A/N: I am once again in an Ino-Sakura fad, you see dear friends, every after two or three months I got these urges on reading or doing something for a certain fandom. For example, before this, I was in a Xena funk, so I was reading fan fictions of Xena then watched Xena or write/update my Xena fic. Then now I am on InoSaku funk so I was re-reading my favorite Ino-Saku fictions and now decided to update my InoSaku fic. Well this doesn't include mai hime though; it seemed I am in a mai hime funk all through the year! LOL.
Thank you for those of you who have kept up with my stories, for those who have favorited and alerted me as an author, my heartfelt gratitude to all of you.
BOUND
Chapter 13
Almost a month had passed since Ino had persuaded Sakura to share the house with her, and it was thanks to Sasuke's surprise visit to Naruto's apartment and his always dark news that the pink haired kunoichi made up her mind and accepted the offer which the med-nin was so glad that her decision made one blonde kunoichi a very happy pregnant woman. Ino wanted Sakura to put her things in her room since it was the largest in the house but the pink haired woman opted to use one of the guest rooms which was way smaller. Ino and Sakura decided that the next larger room will be transformed into a nursery for their still unborn child so the smaller kunoichi declined Ino's second suggestion of her using that room for a while.
As if by cosmic fate, that same night as soon as Sakura and Naruto finished unpacking her things, it started raining accompanied by thunder and lightning. Naruto said his goodbye and the two women were left to their devices. The two decided that resting in the living room was a good way to past the time and wait for the rain and thunder to stop since Ino was getting fidgety from it. Their rest became a bit of a sad one when the problem at hand once again surfaced until Ino started getting on Sakura's nerves ones again by bringing in the topic about boobs. They soon found out that it was already late and that the rain had slowed down.
"I think we better go to bed now Ino," Sakura said offering her hand at Ino to help her up the couch. The taller woman nodded her head and took the offered hand and followed Sakura upstairs, the two walked hand in hand. Both women stopped by Ino's door, and hesitantly let go, "Good night Ino," Sakura said smiling at the blonde woman beside her.
"You know you could just sleep in my room Sakura, we've already done that many times!" Ino said pouting
"Yeah but…well that was because I don't feel well back then. Thanks to you I feel fine now so I could sleep on my own again without any hassle." The pink haired woman said unconvincingly,
"Why am I not convinced?" Ino watched Sakura put out her tongue on her and frowned, "You're being childish," Ino mumbled before turning her door's knob open.
"You just don't want to admit it Ino that you of all people is afraid of thunder and lightning!" Sakura said grinning at the still pouting ninja.
"Of course not, I am so not afraid forehead!"
"Then prove it Ino-pig!"
The two went back to their old bickering and call naming and then they stopped and laughed, "Wow it has been a long time since we did that." Ino said looking back at Sakura
"Yeah…those were the days," Sakura watched Ino nod her head in agreement, "Night again Ino," Sakura said and before she turned, she was surprised by Ino hugging her and kissing her cheek.
"Thank you Sakura…"
"For what?"
Ino just blushed then she moved away from Ino, "Just …thank you," she said before she hurriedly went inside her room and close her door.
Sakura was dumbfounded for a while and happily retreated to the small guestroom on the other end of the hall. The smile on her face plastered there for how long she had no idea. Green eyes were staring dreamily at the ceiling as if some miracle will happen if she does that the whole night. Then a frown found its way on her face as a thought inserted itself inside her head, "Why the hell am I so giddy? It's not as if Ino don't hug me or kiss me on my cheek!" she voiced out her thought. "Okay I mean… This is just the second time she did it but…" she sighed, "Okay I felt close to this the first time she did but…" and her musing was interrupted by the sudden ringing of thunder followed by a striking lightning. "Oh-oh," she looked outside her window to see the rain started pouring hard again. Sakura sat debating if she should go to Ino's room to help the woman settle down or just stay there and sleep. "For someone who claims to be mature…pfff!" she once again voiced out to no one but air.
Her further musing was again interrupted by a shy knock on her door, knowing that there's no one else in the house but her and Ino, it was safe for her to deduce that it was the blonde woman, the mother of her child who was knocking at her door. Pretending not to care, Sakura hurriedly returned to lying on her bed and closing her eyes.
"Sakura! I know you're not yet asleep…we just got in, it's impossible for you to sleep that fast!" Ino said from outside the door
"I'm already asleep and dreaming!" Sakura shouted, giggling inside, "You're just a dream! A dream!" she added to rub more salt on the wound.
