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A Season of Malcontent	By : katsuyo Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1400 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Disclaimer: I don�t own Naruto.
It�s sad but true. Don�t hound me for cash � I have none.
I need to go work on the
next chapter� enjoy my pretties. If you wish to leave a review, that�s great.
I�m always interested in hearing your opinion.
A sentence in Italics denotes the private thoughts of
a character � sorry for the confusion.
Author�s note
This is the second
chapter.
Kankuro is being very, very naughty but Ino has an axe to grind with the big, bad puppeteer.
Occasional bad language
and suggestions of sexual nature are mentioned.
If the thought of this
makes your eyeballs fall out � turn away now�
Flower Meanings:
Orchid � Love, Beauty,
Refinement, Beautiful lady, Chinese symbol for many children.
Tulip (variegated) �
Beautiful eyes
(courtesy
of 1-800 florals website)
Round Two: Hell have no fury�
One week later
Ino cursed under her breath. In her
hands were the remains of what used to be a beautiful and very fragile orchid.
The blonde kuniochi sighed and scanned the shop for a
place to stash her new victim. Her parents would be pissed at her if they found
out that she had mangled a small fortune in flowers this week. Well � they
would be more upset about the orchids� they were hard to get this time
of the year. It was a good thing that she had only destroyed just two so far.
She spied a suitable
location to bury the remains and sighed despondently. Ino
knew what or rather who was behind her mass floral homicide.
Damn that man!
Ino stalked back behind the counter
and stared broodingly out the store window. She was still mad at the puppeteer.
The blonde kuniochi had been keeping a low profile
since the incident in the restaurant but she knew that�s all everyone
had been talking about this week� that kiss!
Ino tolerated the more curious of the
gossip mongers who had drifted into the shop, only because she sold more
flowers.
If she was truly honest
about it, the reason she wanted to inflict intense pain on the sand shinobi was because she was affected by him.
Ino refused to acknowledge out loud,
least of all to herself that the touch of Kankuro�s
lips on her hand had sent little shocks up and down her spine.
It was so
unexpected and so unfair! Why should she feel an attraction to him
of all men?
Ino sighed again and reached out for
another orchid but then stopped. She looked down at her hand and groaned. Her
hand was trembling from all these pent up emotions she was feeling.
How could she let that
freak get under her skin like that?
She rested the offending
limb on the work table and took a deep breath to try to calm her turbulent
emotions. Ino heard the bell on the shop door tinkle
and she braced herself for yet another onslaught of folks just dying to
find out if the rumors were true about her and the sand nin. The blonde kuniochi
looked up, bracing for the inquisition, only to find herself
staring into the eyes of her tormentor.
�Speak of the devil and
he appears� What the hell is he doing here!� fumed Ino
privately.
�So - this is where you
hide yourself.� remarked Kankuro. She shot him a
killing look but that didn�t seem to stop him. She watched in silence as the
puppeteer slowly stalked around the room, casually checking out various
arrangements displayed throughout the store.
Ino saw him bend down and pluck
something out. It had been trapped under one of the
heavy pots. She groaned heavily when she saw what it was. Kankuro
had a piece of mutilated orchid petal held carefully between two long elegant
fingers. She felt herself swallow convulsively when she studied those digits
and quickly brought her eyes back up to the sand nin�s smirking face. He was stroking the damaged
petal slowly, sliding his fingertips over it. Ino
felt like she was burning up and just knew she was blushing. The action looked
strangely seductive and she was starting to have prurient thoughts of those
fingertips sliding on her flesh. Kankuro
raised an eyebrow and lazily waved the orchid shard in the air. �What did this
poor thing do to you to warrant such abuse?� asked the man.
Ino could feel herself struggling with
the urge to launch herself over the counter and
scratch the hateful pig�s eyes out with her nails. Damn it, she wasn�t going
to demean herself and react to him! Why can�t he find someone else to torment
while he was in town� why the hell did it have to be her?
The puppeteer was laughing
at her inner turmoil! She could see his lips twitch slightly and that amused
tilt to his smile.
�Can I help you?� the
blonde bit out frostily.
Kankuro felt himself wanting to grin like
a mad idiot. She wasn�t as unaffected by his presence as she was trying so
hard to have him believe.
He knew this was probably
a bad idea to come down here and see her, but truth be told � he couldn�t get her
out of his mind. Kankuro had felt the little tremors
when he kissed her hand.
Hell, he had felt it
too!
When she had slapped his
face with all the emotion she had pent up inside her, he had been tempted to
laugh out loud. He was glad he refrained from doing that � she was already mad
at him and that would have sent her over the edge.
