Here it is, guys.

I hope it lives up to expectations.

Mature was a relative term when talking about Deidara, but sometimes he knew what to say.

She'd called him that night, unsure of what to do.

"Listen," he said, "You're young. You've been though a lot. If you want to date him – and he's not a fucking scumbag, mind you – that's your choice. I'm glad you're aware enough to know that you also need space, yeah, but not every relationship goes south the way your last one did."

Ino bit her lip. On one hand, he was right. On the other… "I just feel bad I guess. I really like him. But I feel like I've been stringing him along…and ugh, he sucks at communication."

Deidara chuckled. "He's a high school boy, yeah, don't expect too much."

Ino let out a sigh. "Look…do you think I can? With Dad, and Mom, and just…I've been a wreck. I'm literally just starting to get back in the swing of things."

"Well," Deidara said, "Tell him you need space. If he respects that, I'd say he's a keeper. If he can't, Ino, I'm being serious, don't even bother."

Ino thought about how well that went the last time – but maybe, she could clarify some things. She let out a sound akin to a cow giving birth.

"Listen. I think you can, but it's your call. You're young. Relationships aren't supposed to be a source of stress. You have enough stress on your plate. If this kid winds up causing you more stress, drop him. Simple, yeah?"

"Yeah," Ino muttered. "Simple."

.

.

.

Ino had asked to see him after school, had asked if they could talk. She was proud of herself for confronting the elephant in the room – but she was nervous.

Oh, she was nervous.

They got coffee and were sitting in his car in the café parking lot, seats reclined, and blessedly, blessedly¸ no heavy metal was playing. Ino bit her lip. She'd rehearsed this so many times, and now that it was time to actually say things, she was nervous.

She let out a breath, turned to Gaara, and said, "So…about, uh, us."

He looked at her over his coffee cup, waited for her to continue.

Ino cleared her throat. "Are we dating?"

There. She'd said it.

Gaara looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Do you want to?"

"I meant what I said, the other day," she said quietly. "About liking you. But I don't – I do have a lot on my plate now. You've been great, the past few months, and I really, really don't want to push you out of my life because of," here Ino made a gesture, "Everything."

He set his coffee in the cup holder and looked at her. "I know. And I'm sorry for being an ass about it."

Ino felt a surge of relief – and duly noted the apology. Points. "Yeah. I mean. I know how bad it must've looked – to hear that and then see the whole thing with Sasuke. It's so ridiculous, but I promise you, there's nothing there."

A corner of his mouth turned up. "That sucked. But I…I believe you." He looked down, looked back up at her. "I don't think you've been taking anything out on me, and I do get that you've had a rough couple of months. I don't think you're in a position where dating would be stupid – but that's your call, and I understand if you need space."

Summoning all her courage, Ino took a breath and began: "That being said…I'd like to. Date you, I mean. I think – I think I needed space to just, y'know, process it. Like, digest everything and get used to the idea. I didn't want to jump into anything after my mom and all and wind up even more of a wreck."

"Ino?"

"Yeah?"

"The fact that you're so worried about jumping in means you're not jumping in."

"Oh."

Gaara took her hand, gave it a squeeze. "I like what we've been doing. And I'd like to keep doing it. I like spending time with you."

Ino couldn't help but smile. "Me too."

She leaned over and kissed him, and that, as they say, was that.

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.

.

"Prom."

It was the single most loaded syllable in the Junior class.

Ino looked up from the TV screen. Her father stood in the living room, off to the side, hanging around almost awkwardly. "What about it?"

He cleared his throat. "Are you going?"

"Well, yeah." Ino hadn't seen much of her father lately, except for dinner. Being around him was awkward, when they weren't fighting – which was happening less and less, petering out into an uncomfortable silence.

"Dresses are expensive, aren't they?"

Ino shrugged. She'd been avoiding asking him for money. "I uh, I have enough saved. It's only Junior prom."

He sighed and sat down. "Ino…I know things have been tense lately."

Awkward.

This was so not a conversation she wanted to have.

"But I – well. Your brother and I don't always see eye-to-eye. Just like you and your mother didn't." He stopped then, covered his mouth with his hand. "You look so much like her."

Ino bit her lip. "Yeah."

He let out a long breath. "Things haven't been easy. I've been attending group meetings for the bereft. And I…I've been acting less like a parent." He told her of the group therapy, how there was one for teenagers, and he had the pamphlet if she wanted to check it out, and he was sorry that he didn't do something like this sooner.

"I'm sorry, Ino," he said."I don't want – I don't want to lose you because of my own grief."

"So you're shelling out roughly two hundred dollars to compensate?" Ino said, not unkindly, smiling.

