Hello once again fellow fanfiction fanatics, and welcome to my first Naruto fic. This is mostly a fic to get me introduced to the Naruto community, my main one will be put up some time probably in the next month. If you want to learn a little more about it, check out my profile.

Anyways, this fic will be about a pairing that I cannot help but admire, Naru/Ino. Why do I like it? I don't know. Is there anything to back it up at all? Nope. But do I like it? Hell yeah! So here is my first attempt at Naru/Ino, though this could also be a partial friendship fic if you don't like them together (and shame on you too). I know its long but please attempt to read it all and tell me what you think about it. Is it great? I love hearing that. If it's bad, I'll never know unless you tell me. But please, I hope you enjoy this.

Don't own Naruto… (goes to a dark corner and starts sobbing uncontrollably)

Yanamaka Ino quietly jumped to the branch of another tree with little to no sound, something she prided herself at. Even though she was sometimes berated by her father for being too skinny for a kunoichi, her slender body made her more agile and quiet than most other shinobi. There was no way that her target could suspect that he was being followed.

"This time," Ino said in determination, "you won't get away from me."

Ino jumped to the ground and looked around with her expert Chunin trained eyes. Finally, she spotted her target. He was eating alone in a local diner, a place that Ino knew he didn't visit often, and that was the reason it took her so long to find him. He hadn't been at most of his regular hangout spots, which she had expertly memorized, so he must have known that he was being followed. Ino had lost him earlier that day around ten, but after one whole unbearable hour, she had found him.

"Sasuke-kun!" she exclaimed so loudly that many people within a quarter mile radius turned their heads in confusion. "I've finally found you!"

Sasuke slowly turned around and narrowed his coal black eyes at the approaching blond. The glare would have probably made any small child pee his pants, but to Ino, it was just too sexy to be afraid of.

"You shouldn't run away so fast!" Ino yelled, wrapping her arms around the Uchiha's neck and rubbing her face into his strong chest. "You know that it's not nice to leave a girl all alone by herself."

"I thought that I lost you back at the Hokage monument," Sasuke said pushing her back in his usual cool manner that Ino just couldn't get enough of. Who couldn't admit that he was the hottest guy in the world?

"I just followed my heart, Sasuke-kun. Its proof that you and I are meant to be together," Ino said taking a seat beside him in the booth, blocking his one and only path for escape.

"When you're not glomping me, do you just sit around and think of what to say to me the next time you see me?" Sasuke asked with a sigh.

"I can't help it, Sasuke-kun. You are all I think about these days. You are just so strong and…"

"Like I've never heard that one before," the Uchiha prodigy said rolling his eyes.

"You big tease, Sasuke-kun," Ino said pushing Sasuke. "So anyways…tomorrow is the festival of when the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi, you know? So I was wondering if you might want to do something together during the carnival…"

"Hey! Sasuke!"

A vein appeared on Ino's head as she turned around to look at the source of the interruption. Not much to her surprise, Naruto came rushing into the door. Nothing in this world annoyed Ino more than Naruto's voice when she was around Sasuke. Actually, Naruto's voice annoyed her anytime she heard it.

"See, I told you to backtrack to the Forest of Death. If you had just followed my advice you might have gotten away," Naruto said, not wasting a moment to poke fun at his best friend. "But noooo! You had to be smarty pants Sasuke-teme and do it your way. Now look where it got you!"

"Be quite, dobe," Sasuke said threateningly.

"Don't you have somewhere else to go?" Ino asked, not caring how cold her voice was.

"Nice to see you too, Ino-chan," Naruto said sarcastically. "Shouldn't you be chasing after some other guy now? You do know that Sasuke is going out with Sakura now, don't you? Do you really think she'll be happy to know her best friend is trying to take her boyfriend away from her while she's out on a training mission?"

"Sakura and I both know that alls fair in love and war. And besides, I'm not stealing him away. I'm just trying to let him see the error of his ways," Ino said leaning back against Sasuke…or as it turned out, where Sasuke should have been. Ino let out a gasp as she fell off the booth with a thump.

Naruto immediately began laughing hysterically while clutching his stomach. "Oh man, that baka is good. I don't know how he does it."

