The Art of Dating
by Diana-san
Author's Note: Re-posting this from my tumblr for fayeharuno-uchiha! A short series written in answer to prompt requests I received for a next-generation Ino-Shika-Chou/InoSara pairing.
01. The Art of Concealment
Shikadai sighed as he stared at the clouds in the sky. It was a serene afternoon as he laid down on the grassy fields. He could easily fall asleep right then and there if it weren't for the girl peering down at him.
"What is it?" he sighed as he addressed his female teammate, ChouChou.
"I can't believe I skipped a dango date with Anko to train with you guys and the one person who suggested this practice isn't even here!" she huffed out in annoyance. She crossed her arms as she plopped down on the grass next to Shikadai.
"You would never turn down an invitation to go eat."
"Fine, so we pushed it back to after dinner," ChouChou grumbled. "But where is he? Inojin never misses practice. He is the only one who likes to train."
Shikadai sat up. It wasn't really a big concern of where Inojin was and it would be really troublesome to follow through on it, but he was sure he saw Inojin by the playground an hour ago. He sighed. He guessed he could suggest checking at the playground to find Inojin but that would require getting up and walking over…
"He might still be at the playground still," he told ChouChou.
"Still? What is he doing there to begin with?"
"I don't know. He's been acting weird lately. I thought it was just him going through puberty or something," he responded.
ChouChou wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, you boys and your lack of maturity during these stages. Well, let's drag him back over here so I can at least get enough practice down to tell my mom that I actually did train today."
He sighed but reluctantly followed ChouChou out of the training grounds and towards the playground.
"Hey, he's just sitting there," ChouChou pointed out as the two of them reached the edge of the playground and stood at the south entrance.
"He looks like he's drawing," Shikadai observed.
"Oh look, Sarada is babysitting Himawari," ChouChou commented. "Oh wait, they're leaving now."
"Inojin is getting up. Where is he going?"
The two of them glanced at each other as they watched Inojin follow Sarada and Himawari out of the playground through the exit on the north side.
"So what do we do?" ChouChou asked. "Should we follow them?"
Shikadai shook his head. "No, that's too much of a hassle. Let's just call it a day and go home."
ChouChou ignored him as she pulled on his arm. "C'mon, let's see what Inojin is up to. It must be good if he missed practice."
Shikadai grumbled under his breath but he allowed ChouChou to lead him through the playground to follow their third teammate to wherever he was going. They ended up walking to Boruto's house as they watched Inojin watching Sarada drop off Himawari.
"Why are we hiding?" Shikadai asked as he blatantly stood five feet away from the pole so that he was in view of the whole street.
"You mean why are you standing so far out so that the whole world can see you," ChouChou hissed as she pulled him back to place him behind her. "Besides, Inojin is hiding as well from Sarada for some odd reason."
"Inojin was always strange. I'll give him that. Let him do what he wants and let's just go home."
"No, we come too far."
"But what about your dango date?"
"Are you kidding me? If we find out something juicy from all this tailing, I might be able to hold this over Inojin for years. Think of all the food he can buy me to shut me up!" ChouChou's eyes glistened as she happily nodded to that idea in her mind.
"That's blackmail and extortion of your own teammate," Shikadai pointed out.
ChouChou rolled her eyes. "It'll only last a week. You know I can't keep secrets. Now c'mon, they're moving!"
The two of them continued tailing after the two and watched as Inojin stealthily followed behind Sarada.
"You would think they would notice us by now," Shikadai muttered.
"Love doesn't have peripheral vision. So stop your yapping and just follow behind me. This is even better than training," ChouChou grinned.
"This is probably not what my mother had in mind for me when she told me to practice the art of concealment," Shikadai muttered.
The two of them stopped as they hid behind a tree near the hospital. Sarada was stopped momentarily by the front of the hospital as she stared up at it in wonderment. She quickly turned to go to a bench nearby as she sat down and placed her bag beside her. She sighed as she glanced down at her bag with worry creasing the top of of her forehead.
"What's the matter?" a voice asked.
Sarada glanced up to see Inojin standing in front of her. "Inojin!" she said in surprise. She pushed up her glasses as the edge of it almost slipped past her nose. "What brings you here?"
"I..saw you on my way to get something for my mom," he murmured as he momentarily glanced away so that Sarada couldn't catch his obvious lie through the gaze of his eyes.
"Ah, I see. Same as me. Only I came to give something to my mama. I'm just not sure if I would be bothering her if I go in during her working hours," Sarada responded.
"What were you going to give her?" Inojin asked as he sat down beside Sarada on the bench.
Sarada removed a bento box from her bag as she set it down on her lap. "I brought her the bento box for dinner. She left it at home this morning and I was worried she wouldn't be able to eat if she realized it was missing. Mama always skip meals sometimes when she is overworked. That's why she packs lunch so she can eat in her office during her breaks."
"That's very kind of you," Inojin replied with a smile. "I'm sure your mother would be very happy to see you even if she is working now. It should be close to dinnertime."
"Ah, do you want to go together to find my mama then?" Sarada asked.
"Yes," he said with a bright smile as he got up and followed after Sarada.
"So what have you been doing all afternoon?" Sarada asked as the two of them reached the entrance of the hospital.
"Oh, you know, just training with ChouChou and Shikadai," he lied.
"Quite productive. I was babysitting Himawari all day by the playground since Boruto dumped his responsibilities on me and ran off to spy on his dad."
Inojin laughed. "He always does that, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, it was fine because Himawari and I got to bad-mouth him the whole day."
"Maybe, next time, I can help you watch her together," he said softly.
Sarada smiled. "I would like the company."
The two of them smiled at each other as they disappeared through the doors of the hospital.
Meanwhile, back by the tree, ChouChou's eyes widened as she grabbed onto Shikadai's collar and begun to shake furiously. "Inojin! Inojin has a crush on Sarada! Oh my gosh! This is gold. This is dynamite! This is worth a whole week's of dango!"
"You really think he would buy you one week's worth to shut your mouth?"
"I know so! That mama's boy is gonna be treating us two to dessert tomorrow!" she said with a grin.