"SAKURA!" then another thunder and lightning and she heard the woman on the other side of the door yelped. Worried, Sakura stood and hurriedly opened her door to find Ino crouching outside, hands firmly placed on both ears.
"Ino…"
The blonde woman looked up and grinned sheepishly at Sakura, "Okay I admit it…I hate thunders and lightning." Then Ino began her puppy dog pout and Sakura has no other recourse but to roll her eyes and moved aside to let the taller woman in.
"Isn't this too childish for you?" Sakura asked and then she got the surprised of her young life when Ino suddenly turned around anger visible on her beautiful face…then the anger turned to an expression of self pity and soon tears started pouring from the tall woman's eyes, "Oi I was just…"
"It's not childish! I just…" Ino hiccups as she tried to control her tears but she failed and it flowed, "If you don't want me here then just say so!" she said again and turned around dramatically to leave the room. She was stopped by Sakura's hand and was pulled gently to the smaller woman.
"I'm sorry Ino…"
Ino sniffled, "You say sorry again,"
"I think it's just right for me to say that at this moment, I was just messing with you and…I of all people should know that it's a sin to mess with pregnant women."
Ino looked at Sakura with pleading eyes, "So can I sleep here with you…I just really hate the sound of…" her sentence was cut of by a finger across her lips.
"Of course you can Ino…though…" Sakura looked at the small bed, "It'll be cramped here…"
Ino's sniffling still went on but its less intense now and a small smile found its way on her face, "Well that would be better right, small and cramped bed for us?" Ino said still sniffling.
Sakura smiled too, removed the hair obscuring Ino's face and nodded, "Yeah…I think that would be nicer…"
"I get to be closer with Sakura…" Ino's smile widened and then she hurriedly climbed the single bed and situated herself on the space near the window.
"Don't you want to be away from the window since…"
"I'll be fine since you will be here!" Ino said happily and lie down, her head taking half of the large pillow on the bed and she happily pull the blankets over her. "Come on!" Ino said raising the blanket so that Sakura could get in and lie beside her.
Sakura smiled and happily complied. As soon as her body hit the bed, Ino moved closer to Sakura and unrepentantly cuddled with the smaller woman. Sakura closed her eyes and let herself be taken by the bliss she suddenly felt having Ino beside her…cuddling with her. Another thunder and lightning made Ino held tighter to the woman and she took the opportunity to engulf Ino with her arms, pulling the taller girl closer until Ino's head lie on her shoulder. "You like this?" Sakura asked and she was rewarded by Ino's head nodding. She then looked down to see Ino looking at her.
"Thank you Sakura,"
"You're welcome," Sakura's smile widened when Ino lifted her head and planted a quick kiss on her cheek that was so close with her lips before she heard Ino said her good night and returned to burying her head on the smaller woman's shoulder. ~damn…why didn't it landed on my lips!~ her thought raged ~damn-damn-damn~
And then every night after that, it seemed Ino got a reason to sleep on that small guest room cramped with Sakura…or if she run out of reason…Sakura finds one.
Then it just felt so right having Ino there beside her at night…and it felt so empty without her there…then she was already dreading the day their baby will be born…Will Ino still want to sleep beside her at night? Sakura grinned, ~no matter…if it comes to that I'll find a way…~ "Sa-ku-ra!" ~someone calling me?~
The pink haired kunoichi didn't reply, she didn't even move which means the med-nin was not paying attention to the woman in front of the counter, "Sakura!" Tenten once again called out but this time she waved her hand in front of the kunoichi's face which finally caught her attention.
"Ten-ten!" Sakura said surprised and grinned at the woman in front of her, "You here inspecting me?" she asked blushing, -yeah and you were day dreaming while at work, way to go Sakura- Sakura's inner self said causing the pink haired woman to blush deeper and grin at Tenten more. "You need anything?"
Tenten was grinning at her too, "You know Sakura, if I don't know you, I would say you are in love!"
Sakura's eyes widened…Oh hell…was I that…well I'm not…errr…am I? "Why are you here Tenten?" Sakura said a bit harsh to cover up her reaction to Tenten's analysis of her.
"Well…can't I visit a friend working in our store?" Tenten's grin went wider. Sakura opted to find a sideline job since she was forced into a three month maternity leave. She was receiving a small stipend but she thought it wouldn't be enough since she was saving for when Ino delivers their baby. Class A to C missions was sparse due to the truce between hidden ninja villages around so there was no extra income for her. Thanks to Tenten whose parents own a 24 hours convenience store, she got an extra job with good pay. She got a good timing too since her shift was in the late morning until early afternoon where Ino was in the flower shop to work. And since Ino was with her father, Sakura was confident that the blonde woman and their unborn child will be safe.
