"Hey Chouji, are you alright?" Shikamaru asked his long time friend as their team stopped to make camp.
"Yeah I'm fine." The bigger teenager replied evasively.
You don't look fine. Shikamaru thought to himself. Chouji was crouched over with his hands on his knees and panting heavily, even though they hadn't been traveling very long.
"Shikamaru, come set up our tent while I go get some firewood." Shikamaru's sensei, Asuma, called over.
"Hai."
While setting up the tent Shikamaru kept sneaking glances at Chouji, who was helping Ino with her own tent, not wholly sure that he was ok. They were on their way home from a troublesome mission, one that consisted of catching a very inexperienced thief, and it hadn't taken much to make Chouji exhausted. The three ninja had just finished setting up the tents when Asuma emerged from the surrounding wilderness with a bunch of firewood in his arms. He laid the wood on the ground and lit a cigarette.
"Let's get this party started." the leader exclaimed enthusiastically before placing the cigarette in his mouth.
Now when Asuma said this he actually meant that he wanted the youths to cook dinner. So Ino and Shikamaru began preparing the meal; Chouji mumbled something about not being hungry and went into the guys' tent. Something's definitely wrong. Chouji would never miss a meal no matter how tired he was.
"I see he finally took my advice." Ino said smugly.
"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Shikamaru suspiciously.
"Well he's always eating, and I mean, that can't be healthy. So I told him maybe he should cut down on the food a little bit. Besides, he'll never get a girl looking like that." She replied scornfully, "So the way I see it, I did him a favor."
Shikamaru could feel his anger rising. Who was she to tell Chouji he couldn't eat or that he couldn't get a girl? She'd had, what, one boyfriend in her entire life? Ino and Shino had dated for a few months after their mission to the water country with Anko. Although it had ended rather badly. Since then Ino hadn't dated any one, and her childhood obsession, Sasuke, had disappeared long before she and Shino had been an item. No, Ino definitely didn't have the right to criticize Chouji. Why would Chouji listen to her? He wondered. Since when does he care what she thinks?
Asuma watched in mild curiosity as Shikamaru said coldly "I don't think that's for you to decide."
Ino just shrugged and continued preparing the food. They ate their meals in silence, Shikamaru seething with anger. When they were done Shikamaru left the cleaning up to Asuma and Ino, and went to the tent he shared with Chouji and his sensei.
"Okay Chouji," Shikamaru said as he pushed aside the tent flap. "Spill."
"What do you mean?" Chouji asked eyeing his backpack in the corner. Shikamaru concluded that the pack had at least a dozen bags of chips hidden among the necessary contents, and for some reason Chouji was trying extremely hard to contain himself.
Shikamaru stepped over the sleeping bags and sat next to his companion. "Oh come on Chouji, you and I both know that you wouldn't miss a meal to save your life. Hell, all of Konoha knows! Something's wrong, and I bet it has something to do with Ino."
"Why do you say that?" Chouji asked his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
"Well Ino told me what she said to you, and you should know by now not to listen to her. All she cares about is her appearance; anything else she talks about can't be taken seriously. The one thing I want to know is why you care what she thinks of you."
"Just leave me alone; I'm tired. You're the genius you figure it out. I'm going to bed." Chouji climbed into his sleeping bag and turned away from his friend.
"How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as he left the tent to rejoin Ino and Asuma.