Chapter Text
Ino thought there might’ve been a filing issue at the notary's office when she received a letter entitled: Regarding the missed engagement day. It had been a year since the war had ended and Ino finally felt like her heart had recovered. She no longer took daily trips to visit her Father and trade out the barely wilted flowers on his grave. She had taken her job as a nurse in the maternity ward of the local hospital back and even started picking up shifts T&I working under Ibiki. She still wasn’t back on the mission roster but by all accounts she felt pretty good about her life.
The letter seemed inconsequential at first. She briefly glazed over it, decided it might be a mistake and tossed it on top of the growing pile of spam mail on her kitchen counter. It wasn’t until her uncle Santa, who had been dropping off the accounting book of the flower shop, glimpsed at it that it had suddenly taken on an urgent relevance.
“Huh,” he had said while picking up the letter, “what’s this, Ino?”
She had been busy washing some radishes she had intended to pickle as a gift for her grandmother who loved the stuff. She was always in the process of trying to mend their relationship, of repairing whatever mistake she had stumbled upon once more. She wiped down her hands and grabbed the letter back from him. “Nothing, I think they made a mistake or something.”
Santa frowned, “Ino, I think you need to read it.”
“It’s about a missed marital engagement, I’m not engaged.” She rolled her eyes while going to look for the paper knife.
“I think you might want to read it.” He repeated with gravity.
She slit the side of the letter open and pulled out a thin, one-sided piece of paper. Most of it was legal jargon but one sentence stood-out.
This letter is about failure to uphold the agreed upon date for the marriage of YAMANAKA, INO & UCHIHA, SASUKE.
This engagement was confirmed by two parties: UEHARA, NATSUKI & YAMANAKA, INOICHI as well as UCHIHA, MIKOTO & UCHIHA, FUGAKU.
Please come to our office at the date listed below to discuss the engagement and consequences for reneging on it.
For a moment Ino was unsure how to react, she felt like someone had dropped a dumbbell onto her head and left her stunned. She let the piece of paper slip out of her hand and float down to the floor.
“Say, Santa, is this some kind of sick joke.” She whispered as her uncle bent down to pick up the letter.
He took his time reading before nodding pensively, “You know, I had totally forgotten about this.”
“Forgotten!” Ino shouted while snatching the piece of paper out of his hand, “How do you just forget about something like this? What the hell! Please tell me this is some kind of prank.”
“Haha,” her uncle laughed dryly before shaking his head in a decisive manner.
The date of the meeting was set for two days later at noon, Ino would bet her right hand that Sasuke had not read the letter and would not be showing up. I better go and sort this out myself, she grumbled to herself as Santa threw half-hearted platitudes and apologies her way.
<><><>
She got to the notary’s office late, her shift at the flower shop had ended up being much more chaotic than she had expected with a bunch of orders suddenly coming in at eleven. She had handed off the work to one of her cousins and rushed to the office the moment she had an opening. It was a one story building made of bright blue wooden planks with rather tacky curtains covering the windows surrounding the front door. Ino hastily knocked on the door while checking her face in the reflection and brushing back some stray strands of hair.
A stout middle aged man with a slightly receding hair-line that he seemed to be trying to hide by brushing his hair forward cracked the door open and smiled. “Ino-san, we were waiting for you.”
“We?” She blinked as she followed him in, don’t tell me he’s actually showed up.
The man, who she assumed to be the notary, led her to a small room past the lobby. Sitting on one of the unstable plastic chairs in the room was Uchiha Sasuke, he was wearing a longer-sleeved shirt with one sleeve tied where his arm was missing. No way, Ino thought to herself as the notary pushed the other chair out for her and took a seat behind the desk.
“I’m glad that you both made it.” The notary said as he removed a large dossier from behind his desk. “I was worried when I received no answer to my letter, It was marked as R.S.V.P, you know?”
Ino muttered a small apology while Sasuke stayed still in his chair. Is he dead or something ? The notary took a moment removing some sheets from the dossier, before handing them both an identical, blank form.
