Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

I am not giving up on this story or any of my others I just fell out of reading/watching/writing Naruto and so I sort of stopped plus real life was knocking at my door. But I am back and I will finish these stories even if it kills me, which it just might. Lol!

I decided to rewrite this story to better tweak it and for it to make more sense considering when I wrote this I was about 17 around that time. My writing has gotten much better and my style a bit sharper. Plus rereading the original myself made my head spin. It was all over the damn place! And so I am restarting this from scratch.

Please enjoy and let me know how you like it!

ALSO I have not read the recent manga and so I will be breaking off of cannon after Neji dies. I read somewhere that Inoichi and Shikamaru's dad dies but I'm not sure. This is a different point much further down the line from the war and everything. I will have talk of the war but to make this story work Inoichi and Shikaku are still alive cause that pisses me off that he killed them off! So many unnecessary kills! Anyhow, I haven't been reading the recent manga for a while now so please bare with me.

*REVISED 11/29/16

Sweet Misery

Chapter 1

I need a vacation

Ino stood before the Hokage and Shizune as she explained everything to them. Both the Lady Hokage and Shizune listened patiently to the younger blonde's words.

"You see Lady Tsunade, I just feel like with everything that has gone on and the recent death of my…father…I just feel maybe a vacation is in order," Ino concluded with her throat starting to close up on her. It had only been two weeks since they buried her father and it took everything in herself to not choke up and cry. Shizune frowned lightly.

"But Ino, you are already on an extended leave of absences." Ino nodded. In other words the long term for vacation.

"Yes, I know but…what I mean is…could I finish the remainder of my vacation somewhere else…that's not here…" Tsunade stayed quiet through the speech just listening attentively. She understood what Ino was saying and her reasoning for the vacation but… Tsunade frowned, hadn't she once said that too years ago only to never return…

"Do you have a place in mind?" The older blonde asked, placing her hands under her chin in a show of intrigue. Ino shook her head lightly.

"I hadn't thought of a single place I could go. Honestly anywhere is better than being here at the moment." Her voice dropped lower almost speaking softly. This was not the same Ino Yamanaka who would loudly gossip and brighten up a room with her smile. Her face which once always held a happy smile or arrogant grin was nothing but a thin line. Her eyes that shined so brightly with life were dull and almost lifeless seeming. Though she wore her usual ninja attire her clothes looked worse for wear. There were wrinkles in certain areas and it looked like she may have just slept in them last night. Even her hair had seen better days. Her usual high ponytail was drooping low from her head and her hair looked to have kinks and a knot, or two all through it. Ino Yamanaka looked like hell.

"How about Suna?" Shizune offered up out of the blue. Tsunade blinked before looking to the woman on her left with a raised eyebrow.

"Suna?" Shizune smiled encouragingly and nodded.

"Yes why not? We have been allies for so long and they've been with us through thick and thin. We know the Kazekage and his family personally too! Plus this could also be taken as a learning experience for you, Ino." Ino blinked slowly. She would like to beg to differ. Suna was not exactly her vacation spot paradise, what with you know being in the desert and all. Of course she knew the sand siblings well enough from not only the war, but also because her circle of friends intertwined with the siblings from Suna. Temari even happened to be dating her teammate, Shikamaru but to vacation there for three months?

"I think that is a great idea, Shizune. This could be a great character building vacation for you, Ino and something I think you'll come to appreciate in due time. Plus this can even double as a mission of sorts so at the very least you can make some money while away." Tsunade smiled more as she thought about it; she stood quickly and searched around the room for some scrolls and other items. "Actually with Shikamaru going to the hidden Mist village for their holding of the chunnin exams you would make the perfect replacement for him as village liaison! Though you'll be staying there much longer than the usual, still this would help both you and the village," Tsunade said with a devilish look in her smile.

Ino blinked slowly trying to keep up with her Hokage. How did her vacation away from the village meant for relaxing and de-stressing to a mission between the two villages? Her head was starting to spin, though that could also be from not eating anything for the day and her late night. Ino jumped when a hand landed on her shoulder. She turned to see Shizune standing to her right and getting ready to leave the office.

