An Interwoven Web Of Deceit

Hi all. I’m so sorry for the delay of this chapter. All that I can say for myself is that I’ve been ill with a light flu and a stomach virus. Nasty. Anyway, this chapter is slightly longer that the others, due to me being apologetic.

By the way, this story might end up being rather long, due to the fact that I want to flesh out the characters a bit. The Sasuke/Naruto relationship is coming, but I want it to be realistic in the story plot.

For those who want this story to be just an Ino/Naruto, I’m sorry, but If you want, I can either write an alternate timeline stemming from one scene in this story or I can write a new fic for them. I don’t mind doing either.

Thank you all who have reviewed, I love you all and hope you stick with me as I write this. You might hate this chapter but I assure you, it is necessary. Anyway, please read and enjoy:


An Interwoven Web Of Deceit

The Forming And Breaking Of Relationships


Sasuke was in a rage!

On the inside, he knew that he was expressing himself a little bit too violently, but he made no move to stop himself. At the moment he was in the process of breaking a kitchen chair against the wall. The table itself had already been thoroughly destroyed by a drop kick and a few punches for good measure. None of his jitsu’s had been used, this was all physical.

Yamanaka.

Sasuke had wanted to tear her limb from limb! Her relationship with Naruto was getting stronger and stronger, making Sasuke feel like he was being pushed into the background and ignored. He knew he shouldn’t let it bother him so much but for some unknown reason, the sight of Yamanaka and Naruto together made him feel angry and strangely possessive. A feeling that Ino was unworthy of Naruto’s attention. That in itself was strange. Naruto had lots of friends and not once had he felt his friendship threatened by any of them. Neiji although, had come close.

Why was it that Yamanaka was the one that felt threatening?

Sasuke sighed and dropped the remaining parts of the chair (which was two of the legs) onto the floor, then leant against the wall, his rage dissipating. He felt so confused and his emotions were so jumbled. He had to figure out what was wrong with him.

“Are you finished?”

Sasuke looked up and into worried green eyes. Sakura. She had met up with him after he had left Yamanaka and Naruto in the training grounds, asking him why both himself and Naruto had run off that afternoon. She had stuck by him ever since, asking if he was okay. After he had displayed his temper in front of her, he was sure that she was now regretting her decision.

He glared at her and she just stared back questioningly.

“I hope for your sake that you’re finished or you will have no furniture left.”

“What’s it to you?” Sasuke growled at her.

“Look, loosing your temper like this doesn’t help in the long run.”

Sakura leaned against the wall next to him and folded her arms against her chest. “I’m just trying to help Sasuke-kun.”

“Well it’s not required.”

Sakura’s face fell as he watched. If he thought it worth his time, he would have explained to her that he was not interested in her in any way but a friend and never would be. He had actually thought that she might have figured it out for herself by now, but no, she still would not leave him alone and constantly tried to hang off of him.

Deciding that his strange anger was not worth the destruction of any more of his furniture, he seated himself on a stool and sighed.

“M…Maybe I should leave?” Sakura said questioningly, her voice shaking slightly. Sasuke scowled.

“Yes, maybe you should.”

Sasuke closed his eyes when he heard the pink haired girl move across the kitchen and sighed when the door closed. He didn’t want to think about Naruto anymore, besides, he had a kitchen to clean up.

xxxxxxxx

“Look, Ino. You honestly don’t have to do this.”

Naruto stood in the doorway to his home, staring around with an exasperated look on his face. His living room, which usually consisted of rolls of parchment lying here, there and everywhere, dust on shelves and small bits of rubbish on the floor, was now devoid of its mess. Wooden surfaces shined, the floor was swept and his parchment collection was now neatly stacked in a rack.

Ino was sitting on his small beaten sofa which had changed from being a dirty green colour to a forest green colour and the frayed edges had been patched up. Ino was wearing red for some reason and it clashed terribly with the green of the sofa.

“It was no problem,” Ino poured him a cup of tea from a blue teapot. Naruto blinked stupidly, staring at the table top. He had a teapot? Actually, since when did he have any tea making utensils at all?

