A/n: Another new Ino/Naruto story. This will also probably be no more than a few chapters. I want you to all to enjoy anyway, and if enough people like it I will definitely continue it. It is AU and the characters will probably be a bit OOC. But I don't care its my fic and I will write it the way I want it. Hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

He had watched as the woman he had loved all his life turn into a shadow of her former vibrant self. She had been through so many bad relationships that she had finally let it defeat her. Her latest and most recent break-up was the thing that sent her completely over the edge. She hadn't seemed to care much about anything anymore. The young man could remember better times when she was happy, laughing, and smiling. He loved her smile. She had the kind of smile that would just light up her face in so many different ways.

He'd give anything to see her smile again. A real genuine smile. He wished he could put the light back into her beautiful aqua-colored orbs. But that light was long gone. He remembered her face and how dead her eyes looked that day. It was raining really hard that time. Her hair was wet and clinging to her face. She looked so unlike herself.

"Ino-chan?" He called out to her.

She had her back turned to him.

"Ino?" He whispered and tried to touch her. She soon turned around to face him. Her once shiny aqua-colored pools were dead and as cold as ice. The light that once seemed to radiate out of them was long gone.

"Naruto..." She whispered. "It's over nothing else really matters anymore."

From there she collapsed into his arms. He carried her all the way back to his apartment and took care of her. When she had regained consciousness she had uttered some words that he would never forget.

"You're always taking care of me Naruto, you should stop. I'm not worth it."

He would never forget the tone of her voice either. There was no hint of feeling or emotion. Naruto realized his Ino was gone. The handsome 21 year old blond sat in his apartment just thinking of the girl he used to know. The one that was always so hopeful, so optimistic. The pretty blonde girl with the confident, vibrant personality. The girl that never let anything get her down. She had the kind of personality that couldn't be ignored. She was the girl he had loved and still loved with everything. He hated to see what she had become. You never want to see the one you love in the worst state possible. You only want to see the best for them. And it was safe to say that Ino was not at her best.

He found himself staring at an old picture of the two of them. She was smiling and looked so happy. It had been many months since he had seen her smiling like that. He wanted to see it again.

"I just want to see you happy again Ino-chan." He whispered.

Only he had a feeling it wouldn't be so easy. Her latest failed relationship looked to be the thing that had broken her. She had many failed romances. Perhaps she simply couldn't handle this latest one. Naruto assumed it was because she had really loved the guy. If she didn't love him she definitely wouldn't have let it affect her this much. Or maybe it was because she had been through so many bad relationships that it made her become this way. Ino had turned into someone he couldn't recognize. She was not the same person he had known so well. Naruto often wondered if he could have somehow prevented this. After all he had watched her date and go out into all these relationships. He should have said something, anything to make her see the truth. One of the reasons why he never could say anything was because of his own feelings for her.

He simply didn't want to think about her rejecting him. The last thing anyone wants is to be rejected by the person they love. He was positive though that she had to have some idea about his feelings. She was probably not saying anything so she could spare his feelings. He was pretty sure they would always be friends. Slowly but surely he would be able to accept it. He kept telling himself that as long as he had the platinum blonde in his life someway or another he would be okay. It was mostly a load of bullshit and he knew it. Naruto wanted more than friendship. He would always want more. Only right now with her behavior he definitely couldn't say anything to her. Somehow he really doubted she would be able to handle it if he dropped that bomb on her.

He knew how to keep quiet. He had kept it quiet for many years. Naruto soon looked outside of his window. It was once again raining rather hard. He didn't want to dwell on the uneasy feelings he had right now. But he could not shake the bad feeling he had. He was worried about Ino. It seemed like every time it rained she was in some type of trouble. An odd theory to have but he believed it. He was seconds away from going out to find her when his phone started to ring.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Yo Naruto."

It was his friend Kiba Inuzuka. He was a bartender at one of the bars Naruto and all of their friends would often go to hang out.

"Hey Kiba what's up?"

"You should probably get down here. It's Ino and she's pretty messed up."

