Ryoutenbin no Oonoki was a short man with a big nose, and as the night wore on, Ino found out that he also had a big mouth, especially with the influence of a bit of alcohol.
After their bath, Ino and Gaara had retreated to their respective rooms – Ino in Gaara's room and Gaara into Ino's, to be specific - to avoid any more unnecessary misunderstandings if anyone ever caught them sneaking into the same room. Once they were dressed and ready, Ino proceeded to the banquet hall escorted by Kankurou who had tried ever so desperately to squeeze out whatever information he could get from her about Haruno Sakura. Ino tried to be as stingy as can be, of course. The moment they had reached the banquet hall, she immediately spotted Naruto and Gaara who were engaged in a conversation about something that concerned Konoha's first-class restaurants. Ino suspected it had everything to do with the promise she had made to Gaara about dinner once everything was over.
Ino was about to join them by the window where they were parked with glasses in their hands – thank God Gaara had dressed properly for the occasion, in the purple dress she had packed along for the trip – when Oonoki appeared out of nowhere and started tugging at her maroon tunic.
And she had been stuck with him ever since. It was not hard to act like Gaara; all she had to do was ignore the old man as he talked and followed her around while he babbled about things that only the real Gaara would know.
When she finally realized she couldn't run away from the Tsuchikage forever, she decided to weave through the mingling ninja and samurai in the banquet hall and parked herself near the beverage counter. She had tried to catch Gaara's eye many times all throughout the evening, but it was either Gaara was preoccupied with someone who would strike a conversation with him, or he was just no where to be found.
She had helped herself to a drink and that was when Oonoki said something that nearly made her choke on her tea.
"You seem different today, Gaara-dono," was what he said.
Ino summoned whatever courage she had and cast the old man the sternest look she could muster. "Different, Tsuchikage-sama?"
Oonoki grinned up at him knowingly. "You look a lot less stiff. Not that that's a bad thing, my boy. You were always tense when it came to gatherings like these."
Ino swallowed hard and shifted her eye on the beverage counter, pretending to be busy with her next drink. "Work does that to me."
"It does that to everyone," Oonoki agreed as he stood on tiptoe and eyed the drinks curiously.
Ino filled her glass with more tea and raised it to her lips, taking a long sip.
Oonoki waggled his eyebrows up at her knowingly. "I guess it's good you finally have a lady-friend to keep you sane. You know how we men need to have a method of release once in a while."
Ino spewed tea all over the beverage counter. Several of the shinobi and samurai standing by the walls who were on guard duty were around Ino in an instant. Ino was coughing violently with her cup in her hand while everyone started crowding around her.
"Check the beverages for poisoning!" one samurai cried as he circled around the crowd with his weapon drawn.
"A medic for the Kazekage!" another one shouted from somewhere to her left.
Oonoki was instantly hovering in front of her, a bit amused. "Now, now. There are no enemies here. He's just choking on his tea, like a little boy would. He is a little boy after all."
Ino glared at the man evilly, still trying to control her coughs.
The commotion ended before it even began. The beverage counter was wheeled off to change all the drinks Ino had showered with her tea. All the while, Oonoki never left Ino's side, once in a while casting her meaningful glances that Ino didn't like.
When Oonoki gave her one more look, she turned and stared down at him directly. "You have something in your mind. Let's hear it."
Oonoki feigned innocence, his eyes wide as saucers. "What makes you think that, my boy?"
"I'm not your boy," Ino snarled before she could control herself.
I'm not even a boy!
Oonoki burst out chuckling. "Oh, look at you! Is that what that girl did to you? You now answer back to me! To me, boy! You usually just ignore me. I like you better now. You seem less boring this way."
Ino bit back the retort that was threatening to burst from her lips and turned on her heel, stalking away briskly. Oonoki leisurely floated after her.
"Why are you following me?" Ino asked when the man hovered a few inches from the floor beside her as she tried to make her escape through the crowd.
"Because you're very intriguing today. You never lose your cool on me, no matter how I poke at you. Now you're all wound up like this. It amuses me," the Tsuchikage said honestly, giving her a toothy grin as he rubbed a finger under his ridiculously big nose.
Ino stopped in her tracks when she reached a window that looked over the white-capped mountains outside. It had begun to snow, and Ino could feel the cold radiating through the windowpane. She shuddered involuntarily, remembering the freezing cave she and Gaara had been trapped in but a few hours ago. She pressed the tips of her fingers against the glass and sighed deeply. Whatever did she do to deserve this?
