Excuse my attempts at talking economics and trying to do these characters justice.

The day Nara Shikamaru appeared on Lü Tenten's talk show was its most watched and talked about episode in broadcast history.

It began unassumingly, with the young man lounging on the couch and Tenten perched on a stool next to him. "We're here today with businessman Nara Shikamaru, successor to the corporate empire created by his father, Nara Shikaku. What we really want to focus on, though, is the new company you've built in the past year that has enjoyed unprecedented profits and success. But before we get into the details, I have to ask: why did you do it?"

Shikamaru blinked. "Excuse me?"

"What motivated you to do all this?" Tenten pressed. "Build a company from scratch and oversee management of all of its aspects just when you're fresh out of college and easily could've ridden on your father's coattails for the rest of your life. Was it a drive to be the best? Or was it for fame, or money?"

"It was for Ino," said Shikamaru simply.

The pretty talk show host nodded. "Congratulations on your engagement, by the way!" The audience clapped obediently. Shikamaru remained unamused. "But what exactly do you mean by that? Were you inspired by your love for her, perhaps?"

"Well…no," the young man said, frowning.

"Could you elaborate, then?" asked Tenten eagerly, leaning forward.

Shikamaru looked disgruntled. "It's a long story."

A look from Tenten clearly told him that he was not going to get away with not telling it. Sighing, he began, "It started four years ago…"

"I can't believe you're even considering this."

"Don't you tell me what I can think," she hissed. "I don't have to listen to a thing you say."

"Yes, you do," he whispered furiously. "We've known each other for years. That should count for something."

"Well, maybe if you had made something of those years I would consider staying," she snapped back, eyes flashing.

His eyes widened at the hurtful jab and he opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted.

"Ino, Shikamaru!"

The two teenagers jumped at the sound of their teacher's voice. They had been leaning over each other's desks, heads together and arguing more loudly than they intended.

Asuma jerked his head towards the door. "Outside, now."

Out in the hallway, Shikamaru lounged on the wall and Ino looked angrily back and forth with her arms crossed under her chest, as Asuma slid the door to the classroom closed behind them. He turned to face two of his favorite students. "All right, what's this about?"

"Nothing," Ino said loudly, at the same time Shikamaru muttered, "She's being unreasonable."

Ino shot him a heated glare. Asuma sighed and dragged his hand down his rugged face.

"Do I have to send you two to the dean's? I can't have you keep disrupting my class like this."

Shikamaru simply looked sullen, so Ino put up a front of forced cheeriness and fluttered her eyelashes. "We'll be fine. I'm very sorry, Asuma sir."

"Really," Asuma uttered skeptically.

"Yes." Ino glanced at Shikamaru and hooked her arm with his perhaps more painfully than necessary, smiling falsely. "See? All better."

Asuma didn't buy it, but knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with the stubborn pair if they didn't want to talk. Sighing, he went back into the classroom. Once he was a few feet away, Ino jerked her arm away from Shikamaru, but not before he said, "We're going to talk later, Ino."

To his surprise, however, she didn't explode. Instead the blonde girl's anger deflated and she murmured, "I know."

They walked back into the classroom silently.

School ended eventually and Shikamaru found Ino next to her shoe locker. Wordlessly she followed him out of the building and to a tree near the baseball field.

He threw down his bag and sat down and looked up at her. "So?"

Ino stared, and said distantly, "I told you, I'm leaving. I have my plane ticket, and my friend Sakura is going to help me find a place to live. The agency has photoshoots set up for me already."

She had never seen Shikamaru look so upset. "What the hell, Ino? What are you thinking? You're just going to drop out of school, run away from home, your family? You're leaving Chōji and me just like that and throwing yourself into a world you don't have the first clue about!"

She curled her hands into fists and said nothing.

Shikamaru furrowed his eyebrows and nodded towards the ground. "Sit down."

"I don't want to get my skirt dirty."

The dark-haired boy groaned and said something that sounded like "troublesome" and spread his jacket on the ground next to him. Ino sat after a moment's consideration, cradling her knees.

"Shikamaru, I'm doing this for my family. You know how badly our business has been. My father is too proud to ever ask your parents for help, and you know it. This way…I can do something for them both. I…I want them to be happy."

"Maybe so," he ground out, "but ultimately you're being selfish. You're leaving us, Ino! I can't stand idly by and accept that!"