"That smile of yours doesn't say that you're just here to visit me, unless you actually want to come here and annoy me…"
"Well annoying you was not in my agenda…"
"Was?"
"Yeah, but seeing you so far away?" Tenten laughed, "Where the heck were you anyway spacing out like that? Have you seen the grin you have on your face? I would have thought you learned that from Naruto when he was still ogling you in his mind!"
Sakura's eyes widened, ~that bad?~ she thought and then frowned at Tenten, "Ew…don't say that again Tenten ever! You just scar me for life!" Sakura said then she composed herself and got serious with the other woman. "So what's up? Don't tell me you're spying on me cause as you can see…" she pointed the clock to Tenten, "I got about 15 minutes here and my shift is done and," she opened her palms out to the surrounding, "No customer!"
Tenten sighed, "I'm not here to spy on you Sakura, actually I'm here 'cause I have a mission."
Sakura pouted, "I see…so you came here to brag?"
Tenten shook her head no, "Actually I'm here to tell you that you are included in this mission, and that Tsunade-sama wanted to see you for the briefing."
Sakura's face suddenly brightened, "Really?" She watched Tenten nods her head, "So what are we waiting here for?"
"You?"
Sakura slapped Tenten hard at the back before she stood up, removed her green apron and stepped closer to the twin bun-haired chuunin. She looked back at a guy near her counter and said out loud, "Hey Kiko, Sorry, but I'll be off for a mission briefing so you have to do your shift a bit earlier!" she said leading Tenten to the digital bandy-clock to time-out. The two women were already outside the convenience store when she remembered something. "Eh who will be with us?"
"Team Guy and Team 7,"
Sakura frowned, "Both teams on this mission? What kind of mission is this?"
"Well…Neji-kun said that this is a class C mission…"
"Class C? Two teams for class C?"
"Well we could actually learn more from the briefing." Tenten said walking passed the still thinking kunoichi. Sakura followed but her mind was still in disarray.
"Darn, I bet Ino will be upset about this news." Sakura said worry on her face.
Tenten laughed, "You know the way you act, it's as if you were married to her and expecting your baby."
Sakura looked at Tenten and shook her head, "We are expecting our baby, didn't you hear about that?" she asked frowning.
"I did," Tenten smiled, "But I thought it was just that, sharing responsibilities, I didn't think you'll be acting like a husband or something to Ino." Tenten sighed, "If I didn't know that you both got grudges and are after the same guy, I'd think you two are actually in love." Then Tenten stopped walking and looked at Sakura who was blushing furiously, "Oh my god…you are?"
"What?" Sakura tried hard to cool down her face
"YOU! You are in love with Ino!" she yelled a bit louder for the other passers to hear and grin.
"Damn Tenten, why don't you go up the Hokage Mountain, get a speaker and announced it to the whole konoha while you're at it?" Sakura massaged her forehead, "And I…I don't know…I'm really not…"
"Darn Sakura…I think you are and I think you've fallen deep!" Tenten said patting Sakura's back
"How the heck do you know that?"
Tenten laughed, "Neji acts the same way with me…and well…let's say he was as embarrassed admitting his feelings for me as you are admitting your feelings for Ino." She grinned
"Aren't you the humble one?"
Tenten just shrugged her shoulders, "Well I think this mission will be just appropriate for you to sort out your real feelings for Yamanaka." She said as the two continued on walking.
"I guess…"
Silence
"To be fair Sakura…from what I can see from Ino…she must feel the same for you."
"I don't know…" Sakura remembered what Mrs. Yamanaka told her about Ino still clinging to their friendship, about it blooming despite the distance…how Ino declined Kiba's marriage proposal because she was in love with someone else. ~ Could that someone else be me? ~ Sakura shook her head, "She's in love with someone else, I don't think that would be me." Sakura said then starts walking fast towards the Hokage's office.
"Why not?" Tenten followed in step
"I don't know…"
Silence once again
"You know what's your problem Sakura?"
"What?"
"You think too much, let your heart speak sometime!" Tenten said before smiling and running passed the pink haired kunoichi.
Sakura just looked at Tenten, she put her hand on her now galloping chest before following the hyperactive kunoichi.