"You think this is funny?!" Ino yelled, jumping to her feet and grabbing Naruto by his orange jumpsuit. "Just stop your damn laughing and tell me where he went."

"Nah uh-uh," Naruto said shaking his finger at her, not caring that he was in no predicament in being sarcastic. "That would be telling, and I never tell. Well, not without the proper incentive at least."

"Meaning…?" Ino questioned.

"Buy me ramen for lunch?" Naruto asked smiling.

"That sorry example of food? Sorry, but I'll pass," Ino said shoving Naruto backwards and turning around to leave and start her search anew.

"Your choice," Naruto said shrugging. "But you know, next to Sakura I'm the one who knows Sasuke the most… I guess I might have told you some things about him if you would have gotten me some ramen…"

Ino stopped, looking over her shoulder at Naruto. What he said held some truth in it. Naruto was one of the few people that could get close to Sasuke without immediately being blown off. Sure, the two of them usually couldn't spend five minutes together without getting into some type of argument and sometimes a fight, but there was no denying their friendship.

"Okay, Naruto." Ino said turning around. "I'll buy you THREE bowls of miso ramen, but that's it. Sakura has told me about how much you eat. In return, you answer any and all questions that I have about Sasuke."

"Within reason," Naruto said.

"Deal," Ino asked, realizing that Naruto probably didn't know whether Sasuke wore boxers or briefs anyways.

"Thanks, Ino!" Naruto said grabbing her hand and running out the door. "I swear, I'm so hungry, I could eat twenty bowls of ramen!"

"What part about three bowls do you not understand!?"

"One more, Old Man Ichiraku!" Naruto yelled holding his bowl out toward the owner of the ramen bar.

"Just keep the money coming and so will the food, Naruto," the ramen chef said laughing before filling up Naruto's last bowl of ramen. How the elderly man was able to make ramen fast enough for Naruto to keep him occupied was beyond Ino. She could have sworn that the first one was eaten in about thirty seconds.

"So Naruto, you coming tomorrow?" Ichiraku asked. "You aren't going on another mission, are you?"

"Eh, I'm not too sure," Naruto said shrugging. "Depends on the amount of death threats I get, you know how it is with…" Naruto glanced over at Ino for a brief moment before turning back to the elder ramen stand owner. "Well, you know. But let's change the subject! Get one for Ino here for me. My treat," he said as Ino sent him a surprised look.

Ino's face shifted to a look so frightening that Naruto could feel the killing intent excuding from her body. "You're not trying to get fresh with me are you, Naruto?"

"Sheesh," the boy next to her shrugged. "You try to do a girl a favor and she gives you the death stare. Oh well, your loss."

"Don't worry, this one is on the house," Ichiraku said, slapping a bowl of ramen in front of Ino. "Just make sure you come along every now and again. I'm going to help Ayame in the kitchen and I don't want to find my ramen pot half empty when I come back, Naruto."

"Will you give it a rest? That happened when I was only eight years old!" Naruto whined.

"And you haven't changed one bit," Ichiraku laughed before waving at the two and going into the back of the shop.

"So, Naruto. You still owe me answers to some questions," Ino said pushing her bowl away and leaning her arm on the counter.

"Aren't you going to eat your ramen?" Naruto asked.

"I'm on a diet."

"Again?"

"Just take it," Ino said sliding the bowl over to Naruto, which he took gladly.

"So what do you want to ask me about?" Naruto asked while taking a large slurp of noodles in this mouth. Any other girl probably would have been disgusted, but after having Choji as a teammate for four years, Ino had somehow gotten semi-used to it.

"Okay…how about an easy one, what is Sasuke's favorite color?" Ino asked.

"That's supposed to be easy? How the heck am I supposed to know that?" Naruto asked looking over at Ino with narrowed eyes.

"I asked you a question and I want an answer, damn it!" Ino yelled while slamming her hand onto the counter, surprising herself that she was so angry that she actually swore. "I bought you your ramen and now its time for my cut of the deal."

"Fine, fine, just don't kill me," Naruto said waving his arms in defense. "Probably blue, since he's always wearing it all the time. It might also be black also, he seems to be the kind of guy who likes the color black."