Ino fixed cold blue eyes on him, her fine features drawn with unhappiness. "Then tell me something to make me stay, Shikamaru."

For a moment he was about to do it, tell her everything about how he felt and how much he cared, but in his next breath his courage was gone. Words were a commitment he wasn't ready for.

"I can't," he said finally. "You never listen to me anyway."

Ino's eyes fell in disappointment. She rose from her seat and shouldered her bag, murmuring in a quiet tone very unlike her, "You're right. I don't."

Shikamaru put his hand on his face in frustration. "Ino, wait."

"I should get going. I want to say good-bye to Chōji before I leave."

"Don't do this," he said warningly, staring at her slender back.

Ino laughed briefly, already walking away. "Don't bother, Shikamaru. I'm not worth the trouble."

That was the last time he saw her in Konoha.

Clouds rolled by endlessly before his eyes but offered him little of their usual mindless comfort. Shikamaru scowled up at the sky, hating it for being the same color as Ino's eyes.

Chōji's rotund face appeared in his field of vision. "Thought I'd find you here," he said.

With a sigh, Shikamaru sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Did her parents find out?"

Chōji's eyes fell to the ground. "Yeah…they're really freaking out. They're driving to the airport now to try and see if she's still there."

"She's gone," mumbled Shikamaru. "Her flight already departed. I checked."

Settling down next to him, Chōji glanced sideways at his friend. "Why didn't you tell her, Shikamaru?"

The young man remained silent, stony-faced. Chōji sympathized with him, but at the same time had to keep speaking.

"She told me something before she left," he said quietly.

Shikamaru continue to stare at his hands.

"And I've known about it for a while…" Chōji went on.

"Stop." Shikamaru had to interrupt him. Words were a commitment.

Chōji ignored him. "And you knew it too. Ino had feelings for you and dammit, Shikamaru, if you had told her how you felt she wouldn't be gone right now!"

Chest heaving with emotion, he stared at his best friend fixedly. "Don't tell me you didn't predict this outcome."

"Of course I did," Shikamaru said tiredly. "I'm a genius."

"You're weak," said Chōji, softly accusing.

Shikamaru fell back onto the grass, tracing the clouds with his eyes. "I know."

Winter turned to cold spring. Ino must have been doing well as a model, because the Yamanaka family received a fat monthly deposit in their bank account without fail. She called every now and then, but never left enough information to be tracked down.

Shikamaru received the results of his college applications and was not surprised. Over dinner, he breached the topic with his father.

"I got into Cambridge," he mentioned, twirling udon noodles around his chopsticks.

Shikaku didn't look surprised either. "And the others?"

Shikamaru nodded uninterestedly. "Well, Yale was a waitlist."

"Hmm. Cambridge sounds good," Shikaku said vaguely, pouring himself some shōchū.

"I guess."

Yoshino dropped off a few more plates of vegetables before returning to the kitchen, humming to herself.

"I thought you decided not to apply early," his father remarked, eyeing the layout of the dining table gloomily. No doubt Yoshino would demand they consume every single bite of her hard work, appetite or no.

"Changed my mind."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Inoichi's girl running away, would it?"

It has everything to do with that and you know it, old man, thought Shikamaru sullenly. "Whatever."

Three years later, in the early springtime, Shikamaru returned to Konoha. He tossed his diploma on his father's desk and said, "I want to join the company."

Shikaku crossed his arms and smiled. "Well, congratulations, son. I'm happy for you."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "What are you going on about?"

The older Nara shrugged. "It's just that you've never expressed interest in the family business up till now. In fact, I had serious doubts a few years ago that you were going to apply to college at all. But look at you – and all this for Inoichi's daughter."

Shikamaru felt his cheeks redden with irritation, or embarrassment, or both. "Old man, shut up."

"Oh, don't be so proud," Shikaku grinned, fingering the diploma. "Ino seems good for you! She put a fire under your heart. I've never seen you so motivated."

Shikamaru groaned. "Will you let me join or not?"

His father entwined his fingers and smiled happily. "After you complete a challenge for me."

"A challenge? Dad, I'm not five. For that matter, you're not five."

"Your mother and I will go on a trip for six months," Shikaku barreled on, ignoring him. "Maybe to the Maldives? Anyway, in the meantime, you'll take over Yamato-no-kuni Industries and double its returns before we come back. If you can do that, I'll allow you to join the board."