"Don't worry too much Ino, this isn't meant to be much responsibility just something for you to do while you are there." Her hand squeezed her shoulder lightly before leaving the office. The blonde almost felt like the older woman had read her mind for a moment there.

"Ino." She turned back around to face her Hokage. She was now sitting at the desk having finished gathering whatever it was she needed to make preparations for Ino's departure. "I hope you don't mind me doing this, it only makes it easier for you to stay at Suna longer than a month. You don't exactly need to do anything more than you need too." Ino smiled lightly, well as much as she could muster lately and nodded.

"No Lady Tsunade, I understand, honestly I think you both are right. I mean, who knows," Ino shrugged her shoulders, "this could be the best thing to happen for me." Tsunade smiled brightly, seeing the younger blonde medic trying to find the silver lining in her current situation sat well with her.

"Good. I'm glad you're looking forward to this. Now I just need to send word that you will be coming and for them to send back our other liaison. It will take a few days but I'll call you back in when I get word." Ino nodded her understanding and briefly bowed.

"Thank you Lady Tsunade, for everything. I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem dear. Just get ready for my call."

With that said, Ino exited the Hokage office and left the building. She decided to hit the hospital first, feeling the need to busy herself, and knowing that they always need a helping hand. She would let her teammates know about her vacation/mission at dinner that night. She was going to Chouji's for dinner and Shikamaru's family would be there too. It brought a shadow of a smile to her lips knowing that even if the last of her family was gone she still had her extended family. It was hard for her though with her father gone she had to move back into the family house behind the flower shop and also take care of the family business. Though she did have to workers hired there she would need to hire another, luckily one of the ladies that worked for the shop knew all the opening and closing procedures along with handling the money.

Ino was gonna have to give her a raise before she left for three months.

Her mind started to slowly drift to her father. Inoichi Yamanaka. Her heart ached at the thought of never seeing his happy face again or hear one of his bad jokes, or even feeling his warm crushing hugs. A tear escaped down her cheek where she quickly wiped it away. Last night became almost unbearable. Ino ended up drinking the night away and having Kiba (her drinking buddy) help her back to her family home only for her to become a sobbing mess. Luckily he had thought to call someone and soon enough Hinata was there comforting her and keeping her hair out of her face as she threw up in the toilet. Kiba stayed long enough to help Ino in bed but had to leave for a mission the next day.

Hinata stayed the night though helping her stay hydrated and sobering her up. They talked for hours and it was during one of the talks that the idea for a much longer vacation away from the village came to her mind. Hinata mentioned how she had went on a vacation months after Neji died during the war, she mentioned how the time away brought things into perspective for her and allowed her to finally come to peace with his sacrifice. Ino thought about those words most of that night, thinking of leaving the village for a little while just to collect herself seemed rather daunting at first, but the more she thought about it…the more it stuck to her.

The more it stuck to her, the more thoughts and possibilities that came with it…

If Ino remembered correctly she hadn't slept the first week she found out her father had died on a mission. It felt like she had a never ending pool of tears leaking out of her eyes that first week. Her heart felt broken, completely ripped from her chest and crushed underneath the weight of reality, it left her bitter and numb.

She wasn't even sure she could have made it through the first week without her extended family. Shikamaru's father, Shikaku made it his mission to be there for his best friend's daughter and his wife, Yoshino felt much the same including Chouji's family. It helped greatly, more than Ino thought them being there for her would. Her friends also helped make her feel better but there was always going to be bad days and last night had been one of them. There was only so much the people she loved and cared for could do for her and right now she needed to do something for herself. If leaving just to get away from it all could help Ino find and regain herself again then she was going to do it.

Upon entering the hospital she was greeted by chaos.

Medics, nurses, and doctors were running around everywhere and there were many ninjas being carted around on gurneys. Ino visibly flinched when one ninja was pushed by quickly with his leg broken; his shin bone was protruding out of his skin and pointing upward. That looked quite painful.

Ino dodged the chaos and got to the nurses counter to see what she could do to help. The medic-nin running the front counter at the moment smiled in relief when Ino came into sight.

"Oh thank goodness you're here! Sakura's busy attending to some other patients but we have so many coming in and not enough qualified medics working today." The blonde nodded and grabbed the clipboard that was handed to her.

