"Should have thought of that before, then," A.J. said, firmly standing his ground on not feeling guilty about it, while reaching over to pull a chair closer to them, "when I gave you fair warning." He picked up the larger bottle of Pink Soap and started to open it. "Go ahead and put a towel over your shoulders and then duck your head under, get your hair wet. Then have a seat and we'll work this in. We'll probably have to lather, rinse, repeat a lot."

"Self-defense, Ino, dear," A.J. told her with a lightly insisting voice. Once she'd taken her seat, he started to work the Pink Soap into a lather, working it into her hair where the blue streaks were. "Forgive me if I rub too hard," he added. "But you've got to really scrub with this stuff."

"Haven't decided yet," A.J. admitted, his voice a little strained as he was scrubbing as best he could. "Definitely going home for Christmas day. My parents would have a shit fit if I didn't. Might stay home for a bit after that, to see some friends."

"What would you be lying about?" A.J. asked, frowning.

"Ah-ha," A.J. said, scrubbing a little harder. The soap was starting to turn blue in his hands, which was a good sign. "Daddy doesn't approve? ...Time to rinse," he added, moving toward the sink.

"Yeah, that might cause some conflict, just a little, yeah," A.J. stated, eyes a little wide, as he worked water and soap through Ino's hair.

"I never said that," A.J. said, lightly as he scrubbed some of the remaining soap into the blue lines of the hair between his fingers.

A.J. sighed a little. He had Ino head down in a sink right now, so that gave him at least one position of authority. If his words pissed her off, he'd be able to do at least something to defend himself. Like hold her under until she cooled off. "Well, it's just..." he started, quietly, tentatively, working out his nerves through her hair, "I don't get it. I know you like to yell and argue and stuff so I see why there's an appeal, but...it just sounds like...so much trouble. I mean, do you really, really care about him? It seems like, for the most part, you're sort of...meh. But I don't want to assume on anything; there could just be more there that I don't see, but..."

Feeling like he was starting to lack in the sense department, A.J. just let himself trail off.

"Hey," A.J. said, grinning a little as he listened. "If you feel that way, really feel that way, then, no, I don't think it's stupid. I might not be able to understand it, like, ever, but...Just as long as you feel it and you're really doing it because you want to. I mean, I doubt with all the trouble it causes you'd do it because you feel like you have to, but people get weird when they start getting close to other people, and they do things like that. Stick with something because they think turning their back on it means failure. And I know from the other day how you feel about giving up on things..."

"As long as you really are happy," A.J. said, emphasizing the point...while potentially, possibly projecting his thoughts of a certain someone else onto Ino's situation, "then I can't say anything but I hope it stays that way."

"And it's looking...better. I really think the Pink Soap will work. Let's try another go-through." He shut off the water, took a moment to wring the excess water out of Ino's hair.

A.J. bit his lip. "A little bit? It usually takes a few goes with Pink Soap. maybe about three more times, I'm guessing, and then it'll be so faint that you'll barely notice it."

"Let's," A.J. said, getting out more Pink Soap. "And? I totally warned you that it would be a bitch to get out, too, if I recall. But, noooo, Ino had to insist on pushing poor A.J."