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Hyuuga Hinata fidgeted in place, uncomfortably aware of the faint tingling in her cheeks. Gulping nervously, she valiantly staved off the urge to flee into the street and wondered regretfully about her choice in romantic confidants. This hadn’t been quite what she had in mind when she came to the Yamanaka flower shop that day.
“... you have to remember that men are visual creatures, Hinata. No man can resist the charms of a sexy woman. So for pity’s sakes, loosen up that wardrobe and show a little skin! You can’t afford to be shy about it!”
Breaking off from her impromptu lecture, Ino cast an appraising eye over her would-be pupil’s attire and frowned. What in the world was Hinata thinking, wearing full-length leggings, long sleeves and a jacket on a hot summer day? It was high time someone introduced her to the world of sleeveless tops and mini-skirts - or simple hair ties at the very least. How could she stand hiding under that veil of long, black hair in such oppressive weather? She would have such a cute figure, if she just tried a little harder...
While Ino was thus distracted, Hinata seized the opportunity and bravely tried again.
“B-but Ino,” she stammered, compulsively pressing her fingertips together. “I wasn’t thinking about what kind of clothes I should wear. I was only wondering what, er, what signs to look for so that I can tell... can tell...” Hinata paused, feeling her heart flutter as the face of a certain notorious blue-eyed, hyperactive blond came to mind. “...if h-he notices me.”
Ino brushed her off with a wave of her hand.
“Honestly, Hinata. It’s not about figuring him out - it’s about getting what you want! And to do that, you have to be very blunt about how you go about dealing with men.” Nodding her head with supreme self-assurance, Ino leaned in and raised a finger emphatically. “Look, the secret to attracting any guy you want is confidence. Be sexy, be flirtatious, be irresistible; in short, make him notice you - and then even the most clueless boy will be putty in your hands!”
“Um, I don’t know...”
Mistaking the stupefied look on Hinata’s face for skepticism, Ino scowled. Of course she was right about this - she just had to prove it. Casting around for an idea, she chanced to look out the shop’s entryway when her eyes landed on the unlikely form of Shikamaru, hard at work under the blazing sun. He was crouching on the stone patio, wearing a particularly grim expression as he patched up some odd thing Inoichi had assigned to him. Ino immediately knew the reason for Shikamaru’s annoyance: he hated manual labor, especially in warm weather - but it was probably also indignity at having been “loaned out” against his will for some stupid wager their fathers had made. Seriously, young or old, men acted so incredibly foolish sometimes...
Ino suddenly smiled.
And isn’t it just my luck to have been granted one of the most clueless boys in all of Konoha as a teammate?
“Hinata, as a special favor, today I’m going to instruct you on the fine art of seducing a boy,” announced Ino as she stood up from the stool. “Just sit back and watch.”
Hinata’s pale cheeks quickly turned crimson in response. “Se-seducing?” she squeaked, watching Ino give herself a quick primping. Then with a toss of her long ponytail, she began to walk towards the entrance, her gait transforming into a slinky strut. Hinata trembled, frozen atop her stool as she stared after Ino. Now this definitely hadn’t been what she had in mind at all.
Oh dear, she thought nervously as she pressed a hand to her lips. What should I do...?
The bell tinkled. Hinata swallowed a gulp, thinking fast as her eyes shot furtively around the empty store. Then, very cautiously, she craned her neck forward, straining for a better look.
From her vantage point, Hinata saw Ino sidling up to Shikamaru, who was tiredly pounding away on a wooden crate. She came to a halt next to him, slightly behind and off to the side, but still just within his peripheral vision. Then with an air of great interest in what he was doing, she leaned in over his shoulder and stood still, twisting a finger playfully through her hair while waiting expectantly for him to notice her.
Several minutes passed.
When at last it became blatantly obvious that Shikamaru was not to be distracted, Ino dropped her hand and began to tap her foot in irritation. After another fruitless minute, Ino’s left brow began to twitch and she suddenly raised a clenched fist. Hinata wondered if she was getting ready to punch Shikamaru - but no, it looked like she was only clearing her throat...
Ah, he finally noticed, thought Hinata as she saw Shikamaru pause in his work. But instead of looking up at Ino as she expected, he merely rotated the crate onto its side and promptly began hammering again. At this, Ino dropped all pretense of coquettishness. She abruptly bent over and shouted something in his ear.