Oonoki joined her by the window, leaning his small frame against the wall and plucking a bite-sized manju from the plate of a passing waiter. He popped it in his mouth, tilted his head to the side and said, "Well, good for you, I guess. You've always fancied her, right?"
For a moment, Ino didn't even realize what he had just said to her. It took a poke from Oonoki on his thigh to finally squeeze out a reaction from her. She blinked. "What?" she snapped, her eyes swerving towards the old man as if seeing him for the first time.
"She's the Yamanaka daughter who you always moon over at the dinner table when there's a gathering in Konoha, am I right?"
She blinked again, a muscle beneath her left eye twitching for a reason she could not understand. "Excuse me?"
Didn't Gaara say earlier that the man hated him? Why was Oonoki talking to her, following her around and acting as if he knew Gaara like a son? And what the heck did he mean by 'mooning over at the dinner table?'
Oonoki nudged her with his elbow. "Don't be shy. You remember that time when that rascal, Inuzuka, slipped something in your drink, and you were practically singing in your quarters about that Yamanaka beauty – "
"Stop!" Ino interrupted, thrusting a palm towards the Tsuchikage, cutting him off rudely, if not effectively.
"What? What?" Oonoki demanded, startled.
"What are you talking about?" Ino snapped again.
Oonoki's grin was back on his face. "Don't try to deny it. I may have been intoxicated, but I could never forget our talk back then."
Ino started seeing red, then white. She was hearing wrong. She had to be. It just can't be right. Gaara had told her this man didn't like him. Didn't that mean he didn't 'get along' with him? Why was he talking like they were friends? And... what was Oonoki talking about? He sounded as if...
As if...
As if Gaara had liked her for a time now...
That very, very disturbing thought was interrupted when someone had the nerve to clutch the sleeve of her tunic. Ino whipped her head to rain terror upon whoever was brave enough to come near her but was shocked when she ended up staring into big, blue eyes set on a face she was too familiar with.
Gaara had materialized at her side, a look of dread on his small face, blond eyebrows drawn together into a very tight 'V' and for some weird reason he was biting his bottom lip anxiously.
Ino's own green eyes widened in disbelief.
He looked like a mess. Locks of blonde hair were spilling from his high pony tail, as if he had been pulling at it for a while now.
Ino instantly grabbed his forearm, willing the anger away. How dare he come out in public looking like this!
"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded loudly. Once she realized that Oonoki was still within earshot – and listening intently to what she was saying – she leaned down to hiss in Gaara's ear. "Where have you been and what on earth have you been doing to my body?"
Gaara swallowed hard and the hand gripping Ino's sleeve tightened. "Someone cornered me in the stairwell."
Ino's face reddened before turning to Oonoki quickly. "Excuse us," she said briskly before dragging Gaara by his arm, not bothering to wait for the Tsuchikage's reply. She wove through the crowded banquet hall, the mingling people stepping aside to keep from getting mauled over by one of the strongest people in the Five Nations. Some of them looked at Gaara in pity. Ino could practically read the expression on their faces...
That poor girl. Whatever did she do make the Kazekage mad at such a gathering?
Ino didn't care. She stalked across the room and did not stop until they were outside the deserted hall, where she finally let go of Gaara. She did not give him a chance to open his mouth. "Don't tell me you've been doing some hanky panky while you're in my body. Because if you are, I will kill you."
Gaara rubbed his upper arm gingerly. "I was doing no such thing. He seemed like a friend of yours."
"He?"
"He said he wanted to talk. To avoid suspicion, I followed him to the stairwell."
"And what exactly did you do 'in the stairwell'?"
Gaara paused as if to think. Then, "He threw me against the wall and stuck his tongue in my mouth."
"Eww! What?" Ino shrieked, the red film dropping down in front of her eyes again. She shuddered. "You made out with some random stranger while in my body?"
"It wasn't a random stranger," Gaara said dully. "He seemed very familiar with you."
"Who on earth is this?"
"I don't know his name."
"And you kissed him?"
"He kissed me," Gaara corrected reproachfully, his hand rubbing his upper arm.
Ino was instantly wracking her brain for any potential guy who would even dare stick his tongue in her mouth. After a few moments, she discovered she didn't even have a single prospect. She was feeling sick.
Gaara was watching her intently. "In fairness, he seemed like he had a bit to drink. It took a good knee in the groin to make him let me go."