“Right, this is the annulment form.” The notary said, “judging by the lack of planning I saw on your part for the wedding, am I to assume that you were not informed of the engagement by your parents?”
They nodded in tandem. Sasuke shifted slightly in his chair, he still hadn’t looked at her. Ino looked around for a pen, better to throw this whole thing under the desk before news got to any of their former classmates, she wouldn't be able to stand the ridicule that would come with it. Sasuke reached over the desk and grabbed two pens, he placed one on the table and handed the other to her
“Before you sign the annulment.” The notary made a quick motion to get them to stop writing, “I think you should be aware of the consequences that will entail.”
Ino stopped penning in her name, “Consequences? Why would there be any consequences?”
The notary cleared his throat, “there’s a bit of a history behind this, if you would allow me to explain. During the early days of Konoha, there was a bit of a problem with fake engagements. Different clans would promise engagements from one of their daughters to multiple other people, wait for the betrothal gifts to come in and then go with the one that pleased them the most. This became the source of quite a bit of conflicts as such Nidaime-sama came up with a solution. He imposed a heavy fine for annulment of engagements and some guidelines for possibility of divorce once the marriage did happen.”
“How much is this fine?” Sasuke sounded slightly annoyed.
“Well, you see...” The notary laughed nervously before writing a sum on a piece of paper and sliding it towards them. Ino felt her heart sink as she took in the exaggerated amount of zero’s on the paper. You’re kidding, she thought as she tried to suppress her internal panic, I’d have to put a second mortgage on the shop to afford this. “Oh and that is the sum per person.” The notary clarified unhelpfully.
“Can Ino and I speak privately for a moment, I think we need to consider our options.” Sasuke set his pen down.
The notary quickly bowed out of the room leaving Ino to have the awkward conversation on all her lonesome. It would probably be better to bite the bullet quickly and admit her lack of funds outright. Maybe he would take mercy on her and offer to pay the fine for her.
“Sasuke, I don’t think I can afford this fine.” She muttered as he said, “I don’t think I want to give Konoha that amount of my clan’s funds.”
“Oh,” she blinked, feeling a mix of confusion and relief flood her brain. “Wait- Are you saying...”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “I just know that I’m giving Konoha that amount of money over my dead body.”
That made sense, she supposed, Ino had been sleepwalking during Sasuke’s trial, her father’s passing and the responsibilities suddenly hoisted onto her felt heavy. But she had heard rumors about some unpleasantness between him and the elders.
She groaned while massaging her brow. This situation was about to turn into a massive headache, she could feel it. “Should we at least learn what conditions need to be met for a divorce before we make a decision.”
Sasuke stared at the sum for a long second before nodding, “It can’t be that bad.”
The notary seemed entirely too pleased with himself as he marched into the room ready to read them their rights. He pulled a dramatic looking scroll from his desk, and slid it open in one movement.
“Such are the conditions that need to be met before a divorce between the two parties can be agreed. The married couple must: a) Be married for no less than a year, b) live within the same residence, including sharing the same room, c) any time taken for missions or trips outside the village will not be considered for the time limit of one year, d) both parties must attest a valid reason for the divorce, e) in the event that one party is found to be abusing the other, with significant proof, the marriage can be annulled. Note that this will lead to a prosecution against the offender. Under the event that the couple has fulfilled all these requirements, they may be eligible for a divorce.”
Ino was glad she didn’t suffer from low blood pressure at that moment or she would’ve fainted on the spot. One year, she didn’t dare look to see how Sasuke was reacting, an entire year, they have to be kidding.
“This is part of the reason formal engagements have fallen out of fashion.” The notary laughed, “I take it, you'll pay the sum now?”
There’s no way he’ll agree to this, Ino thought as she started mentally tallying all of the assets she had on hand.
“No.” Sasuke said sternly, “We’ll do it. Right, Ino?”
Ino shifted to look at him, her heart picking up a few paces. “Yeah,” she tried to sound confident, “I am not paying this extravagant sum, not in my life.”
