A/n: oh my good golly goodness! I'm back with yet another god-forsaken one-shot…please don't eat me! It's InoNaru, I like it but I'm not exactly a fan of it. My friend Rissa is so this is dedicated to her for always being the insane/ear-bleeding shouter/awesome/cool friend that she is. Enjoy, and hopefully it doesn't stink as this is my first try at it.

Disclaimer: Stop looking at me like that, wow! I don't own Naruto! Masashi freaking Kishimoto does! He's God, so steal it from him! Now I'm off to snuggle with my Kankurou plushie, swoosh!

Yamanaka Ino was never exactly fond of the blonde-haired Hokage-wannabe brat that was Uzumaki Naruto. Back in their academy days, he was always showing off and trying to get people's attentions by playing pranks. Back when she and Sakura were still friends, Ino always used to gossip about him behind his back like as if he weren't there while he was actually just a few feet away.

But now, she regrets all that.

When the pale-blond haired girl got paired up with Shikamaru and Chouji, she thought she'd just gag, but when finding out that Sakura was stuck with Naruto, she laughed her merry little heart out.

"Ha ha, forehead, you got stuck with Naruto!"

"Well, I have Sasuke on my team." The pink-haired girl countered back. "Got anything to say now, Ino-pig?"

Ino's eye twitched as she just merely walked away. Her opinion of him changed overtime when the chuunin exam occurred. Her eyes almost bugged out when she saw he defeated Kiba in the preliminaries and Neji in the finals. –When did he get so strong?-

Then was the whole "Rescue Sasuke" thing, she could practically feel her love for him wither away. That "blonde brat" went to all that trouble to rescue a friend, but in Ino's eyes, he was a traitor. The rescue failed, which led to Naruto going off to train with Jiraiya for three years.

-I never got to say "I'm sorry"- She thought, holding a single flower from her parents shop in front of his apartment door. Sakura told her where he lived. Ino sighed, laying the flower down outside the door, knowing full well that it will wither and die, just like the love she had for that black-haired traitor.

Two and half years passed already, Ino was busy helping Shikamaru organize papers concerning this years chuunin exams; a long awkward silence followed with the occasional sound of shuffling papers.

"You should go…"

"What?" The blonde asked, slightly startled since she was caught off guard.

"I meant, you should go home, it's getting late." The black-haired boy said as he looked over at her. "I'm almost done with this troublesome work anyway."

"Um, you sure…?"

"Yeah, go ahead, you deserve a break what with all the annoying missions Asuma-sensei's been giving us lately" Shikamaru said before returning to his original work.

"O-Ok" Ino said; putting the last of the papers in her hands in a folder before heading for the door.

"Ino" Shikamaru's voice called just as she reached for the knob. "I saw Naruto…a few days ago." Ino's eyes widened, but she still remained with her back to him. "But only briefly, he left afterwards for a mission in Suna"

"Oh, I see, thanks Shikamaru" The blonde-haired girl replied softly before opening the door and leaving the room. –Dammit, he was in town and I missed him! Just when he comes back, he takes off again. I swear, next time I see you Naruto, I'll kick your ass!-

Just as she thought this, speak of the devil, she ran into someone rather familiar. "Oh, sorry" she mumbled before walking around the figure.

"Ino…?" A familiar, yet much deeper voice called out, making the blonde haired girl stop in her tracks.

"Naruto…?" She turned, feeling her cheeks slightly burn up. –When did he get so tall…?-

"Yep, it's me, in the flesh" The blonde-haired boy replied with an embarrassed laugh while rubbing the back of his neck. "You know the strangest thing happened, I get home and there's this rotting flower right outside my door"

"Ulp!" Ino gulped as her blush only got brighter. Naruto then started to go on about something involving Gaara and some crazy puppet guy. –Oh yeah, the mission that Shikamaru mentioned.- But she wasn't listening as she was just staring at his face and how it was changing from happy, to sad, to mad, to happy and then back to sad again. –I always made fun of him, and I never knew why. I always called him "blonde brat", well; guess what, I'm blonde too-

"…no…"

-I was so stupid, I never gave him a chance- Ino felt her eyes heat up as a tear slid down her cheek.

"…no…!"

-I just judged him because others did; I too thought that his dreams were stupid. Now look at him, he's stronger than me! And he's not even a chuunin yet- A few more tears streaked down her face. –I'm a failure as a ninja, as a kunoichi, to everyone-

"INO…!" Naruto screamed, getting concerned to the point as to shake her out of her trance.

"W-wha…?" The blonde-haired girl sputtered, startled at how she was being shaken. Naruto stopped, letting go of her with a concerned look on his face.

"Ino, you Ok? You just started crying" Ino gasped, hand reaching up on instinct to check. She withdrew knowing that her face was wet, her head tilted down, avoiding eye contact with the boy in front of her.

"Ino, um, if you don't want me around, I'll…just go" Naruto sputtered nervously. Ino's head rose; revealing that her eyes were bright red as she plummeted herself into his chest.

"I'M SORRY!" she screamed, hugging him as tight as she could, like as if he would go and disappear again. "I'm sorry, so, so sorry. About everything, about everything I did to you back then. I was so cruel, saying all those things about you when you were right there, right there, and…" She didn't say anymore as she just sobbed into his chest.

Naruto blushed as she smiled warmly, rubbing her back in reassurance. "It's Ok, I forgive you. It's all in the past."

A/n: phew, that went pretty well. Sorry the ending is a little…corny. Heh heh, please review and I hope you like it Rissa-chan!