"Okay, what's his favorite kind of food?" Ino questioned next.

"He likes rice balls, but that's the only thing I can think of," Naruto responded.

"Hey! Wait a second!" Ino yelled, standing to her feet and pointing at Naruto. "You don't know anything about Sasuke at all, do you?"

"Hey, you said that I had to answer your questions. I never said that I knew the answers to all of them," he retorted slyly.

"You…little…" Ino couldn't even finish her sentence she was so mad. "How anybody is able to stand you, I will never know!"

"I believe it's my charming personality," Naruto said smiling innocently. "If you want to know so badly, why don't you just ask Sasuke without being all flirty with him?"

"I've tried that before, but he won't listen," Ino said sighing. "And he always disappears before I can ask him anything. The only ones he'll actually talk to is Sakura and…." An idea just hit Ino like a ton of bricks. But could it actually work? She couldn't see why not. There was no way that Sasuke would ever know the difference…

"Um, Ino? Why are you looking at me that way?" Naruto asked a little nervously.

"Oh, no reason, Naruto-san," Ino said in the sweetest voice that she could muster. "Well I guess there is a reason. I…I only just realized how much of a jerk I've been to you today. I said so many nasty things that I never really meant…I really hope you can forgive me."

"Okay, now I'm scared," Naruto said leaning slightly away from Ino. "What happened to 'I'm-about-to-bite-your-head-off' Ino?"

"I…I only get like that when I'm frustrated," Ino said looking down to the ground, acting as if she was ashamed of herself. "I can't believe that I treated you so badly…I feel like such a jerk!"

"I-It's okay," Naruto said, patting her on the back. "I forgive you and all. I mean, I kind of did trick you anyways. So I guess I'm sorry too."

"Your so nice…Naruto-kun," Ino said, wiping away imaginary tears from her eyes and looking cutely over at Naruto, making the boy blush slightly in embarrassment. "I…I want to give you something in apology, but you have to close your eyes…"

"Uh, I...I don't know about this, Ino. I mean your a nice girl and all but..." the hyperactive shinobi beside her said, slightly leaning backwards.

"Please, Naruto-kun," Ino said leaning forward slightly and closing the gap between her and Naruto. "It will only take a second...I promise."

"...Just promise to not hurt me," Naruto said hesitantly and closed his eyes. Ino quickly reverted to the "evil and devious Ino" and started going through the seals.

If my dad knew about this, he would kill me, Ino thought to herself as she finished the last seal. "Shintenshin no Jutsu."

Ino could suddenly felt herself flying through the air, and then she was not in her own body, but in Naruto's. Ino looked down at herself/himself and groaned miserably. She usually made an effort to not possess boys for obvious reasons, but she would have to make an exception today. Sakura was impossible to possess, as Ino had found out in the first Chunin exams, and this was probably her only chance of finding out what Sasuke was really like.

"Just you wait, Sasuke-kun," she/he said grinning cunningly. "Soon I'll know everything about you and you'll be as good as mine…"

"Sorry I took so long," Ichiraku said walking out of the back. "Ayame had spilt some ramen on the floor and…good gravy, Naruto! What did you do?" he yelled when he saw Ino's motionless body on the ground.

Ino smiled wickedly. It was payback time. "Oh, well she was making me sick with all her niceness. That kind of stuff makes me sick, you know, so I knocked her out. Being nice is for people who are weak!"

"N-Naruto?" Ichiraku asked, looking more bewildered by the second.

"I guess I'll take her home," Ino said, picking up her body. "But I don't want you to ever say a word about this, or I'll make sure no one will ever eat at this food stand again."

"Who the hell are you?" Ichiraku asked with a frown. "You are definitely not Naruto."

Uh-oh, her cover was blown. It was time to make her escape. "Just remember what I said, old man," she said as nastily as she could while picking her body up and running in the direction of her house. About halfway there though, she realized that if either of her parents found her body lying around lifelessly, she would be as good as dead. Sometimes having a Jonin for a father was…well as her teammate Shikamaru would say, troublesome.

