Room 504, Sunday Morning (9-ish)

[intraspective]

After Liir's lesson which will be played out when Liir-mun gets on Ino had a quick shower and was now sitting on her bed, fully dressed and brushing her hair. Her hair had been completely brushed for the last five minutes at least, but that didn't stop her from continuing. She might have been a bit nervous. The last time Michael had been in here they'd... uh... yeah.

Ino went and opened her door. There. That'd make it harder to mess up the whole situation even further right? Right? And this wasn't a date, right? She hadn't made her choice yet...

She sighed and went back to brushing her hair. At least MercCon would be fun. It was hard to be depressed when such a great distraction was going on.

[Ino's waiting for Michael, but sure, open if you show up before he does.]

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[intraspective]

Ino glanced up at the knock and, setting her hairbrush down, went to get the door. Be confident, she scolded herself, they weren't doing anything wrong.

"Hey," she said, smiling when she saw who it was, tucking a bit of hair behind one ear, "come on in."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Hey", he said with a smile in return, stepping through the door. "Ready for the mercs?"

[intraspective]

Her smile went up a notch. "Almost," Ino said, "just need to put my hair up. I... got distracted." By using her hair as an excuse to not think.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Okay", he said with a nod. "I can wait."

Not offering to touch her hair. No.

[intraspective]

Probably for the best really. Even if she did really like it when people played with her hair.

She grinned at him, getting her hairbrush and tugging an elastic off the handle, "It won't be long, ponytail's aren't exactly complicated."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

That was why it was for the best.

"Not one of the girls who messes with hairspray and that stuff, then?" he asked teasingly.

[intraspective]

"Please," Ino said, rolling her eyes, "that stuff smells from, like, a mile away. Asuma-sensei would've lynched me if I'd ever tried something like that--and that's assuming that Dad let me out of the house."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Fair enough", he said easily. He didn't really understand why girls went to that much effort anyway.

[intraspective]

"I know how to use it, of course," Ino said, brushing her hair back from her face, "Suzume-sensei at the Academy made sure all the girls did because there are missions where we might have to dress up like that. But for the most part it'd just be stupid, why give an enemy such an obvious way to track you like that?"

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"You could use it to make a false trail", he suggested. "Leave them a can to find at the end."

[intraspective]

She snickered, putting her hair up. "There's easier ways of leaving false trails--one's that won't have the smell of hair spray clinging to you for a while anyway."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"You'd know better", was the relaxed response. "I never had to try."

...yet.

[intraspective]

She fiddled with her hair. "Well," Ino said, "ninja are supposed to know all of that. Admittedly there are a lot of ninja way better at it than me though. Both Kabuto and Yondaime-sama would be able to track me in a heart beat I bet."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Still time for you to get better", he offered. "You're still young. And hey... there's always people better than you with stuff. My brother and sister are way better with the... powers... than I am."

[intraspective]

"That's true, and I can do a few things they can't, so it's doesn't really bother me, you know? Just sometimes..." Ino shrugged, and smiled at him, "They are, huh? Maybe you need more practise to."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Probably do", he admitted. "But, y'know, they've got a house and their own rooms and I'm in a three-room trailer. Not so easy. I go out to the desert, though, I'm real good at blowing things up."

[intraspective]

She blinked, then frowned at him slightly. "Why the difference?" Weren't siblings supposed to live together?

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

He shrugged slightly.

"Got split up when we were six and they found us. Max and Izzy got adopted... I didn't."

[intraspective]

"That doesn't seem very fair," Ino offered, setting her hairbrush down.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Wasn't really anyone's fault", he said quietly. "I'd never seen a car before - got scared and ran off. They didn't find me 'til later."

[intraspective]

Okay, awkwardness over him being in her room or not, he was getting a hug.

"At least they found you," Ino said, going to hug him.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

He wouldn't turn down a hug from her, leaning into her slightly.

"Yeah. Could've been a lot worse."

[intraspective]

Her arms tightened around him. "But it wasn't."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"I'm still alive." He shrugged slightly. "I'm here and when I graduate, I get to get my own place. If we don't go home first."

[intraspective]

"Well," Ino said, "I, for one, am glad you're alive, and here." Even with the problems she'd been having between him and Kabuto.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Good to hear", he said with a crooked smile, turning his head to look at her. "You too."

[intraspective]

She wrinkled her nose playfully up at him. "Here's a pretty good place to be." Ino grinned, "we should head out, don't you think?"

Before, you know, anything could happen.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

It was increasingly tempting to do something Ino would probably regret, so he leaned back quickly.

"Yeah, I guess we should. Wouldn't want to miss the talks."

[intraspective]

She beamed, and headed for the door. "We'd better not! I bet they'll be good ones."

And she'd have enjoyed a kiss but... Ino was trying to make up her mind. That wouldn't help at all.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

He just nodded and followed her to the door.