walk, so you have no right on judging me."

"It's not like that." She persisted. "Seriously Kiba, things would be much easier if you submit to the fact that I am better at direction than you. And we're not almost lost, we ARE lost." She said as she caressed Akamaru's neck gently despite her sharp words.

"We are not lost, and I am better at direction! I bet we just took one wrong turn somewhere." Kiba said and then he stopped to take a deep breath. Lavender and milk filled his nose and as much as he enjoyed it, it's not helping their current situation because the source of the good scent was from the girl beside him.

"I smell food." Kiba told her. "Not so far from here. It could be a sign of town."

"You mean the one in my rucksack?" She mocked him.

"God, Ino. You're annoying." Kiba said and followed the direction of the smell. Akamaru and Ino followed him running and then Kiba smelled fragrance. It smells like flowers, a lot of them. There must have been a flower field not so far from here. Kiba looked at Ino and couldn't help to feel a little bit irritated because of their previous arguments. He knew how much Ino loves flower but he didn't feel like being nice to her right now. He's going straight to that town and then maybe he'll tell her about it when he felt better.

Kiba cheered when they finally reached the town. Ino jumped down from Akamaru's back and stretched her body while commenting how her body aching all over. Kiba couldn't help but to leer at her, Ino had really grown up to have such nice body. The fact that she didn't cover some of it didn't help covering the fact either.

"Let's go Akamaru." Ino said as she walked deeper into the town, breaking Kiba's short fantasy. Akamaru woofed softly to Kiba before following Ino.

"Oi, Ino! You're not the one in command here!" Kiba chased her but Ino ignored it as she already talked to a sake bar owner. They chatted like they're old friends who hadn't met in years before she finally muttered a 'thank you so much' and looked at her brown-haired companion.

"So?"

"We're on the right path." Ino said. "The bar owner said that we should just go straight and we'll eventually arrive to Iwa … and don't look so smug." Kiba grinned widely as he patted Akamaru's back proudly.

"I'm right! I'm right!" Akamaru woofed for him happily. Ino sighed as she walked to the gate where they came from. "We save a whole lot of time, you know, Ino." Kiba said as he caught up with her. Ino nodded.

"Yeah. Good decision, Kiba." Ino patted his shoulder to express sympathy. "It's almost 12 AM, though. Do you want to stay or just continue running?"

"Of course, it won't be long before we arrive to Iwa, right?"

"She said that it's 12 hours walking, which means, at our speed, it's going to be 6 hours running tops."

"Cool. We'll be there by morning." Kiba said. "Tsunade-sama said that the mission had to be done as soon as possible, anyway."

Kiba looked at her and then he was reminded of something. "On second thought, let's just stay here." Ino frowned.

"No. Let's just go straight to Iwa." She said. Kiba shook his head.

"Let's spend the night here. There's something I want to show you in the morning."

"Why not now?" She folded her hands.

"It won't be as beautiful as it is in the morning." Kiba said. "Come on, Ino. You know I'm always right." Ino gave it a contemplation before finally sighed.

"Fine, but Akamaru get to sleep with me. Let's go, Akamaru." Ino said and then she turned around and walked into the town. Kiba looked at her back. Akamaru, who was already following her, stopped and looked at him as if beckoning him to follow her.

Akamaru got to sleep with her. Boy, isn't he jealous of his own dog.

She was completely flabbergasted and it was enough of thanks for Kiba. She took several steps slowly before she touched the flowers softly. That was when she sank into her own world. Akamaru sat and Kiba sat on him as they both watched Ino talking to the flowers and pick up some for her. She laughed and smiled as she observed the flower. There was no trace of that girl who's constantly trying to argue each and every of his arguments. Right now, she just looked like as frail and nice as Hinata was. Kiba sighed happily. He really liked this girl.

Hours flown by and Kiba fell down to sleep. When he felt someone nudged his hand, two big cerulean eyes greeted his. Definitely a sight he wanted to be greeted with every morning.

"You should have told me that we should go after the first hour. " Ino said as soon as he returned to full conscience. Kiba stretched his hand.

"And get my head severed by you." He replied, amazed that he could retort even though he's just woken up. "You looked so happy."