Ino stuffed her hands into her/Naruto's left pocket to search for something that would in some way lead her to where Naruto lived. In it she found a frog wallet (something she couldn't help but find cute) along with a coupon for Ichiraku's Ramen Bar, which immediately made her angry. Naruto already had a coupon to by himself a bowl of ramen. She guessed that he couldn't settle for only that, so he had to rip her off.

She tried the reached into the other pocket and smiled in triumph, she had found a key. She read the tag attached to it that revealed to her to be a key to a local apartment, and she was lucky enough to find the room number on it as well. She laughed to herself, knowing that Naruto would be the only one stupid enough to actually put his address on his key.

"Well, Naruto," Ino said, "time to head over to your place."

Ino walked into the apartment with her body still her arms. Her first reaction to the room was that of surprise. She had expected that Naruto lived in a pigsty or something, but the apartment room was…almost cozy. Sure, the ground needed to be swept and there was a picture of Sasuke's head that had a couple of kunai stabbed into it, but otherwise it seemed like a normal house.

"Ah, what do I care?" Ino asked herself, putting her body on Naruto's bed which she quickly found in the relatively small room. "I'm only here for today, and that's it." The kunoichi in disguise turned around and headed for the door, ready to once again continue her never ending quest of Sasuke's heart.

As soon as her finger touched the door though, she stopped. She had heard something. Almost like a faint humming noise. She could barely even hear it...but something about it made her heart freeze cold. Ino turned around in confusion and looked around the apartment, trying to find the source of the sound. After she took one step though, the sound began to get louder.

Her hand reached down to the kunai holster on Naruto's leg, not knowing at all what was going on. The sound once again grew in volume. This time though, she couldn't call it a hum. Instead, it was a growl. Ino's head darted to the left and right, trying to find the source of the sound, but she couldn't pinpoint where exactly it was coming from. It was almost like it was coming in every direction at once. The growling was now so loud now that Ino nearly felt the need to cover her ears. It was then that she began to become truely frightened. Whatever this was, it was big. And it wasn't happy.

Slowly though, the growling began to die away. Ino continued to look around, trying one last time to find where the sound was coming from. Soon though, it was nothing more than a hum once again. Then there was silence.

Ino could feel her/Naruto's heart still beating rapidly. What in the world could that have been?! It was unlike any growl she had heard from any dog. It was too loud. The dog would have to be as big as her house to make that kind of noise. Finally, Ino let herself relax. Whatever it had been, it was gone, and she was safe.

With a still shaking hand, Ino opened the door and exited the apartment. Partially going off to find Sasuke, and partially running away from whatever had made that noise.

"Damn it," Ino/Naruto said, kicking some dirt as she walked down the street. She had been searching for Sasuke the entire afternoon, but her search had turned out fruitless. She had asked anybody that she could find that might have known where Sasuke was, most of them being fellow fan girls. But for some reason, there was no sign of the Uchiha anywhere.

"I guess I deserve this," Ino said to herself. "I did trick Naruto after all." The sun was setting already and she was pretty sure that she should be heading back to her body soon. If she didn't get back before ten, her parents might become worried. Or worse, suspicious.

Ino suddenly got shouldered roughly by a passing man. While she was turning around to face whoever had hit her so rudely, she was shouldered again and this time fell to the ground by another passerby.

"What the heck was that for?" Ino/Naruto asked, looking up at the two that had hit her to the ground.

"Oh, is the little monster hurt?" one of the men, a thin little man with a face like a weasel asked in a small, whiny like voice.

"Maybe the little bastard should go home and cry," the other one said snickering down at Ino.

"What did I ever do to you?" Ino asked. She supposed that Naruto had somehow done a prank on these goons and had ticked them off. But how they were acting right now, Naruto had to have done have done something pretty bad.

"You know full well what you did you monster," weasel face said, spitting onto Ino/Naruto's face. Ino whipped the spit off in disgust with Naruto's orange sleeve as the two men walked away, still laughing.

"What a couple of…" Ino couldn't even finish her sentence out loud, as it had too many slurs to speak in such a large crowd. She just couldn't believe that they had treated her that badly. Most guys would ogle as she passed by, a trait that she was quite proud of. This was, to say the least, a totally new experience for her.

