title: love fool
author: ohwhatsherface
note: I owe a Kiba/Ino
disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto

Kiba frowned at the sight of Ino crying. Frankly, she was a mess, with tears streaming down her rosy cheeks, her eyes puffy from the crying and rubbing. Her loud sobs were only magnified by his superior senses. No guy liked to deal with a crying girl, but Kiba's evil sister just had to force him to buy her flowers – and really, to put them on the kitchen table?! Kiba snarled to himself, making a mental note to hide Hana's conditioner. That would teach her.

"You know, Yamanaka, the whole sad act is probably bad for business," he began, eyeing the different plants. "It scares away customers."

Suppressing a sob, Ino glared at him. "Bite me, jerk."

He snorted. "Don't tempt me."

Ino rolled her eyes and wiped them dry. "Is there something you need, Kiba? What brings you to my humble flower shop where you usually uh, you know, never go?"

"Actually, yes," Kiba responded. He paused momentarily, trying to remember what his sister wanted, "I just… sort of forgot."

"…you're joking, right?"

"Nope."

They stared each other down, completely serious, until Ino broke the tense silence with an incredulous sigh. "Oh, my god, you are serious. What kind of ninja are you – how do you remember your jutsu, idiot?" A thought came to her mind and she looked around the flower shop curiously. "And hey, where is your better half?"

Kiba twitched. "Excuse me?"

"Akamaru," she prompted.

He wondered if he should be offended. "Oh, he's just at home sleeping," Kiba answered. "I guess we want to get as much rest as we can. Tomorrow morning we're trekking it to the Land of Iron with Lee, Sai and Sakura to go… ah, crap." Trailing off, Kiba sighed. "Damn. Okay, please don't start crying over the Uchiha again."

Ino blinked, confused. "What?"

"Crying," he repeated. "You know – too many tears, obnoxious wailing, annoying sobs—"

"Thank you, Kiba, I know what crying is."

"Why were you so upset over the Uchiha anyway?" Kiba asked, trying very hard to sound like he didn't care. Which he didn't. Not at all. "I mean, it's not like you two were even all that close…"

Her cheeks reddened slightly and Ino poked him in the chest. "I know that, Kiba," she spat defensively. "I wasn't crying over Sasuke—"

Kiba nodded derisively. "Oh, yes, of course."

"—I was crying because of all the completely failing romances in the world!" Ino shouted. "I mean, if we kill Sasuke, then there will be no chance of SasuSaku ever happening. The most that could be hoped for is Death By Protecting Precious Person followed by a tragic, tearful dying declaration of love – you know, both of which totally won't happen, ergo I will not get my SasuSaku fix!"

"SasuSa… what?"

Ino groaned in a way that said she thought he was the crazy one. Tch. "SasuSaku – Sasuke and Sakura. Understand?"

Kiba shook his head. "No. No, I really don't."

"Whatever, you're a moron, anyway," she muttered, crossing her arms. "And like, what about NaruHina?!" Kiba pinched the bridge of his nose and cursed his sister for making him go to the flower shop. "I mean, the girl confesses her love for him and then she almost dies, and what does he do?!"

It took a few seconds for Kiba to realize the question wasn't rhetorical. "Oh. I don't know. What?"

"He ignores it, Kiba," Ino groused, putting her hands on his shoulders and shaking him. "I mean, sure, sorry you need time to play Jesus with a side of angsting over Sasuke, but stop looking at the past and see what's in front of you, right?!"

"…yeah," Kiba agreed. He figured it would be best to nod and smile in the presence of an irate female. "Seriously."

"Seriously!" Ino slapped the counter, clearly frustrated. "And—and—and…" She broke off with a tired sigh, looking down. When she raised her head and met his eyes, she pouted. "Love sucks. No great romances are working and there are none starting for me to ship!"

Kiba nodded, deciding it would be the best course of action. (And really – what the heck did 'ship' mean?)

After a minute, Ino sighed again, running a hand through her hair. "Sorry, Kiba… I just totally blew up at you. I'll give you whatever you want free of charge."

Then he smiled charmingly. "How 'bout a kiss?"

She blinked. "Huh?"

"A kiss," Kiba repeated. "You know – two people, touching lips, sometimes a bit of tongue—"

"Thank you, Kiba," she interrupted, glaring, "I know what kissing is."

His grin widened. "So then let's try it?" At her suspicious look, Kiba rolled his eyes. "Come on, you were complaining about the lack of romances starting – I'm trying here, woman."

Ino frowned. "But this is so… so… so cheesy! No!"

"Fine." Indignant and somewhat offended, Kiba scowled at her and huffed. "Don't say I didn't try." He turned around, ready to leave (without his flowers—well Hana's flowers) but stopped when a rag hit him in the back of his head. He spun on his heel and pointed at her accusingly. "Oi!"

Ino was smirking from where she stood behind the cash register. "You idiot! I was playing hard to get. You were supposed to be persistent, not walk away!"

Kiba didn't know if he was intrigued or irritated. "You said 'no', Ino," he pointed out, trying to be patient.

"Well duh," she said with a roll of her eyes. "You were then supposed to say 'come on' or 'please'." At his defeated sigh and reluctant mutter of 'please', Ino clapped happily. "Oh, my gosh, we're starting a romance!" She ran around the counter and pecked him on the cheek. "And we're already fighting. Sort of. Do you know what this means?!"

This time, Kiba picked up on her want for an answer. "Oh. I don't know. What?"

"It means we have total potential for hotness and greatness and all that jazz that makes up an amazing romance!" she merrily stated. Nodding wisely, she told him that the best romances began with total dislike between the partners – or at least on one side. "You know, like SasuSaku, ShikaTema…"

As she trailed off, Kiba groaned. Crap. What had he gotten himself into?

Ino broke off with a cheer, throwing a fist in the air. "Yes! KibaIno for the world!"

At that, he smiled, almost disbelievingly. "KibaIno?"

She nodded passionately. "Hell yes."

Ridiculous it may be, Kiba shrugged and accepted it – it sounded way better than SasuSaku, NaruHina, ShikaTema and all those other silly things Ino came up with, at least.

fin