Chapter 25: Bamboo Grove
"Little bunny, be good, open the door for me. If you don't, I won't open it either."
Naruto strolled leisurely through the forest with his hands behind his back, humming a nursery rhyme while scanning his surroundings for any sign of the missing cat.
A cat had run away from Madam Yamanaka's flower shop, prompting her to register a D-rank mission at the Hokage building and pay a reward of five thousand ryō.
Since the other teams were currently away on missions with their jōnin leaders, only Team 7 had free time. Naturally, this unfortunate task fell to Naruto.
Who told him to act on his own, dragging Team 7 into chasing Zabuza and Haku? Sure, they had succeeded, but it had left Kakashi furious.
As punishment, Naruto had to complete twenty D-rank missions alone.
"Kitty, come out and let big bro take you home."
"Ino? Madam Yamanaka?"
After calling out a string of things that might catch the cat's attention, Naruto still heard nothing. Finally, he flopped onto a bench by the path in defeat.
"Naruto? What are you doing sleeping here?"
A familiar voice reached his ears. Naruto looked up to see a head of blonde hair. Ino stood there, hands on her hips, leaning slightly forward as she peered down at him.
"Ino?" Naruto made no move to get up; dusk had already fallen. "When did you get back to the village?"
"This afternoon. Our mission ended, and Asuma-sensei gave us two days off." Ino casually sat down beside him.
"My mom's cat is missing."
"Oh, I know. The genin who took that mission was me." Naruto tilted his head back against the bench and pointed lazily at himself.
Under the streetlamp, the two of them sat close enough to casually take each other in.
Naruto wore a black T-shirt with loose brownish shorts. His face carried a completely nonchalant, roguish air.
"You, seriously!" Ino grabbed Naruto's shirt, visibly annoyed. "If you've accepted someone's mission, put in some effort!"
"Damn it!"
With that, Ino shoved Naruto hard, pushing him to the other end of the bench. Naruto simply lay flat without protest, replying lazily,
"Yeah, yeah, Princess Ino, you're the best. So why don't you find the cat, and I'll treat you to barbecue?"
"That's your mission! What the heck are you doing lying here?!" Ino was on the verge of losing it.
"It's my mission, but I can hire you to help. It's not like the village ever said ninja couldn't hire other ninja for jobs." Naruto's tone remained indifferent.
"Even so, I'm under no obligation to help you find a cat!" Ino shot him a glare.
"Ino, you don't want to see Mrs. Yamanaka sad, do you?"
"You—!"
"Enough pointless talk. Help me find it, and I'll buy you barbecue. Besides, you're out here this late looking for the cat anyway, aren't you?"
At that, Ino couldn't help but relent, despite her irritation.
She swallowed her anger, stood, and leaned over him with a scowl.
"Get up and help me look! Now!"
"Fine, fine." Naruto yawned as Ino dragged him up by the hand and pulled him along.
"Unbelievable! How can you be like this?" Ino muttered nonstop as she tugged him forward.
"Damn it! You take on a mission, you do it properly! What's with that lazy attitude? At this rate, don't you even want to go ho—"
"Doesn't matter to me whether I go home or not," Naruto cut in suddenly. "I was planning to sleep on that bench anyway."
"Don't say stuff like that. Just focus on finding the cat!" Ino paused for a moment but kept dragging him forward.
…
"Ino, I think I heard something over there." After listening intently for a moment, Naruto pointed in a direction.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it!" Ino replied impatiently.
Using the moonlight to guide her, she brushed past Naruto and walked ahead—only to trip on something and pitch forward suddenly.
She was about to regain her balance when Naruto caught her.
"What are you doing?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion.
"Me? Didn't you see me trip?" Ino snapped.
"Oh. Guess I'll let go, then." Naruto made as if to release her. Ino's eyes widened in shock.
"Naruto!!"
Her scream pierced the night as she clutched at anything she could reach. Naruto had intended to simply let go, but Ino's frantic grabbing snagged his clothes.
"Damn it!" Naruto cursed instinctively, completely unprepared as she dragged him down with her. His shirt tore with a loud rip.
"Ugh!" Ino's eyes flew open—Naruto was sprawled on top of her.
Their lips weren't exactly touching, but his torn shirt hung in tatters, and his head rested against her neck.
"That spot! This is bad!" Ino felt the warmth against her neck, her face flushing scarlet.
"Naruto! Get off me!" she shouted, flustered.
"Stop yanking my clothes!" Naruto yelled back, only to let out a pained cry. "Quit pulling! Your hand—!"
After a brief but chaotic struggle, Ino finally scrambled to her feet, wiping at the moisture on her lips.
"You idiot! What did you just do?!"
"I didn't do anything! Don't start making stuff up, Ino!" Naruto sprang up, clutching his shredded shirt.
"How am I supposed to go home like this?"
The air above Ino's head seemed to crackle with visible anger as she clenched her fists tightly. Just as she was about to give him a piece of her mind, a soft "meow" broke the tension.
Out of the bamboo grove stepped a pure-white cat, strutting gracefully past the two bickering ninja, giving them a passing glance.
…
Under the big green tree outside Yamanaka Flower Shop, Ino pulled a white shirt from behind her back and handed it to Naruto reluctantly.
"Here. And don't you dare do anything weird with my shirt!"
"Huh?" Naruto pouted. "Why would I ever do that? Besides, you're the one who ripped mine—you should be apologizing, damn it!"
"How would I know what you might do?" Ino shot back, then lowered her voice—it was getting late. "Anyway… sorry."
Hearing an apology from the usually domineering Ino startled Naruto enough that he froze, unsure how to respond.
"Well… since you apologized, I'll forgive you." Naruto scratched his head awkwardly. "I was partly at fault too… Tell you what, I'll treat you to barbecue."
Ino looked at him for a long moment, her gaze unreadable, before asking,
"You really mean that?"
"Yeah." Naruto nodded.
"Barbecue's expensive."
"I've saved up plenty from missions these past few days. So… don't worry about it," Naruto replied.
"Fine, then." Ino nodded. "Since you're so sincere, I'll graciously accept."
"But for the record, I've got plenty of money myself. I'll treat you, dummy."
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