Ino's chatter stumbled, words gradually growing quieter as she noticed the intensity of my gaze, until she fell completely silent. She dropped her head shyly, those slender fingers fidgeting with the hem of her skirt.
"Do I... do I have something on my face?" she asked meekly and impossibly cutely. "You're staring…"
I nearly laughed out loud. Ino might appear confident and sure of her femininity to the rest of the world, but she was really just a delicate little flower who couldn't weather strong winds on her own.
"I missed you," I said simply, and watched her head jerk up in surprise, lips parting as if to respond. But I continued before she could speak. "I missed you so much, little flower. I carried you in my head through every hour, every fight, every night. You haunted my dreams, Ino, but no dream of mine could ever measure up to the beauty of you standing here, right now, in front of me."
Ino's lips parted, her throat worked, but no sound came at first. She just stared at me, lips parted and eyes glossy, completely lost for words.
The silence stretched between us until she finally whispered, "...Eishin..." and trailed off helplessly. She blinked those long lashes slowly, a deep flush spreading from her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears. Her face heated up like she'd been sitting too close to a fire, and she started fidgeting with her ponytail, putting a hand over her mouth as she mumbled, "Y-you're so… ugh… you always say things like that. It's not fair."
I licked my lips, studying her reaction with the same analytical eye I used to assess enemy weaknesses. Such a responsive, emotionally driven girl would have been completely wasted on someone like Sai, someone who understood words but not the subtle art of emotion, completely tone-deaf to the heart under her skin.
Sai didn't have the tools for this job. While I came armed with every damn tool in the shed. Psychology, empathy, a little wickedness—I was born to prune and coax. And she was born to bloom under me.
"Don't hide that smile," I murmured, thumb stroking the warm, exposed curve of her waist. By now, she was completely conditioned to receive and welcome my touch; I had been working on that for a while. "My flower should always face the sun."
Ino gave a melodious little laugh, the sound bubbling up and spilling over like champagne despite her trying to keep it in. Obediently, she dropped her hand from her mouth, revealing that radiant smile I'd been wanting to see. "You're so—ugh, you're impossible! You can't just say things like that! You don't know what it does to me when you—" She pressed her hands to her cheeks, trying to cool the heat there. "I'm so happy right now I could scream! You actually thought about me? All that time? Really? You dreamed about me?"
"How could I not? If I hadn't, I'd start wondering if something was broken in my head—or worse, in my heart." I said with the most earnest tones my broken ribs allowed, then paused. "What about you, my little flower? Did you miss me, too?"
Her head bobbed up and down quickly, blonde ponytail bouncing with the motion. "Yes! Yes, I missed you so much! Every day felt so long and boring without you around to make me laugh or tell me I'm pretty or just... just be there, you know? You stopped teaching at the Academy — you didn't even tell me — and I kept looking for you everywhere! Shikamaru said you probably returned to doing field missions. I was so mad, and I—I kept thinking if you never came back I wouldn't even know what to do—"
"Is that so?" I smiled, letting my voice drop to that tone that always made her shiver. "Then come here and give me a kiss."
She pursed her lips at the request, but she wasn't surprised—I'd trained her to expect this kind of thing. Her eyes darted around the room before settling on the closed door, checking one more time that we were alone. Paranoid as any teenage girl sneaking around with forbidden fruit.
Then, quick as lightning, she leaned in, brushed a feather-soft kiss against my cheek, and pulled back like she'd just committed high treason.
I chuckled low, pleased but not quite. "Every kiss from my little flower is a blessing. But you know the kiss I wanted."
Ino didn't answer, keeping her head down shyly as she stood there for several seconds. Then "Oh! Right," she seemed to remember the food she'd brought, launching back into nervous chatter to hide her embarrassment. "The food! You need to eat to get your strength back, and everything's going to get cold if we wait too long, and I worked really hard on it even though I'm not very good at cooking yet, but I wanted to make sure you had something homemade because hospital food is terrible and—"
I frowned slightly. My Ino ignoring my directions wasn't ideal, and now she wanted me to... I looked at the dangerously large rice balls she'd unpacked. H-how could rice shaped into a ball have such an ominous aura? I genuinely dreaded what was coming.
Still, she poured some of the suspicious soup into a bowl with all the flourish of a seasoned kunoichi. Credit where it's due—the girl thought of everything. Cutlery, napkins, the works. She turned, plate in one hand, spoon in the other, eyes sparkling.
"Say ahh~," she sang, pushing the spoon toward my lips with shy excitement.
My eye twitched. The liquid quivered in the spoon like it wanted to crawl away. I could swear I noticed the metal starting to corrode slightly. Every instinct screamed. My survival reflex told me this bite would, in the best case, keep me in the hospital longer than any wound or buried in the worst.
I sighed in resignation. "Thanks for the food," I muttered, opening my mouth.
It hit my tongue like a kunai wrapped in salt. Don't think, don't think, don't— I swallowed, every muscle in my throat rebelling.
