The Plan

By Alden Hawke

Chapter One: First Day - Shopping!

 

Ino stood in front of the bathroom door, screaming. Not only had the love of her life accpeted her rival, she had an idiot living in her house.

Apparently she was wrong about him not showering. VERY wrong. He's been in their family's shower for an hour. Approximately. And Ino, who loved her hygiene, was furious. How could a guy who looked like he never showered spend so much time showering?

'It must be the clothes,' she thought. And sighed. She'd found out the night before that Naruto had only two or three sets of clothes, and one of pajama's. And no washing machine. Ino pitied him. 'Living on your own must be tough. Especially since his whole source of income was his Genin missions, which (for Ino) fueled Ino's makeup and knick-knacks. She sort of felt ashamed, that she spent so much on extras, and Naruto lived on the same amount of money.

This was all caused by Sakura! It was her fault! If she hadn't interfered, Ino would be... no, it was Ino's. If only she'd been more alluring... and if only she'd worked harder on... Yes! That was it!

 Click! Went the bathroom doorknob...

 ~~~

 Two hours later, Naruto was sitting on his bed, and Ino burst into his room.

 "Hehe... Finally finished your shower, Ino?" he smiled, looking up from a book. Ino smiled.

 "Naruto, it's time you and Sakura got back together!" Ino said, smiling like the cat that ate the canary.

 "Buuuut.... Oh!" Naruto finally caught on to Ino's plan.

 "Yep, Naruto, we're gonna break them up! You'll have 'Sakura-chan' and I'LL have my beautiful Sasuke-kuuuun!" Ino hugged herself with delight.

 "Umm... Ino..." Naruto looked doubtful. "How'll we pull it off? If Sakura-chan found out..." he shuddered, and remembered the time Jiraiya told him to hug her for 'training'.

 "She won't! You've got the smartest mind in the whole of Konoha working with you. You just have to act oblivious, and Sakura'll be with you like THAT..." Ino smiled. And by elimination, Sasuke would choose Ino!

 "But... What about Sasuke?" Naruto frowned.

 "Sasuke's too smart to be fooled," Ino replied quickly.

 "And Sakura-chan isn't?" Naruto's whole face seemed to frown. He glared at Ino. 'Is she calling Sakura, probably the smartest genin in all of Konoha... stupid!?' he thought angrily.

 "She's not stupid, she's just too lovesick to realise when plotting is right under her nose, unless she's on a mission. She'll never-"

 "And Sasuke is!?" Naruto turned red with anger.

 Ino sighed at Naruto's anger. "Come on, accept it. Sasuke always will have better perception than Sakura. It's just the way he is. You know..." Ino tried to explain. She knew Sasuke wouldbe able to, but she wasn't the best at explaining it.

 "Oh, you mean the way he is about people, and how they don't exist?" he shot at her.

 Oh, he'd hit her hard. She gave an (obvious) fake sigh of sadness. "It is sorta sad, yeah, that he's kissed you more than me..."

 Naruto looked ready to explode... then calmed down. "What d'we do?"

 "Okay... But before anything happens, I'm taking you shopping. My mom insists," she lied, hoping Mrs. Yamanaka wouldn't mind a little drop in that week's funds...

 Naruto looked confused, then got up. "Guess I'll go change..."

 "Nope, not until it's done drying. I washed it this morning with my clothes," Ino smiled, hoping that if she was seen shopping with Naruto it wouldn't start rumours about the two...

 Unfortunately, the biggest gossip in town saw them - Konohamaru.

 ~~~

 Ino took Naruto to her favourite place in Konoha - the mall. Seeing as Naruto only rarely had shopping money, he'd never even been there before.

 "Woah... Ino, this is HUGE! YAHOO!" Naruto jumped in the air, and yelled with joy.

 "Ummm... Naruto, this is just the mall... I go here every weekend..." Ino looked a little embarrassed by her 'friend'.

 "Thankyouthankyouthankyou Ino! Ano... Why are we here again?" Naruto pulled his han through his hair, looking sheepish.

 "CLOTHES, Naruto, CLOTHES! I can't have you- " she quieted her voice to a whisper. "I can't have you living in my house and living without any decent clothes!"

 "Oh..." Naruto's shoulders slumped.

 "Come ON Naruto, it'll be fun!" Ino forced herself to smile, "You've got the BEST fashionably-coordinated genin right here with you!"

 "Okay, Ino..." he said reluctantly.

 "Oh, Naruto, how 'bout that store!" she pointed at a larger clothing store. Naruto shrugged, and she dragged him in.

 ~~~

 "Well, that wasn't too bad..." Ino mused, as Naruto staggered under the weight of a pile of bags.

 "Ino... Why don't you carry some things?" he whined.

 "Because I'm a girl, dumbass," she snapped.

 "So? OW!" Naruto rubbed his head. Ino hit hard!

 She glared at her companion. "Girls don't carry the luggage. Besides, it's all 'cause of me that you get them in the first place!" She led him to the door.

 "Ummm... What's Naruto-nii-chan doing here with scary forehead girl's friend...?" A very confused Konohamaru wondered. "Oh! Moegi and Udon are waiting!" He then ran off to join his friends... 
On to Chapter 2
Back to Fanfic Main
Write to Alden Hawke
Japanese Glossary