Ino swallowed. "You kneed him?" she asked faintly.
And that was when she heard the door of the banquet hall open noisily, letting the sounds of people and music drift out into the hallway. Ino did not know what made her grab Gaara's wrist and pull him to hide behind a metal statue of some unknown person with a blade.
"What's – " Gaara started.
"Shh!" Ino hissed.
They waited in silence as the door of the banquet hall closed, once again cutting off the noise from the inside. After a while, Ino heard footsteps, slow and lazy, echoing though the hall towards their direction.
She nearly gasped when the person stepped into her line of vision from the narrow gap between the wall and the metal statue.
"That's the man," Gaara said in a low voice, almost sounding uninterested. He was pressed against Ino's side, looking small and frail and very, very disheveled beside her.
"Masato?" The words were out of her lips before she could even hold them back. There was no mistaking it. Those dark, wavy locks. Those broad shoulders. That annoyingly perfect smile.
Gaara's eyebrows were climbing his forehead instantly. "Masato? Who in the five nations is Masato, and why are you in a first-name basis with him?"
Ino, feeling weak, turned to the Kazekage when Masato disappeared from her vision and down the hall, none the wiser.
Ishigaki Masato was a ninja from the Hidden Cloud's Intelligence Division. They had worked together for a couple of months along with Ino's father in developing a new type of communications device, and he had not hesitated to show his interest in her. Of course, Ino didn't even give him the time of day. She was too busy being the perfect kunoichi of the Leaf then, as she was now. But the man was just too confident for his own good. He was the kind of guy who women loved the moment they saw him. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why he liked Ino so much; she didn't even look at him twice.
Ino sighed, eyeing Gaara's rumpled look. "It's a long story. Now will you please fix yourself, sir? You're a mess."
Gaara's eyes narrowed at her instantly. "I was just sexually harassed by a man, and you're worried about my appearance?"
"Technically, I'm worried about my appearance, but that's beside the point. A Leaf Kunoichi being cornered in a stairwell by a Cloud Nin doesn't sound good during a peace summit. And you kneeing him in his privates doesn't sound any better."
Gaara did not seem to hear her. "How old is he?"
"What?"
"This Cloud Nin. How old is he?"
"I don't see the relevance of – "
Gaara crossed his arms over his chest.
Ino could only sigh again. "He's thirty-one. Not that it's any of your concern."
"He's too old for you," Gaara declared loudly. "And he does not kiss well."
Ino felt her face heating up all over again. "I can't believe you just said that." Shaking her head in resignation, she stepped out into the hall and hurried away from the iron statue. She stalked away the opposite direction where Masato went. Gaara was fast on her heel.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Away from here. You should, too. You might bump into him again."
Gaara's pace quickened and he fell into step with her. "He smiles too much. You should not trust him."
Ino sniffed as they turned the corner. She had no idea where she was going, but her legs kept moving forward. "Oh, believe me, I know," she said bitterly. Masato had the ego the size of the Land of Wind. He had the strange belief that his good looks and perfect set of teeth were enough to earn him a girlfriend. Had it not been for Inoichi, who was a friend of Masato's father, she wouldn't even be decent enough to acknowledge him.
Gaara, looking quite content with Ino's answer, started smoothing out his hair and retying his ponytail. "He is not a good kisser."
Again, Ino would have done better without that bit of information. She shuddered involuntarily and stopped in her tracks when she heard thundering footsteps coming from behind them. But it was all too late. The moment she had turned on her heel to see what was going on, Gaara had let out a strangled cry as he was swept off his feet into the arms of none other than Ishigaki Masato.
"There you are, Ino-chan!" the man cried happily, at the same time giving Ino a good whiff of the many famous distilleries in his mouth. It was unmistaken that he was drunk. Well, after getting kneed in the groin by a woman, a sober man would normally just give up. She should have known better than underestimate him and his ego.
Gaara's face was frozen in horror as he tried to squirm out of the man's embrace. His face was a good shade of red, and it looked like he was holding back whatever remaining patience he had in him.
Ino found herself petrified for a few seconds before she actually regained her bearings. She had to stop herself from shrieking like a girl. God forbid everyone started spreading rumors about the Kazekage sounding like a... well... a girl.
"Let go of me this instant," Gaara said as menacingly as he could muster. It did not look too convincing, as the side of his face was being conveniently squashed into Masato's broad chest.
"But I just found you!" the Cloud nin slurred, and Ino immediately knew that Gaara was not lying when he said Masato had a bit – or maybe quite a lot – to drink.
