Sign Me Yours

Happy birthday, Ino. |D

--

About a week later, Chouji was sitting at one of the finer restaurants in the village, his hands shaking slightly as he waited for his date, knowing that she had no idea it was him she was going to a date with. He was wearing a black hakama and his new kimono, a slightly lighter haori over it all.

Ino walked into the place, hair up in a braided bun and a light purple kimono, thoroughwort patterns littering the bottom of it as well as the sleeves. She looked around curiously, remembering Shikamaru telling her that she would know who it was when she saw them.

Her eyes widened when she caught sight of her own friend, pouting. Shikamaru had pranked her again! Oh, he would so get it...

Catching sight of his love-interest and close friend, Chouji blushed slightly before looking away. He felt a little guilty for letting Shikamaru set them up on this date when it was obvious that Ino didn't like him like that.

Ino let out a sigh through her nose and headed over to him. She had promised Shika she'd spend the day with the guy. At least she knew they wouldn't fight. She put a smile on and sat down gracefully at the table.

"Hey, Chouji."

"H-hi..." Chouji swallowed a little, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Ah... s-sorry about this..." he looked away, feeling very awkward.

She gave him a weird look but just waved it off. "It's fine. I should've known he'd pull something like this anyway," she said, huffing.

"'Pull something like this'...?" Chouji asked, slightly confused at the way she phrased it, as if she thought Shikamaru had pulled a prank on them or something.

Ino rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, yeah. He said he'd get me a date and then goes and does this," she said, waving a hand slightly before tucking it back into the crook of her arm.

"W-well, uh... you see..." Chouji stuttered, feeling his face go red as he attempted to explain that it wasn't a joke. That it actually was a date, but he found himself unable to say so.

Ino raised an eyebrow, staring at her friend. Okay, something was going on here.

"What is it, Chouji?"

"…N-nothing," he murmured, not having the guts to admit it to her. "Are you ready to o-order?" He asked, trying to cover up his embarrassment.

Ino frowned. She didn't like being left out of the loop! But then she just nodded, letting her arms hang back by her sides and rest in her lap.

Handing her a menu, Chouji hid a little behind his own, trying to will the blush in his cheeks away.

She took the menu, looking through the salad section, a little surprised at how expensive even those were. Definitely not something that could be in their everyday budget.

"...Isn't this place a bit... much?" she asked.

"Uh... no... it's fine," Chouji replied, grimacing a little behind his own menu, trying to find an excuse. "It is a festival, you know."

Ino eyed him from behind the menu again before nodding and dropping it. It's not like she would order much anyway.

When a waitress came over to them, Chouji ordered only about a tenth of what he usually would.

Ino ordered a small salad, the dressing on the side, a little surprised that Chouji ordered that little. Sure it was expensive, but if it had been planned, shouldn't he have a lot of money for it?

"So… what do you want to do when we're done here?" Chouji asked after a while, trying to start a conversation; normally Ino would just chatter on and on, not leaving many awkward silences. "At the festival, I mean."

"Hm." Ino tapped her chin in thought. "Well, we definitely need to stay for the fireworks later," she started. "Oh, I want to try catching a goldfish." It was a tradition for her at every festival, even if she had only ever gotten one once, and that had been when her father had been with her and steadied her hands.

Nodding, Chouji smiled a little, agreeing with her. "It sounds fun," he replied with a grin, glad that it seemed that the awkwardness was over.

Ino smiled, giving a nod of her own. "Mnhm. We should go watch one of the kabuki dances too," she suggested.

Nodding, Chouji made an agreeing sound, watching her as she was thinking about things they could do; finding that thoughtful look on her face really cute.

Ino continued chatting, talking about what sort of things she used to do when her whole family used to go to the festival. She didn't notice that Chouji was just staring at her, almost forgetting that Shikamaru had set this up as a prank.

Listening to her, Chouji was getting this dreamy, far-away look in his eyes as he watched the girl talk, noticing that she was looking very cute tonight. She had probably expected someone completely different from him, maybe even the Uchiha.