“Really,” it was the notary’s turn to look surprised, “well, then I guess I should ask, when’s the wedding?”
<><><>
It had been meant to be an unimportant affair, they had talked of going to the courthouse and dealing with it there. Cups would be exchanged, papers signed, nothing that would require more than a few hours. That plan had been single-handedly shattered by Ino’s Grandmother, who had gone on a long and drawn out spiel about the importance of marriage. Sasuke had stopped listening about half-way through, only tuning back in when Ino tugged at his sleeve and asked if he would be alright with a small event at the Yamanaka clan’s gardens instead.
It had fallen out of Ino’s hands at that point too and they found themselves dragged by a swarm of cousins and in-laws. The small, unnoteworthy wedding had morphed into a medium-scaled event involving fifty people or so.
Sasuke felt pretty tuned out of the whole thing. He was content enough with going along with it so long as he didn’t have to actually take care of anything. The day had snuck up on him faster than he had expected. He checked his reflection in the mirror once more, running his hand on the fan embroidered on the side of the haori. Most of Ino’s clan had been invited to the affair, along with a few of their former classmates. The moment Kakashi had heard of the affair, he had insisted on receiving an invitation despite Sasuke insisting it wasn’t even a real wedding.
He checked the clock, he had been told to get to the site before Ino. He slipped out of the small storage room, ignoring the gawking of the guests and stopping at the edge of the stone path leading to the makeshift shrine that had been set up. The venue was beautiful, that much he could admit. The Yamanaka clearly took great pride in their garden, flowers of various shapes and sizes adorned the ground in dazzling mazes.
Ino stepped up to him a few moments later, she was wearing a pearl-white kimono but had opted for a tsunokakushi headdress. She stopped next to him, bowing slightly before starting her way down the stone path. Sasuke met her step, not meeting the eyes of anyone in the crowd as he brushed up next to her.
The rest of the ceremony was a blur, cups of sake were drunk, gifts were given and well wishes were exchanged. It wasn’t until they were sitting in the main greenhouse that had been prepared for the reception that the magnitude of what had happened sunk in. They had both agreed that neither of them would take the other's name and that Ino would move to the house he had bought for himself near the outskirts of Konoha. But this was...
This was something they wanted for me, he considered as he watched Ino exchange a few hushed words with her teammates before walking back up the dais to sit next to him. His parents had left nothing but ghosts behind. No written instruction on how to conduct his life, no heartfelt letter telling him that they would be watching. It had been a sudden severing, forced on by the village and his brother’s conviction. But this had been something they had planned for him. He just didn’t know why and he likely never would. He had hoped that Ino would be able to provide more context but she was equally clueless.
“Are you feeling alright?” Ino asked from beside him, she had changed into a lighter kimono with a purple body and embroidery depicting flowers of a similar shade to a sunset. “You look pensive?”
“Do I?” He had come to notice that she was rather observant. “I’m just thinking about why they would’ve wanted this for us.”
“I don’t know your parents, so I can’t make any guesses for them.” She took a sip of sake, “but I think I know why mine did.”
He inclined her head for her to continue, better to have a valid excuse for ignoring the pleading looks being sent to him by Naruto and Sakura. He hadn’t been planning on inviting either of them but Kakashi had ended up dragging them along.
“You probably don’t know this about me, or maybe you do.” She winced, “the rumors were quite nasty at times. Anyways, my mother was a courtesan.”
“A courtesan?” He repeated, he hadn’t known that but then again he had never paid much attention to her.
“She worked for a very well regarded house in the northern parts of the land of fire.” Ino nodded, “when she found out she was pregnant with me... well. My father was just a client but she had a sense that he had some kind of honor to him. That he would take care of us. My parents didn’t stay together for long, my mother left Konoha as soon as she was certain I’d be fine. I feel like one of the assurances she might’ve made would’ve been to guarantee a good match for me.”
