flower shop romance by yojimbra ( naruto x ion)

I

The Yamanaka flower shop had four kinds of customers, the Ninja here for the rare poisons her father didn't let her anywhere near, the gardeners that knew exactly what they were here for, the husband here to pick up their weekly tribute for their wives. And then there was Ino's favorite customer, the lost boy looking for a flower to impress the girl he liked.

It was always so romantic seeing those boys go out of their way to impress the girl they liked. Ino sighed wistfully into the bouquet of yellow daffodils she had been preparing for a local businessman that was a few days late for his anniversary. "I wish Sasuke would bring me flowers someday, I bet he wouldn't forget our anniversary."

Not that they had an anniversary, he had gone so far as to turn her down every time she asked him out. Not that she was alone in that endeavor, he had turned down every girl that had confessed their feelings to him. Time and time again.

"Still there's no way that I'm going to lose," Ino snarled, she snipped furiously at the stem of one of the flowers until it was the perfect length. The Yellow Daffodil was supposed to represent new beginnings and future success. If only she could give Sakura the flower then maybe the could stop fighting all the time. "Ha, like she'd even accept it probably think I was coming onto her or something."

"Talking to yourself again dear?" Her mother strode gracefully out from the back office, looking as regal as ever. Tsubaki Yamanaka was a tall elegant woman that made it a point to always look like perfection.

"I'm talking to the flowers!" Ino smiled, twirling around to hand the final flower to Tsubaki.

With practiced grace, her mother placed the flower in the perfect spot to finish off the arrangement. She walked around the counter dragging her meticulous nails along the wood. "Yes, the Yamanaka secret ingredient, between you and your father these flowers may know every secret in Konoha."

"I finished the orders, can I go for the day?" Ino placed both hands on the counter holding herself up off the floor.

"Hmm," Her mother pursed her lips smiling in a way that told Ino all she needed to know. The answer was going to be no. "Your chores aren't done, and I need your help with something today."

"Oh," Ino deflated resting her upper body on the countertop, trying to take up as much space as possible on it. "So I only have to do absolutely, everything, forever. I mean I even cleaned up the paint from that jerk's prank and redid the flower beds he ruined, I should at least get half a day off!"

"Oh the hardships of a twelve-year-old girl," Her mother adjusted another bouquet, with a minor change the entire shop somehow changed. "Well, you won't have to suffer alone, we'll be taking on some part-time help today, and it will be your job to show them the ropes while I go shopping."

"Does dad know?"

"Yes, it was actually his idea in the first place, you always complain about being overworked during the spring," Tsubaki said.

"I meant about the shopping," Ino shot back, propping her head up.

The door chime echoed throughout the store.

"Hello!" Ino greeted, bouncing off the countertop and onto her feet, she put on her best customer service smile. "What can I… oh it's you." Her smile vanished, and she folded her arms across her chest.

It was Naruto Uzumaki, a troublemaker in her class and the only person in her class with a mouth bigger than hers - and the stupid dumb jerk face that decided to paint bomb their store over the weekend. He looked ready to cry or pout and like he didn't want to be here any more than she wanted him to be here. "The Old Man said I had to come here and help you guys out."

Her mother glided across the store floor to circle around Naruto, once, twice. "Ahh excellent timing Naruto, we were just talking about you."

Wait they were? They were just talking about a part-timer, and shopping, and… wait, wait, wait. "Are you telling me that loser is the extra help! He's the one that took my weekend away from me!"

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted. "It's not like I want to be here!"

"Now, now," Tsubaki stood behind Naruto and placed her hands on his shoulders. "I talked to the Hokage and Iruka-sensei after that incident and we all believed that understanding the hard work people put into their stores would do Naruto some good, so please, do your best to teach him Ino, I'm leaving it in your capable hands!"

Before either of them could say anything Tsubaki vanished out the door, moving incredibly fast for a woman in a dress and heels.

Ino glared at him, this was just great, now she was going to have to spend all day with Naruto! She had more than enough of him being an idiot in class. Now he was going to be messing up her store too? Just freak'n great. "Fine, come with me."

"The first stop on the Grand Tour of the Illustrious Yamanaka Flower Shop is the outdoor gardens!" Ino pushed past the bead curtain with her arms out wide, spinning as she did. Vines grew along guides to make an elegant forest canopy with wide square holes, the walls were covered with a variety of seeds, and gardening tools, some for sale others for the store and a variety of plants were grown on tiered shelves so that the yellow walls were all but hidden. The main attraction was the eight large flower beds all in various stages of growth, save for two in the middle that were barren and were stained with orange paint.

"This is where we grow what's in season, and where you'll be spending the rest of your day." Reaching into the supply closet Ino pulled out a watering pail and a spare apron with purple flowers on it. She tossed them bothwasNaruto, hitting in the face with the apron. "You know how to water plants right?"

"Yea!" Naruto growled ripping the apron from his face. He put it on over his orange Iket without fastening it around the waist. "You fill this with water," he flailed the pail around. "And then pour water on the flowers."

"Pfft," Ino snorted, placing both hands on her hips. "You have no idea, how to water plants do you?"

"Do to!" Naruto growled stomping over to the spigot, he filled it up just enough to get something drenched. His face was turning redder by the second until he looked like a blond tomato. "Just you watch." He stomped over to the strawberries and proceeded to give them too mutoo water, the plant would survive but it wasn't healthy for them. "See?"

"Oooh," Ino clapped as sarcastically as she could possibly manage. "Congratulations Naruto, you over watered the Strawberries."

Silence lingered between them as Naruto processed the information, his face maintaining the lovely tomato coloring. He looked at the pot, then at her, then back at the pot. "How do you know?"

water those strawberries every day," Ino pointed at the pot. "You see there? You filled the pot up to the brim, strawberries need a lot of water, but that'll drown them if you colouring every day, you also shouldn't aim at the leaves, strawberries like to have their roots watered, so just pour into the soil for how much." She shuffled over to the next strawberry plant, specifically at the little line just above the soil. "I put that line there to remind me how much water to put in each pot. Better than looking it up in the book."

"Oh." A look of understanding graced Naruto's face as he looked at one pot after another trying to find the little line. "What about this one? It doesn't have a line!"

"For those just get the ground wet," Ino smiled, maybe having someone to do all the dirty work wouldn't be such a bad idea, she could keep Naruto locked up in here while she handled the storefront. "And after you water all the pots, we'll talk about the plant beds."