"What's with all this chaos?" Ino questioned as she looked over the names on the roster. She sucked in some breath then she saw Lee and Shino's names on there but there weren't under the critical list and she breathed better seeing that.

"There was a big explosion not too far from the village walls, apparently there were some missing Nins coming near the village. Luckily there was a team already out there to greet them and a fight ensured. Then there was another explosion and this is the result." Ino nodded and quickly walked off. Sakura seemed to be taking care of the more at risk ninjas so Ino went to the others on the list. Though it was pretty biased she couldn't help but check in on Lee and Shino first before hitting up the other ninjas.

Shino's room came up first so she opened the door after grabbing the clipboard hanging on the door.

"All this and you bumped your head?" Ino commented looking up from the paper. Shino sat there in his mesh shirt with his two coats lying down on the bed around him. He nodded slowly and touched the back of his head.

"The explosion had sent me into a tree. I feel fine but the medics insisted I get my head checked out." Ino smiled lightly and came over to the bug wielder. Her hand glowed a light green as she touched the back of his head. There was definitely a knot there but otherwise the skull was fine and there were no fractures. She helped the blood thin out a little to keep from bruising and swelling. After a minute she pulled back and pushed her long bangs out of her face.

"That should do it. Your head's going to be tender for the rest of the day but otherwise you're fine now, if you do feel any minor pain then take something if you'd like. Did you get checked out overall?" Shino lightly touched the back of his head then nodded to her question. "Then you're good to go, Shino."

Ino smiled lightly though it didn't quite reach her eyes before going down the hall towards Lee's room. He wasn't much further down from Shino's so she got there in no time.

Of course knowing Lee and his history of being in the hospital Ino knew what to expect when she opened his door. There he was doing squats with his right arm in a sling and a bandage wrapped around his skull. He stopped only briefly to smile at Ino before continuing his exercising. The blonde sighed deeply before closing the door behind her.

"I would yell at you to stop but that would probably just be a waste of breath huh," Ino stated looking over the clipboard with his information on it. He sprained his wrist in the explosion and banged up his head much like Shino's. Lee only smiled brighter at her comment before stopping for her sake and sitting back on the bed.

"I had gotten bored waiting; there is nothing better to do than exercise," Lee said brightly, smiling his charming good guy smile as she rolled her eyes.

"Well just let me check you over and then you can be off." Nodding he allowed Ino to check his wrist over which had only swollen slightly and then his skull that didn't have much but a semi-deep cut in the back. She quickly patched him up. "Okay you're good to go but no workouts that cause you to either use your arms or running. We don't need you passing out." Lee frowned at her command but quickly brighten.

"Then I shall make it a challenge! There are plenty of other exercises I can do that do not require the use of my arms or running! Thank you Ino!" He gave her a one arm hug and quickly high-tailed it out of the hospital. She shook her head at his enthusiasm and left that room as well. She couldn't very well blame him for not wanting to be there any longer. Even though she worked at the hospital a lot it still made her uncomfortable to be there.

Pushing those thoughts from her mind she got back to work heading off to the other ninjas' that needed patching up.

By the end Ino was feeling tired and hungry. She managed to catch Sakura who was feeling much like herself so they took a protein bar each and bottled water up to the roof for their break.

"I think I need to brush up on my reading more, fixing that guy's broken leg took way more chakra then it honestly should have. I think I'm getting rusty," Sakura commented, taking a healthy bite out of her bar. Ino rolled her eyes and swallowed her bite before replying.

"Well you had worked on four other ninjas whose injuries were just as bad, you might have just lost track of how much chakra you actually used." The pink hair teen nodded then shrugged.

"I suppose you could be right…ugh I feel like I live here sometimes." Ino lightly chuckled at that and nudged her best friend over.

"You do live here! They literally have a room just for you to sleep over in." Sakura laughed as well though sadly it was actually very true. She then turned her green eyes on Ino with intent.

"So what was it you wanted to tell me?" The blonde shrugged and took her time drinking some water just to annoy the other girl before answering, knowing the suspense would make her inpatient.

"Oh well I talked to the Hokage today. I asked for an extended vacation…" Sakura frowned slightly, placing her food down on the crate between the two girls.