It was a sound enough story, except for. “My family wasn’t well regarded at the time. If your mother wanted to keep you safe, why would she choose a clan whose loyalty was being questioned.”
“You were strong,” Ino shrugged, “or maybe she thought your prestige would pull through. I don’t know.”
“Could you ask her about it?” He said as he picked at a piece of fish, he didn’t want to seem desperate but any piece of information about his parents was welcome. “She must’ve had some meetings with my parents, they must’ve given a reason.”
“I could,” Ino seemed nervous all of a sudden, “I’d have to track her down first. I thought of inviting her for this but it- it felt so silly.”
“We could go find her together, if you’d like.” If it was an excuse to leave Konoha, Sasuke would take it.
“Would that count towards the one year limit?”
“I have no idea, how do you think they keep track of that anyway or of us staying in the same room...”
<><><>
Ino ended up just sending a letter to her Mother, it seemed easier then going trekking through the countryside to find her. It would go through her Mother’s network of connections and eventually land in her hands, she had friends all throughout the land of fire. Despite the complete upheaval of her life that this was going to be, Ino supposed she could be worse off. Sasuke’s place had proved to be nice, it was a rather traditional house but most of the room’s were large with a lot of natural light. The style itself was a bit minimalist for Ino, most of the furniture felt like the bare minimum but the sizable backyard more than made up for it.
She removed the sea bass from its packaging and gave it a quick rinse before getting started on taking it apart. Her week had been filled with movement. First she had to drag all of her stuff from her apartment to the house. Then she had ended up getting a triple shift in the middle of the week which had kept her at the hospital for forty-eight hours. The day-off had come as a long awaited welcome.
She grabbed a knife and scrapped against the scales of the fish, quickly getting as many off as she could.
Sasuke himself had left early in the morning as he often did. They shared the same room on the second floor, their sleeping mats kept six feet apart from each other. The first night had been dreadfully awkward, she had been afraid to even shift over but it got less worse with each night.
She pulled out a filet knife from the drawer and started preparing herself for an intense fileting session when the backdoor slid open. Sasuke entered quietly, kicking his sandals off before stepping up towards her. He was wearing a tank-top that looked almost soaked in sweat, there was a small cut on the side of his cheek.
“Hey.” She said quietly as he grabbed a cup from the cupboard and poured himself a glass of water.
“What are you making?” He stated bluntly, as he always did.
“They had sea bass at the market,” she turned back to her fish, its dead eyes staring at her expectantly. “I figured I’d pair it with some rice and a salad, something light.”
“Sounds nice.”
“Do you want some?” She asked hesitantly, they had only eaten together once so far, it had been a rather silent affair. “Honestly, this is way too much for one person.”
He nodded, about to say something when the radio crackled loudly, the sound of static taking on a louder sound.
Ino quickly reached over the counter to turn it off, “Forgot that was on.”
He frowned, “why did you leave it between channels?”
“Uhh,” She scrambled for an explanation that didn’t make her sound like she’d lost a few screws. The truth was that the first thing she had done when getting to house was string up the radio to the longer transmitter satellite she had spotted on the roof. It was a small Yamanaka clan trick when it came to attempting long distance mind transmissions. Hearing the signals that were sent off in the direction the person you wanted to talk to made it easier to tune in, so to speak. Her mother tended to travel a lot, so Ino had gotten into the habit of listening in to the regions she was in.
Maybe the truth was best, “My mom got back to me yesterday, she’s staying near the land of waterfalls. I sort of... the radios tuned in to longer distance signals so I can reach transmission from all over there.”
“You realize the radio has no mic, right?” He grabbed a sponge, and quickly wiped down the glass sitting in the sink.
“Yes,” Ino resisted the urge to roll her eyes, “I’m not using it for that. My clan jutsu is easier if I already know how the signals reaching the region I want feel like. They have very distinct but subtle chakra patterns.”
Sasuke looked at her incredulously.
“I swear, I know it sounds a bit... out of it. But it really does work that way.”
“Whatever you say,” he shrugged, “what did your mother’s letter say?”
