A/N: I have a friend who could be Naruto. For real. And that's not all-- his best friends are like Sasuke and Shikamaru in all aspects. Saturday, I went to see Sasuke --'cause you fucking are, Daniel, wether you want it or not!-- and I swear, it was like the Naruto cast on real life. But that's not the point: it's that Naruto and Ino were really hitting it off, so I dedicate this to them.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I own Naruto friends.
By The Window
Anywhere else, they hated each other.
She was the girl who had a crush on his best friend and loved upsetting his own crush, and he was the boy who was head-over-heels for her love rival and loved upsetting her crush.
Nothing else.
But every day, exactly at 7:14 pm, he would be walking home from training and she would be combing her hair by her bedroom's window, and he'd look up and she'd look down, and they would smile at each other, suddenly no longer being Uzumaki Naruto and Yamanaka Ino, and just themselves.
She'd smile sweetly --no smirks--, and he'd smile warmly --no grins--, and they would get butterflies fluttering all over their stomachs for exactly twenty-seven seconds, before he was out of her view and she couldn't catch a glimpse of him without it being suspicious.
They never spoke of these little 'encounters' of theirs. Whenever they teams met to train or just to hang out, they never spared each other a glance, and only talked when it was absolutely necessary.
It was their secret, after all. No one needed to know.
Yet, one day, at exactly 7:14 pm, Ino was combing her hair and looked down casually--
--And Naruto wasn't there.
Two years passed before she saw him again. And when she did, she acted like it wasn't a big deal, that she was happy to see him and all, but not ecstatic.
The two of them knew that was a lie.
So when that day, at exactly 7:14 pm, Naruto was strolling down the street and looking up, and Ino was combing her hair and looking down, they both smiled brightly, like nothing had changed.
Nothing had.
A/N: Horrible, horrible ending.
--Not Really Yours