Ino and Naruto had spent the rest of the day bickering; Her demanding he wear ones of his new sets of clothes (he had a full wardrobe now...), and he demanding that he get to wear his favourite orange set once for the last time ("Because, with all those clothes, I'll never even SEE them again!"). All in all, it had been a tiring day, and Ino had waited all day for her nice evening read, and her beauty sleep...

And now that she'd awoken, she was too sleep-filled (she couldn't think of a real word for it...) to get up. So, instead, she sent her mind out to work out one of life's real mysteries... Naruto. He, in all of his glorious being (Ino snickered at the thought...), was in itself an enigma.A boy, hated by adults for unknown reasons, pickewd on and jeered at by almost everyone his age (Ino could only think of one: Shikamaru - too lazy to bother making fun of anyone, really...) and still managed to be annoyingly optimistic about everything... Having a crush on someone that didn't realise that he (or wished he didn't) exist ...

Except, with Ino and Sasuke, it was almost the same situation. Sasuke, always brooding about kunai accuracy or something boring like that, seemingly without a life...Why? For the first time, Ino actually doubted, if only for an instant, that it wasn't just another 'best ninja' goal... there was something cold and mysterious about him -- is that why she'd never thought about it? To preserve his aura of mystery?

No, she was doubting herself too much. She was too in love with him to care about mystery - so she might as well work on that one too! To think of it, she hadn't heard the surname 'Uchiha' since she was a little kid... An old man, named Uchiha... Hitsu, was it? Gae her candy on the way to academy? Anyways, the old man disappeared, and that was the last time she heard it... until Sasuke-kun came... Why hadn't she made the connection?

'Duh....' she argued, 'How can you keep everyone, in all their clans, straight? A millioin clan-names have been flung around, so obscure- But, Sasuke's clan wasn't obcsure, was he? And (off topic, thoughts...) who did he live with? He was an orphan (Ino knew THAT much...) but she never heard anyone associated to him family-wise...

Oh well, not her business, besides she didn't need to, Sakura had him...

Or did she...

Maybe it wasn't time to give up...

"NARUTO!!"

        ~~~~~~~~~

        Unlikely Alliance

        Chapter Two: The Plan

        V. 2 ~~~~~~~~~

"Ino..." Naruto said in a quiet voice, as they sat on Ino's burgundy sheeted bed, supported by it's oak frame. "Won't Sakura-chan be sad if we break them up...?"

"No, 'cause she'll have you! Unless... you're a horrible boyfriend!" Ino teased, laughing. "I bet girls can barely stay in the same room as you!"

"I am not! I'm a wonderful boyfriend!" Naruto yelled back.

"Geez, Naruto, you're too easy..." Ino sighed. "Okay, don't worry, I've got it all laid out..."

And afterwards, Naruto was nodding and smiling. Of COURSE Sakura wouldn't get hurt!...

~~~

Ino and Sakura stood, leaning on the railing of the balcony at the Concussa, a small ramen place a few blocks from Ichiraku. Ino fiddled with her hair, entwining it around her finger, and smiling a little bit. This was so much more comfortable than a ponytail... I should keep it like this! Sorta short, sorta-'

"Ino..." Sakura interrupted her friends thoughts, looking worried. "Are you okay? With me... and..." Hesitant, it seemed, to say trhe name of the one who had chosen her over her best friends and rival.

"Wel, yeah, I guess... There really isn't much point in debating it now..." Ino shrugged, lying with a straight face. "I can handle it..."

"Okay... you're sure?"

"Sure!" Ino nodded, then threw her arm around Sakur's neck. "Now we're friends again! Now..."

~~~

Naruto sat, stirring his ramen with a shiny spoon, watching the noodles spin in the soup. It was alomst hypnotic, that rythm... Swwosh, swoosh... Time flew by as it went 'round and 'round. Finally slurping some down, he hurried out of the ramen place, grinning.

Just as he opened the sturdy wooden door, he felt as if a large weight had fallen on him, severely injuring his back. He wasn't off by too much...

The balcony, looking quite strong, had exploded, sending Sakura flying to the ground, and Ino just barely holding on the edge, legs flailing.. Sakura, dazed by the fall, came to her senses and screeched, "Omigod Naruto are you okay!?"

It seemed that the nice young girl he'd been thinking of so much lately had landed on him. It didn't seem to bother him much, though... maybe because his eyes were closed?

"Yes~" he said, and Sakura sighed in relief, before he continued, "I do, in fact, love raspberries..."

"Sakura!!! How many times do I have to ask if you're okay?" Ino yelled from the balcony, having climbed back up onto it. "Are you?"

