The two boys lay on their backs in the long grass, heads almost touching. The one with the dark hair was staring into space, a faraway look in his eyes, as if he was staring beyond the clouds scurrying across the sky. The other boy, lighter haired, with a swirl mark on each cheek, gazed cross-eyed, smiling at the blue butterfly that had landed on his nose minutes ago.

"Chouji?" asked the boy with the dark hair.

"Yeah, Shika?" replied Chouji carefully, quietly.

"Do you ever think that..." He paused, listening.

Chouji heard it too, soft steady crunching. Footsteps. He sat up. It was Ino. She came over, her steps somewhere between a march and a strut. "Ino," Chouji told Shikamaru softly.

Shikamaru let out a small groan, and closed his eyes.

Chouji lay back down, wishing he handn't sat up so quickly. His butterfly had left him, flown off to find another, more stable perch.

"Chouji! Shikamaru! Come on, you slackers!" Ino's voice cut over the wind and softly waving grass. "We have a mission today."

"Asuma-sensei said he'd meet us here," pointed out Chouji.

"Do you want him to know you're a slacker? Come on, stand up! Let's get ready."

"Ino," said Shikamaru, not even opening his eyes. "If he hasn't figured that out yet, he really is a lot dumber than he looks."

"Which he isn't," said a voice behind Ino. She jumped and gave a little shriek. Shikamaru just smiled.

"Get up, slacker. Get up," she said, prodding Shikamaru's face with her sandal on every syllable.

"Ow, ow, okay. Okay," he said, rolling over and pushing himself to a standing position. "Geez, this is such a drag."

"Well, I could see it through your eyes, if you like," said Ino, smiling.

"No thanks," said Shikamaru. "I was twice as sore the next day, the last time you did that."

"You guys done bickering yet?" asked Asuma. Chouji stood behind him, crunching on something he was pulling from a plastic bag. "Do you need to get your things for the mission?"

"No, we don't need anything," said Shikamaru.

Asuma casually pulled a cigarette out of a crumpled carton, lighting it with one quick flick of a match.

"Asuma-sensei," started Ino. "You shouldn't do that. You'll get..."

"Cancer, I know," said Asuma with a grin. "Ino, if I go out to cancer, I'm not much of a shinobi, am I?"

Shikamaru yawned.

"Let's get going," said Asuma. "I'll brief you on the way."

Shikamaru yawned again.

Asuma looked at him, grin still stretched across his features. "Come on, Shikamaru. If we get going, we'll have time for me to beat you at Shogi this afternoon."

Shikamaru glanced up at his sensei, a smirk rising involuntarily to his lips. "Famous last words."