"Double?" his son said disbelievingly. "Only?"

Shikaku chuckled. "Good luck, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru rose to the occasion and doubled the company's returns with ease, investing in certain East Asian countries and some American company called Apple among other things. To be honest, he found the advisors his father had assigned to him – one a constantly tardy pervert with an eidetic memory, the second a close-mouthed Uchiha who was going to get early wrinkles from frowning so much, and the third a passive Hyuuga with deadpan sarcasm and feminine features – somewhat suspicious, but ultimately they were helpful.

At least, when the first didn't have his nose buried in a smut book and the Hyuuga wasn't bitching about his family, and the Uchiha wasn't busy fending off questions about his sexuality.

His parents came home from their island vacation tanned and cheerful. The latter did not last long in his mother's case when she saw how he had been keeping the house.

After narrowly escaping Yoshino's wrath, Shikamaru informed Shikaku of his success with the company. Shikaku looked mildly pleased and handed over a blank check.

"Go find her, son!" he exclaimed dramatically.

Shikamaru pocketed the check and gave his father a look of unease. "Dad, you're having way too much fun with this."

"Oh, I know." Shikaku's face spread in a grin, lifting his scars.

Awkwardly, Shikamaru nodded his head. "…Thank you."

Shikaku turned grave in a moment, face sobering. "It's not a problem, Shikamaru. I'd like the Yamanaka family to look happy again, and I know you can make that happen by bringing Ino back."

"I will," said Shikamaru quietly. A commitment.

One morning, a while later, Sakura was munching on cereal and flipping through channels when one caught her interest. She set down the remote and fixed curious green eyes on the screen.

"…just under six months, Yamato-no-kuni Industries has expanded out of Japan, buying up many clothing companies with American-based factories and relocating the bases of manufacturing to Asia. CEO Nara Shikaku was unavailable for comment, though Chief Financial Officer Hatake Kakashi when approached offered hints at an offshoot company in development, under new management…"

Sakura felt a little bemused at the fact that her lazy as hell, drawling high school government teacher had become a high ranking executive in a gigantic corporation, but that wasn't the biggest thing on her mind. "Hey, Ino!"

"Yeah?" Ino's voice came from the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of pans rattling as she made herself breakfast.

"What was the name of that guy you used to like? Shika-something?"

"Shikamaru," said Ino, voice growing terse.

"Right!" Sakura snapped her fingers. "Didn't you say his last name was Nara?"

Ino wound her way over to the living room couch and plopped down next to her pink-haired roommate, holding a steaming plate of eggs. "Yeah, it is. Why do you ask?"

Sakura pointed to their TV, which was showing pictures of the Nara deer farm. "Is he related to Nara Shikaku?"

"Yeah." Ino blinked, taking a few bites of her eggs. "Shikaku is his father." Her eyes took in the scrolling news marquee at the bottom, and she added, sounding grumpy, "Ah, there's no way Shikamaru's involved in that new company everyone's talking about, though."

Sakura raised an eyebrow and snagged some of Ino's eggs with her spoon. "You say that with so much certainty."

"That's because I've known him forever. He's lazy, unmotivated, and irritating!" With each adjective, Ino's poor eggs got a stabbing. "He could've graduated high school when he was twelve for heaven's sake! But no, he didn't want to skip any grades, just wanted to lie around all day watching clouds and eating with Chōji or pissing me off…"

Setting down her cereal bowl, Sakura stretched her arms over her head and then behind her by locking her hands together and pulling. "Wow, Pig, I haven't seen you this angry since that model from Suna was chosen over you for that magazine contract."

Ino scowled at the insulting nickname and the reminder. "She was sleeping with the editor and you know it. Anyway, Shikamaru just always made me so mad! He had so much potential…but he never got around to doing anything."

Something about her tone suggested to Sakura that there was more to the story than simple frustration over wasted talent. But despite living with Ino for nearly four years, the pink-haired young woman only knew bits and pieces of her backstory. For such a gossip, Ino was surprisingly closemouthed when it came to her own business. And as much as Sakura was dying to know what had really happened between her and Shikamaru, she could sense it was a topic the blonde did not want breached.

Sakura's suspicions were confirmed when Ino breezily changed the subject. "So," she began, picking up the remote and switching the TV off before turning to her friend, "how are you and Sasuke-kun doing?"

"Oh," said Sakura. "Yeah, I think we're done."

