Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Well, I really have no excuse for taking this long to post an update. My amazing procrastination has had 3/4 of this chapter done for nearly a year now before finally getting my lazy ass working on it again. I make no promises on the next update, but it won't be a year in development unless I see something shiny. It's not much of an excuse, but I have probably rewritten this chapter about 5 times over from not liking my own wording.

=o=

Life quickly settled back down to what everyone else felt was the normal way of things. The very next day after the Ino event, Naruto burst into the classroom in his normal extravagant fashion. Chatting loudly with the back row, making jokes about teachers and students… It seemed like the funk that Naruto was in just yesterday was gone and no one really outwardly noticed or cared. Of course there were those that did care a little on the inside.

Remaining inconspicuous, Ino smiled at Naruto being up to his old antics. His moping about in the back just wasn't what his image was. Whatever happened over dinner last night definitely brought back his warmth, light and cheer. Eyes scanning the classroom, she was able to see that no one even noticed his apparently awkward behavior to call it out. Inwardly, she was proud of herself as a person and a ninja for noticing and helping Naruto. After all, being a social person she counted herself as observant of all that happens to those in her class.

Near the back, Hinata was grateful to see the usual Naruto back into action. Yesterday, she had almost trailed after the blonde boy to ask him what was wrong but was intercepted by her cousin, Neiji, to escort her home. She was very happy to see his proud and boisterous self back, after all, if Naruto couldn't keep his confidence up, how could she? The last two inquisitive minds of the students were none other than Kiba and Shino. Despite his returned disposition, his scent was still different from what they were used to. One shrugged it off while the other filed the information away for later.

Class lulled forward as it always tended to do. Iruka would give lectures on the days' topic, yell at Shikamaru for sleeping and on occasion toss out a quiz. For everyone in the class, time ticked forward agonizingly, seconds into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days and days into weeks. Over the span of 5 weeks, Naruto never had another bout of in class depression. It was the same sunny, loud and happy Naruto that everyone knew and… mostly tolerated.

The key shining difference that not many noticed is that it was almost like Naruto developed an aversion to physical contact. While he was never a touchy feely person beforehand, he would now bob and weave to not allow people to touch him while running around. He would now dodge and run away from the aggressive hits of one Haruno Sakura after a failed date attempt rather than take the blow.

Oh he would still make the boisterous comments on either a classmate's beauty or some slight on Sasuke's behalf but instead of taking the hit and complaining he would laugh and lead a chase. Everyone thought it was just Naruto not wanting to be hit for his comments. One person knew the truth; however, Ino watched the subtle change in Naruto's actions and was rightly the only person who knew why he avoided contact with anyone and everyone. The major downfall of the simple Henge Jutsu was that another person's chakra network interacting with the illusion would make it collapse.

There really wasn't any contact between the two blonde friends since that fateful night aside from a seldom locking of eyes. After all, they had never really spoken before and if they were to suddenly start conversing with no reason it would stand out. Especially to the other members of the Sasuke fan club, who had dubbed Naruto an enemy due to the way he often pranked the onyx eyed boy.

Ino's whole view of the blonde ball of energy had been completely shattered and rebuilt since that one dinner. It was a shock really; more of a shock that Ino never noticed the way Naruto was treated than actually seeing how he was rejected by the students and teachers. During class, she noticed that Naruto never attempted to talk to anyone outside his little 'circle' that consisted of Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji. The former was a fellow trouble maker and prankster while the latter two simply enjoyed a good laugh. People would brusquely try to push past him in the halls, teachers seemed to avoid ever looking straight into his eyes and Naruto was often ignored by teachers anytime he didn't understand something in class.

It actually hurt to watch the boy ostracized. Whether it was sitting under a tree during lunch by himself or taking his usual place after school in that swing set to watch parents come and retrieve their children. While there were no words she could hear, the worst were the dirty looks from the parents of children she didn't know. He was alone in this huge village and it seemed almost everyone was against him. Ino was sure of two things: The first being that under the same pressure, she would have definitely snapped. The other was that she had to find a way to be friends publicly with Naruto and brighten his day… she had to.

She wanted to start up her friendship with the blue eyed enigma, she really did. The problem was finding some way to cause an interaction between the two that went beyond his quick good morning that was a morning ritual. She needed some trigger or ploy to start talking and kick off an actual friendship. While it wasn't exactly what she wanted, Ino would soon be spending a lot of time with one Uzumaki Naruto.