“They’re mine,” Ino commented on his blank look. “I noticed you didn’t have anything to make tea with and I always want one after cleaning so I went and picked up my set .”

“You didn’t have to clean up,” Naruto said again, walking over his now uncluttered floor and sitting himself down on the sofa next to Ino. “There’s no benefit to you and I’ll probably only mess it up again.”

“You do and I’ll start breaking things over your head,” Ino smirked, then took a sip of tea. “Speaking of your head, how is it today? Any pain?”

“Not really. It’s more like an ache that comes and goes.”

“An ache?” Ino swept her hair over her shoulder. “Hang on. I know.”

Ino placed her cup onto the table and then clambered fully onto the couch and positioned herself so that she was on her knees behind Naruto.

“What are you doing?”

“Just giving you a head massage.” Ino undid the knot that held Naruto’s headband on and removed it away from his hair. “Here, hold this and relax.”

Naruto shivered slightly when he felt Ino’s fingers slowly slide through his hair and lightly touch his head. Then he relaxed and closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of his scalp being massaged and he eventually fell asleep against the still working Ino.

xxxx

Naruto’s hair was baby soft and smelt slightly of lime, fresh and not too sweet. It was all Ino could do to stop herself from burying her face into it and inhaling sharply. Giving Naruto a head massage had only come to her at that moment and it seemed like a good idea. There where certain points on the head that, when pressure was put onto them, could ease a headache. It was worth a shot.

What she wasn’t expecting was for Naruto to fall asleep while she was attempting to help him, not that she was annoyed by this. It felt nice to know that the blonde boy felt enough at ease with her to just fall asleep while in her company. Gently, as not to disturb him, she moved herself out from behind him and lay him down gently on the sofa, then she got up and went to his bedroom to get a cover from his bed for him.

She hadn’t been in his room yet. She didn’t want to attempt cleaning up in that room, fearing what she would find. Boys were natural hoarders and also, teenage boys had things that girls didn’t want to know about. She nearly had a heart attack after finding one such item in Choji’s room. She never told the boy about what she had found, but had never been able to look Choji directly in the eye again after that!

As she looked around, she noted that Naruto’s room was pretty neat, even though he didn’t have that much stuff. His bed was against the wall with a strange looking nightcap sitting on the pillow, and a wall scroll behind the headboard with the symbol of the leaf on it. On the right of the bed next to the window which had a small ninja doll perched on the sill, was a large potted plant and to the left was a cupboard with an alarm clock on it and a calendar hanging on the wall above it. A few more scrolls lay here and there and a couple of picture frames were situated on the cupboard. Pausing for a moment, Ino turned to look at them.

One was a picture of Iruka, their old sensei. Ino had noticed that he seemed quite attached to Naruto, almost like an older brother. Next to that picture, on the other side of Naruto’s alarm clock was a group shot of team seven. Kakashi was standing in front of a tree and Sakura was directly in front of him, her chin resting on both of her hands. Sasuke and Naruto stood on either side of her with Kakashi’s hands on their heads. All had a grin on their faces, although Sasuke’s was more of a smirk.

On the draws next to the door, there was another picture. This one was of both Sasuke and Naruto, their clothes looking quite shabby and dirty, both with triumphant grins on their faces. What made Ino stare at it was the fact that both Naruto and Sasuke had their arms around each others shoulders and that the smile on Sasuke’s face looked completely genuine. It must have been taken quite a while ago, some time before the original Chunnin exams for they both looked a lot younger than they did now.

Shaking her head slightly, Ino broke out of her distraction and pulled one of the covers off the bed and then headed back into the main room. Naruto had turned slightly in his sleep and was laying on his back.

Ino stared down at him and realised that she was holding her breath. When asleep, Naruto looked angelic and extremely beautiful. Apart from the lines on his face, the rest of his skin was completely flawless. His eyelashes were dark against his skin and his mouth was curved upwards slightly.

“Why oh why did I never notice this boy before?” Ino breathed out quietly, reaching out a hand and pushing a lock of hair from his eye. “I must have been mad, or obsessed.” This was mumbled darkly, thoughts of Sasuke entering her mind.

