The blonde, and by the hugging and laughing and kissing of cheeks also missed, member of the gang was lead over to the cherry tree and everyone had a seat around it. Well most of them were lying in some kind of way, but they were all more gathered than just a minute earlier. Ino felt like nothing had changed, the spirit and friendliness was still the same, but she could see that her year of absence had clearly made a difference. Kiba was lying on his side, head in Hinata’s lap as she was sitting on her knees. Gaara sat sturdily and straight-backed, legs crossed and picking with Naruto’s blonde hair as the other boy rested his head towards his thigh. Lee had jumped down from the tree, for once being still, and had one arm gently around Sakura’s waist as she had retaken her seat against the stem. Shikamaru was half-sitting and counting on Temari to hold him up as she sat almost as sturdily, but more relaxed, as her redheaded brother. In the same way, though no one could ever look as lazy as Shikamaru, Tenten sat between Shino’s outstretched legs while he held his arms around her. Had it been any other group of people Ino would not have reacted the slightest, cause it all looked relaxed and comfortable. But these were her friends, and they weren’t supposed to act like this!
Everyone was looking at her, and she could tell that they were all enjoying themselves immensely. Alright, so she must look completely dumbfounded, but how much could seriously happen in a year?! Had she taken a look back at all her adventures in France she might’ve realized that the answer was ‘a lot’. But Ino wasn’t really in a state where she could think too much at the moment. The visual impressions all around her seemed to block out most of her brain capacity, and some jokes could definitely have been made about the amount she possessed from the beginning. Ino wasn’t dumb, but she wasn’t the smartest member of the gang either.
“Could someone please fill me in a bit here?” she asked, as the soul sound of Chouji’s munching became too much for her. The fat boy, though in all honesty he had grown more into his body during all the years the friends had been hanging out, was seated not too far from her. Ino herself had been placed next to Sakura, but unfortunately she had no tree trunk to rest her back against. It could’ve been needed.
“What?” Kiba asked, that amused smirk of his never leaving his face. “Don’t be mean,” Hinata said and smacked him lightly over the head. For once Akamaru seemed to be on someone else’s than Kiba’s side, because he gave an annoyed bark at his master’s words as well. “We just,” Sakura said and turned her brilliant green eyes towards her oldest friend again, “realized we had some feelings we weren’t expecting.” Ino shook her head and looked around at the others. “So what? You just all went and started dating because you felt like it?” “It’s the springtime of youth, Ino,” Lee said and leaned forward a bit so that he could see her from the other side of what seemed to be his pink haired girlfriend. “When you realize you love someone, you can’t just ignore it. Besides, it’s not a secret that I liked Sakura for years and years.”
Now that was true, the athlete hadn’t exactly been discrete with his feelings. On the other hand, neither had Sakura. “Since when did you change your mind?” Ino asked her best friend, and the look she delivered was almost accusingly. Though Lee was a member of the ground and a friend Ino would always love to have, he wasn’t exactly boyfriend material. He was a school athlete, but it wasn’t like he was one of the hot shots that all girls wanted. None of them here were among the hot shots at school, part from Ino herself though who was the prettiest of all girls. The reason she didn’t date constantly was, of course, because so few guys could reach her standards.
“I don’t know,” Sakura confessed and smiled lovingly towards Lee. “Six months ago I figured I might as well go on a date, then maybe he’d stop asking me all the bloody time.” She laughed and several others fell into it. Turning back towards Ino, she rested her pink head on Lee’s muscular shoulder. “But as we got alone, I realized he has qualities I definitely want in a boyfriend.” Ino’s eyes had grown huge, causing more laughter from Kiba and Naruto joined in. Even Gaara smirked visibly, a certain proof that he was amused by the situation. “You’ve been dating for six months?!” she finally exclaimed, the shock and almost horror of the idea obvious.
“Calm down,” Naruto mumbled and rubbed his ear as if Ino’s high pitched voice was hurting it. “Coming from the right person,” Gaara mumbled even lower than usual, but it still earned him a smack on the other thigh from the usually hyperactive blonde. “What’d you think?” Tenten asked amused. “That we all started seeing each other yesterday just to piss you off?” She let out a lovable chuckle and grabbed hold of Shino’s arms. “Me and Shino’ve been seeing each other since Christmas.” A small nod, something sounding like a ‘hm’ and a light squeeze of the ninja-wannabe was Shino’s confirming of the statement. Ino just shook her head. Shino and Tenten was perhaps the biggest shock, mostly because she’d thought Shino to be asexual and Tenten to be lesbian. Why? Ino just had such ideas inside her head from time to time.
One by one, or two by two depending on how you wanted to see it, the couples told their story of how and when they got together. Kiba and Hinata was the most recent adding, seeing how Hinata had been too shy to admit she was actually in love with someone as…eccentric as Kiba. But the two months together had obviously been good for both of them, seeing how Kiba was still and Hinata had actually smacked him when he was being an ass. Gaara had all but gotten himself excluded from the gang in his attempts to make Naruto accept that he was gay, but once the blonde had too much to drink around Easter he learned just how good a boy could be in bed. It really wasn’t that strange that the two of them would get along, both being orphans and both having been bullied by it when younger. But it was still shocking to find out that they were gay, or at least that Naruto was. Gaara…it seemed nothing could surprise Ino when it came to Gaara.
The only couple Ino was not too shocked about, the one she had actually expected would’ve happened a long time ago, was Shikamaru and Temari. There had been chemistry between the two of them ever since junior high, but there had just been too many obstacles between them they said. Shikamaru was too lazy to get his act together and ask someone out, plus the fact that he sort of disliked strong females because of how his own mother behaved around the house. And Temari was definitely a strong female, plus she was three years older than him. But it seemed springtime, the season and not the springtime of youth that Lee and his father kept gagging about, had gotten to both of them and finally they’d gotten their act together.
“Seems like there’s only four single people left, huh,” Ino said with a smile towards Chouji. The worst shock had cooled down, by now she could at least pretend she was alright with it. These people were still her best friends and if they were happy with their arrangements, though Ino would never go out with any of the present boys, she would be happy for them. Her statement seemed to bring awkwardness back though, and as she looked around there was clearly something else she didn’t know. Even Chouji, who had never lied or kept anything from her (at least as far as she knew), avoided eye contact. “What?” she asked. “What?!” Then she got it.
“Oh. My. God.” Ino’s eyes were practically shooting fire. “Who is she? Who is the bitch I’m gonna have to kick the life out of for stealing Sasuke?” If Lee had been obvious about his feelings for Sakura, Ino just might’ve been even more so with her feelings for Sasuke. Not so strange though, where Ino merely wished she was the most popular girl in school, Sasuke probably was the most popular boy. Or at least one of them. No one said anything still, if anything they seemed to crumble. Even Akamaru hid behind Kiba’s body, as if he too knew how flaming Ino’s temper could be. “Oh boy,” the dog owner mumbled and looked up at his pale eyed girlfriend. “Can we go now?”
Ino shot him a death glare, which he luckily didn’t see or he just might’ve jumped straight out of his clothes. “What is it you’re not telling me?!” she demanded. Sakura was twiddling her fingers nervously. “Well…Ino…you see…” “Spit it out, who is she?!” The pink haired looked down nervously. “It’s not a girl…”
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Chapter notes: Gah, don't know if this turned out too good. Should get better soon, hopefully... It ends where it does because I don't have time to write more at the moment. Reviews are always welcomed. And I promise I'll get my act together and write more on my ShikaTem story soon...