With the end of school came the winter holidays and more importantly, to Ino anyways, her birthday. She invited most of her class, which led to yet another uncomfortable conversation with her parents, something that seemed to be happening a lot lately. It felt as though each week there was a new topic they danced around. Two years ago, Ino wouldn’t have noticed. But more and more she was starting to see the slight pauses that indicated withheld information. The eye contact they made, silently communicating with each other. Last time it had been about going over to Shino’s place. This time the subject was Naruto.
This is SO stupid. Ino couldn’t help but think to herself as she watched her parents squirm. It was obvious to all three of them that her parents did not want Naruto at the party. It obvious to all three of them that the true reason for not wanting Naruto to come was something they refused to tell Ino. It was obvious to all of them that they could not for the life of them think of an excuse for not inviting a starving, orphaned classmate of Ino’s to her party. And lastly it was obvious to all of them that they were desperately hoping Ino would just let it go, which she was decidedly not doing.
It wasn’t like Ino was desperate to have Naruto there, she had only asked once and it had led to her parents’ social skills reverting to those of a 3-year-old. So, they sat there. If they thought Ino would get uncomfortable and let them off easy they had another thing coming. “Can you two just please give me a real reason for not inviting him?” Ino asked for what felt like the 10th time, trying to keep her voice calm.
“Err… He doesn’t get along well with the other kids in class Ino, and we don’t want to cause trouble at the restaurant.” Her dad tried.
“I’m the one who sees him every day in class. He’s fine if there’s an adult that tells him to be quiet. It’s usually other kids and adults that start antagonizing him.”
Somehow her parents got even more uncomfortable.
“You two are acting like children!” Ino scolded.
Finally, after another few minutes of painful, halting conversation, Inoichi couldn’t take it anymore. “Look Ino, it’s not that we don’t believe you, but the fact of the matter is we’ve heard that he’s gotten rowdy at some restaurants in the past and we just aren’t willing to handle the chaos that inviting him would undoubtedly bring.”
Ino watched her parents as her father said this and was finally starting to put her finger on the emotion they were emitting. Shame. Especially at the last thing her father had said. What on earth could they be hiding about a starving child with no family? What else had they been hiding?
Sighing heavily Ino nodded and thanked her parents for considering it and promised she was still very excited for her birthday.
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