It started with silence.
Ino hadn't seen Naruto in four days.
Not training. Not at the rooftops. Not at the missions board. Not in the dark corners of the village where she'd once found him waiting—calm, unreadable, and hers.
Now? He was gone.
She tried not to panic.
But panic had sharp teeth.
Hinata had that glow.
Ino saw it when the shy girl passed her in the market—eyes lowered, but posture proud. There was a mark on her neck, faint but visible. Not from roughness.
From intimacy.
A kiss left too long. A mouth too possessive.
Naruto's mouth.
And Ino's nails dug into her palm so hard her skin split.
She waited at his apartment again. Not inside this time.
She paced outside the door, arms folded, back tight.
When the door finally opened—quietly, like the world didn't deserve noise—Naruto stood there.
Expression unreadable.
Hair slightly wet.
Eyes sharp.
"Ino."
That's all he said.
Not warm. Not cold.
Just her name.
And she knew.
He wasn't hers.Not right now. Maybe not ever again.
"I'm pregnant."
The lie came out too fast.
Too practiced.
Too… sharp.
His expression didn't change.
She waited.
Waited for his eyes to widen, for him to react, for his hand to reach for her, for his voice to soften.
Instead?
Silence.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Then:
"No. You're not."
The words didn't hit like a slap.
They hit like a blade.
Slow. Deep. Precise.
Ino blinked.
"I… I—"
"You've never lied to me before," Naruto said. "I thought you understood what that meant."
Her stomach turned.
She tried again.
"I just—I didn't know what else to do. You were gone. You were with her. You didn't—"
"You panicked," he said.
"Because I'm losing you!"
Her voice cracked.
She hated how it cracked.
Naruto stepped forward.
And suddenly, she realized how small she was again.
He wasn't angry. Not visibly. But his presence had changed.
No longer quiet.
Now it was heavy.
Like something barely restrained.
"I gave you everything," Ino said. "I gave you my pride, Naruto. I let you see the parts of me I've never let anyone touch."
"You did," he said.
"And you disappeared."
"I told you I would never lie to you," he said. "But I never told you I'd always choose you."
She looked away.
Eyes wet.
"I wanted to be the only one who could shake you."
"You were," he said. "Until you lied."
The silence after that felt… endless.
She collapsed onto the floor, knees to her chest, fists in her hair.
"I didn't mean to lie. I just wanted to matter again."
"You still do."
She looked up, surprised.
"But not the way you want."
He knelt in front of her.
Took her face in his hands.
"I'm not punishing you," he said. "But I'm not forgetting either."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you'll have to earn back what you gave away."
Her lips parted.
"You're not leaving me?"
"No," he said. "But you'll crawl back to the place you fell from. Not walk."
And then he kissed her.
Not out of desire.
Not out of fire.
But like a brand.
A reminder.
That night, she stayed.
Not in his bed.
Not in his arms.
She lay curled on his floor, not daring to touch him.
And when she heard him whisper Hinata's name in his sleep…
She cried.
Quietly.
And hated herself for loving him more because of it.