“Oh,” Ino went to grab it from the counter, “Not much, she pretty much ignored my question.” It was typical of her, Ino hadn’t been expecting much of anything concrete, her Mom always went off on tangents. “I’m going to use other means to contact her to actually get an answer.”
She freed the small picture her Mother had included in the letter. It depicted two young women posing in front of a well laid out table. Her mother was easy to recognize, her dark hair was combed up into a bun with an intricate amount of golden jewelry in it. She was wearing a heavy amount of makeup, her kimono was of a deep red color with embroidery depicting birds taking flight. Ino didn’t recognize the other woman, she had long black hair with shorter bangs framing her face. Her dark eyes had a kind quality to them as though she was the sort of person you could entrust anything to. She wore a simple set of traveling clothes, a long gray cloak with the hilt of a sword just slightly peeking out of it.
Ino handed the picture to Sasuke, “She did send this with the letter. The woman in the kimono is my Mom but I don’t know who the other one is?”
Sasuke stared intently at the picture, his eyes flicking over it from edge to edge as though he was trying to memorize it.
“So do you-”
“My mother.” He interrupted her, “the other woman I mean, that’s my Mother.”
Ino leaned over his shoulder to get a second look. She does look like him, she considered as she noticed the slight tremor in Sasuke’s hand.
“I doubt she was a client,” Ino said as she leaned away once more and walked back to the counter, “the house sometimes hired mercenaries when they had to deal with problematic customers, so she was probably there for that.”
“My mother wasn’t a shinobi for very long.” Sasuke set the picture on the countertop, “but it’s possible.”
“One possibility,” Ino said as she slid her knife against the fish’s ribs and freed one of the filets. “Is that they got close while your Mother worked as a guard there. Then, once my Mother made it to Konoha, she reached out to your Mother once more. She proposed a marriage between the two of us because she wanted me to be safe.”
Sasuke nodded, “it makes sense from your Mother’s side but not mine. Why would she accept something like this...”
He went silent and Ino took it as her chance to finish fileting the fish. She threw what she didn’t need into a plastic bag and tossed it into a freezer; it would be useful to make a stock later. When she turned back to ask Sasuke when he’d like to eat she immediately looked away upon noticing he had thrown off his shirt and was holding it in one hand.
Oh that is just unfair, she sighed to herself as she looked at him through her side eye. Sasuke was, to her ever growing despair, still exactly her type. If she had to endure one year of a sham marriage, could it not have been to someone who was a little less breathtaking. It would’ve been easier to bear in a way.
“I’m going to take a shower.” He walked towards the stairs, not looking back at her.
“Ah sure.” Ino watched him leave before quickly tapping her cheeks to try and bring down her blush. So unfair.
<><><>
Sasuke heard the sound of Ino cursing for the umpteenth time in the last hour. The sink in the restroom had a leaky faucet and she had declared she would fix it in no time. She had been at it for over three hours at this point, Sasuke had had time to go grocery shopping to the other side of Konoha to find what he was looking for. He grabbed the basket of apples using his waist as a resting point and hauling it into the sink. He went to turn on the sink and start washing them when he heard the sound of something metal hitting the floor and Ino let out a small yelp.
He stepped back from the sink to go check on her, it might be time to get her to admit defeat and call a plumber. He slid the door open and leaned his head in to get a good look at the scene. Ino was laying in a large puddle of water right under the bathroom sink, her clothes were completely soaked through. She was rubbing her right hand over a bump on her forehead while her other hand flopped around no doubt looking for the wrench that was a few feet away from her. He kicked the wrench towards her while reaching over her head to turn off the water which had been adding volume to the puddle.
“I can call a plumber.” He offered, “it won’t take much time.”
“No,” Ino said stubbornly as she sat up and grabbed the wrench, “they always overcharge, and I’ve fixed things like this before.”
“Uh huh.”
“You don’t believe in me, but I do. I’ll have this fixed, it’s just being stubborn.”
“You’re waterlogging the bathroom.”