"Fuck you Inuzuka!" He heard Ino's voice in the background. Her speech was slightly slurred.

"It figures." Naruto thought to himself.

"Are you coming down here or do I have to call her a cab or something?" Kiba wondered.

"No I'm coming. Kiba try to keep her calm okay."

"Yeah, sure buddy. I'll see you when you get here."

Naruto gave a slight nod then said goodbye to his friend. So his theory had been right. She was in some type of trouble. Of course being the devoted friend he was he would come for her. He hurried out of his apartment and went down to the bar. Ino had taken to drinking more these days. At least every other week she would get so drunk she wouldn't be able to do anything but pass out. He hated what alcohol did to her. She just wasn't herself when she was drinking. He remembered a time when she would barely touch the stuff.

"Come on Ino-chan it's just a sip." Naruto urged. "It's your birthday."

Ino looked a little disgusted as he held the glass of white liquid to her lips.

"No you know I don't drink that much. I don't care if it's my birthday or not."

The blond male just gave his friend a smile.

"Aw you're no fun." He teased.

"Well I'd rather be no fun than drunk off my ass." She laughed.

He just continued to smile at her. He adored her laugh.

"What, what's wrong?" She noticed him staring at her.

"N-Nothing." He nearly stumbled over his words. "It's fine you don't have to drink any."

"Right." She nodded. "Hey Kiba I'll have a ginger ale."

"Sure." The brown-haired male nodded and poured her a glass of ginger ale instead.

But that was a long time ago. Alcohol looked to be one of the platinum blonde's best friend' now. A sad sigh escaped the young man as he entered the bar. He scanned the room for a sign of his drunk friend. Not that it would be hard to spot her bright blonde hair. He saw her sitting at the bar with her head down.

"Hi Kiba is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's just been sitting there like this for awhile."

Naruto put his hand to her shoulder.

"Get off of me." She spoke and turned slightly to see who had put their hands on her. She saw the spiky-blond hair and those cerulean blue pools. She blinked a few times.

"N-Naruto?" She questioned.

So she wasn't that drunk to the point where she couldn't recognize people.

"Yes." He nodded. "Come on." He tried to reach for her. "Let's get you out of here."

She shook her head no and sloppily pushed his hand away from her.

"N-No." She stuttered a little. "I'm fine here, go away."

He frowned.

"You're not fine. Come on I'm taking you out of here."

She tried to push him away once more but he put his arms around her and picked her up. She was in no condition to fight him. Besides he was stronger than her anyway.

"N-Naruto put me down right now!" She demanded.

He ignored her.

"Don't start a scene right now. I'll take her thanks Kiba."

"Sure. I figured that you would want to take her home. She hasn't really been herself lately, huh?"

Naruto looked at her for a minute.

"No she hasn't." Naruto agreed. "Okay, come on Ino-chan lets go."

He carried her out of the bar. She didn't really start complaining until they were about a block away.

"Fuck why is it so wet!"

"It's raining Ino. I forgot to bring an umbrella, sorry" He added.

"Whatever." She sighed. She began swinging her legs around making it harder for him to carry her.

"Ino-chan please cut it out. You're making this harder."

"N-Naruto." She complained. "I wanted to stay there, take me back."

"No going to the bar is the last thing that you need. I'll take you home okay."

"No, no I don't want to go home." She protested.

The last thing he wanted was to make her upset. He didn't feel like fighting with a drunk Ino in the rain.

"Fine, just calm down. I'll take you back to my place okay."

She appeared to satisfied with this because she didn't argue anymore. The young man continued to steal glances at her. She was still the most beautiful thing in the world to him. He would always see her in that light.

"N-Naruto..." She shivered. "Hurry up okay it's cold."

"Yeah." He nodded. "We're almost there anyway."

She held on to him. Her grip wasn't very tight. She looked to be weaker anyway, meaning she was probably skipping meals again. He knew he had to get her to eat something at some point. He soon got to his apartment and reached for his keys. He was so used to carrying her and opening doors he had become a pro. Once inside Ino tried to get down.

"Let me down okay."