"How extended are we talking here? Another few weeks?" Ino copied her actions, placing her food down and out of the way. Turning more directly towards Sakura, she set her hands in her lap and looked down at her knees in thought. How was she going to say this to her? She knew Sakura wasn't going to like the idea of her leaving for so long, the pinkette had taken it upon herself to keep an eye on her. Yet knowing her best friend like she does, Ino knew the only way to tell her was straight out and to the point.

"Well…" Ino started out, bringing her eyes up to connect with Sakura's green ones, "I sort of asked for a vacation away from the village. Lady Tsunade is giving me three months to myself, though now it's going to double as a mission too…" Ino grumbled out the last part as she watched as the emotions played in her best friends face. Sakura didn't know what to think honestly. Of course she understood where Ino was coming from but to leave the village? Then again she couldn't really question the girl. Had her father died the way Inoichi Yamanaka did she would probably be much the same way.

"So…where are you going then?" Ino let her breath out softly; she hadn't realized she was holding it in, waiting for the other girl to speak. After a moment she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"Oh well, Lady Tsunade thought Suna would be a good place for me to stay." Sakura gave her a funny look.

"Really? I mean I know were in fall and winter will be coming soon so being somewhere hot would be nice but…that's not exactly a place I would be running to relax." Ino nodded her agreement and dropped her shoulders.

"Yeah it wasn't my first thought when vacation came to mind. But she felt that I could learn something so she's making me double as a Konoha village liaison so I could get paid while being there," Ino explained crossing her arms in front of her chest and looking to the sky.

"Ha! Sounds like Tsunade just made it as an excuse so you wouldn't get lazy Ino-pig!" Said girl choked for a moment then glared at the playful look on Sakura's face. A flash of amusement fluttered in her heart, something other than the numbness she had been feeling on a regular basis.

"Yeah Forehead girl! Well maybe I wanted something to do! We'll see who's lazy! I'll be ten times better when I come back!" Both girls shot up to standing and glared at each other for a few long seconds, fist raised to each others faces.

Then Sakura snorted before bursting into a fit of giggles, Ino felt her shoulders shake as they both brought down their fists to sit back down. The blonde felt a sad smile tug at her lips as Sakura chuckled some more. If she didn't have something else in mind for her leaving, she wasn't sure she would be able to do it when she had such great and caring friends here. Once the pink medic settled down she looked over to her with a gentle smile.

"Well as much as I hate to say this I will miss you Ino." Ino smiled at Sakura before pulling her into a hug. The pinkette squeezed her best friend tightly before they let go and continued eating their meal…

"You look tired…" Shikamaru commented as he walked with Ino from the hospital. She punched his shoulder and gave him a glare as he returned it while rubbing his arm.

"Wow you're such a charmer Shikamaru! You must have all the girls eating out of your palms," She bit out sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

"Just stating facts," He returned back with a smirk.

The sun was setting behind them and it was growing colder as nightfall came. Ino sighed softly as they both walked in silence for a good few minutes while heading towards the Akimichi clan houses. Shikamaru looked at her from the corner of his eyes. He sighed as well.

"Something on your mind," He questioned blandly as though he didn't actually care for an answer and was just saying it for the added effect of seeming like it. Of course Ino knew otherwise and frowned.

"Mmm…I hate when you do that," She replied back, crossing her arms in front of her. Her feet started dragging as she thought about what to say to her best guy friend.

"Well?" He prompted impatiently.

"I went to see Lady Tsunade today," Ino started out, sort of testing the waters with him. Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders with indifferences.

"What for?" He pressed on matching her slowed pace so as to not lose her during their walk. Ino bit her lip knowing how he was going to react.

"I wanted to extend my leave to a vacation…" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

"Ok-ay…" He then brought his hand out to the air, "This warrants a deep thought process?" Ino huffed and tighten her crossed arms.

"Don't be an ass! And yes it does, because I'm going to be leaving the village for three months or so…" Shikamaru abruptly stopped walking altogether, this time looking to be in deep thought. Ino turned around quickly to watch his thought process. He then turned his dark eyes up to look into her brighter ones.

"Ino-."