The pounding stopped. Shikamaru was rubbing the right side of his head in a gesture of long-suffering annoyance. To Hinata’s amazement, however, he still didn’t turn to face Ino, but he did appear to be saying something to her...
Ino’s irritated expression turned into one of bewilderment. Then with an angry pout, she turned around and walked over to the tool box, seizing a jar of nails from within. Returning to Shikamaru, she silently handed them over. He took them without a glance and immediately began to work again, not noticing Ino stomping away.
Hinata shifted nervously as Ino re-entered the shop. She looked extremely put out - to an alarming degree, actually. Hinata could almost see the fiery bands of anger starting to form around her.
“Clueless moron,” she muttered darkly.
“Um, I think he was just too busy working to really notice you,” Hinata said kindly, hoping to quell the impending storm.
A look of comprehension dawned on Ino’s face, and she instantly brightened. “You know, you’re right - that jerk never did once look up at me! The lazy idiot...”
But even as she heaped more abuse on him, Ino appeared quite cheerful. Then to Hinata’s bafflement, she reached up and undid the tie holding up her ponytail. A cascade of silvery-blonde hair swept about her face, and Ino gave it a graceful shake as she began to head back towards the door.
“Er, Ino, m-maybe you shouldn’t bother him right now...” said Hinata helplessly as she sashayed outside.
At first Hinata thought Ino’s second approach was going to wind up a copy of the first, but this time she didn’t try to subtly catch Shikamaru’s attention. She glided directly into his line of sight, and when it appeared he again wouldn’t acknowledge her, she brazenly extended one long leg and knocked the crate out of his hand. Then she flashed a tiny, triumphant grin as Shikamaru’s head immediately jerked up to stare at her.
Watching Shikamaru’s reaction, Hinata frowned in puzzlement. Although Ino was now saying something, she had the distinct impression that Shikamaru wasn’t even listening. Instead he appeared to be examining her hair, and his entire countenance rapidly switched from flat annoyance into deep confusion. His brows creased, and Hinata couldn’t help wondering if he wasn’t performing his own brand of the Byakugan - his gaze was so piercing...
Then Shikamaru abruptly crossed his arms and began speaking in return. Hinata guessed that he had probably said something sarcastic, given Ino’s miffed reaction and the way she self-consciously brushed back her hair. But then as he looked away to reach for the crate, Ino, smiling vengefully, quickly stretched out and snapped off his hair tie. Shikamaru jerked upright again as the mass of black hair fell messily down to his shoulders.
Hinata blinked. She realized she had never seen Shikamaru sans his ponytail and was curious to know what his face looked like, but unfortunately from her angle the hair was obscuring his features. Ino, however, had a direct view, and it appeared that she had never seen this before either. Her blue eyes suddenly went wide and her mouth parted in a startled “oh!” as she gaped back at him.
Unmindful of this, Shikamaru reached out and angrily tugged the tie away from Ino. He swept his hair back into its usual style, his mouth all the while moving in a ceaseless string of complaints - but Hinata was certain that Ino didn’t hear a single word of it. Her face had gone slack and she seemed oddly flushed. And it was only when Shikamaru turned away to resume his work that Ino came to with a little snap of her head, and slowly began to weave her way back into the shop.
Hinata stood up as the bell tinkled. She felt a sense of unease settling over her - the utterly dazed, unfocused look in Ino's eyes made her seem like a complete stranger. Searching frantically for a means to offer relief, she spied the two iced glasses that Mrs. Yamanaka had thoughtfully provided at the start of her visit. “W-would you like some tea?” she asked carefully. “It’s, um, really calming... especially in hot weather.”
“Hot,” mumbled Ino distractedly as she drifted past Hinata and through the doorway leading into the Yamanaka household. “Yes… I’m feeling very hot right now...”
Disconcerted, Hinata wondered if she should attempt to follow after Ino or perhaps just quietly leave. After several indecisive minutes spent wringing her hands as Ino failed to reappear, she at last settled on politely finishing her glass of tea before leaving, and hoped that Mrs. Yamanaka would reappear so that she could at least bid her a proper thanks and farewell. This plan in mind, it was as she was lifting the glass to her lips that Hinata heard footsteps approaching from behind. Thinking it was Mrs. Yamanaka, she gratefully swung around.
