The
Plan
By Alden Hawke
Chapter
2: Plan Step One: Action! - Konohamaru's Return!
"Ino... Won't Sakura be sad if we break them up? I mean..."
Naruto frowned., He
didn't like it when Sakura was sad.
"No,
'cause she'll have you! I'm betting you'd be a better boyfriend then Sasuke
would!" Ino said cheerfully. 'Yeah right...' she thought inwardly.
Naruto
brightened. "Yeah, I would! So... What do I do?"
"The
plan is this..."
---
The
Concussa was a small restaurant, but much bigger
than Ichiraku. The place
was completely inside, and it had a dancing area, and a few tables. The
bands were cool, and it even had a balcony right over the door...
Naruto
shivered. It wasn't cold, but he felt uncomfortable. All these people,
most of them talking loudly... It hurt his head. The ramen was pretty
good, though... 'Ino, what's taking you so long!?'
he thought, irritated.
---
"Isn't
it beautiful, Sakura?" Ino said, leanng up aganst the railing. The
breeze
was wonderfully warm, and the sile on her face as
genuine.
"Yeah..."
Sakura's mind seemed soemwhere else as she took
her spot beside her
friend. "Y'know, Ino, you're taking this
Sasuke thing really well. It's really
awesome of you to be so calm about it, after all that time..."
"Aww, it's nothing... Did you see the demonstration on the
weekend? The foreign
shuriken expert? Wasn't he awesome?" Ino sighed,
feeling (almost) guilty
of plotting to steal Sasuke from herm and (almost) not enjoying the setting
sun.
"Yeah,
it was awesome..." Sakura breathed.
"Sakura,
have you tried the ramen here?" Ino asked.
"Not
re- Ahh!" Sakura yelled as the portion on the rail keeping
her up seemed
to just... crumble. Ino jumped towards her, and
almost fell off herself.
----
"-ramen
here?" Naruto had been listening from downstairs. Now, he pushed his
finished
ramaen from him, and headed to the exit, hoping to time it
right...
---
"Oouf!" Naruto burst, as Sakura landed on him, rather
awkwardly.
"SorryI'msorryI'msorryI- Naruto?" Sakura sounded incredulous.
"What're you doin' here?"
"Waiting.
For. Ino," each word was punctuated by a heavy breath. "Sakura-chan,
I think you should..."
"Oh,
yeah!"Sakura said hurriedly, scurrying off of Naruto's
back. "Sorry, Naruto,
how can I get you to forgive me?"
"How
'bout.. ramen?" he looked her in the eye.
"But..."
then she considered it. Ramen at Ichiraku wasn't
really a date... especially
not with Naruto... "Okay, deal. Tomorrow, 'cause I can see you're full.
'kay?"
"Sure!"
Naruto exclaimed, getting up.
"Sakura!
ARE-YOU-O-KAY!?" Ino yelled from the balcony.
"How many times do I have
to YELL!?"
"I'm
fine, INO! Naruto caught me!" she yelled back. "Naruto-kun, I gotta
go. See
ya!" she said, running off.
"Bye,
Sakura-chan!" he called after her. He sighed, and waited for Ino.
---
"That
didn't go bad!" Ino exclaimed, jumping onto
her bed. Then she heard the
showerhead spraying...
"NARUTO!"
---
Sakura
laid on her bed, smiling. That had been nice, except for the fall at the
end... and now she and Naruto-kun had lunch planned for the next day, and
Sauke and she were having dinner the next. 'These
big, fancy houses always
have traditional dates', she sighed. Candlelight was romantic, but a bit
cliché...
"Ow!" she turned over, and pulled of a small cunk of wood from the crumbled balcony.
Before she threw it off, something caught her attention...
There
was a blonde hair curled around it...
Naruto's...
or Ino's?
~~~
Next
day
Ino groaned as she sat up. 'What is it with him and showering!?
Why does he like
them so much..."
That
morning, she'd gotten up especially early... only to hear the showerhead
singing it's stupid song.
PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH!
"Oh,
screw it!" Ino grabbed a vest and headed out
into early Konoha...
---
"Kono-nii-san, please! I'll do anything!" a little boy,
around the age of Konohamaru and his friends, was following him.
"No,
Kyou-chan, I won't let you be my disciple. You're too dumb,
and you can't do 'The Skill'...."
"I'm
just not a stupid perv..."
"WHAT
DID YOU CALL THE FUTURE HOKAGE!?"
"Nothing,
Kono-nii-san!"
"Stop
calling me that! From now on, it's either Sarutobi-sensei
or Konohamaru-sama! You hear? Hey, it's scary forehead firl's friend, who was hanging
out with Naruto-nii-chan... Hey, blonde girl! What
were you doing with
Naruto-nii-chan?!" Konohamaru yelled
out.
---
"Hey,
blonde girl! What were you doing with Naruto-nii-chan?!"
Ino heard a voice
call out. She turned around to see a little brown-haired kid pointing at
her.
She
softened a little bit. It was Sandaime's grandkid,
the one who was (somehow)
related to her teacher. She figured that Asuma-sensei
might be his dad...
He never DID talk about his home life...
"What!?
Yesterday? I took him out shopping, and it's nobody's business why!"
she
yelled back, before continuing on her way...
---
An
hour later, she was still wandering around Konoha...
She
decided she like her hair loose, having the wind blow through it like it did.
She brushed her hand through it, feeling the softness of it... then remembered
she hadn't showered yet.
'Stupid
Naruto!' she thought as she ran home.
*
About the Sandaime (3rd Hokage), Konohamaru
and Asuma....
Sandaime = ??? Sarutobi (Orochimaru
refers to him as Sarutobi-sensei)
Konohamaru = Sandaime's Grandson (Chapter
two, Ebisu explains.)
Now,
about Asuma... His last name's Sarutobi,
which got me wondering...
On to Chapter
3
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