Etched in Stone: The Shinobi Chronicles

Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto & co.

Author’s Babble: Konnichiwa mina! Sin again with entry number two of The Shinobi Chronicles. There’s a little background on this story, particularly the pairing. This is the product of random. We literally rolled a D20 ((and those familiar with Dungeons & Dragons will have a better idea of what we’re talking about)) to get this coupling. But, despite how unexpected it was, we managed to work it out and are quite proud of the results. Enjoy!

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Lilacs and Honey
Naruto & Ino

"What the hell are you staring at?" Ino’s crystal eyes narrowed venomously, always a danger sign. Naruto’s eyes widened, he hadn’t intended to anger the blond. In fact, that was exactly what he was trying to prevent. He hadn’t meant to stare, it was just there was a bug in her hair -a large, fat, shiny moss coloured beetle- and the fifteen year old was quickly trying to devise a plan to free it without pissing Ino off.

‘Too late for that,’ he thought as he refocused his cerulean gaze back on his former classmate. Placing a hand on her hip, Ino never let her eyes leave the fox-child.

"Well?" Ino demanded as she brushed her white blonde hair off her pale shoulder with a flick of her wrist. "What is it?"

Naruto opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to find his voice. What was he suppose to do? Anything he said would be taken as just another one of his practical jokes, which wasn’t exactly unwarranted. Naruto was all but crowned the Prankster Prince of Konoha.

Since his brain was drawing a blank, Naruto’s instincts took control. Stepping forward, he hastily reached out and snatched the beetle from Ino’s high, waist length ponytail. "This," Naruto replied simply, opening his hand to reveal the offensive creature resting safely on his palm. He watched the young woman blink in surprise and, in a way, Naruto was a little taken back himself. Who knew he could move so quickly just to pull a bug out of some girl’s hair? A faint smirk pulled at Naruto’s lips as the beetle opened its delicate wings and flew away, lost amongst the forest leaves in seconds.

"Oh," Ino said, feeling her arrogant demeanor drop. "It was only a bug… For a moment there I thought you had pulled a prank on me or something," she said, coincidentally voicing Naruto’s earlier suspicions. Naruto shook his head, his wild crown of golden hair bouncing with the movement.

"Nope," he said with a grin, "I try to reserve pranks for the villagers and bastards like Sasuke."

"You’re so childish," Ino found herself saying, folding her pale arms over her chest and hitching back up her usual superior attitude. "It’s no wonder why everyone is always so annoyed with you. Honestly, why can’t you just grow up?"

Naruto’s face dropped. "I’m just as grown up as you," he said. "I just like to have some fun is all. That’s not a crime. Besides, the village," he motioned over his shoulder with a jerk of his thumb to where, a mile through the trees, Konoha resided, "deserves what I do." Why he was having this discussion with the female, Naruto would probably never know. If he remembered correctly, this was actually the first real conversation he had ever had with her.

Naruto knew who she was of course, how could he not? She was Yamanaka Ino, utter most rival of his teammate Haruno Sakura and one of Uchiha Sasuke’s leading groupies. Hell, they never saw each other unless Ino decided to pick an argument with the pink-haired kunoichi or drool over the village’s most eligible bachelor.

"They deserve it?" Ino asked curiously. Though she knew who Naruto was- how could she not when the damn male simply refused to be ignored?- Ino knew very little about him. Sure they went to school together and saw each other on occasion, but she never paid the trouble-making blond more attention than what she thought he deserved, which wasn’t a lot by anyone’s standards. Naruto was no more than a stranger to her; a very loud, annoying, hyper stranger, but a stranger nonetheless. It was odd, but Naruto intrigued her to a certain degree. He was powerful, that fact was undeniable. Although Ino had only seen him in action once, during their first shot at the Chuunin exams, and even then she felt that Konoha had only seen half of what Naruto was capable of. He had guts; Ino had to give him that. Being able to stare down the most fearsome opponent without flinching was not something just anyone could do, but then again, Ino supposed that could be chalked up to stupidity rather than bravery.

But, from the little she knew of the loudmouth, the rumors about Naruto being the most unpredictable ninja in Konoha were, without a doubt, words of truth. There was no way around it. The orange clad teenager did the weirdest things under the bleakest of circumstances and, from what Ino observed during his fight with Hyuuga Neji, somehow everything turned out for the best. Yes, in some very odd and annoying way she, Yamanaka Ino, was interested in Uzumaki Naruto, the village idiot.

"Why on earth do you say that?" she continued. "And I highly doubt you’re anywhere near as mature as I am."

Naruto, who had spaced out for a moment, snapped back to reality and refocused his gaze on the other blond. "Hn? Oh, right" he grinned having totally missed what she had just said. "The umm…" He couldn’t think of anything to say. Naruto wasn’t exactly known for being very articulate and having what could easily be argued as the shortest attention span in history didn’t help.