It was when she cracked that rare sincere smile at him when he blushed. As if it's not enough, she leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"That was very nice of you, Dogboy." She said as she got up. "Now, let's go." She said as she dashed into the forest. Kiba stood up and grinned at Akamaru before following Ino.

They need to get the mission done as soon as possible, but the event that turned out was the most exciting. It's all worth it.

XXX

God, Neji hated her. Everything was always not right in the eyes of Yamanaka Ino. She was very controlling and yet Neji was not Shikamaru or Chouji who'll easily submit to her will. Not everything in the world has to go the way she wanted it. They had been on a mission where they had to pose as a newlywed who just recently move to Star Village while gathering information about Akatsuki at the same time, there's a rumor that Akatsuki had moved their headquarters there. The journey from Konoha to Star Village was about six days, and Ino hadn't stopped complaining ever since. She was not supposed to be on this particular mission at the first place and that was why she was being awfully demanding and moody.

"Ino. I hate to break this news to you, but complaining won't help. We still have to do the mission." Neji told her as they rested to eat their lunch. Ino let out an exasperated sigh.

"That's not fair. I am supposed to earn my 3 days vacation right now. Tsunade-sama totally hates me."

"Yeah. Probably." Neji said as he bit his bread. "She seems to hate me too by pairing me with you." Ino glared at him and Neji glared back.

"What? You haven't stopped talking negatively since we step out of the gates." Neji pointed out and Ino threw her barely eaten bread to the pond out of annoyance, letting it sunk. Neji narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, real mature. I'm not sharing my bread with you."

"I don't want your stupid bread either. Who'll buy this stupid act anyway? I'm only fifteen and I have to pose as someone five years older than me? Meh." Ino said.

"You'll be just fine with the way you look." Neji jeered at her before taking another bite.

"Are you saying that I look older than I am?" She's almost yelling now.

"Oh, please, Ino. With how you dress? Of course." Ino scoffed.

"Said a man who let his hair grew long. No one's gonna buy this stupid act because they're just going to think that we're two lesbians in love." Neji's eyes widened.

What? Did she just …?

"Or should I cut my hair short? They'll buy it better if I posed as the husband." Ino quickly held up her left hand to shield herself from the jyuuken Neji had just launched toward her.

"Short-tempered aren't we?" Ino grinned. "I'm not the girl who ask for your autograph anymore, Neji-kun." Neji glared at her.

"Don't you, ever, dare to say those kind of words once again." Neji said darkly. Ino looked back at him and then shrugged her shoulder.

"Sure." She told him. "Whatever you want, princess."

He made sure the jyuuken hits her this time. Ino growled painfully as several of her chakra points were forcibly closed. Neji walked away from her.

"Let's go. I want to arrive in Star before midnight."

"Ass." Ino muttered before following him.

He now knew fully understand why Tsunade had specifically picked her to do this mission. Neji didn't even have to act the moment they arrived at the Star village. She covered everything about the disguise and all he needed was to followed her act and said yes to each and every of her words. The house was pristine clean. The neighbors love her. Information after information are reported to him steadily. Despite her hating this work, she had done very well so far. His boss in the sake bar (which is the best place to gain informations) even openly said that he envied him so much to have a wife like Ino.

"I'm home." Neji said as he entered their lemon-scented living room.

"Welcome home, Darling!" Ino shouted from the kitchen as she hurried to the living room to see Neji. Neji gave her a bored look.

"There's no need to call me that when no one's around." He said as he walked past through her.

"Acting 101, we don't tune in or tune out when we're acting. We're the person we're supposed to be until it's over." Ino told him. She then smiled at him in her wifely manner.

"I've made you coffee, darling." She gave him a brown mug which he accepted. "Bitter and black, just how you like it, right?"

That, he couldn't figure how Ino found out everyone's favorite.

" ." He said as he sat down. She sat next to him.

"So, any news?" Ino asked. Neji shook his head.

"There's a shady figure on the bar tonight. Turns out random." He told her.

"Someone's been following me around as well." Ino sighed. "I can't make sure if it's random or related." Neji frowned with concern.

"Related or not, it's dangerous, Ino."