"--ji? Chouji!" She pouted, her eyes narrowing a little and she reached over, waving a hand in front of his face. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Of-- of course I am," flustering, Chouji looked down at the table, trying to hide his blush. Luckily for him, the waitress came back with their orders, telling them pleasantly that she hoped they would enjoy themselves before she disappeared again.

Ino huffed slightly but just smiled at the waitress before saying, "Itadakimasu," then starting on her food.

"Itadakimasu!" Looking down at the food, Chouji started digging in, savoring the delicious taste of the food. There was no doubt the prices matched the quality.

About half an hour later they were done and the waitress had brought the check over.

Taking a look at the check, Chouji wanted to grimace, but instead he paid without batting an eyelash, even going as far as give her a tip. "So... going fishing?" He asked, starting to get up from the table.

Ino blinked, startled, and slipped her money pouch back into her sleeve, having expected to pay for herself. She smiled and gave a nod, standing up, straightening her kimono out.

Smiling back at her, Chouji was thinking of offering her his arm before walking, but decided not to. Not when she clearly didn't see him as more than a friend. Starting to walk, he tried not to be self-conscious of what he was wearing.

Ino studied him while they walked, quiet for once. He didn't look too bad when he tried. Not anything close to Sasuke, still, of course, but he cleaned up well.

She let another smile come to her lips and said, "See? I told you that you'd look good in blue."

"Eh?" Startled, Chouji's cheeks pinked before he looked away from her again. "R-really? You think so?" he asked, feeling a little better. "You... you look pretty--" no, beautiful "--like always." No matter the colour.

Ino giggled, smile brightening. "Come on," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling. "Let's go catch those fish!"

Just nodding, Chouji let himself be pulled along, enjoying the way the blonde girl's hand fit into his.

Ino stopped in front of the stand, letting go of Chouji's hand and smiling as she observed a few of the younger kids try to get a fish on the small paddle.

"Here," Chouji bought paddles, smiling good-naturedly at her. "Give it a go."

Ino grinned. "Thanks," she said, carefully rolling up her long sleeves and knelt on the ground with a paddle in her hands. She slipped it into the water, tongue sticking out slightly in concentration.

Amused at how cute she looked, Chouji just watched her, not really caring if she managed to catch a fish or not.

Ino pouted, sulking a little, as the fish broke through the thin paper of the paddle and back into the water.

Smiling to himself and repressing a chuckle, Chouji just gave her another paddle.

She looked up when another paddle was offered, pout shifting into a smile again. Ino took the paddle and waited for the fish to calm a little before trying to catch one again, the same thing happening in the end.

Chuckling at the girl, Chouji just handed her the rest of the paddles, figuring she would need them all.

Ino glared up at him, huffing, but accepted them anyway. She kept trying, almost catching the same fish twice but it kept breaking through. Letting out an annoyed screech (but subdued enough that only the two closest vendors could hear it through the festival's noise), Ino threw down the last two paddles and stood up.

"I give up!"

Lips twitching slightly, though he didn't dare really smile for fear of Ino's wrath, Chouji picked up the two paddles.

"I'll give it a go," he said with a smile, rolling up his sleeves.

"Hn." Ino watched him, sulking and crossing her arms over her chest.

A minute later, Chouji was grinning as he received a goldfish in a bag of water. "Here," he smiled, handing it to Ino.

Ino was ready to complain to him about how come she couldn't get a fish that easily and that he could and it just wasn't fair but stopped before she started, blinking confused at him.

She took the bag hesitantly. "Oh... Um, thank you. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Chouji smiled at her, pulling down his sleeves again. "Now where to?" he asked.

Ino smiled brightly and threw her arms around Chouji in a hug, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. She didn't think anything about it seeing as they used to do that before the academy and then just pulled away, tugging him in a random direction.

Blushing darkly and tensing at the girl's actions, Chouji let himself be pulled along like a marionette, gazing at the girl with a dazed look in his eyes.

Ino stopped mid-step, eyes narrowing as she spotted her Sasuke getting his ear chatted off by Billboard Brow; she would not have that!

Leaving Chouji, she stormed over and put on a sickeningly sweet smile, latching onto Sasuke's other arm.

