25 Chapter 25

'A woman always has at least two masks,' Ino recalls her mother telling her some time ago as they were arranging bouquets. It was an extension of the lessons given only to kunoichi in preparation for the specific dangers women face as well as methods of coping; in other words, how to compartmentalize.

'Some women need more than two, but one mask is for the world, and the other, if you're lucky, is for the one who accepts all of you.' At such a young age and with more spirit than most, Ino never liked that concept. Masks were meant to hide, and Ino felt far too pretty to be hidden. 'You wouldn't hide a flower,' her mind at the time reasoned. Ino understands far more now.

It's another layer of her week's torment, as Ino's nearly certain Naruto has seen both her faces. She can't be sure, but every time she remembers his words, pleading to let him see her, to connect with her, she's fairly certain she had allowed what has to be her greatest moment of weakness. Through their eyes, souls connected and it was the highest peak of pleasure Ino's ever felt, more still, the strongest orgasm her body won't allow her to forget.

At the perfect recollection of his infinite sky-blue eyes peering into her very soul, her breath becomes shallow and quick. She grips the frame harder as she feels her body heat up with a searing focus between her legs, and her hardening nipples. She can feel moisture begin to dampen her panties and she clenches her teeth to fight it. After a full week of this, none of this is new, but fortunately, with every episode, she has an easier time managing the urges than the day before, to the point she doesn't need to masturbate in order relieve her of her spontaneous lust.

Eventually relaxing, her eyes slowly open to the photo in her hand, looking at herself beside Sasuke-kun, happy and proud. It feels like a lifetime ago, and she longs to return to that time, but slowly she's coming to the disheartening conclusion she'll never be the girl she was in that photo, beside her love, posing beautifully for the camera. It's a depressing thought. Her innocence is gone. It was enthusiastically taken from her repeatedly, and she'll never get it back.

'No,' she hates to admit. 'It wasn't taken. I gave it away.' Ino would honestly blame that Dead Last idiot if he wasn't so stupid, or more specifically if she hadn't been the one to initiate it... to push for it. She's not so horrible as to accuse him of rape simply because she momentarily went crazy for him and he eventually became very willing. Additionally, it would only cause her irreparable shame if it became public knowledge. How could she show her face once everyone learns who her first time was with?

'Would Sasuke-kun ever look at me after that?'

'No, he wouldn't,' she honestly answers. Ino knows the only way forward with the boy of her future is to put last week permanently behind her, and ensure not a soul ever finds out. That starts by returning to her routine, acting normal, meeting her team—her new mask—then finding the right time and public place to make sure that idiot takes this secret to his grave. Naruto may have lavished in her most intimate constitution, physically and spiritually, but that doesn't mean she won't kill him if he breathes a word of it to anyone. It'll be hard to look at him when they do meet, but she has to make sure he's aware that his life is forfeit if he ever talks.

'Hell, even if he inadvertently draws any unwarranted attention, I may just kill him,' she mentally declares, enthusiastic for his murder.

"Ino!" she hears her mother call fearfully urgent from downstairs. "Come down here, now!"

Quirking a suspicious brow, the platinum-blond didn't want to leave the sanctuary of her room, but her mother's tone was frantic and was soon followed by her father's with just as much alarm. "Ino! Get down here!"

Making a silent prayer to her raven-haired love in the photo for strength, Ino sets the frame back on her nightstand, before moving to her bedroom door. Ino grabs her silk robe on her way out because she knows her father doesn't appreciate her love of short-shorts and tight tops. Making her way downstairs, she calls out, "where are you?"

"Front door," her mother calls out.

Huddled outside the front entrance of their estate is her father, mother, and two of her distant cousins—likely on their community watch patrol. They were bunched around a large chunk of dug up earth the size of a large picnic basket, easily poking at her curiosity. Apparently, the large, heavy looking square of freshly cut out earth with its roots sticking out the bottom, was left for them to discover. While certainly unexpected, she couldn't understand why call her so frantically or why her father was leaning over and inspecting the top.

Ino began to wonder about enemies the Yamanaka clan may have incurred when her mother turns to her, absolutely thrilled by the large box of dirt with vibrant green grass on the top. Her father was inspecting something on the top as her mother joyously tells her, "Oh! My, beautiful, wonderful, amazing girl! Someone out there is extraordinarily worried for you!"

Ino is exceptionally confused until she steps around her father next to eager mother and her pupil-less blue eyes bulge. Her father confirms what she instantly knows. "It's a genuine Fire Slipper Orchid," he chuckles in disbelief, then turns to his daughter.

"Here," her mother says, holding out a simple white paper board one might use to get an actor's autograph. "It came with this!" she finished exclaiming. Ino understood all three of them knew what the orchid was worth, but she didn't understand her mother's excitement until she read the note in surprisingly uniform characters.

FOR INO-CHAN. I HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER.

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