"Not even Naruto deserves that," Ino said, picking herself up and walking down the street. She suddenly gripped her stomach as it began to growl noisily.

"How much food does this kid need to eat?" Ino asked herself, remembering that Naruto had only eaten four bowls of ramen a few hours ago. "It's like he's and Akamichi or something."

Ino looked around and found that her wandering had brought her to the street of one of her favorite restaurants. She went there so often that she practically knew the whole staff there, and was considered a welcome costumer anytime.

She made her way to the diner and approached the man that was to seat the customers that day, a man that Ino remembered was named Minoki. He was a rather handsome man, tall, slightly muscular, and had a certain boyish charm that every girl loved in a guy. If it wasn't for Sasuke, Ino probably would ask him out.

"Hey, could I get a table?" Ino asked, walking up to Minoki.

Minoki looked up at Ino/Naruto. "I'm sorry," he said, picking up the newspaper next to him and opening it up. "But there are currently no open seats. I suggest coming back some other time."

Ino looked past the man and into the restaurant. It was definitely anything but full that day. She could spot at least eight tables empty without even looking around that much.

"I'm sorry," Ino said, "but I see a lot of tables behind you that are not being used. Could you just put me at one of those?"

"Listen, if I say that the place is full, then the god damn restaurant is full. Now get out of here before I call the ANBU on you," Minoki said threateningly from behind his newspaper. Ino took a step back in surprise.

"H-hey! Listen, I don't know what your problem is, but you don't have any reason to talk to me like that. All I want is a place to sit," Ino said, her temper slowly rising.

"I gave you a warning," Minoki said dangerously, finally looking straight at Ino. "Now if you don't leave this place right now, you're going to wish that they would have cut your throat on that damn day you were born."

Ino/Naruto's mouth dropped open in shock. She had never known Minoki to talk like this to any costumer before. He had always acted like a gentleman when she was around. But now he was acting like…like Naruto was some kind of disease that needed to be isolated.

"Fine," Ino finally said, storming out of the restaurant, not planning on coming back anytime soon. She couldn't believe how badly she was being treated. Was everybody in a bad mood that day? Or was it something that Naruto did? But that can't be. Sure, Naruto was an annoying little creep, but he wasn't that bad.

"I guess I'll just have to find out why everyone is mad at you," Ino said, making her way back to Naruto's apartment.

"Man, if my dad knew I was doing this, he really would kill me," Ino said back in Naruto's apartment. She began to search inside of her body's pockets, trying to find the scroll that she had been learning. Finally, she had found it.

The scroll didn't even look all that special really. It was actually smaller than most scrolls that would have jutsu techniques in them. But this one was taken directly from the Yanamaka household. It held the most secret and dangerous of all her family's jutsus. Ino had to admit, she was sort of nervous about using one on Naruto. She had been taught how to do the jutsu by her father, but she had never actually attempted it. Who knew what could happen to her or Naruto if she failed. But she still opened the scroll, curiosity getting the better of her. She just needed to know why all those people were being such asses toward Naruto.

"Okay, here we go," she said, finally finding the jutsu she was looking for, the Mind Scan Jutsu. It was the Yanamaka's ultimate information gathering jutsu. After taking control of someone, they can literally enter the person's mind and find out any and all information they may need. Inoichi, Ino's dad, has only used it twice according to him. It was only used in the direst of circumstances, when the fate of the Konohakagure depends on the information they needed.

"Alright, here we go," Ino said, taking a deep breath and reading through the seals. Rabbit, ram, dog, monkey, roster, pig…she continued to go the seals which continued for at least thirty seconds. Finally she finished the last hand sign.

Ino blinked once, and by the time she opened her eyes, she was in a totally different place compared to Naruto's room. It looked as if she was inside of a long metal hallway. The walls were the color of rust, and water dripped down from the various pipes that ran above her head.

"Is this Naruto's mind?" Ino asked herself. She looked down at herself and noticed that she had reverted to her original body. After taking a moment to check herself over, she began to walk through the hallway. Her father had never described what the inside of a person's mind would look like. For some reason, Ino had pictured it a little less…foreboding.