=o=

It was very late at night and the clouds marring the sky hid nearly all of the twinkling stars and fettered most of the waning moon light. Smothered in the inky blackness of night, Naruto carefully made his way home after an extended bout of self training. He was still following the details of the third year curriculum; after all, just because there was a small hiccup with the henge meant he shouldn't stop learning right? Listed as an 'out of school self project' was the training he had started a week ago. Naruto was doing various forms of exercises varying from jogging to sit ups, crunches and other maneuvers that were supposed to make a stronger ninja. Naruto was sold at the last pair of words that it would be worth the effort.

In true Naruto style, he had worked himself to exhaustion. Sore muscles and a screaming stomach told him it was time to head home, eat something and then sleep in the next day. Today was also sort of a day of celebration, the last day of school since it was time for winter break for a month. No more school meant less interaction with people he would rather avoid. Teachers, parents, villagers and the students that didn't like him were all on that list.

There was one person Naruto would miss seeing, Ino. Even though it had been over a month, he could still clearly remember every detail of that eventful night. Remembering what was said and the reactions of Ino's parents made it seem almost like a dream… It had given him the strength to persevere through the new trial he faced. Not that he really faced it yet anyways. The only time his henge would ever fall was when Naruto went to sleep. Constant use over the weeks had quickly lengthened how long he could hold the illusion.

He could deal with it, though he entertained thoughts of just happening to pass by their flower shop to maybe see her tending the shop. Personal ramblings were cut short however, as Naruto arrived at the base of the apartment complex he lived in. Five flights of stairs later left him lightly panting from the extra exertion while fiddling with the door lock.

Swinging the door open lazily and closing it with a slam, Naruto dragged his weary body into the bleak and empty house. Dirty ramen cups littered the war zone of a floor that was speckled with grime and the occasional article of clothing. There was a tingling feeling in the back of his mind that something was off but he was unable to distinguish why it was there. Shrugging it off as hunger pains, he made his way to the cramped kitchen to heat up a late night ramen snack. It didn't strike him as out of place even though he never locked his door except for when he was home.

Unfortunately, it seemed fate didn't condone ramen tonight for his stove refused to light up. The inner workings of the stove were still a mystery to the child, but all he knew was that the burners just wouldn't light up to boil his simple dinner. Erring on the side of ignorance, he chose to just leave it and go take a shower to clean off the grime, dirt and sweat from the days exercise.

=o=

Meanwhile, a few blocks away from Naruto's humble abode, a person laid waiting and watching the house. It shouldn't be long now before it happened and the thing she had been forced to watch grow would be gone. It would be so glorious and ironic that ramen would be the thing to kill off Naruto…

Nearly the same distance away but the opposite direction was the home of one Yamanaka Ino. Said girl was preparing for bed when she felt a chill run down her spine. The awkward feeling caused her to delay lying down to bed for just a little longer…

=o=

Clean, fresh and clad in a towel, Naruto made his way back into the kitchen to wrestle with the burners again. Just seconds after making a pair of attempts at lighting the burner Naruto was hit with inspiration! Normally when he would turn the dials there would be a click sound. The sound of the igniter sparking the gas… there was no click therefore it wasn't sparking.

Well, that was easy to fix. Just moments away from scraping an old kunai across the burner Naruto stopped himself. Realizing the very stupid maneuver he was about to do, Naruto backed up to the window. After all, the gas had been on for a while now and there would probably be a small gout of fire that would not be fun to be in.

Blissfully unaware of the danger about to explode, Naruto cocked his arm back and threw the bladed piece of iron right at the corrugated metal of the stove. Flinching, he turned around quickly to avoid the small burst of light that was sure to come…

Had Naruto been living in cleaner arrangements he would have been easily able to identify the smell of natural gas permeating his house, instead he just assumed it WAS some rotten eggs somewhere in the apartment. Someone earlier that day had (easily) walked right into his little abode and split open the gas pipe behind the oven, thus preparing a deadly trap for someone unaware. Ironically, it was just a few nights before that the flint in the igniter had finally failed and temporarily saved Naruto's life.

Back turned, Naruto missed seeing the spark ignite not a small gout of flame but a quickly growing inferno that nearly instantly consumed the kitchen area and just beyond in the blink of an eye. He did however see the room painted in a red glow just milliseconds before feeling a searing heat lick across his exposed back.