"Don't you dare start Shikamaru!"

"You don't need to-."

"Yes I do!"

They both glared at each other. After a long moment Shikamaru let his eyes drop and went from his tense stance to his usual default of slouching with his hands sinking into his pants pockets. Ino also relaxed a little and let up on her glaring. A deep sigh interrupted the silence.

"Leaving won't change anything," He finally said. Ino felt like something exploded inside her, all of the emotions she had been holding in that were just bubbling under the surface started to erupt all at once. First came the anger.

"I know that! But staying here and dwelling about it won't help either. I need time away…" Ino reverted back to crossing her arms once more.

"Ino sometimes normalcy is all you need."

"Shikamaru I can't!" He jumped at the volume of her voice. Ino stood there trying to hold it all in but once the damn got a crack everything just seemed to fall apart after that. Her eyes became glossy and her face started turning to a deep shade of red. "I can't go to our shop and know that he'll never be there! Or-or-or go to the house and not get greeted with a hug! I can't keep acting like I'm fine when I'm not! I just can't do it anymore! It's just so…hard! Harder than Asuma…" Ino finished tears rolling down her cheeks. She was shaking from her emotions. Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck a little awkwardly.

"Jeez Ino…why the hell did you hold all this in?" He walked up to her and pulled his best friend into his arms letting her cry on his shoulder. He hated emotional shit like this but he wasn't cold hearted. Ino sobbed into his shoulder and his grip on her tighten. He could feel her fingers digging into his sides as she let all the emotions she was holding in all out. Letting the front she showed everyone over the last few weeks come down and showed just how truly affected she was by her father's death.

Ino couldn't stop her crying even if she wanted to and she really wanted too! All she could think was that she is a ninja; she shouldn't be showing emotions much less cry and out in the open no less. But she couldn't hold it in anymore. As she had yelled to Shikamaru she kept telling herself not to cry but all it did was work her up to crying. Another choked sob escaped her lips. It just wasn't fair! It was bad enough that she lost her sensei only a few years earlier and now her father. It just wasn't fair.

"You should have said something Ino," Shikamaru tried not to wince when he felt her tears soak through his vest and into his shirt underneath.

"I…di-dn't want everyone to w-w-orry about me…" She mumbled out brokenly, trying to collect herself as best she could. Though she hated that she cried so shamelessly out in the open she felt much better. All the stress of the day and the painful, troublesome feelings that swelled inside her for the last few weeks just seemed to melt away as the last of her tears dripped from her eyes. It took her a few moments before she pulled away from Shikamaru and quickly started to wipe at her moist cheeks, her face covered in splotchy red spots from crying.

"We maybe ninja but were not emotionless, no matter how much they tried to embed that into our heads as kids. When you need to cry there's nothing that can be done about it." He smiled lightly and brought his long sleeve up and helped wipe away the tears dripping down her chin. "Count yourself lucky it was me you cried in front of and not some random shinobi." Ino laughed a little pushing his hand away as her face became dried up.

"They might end up panicking; most guys don't know how to handle a crying woman." Shikamaru joined her laughter before giving her shoulder a light grip of assurance.

"Let's start heading to Chouji's before they start worrying about where we are." Ino nodded her agreement and once more they were on their way. The cool air felt nice on her hot face and she felt lighter than before.

"So where is it that you're going to vacation at?" Shikamaru asked as an afterthought, his hands were placed in his pockets again as they walked so he shrugged his shoulders to her once more acting like he didn't really care for the answer.

"Suna." He made a face at the answer.

"Really? Not exactly a vacation hotspot." Ino rolled her eyes and waved him off.

"Not much choice in the matter honestly but I leave in the next few days…"

They continued on like that making small talk between each other for the remainder of their trek to the Akimichi household. Ino smiled to herself as they made the right turn off the main path towards Chouji's parent's home. Having Shikamaru talk with her made her feel more at ease with her decision, allowing her to feel like she was doing the right thing for herself. Now all she had to do was survive telling his parents, and Chouji plus his parents. They were all like a big family for Ino. She hadn't even gotten time to herself because they were constantly there giving her some sort of comfort like cooking food, going shopping, or just talking about the latest gossip. It really brought a sense of normalcy. But the thing was that nothing was ever going to really be the same anymore. The first generation of Ino-Shika-Cho was now missing its Ino and it was going to be that way for the rest of their lives.