She almost choked on the tea. Ino was standing there, clad in shockingly tight shorts and a bikini top so skimpy it was barely more than a glorified string. The glassy-eyed look was gone from her eyes, replaced instead by a blazing blue fire, and Ino swept into the shop with a determined air.
"I-ino," sputtered Hinata as she nearly lost her grip on the glass. She could tell that her face had turned a bright red. "Your… y-your clothes!"
"What about them?" asked Ino absently as she began to fuss with the bikini top’s straps. She sounded unusually flustered.
Hinata gulped. Unable to bring herself to bluntly say 'you're practically naked!', she hedged for something more discreet.
"You could get a sunburn in this kind of weather," she said carefully. "And Shikamaru… Shikamaru…" Hinata racked her mind for the right words but fumbled badly. "Doesn't he, um, look really warm already, with all that p-pounding and everything…?"
Ino stared uncomprehendingly at Hinata. Then her eyes fell on the glass Hinata still had clutched in her hand. "Right, tea," she muttered knowingly to herself. "That's perfect; he'll like that…"
Picking up the second glass, Ino squared her shoulders and marched off. Feeling wrong-footed, Hinata was left fretting in silent agitation until she saw Ino halting briefly in the doorway. She watched, baffled, as Ino gave herself a faint shake as if she was making some peculiar internal adjustment, and then she was gracefully traipsing out onto the patio.
An unexpected flash of perception struck Hinata. I can't believe it - she's actually nervous! Strangely, this knowledge made her feel much better. If even someone as confident as Ino could get that flustered over a guy and still have the courage to approach him, then maybe…
Moving to get a better view, Hinata was just in time to see Ino approaching Shikamaru from behind, that air of cool self-assurance firmly in place. She was the picture of alluring poise and sexy seductiveness as she closed in on her oblivious victim - right up until the moment she tripped, sending the glass pouring its contents directly down his startled back. Hinata gasped as Ino froze on the spot, her body rigid with shock and mortification.
Shikamaru dropped the hammer and slowly got to his feet. Without ceremony, he tiredly pulled off the mesh shirt, exposing his bare back to Hinata’s startled gaze. Bunching the material, he ran it over his arms and torso like a towel before tossing it aside. At last he looked around wearily at Ino, about to say something, but the sight of his nubile teammate stopped him cold. Gawking at her, his mouth fell open. For a second, Hinata thought she saw him forming the word Ino? - but then Shikamaru’s face disappeared in a blonde blur as Ino suddenly launched herself at him, knocking them both to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
Though the blood rushing through her face was making her a touch light-headed, Hinata couldn’t tear her eyes away from the scene unfolding before her. Ino had wrapped her lithe body around Shikamaru’s and was intent on performing a highly erotic version of CPR on his apparently inert form. Hinata thought that perhaps he was simply too stunned to do anything - but then she spotted his hands snaking up her waist, and in a flash he had rolled Ino onto her back and was proceeding to give her a thorough probing of his own...
The crack of a door slamming violently behind her caused Hinata to nearly jump out of her skin. She whirled around to see that Mr. Yamanaka, drawn by whatever parental sixth sense tied him to his daughter, had now entered the shop. There was a faintly maniacal glint in his eyes as he stalked past Hinata, only pausing to pick up a bucket of water on his path towards the entryway. Then just as unexpectedly Mrs. Yamanaka appeared, no doubt summoned by her own mysterious ability to detect spousal trouble, and hurried past wearing a harassed expression.
The bells clanged. Hinata heard Mrs. Yamanaka cry out, “No, Inoichi!” and then came the sound of water splashing loudly over pavement. It was immediately followed by a set of surprised shrieks and yells, and then there was an eruption of shouting that was too confused to clearly discern from within the walls of the shop. Hinata had no interest in eavesdropping any further into these private family matters, however. Slipping out of the jacket, she smoothed down the pretty top she was wearing underneath. Then as she gingerly ran a hand through her hair, she headed towards the shop’s back exit wearing a sunny, hopeful smile.
I wonder if Naruto-kun would like some tea today...