"Yeah, Ino, I'm fine! Don't worry!" Sakura yelled up, "I'm not sure about Naruto though!"

"What about Naruto?"

"I-" Sakura faltered at this part, red flushing through her cheeks in embarassment. "I- I landed on him, alright?"

"Is he okay?" Ino asked, jumping and landing beside her friend, looking (almost) concerned.

"He's out of it... come on, Ino, let's take him home... Where does he live, again?" Sakura looked to her friend for help, knowing there was almost no chance of Ino knowing.

"Currently, with me, actually. Don't worry, you know it's not far..." The two girls grabbed an arm and a leg, and heaved. They were up, and Naruto, unconscious, was really heavy. Both sighed, and made their way to the Yamanaka house. Sakura, looking guiltily at her fallen teammate, turned her head to Ino and asked, "When he wakes up, could you ask him if I can treat him for ramen tomorrow? Please?"

Ino waved her hand dismissively and smiled. "Of course, Sakura..."

~~~

Pink, blue, blurred together into an insane spiral... Epilogue of a dream... Naruto woke, fully dazed, to Ino pressing a wet cloth to his head, and muttering a string of vioent curses.

"Ino?" he asked, surprised to see her so soon after waking. Where was Sakura-chan? What had happened? Why did he crave raspberries? Where was he? And why waas Ino sitting almost on his head? So many questions...

"Shh... Naruto-kun..." she said, smiling a little. "Sakura-chan's huge forehead squashed you, I'm going to make sure you get better. Now, take your medicine..."

"What medicine?" Naruto's eyes widened in fear. He NEVER had medicine - it supposedly tasted awful. The ones he'd seen in commericals were green and purple and blue...

"Here it is..." Ino said, turned with a strange grin on her face...

...and shoved her whole arm down his throat. "AHHHHHHH!"

~~~

Naruto woke, screaming.

"Took you long enough to wake up, baka..." Ino said, sitting on a couch nearby. He was lying on their couch, it seemed. It had been a dream!

"Ino... what happened?" he turned his head towards her, inquiring with his eyes. Those, Ino took no notice of, and continued.

"Sakura, according to plan, fell right on top of you. You've been K.O'd for the last 2 hours," she stated simply. Naruto sat up, and looked around the nice little living room, decorated by wooden figurines, and paintings of various animals. The two soft brown couches faced eachother, with two chairs completeing the weird circle (of sorts...). Naruto sat up, and stole a quick glance at Ino, who was writing furiously on a notepad.

"Whazzat?" he asked, peeking over. She closed it quickly, and smooshed it under a pillow. Making a grab for it, Naruto fiund himself on the floor with a pain in the back of his head.

"Rule number one: You stay AWAY from my sketch- I mean, notebooks!" she said quickly, glaring at him out of extremely annoyed eyes. Standing and turning her head away from him, she walked from the room quickly, footsteps patting on the hard wood floor.

"Ino?" he called after her, scrabbling to get up and failing miserably.

~~~

"How. Dare. He. Trying to look in these... I should smash his face in, y'know?" Ino sat, facing a small, soft stuffed bunny.She paused for a few seconds, then nodded. "Mmmmmmmmmmmhmm, Bunny-kun, you're right... Peace is good!" She picked up the little bunny and hugged him tight. Then, putting her fuzzy friend down, she peeked at one of the books, flipping through her sketches. She always drew one before she went to bed, and it was pretty much always Sasuke...

"WHAT!?" Ino threw the book to the floor, staringat it in confusion and distaste. "Was I drunk!?"

Although she might pause, for one night, from drawing her beloved Sasuke-kun to sketch someone else, maybe her sensei and/or her teammates, or her parents, there was one person that definately didn't belong with her favourite people. Because, in her tired state, she had drawn a sketch of her new housemate - one that, instaead of focusing on his ugly parts, expanded on them, and, although she hated to say it, the Naruto on the page was a little more pleasing on the eyes than the one in the next room. What had she been thinking?

Shaking her head and picking them up, she thought, 'I'm glad he didn't look in those... How embarassing..." Packing them away in her small pink dresser, locking all three of the padlocks on the drawer, and tossing the keys in their respective hiding places, she looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Throwing oin some pyjama's, and immersing herself in the warm cotton sheets of her bed, was pure bliss to her tired bones.

~~~

Too short? I tried to lengthen it, expand more on Plan like the other chp.s, but I wasdn't sure... I'm moving the Konohamaru scene to next chapter. Expect some expansion on the poorly done Sasuke scene, and the lunch scene! Sorry for the wait!

- Alden-san!

(PS: How long do you think it'll take Ino to figure out Naru's secret?)