The puppeteer couldn�t
help but admire her exit from the restaurant.
She had been
magnificent! All fire and smoldering energy! It was such a shame that she was wasting all that
passion on anger.
�Kankuro sighed wistfully.
He could think of much
better ways to use up all that pent up passion of hers!
He thought at the time it
was best to let her cool off but to see her glaring daggers at him now, Kankuro realized that he had made a serious error in
judgment. He grinned evilly and decided then and there that Ino
had way too much time to think.
The sand nin prowled over to the counter
and leaned towards the young woman.
Two could play this
game!
�Yes, actually you can� I
wish to buy flowers for a special someone.� Kankuro
nonchalantly replied.
Ino swallowed her shock.
Wow, the man certainly
didn�t waste anytime in finding someone else to annoy with his presence.
�This special someone �
are they male or female?� She asked, trying to remain professional.
�Most definitely female.�
responded Kankuro with a wolfish grin on his face.
He could tell that she was
less than delighted by the idea of him purchasing flowers for a special
female someone. Ino stared pointedly at the
orchid petal clinging lovingly to his fingertips. �Orchids,
perhaps?�
The puppeteer gave the
vivacious blonde behind the counter a look of consideration before asking. �No,
I think not. It�s too early in the relationship to give her those.� Ino gave Kankuro a frustrated
glare.
Relationship? What the hell?
�Do you have a particular
flower in mind?� asked the fuming blonde through gritted teeth.
�Yes. I want those.�
replied the sand shinobi.
Ino turned around to face the
direction the infuriating man was pointing. �Those� turned out to be a bucket
filled with different varieties of tulips. She frowned slightly at the odd
choice and shrugged away a stray thought.
There was no way in
hell this jerk could possibly know that flowers have meanings, could he?
This was torture � Ino just wanted him out of her sight.
�Any particular type?� she
asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kankuro swallowed his grin but it was
difficult.
�She�s hoping that I hurry up and get the
hell away from her.
�This was going better than he was hoping�
�Yes �
give me a bunch of the variegated tulips and wrap it in the� purple tissue
paper." replied the puppeteer.
Purple was her favorite
color! What an ass!
It was like waving a red
flag in front of her eyes. Ino turned away and
concentrated on getting the tulips for the insufferable man.
Just because she wanted
to tear strips off the bastard didn�t mean she was going to take it out on the
flowers�
She swallowed her anger
and finishing wrapping up the flowers. Ino shoved the
tulips into his hands, almost snarling the amount he owed her. Kankuro was now fighting the urge to laugh out loud in
delight.
If he didn�t know
better � he�d say she was jealous.
He quietly handed over the
correct amount and watched her turn away from him.
As much as he enjoyed this,
Kankuro knew the poor woman was at the end of her
patience with him. The puppeteer took advantage of her distraction and walked
over to the exit.
Ino turned around abruptly when she
heard the tinkle of the door closing. She was relieved that he finally decided
to leave her be.
The blonde kuniochi slumped forward on the counter, her hands covering
her face� only to be assailed with the scent of� tulips?
She opened her eyes and
there were tulips sitting there.
Surely there was some
mistake?
Ino rushed over to the window in time
to see Kankuro swaggering down the road.
The normally shrewish
female walked back to the counter and picked up the discarded bouquet, inhaling
their sweet perfume. She felt a blush stain her cheeks and shy smile dance on
her lips.
He thinks I have
beautiful eyes�
�I�m not going to forgive
him just because the insufferable bastard gave me flowers.� harrumphed
Ino under her breath. She had to admit though, that
the puppeteer was off to a good start�
-------------------------
The tormentor in question
was whistling a jaunty tune under his breath as he strolled through the
village.
Yes � that had been
rather enjoyable!
�Kankuro couldn�t deny that he was having
fun at the young woman�s expense. Hell � he couldn�t help himself. He found
himself being drawn to her like the proverbial moth to the flame.
Ahhh � what a flame though�
The sand shinobi sighed wistfully.
When she wasn�t
screaming or frowning, she really was quite breathtaking�
A part of him was
regretting not taking advantage of her shock and kissing those parted lips of
hers. He had to admit that he had been seriously tempted to risk a clawing just
to sample the delights of her kisses.
It was a shame that the
moment disappeared as soon as she realized who had entered the flower shop.
No � it was probably for
the best that he didn�t act on that impulse. It was obvious she still hadn�t
forgiven him for the little incident at the Bar-B-Cue place.
