Ino sighed to herself once again. She hated when Chouji was sent on a mission and she had to stay behind, especially one that was so long. Five weeks, what was the Hokage thinking? She stared out the window at nothing and was just contemplating going back to bed when the phone rang. Ino looked at the phone with great disdain and let the answering machine get it.
"Ino, it's Sakura. Pick up the phone Ino, I know you're home." Ino continued to glare at her phone. "I will keep calling until you pick up." Ino still refused to pick up the phone. "Yamanaka Ino if you don't pick up this phone right this minute and talk to me I will call your mother! If I remember correctly she has a key." The threat in Sakura's voice wasn't even veiled.
Ino shot across the room and grabbed the phone. "What do you want Haruno?" Ino really didn't want her mother to come over and baby her; all she wanted was to be left alone.
"Well… Hinata, Tenten, and I are going to have a girl's night out tonight and we want you to come." Sakura replied, ignoring the near venomous voice of her friend.
"I need to clean," Ino lied. She didn't want to go out tonight.
"Come on Ino; I know you miss Chouji, but you really need to get out of the house. He'll be back soon." Sakura tried to lighten her best friend's mood. "I'll just keep bugging you until you give in and come with us."
Ino sighed at her reflection in the full-length mirror. This was the fifth dress she had tried on and she just couldn't decide if it was the one she wanted to wear.
"Chouji, do you like what I'm wearing?" She asked, before she remembered that her husband wasn't at his usual post in the over-stuffed chair where he always sat while he waited for her to get ready to go out.
"Nope, not this one either." Ino's shoulders dropped as she shrugged out of the dress and walked towards Chouji's favorite seat. She slumped down onto the chair and snuggled into it, inhaling deeply to catch the lingering smell of her lover. Tears slowly ran down her face as she wondered yet again if he was safe and when he would return. Through blurry eyes she noticed one of Chouji's T-shirts. Pulling it to her she held it to her chest and prayed for Chouji's safe and speedy return.
Sakura knocked on Ino's door and waited for her to open it. She knew Ino hated it when Chouji was sent out on a mission without her; Sakura was hoping a night out would distract her from his absence for at least a short time. When the door opened Sakura's heart dropped to her stomach at her best friend's pitiful appearance.
Ino had answered the door in one of Chouji's shirts; the look of sorrow on her face was so miserable Sakura almost didn't recognize her.
"Ino. Why haven't you gotten dressed yet? And don't tell me you have nothing to wear, I know better." Sakura was ready to barge into Ino's apartment and dress the young woman herself before Hinata's restraining grasp caught her arm.
"Sakura, maybe you should let her answer first," Hinata suggested, when she saw Ino hang her head; looking for all the world as if she would start crying right there on her doorstep.
Ino took a shaky breath before looking up at her friends. "I… It just doesn't feel right Sakura. I just can't make myself want to go out and have fun when I don't know where Chouji is or if he's ok. Is he safe? Does he have enough to eat? I just can't stop thinking of all the things that could be going wrong. I mean the Hokage didn't even tell him when she expected him to return. He's been gone for five weeks!" Ino was near hysterics. "I don't expect you to understand what it's like, I mean Gaara lives in a whole different country and you are used to him being gone, but Sakura, Chouji and I are hardly ever apart and never for this long."
Sakura looked at her other two friends, both of whom were looking at Ino with understanding.
"She's right Sakura; I know I can't even sleep when Neji is out on a mission, even a simple C-rank one." Tenten nodded and gave Ino a reassuring smile.
"When Naruto is away on missions I go over and clean his apartment." Hinata blushed slightly. "It makes me feel better to know he will be returning to a clean and comfy home."
Sakura sighed in defeat. "You'll be ok though, right?"
Ino smiled sadly at her. "I'll be fine; I just want to be alone."
"Ok." Sakura relented. "But the next time Gaara's in town all eight of us are going out together."
"It's a deal." Ino promised.
Sakura hugged her friend. "You're wrong though Ino; I do know how it feels, I've just gotten better at coping with it."
Tenten and Hinata said their goodbyes. The trio left deciding to go ahead with their plans.
Chouji took his key out and unlocked the apartment door. It was past three in the morning and he was being as quiet as he could. He put his pack down by the door, removing a pair of pajamas he had thought to grab before leaving for his mission. From the looks of things Ino was in bed and he didn't want to wake her. He showered the grime of travel away and dressed quietly in the bathroom.
He was a bit confused to see the empty bed when he entered the bedroom. Looking around the room he noticed Ino had fallen asleep in his favorite armchair. He walked to where she was as quietly as his size allowed and noticed that she was wearing the shirt he had left on the back of the chair and that she had been looking through the photo album they had put together to celebrate their first year as a couple. He blushed as he thought of the surprise she had given him earlier that same evening.
Putting the photo album aside, he gently picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. Pulling back the blankets he tenderly laid her down then crawled in beside her. She looked like an angel lying there, and Chouji couldn't resist the urge to run his fingertip down the side of her face. She's been crying Chouji realized, as he pulled Ino close to him, lying on his back with her head resting on his chest.
Ino stirred in her sleep and woke enough to realize that Chouji was with her and he was safe. In her hazy state of mind she asked him the question he wasn't there to answer earlier. "Chouji, how do I look?"
Chouji knew Ino was already back to sleep but he looked down at her tear stained face and his old t-shirt she was wearing, and said in all honesty, "Beautiful, Ino, absolutely beautiful."
Ino smiled in her sleep and Chouji joined her, drifting off to sleep beside the girl of his dreams.