Ino's thoughts were interrupted as her ears picked up something, a sound that she had not forgotten. It was the same growl as before, coming from the end of the hallway that she was in. She stood there for a couple moments, listening to the sound that had frightened her like nothing else before.

"Ino, you are such an idiot," she said to herself as she slowly began to walk down the hallway. With each step she took the sound got a small bit louder. She could no longer hear her footsteps on the metal floor, and that the farther she walked the hotter it became. She nervously wiped the sweat from her forehead, not knowing if it was from the heat or from how frightened she was becoming.

Finally, she turned the corner. She was no longer in a hallway, but in a large room. Ino looked to the end of the room and saw what looked like a giant cage, it's inside being too dark for her to see into, though it looked…almost as if a giant hill was in it. With her heart still racing she slowly approached the giant prison cell. Ino was sure now that this was where the growling was coming from. It was now louder than it had ever been before.

She was now only two feet from the cell. It was even bigger up close. Her dad had never told her anything about this. She was completely at a loss of what was going on.

Something suddenly moved inside the cell. It could hardly be described as a movement though. It looked more like one of Shikamaru's shadows moving. She leaned her head forward to get a better look into the cell.

Ino screamed in terror as a giant eye as large as she was opened up from five feet behind the cage. Soon after that, a giant red paw slammed against the prison with such force that the whole ground shook beneath her feet, causing her to fall.

"What do you know," a deep voice echoed from behind the bars. "It's not everyday that I get any visitors. Tell me child, are you here to let me devour your puny body in an attempt to rid me of the hunger that has plagued me for the last sixteen years?"

Ino edged backwards as she continued to gaze at the two eyes and giant mouth that was just beyond the cage in front of her. Her body was telling her to run, but she found herself unable to do anything. She thought she knew what terror was during the Sand/Sound invasion. She thought she knew terror when she went up against her first A-class enemy. But now she knew what it was to be afraid. To feel your body go cold with terror and want to scream at the top of your lungs just to make the fear go away.

"I must say though," the giant being from behind the cage said, lowering its head so that it could get a better look at Ino. "I never thought I would see another human besides that kid ever again in my life…and a female at that. Tell me, who are you?"

"What do you mean? What kid?" Ino asked, finally able to say something.

"I am the one who is asking the questions!" the creature bellowed, once again slamming itself against the cage and making Ino scream. "Now, tell me who you are…"

"...Yanamaka Ino," Ino replied, not wanting to anger whatever it was that was in the cage again.

"Ah, a mindwalker," the voice said with a slight gurgle in its voice that Ino guessed must have been a chuckle. "Yes, I recognize the blonde hair now. It has been long sense I last ate one of your clan. Such small morsels though. No meat on them at all. Now tell me, for what reason do you have to disturb the mightiest of all the high demons, the Great Kyuubi?"

"The…the Kyuubi?" Ino gasped. "That's impossible. The Kyuubi was defeated sixteen years ago. Tomorrow is the holiday to celebrate its defeat."

"Ah yes, now I remember," the fox said. "That Hokage wished for it not be spoken…that would make sense to why you do not know. I guess I owe him. If he had not established those laws, neither I nor the brat would probably be alive right now."

"What do you mean?" Ino asked, finally finding the strength to rise to her feet. "Who is out to get Naruto?"

"Ha!" the Kyuubi barked, sending Ino once again to the ground for the third time. "With my power now, there isn't an enemy alive that would dare fight this boy. I doubt even your current Hokage could defeat him as he is now… No, I am talking about his youth. Surely you have noticed it. How your village treats the kid?"

Ino then remembered the young men that had pushed her to the ground and how Minoki had acted. And now that she thought about it, she could remember that a lot of people had been giving her ugly looks when she was in Naruto's body. She had only brushed it off thinking that there was something else around that were making them act like that. But they were actually glaring at her. No, not at her, at Naruto.

"I never knew," Ino said softly.

"Of course you didn't," the Kyuubi grunted. "Perhaps I can give you a hint of what Naruto's childhood was like…"

A large vortex suddenly opened up bellow Ino. She let out another scream as she fell down into the darkness, her arms flailing wildly to try and grip something to stop her fall.