It was something that Ino just couldn't wrap her mind around. He was never going to be there anymore. Who's going to walk her down the aisle one day? Who was going to give her that fatherly love and compassion that could only come from her father? What was she going to do now?

Ino knew exactly what she was going to do. She was-

"Temari's going to be in Suna so at least you know someone there," Shikamaru mumbled out to Ino as they got closer to the house. She nodded.

"Yeah, thank goodness for that! I think I might go insane or really loose it if I didn't have at least one female friend there." Ino placed her hand on her chest as though thanking some God out there for that one blessing. Shikamaru scoffed at her before shrugging his shoulders. She knew he hated Temari being away, but that's what came with a long distance relationship. Only those two could actually make something so impossible…well possible.

Shikamaru was too lazy to cheat on Temari much less think about it and it seemed he had the fan wielding woman wrapped around his finger funny as that was. Ino couldn't believe how into him Temari seemed to be, it was cute and sweet but very strange to witness. And even if someone were to witness it if you didn't know the two personally then you wouldn't really get what you were looking at. It was sort of like they were playing hard to get with each other constantly. Shikamaru would act like he didn't care but it was the look in his eyes that gave him away and Temari would come off brass and arrogant when talking with him but it was the way her eyes brighten at the sight of him and how they both leaned into each other that truly told you that they were definitely into one another.

This took Ino months to figure out when they first came out with dating each other.

"Is it me or did that walk feel like forever." Ino rolled her eyes and proceeded to the front door.

"You say that every time," She commented back to the lazy teen that once more shrugged his shoulders then yawned into his hand as they both entered the warm and wonderfully smelling house. "Hey! We're here!" Ino called out loudly gaining a wince from Shikamaru who was standing beside her. She smiled at the reaction and walked to the busy kitchen.

Inside were Chouji and his mother, racing around with food on the stove, food on the counter, and pretty much food everywhere honestly. Watching the two cook with so much energy and enthusiasm brought a real yet small smile to Ino's face. Shikamaru gave a slight bark of a laugh at the site and moved to sit down at the kitchen table away from the chaos surrounding them. Chouji looked up from chopping some vegetables and smiled to his two best friends and teammates.

"Hey guys! You got here a little late." Shikamaru rolled his eyes and explained to his bigger friend about Ino taking too long at the hospital. Said blonde gave him a heated glare as she started placing the silverware around the big table. "Oh Shikamaru don't complain! At least you got here." Chouji laughed at the disgruntled look on his best friends face before turning away to continue cooking. His mother was racing around chopping things, stirring things, and seasoning things. Ino completed her job quickly and sat down in a chair beside the lazy teen.

"At least you didn't have to do much of anything today. It was hectic in the hospital so I couldn't help being held over a little longer than usual," Ino said with a shrug, bringing her long hair over her shoulder and started to run her fingers through the long light golden strands. She scoffed slightly at the split ends near the bottom length of her hair. A trim was needed and soon.

"Yeah, yeah I hear it all the time. That's what you get for deciding to be a medic-nin, you're too busy taking care of others to do anything for yourself…" Ino raised an eyebrow as she stared at Shikamaru; he didn't turn to her and kept his sight on the wall by the sink. It sounded at first like he was complaining like usual but then it got lost at the end. It almost sounded like he was concerned about her which Ino knew he would be but she never thought he was ever concerned about how many hours she worked in the hospital. It was sort of an eye opener. He wouldn't look her way so she could read his face but she just assumed he was embarrassed.

"Thanks Shika…" He only shrugged in return before starting up a conversation with Chouji leaving Ino to her thoughts.

It wasn't long before the door banged open loudly. Soon enough Shikamaru's parents, Shikaku and Yoshino walked in carrying what looked like dessert. Kurenai was behind them holding her little girl, Mirai who was squirming to get on the ground and run around. Chouji's father, Choza was bringing up the rear. The kitchen became even more chaotic with more voices chatting happily and one little girl running around everyone's ankles.