"Oh, please, Darling." Ino laughed. "I can look out for myself."

"If it's related, big chances are you can't." Neji said. "A lot of people have died so easily."

"I'm not going to die." Ino persisted. "And the conversation's over." She walked back to the kitchen.

Neji sighed. He just hoped that nothing bad happened to her.

These kind of missions were indeed dangerous. At least when Ino's involved. It's not necessarily solely to what they're up against, but also the way Ino takes the whole thing seriously – which is good – but not really good for his heart. He's getting used to the coffee, to the cheerful voice that greeted him each time he went home, to her sleeping next to him. Ino was keen on showing people her affection toward him in public, and those innocent people looked at them as if they're the sweetest couple in the world. He was beginning to believe his role as her husband.

"Star Village is clean." Neji told her at their last week in the village. Ino nodded in agreement. Her stalker turned out to be … just a stalker.

"Do you want to go to a party the night before we go back?" She asked. " There are some big names in the guest list. Maybe we can dig something and see if it's really clean."

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt."

"It couldn't." Ino smiled. "Let's go shopping, then, Darling."

Heads turned when they walked into the hall. Purple is always Ino's signature color, but red awfully suited her as well. Her gown cost 2 million Ryo (which is twice their pay for the whole 3 months mission) but it fitted her just perfectly well. An elderly woman in a gold gown approached them and Ino and her shared a hug.

"You look very beautiful tonight, Ino-chan." She said. Ino smiled.

"Thank you, Arika-san. You look very stunning as well."

"And this fine man is your husband?"

"Yes." Ino said as she held his hand. "My one and only."

"How sweet." Arika smiled and they shook hands.

Neji looked around for information about Star Village and he heard nothing. Whoever made the rumor was obviously making Star Village as a red herring. So much for three months of nothing.

"Darling." Ino tugged his tuxedo. Neji turned around.

"Yes?"

"Let's have a dance." She said. Neji frowned.

"I can't ..."

"You can. Everybody can." She pulled him to the dance floor and she fitted so easily into his embrace. The dance were very slow and her face was so close to his.

"What do you find?" Ino asked as they moved around.

"Nothing." Neji whispered to her. "The village is clean."

"The crime rate here is terribly high, though." She whispered into his ears. "They said that the mafia had made contact with the Akatsuki."

"Maybe we can ask them for their headqurters, then?"

"Already did." Ino said. "They don't know. But some of the Akatsuki are heading toward Kumo right now. That's all they know."

"How do you posibbly ..."

Ino chuckled. "You don't want to know."

"Fair enough." Neji said as Ino pressed her body closer to him to avoid crashing with other couple. Neji took a deep breath. Was that her …?

"What a sweet couple!" The MC's voice echoed throughout the room. Neji and Ino stopped their movement and looked at the MC. The MC beamed at them.

"Congratulations to …" A man handed him a paper. "Matsumoto Neji and Matsumoto Ino, the two of you have won the Best Couple prize!" Everybody around them started to clap and Neji was not sure how to react. Ino, however, handled the situation very well and waved her hands.

"You can get a honeymoon trip to the Water Country for 10 days!" The clap went louder.

"Now will the two of you give us a kiss?" The MC asked and the crowds cheered at them. Neji didn't feel like they know this crowd, but Ino seems familiar with them. Neji looked at Ino. Now, now. There's limit to disguise as well, right? Kissing is … off-limit, right?

However, Ino didn't hesitate when she leaned toward him to give him a slow kiss on the lips. Neji's brain melted. His body stops functioning for a moment. There are too much details flowing into his mind at the moment, whether it was her soft lips on his or her body that was pressed so tightly against his, the moment was magical. The crowd seems to be taken away as well because it was only when Ino let go of the kiss that the room roared with clapping.

"What a great kiss!" The MC roared. "Very worthy as the best couple indeed!"

For the rest of the party, his violet eyes never left her cerulean.

They went to their house in complete silence. Ino went to the kitchen and after making him coffee, she announced that she's tired and going to return to bed.

"Good night, Darling." She said as she climbed up the stairs. "I love you."

Neji looked at her back as she vanished into the second floor.

He loves her too.

How is it? Please review! :) I would like to know your comment on this :)