The scant distance of 13 and a half feet left a buffer for the concussive force to throw his light body through the window before heat and flame could cause any extreme damage to him. However, abseiling across the night sky Naruto could not register much beyond blind panic until he was gracefully stopped by a soft cushion of dirt, rock and tree. The impact left Naruto seemingly unconscious.

It was almost picturesque with how her body now lay reclined against the tree, bathed in the crimson light from the burning building nearby. Sometime between sparking the explosion and crashing against the ground Naruto's grip over the ever present illusion had faltered, leaving the barely decent form of a girl with red shoulder-length hair seemingly reclining against a tree in a towel. It was this scene that Ino stumbled upon when she chose to investigate the sound that reverberated through her part of the village.

=o=

Ino was able to immediately recognize the lightly burned form that lay against the tree. Dropping to her knees amidst a few scattered pieces of burning refuse around them she called out to the body that was slightly sagging to the side. Receiving no response, the panic that was already gripping her mind escalated while Ino's mind kicked in to logically assess the situation in order.

The loud boom coupled with the fire currently raging in a nearby apartment complex; an explosion.

The small trough in the ground that lined up with the body, wisps of smoke still coming from her back and hair, laying against the tree; Thrown by said explosion. Lack of response from verbal questions; Naruto is unconscious. Addendum, her chest is not rising and falling, she isn't breathing…

=o=

Halfway between the world of pain (consciousness) and bliss (unconsciousness), Naruto was only somewhat aware of what was happening inside her body and outside it. Between being caught off guard by the explosion, thrown through glass and impacting against a tree, she was acutely aware of how much it hurt to feel an explosion. Though mostly numb of the situation, Naruto could faintly tell there was a presence nearby… something almost familiar. She would have responded if able but found the ability to give a verbal reply painfully lacking…

If only she could breathe! It felt like someone had crushed her chest under rocks and there was this tingling feeling of something wrong but was unable to pinpoint the cause. Had Naruto existed in a different universe, modern medicine would classify her condition as a pair of collapsed lungs from the shockwave of the explosion paired together, rather nastily, with cardiac arrest. That is to say, the physical trauma had thrown her heart beat off and it was struggling to regain order instead of spasming randomly, unable to pump blood. Under the circumstances, any normal person would be doomed.

Of course on the flip side of things, there was one saving grace of being in her current universe. Even though unaware of what lay bound to her mortal soul, Naruto's tenant worked feverishly to fix what had happened. To Naruto it felt like ages, while it in reality took merely a scant second to control the heart's pacemaker and for a moment stop her heart… and then starting it again, in proper control. The problem of the lungs was fixed quickly as well, a shard of glass that had been imbedded into Naruto's back was pushed out by muscular action and the air that was crushing her lungs from the inside was expelled before the wound closed up. All that needed to happen now was for the body to start breathing again…

=o=

Ino was shell shocked. Technically, she knew that as a ninja death would be something she would see often. But at the tender age of 8 she just couldn't fathom that the person in front of her was… gone. Ignoring the bits of burning wood around them she shuffled forward on her hands and knees to get closer, shaky eyes drinking in the still form of the girl against the tree.

Hesitantly and slowly, Ino reached out with a trembling hand, seeking some sign that this wasn't happening. Her mind was stuck repeating the mantra of "This can't be real" as her digits neared the whiskered cheek of the red-head. Unaware of it, Ino held a breath in just as her hand touched the warm and soft cheek of the girl before her.

Ino would never forget what happened next. One of Naruto's hands shot up like lightning and gripped the blonde's wrist, holding the hand against her cheek in a steel-like grip. Simultaneously, she sucked in an enormous gulp of air and snapped her eyes open, the sparkling blue sapphire orbs locking directly with Ino's sea foam tinged blue eyes. She did not even consciously notice the subdued and questioning utterance of her own name from the undeniably alive person in front of her.

A soft mumbled "alive" sneaked past Ino's lips as her mind registered, finally, that Naruto was alive. Eyes widening to the size of saucers, Ino crashed roughly against the red haired frame in front of her, the hand not trapped snaking around to hug Naruto close. The emotional weight that had been building since spotting the body of Naruto released itself from Ino with a soft sigh. Her mutter of "Thank god you're alive" was overshadowed by the other girls' incredulous question… "How did I get here?"