Suddenly, she wasn't falling anymore. Actually, she was standing in a familiar room. Naruto's room to be exact. It was night though and the full moon shone into the room.

"Behind you, little mindwalker," the Kyuubi's voice whispered in her mind. Ino turned around and saw a small boy sitting in the corner, drawing on a small sheet of paper. He was surrounded by a teddy bear, a small stuffed rabbit that could fit in Ino's hand, and in front of him was a small stack of bricks. Above him was a calendar that Ino gasped at. It dated back nine years ago! On October tenth? Why did the kitsune send Ino back this far, and on the holiday that he had been defeated?

"Happy birthday to me," the young boy said, catching Ino by surprise. The boy hung up the drawing that he had just been working on behind him just under the calendar that Ino had been looking at.

"Why don't you go and take a closer look?" Kyuubi asked her. "He won't mind. He can't see you."

Ino hesitantly looked a little closer to the smaller version of Naruto and looked at the drawing that he had been working on. It was as detailed as any drawing a seven year old would make, but looking at it literally broke her heart. On it was three stick figures, one of them with pointy hair and on both sides of it was two taller ones. The smallest one had an arrow that said 'me', and the other two had the arrows 'mom and dad' on them.

"You must know by now that Naruto is an orphan. This is how he spent the first twelve birthdays, secluded from everybody just to survive."

"Survive?" Ino asked. She jumped in surprise as a brick was hurdled through the already broken window beside her. Naruto though just looked over at the brick and beamed.

"Look at that! Someone gave me another present! Kind of strange that everyone is giving me a bricks though, huh?" he said shrugging at his stuffed animals. "I wish those ninja people outside would just let me out and let me get the presents myself. Then they wouldn't have to throw them through my window all the time."

Ino stared with her mouth agape as Naruto stood up and grabbed the brick that lay in the middle of his floor and placed them with the rest of the pile of bricks, which Ino now noticed also had many stones with notes attached to them, all of them left untouched or unopened by Naruto.

"The kid isn't stupid," the Kyuubi spoke to her again. "He knows that those aren't presents. He just doesn't want to admit it. He's never done anything wrong in his entire life, and doesn't understand why the villagers treat him as they do. To ensure that he stayed safe, he had to isolate himself from the rest of the world. He grew up not having one friend or anybody to look up to as a father figure. The Sexy no Jutsu that he made was originally an experiment to guess what his mother might have looked like. He knew that he had at least half of her genes from school and thought he could somehow find out who she was."

"How can people be so cruel to him?" Ino asked, kneeling down to get a better look at Naruto's innocent face. She only now just noticed how dim his eyes looked, even with it being dark, they were unnatural. So much unlike what she had seen back at the ramen stand hours ago. "He doesn't deserve this," she finally said as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Ignorance is the answer, humans being too stupid to see what has been under their noses the whole time. Amazing how humans can treat their own kind so badly and call us demons evil."

"The worst part is, I agree with you," Ino said wiping her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in front of the Kyuubi's prison.

"I don't know what to say," Ino muttered, looking straight into the eyes of the great demon in front of her.

"A habit that seems to possess all humans," Kyuubi snorted. "You don't need to say anything! Just think about what you saw, what you now know. Use that knowledge to ask yourself what really is important in your life, and who else is important. If you don't, the amount of companions you have in your pathetically short life will be a mere miniscule number."

"I will do that, Kyuubi-sama," Ino said bowing low to the ground. "Just please, will you allow me to I ask you one last question."

"If it is about why I attacked your village, it's because I was hungry," the Kyuubi said snorting loudly.

"No, that's not it," Ino said shaking her head. "Why did you show me this? Why did you tell me all this about Naruto?"

For the first time since Ino had arrived, the Kyuubi was silent. The great fox turned its gigantean body around and turned its back to Ino."I just can't stand ignorance, that's all," the fox grumbled.

"It's because you really do care about him, isn't it?" Ino said smiling at the once most feared creature that walked the earth.

Again, the fox was silent. Ino smiled softly, realizing that she had guessed right.