"Sasuke-ku~n," she cooed, batting her eyelashes. "Let's ditch Billboard Brow and have a good time!"

Chouji watched the blonde girl run off to latch onto the raven-haired boy, eyebrows furrowing sadly for a moment. With a sigh he went to find himself some snacks, knowing he could never compete with the Uchiha for Ino's attention.

Less than ten minutes later, Ino watched Sakura run off in hopes of finding the Uchiha again with angry tears welling up. She clenched her hands into fists, pausing as she realized she still had the fish with her. She bit her lip and slumped down against a wall, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her forehead on them, letting a tear roll down her hidden cheek.

Returning with a few snacks on sticks, Chouji blinked as he saw Ino sitting on the ground in her kimono, obviously upset by something. Having expected to find her and Sakura still quarrelling, he sighed and scratched his head with his free hand. He knew he would regret this, but he couldn't just leave his date like that, even though she had technically ditched him first. Chouji felt at a loss what to say as he sat down next to her.

"Here," he murmured, handing her a dango, not knowing what else to do. He knew he felt better when eating something, but he had no clue if it was the same for her.

Ino glanced up, more tears welling up. She ignored the offered dumplings and half-clung to him, pressing her face into his shoulder. She shook slightly, biting her lip to hold back a sob.

Dropping the dango in surprise, Chouji looked down at the girl. He felt bad for her, hated the Uchiha for hurting her like that, hated himself for having fallen in love with her, and hated his conflicting emotions. Sighing softly, he reached up, petting her head, trying to comfort the distressed girl.

Ino squeezed her eyes shut, a sob breaking through despite how hard she tried to keep them back.

"I-I'll never be good enough f-for hi-im," she whispered, more tears spilling out and soaking Chouji's shoulder.

Wincing slightly at the familiar line, Chouji knew that Ino probably felt the same way with the Uchiha as he felt with her; he would never be good enough. Feeling his heart clench a little, slowly breaking, he took a deep, slightly shaky breath as he hugged her closer. He just couldn't be mad at her for this.

"No..." He shook his head, voice slightly thick with emotion. "You're too good for him."

Ino sniffed, shaking her head. "How can you say that?" she asked, voice wavering. "He's perfect and I... I'm just pathetic. I'm weak and stupid and just... just..." She broke off with another sob.

Chouji closed his eyes and hugged her closer, trying to stop his own shivering, not wanting to break down in front of her.

"Because I know you," he replied after a while, his own voice wavering too. "If he can't see how special you are, he's either blind, or doesn't have a heart." Probably the latter, he thought to himself.

Ino took as much comfort as she could from his words and warmth, falling silent and just trying to compose herself. She didn't like feeling weak and helpless like this. Eventually her trembling stopped and she let out a shaky breath, pulling back a little and wiping at her eyes.

"Thank you, Chouji," she whispered.

"You're welcome," he murmured, giving her a pitying, sad, and slightly bitter look.

She didn't notice, still trying to pull herself together. Another minute and she pulled herself from Chouji's embrace, standing up. She plastered on a bright smile before gasping as she spotted the dango ruined on the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Chouji!" she said, feeling bad that she had wasted more of his money, albeit indirectly. "I'll buy you a new one, okay?"

"No... it's okay." Chouji shook his head, slowly standing up and brushing dust from his hakama. "It was my fault. Don't worry about it." At the moment, he didn’t have his usual want for food, his appetite lost.

Ino sighed, looking a little guilty. "Are you sure? I don't mind..."

"I'm sure. It's fine." Chouji almost interrupted her, his voice slightly crosser than usual, but not much. He just didn't feel like he had the energy to keep it all in, but at the same time he couldn't lash out at the girl; she had no idea what she made him feel.

Ino just nodded meekly, feeling like something was wrong but not sure what. She knew that her two friends didn't approve of her infatuation with Sasuke, but neither had ever reacted like this before.

"...Did you want to see what performances are going on?"

"Sure..." Chouji nodded slightly. Truth to be told, he didn't, but it would, hopefully, take his mind off things, reminding himself to pull himself together and keep the act up for his friend. He'd just feel worse if she discovered why he was feeling down.