She came to a stop in front of Ino before forcing the older girl to pick her up onto her lap. She smiled at the little girl. She looked so much like Asuma that it was sort of scary looking at her. Mirai definitely had her father's face but had her mother's eyes and hair color. She smiled happily in her lap and she hugged her to her chest.

"Heard the hospital had a bit of a rush, everything alright darling?" Shikaku commented, walking over to Ino to kiss her on top of her head. Both of Inoichi's teammates had always called her 'darling' or 'sweet heart' or something along those lines. It always made her smile when she was younger but even now as she was older it brought a smile to her face, though there was a terrible thumping ache sounding in her chest. She drew in some breath and willed away the horrible feeling.

"Yeah, it got pretty busy but nothing I couldn't handle," Ino quickly replied back confidently. She fiddled with her hair again as she watched the adults converse with each other while Chouji's Mom started bringing food over from the stove to the set up table. Mirai squirmed in her arms for a second before she allowed the wiggling youngster on the floor. Kurenai was quick to catch her afterwards.

"Oh no you don't, little one. It's time for dinner." Shikamaru came to stand helping the older woman with the high chair to place the child in. Ino laughed lightly asMirai gave a very annoyed expression upon her tiny face, her eyes scrunched up, and her mouth turned into a pout. Kurenai joined her laughter while setting the detachable table to the chair locking her in.

"Someone not get her nap in today?" Shikamaru questioned rubbing his forehead asMirai started squirming even more in her seat. Kurenai sighed and shook her head.

"Actually she may have slept little too much." Kurenai turned to get a sippy cup for her while Ino and Shikamaru watched the agitated toddler. Giving the boy a ruthful smile Ino couldn't help but ask, "Makes you wanna have one huh?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow giving her a deadpan look as if to say 'yes just dying too.'

"Not till I'm thirty…" He said back, backing out of the way of Chouji who was bringing over a giant bowl full of steamed sticky rice to the table. Ino scooted her chair out of the way to make room.

"Okay everyone get seated the food is done!" Chouji's Mom shouted out above the chattering voices.

Before long everyone was sitting around the table and enjoying the meal prepared. Ino smiled warmly to herself as she watched everyone interact. Shikamaru was talking to his father about some mission they had together that was coming up while Chouji devoured his food going in for seconds before too long. Choza, much like his son, was devouring his dinner too though somehow holding a conversation with his son. It made Ino sad that she could not also talk with her father like her best friends currently were. Chouji's Mom, Yoshino, and Kurenai were talking about other things such as house work and even children (most likely because of Mirai who Kurenai was feeding while eating herself). She was going to miss this. Having her second family here talking, eating, laughing…

Ino abruptly stood up drawling everyone's attention. It was now or never.

"Everyone I have something to announce."…

Gaara blinked down at the paper in his hand. He stared at it for a long moment as though trying to comprehend what was written there. He knew what he was looking at, just confused about it was all.

The Hokage wanted to change out her village liaison? With another ninja who would be staying in the village for a few months. Normally the liaisons stayed for a month tops before heading back to their respective villages. It was not common to be there longer. Lady Tsunade didn't dive into anything really specific about the reasons behind the longer period only that the ninja was emotionally compromised and needed time away from the village. That disturbed Gaara a bit. He recognized the name and could very vaguely put a face to the name, Ino Yamanaka but he couldn't remember what she was like.

Her name had been mentioned by Temari a few times and he knew her to be his sister's boyfriend's female teammate and best female friend aside from the bigger teen, Chouji. He wasn't exactly sure what Suna could give to Yamanaka that her own village couldn't and that left him puzzled. It may have something to do with her being emotionally compromised but it didn't make his decision any easier. Should he approve? Or turn them away?

"I can't believe I'm doing this…"

So in revising this chapter I added some more things to it and deleted somethings I had not seen before like names spelled wrong. I also got rid of the little boy I made up for Kurenai and Asuma since when I first started this story it was not known the gender of the baby and the fandom kind of assumed it would be a boy. We were wrong of course, and I changed that at the end. Anywho, enjoy this revised chapter!

Let me know what you guys think! Hopefully the second chapter will be out soon! I'm out…

LostsoulofRegret ^_~