Her eyes, though. Those pretty teal eyes. Shining, hopeful, waiting.
"How is it? Do you like it?"
"…Good," I forced out, voice rough. Then, smoother, leaning into my own lie. "In fact, it's the best damn thing I've eaten. Cooked by hands too delicate for the battlefield, too lovely for this world. How could it not taste divine? This soup captures the very essence of comfort and healing—I can feel it working already."
Melting my digestive system. I added inwardly. Truthfully, I was just surprised my tongue was still functioning after that assault on my taste buds.
Ino lit up. Practically glowing, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "R-really?! I knew it! I mean, I was so worried it was too salty, but I practiced so much, you don't even know—oh my god, I'm so happy!"
My eyes dropped automatically to her chest, the way it shifted as she practically bounced with joy. Worth the pain. Worth the soup.
"Oh, no, you have nothing to worry about. It's perfect."
"I made so much more, too! There are tons at home, and I can bring it all to you tomorrow and the day after that! You can eat everything I cooked until you're completely better!" she gushed, clasping her hands together in delight.
Cold sweat began dripping down my back. I felt a fear I hadn't experienced even when facing the Mizukage—and rightfully so. This might actually be my end.
I needed to find a way out. I needed to—
But then she brought another spoonful to my lips, smiling so bright the sun would've been jealous. "Say ahh~!"
I opened my mouth and accepted my fate. What else could I do?
There are some things in this world you just can't run away from.
Oddly enough, I was able to finish the entire plate and was still drawing breath, which meant the effects of Ino's cooking might be more insidious than I'd initially predicted. But that was a problem for future me to worry about—right now, I had a fragile bloom who thought she was wild standing beside my bed.
Ino hummed and singsonged happily as she gathered the empty plate, like she hadn't just tried to assassinate poor old me, and reached for another plate to fill with those dangerously large rice balls. I watched her fill it, every motion light, fluid, too pretty for the crime she was committing. My death sentence wrapped in seaweed and smiles.
"Ino," I called softly, extending my hand toward her. "Come here."
She stopped what she was doing and looked at my outstretched hand, her cheeks flushing pink as she dropped her head shyly. She shuffled closer and placed her delicate hand in mine. Her skin was soft as I ran my thumb across her palm—too soft for a kunoichi, really.
But unlike with Sakura, I couldn't really blame her. The Yamanaka clan fought with their minds, not their fists. Though admittedly, I wouldn't be calling her the best field operative either. But she was my flower, and she should be delicate and tender and beautiful to look at. If I had any say in the matter, she'd never take another dangerous mission.
Flowers were meant for gardens, not warzones.
"Your hand is so big but so gentle," she murmured, watching my thumb trace patterns on her skin. A nervous laugh broke out as her ponytail swished when she tilted her head down.
I smiled and guided her hand to rest against my chest, right over my heart. "Can you feel that? It beats this fast only for you, little flower. You make my heart race even when I'm supposed to be resting."
Her free hand darted to cover her mouth, teal eyes wide, lashes fluttering as if she was trying to trap the moment inside herself. She focused so hard on her hand against me, I wondered if she even remembered to breathe.
Delicate little flowers loved romantic gestures like this. It was cheesy—of course it was. Corny as hell. But Ino was a complete sucker for these lines. She melted like sugar on the tongue.
It was almost unfair how such a gorgeous blonde could be such a sucker for things you'd find in the margins of bad love poetry. A hot blonde with zero defense against romantic flattery. That probably explained how, in the original timeline, Sai had managed to win her over with one lucky half-hearted stray line he'd read from a book. Criminal, really.
Ino hadn't been this receptive at first. She'd tried to deflect with nervous laughter or shutting me down stuttering, but gradually, with dedication and an almost cringeworthy level of confidence, she'd quickly dropped her already fragile guard. Now she practically preened, no matter how cheesy or exaggerated my compliments became. The more surreal and over-the-top they were, the happier she seemed to get. And I was more than happy to keep feeding her exactly what she craved.
Though I learned the setting count, Ino wouldn't be half this pliant if there'd been eyes on us. The flower still has thorns, just reserved in public.
My hand slid from her wrist to her exposed midriff and began caressing her stomach with my palm. Her skin was warm and silky smooth, her muscles tensing slightly under my touch before relaxing as she leaned into the contact.
It had taken less than a week for her to allow this level of intimacy from the moment I'd first met her, and I hadn't even needed to use Devil's Whisper once on her. She really was that easy to handle... well, easy if you knew how to approach her. She could be quite intimidating otherwise.
My finger traced circles, hooked into her cute belly button before dipping inside slightly.. "Sometimes I worry about you," I murmured, voice dipping low. "My flower forgets how much tending she needs when I'm not around." I let my hand drift lower, toward the line of her skirt, the brush of knuckles against the waistband.
"Y-you don't have to worry about that, I—" she said meekly, her voice barely above a whisper as her breathing grew more labored. "I'm a strong girl you know that."
I hummed thoughtfully and tugged gently at her skirt's waistband.
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