-0-
Ino was happily walking towards her and Sakura's home, she was carrying a bag of things she would cook for Sakura. Her mother Hanako came home early and told Ino she could already go home as it looks like she was excited about something. So when Ino explained what she was being excited about, the older Yamanaka woman let her daughter go and even made Ino a bouquet she could give Sakura. It was so that today was Ino's check up for her 5th month of pregnancy and that she wanted to go home early and get Sakura early so the two of them could go to the hospital and they could both hear their baby's heart beat and see her in the ultrasound. Ino wanted to do something special for Sakura today just because she was happy. She was happy that she and Sakura are both healthy and that Sakura's pregnancy symptoms had declined so much she's almost back to her old self. She was happy they have a lot of time together. She was happy that their child is healthy, considering how the baby moved a lot inside her. Most of all, she was happy because the baby was Sakura's and not Sasuke's or Naruto's, that in itself was a blessing from Kami.
About 10 minutes from their home, Ino bumped into Naruto who was grinning from ear to ear. So she greeted the kyuubi bearing ninja, "Hi Naruto, hi Hina, what's up?"
"Oh hi Ino-chan!" he said happily, Hinata was her usual shy self beside Naruto and was clinging at the genki-ninja tightly. Naruto stopped in front of Ino and looked down at Ino's larger belly, "Are you and baby Ino doing good?" he asked
"Absolutely," Ino replied retruning Naruto's enthusiastic mood, "You're happy, what happened? Have you gotten Hinata here pregnant?" Ino grinned at the sudden deep blush that crept in Hinata's face
"Ino-ch..a..an," Hinata stutters and hid behind Naruto
"Of course not! Neji is always spying on us so I don't think I could do just that anytime soon!" Naruto replied happily
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata's face have grown redder and this made Ino laughed more
"So why happy?"
"Oh team 7 is going to have a mission that's why!"
Ino's laughter suddenly stopped, "Team 7?"
Naruto nodded, "We'll go with Team Guy, I'm actually going to 'baasan's office for the briefing!"
Ino frowned, "Is Sakura coming too?"
"Yes, that's what I heard." Naruto said and looked worried when the bag Ino was carrying fell on the ground and the blonde kunoichi turned to hurriedly go to the Hokage's office direction.
"Ino-chan!" Naruto shouted and then looked at Hinata pleadingly
"Okay..I'll gather these Naruto-kun and try to follow you, please go and get Ino-chan!"
"Yesh!" The blonde ninja gave Hinata his own winning smile before disappearing.
-0-
"How come Team 7 and Team Guy get to go for a class C mission?" Sakura asked her mentor despite the fact that not everyone was in. Actually, they were only waiting now for Naruto.
Tsunade shook her head and shut her eyes closed before opening again and looking at Sakura. "Okay, since it's only Naruto that is not here, I'll explain why. This is supposed to be just for Team Guy, but the leader of the group asking for protection from us concludes that 2 chuunins, and I jounin isn't enough to protect them, plus they want a med-nin to go with them, just in case."
"Okay...aren't you supposed to be the one to say if this mission needs more than that?" Sakura asked again which puts a frown on Tsunade's face.
"You think I don't know that?" She growled at Sakura and the other cringed, "I got a bad feeling about this mission actually." She said frowning
"Actually we were thinking that this person probably has no money to pay for an S or even an A rank mission so to get our service cheap, he decided to say that it's only a C-rank one." Shizune supplied,
"We are to deliver a group of unidentified people to their land claiming that they were nothing but merchants but were afraid of bandits on the way to their village." Tsunade said, the frown on her face didn't let up, "9 merchants without any goods with them," she shook her head, "They think I am that stupid?"
"So what if this is a higher rank mission?" Neji asked unfazed.
Tsunade grinned, "Since they asked for a rank C, we will give them rank C. If any of you is going to be in a dangerous situation, we pull out." The hokage sighed, "All our contracts are bound by a rule that we get missions base on honesty. If they lie in the contract then the contract is void."
"Why not pull out now?" Sai asked, he was still wearing his flat expression,
"Team Guy doesn't back out on mission!" Lee interrupted
"For the reason that we have a contract, we will go through with it…"
"I don't think we could back out if it turns out this is some kind of trap." Tenten asked and this caused the two older ninjas in the room to nod in agreement.
"That's why I choose to send your teams." She looked at everyone, "You are one of the best…so get out of it if you need to."
A gasped was heard from the back and everyone looked to see Ino with Naruto and a panting Hinata, "Ino…" Sakura mumbles.
-End chapter 13-
Darn this went way out of hand and gotten longer! See you on the next update!