SS013

As her tossing a vase at Seikun's head had caused him to drop the bento she had prepared, Ino split off from the larger group of girls after class to intercept him as he was leaving with Kiba.

"Hey, Seikun, are you doing anything this afternoon?" asked Ino, causing the two boys to stop and the one in question to respond, "Not really...?" in a confused tone.

Smiling, Ino suggested, "Then you should come with me to my place. You might not be able to stay for dinner, but I can cook something to make up for what happened this morning."

"What happened this morning...?" asked Kiba, confused and curious. He knew Seikun and Ino were on friendly terms, though he couldn't fathom why, but he had no idea they were training together.

"Mind your own business, Kiba..." snapped Ino, directing him a warning look that caused him to tense and immediately avert his yes, the product of being the only boy in a household of borderline bestial women.

"I'll see you tomorrow..." appended Seikun, extending his right hand to bump fists with Kiba. To Ino, this was the same as him agreeing to come with her, so a bright smile developed across her face as she grabbed and pulled his arm, exclaiming, "Let's go!" in a happy tune. In actuality, Seikun was planning to make an excuse to reject her invitation, but since he felt it would be awkward to refuse after she got hyped up, he extricated himself from her pull but ultimately followed her to her home...

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jingle jingle

Hearing the bell that usually denoted a customer ring, a fair-skinned woman with brown hair fixed into a tidy bun and pupilless brown eyes emerged from the back room of the Yamanaka Flower Shop, calling out, "Welcome—oh? Well, if it isn't little Seikun. Did my too-spirited daughter drag you all this way...?"

"You say that like I'm troubling him," retorted Ino, frowning slightly as she looked to Seikun and added, "Help me out here, Seikun. I didn't force you to come over, did I...?"

Though he felt that was exactly what she had done, Seikun didn't hesitate to shake his head, meeting the gaze of Ino's mother as he answered, "No, she didn't..." in a frank tone. Ino's mother, Noriko, raised her brows at this, but instead of questioning the duo further, she turned her attention to Ino and stated, "It's fine if he comes over, but if you take him up to your room, the door stays open. Understood?"

"Oh, come on, mom...!" exclaimed Ino, feeling a little embarrassed as she briefly shifted her gaze to Seikun before quickly returning it to her mother, adding, "I already explained to you that me and Seikun aren't like that. He and I...we're just good friends."

"The door remains open..." Noriko reiterated, her tone leaving no room for discussion as she narrowed her eyes. She knew better than anyone how fast her daughter had matured and how strong-willed she could be when it concerned her interest. So, rather than worrying about Seikun, she was worried for him...

"Ugh...you're so lame, mom..." grumbled Ino, grasping Seikun's hand and rather abruptly dragging him past Noriko, through the back room, and up the stairs to her room. Seikun was tempted to question why they needed to go to her room at all, but Ino beat him to the punch, saying, "Sit on the bed and don't touch anything. If I come back and find you going through my things, a bump on the head will be the least of your concerns."

'I'm not a pervert...' thought Seikun, a slightly annoyed look adorning his face. Then, as it would be more awkward to sit on the floor, he made his way over and sat on the side of Ino's bed, a small but comfortable queen-sized mattress on a wooden frame. 

Seeing Seikun take a seat, Ino gave a curt, approving nod before turning to leave. She wasn't actually worried that he would snoop around, so she didn't mind leaving him unattended. Rather, even if he let his curiosity get the better of him, she wouldn't mind. After all, if she caught him in the act, it would give her a lot more leverage to convince him to do the things she was eager to try...

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After escaping Ino's house without incident, Seikun took his time to return to his apartment, his gaze focused on the overcast sky above.

'Am I making another mistake...?' Seikun asked himself, referring to the way things were developing between him and Ino. It was pretty obvious that she liked him, but he wasn't sure he could meet her expectations. Not because he was against dating her, but because she would probably force him to make a decision, sooner or later, and he wasn't willing to go steady with a nine-year-old...

While that was Seikun's principal concern, another was that he felt like he was, however inadvertantly, taking advantage of Ino's feelings. It wasn't his intention, but since he didn't put his foot down nearly enough, she was becoming emboldened over time. From her perspective, she likely viewed his forbearance as proof he wanted to do more but lacked the confidence to take the initiative. Thus, as time passed and he became more indulgent of her antics, she became increasingly aggressive...

'And then there's Sakura...' mused Seikun, closing his eyes and exhaling a profound, exapserated sigh. Sakura wasn't nearly as proactive as Ino, but as he grew closer to the latter, Seikun could tell that she was beginning to grow envious. At the rate things were going, the two would end up similar to their canon counterparts, whose tight friendship gradually transformed into an exceptionally petty rivalry.

'It's almost like they're fated to fight over the same boy...' Seikun thought. But, as he was the one they would potentially be squabbling over, he felt he had a duty to try and salvage things. The Sakura he knew was a very determined girl, but he also knew she was miserable, lonely, and had self-esteem issues due to Sasuke's defection. If Tsunade hadn't continuously pressed her to become stronger and more capable, she likely would have succumbed to a deep, irrecoverable depression...