"What?" Ino stared incredulously at her friend's blithe dismissal of the legendarily hard-to-get Uchiha. "That's all? When he asked you out, you wouldn't stop rubbing it in my face for days."

Sakura shrugged. "I idealized him. So we're just going to stay friends."

Ino's face twisted in disbelief at her friend's indifference, but the girl continued. "He did invite us to a party, though. Y'know, for the premiere of that new clothing line they're starting now that Yamato-no-kuni has taken over."

"Oh. Oh, wow." Ino's blue eyes widened. "I heard about that. Some really powerful people are going to be there."

"You're welcome," said Sakura smugly. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm late for a photoshoot." She leapt over the couch and grabbed her bag, skipping over to the door. "Do the laundry while I'm gone, will you?"

"I did it last week, Forehead!"

"Thanks, Ino," Sakura sang, making a hasty exit out the door.

Personally, Shikamaru hated parties. They ranked about third on his list of his most annoying things (if such a list ever existed, which it did not because he couldn't be bothered to make one). Parties meant walking around, greeting people, smiling and nodding as they chatted, then moving onto the next person and repeating the process. Parties meant drinking and women giving him eyes because he was in an expensive suit. Parties meant pulsating lights and loud, headache-inducing music. All in all, they required far too much effort to be enjoyable. Honestly, Shikamaru's ideal party would be a quiet night at home with a few friends and a shōgi board… In fact, scratch the shōgi board. And the friends.

Regardless, like his father, Shikamaru understood the need for social propriety and fulfilling the expectations of others. And that was the reason he was currently seated across from Kakashi at one of the small tables near the dance floor, nursing a glass of scotch.

Well…mostly the reason, anyway.

"You seem nervous," remarked Kakashi, taking a sip of his appletini.

Shikamaru scowled. First his dad, now Kakashi. He really had to stop surrounding himself with perceptive geniuses.

"Of course I'm nervous," he said shortly. "This is basically my formal initiation into the business world."

The silver-haired man chuckled. "You're right. I forget what it's like to be young and in your shoes."

"…You're only thirty-four, Kakashi."

Their deadpan conversation was interrupted by a loud cry of, "Professor!"

A svelte woman with bright pink hair stomped over from the entrance of the dimly lit room, wrapped in a tight black dress and dragging Sasuke behind her. She poked her finger in Kakashi's face. "What the hell? When did you stop teaching? When did you stop wearing your stupid mask? And why aren't you ugly as sin?"

Kakashi looked unfazed by the sudden confrontation. "Ah, Sakura, this is Nara Shikamaru. Shikamaru, this is my former student, Haruno Sakura," he introduced. "If I'm not mistaken, she's been dating our young Uchiha."

Sasuke scowled at the appellation, hands in his dress pants pockets. "We broke up yesterday."

"Oh." Kakashi patted his shoulder comfortingly. "You can let it all out, Sasuke. We're all friends here."

As usual, Sasuke ignored him and wandered off to the bar to get a drink.

Sakura slid into the seat next to Kakashi, examining Shikamaru with interest. He wasn't conventionally handsome, like Sasuke or, to be honest, her former teacher was. But his features were so interesting, sharply drawn and dark, that you just wanted to keep looking at him, examine every unusual angle and couture. Lounging back in his chair in a well-cut suit and touching his glass by his fingertips, he exuded an air of perfect indifference. His black eyes were grumpy and hooded, not romantically deep or intense, but as they flickered around the room and seemed to absorb and dismiss everything he saw, you almost wished for some of their attention to be lavished on you.

Sakura shook her head in amazement. He was so not Ino's type!

Shikamaru spoke up for the first time since she had joined the table, fixing his lazy gaze on her. "You're Ino's roommate, aren't you?"

Sakura blinked. "Yes. How did you know?"

"She mentioned you once." Sakura couldn't put her finger on it, but something about Shikamaru's eyes had changed. Still, he continued on, talking casually as if it meant nothing. "Is she here?"

She nodded confirmation. "In the garden."

Kakashi watched his business partner's face, eyes amused.

Shikamaru put his scotch down and stood. "Excuse me."

Sakura and Kakashi watched him go. Thoughtfully, the man asked, "This Ino – she's his friend, is she? And she's been in America all this time?"

"Mhm. Why?"

"Ah," her old teacher murmured, picking up his appletini. "That explains so much."

Sakura frowned, not understanding.