“It’s ceramic.” She placed the wrench around one of the valves and tightened it some more. “And good ceramic too, I mean how much did this house even cost you? Everything here is in really good shape.”
“Except for the faucet.” He remarked, “don’t worry about the price.” He had chosen the house because it was far from the center of Konoha, he needed the distance to stay sane.
“I’m not,” she answered as she pulled herself to her feet, “I signed that prenup didn’t I? I was just saying you choose a nice home.”
Ino had slowly warmed up to him as the weeks they spent together stretched on. At the start she had barely exchanged two words with him and would walk out of a room he set a foot in. Now though, they ate supper together most nights, though that was mostly because Ino was a far better cook than him. She also proved to be a valuable social buffer, comfortably thwarting any attempts for him to get dragged off into a social gathering he didn’t want to go to and making excuses for him any time he asked her. Overall, his parents could have chosen someone much worse for him.
“Is steak good for tonight?” He asked as Ino unscrewed the faucet.
“Steak!” She exclaimed, “what’s the event?”
Your birthday, he didn’t say, “just felt like it.” He said as he walked back out of the bathroom, “if you’re not done fixing that by tonight I’m calling a handyman.”
She didn’t answer, her attention already pulled away by the faucet coming apart in her hands.
Sasuke turned back to his basket, grabbing each apple and letting the water run over them before setting them down a blanket. The greatest boon he had found when he had returned to Konoha was his mother’s cookbook. It had been tucked in a forgotten corner of the house, collecting dust all on its own. It was more of a scrapbook than anything else, countless recipes cut up from magazines or painstakingly handwritten. She had also included small anecdotes, usually notes about what they had said about what she had cooked. Sasuke liked the pickled marlin but Itachi turned his nose up to it. Or. Fugaku really enjoyed this version of fried rice, I need to make it for him again. He had spent more than a few nights tucked over the book, trying to recall a bit of her warmth from the words she had penned.
The recipe for the apple cake had been one of the last ones she had added to the book. The only note attached to it was that she had gotten the recipe from her friend Natsuki. The name hadn’t meant anything to him the first time he’d read it, it wasn’t until he had read the engagement agreement that it had clicked. His mother had had connections outside their clan, and one of them was still alive. He felt slightly desperate, clinging to any piece of remembrance he could. But he had never heard much of what his Mother was like in her younger years and if this woman knew... It wasn't a chance he could pass on.
He let the apples rest there for a moment, going to grab the rest of the ingredients from the cupboard when he heard a knock at the front door.
What is it this time? He thought as he went to answer it, he had been avoiding most of everyone in team seven apart from Naruto who dragged him out for training on most days. He couldn’t think of anyone who would show up at this hour.
“Yo.” Kakashi raised his hand as Sasuke opened the door, “you busy.”
“Kakashi.” Sasuke said dryly, “what are you doing here?”
“Can’t I check in on one of my precious students.” His former teacher’s eyes wrinkled as he let himself in, “where’s your better half?”
“Don’t call her that.” Sasuke rolled his eyes, “she’s fixing the faucet, why are you here?”
“Making her do manual work, Sasuke? Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh.”
“I’m not making her do anything.” Was he just here to be a nuisance, Sasuke thought as he slammed the door shut behind him. “Can you answer my question?”
“Ah, I’m here to talk to Ino.”
“Why?”
“Touchy.” Kakashi looked around, “I have a question to ask her, that's all. I also wanted to see how you two were doing.”
“We’re fine.” Sasuke said as he went to get Ino, it was better to get this all over with quickly.
“Hokage-sama.” Ino leaped out of the room, her face looked slightly flushed, “why are you here?”
“I have some questions to ask you,” Kakashi pulled out one of the benches under the counter and sat down, “it’s about the prisoner you interrogated yesterday.”
“Huh, Takahashi-san?” Ino leaned over the counter, slightly shifting as Sasuke walked around her to grab the slicer he had bought for the apples.