He carefully placed her down. She stumbled over to the couch.

"You need to get out of those wet clothes." Naruto told her. "I'll be back."

"Whatever." She sighed.

The blonde female stretched her legs out as she laid down. She felt so unbelievably tired this couch would not be cutting it. Slowly she rose to her feet once again.

"Naruto I'm going to the bedroom okay."

She would have fallen but suddenly two strong arms were now wrapped around her waist.

"I'll help you." Naruto told her.

He guided her to his bedroom and helped her lay down.

"You should really stop this. You're always taking care of me."

"Here." He handed her one of his over-sized t-shirts. Unfortunately she was struggling a little.

"Do you want me to help you?" He asked and sat down.

"I don't care." She told him honestly.

She lifted her arms up and he helped her get out of her wet clothing. This was not the first time he had done this for her. He had a feeling it probably wouldn't be his last either. She lay back down on his bed. Her eyes were now closed. Naruto just stared at her with worried eyes.

"Ino-chan?"

"I'm really tired." She whispered.

"Did you have a lot to drink?" He asked.

"I don't remember, no not really. Kiba was just being annoying. God," She said with slight frustration. "He didn't have to call you."

"I would have come to find you anyway you know that."

She opened her eyes and slowly focused her attention on to him.

"You really should stop taking care of me."

"Someone has to." Naruto reminded her.

She then put her hand to his cheek. She stroked his face with her hand.

"Naruto." She whispered and pulled him down to her a little. "I don't get it."

"Get what?" He wondered.

"How can you do it? I know you must really want to fuck me right now. How can you keep yourself in control like this. I don't know what you're waiting for just fuck me already."

She pulled his mouth to hers for a kiss. Her breath smelled of the liquor she had been drinking. He shouldn't even be kissing her but he found himself returning the kiss. Until his right mind kicked in and he ended the kiss.

"No." Naruto spoke.

"No?" She blinked. "What do you mean no? Naruto I know you like me, don't pretend that you don't. We both know it."

There was no way he could possibly deny it. He did like the platinum blonde. He more than just liked her. It was much deeper than that. It was more deeper than some sexual attraction too.

"Ino-chan it's more than that and you know it."

She blinked again.

"Then why are you saying no, come here." She tried to kiss him again.

"No." He told her. "Not like this, not when your drunk. I won't take advantage of you that way."

"Forever the nice guy. Well I'm giving you permission to take advantage of me."

She wrapped her arms around his waist and tried to pull him towards her. He did want her that was no lie. But not in this way. He didn't want to have drunken sex with her. It would not be worth it in the end. If he couldn't have her in a state where she wasn't drunk then he didn't want her at all.

"Ino-chan you have to stop." He told her.

"No..." She moaned out. "Let's not stop, it's okay."

She ran her fingers through his spiky blond hair. And started to place kisses on his neck. A slight moan escaped his mouth. Her kisses did feel nice.

"See you're enjoying it. You want this I know you do Naruto."

He pushed her away.

"No Ino-chan I'm not going to do this with you. You're drunk, the last thing I want to be is a drunken memory for you."

The blue-eyed female sighed and angrily pushed him away.

"Fine then don't fuck me. I...I don't care whatever, I guess I'm not really good enough for you."

"You know that's not true Ino. You're beautiful drunk or sober. Here get some rest okay."

He tried to help her get under the covers.

"I really shouldn't be here. Naruto for your own good you should stop taking care of me."

He was about to respond but he noticed the young woman had finally fallen off to sleep. It was about time too. He stood up and placed the blanket over her sleeping form. Despite what she said he knew he would always be there to take care of her. Ino was messed up right now. That fact had been more than obvious. She needed someone and he wanted to be that someone.

"You need me Ino-chan, even if you don't see it. I have to be here for you."

He watched the rise and fall of her chest. She would most likely feel it in the morning. He was already preparing himself for what would come tomorrow. Naruto knew of course he would be able to handle it. He had handled it all before. He knew how to deal with Ino and the state she was in.

"Hm," He sighed. "I'll be ready for whatever happens." The young man decided.