But then again, there were some advantages. He had finally been able to drop his childhood crush on Sakura and focus all his effort on training. Without the pink-haired girl constantly on his mind to distract him from his goal, Naruto was more determined than ever to become the greatest Hokage Konoha had ever seen. He simply had no time to ogle girls anymore, but for some reason that didn’t stop him from subconsciously noting how obviously attractive the young Yamanaka was.

"Idiot… Can’t you pay attention long enough to save yourself?" Naruto’s eyes never left Ino, but he was long past the point of giving two shits about what she was saying anymore. No, he was far more interested now in the way her thin lips moved and shaped the words as she spoke. A warm spring breeze weaved its way through the trees until it entered the clearing where the two Leaf nin’s stood and Naruto was momentarily mesmerized by the way Ino’s platinum tresses danced in the playful wind.

Her scent filled his nostrils. It was fragrant and oddly sweet, and for a moment Naruto found his minds eye blinded by images of lilac flowers and honey. Why these two images filled his mind were beyond his current will of comprehension, but he found himself enjoying the mixture despite how abnormal it was.

Meanwhile, back in the real world Ino continued to speak, her tone rapidly becoming more and more annoyed as the minutes wore on. "Hello? Earth to dumbass?" she waved a hand frantically in front of the other blonde’s face, hoping to catch his attention. Her efforts were in vain however. The stupid teen just continued to stare blankly at her, completely unaware of his surroundings. "What? Do I have another bug in my hair?" She pulled a hand through her hair as she spoke, almost as if she were expecting to find yet another fat, ugly insect caught in her blond waterfall of hair.

This subconscious action seemed to awaken Naruto from his thoughts. Well, only partially, there was still a part of Naruto mind that was consumed with the female’s unusual aroma. "No," he began then added without thinking, "You just smell like lilacs and honey."

"Huh?" Ino blinked several times, her normally logical mind didn’t fully grasp what the blond had just said. "Lilacs and honey? Too weird…"

"What?" Naruto said, coming back to his sense abruptly. "Ah, sorry. I just… well, you know… I just noticed…" His train of thought quickly disappeared, leaving an uncomfortable silence in its wake. ‘Man, could I be coming off as any weirder?’ Naruto thought as he looked away from the expectant expression on Ino’s face. ‘I mean, sure saying a girl smells nice is fine, but why’d I have to go and say something stupid like that? She must think I’m a pervert.’ Why he suddenly cared what Ino, a girl he wouldn’t even call an acquaintance, thought of him was not a question he needed an answer to at that very moment. What was important now was that he stayed focused and kept his guard up. Ino had a notoriously short temper, a great dislike of stupidity, and a nasty right hook, if the occasional black eye her two teammates sported was any indication.

"You just what?" And just like that, Ino’s hands were on her hips again, her crystal eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Wow," Naruto muttered under his breath, "deja vu."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing," Naruto said quickly, smiling apologetically. "Look," as he spoke the golden-haired teen’s eyes darted upwards, briefly judging the time by the sky above before lowering them to look at Ino again. "It’s roughly 'bout mid-afternoon, what do you say to a bowl of ramen? My treat?"

"Wait, are you asking me out?" Ino blinked in alarm while simultaneously adding this realization to the short mental list of evidence that proved Naruto was Konoha’s Number One Most Surprising Ninja.

"Well, if you mean am I asking you to walk with me to Ichiraku’s so that I can buy us both a bowl of ramen, then yes," the Uzumaki replied, a fox-like grin twisting his lips.

"On a date?"

Naruto shrugged, his grin never leaving his tanned face, "If you want to call it that."

"Asshole!"

"Are you always this enthusiastic when you’re offered a free meal?" Naruto asked, continuing to grin slyly and keep his tone level at the same time. "C’mon, it’s just an invite to a late lunch with an old classmate."

"I already ate lunch," Ino replied, more coolly than she intended.

"An early dinner, then?"

Ino had been right; Naruto wouldn’t be overlooked so easily by anyone. She sighed heavily. ‘Damn you’re persistent,’ the blond thought, somewhat irritated and pleased all at once.

"Fine, Naruto." At least, if anyone saw her eating with the ramen-freak she could say her stomach was about to devour itself as her defense. "I’ll go with you."

"All right!" Naruto cried, positively beaming. Grabbing her by the hand he took off towards the village, Ino in tow.

Owari

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Special Thanks: Okay, we made a mistake, we’re only human. We failed to mention last time that fujisti stytghi edited the ShikaKiba entry as well as this chapter. Fujisti stytghi, we’re really sorry and we really appreciate the editing job.

Additional Babbling: Genma/Iruka? That’s different. Thanks for the suggestion ZeldaFitz; we’ll get on that as soon as we can. To everyone else, we eventually want this collection to have something for everyone so keep your suggestions coming!