"Leave," the Kyuubi said turning around slightly to see Ino out of the corner of his gargantuan eye. "Before I find my appetite again…"

Ino didn't need to be told twice, immediately forming the proper hand sign to end the jutsu. Before she carried it out though, she spared one last look at the Kyuubi. "Thank you," she said to the demon, and then closed her eyes as her chakra level began to rise to perform the jutsu.

When Ino next opened her eyes, she was back in Naruto's room again. With an exasperated sigh, she looked at the clock that hung over Naruto's bed where her body laid. One in the morning. That meant that today was October tenth, the celebration of the Kyuubi's defeat. Ino shook her head. No. It was Naruto's birthday.

Reluctantly, she pulled out a sleeping pill that sat inside her pocket. Her father had developed it alongside his close friend and former teammate, Akamichi Chouza. It was, quite literally, an edible genjutsu. One pill alone is capable of knocking a person out in ten seconds flat, giving a Yanamaka just enough time to leave the body. Not only that, but it also erases all memories of the consumer of the previous twenty four hours.

"Which would mean that you won't be able to remember all that mean stuff I said to you today," Ino said, stroking her/Naruto's hair. Unfortunately, the worst of what she had ever said to Naruto could not be erased by a pill. She couldn't take back a lifetime of insults.

"But I can try," she said, more determined than she has ever felt before.

"…Damn," Naruto muttered as his eyes fluttered open from last night's sleep. "Have I been out drinking with Ero-sennin again?"

He sleepily sat up and rubbed the back of his head in pain. He had only had a hangover a handful of times in his life, but this had to be the most powerful one he had ever experienced. It's just this time he still had all his money inside his pocket. Usually he would wake up with his frog wallet a lot thinner and Ero-sennin's wallet a lot fatter.

"I hope I didn't do anything too bad," he muttered flipping over onto his side, but knowing Jiraya, there was no telling what had happened. Something unexpectedly caught his eye, and was actually something he had never found on his bedside table before. A letter.

Still rather confused, he picked up the letter and shook it suspiciously. He had woken up with other suspicious things inside his room before, and usually (especially around his birthday) they would contain an explosive tag or two within them.

Hesitantly, he opened the envelope slowly and carefully turned the letter upside down for its contents to fall on the ground. Naruto once again received another surprise when he saw a coupon for ten free extra large bowls from Ichiraku Ramen Bar fall out of it along with a note. No longer cautious but curious, Naruto opened the card and read.

Dear Naruto,

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday! One happy birthday for every one I've ever missed. I know that this may be a little weird, but I'm sorry that I haven't been that nice to you in the past. I guess I was just so obsessed with Sasuke that I couldn't see how nice of a person you are. I'm really sorry. I'm getting the feeling that no matter how many times I say that to you, it can never make up for all the bad stuff I've ever said. I hope that somehow you can forgive me. You probably already have found the Ichiraku Ramen gift card that I gave you. I was wondering if you might want to have some with me later tonight. You won't even have to use your gift card, it will be on me. If you don't want to come then that's fine, but I'll be waiting for you there.

One more time, happy birthday!

Yanamaka Ino

Naruto read through the card two more times and still couldn't make heads or tails about it. "Is this really from Ino? It doesn't sound like her."

"Trust me, it's from her, kid," Kyuubi said within his mind, something that Naruto had grown used to over the years.

How the heck do you know? Naruto asked skeptically.

"Demon intuition," the fox chuckled. "It may not be a bad idea to meet her tonight you know…It's rude to leave a lady all alone."

"I don't know," Naruto said out loud this time, still staring at the letter.

"Well, this is just me talking, but I think she'd probably make a good mate…"

"WHAT!!" Naruto yelled, falling out of his bed. I don't know how much you've seen of Ino, but last time I checked, she hated my guts.

"People can change kid," the Kyuubi responded back before climbing into the back of Naruto's mind, ending the conversation with Naruto.

The blonde ninja read the letter one last time and weighed the pros and cons of taking up Ino's offer. In the end, he figured that the fox was right and that it would be rude to leave such a pretty girl alone…. Naruto hopped back to his feet and began to search through his closet, trying to find the best suit that he had. In the back of his mind, he could have sworn that he heard the Kyuubi chortling.