Shaking such thoughts from his mind, Seikun gradually picked up his pace until he had transitioned to a light jog. He felt that the simplest thing to do in his position, as ridiculous as it sounded, was to stop thinking. It was his fear of not doing enough and missing out on an opportunity that led to the present situation with Hinata. If he had focused on improving himself and treated the girls with the same disregard as a normal boy his age, not only would his current troubles not exist, but unless he did something major to alter the flow of events, he would know precisely what to do and when to take action when he could take it. Now, unless he shut Ino down and did his best Sasuke impression, he had at least three more years of drama to deal with, and that was just accounting for his time at the Academy. Since he didn't personally subscribe to Konoha's nonexistent age of consent, he would need to wait at least seven to ten years before he would be free to release his tensions and disregard his inhibitions completely...

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After a hot bath and a relatively peaceful night's sleep, Seikun decided to continue nurturing his friendship with Ino and Sakura. He felt he wouldn't be able to provide a satisfactory explanation for why they could no longer be friends, so instead of quitting them cold turkey, he decided it would be better to focus on his friendships with Kiba and the boys in his class.

Since it was typical for boys and girls of the same age group to stick with members of their respective genders, Seikun believed he could gradually wean Ino and Sakura off of him. They couldn't realistically complain about him spending time with other boys, and once he increased the intensity of his training after the Uchiha Clan Massacre, he was certain that Ino would either give up due to the difficulty or get frustrated watching him prioritize his training over her...

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After an incredibly awkward breakfast, where Ino's father, Inoichi, glared at him like an enemy and asked all kinds of pointed questions, Seikin was walking with the Yamanaka Clan's Princess as they made their way to the Academy. 

"Sorry about my dad..." said Ino, sporting a somewhat cramped smile as she explained, "He's a little overprotective, but that's because his job is to help maintain Konoha's anti-personnel barrier and gather information from enemy Ninja."

"It's proof that he cares about you..." responded Seikun, his voice a lazy monotone. 

"Yeah..." muttered Ino, feeling a little guilty as she realized she may have inadvertantly reminded Seikun that he was an orphan. As someone with two annoying but loving parents, it was difficult for her to imagine what it was like for him or anyone else to live alone. Just the thought of waking up every morning to an empty house was enough to make her feel lonely. Unfortunately, her parents' response had been a firm no when she initially said she wanted to wake him up each morning, eat at his apartment, and go with him to the Academy from his home...

As Seikun and Ino continued to make idle conversation, they eventually arrived at a three-story residence with a yellow facade. Ino and Sakura typically walked to and from the Academy, so the latter was sitting on a set of stone steps leading up to a private residence, her nose buried in a book nearly as thick as her wrists.

"You ready to go, Sakura...?" asked Ino, causing the pink-haired kunoichi-in-training to startle slightly. She then became confused when she raised her head and saw Seikun, but that confusion quickly turned to a frown as she muttered, "Don't tell me that the two of you have been together since yesterday..."

"And what if we were~?" asked Ino, her expression and tone intended to be playful, but Sakura didn't see it that way. She and Ino had agreed not to sneak advantages behind the other person's back, so she felt like she had been hoodwinked by the person she regarded as her best friend.

Noticing the hurt and disapproval in Sakura's eyes, Ino began feeling a little defensive, adopting a frown of her own as she asked, "Why are you so angry? Weren't you saying just last week how nice it would be to walk with Seikun to the Academy? Well, here he is. You're welcome."

Demonstrating a degree of resolution she had never shown before, at least since Seikun's awakening, Sakura looked at him and said, "Seikun, can you please wait for us a little ways away? Ino and I need to discuss something real quick..."

Raising his right brow, Seikun was going to respond, but Ino beat him to the punch, her gaze locked with Sakura's and producing illusory sparks as she appended, "Go ahead. We won't be too long..."

Feeling that things were coming to a head much sooner than he imagined, Seikun turned and gave the duo their requested space, but not before he said, "Fine...but if the two of you end up fighting over me, don't blame me for leaving. I would rather be alone than the reason best friends became enemies or rivals..."

Surprised by Seikun's words, the battle-ready looks Sakura and Ino were giving each other vanished in an instant, replaced by expressions of worry and slight panic as they watched him walk away.

"H-Hey, wait up...!" exclaimed Ino, hurrying to catch up with Seikun as she explained, "We weren't planning to fight or anything. No need to be so serious all of a sudden."

"Ino's right," said Sakura, catching up and standing on the opposite side of Seikun, lying through her teeth as she asserted, "I just wanted to talk to her about the notes I lent to her over the break. Ino and I are still best friends."

Though she felt like Sakura had taken a cheap shot by mentioning the fact she had borrowed her notes, Ino nodded her head, adding, "That's right! I even lent her an expensive cosmetics kit and know where all of her moles are located. Does that sound like we're enemies or rivals?"

"Ino...!" exclaimed Sakura, her face turning bright red. However, before she could think of something equally embarrassing to share about Ino, Seikun closed his eyes, rubbed his hand down his face, and exhaled an audible sigh. He had thought his remark would cause the two to sober up and settle things between them in private. Had he known they would take potshots at each other with him standing in between them, he would have walked off as they had requested and then made his way to the Academy while they were busy arguing...

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