He chuckled. "A guy's gotta start somewhere, right?"

And for the first time in months, Ino was able to truly relax in her own home.

.

.

.

"You and Gaara, huh?" Sasuke said, standing next to her as she waited for the bus.

Ino grinned. "Guess so."

"You going to prom with him?"

Ino bit her lip. Gaara hadn't said anything, and neither had she – to be honest, she was waiting for him to say something. Proms didn't seem like much his thing.

"I…I haven't really thought of that." She was actually going dress shopping with TenTen that evening - she figured she should at least get a dress and figure out dates later.

Dates were the easy part.

Sort of.

"I see," Sasuke said. "Well. I'm not going to bail on you – I promise you that. Buuuut I may or may not have a thing for a lovely redhead who-is-yet-to-be-revealed, and if you were going to go with your boytoy…"

Ino playfully smacked him. "Ask her. I'll find someone, if Gaara won't go."

"You sure? Really, I don't wanna ditch you, y'know?"

Ino's bus rolled up. "Don't worry about it! Seriously."

Sasuke gave her a quick hug. "You're the best. I'm gonna need you to help me pick out flowers."

"She hasn't even said yes, you dope!" Ino called over her shoulder as she boarded the bus. She couldn't help but smile to herself – Sasuke must really like this girl, if he was this excited about asking her to prom.

Dress shopping that night was a whole other ordeal: her father had given her money, for a dress and shoes; Sakura's mom picked her up at four thirty, and off they went.

Both girls had been looking at dresses; this shopping trip was meant to be the final purchase.

Sakura ultimately chose a light blue strapless gown; Ino went with a purple one, with a slit up the right leg. Black shoes for Sakura; silver for Ino.

"So," Ino asked, once back at Sakura's house. "Naruto. What's the deal with that?"

Sakura let out a sigh. "We've been on and off the past couple weeks. I dunno. I want to go to prom with him – I know he's going to be there, at least – but sometimes he's just so frustrating, and he's friends with Hinata, and it's so obvious that she likes him and just…ugh. Boys are fucking dumb."

Ino winced. "I'm sorry. Here, be my date. I'm not even sure if Gaara knows that the prom is even a thing."

Sakura gaped at her. "You mean you haven't even talked about it with him?"

Ino blushed. "It's not like he's exactly the prom-going type. I figured I'd just make Shikamaru or something."

But still – Ino wanted to go with Gaara. It would be fun…afterwards, they were all going to go back to Tenten's house, and then drive down to the beach the next morning. It'd be a fun day trip – one that she'd really like to spend with Gaara, if she could.

"Talk to him," Sakura urged. "And I – I'll talk to Naruto. Like, we're not together, but he bought a tie to match my dress. It's so stupid." She snorted. "Like, now that I think about it. Boys are fucking dumb."

Ino laughed. "I can only agree."

That was Thursday.

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.

.

That weekend, Ino and Gaara were at the mall. Gaara'd said that he needed to do shopping. To Ino's surprise, they went into a department store and not Hot Topic.

At her look of mock amazement, Gaara rolled his eyes, but grabbed her hand and led her to the men's department.

Ino was engrossed in a text from Deidara while Gaara perused, and was caught off guard when he said, "What color?"

"Hmm?" She looked up, and he gestured at the ties. "What color should I get?"

"Probably black," she said, "Or red. I'm a fan of solid colors, really, but it all depends on the shirt you're wearing under it."

Gaara let out an exasperated breath. "I meant for the prom, Ino. What color is your dress?"

"Purple but I – did Sakura text you? Seriously, you don't need to go," Ino was rambling, "If you don't want to, I know proms probably aren't your thing…"

He shushed her with a small kiss. "Naruto reminded me. I hadn't even realized it was so close…" he turned back to the table in front of them. "Purple, huh."

He kept an arm around her as she helped him pick out a tie. Ino couldn't stop herself from grinning.

Gaara was going to the prom with her. It was…it was a nice feeling.

"Just…do me a favor," he said, when they were in the check-out line.

"What's that?" Ino asked.

"Don't wear heels that are too high. I don't want to look short in the pictures."

Ino couldn't help it; she laughed. "Three inches, about. Not too bad."

Gaara groaned in mock-agony. "I'm lucky you're short, too."

Ino stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his jawline. "Dork."

"Yeah," he told her matter-of-factly. "Your dork."

a/n: for those of you who gave up on this, I don't blame you. It's been what, two years since I've last updated? I'm on break right now, snowed in, and well...

I figured you guys deserved some kind of ending.

I'm sorry if I lost the voice of the story, or if this chapter genuinely sucks.

I just wanted to wrap things up.

It's been fun.