Kankuro wasn�t surprised to hear from Asuma that Ino wouldn�t be training
with them this week. The blonde kuniochi had sent
word to the sensei that her father was out of town on a mission and she needed
to help out in the family shop. Kankuro was smart
enough to realize that it was only part of the reason for her absence.
He was just disappointed
in the fact that she chose to run to the nearest bolt-hole and attempt to wait
it out.
I would never have
picked her for being one to be scared off so easily.
The sand shinobi stopped in the middle of the street and gazed down
at the ground, deep in thought.
Yes � it had been
relatively easy to get the desired information from Shikamaru
about the exact location of that particular safe haven of hers. Hell � he
wasn�t particularly proud of himself for using a little emotional blackmail on
the shadow wielder to get the information he sought but desperate times called
for desperate measures. Kankuro grinned evilly at the
memory of that particular exchange. Temari was so
going to beat the snot out of him but that was fine. The bruises always healed
up. The important thing was that he achieved his goal.
The puppeteer was feeling
intensely guilty over his part in Ino's public
embarrassment and felt compelled to try and make amends.
Well � that had been
the original intention - then he saw her hackles go up�
Kankuro sighed.
He didn�t know what it was
about her that made him just itch push her buttons� he just knew that he
couldn�t get enough of it.
Yeah, that made him a
sick bastard for wanting to torment her but at least he was honest about it!
The puppeteer had a sudden
thought which caused him to grin wolfishly before he continued walking down the
road.
He probably should have
stopped at the flowers�.
-----------------
Ino stroked the tulips with a light
touch and sighed wistfully. It wasn�t often that she got flowers from men she
knew � much less a virtual stranger. Most men were too terrified to approach
her and those that weren�t, assumed that she wouldn�t like getting flowers
because her family owned a florist shop. The tulips really did sum up the giver
of the bouquet, right down the odd stripe variation on the petals. She
should really put these in water�
Ino gazed up at the wall clock and
smiled gratefully. It was almost time to close the shop for the day. She wasn�t
normally a clock watcher but Ino was secretly
relieved because her mind wasn�t really focused on her work. The blonde had
caught herself dwelling on the sand shinobi�s visit
for the remainder of the day.
That man really knew
how to bury deep under her skin though�
She wasn�t too sure if she
enjoyed having her inner thoughts exposed so expertly before his eyes like
that. It made her feel oddly vulnerable, even a little scared of letting him
get too close to her.
She looked up at the clock
again and was relieved that she could finally close the shop for the day.
Ino locked the front door and pushed
the closed sign into place.
The sooner she could
finish up � the better off she would be. She just wanted to take the flowers
back to her apartment and spend the rest of the evening admiring them.
All she had left to do was
start the daily receipts running and put the cash register tray in the safe for
her mother to tally this evening. It really didn�t take long to finish up.
Ino was grateful for small favors as
she finally whisked up the tulips and made for the door.
-----------------------------------
The blonde kuniochi was relieved by the fact that her apartment wasn�t
that far to walk to from the flower shop. She looked down at the delicate
blooms and noticed that the tulips were starting to droop.
Ino managed to open the door to her
apartment and carefully put the bouquet onto the table without crushing them.
She walked over to the door and closed it before she went into the kitchen in
search for a vase.
Ino brought the filled vase over to
the table and carefully removed the delicate purple paper off the tulip stems.
It was then that she first noticed the white envelope tucked discreetly inside
the paper. Ino frowned slightly at that discovery.
She didn�t remember putting in a card� Kankuro must
have slipped it in when she was distracted.
The blonde put the
envelope to one side and concentrated on arranging the blooms into the vase.
They really were quite
beautiful.
After she cleared away the
paper and stem trimmings, Ino sat down at the table
admiring the tulips. A small rectangle of white on the table caught her eye and
that�s when the kuniochi remembered the envelope she
fished out of the bouquet earlier.
She turned it over in her
hands, a little perplexed by what was in it then sighed. It would probably
be best to go into the living room and get comfortable first.
Ino was sitting on her love seat when
she finally got a chance to satisfy her curiosity and slit open the envelope.
It was a good thing that
she was sitting down to peruse the contents of the envelope�
Ino felt her face scorch scarlet and
her eyes bulge as she tried to comprehend everything the puppeteer wrote in the
note.
What the hell!
She didn�t know if she
wanted to do extreme violence on the man�s person or something else.
Ino was having a hard time fighting
the urge to hunt him down and bury her sharpest kunai in the bastard�s dark
heart or to explore the naughty possibilities mentioned in the missive�
He really did confuse the hell out of
her!
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A Season of Malcontent