"So anyway," continued Kakashi, sleepy dark eyes sliding up and down her figure, "you're still flat as a board, I see."

A loud noise caused Shikamaru to glance back as he walked across the room. Behind him Sakura was mercilessly pushing Kakashi's face down into the tabletop.

Ino had arrived at the party venue with Sakura and Sasuke, but from the get go felt uncomfortable. It wasn't the deafening music or the flashing lights, or the knot of people gyrating on the dance floor that got to her; countless nights clubbing with Sakura and other models had made her immune to that. She just felt overly warm, and like a third wheel to Sakura and Sasuke's dysfunctional relationship.

Excusing herself from the pair once they entered the main room, she hurriedly pushed her way through the crowd and walked through glass doors leading to the backyard. The party was being thrown at the clothing line's designer's house; he obviously had a love for flowers, if the sprawling garden before her was any indication.

The flowers were a stark reminder of her parent's shop and Ino was struck with a sudden wave of homesickness. She hadn't visited Konoha once in the four years she'd been gone and tried to avoid thinking about it, but flowers were too much. She remembered the fragrance of azaleas in her mother's hair as she would pull her into loving hugs, and the smell of the dragon lilies that her father loved to tend to. She remembered afternoons manning the counter at the flower shop, doing her nails and surrounded by the scent of gladiolus blooms. Days where Chōji and Shikamaru would visit her house and they would sit around helping each other with homework before their study sessions inevitably dissolved into gossiping (Ino), eating (Chōji), and dozing off (Shikamaru). Those days always reminded her of friendship and contentedness and the smell of periwinkles.

Ino rubbed her temples and shook her head. She couldn't believe she had almost started crying. At an exclusive party like this, no less! Intuitively, though, she knew what was wrong with her. Ever since she'd heard the Nara name mentioned on the TV and by Sakura, she'd felt funny. There was no way Shikamaru was here – that was ridiculous! He hated parties – but for some reason, a nagging feeling prodded at the back of her mind, persistent and unforgettable.

It had to be something that all these years she'd been hiding from Konoha, her parents, from him, and yet one night suddenly she was at a party that his family's company happened to be sponsoring. Things like this didn't happen without reason…right?

The young woman scoffed at her own thoughts. She walked down the steps to the garden and brushed her fingertips against the petals of a cluster of ambrosias, admiring their arrangement. She was being silly…there was no way he was here. No way he was slouched outside the glass doors on top of the steps, dark green tie loosened carelessly, looking straight at her.

Ino blinked. But he was.

In the brief months Shikamaru had substituted as head of Yamato-no-kuni Industries, he had spent a lot of time dealing in the stock market. At first Sasuke and Neji had taken charge of most of the investments; but after Shikamaru dropped a few suggestions that led to incredible profits, they began to leave it all to him. Around the office he became known for being able to devise a hundred financial strategies for a situation and picking the optimal choice out of all of them, and being able to think ten steps ahead of other investment advisors.

But of all the potential situations he had foreseen, all the scenarios of meeting Ino again that he had calculated, none compared to reality. Even his idealized Ino couldn't compete with this living, breathing apparition of her, drifting through the flowers like a figure from a painting. A long plum-colored sheath dress clung to curves that had been barely developing four years ago, accentuating her far too slender waist and impossibly long legs. Her pale blonde hair was pushed back in a high ponytail, though she still retained that uncharacteristically vulnerable fringe that fell in her light blue eyes. Robust cheekbones graced her face, no doubt the clincher that had attracted her American sponsor to want to model her. She looked so sad in that moment, so unlike the vibrant, pushy, boisterous Ino of his childhood.

All the same, she was beautiful.

"Shikamaru?"

Her voice sounded strange, foreign to her own ears. It was as if she were having an out of body experience – that was how surreal the situation seemed.

He was…here. Shikamaru was here, half-draped in shadow, languid black eyes fixed unceasingly on her and hands in his pockets. And in a suit – Armani by the looks of it (Ino's brain tended to throw out pointless facts when struggling to cope with shocking circumstances). And he was so tall. He wound his way down the stairs to stand before her and was still half a foot taller than her in heels.

He had grown up, Ino realized. The lean, well-dressed figure in front of her was a man, mature and unconsciously exuding confidence and magnetism.

"Hey," he said.

Ino tried not to gape like a fish out of water. "What are you doing here?"

