Chapter 111

"She's super smart and pretty and honest and strong," Naruto quickly asserts. Both kunoichi ignore a sudden feeling of drawing parallels with the one girl in his heart compared with the sexual relations he's had with them. In their heart of hearts, no girl wants to feel less special to someone they've been intimate with, but neither Kurenai or Ino want to consider the romantic attraction necessary toward Naruto to feel inferior to Sakura.

So, while Ino asserts, "she's not that pretty," Kurenai asks Ino, "what about the dango? Did they taste any different than when you normally have them?"

"I don't eat dango," Ino admits. At Kurenai's curious eyes, Ino adds, "they're terrible for your figure. I only ate dango that day because I knew I was going to need the energy and Chōji made them especially for me." When Kurenai raises her eyebrows, Ino feels a need to completely explain the situation. "He had made some before then when the team first formed and he just didn't get why I wouldn't eat them. That's why he made these special dango for me."

Kurenai asks, "how were they special?"

Ino slowly answers as she wonders why she's breathing harder, "low calorie, low carbs. Zero fat. They tasted fine enough," she asserts before recalling, "the blue one was a little chalky though."

"Blue," Kurenai repeats with the final click of missing information. The Raven-haired beauty has had enough dango with Anko to know every stand in Konoha sells pink, white and green dango, and a chalky taste makes no sense. Kurenai's mind correlates the keywords blue, Akimichi, and chalky to hypothesize, with near certainty, what Ino-chan ate was not dango.

Ino's been quiet for several moments and clearly, she's trying to understand what she likely hasn't been told of. The blue pill isn't exactly commonplace talk among unmarried couples, but the blue medicine is a sweet insult she's heard a time or two. Kurenai eases Ino into her theory by asking, "you're aware the Akimichi clan produce most of our military ration pills?"

"…Yes," Ino states to Naruto's, "really?"

"The Akimichi also have special medicine pills," Kurenai continues to explain. "Three are used specifically for their clan in combat situations and one can be used by others—normally married adults—specifically for sexual situations. That pill is blue and artificially stimulates sexual excitement. Depending on the amount ingested, it can produce a great amount of sexual arousal within a person."

Ino is stunned still as an even tone escapes her parted pink lips. "I… You're saying… Chōji drugged me?"

Tentatively, Kurenai answers, "I'll have to verify…" and doesn't add, 'but, yes.'

"…My own teammate," Ino, mumbles looking as if her own parents had struck her. Kurenai turns to an angry, though thankfully silent Naruto, understanding they were all classmates so it isn't hard to imagine their confusion and outrage. Kurenai whispers to Naruto, "give us a minute. And don't do anything to Chōji-kun. We don't know what Ino-chan wants to do."

Taking one last look at a stunned Ino, Naruto nods before leaving. Kurenai shuffles right next to the girl, and though she was strong earlier, Kurenai can easily imagine the weight of the hardships she's been suffering for months now, only to find out it was all because of her teammate; one shinobi she is supposed to trust more than any other. When Kurenai places a comforting hand on the beautiful girl, she shutters, then trembles. Sorrow breaks the artistry of her elegant face, adding creases her tears flood over. The girl turns and wraps her arms around Kurenai's waist, holding her just as desperately as Naruto tends to and wails in her chest.

Feeling the strong sound waves from the crying girl vibrate her very ribs, Kurenai holds her just as dearly. Kurenai leans against the sofa as she holds her, softly singing, "it's okay, Ino. Cry as much as you want. I have you. I have you." She cries for so long, her tears run out and she falls asleep.

NARUTO

Naruto walks out of Kurenai's house, unsure of how he feels about what he's learned. He recalls playing with Chōji, Shikamaru, Kiba—before Kiba turned into a dick—and of their group, Chōji was always the kindest. It simply didn't make any sense that such a nice guy would drug his own teammate. It makes him angry enough to want to hit the boy, but more than that, Naruto wants to know why. 'How could he do that?'

Naruto is happily surprised when he notices Hinata tentatively walk over to him and calls to her, "hey Hinata-chan!"

Her entire face blushes in her surprise but she stutters, "he-he-hello, N-N-Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiles at her, loving the way she tries even though she's so shy. "Are you here to see Kurenai-chan? She's kind of busy right now." The indigo-haired Hyūga twiddles her index fingers in front of her lips before shaking her head no. "Hey, do you have some time? Maybe we can hang out?"

The midnight-blue haired girl visibly shakes to spend time with him. Unable to recall her ability to speak, Hinata-chan nods her head, 'yes.'

"Sweet!" Naruto calls. "Come on, I don't live too far from here." On the way to Iruka's, Naruto wonders about his sensei, about Naru-nii's assertion of Hinata-chan, of Chōji drugging Ino which led to Ino doing something she never wanted to do with him. 'It's so weird how things happen,' he thinks before asking Hinata-chan, "hey, why do you think someone who's usually good might do something bad? You know, like hurt other people."

Hinata-chan's whitish lilac eyes grow in surprise by the question and though her throat dries and shrivels, she answers him. She only had the strength to do so because he seems so uncharacteristically serious about wanting to know, and she wanted to help him in any and all ways. Thinking about Kiba's request of invading Ino's privacy, Hinata answers, "mn, m-maybe th-they d-didn't mean to-to do something bad." Thinking about her own clan, she adds, "s-s-sometimes it isn't s-so simple."

Naruto thinks about Iruka. Whether he meant to or not, it was his fault Iruka is hurt the way he is, and like it always does, Naruto's guilt riles him up to try harder, to be better, so he can protect his friends. He promises, with Hinata-chan as his witness, "because of me, Iruka-sensei is in the hospital. Because I was too weak, he got hurt. I definitely won't let that happen again." He clenches his fist and closes his eyes when he feels his eyes moisten.

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