“Could this not wait?” He asked as he handed Ino a towel to dry her hair on the way.
“It won’t take long,” Kakashi answered, “Ibiki-san was telling me you used an unorthodox method to get him to talk, that you said we’d pay for his sister’s ransom.”
Ino blinked, “well, I don’t know If I’d call it unorthodox, it’s a pretty common negotiation strategy. Takahashi-san worked with the bandits not by choice but to protect his sister who had been abducted by them. If we find the means to free his sister, then he’ll no longer feel obliged to cooperate with them and will tell us what we need to know.”
“And he confirmed the location of the hideout?”
“I sent my report this morning, Kakashi-sama. All you had to do was read it.”
“Mah, I get so many reports you know.” Kakashi waved his arm in a dismissive manner, “why didn’t you read his mind instead, wouldn’t it have been easier to get accurate information.”
Sasuke watched out of the corner of his eyes as Ino frowned and crossed her arms, “do you doubt the information I gave you?”
“No, no.” Kakashi shook his head, “I just want to know why?”
“It’s a very invasive technique, I avoid using it when I don’t need to.” Ino answered, “We only needed information on the hideout location to launch a strike, so I didn’t find it necessary.”
“Hmm,” Kakashi nodded, “so we have the information we need, I suppose we won’t have to pay the ransom then-”
“That’s a terrible idea.” Sasuke cut in.
“Hmm, was I talking to you Sasuke?” Kakashi pointedly starred as Ino said, “no he’s right, Kakashi-sama. If we start reneging on our promises, no one will trust us and it will make our job of deciphering the truth all the more harder at T&I.”
“Correct.” Kakashi snapped his fingers and pointed at her.
“Is this some kind of test?” Ino tapped her finger on the countertop.
“In a sense, Ibiki-san wants to retire and we need a suitable replacement for him.”
“I’m not a stand-in for my father.”
“I didn’t say you were.” Kakashi stood up, “just something to keep in mind, Ino. On that note, what are you cooking, Sasuke? Anything your old sensei could try.”
“If you’re done talking to Ino you can leave.” Sasuke didn’t look up at him as he centered the apple slicer over the fruit and slammed it down.
“Mah, you’re so cold.” Kakashi sighed.
“Sorry Hokage-sama.” Ino smiled as she went to grab Kakashi’s arm and lead him to the door, “we only have enough food for the two of us, why don’t we plan something at a later time.”
“If you say so, I’ll leave you two to it.” Kakashi said placidly before waving as Ino shut the door behind him.
“Do you have a reason for avoiding Kakashi?” Ino asked as Sasuke quickly worked his way through the apples.
“Who says I’m avoiding him?”
“Sasuke, really.” Ino shook her head, “I always hear him complaining about how you keep finding excuses not to talk to him. So what’s up?”
“I just don’t like him butting into my business that’s all. Frankly, we don’t have any reason to talk to each other.”
“Huh.” She stared at him incredulously but dropped the subject to his relief, “what are you making anyway?”
“A cake.” He slid the cookbook in her direction before turning his attention back to slicing the apples.
“Oh, I used to eat this all the time when I was younger, you know. It was a favorite of the cook at the house.” Ino’s voice had an almost sad sound to it, “what made you want to make it.”
“Isn’t it your birthday tomorrow?” He answered, “I figured we could have supper together to celebrate it since I don’t really want to go to the larger party you mentioned.”
“You’re-” Her eyes were wide and for a moment Sasuke thought she might try to hug him. “You’re making this for me?”
“Well...” He wasn’t sure how to phrase it, how to articulate how he felt. They had only been together for around two months and yet she had quickly become a stabilizing presence in his life. Something constant that didn’t ask much of him. It felt weirdly nice to have someone who he could count on seeing at the end of the day. Someone who didn’t stare at him and expect some proclamation of personal guilt about what he’d done when he didn’t feel any at all. “I just thought it would be nice and all.”
“It is.” She nodded while looking away, he saw a strange glint in her eyes. “Thank you, really, this is... this is something.”