From the Inside Out
The phone rang, echoing shrilly in the shop. Twenty four year old Ino put down the flower she had been about to arrange into the vase, and wiped her hands on the dirt-streaked apron as she hurried to the counter. She picked up the receiver, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"Hello, this is Yamanaka Florist's. Can I help you?" Ino rattled off the necessary phone spiel quickly, wanting to get back to her flowers.
"Ino-chan? Guess what?" Sakura's excited voice rang out.
"Sakura-chan? What is it?" Ino wedged the receiver between shoulder and ear, bracing her hands on the clean wooden countertop.
"Sasuke-kun asked me to be his girlfriend!" Sakura squealed.
"Is that so? Congratulations, Sakura…" Ino couldn't bring herself to add the familiar suffix behind Sakura's name just yet.
"Ino-chan?" What's wrong?" Sakura asked, worry tingeing her voice.
"I'm okay… I'll call you back, okay?" Bye…" Ino replaced the receiver with one numb hand and walked out of the flower shop, tossing her dirty apron on the shelf, dazed. She ignored her mother's queries about where she was going, and left with no destination in mind.
'So… Sasuke-kun really does like Sakura-chan… was it too much to hope that he would fall in love with me instead? In what way am I inferior to Sakura? We're equally strong, equally pretty… why does Sasuke-kun prefer Sakura-chan? Where did I go wrong?'
'I can't possibly still keep bugging Sasuke-kun to go out with me now. I'm not a boyfriend-stealer, and Sakura-chan is my best friend, after all. So from now on, what do I do?'
---
"What?" Shikamaru asked, sure that he had heard Temari wrongly. Ayame, the Ichiraku waitress, laid a bowl of steaming pork ramen before both of them, and left quickly.
"You heard me, Shikamaru. We have to break up." Temari's blue-green eyes were disconcertingly direct.
"Why?" he asked, shocked. He and Temari were comfortable with each other, they hadn't quarreled, and they looked good together. The cold, analytical part of his brain noted that his responses so far had been limited to one syllable, and resolved to correct that.
"Gaara needs to cement an alliance with Hidden Mist. The kage there suggested marriage with Suna's most powerful kunoichi. He implied that refusal would be an insult. I have no choice. Suna cannot afford all-out war with Mist, and Godaime-sama indirectly said that she would prefer for Konoha to stay out of this fiasco. I don't want to give Gaara more trouble., Shikamaru," she sighed. Shikamaru blinked. That was the longest speech he'd ever heard from her.
"Why you? Substitute someone else in your place… how can the Mist kage know your ranking in Suna?" Shikamaru's famous brain immediately found a loophole of sorts. Temari held up a nondescript black book with the Sand symbol engraved on the front, a stylized 'I' of sorts.
"How did he get hold of Suna's bingo book?" Shikamaru breathed in disbelief.
"He found Gaara's spies in his village," she said bitterly.
Shikamaru was stunned speechless. The bingo books of each Hidden Village were usually guarded zealously, since each one contained information which could prove invaluable for an invading Village.
"It's printed right here." Temari tossed the leather-bound book to him with a warning glare. Gaara was featured on the first page, as was his right as Kazekage and strongest shinobi of Sand. Gaara's aquamarine, dark-circled eyes stared up at Shikamaru with an almost accusing look in them. Kankuro was on the second page, as Gaara's right-hand man. Shikamaru found the puppet master a little frightening, because of the violet kabuki paint slathered liberally over his face. His two main puppets, Karasu and Kuroari were also there, in smaller pictures. Temari was on the third page, as she was the strongest kunoichi in the whole of Sand. Her photograph showed her leaning on her trusty metal fan, looking into the distance with a sly smirk on her lips. Staring at the picture, Shikamaru could see why the kage wanted marriage, and not just a simple alliance. He tossed the book back to her, not wanting to see anymore.
"I guess there's no other way. Geez, girls sure are troublesome," Shikamaru said flatly, and turned back to his ramen.
Temari restrained the urge to whack him over the head with her fan and did a breathing exercise Baki had taught her long ago. It was the last time they could appear in public as a couple of sorts, and she wanted to keep this moment unmarred by petty arguments, to recall if she ever needed cheering up in the future.
Shikamaru finished his noodles, and Temari quickly followed suit. They walked out of the ramen bar together, and stopped on a street corner.