After covering the boy on the couch with his cover, she quietly left the apartment, heading for home.

xxxxxxxx

It was pretty dark when she arrived home. She noted that the house was quiet when she opened her front door, meaning that her father was out, probably drinking as usual. She could hear banging in the kitchen and concluded that her mother was attempting to cook again.

“I’m home,” she called out, closing the door behind her.

“Ino. Where have you been all day?” her mother called from the kitchen. “You’ve been gone since this morning.”

“I’ve just been out with friends, training.” Ino slipped off her shoes and stepped into the hall, shivering slightly in the cold air. Her mother delighted in leaving windows open.

“When you say friends, who do you mean exactly?” her mother stepped out of the kitchen to face her, wiping her hands on a towel.

“Just my friends. My usual friends.” Ino stared down at the floor. Not meeting her mothers eyes.

“You’ve been hanging out with that Uzumaki boy again, haven’t you?” her mothers voice became cold. “I’ve told you countless times that I don’t want you to have anything to do with him.”

“Maybe so,” Ino’s voice became equally as cold, “but I don’t see why I should listen when no one seems to want to give me a proper reason why.”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you. I’m your mother and as long as you live here, you’ll do as you’re told.”

Ino clenched her fists tightly and bit her lip until she tasted blood. Her mothers mind was set and her father would just agree with her. It was time to choose. Naruto or her family.

“Well maybe I wont live here anymore,” she said quietly.

“What did you say?”

“I said that I’m leaving.” Ino raised her voice and stared defiantly at her mother. “I’m not staying in a house where everyone is unjustifiably biased against Naruto. What has he ever done to you exactly?”

“Ino, please,” her mother had lost the harshness of her voice and had now resorted to pleading, “you don’t know what he is. What he could do..”

“I know exactly what he is mother. A human being who has been treated abysmally by everyone his entire life for something he had no choice in. Is it because of the Kyuubi? Is that why you hate him?”

“Who told you?” The towel in her mothers hands was being twisted between shaking fingers as the quiet question was asked. Her mother looked scared.

“I found out myself using our technique,” Ino replied in a softer tone. “I got into his head.”

“That was a very stupid thing to do.”

“I know that, but I had to help him. I care about him, which is why I cant stay here anymore.” Ino began to cry and mentally slapped herself for doing so. “I think I’m in love with him!”

Ino opened her eyes wide. Did she just say that?

Obviously she had because her mothers face had become pure white and was staring at her in horror. Ino decided that she had better move before her mother blew her top, so she grabbed her shoes and ran back out of her house into the dark night.

xxxxxxxx

Naruto opened his front door to see a distraught girl with loose and tangled long blonde hair and tears falling from her now reddish eyes.

“Ino. What’s wrong?” He opened his door wider and Ino stepped into the apartment and made a bee line to the couch. Naruto then closed the door and made his way over to where she was seated.

“Im sorry to impose on you so late Naruto but I just had a large scale argument with my mother and I cant go home.”

“That’s okay Ino,” Naruto grasped one of her hands and squeezed her fingers gently. “It’s not like I was actually doing anything. So, what were you and your mother arguing about?”

“Well,” Ino stared down at her lap, “it was about you actually.”

“Oh,” Naruto released Ino’s hand and moved away from her slightly. He totally understood and he wasn’t surprised.

“No.” Ino moved over the sofa and flung her arms around his neck, burying her face in his neck. “Please don’t back away from me Naruto-kun.”

Naruto stared down at the girl in his lap in shock.

“Ino..” he began.

“No, you listen to me Naruto.” Ino didn’t release the grip that she had on him and didn’t raise her face either, but spoke into his neck. “I told my mother that I cared about you and if she didn’t like that, I was leaving. I left home Naruto, for you, because I….”

Naruto felt dampness on his neck and Ino tensed in his arms in her pause.

“You what, Ino?” He asked quietly, holding her gently around the waist. Ino moved her head slightly so that she was a breath away, staring into his eyes.

“I love you, Naruto.”

With that, she leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his.

xxxx

Okay, there it is. Please review and tell me what you think

Rie

xx