Attraction
JuuIno
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She couldn't deny that she was attracted to him, and not in the 'I-wanna-sex-you-up' way, either. It was rather the old fashioned, 'I'm-a-gentlemen' allure that'd she'd only seen briefly in her life, maybe even a few times with Lee. It was hard to imagine with him being the criminal he was.
His eyes were gentle- the eyes of a jaded man that had seen far too much in his life, that just wanted all the suffering to end. She could sympathize: after her mother and father died on the last raid to Konoha, and with Sakura following shortly after, Ino had just about enough as she could bear. Wearily, she eyed the man propped against a tree across the darkened clearing, eyes wide and trained directly on her.
She shivered, and Shikamaru glanced at her. "What's up?"
Her eyes lifted to meet his and she tied to move her lips as little as possible, lest he would understand. "He's staring at me. It's getting creepy."
Her friend and comrade sighed, tilting his head back to stare at the stars. "Go tell him to stop."
"What?"
"Go tell him to stop. Jeez, woman…has anyone ever told you that you scream like a banshee?" he winced (even that looked lazy to her) and scowled. She stuck her tongue out, standing anyway.
"If I die, my will is under my mattress. Anything I left for you now goes to Chouji." She snapped, annoyed as he yawned, and stalked over to the tree where their prisoner was bound to.
They'd – Chouji, Shikamaru and Ino – been sent to retrieve the team now formally known as Taka little over a week ago. It had taken a few days to find them, and even then they'd only found two of them- a redhead who refused to speak, and the gentle giant who introduced himself as Juugo. Neither had come willingly, per say (especially the redhead), but they didn't fight for very long. It seemed their team had just fought of a few hunter nins and was spilt up in the process. With no where else to go and having a bit of protection with the Leaf Nin, Juugo had tried to convince the redhead to go with them.
She was eventually knocked out by Shikamaru, who was complaining about her whining. (It was actually quite comical.) Then, she'd been tied up, hoisted on Chouji's shoulder, and they began to walk.
And now they were here.
Well, she was here, shifting awkwardly at the supposed-to-be-criminal-who-totally-looked-innocent, wishing that she didn't decide to do this. "Stop staring at me."
He-who-looks-innocent blinked at her, and she found it unnerving that even sitting down, his defy-gravity-hair-spikes ended at her shoulders. It was silent for a long while as they stared at one another – she, waiting for his response, and he…well, staring – before she snapped. "What!?"
A slow smile stretched his lips, and immediately she relaxed at the innocence of it. "You're very pretty."
Well, that was unexpected; Ino blinked in confusion, bewildered. "…what?"
He tilted his head at her. "You're pretty. Really pretty. Beautiful." He smiled, and the flitting image of Naruto made her smile. (They'd become friends over the years, but she hadn't seen him in a very long while.) "Erm, thank you." Feeling awkward, she quickly shuffled back over to the fire with her back to him, but felt his eyes on her all the same. Shikamaru had gone to sleep, leaving her with first watch. She sighed and settled for staring into the fire blankly, her mind struggling to figure out why her heart was beating as it was.
Sure, he was handsome, and nice, and possibly even likeable. But he was a criminal, and she should not be feeling like this towards a man like him. Almost as if he heard her thinking this, she felt his eyes drop and she bit her lips in guilt.
Suddenly she figured out why she liked him so much: combined with the fact that he reminded her so much of one Uzumaki Naruto, he had called her beautiful. Not sexy, or a babe, or any other rogue-ish names- beautiful. The only person who'd ever called her beautiful was her father, and he wasn't around to do that anymore. Almost instinctively she turned to look at the bound man before her, and he lifted his eyes to meet hers hesitantly.
In that moment that their gazes connected, she felt her heart swell because she knew he wasn't going to hurt her. He'd called her beautiful, he was looking at her like a kicked puppy, and he was trying to smile. He was innocent. With this thought in mind, she stood and walked back over to him, letting him free. "Here," she smiled at his bewildered face, "come and sit by the fire. It's warmer."
The smile that he returned made her the happiest she'd been in months, and for that, she thought that just maybe she could learn to
(love him)
see past his title and look at the man beneath.
After all, he'd called her beautiful.
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Alright, I'm going to be honest with you: I have no idea where this came from, or how any of it connects. I was just typing and…yeah. Whatever, I hope you guys liked it!
P. S. - If you haven't noticed yet, I love it when guys say "beautiful" instead of like, "sexy". It's very cute. :)
P. P. S. – I have no idea where Karin disappeared to, I just realized that. Get creative, say she's with Chouji. Or died. Or whatever.
P. P. P. S. – I realy do like both Ino and Karin. I think they'd make great friends. :D
P. P. P. P. S. - This MIGHT be continued. But you all know I fail at continuations.