"So… I guess this is goodbye." Temari bit her lip.
"Yeah. Well, bye. Congratulations on your engagement." Shikamaru mouthed the customary gesture of goodwill without really meaning it, and turned to leave quickly because he didn't want to see Temari walk away from him.
"Thank you, Shikamaru." Temari stopped him an dgave him a quick, hard hug before smilling wistfully at him. Shikamaru knew that she wasn't thanking him for his goodwill alone – she was thanking him for being there for her, for every moment they had shared together, for him not holding it against her.
Shikamaru walked away, and Temari watched him go, saw his figure dwindle until he turned a corner and vanished from her sight.
Shikamaru wandered aimlessly through the streets of Konoha before winding up at his favorite cloud-watching spot, at the apex of a small hill. The clouds drifted in the sky ever so slowly, without a single care in the world. He envied them.
They'd once had a picnic in this place… just him and Temari.
"Shikamaru?" a tearful voice called his name.
"Ino?" he sat up in startlement.
"Shika…" her azure eyes were bloodshot as she lowered herself on the green turf beside him.
"So, what's up with you?" Shikamaru asked, taking in Ino's disheveled appearance.
"Sakura-chan is Sasuke-kun's official girlfriend now. You?" she hiccupped.
"Temari broke up with me." Just saying the words brought the truth crashing down on him – that Temari was no longer going to be a major player in his life.
"Oh, Shika…" Ino buried her face in her hands as the sun began to set, sending blue and purple streaks blazing across the sky.
Shikamaru patted her on the back awkwardly. Even after being teammates for twelve years, he still didn't know how to handle tears.
Ino raised her head with a maniacal look in her eyes.
"Shika, let's go to town and get drunk."
---
Her first time was nothing to crow about. All Ino could remember was sticky, clinging fingers, sweat-slicked bodies and muffled moans. It wasn't what she'd fantasized her first time would be when her mother gave her 'The Talk', and her imagined partner certainly wasn't the lazy shinobi who had just opened his eyes and was currently gazing at her in befuddlement.
"Ino? Wha-?" A frown creased Shikamaru's brow as he tried to piece together the scattered bits of the night before. Ino buried her face in the pillow, nose wrinkling as the smell of sweat and a mixture of unidentifiable substances flooded in.
"This was a mistake." Ino sighed. Shikamaru got up silently and slipped into Ino's bathroom to shower. He left as quickly as he had come, and Ino let him escape unscathed.
For one, she had the hangover from hell. The last thing Shikamaru heard as he left through the window, pulling on his Chuunin flak jacket was the sound of tortured retching.
And that was exactly how the two old friends had ended up in Ino's apartment, drunk beyond belief and in need of someone to hold close. A quick kiss here, an inexperienced fumble there, and it was all over.
Ino didn't leave her apartment that day, not even to help out in the flower shop as was her custom. She was still on leave after her last assigned successful mission, and she didn't have to go and meet Godaime for another mission assignment for two days.
She sat on the windowsill for the entire time, staring out, still dazed by the events of the night before.
Sakura came to her door, knocking repeatedly and calling her name. Ino saw Sasuke standing at the base of the apartment building, waiting for his new girlfriend. He felt her blue-eyed gaze, and looked up. Their eyes met, and Ino didn't look away or smile. They stared at each other for so long that Sasuke felt uncomfortable, and looked away first.
Sakura came bounding out of the building towards him, shaking her head and appearing to be saying that her friend wasn't home. Sasuke didn't deny anything, and the two left together.
Ino was so confused, it was as though her life had turned itself upside down and her world had shaken itself to shards.
---
When Shikamaru got home to his own apartment, he was still berating himself over sleeping with his own teammate. If it was someone he barely knew, like Hinata or Tenten, it wouldn't have been so bad.
But it was Ino.
They were practically like siblings, and that was what made Shikamaru feel almost sick. His head pounded, and his thoughts moved so slowly that it seemed he was wading through glue to get to his own conclusions.
Shikamaru downed his own hangover reliever, and realized that he should have mixed one for Ino before leaving.
However, he didn't want to face Ino just then, and decided to let Ino fend for herself.
Shikamaru found himself worrying over one main thing. How were they going to face each other again?
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A/N: My first InoShika fanfiction. Please take the time to leave a review, it would make me happy.