9disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, you'd know about it
Saying Sorry
Naruto Uzumaki, the kid with guts. Naruto Uzumaki, the kid with a Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within. Naruto Uzumaki, the kid dubbed the most unpredictable ninja in all of Konoha. Naruto Uzumaki, the kid who was the lonliest of all the kids in the academy. Naruto Uzumaki, the most picked on kid in all of Konoha. No one who is with him today has ever said sorry to him at all. Ever. But enough about who he is, let's get on with what saying sorry means to him.
Naruto walked along one of the empty streets in Konoha, not really paying attention to where he was going, just walking. It was almost like he was thinking, but anyone who knows him would attest to the fact that Naruto doesn't think unless its about being Hokage or ramen. Most times, they would be right. This time they would be wrong.
"Ouch!" said a voice as Naruto accidentally bumped into someone. "Watch where you're going!"
Naruto, coming off his trail of thoughts, looked down to see one Ino Yamanaka flopped ungraciously on butt. He offered her a hand up. "Heehee, sorry Ino. I didn't see ya there," he said as she grabbed his hand and was immediately hoisted up to her feet.
"How could you not see me? I was in the middle of the freaking road!" she grumbled. She dusted herself off a bit and looked to him for an answer.
"Guess I was just lost in my thoughts," he replied calmly.
"Knowing you it was probably about ramen," she said just a bit too loudly to herself.
"Ya know Ino, I could have been thinking about other things. I am human after all," he said to her, drawing a 'I'm sorry' look from her. At that moment his stomach happened to do the one thing to say otherwise and growled like the demon sealed there.
She bonked him on the head. "Really now? Than that growl was just your stomach saying hi?"
"Heehee. I was on my way to Ichiraku's for lunch actually," he laughed. He rubbed the back of his head with his hand as he smiled.
"I was on my way to get something at the barbecue place, but since you ran into me and knocked me down I'll just have you buy me a bowl of ramen then," Ino said as she grabbed Naruto's sleeve and walked towards Ichiraku's dragging a protesting Naruto along.
"But Ino, I only have enough for 3 bowls of ramen!"
"So Naruto, what had you all spaced out back there?" Ino asked as Teuchi placed a bowl in front of her and one in front of Naruto. She grabbed a pair of chopsticks and snapped them apart. "Itadakimasu!" she said as she slowly placed some noodles into her mouth. Naruto, already going through this process before she even finished her sentence and practically scooping the ramen into his mouth, tried to mumble something through his food.
"What was that Naruto? Couldn't quite catch that through you slurping of noodles," she huffed. "And Sakura calls me a pig, sheesh."
"I said I was thinking about how it was back in the academy," he said as Teuchi placed a second bowl in front of him. "Thanks Teuchi-jiisan!" he said as he dug into his second bowl.
Ino looked at him a second longer and then looked into her own bowl. Her thoughts drifted towards their academy days and how fun they were. She snickered inwardly as some of the pranks Naruto pulled cropped into her thoughts, and she smiled a bit at how she stupidly rivaled herself against Sakura for the attention of Sasuke. She tried to think of some of the memories of her and Naruto in the academy, but when they did flash through her mind-scape what she saw was not pleasant. All the memories she had involving Naruto were mostly of her putting him down and making fun of him or screeching at him for getting in her way of Sasuke. She frowned deeply at this and wondered if it hurt him too much.
Naruto picked up on this as he saw her frown a bit. "Hey Ino, why ya frowning?"
She turned her gaze upon him and had a sad look to her eyes and face. "Hey Naruto, I...I'm sorry. For back then, at the academy."
Of course, being Naruto, he was completely oblivious to what she was talking about. "Huh? What for?" he asked her as he slurped down the last of his bowl.
"For being a complete bitch to you back at the academy. For picking on you all the time. Just...for everything really," she said and turned back towards her bowl. Her shoulders slumped downwards a bit.
Naruto placed a hand on hers and smiled as she turned back towards him. Her spirits rose a bit at his infectious smile and she couldn't help it as her lips turned into a small smile themselves.
"Don't worry about it Ino-chan. All that helped me become the man I am today," he said as he flashed that foxy grin of his.
"Oh yeah, and what type of man is that?" she questioned back at him.
"The man who's gonna be Hokage of course," he replied as e stood up and paid for the ramen. "Well, time to train again. Bye Ino-chan," he said as he ran outside.
Ino held the hand he had held to her chest for a minute and sighed. Then she blushed as she thought 'He called me Ino-chan!'
A/N:ok, now i've gotten that off my chest i can rest for a bit. this story is based on an event that actually happened to me. imma let you guess about which part happened, i dont care if you find out which part is true or not. if any of the characters are ooc, bleh to you i meant to do it like that. cya when i next feel like writing or when i review something of yours. leave a review if you feel like it. and if you're wondering why i used Ino, its because i feel she would be the first to say that they were sorry, or the only one to do it. i just feels that its in her nature to do so