The man, in fairness to him, was not a bad person. There had been many times Ino's father had worked together with him ever since the peace treaty between the five nations, and Ino had never really given him much thought except when he was being too cocky about whatever sexual charm he believed he had. He had dropped hints here and there that he was interested in her. Ino was just too busy to even consider picking them up.
And yeah, he was just not her type.
Ino reached out with both hands, pried Gaara free from Masato's clutches and hugged him to her protectively. Masato, for a brief moment, looked absolutely pissed, until he realized that it was the Kazekage who had snatched away his little target.
Masato sobered for a moment until the drunken film fell back over his eyes and he flashed them with that annoying smile of his. "Kazekage-sama. Good evening. What an honor."
Gaara hurriedly hid behind Ino and his arms tightened around Ino's waist. "Tell him to go away."
Ino scowled and she puffed up her chest in the hopes of making herself appear taller than she really was. "You're making him – err, her – uncomfortable. Please leave her alone."
Masato shook his head and laughed, waving a hand in front of his face as if to brush away her comment. "Ah, no sir. Don't misunderstand. You see, we know each other. For a while now, actually."
Gaara's grip tightened even more, but he did not say anything.
Ino's hands flew over Gaara's forearms and gave him a squeeze. "She's not interested. She never was. She never will. Now get lost."
Masato blinked twice, trice before once again showing them his collection of perfect teeth. "Oh, don't be fooled, Kazekage-sama. I've heard Konoha kunoichi are good at playing hard to get, but Ino-chan here is the master of the game. She wears those frilly little skirts, walks around with her hips swaying from side to side, throwing around winks and fly-away kisses here and there, you can tell she know what she's – gah!"
Before Ino knew what happened, Gaara had flown from behind her, pulled back his right fist over his head and let it go in a splendidly swift punch right into Masato's mouth. The Cloud nin flew back several feet away, falling back against a wall and slumping down on the floor lousily. His hands were on his bloody mouth, several of his perfect teeth rolling a few more feet away from him.
"You will not talk about Yamanaka Ino that way," Gaara said, poison dripping from him voice. "Unless you want the Kazekage out of your favor."
Ino nearly had a heart attack. She lunged forward, grabbed Gaara around the neck in a tight choke hold and pulled him away from the fallen man who was now moaning in pain on the floor.
"That's enough now, Yamanaka Ino – who enjoys referring to herself in the third person perspective. And weren't you so nice to have knocked some sense into this wonderful Cloud nin – who happens to be too drunk to remember who had assaulted him in a freaking peace summit. Aren't you just a lucky, lucky little lady?" she hissed in his ear.
All Gaara did was hug his fist to his stomach and said, "That hurt like he – "
"That's because you knocked his teeth out of his mouth!" Ino interrupted him as she released him from her choke hold. "What on earth is wrong with you?"
Gaara looked up at her with that stoic expression he always had when he didn't care a bit of what had just happened. Perhaps he was just used to doing what he wanted because he could always get away with it. Unfortunately, he was inside a body of someone who was not influential enough to be forgiven for punching a ninja from a different hidden village. "I was defending your honor," was what he said.
Ino stared down at him in disbelief. Didn't he realize the possibility of the Cloud and the Leaf's relationship ending because of that one single blow? "I didn't need my honor defended!"
"But he was talking about you like you're some easy-going woman."
Ino snorted. "Do I look like I care? People can think different things about me, and half of them may be wrong, but I couldn't give a damn."
Gaara sniffed, looking away stubbornly. "Well, I care. And I give a damn."
In resignation, Ino looked down at the Cloud nin who had eventually lost consciousness against the wall. Given, she did think that Masato deserved it. But still... the timing couldn't have been any worse. "Well, there's no use crying over spilled milk."
Gaara followed her gaze. "What do you have in mind?"
Ino shrugged. "Walk away and pretend this never happened?"
Gaara blinked up at her, nodded. "Good idea."
They couldn't get away from there fast enough. And had it not been for all the fuss about stupid, stupid Ishigaki Masato, Ino would have spared herself the time to ponder upon what Ryoutenbin no Oonoki had said earlier about Gaara. But thanks to stupid, stupid Ishigaki Masato, she was not spared the time to worry about something so unbelievably disturbing and instead spent the rest of the night in her room, nursing Gaara's knuckles which bore the Cloud nin's teeth prints.
Could things get any worse than this?