Shikamaru marginally raised an eyebrow, and tipped his chin back, looking down at her. "This is my party."

Color rose to Ino's cheeks unbidden. "You're – heading the new company."

"Correct," he said quietly, moving closer to her.

The blonde felt lost. She couldn't begin to voice the thousand questions blazing through her mind, so she settled for a simple one. "Why?"

"For you."

Stars wheeled above them, the sweet scent of flowers and the teasing night wind played through the air, and the universe seemed to hold its breath for a moment. Then Ino crinkled her nose in confusion and said, "What?"

Shikamaru sighed and straightened up his posture. "I did it to find you. Back then, before you left…I couldn't bring myself to tell you how I felt. I'm goddamn lazy, Ino, and cowardly, and I kept denying my feelings. I didn't deserve you at all. But you left and I realized you're worth all the trouble and pain and annoyance and everything. Even if you drive me insane, I never feel more alive than when I'm with you."

Ino gazed at him, full lips parted in astonishment. And she said, "You know, you really piss me the hell off!"

This was not how he imagined things would go. "Same to you!" he snapped, offended.

"Didn't deserve me?" Ino threw her hands up in the air. "For a genius, you can be a humongous idiot! You think you needed to pull this whole Prince Charming stunt just to prove yourself to me? I didn't care and I never have! You've always, always been important to me. If I had a choice between this version of you – " she gestured all around her – "and the you four years ago with grass in his hair and failing grades, it wouldn't matter which one. I may be blonde, but I'm not stupid! A guy like you is rare and I wanted to wait as long as it took for you to come around. But my parents were talking about selling the house and moving from Konoha and I didn't want to let that happen and lose all those memories so – "

"Oh, shut up," groaned Shikamaru – leave it up to Ino to ruin the most romantic moment of all time – and leaned down to kiss her.

It was not Ino's first kiss, but it was sweet and dizzying and four long years overdue and she found her legs weak (and not because of her five inch heels).

They broke apart and Shikamaru said plainly, "I love you. And you are not leaving again. Understand?"

Ino tugged at his tie, smiling coyly. "I understand. You might get yourself elected President of the United States to chase me down if I don't."

"Leave me with some of my pride, troublesome woman," he breathed, brushing back her bangs and pressing his lips on her forehead.

"You knew what you were getting into when you came after me," she said sweetly, pulling his face down to face hers. "Kiss me."

Her tone was belligerent and bossy and irked him to no end. Large blue eyes challenged him to do otherwise and face the consequences. But Shikamaru didn't mind at all. He kissed her anyway.

The studio of the talk show was dead silent after the young businessman finished telling his story.

"Is this all…true?" Tenten asked at last, brown eyes large with amazement.

The Nara nodded with a look of longsuffering.

"Wow," mumbled Tenten to herself. "I would kill to have my boyfriend do something half as romantic as that."

There was another thoughtful pause. Then, someone in the audience yelled, "Why didn't you just Google her?"

Someone else piped up, "Yeah, or try and crack open an Elle magazine once in a while. She does spreads in there all the time."

"You're missing the point!" a young man in a horridly bright green suit declared, jumping up and striking a pose. "All his strivings were done in the name of youthful love and flowering passion! Mr. Nara, you are the epitome of the chivalrous gentleman and I salute you!"

Shikamaru pulled himself up from the couch and started walking off stage. "I'm leaving."

"Oh, wait!" Tenten hopped off her stool and abandoned her microphone. "I still have a ton more questions for you, stay!"

Meanwhile, the green suited young man had started seizing people into bear hugs and weeping about youth and love.

Backstage, Ino slapped her forehead.

This was a lot of fun.

So this story was sort of like a bipolar sandwich with !crack! bread slices and dramatic meat in between…I know.

Let me just say briefly that Tenten is the stuff. She is like Oprah with her own talk show and everything. I love her. Also, Kakashi is possibly my favorite part of this story.

I have to rant about one thing. What is up with people's characterizations of Ino these days? She is about ten times more badass than everyone makes her out to be. They paint her as slutty, shrill, stupid, incompetent, and paired with Genma (?). But I would just like to point out that she graduated at the top of the academy (beat out Sakura and Sasuke), has REALLY COOL mind infiltrating techniques, and studied medical techniques under Tsunade alongside Sakura. And the Genma thing…I don't even want to touch with a ten foot pole. People need to stop underestimating her already!

Okay, I'm done.