Fallen

"Another drink here!" The drunken man called. "And have the hot blonde serve it!" He added slurring words together. It was a wander anyone understood him at all. There were some good and bad things about being a pretty waitress at a pub. For one, people always tipped higher hoping that will get her to sleep with them. But that also meant she got bothered by the customers more.

"Here you go." The blonde waitress said as she laid his drink on the table. "I think maybe you should cut down for tonight." She suggested before walking back over behind the bar.

"Hey Miss?" One of the guys at the bar stools caught her attention. "What's your name?" He asked.

"My name?" She repeated. "Hana." She lied. She new better then to give her real name to anyone of these drunks and so she came up with a fake one. She went to the back room for a moment and took her hair down and redid her ponytail which had gotten all askew within the 7 hours of her 8 hour workday.

The bar was open all night, but it was decided that no girls worked past midnight. It was safer that way since the thugs usually came out after midnight. Probably their way of showing off, she guessed. She grabbed a few extra beers and returned to the bar where she set them out for a few customers.

"You're Hana now?" A voice asked from a bar stool.

The blonde looked at the owner of the voice that she felt she new. He didn't sound drunk or accusing, just sad.

"I've always been Hana." She lied.

"I seem to remember a time when your name was different." He replied. "I'm not drinking." He added before she could ask what he wanted. "Designated driver."

"Then would you like a soda?" She asked sounding annoyed. "And I would like a name. You seem to know who I am."

"I do. And yes a soda would be fine." He answered. "Jeez Ino, you always did use that tone of voice with me."

"Depends." She replied handing him a soda over the counter wandering how he knew her real name. "Who are you?"

"Hey hot blonde chick!" One of the guys in the back called. "Bring me another!"

Ino sighed and got another beer and went over to him. She handed him the beer with a fake smile. "You should go easy." She suggested. "You'll drink yourself to death. So I'm cutting you off. This is the last one tonight."

"I don't wanna stop, I life it hen youbringme me drinks." He replied drunkenly. Then he said something completely incomprehensible and passed out.

She rolled her eyes and went back behind the counter where she served a couple more drinks.

"So this is what you've been doing all this time." The man who somehow knew her commented. "Gotta say it isn't that appealing. You should've gone to collage, didn't you get offered a scholarship?" He asked.

"That's it, if you don't tell me who you are, I'll kick you out." She replied frustrated that he knew that.

"Well at least you're as troublesome as ever." He commented.

She recognized him now. She wandered how she didn't catch it sooner. He hadn't changed at all in appearance and his attitude and speaking habits were basically the same. "Shikamaru?" She said.

"Bingo." He replied taking a drink.

"That's just great. You tell anyone you saw me here, I'll hunt you down and kill you. I don't need them coming here to sneer at me. Got it?" She ordered.

"And you're as bossy as ever. Don't worry about it, I don't get off on making your life hell. From the looks of it," He looked around the bar. "You don't seem to be doing to well anyway."

She glared at him for a moment but turned away. She couldn't deny that she hated her life and her job and everything else that came with it.

"So what exactly did you do after graduation?" Shikamaru asked. "You just kind of dropped off the grid."

"Not that any of you cared." She snorted. "I bet you were all happy I was gone from your lives once and for all. After all, I wrecked everything I touched didn't I?"

"Not everything." He replied.

"Whatever, I'm off duty." She said taking off her apron and heading into the back without waiting for a reply from him. Ino grabbed her purse clocked out and opened the back door to head outside.

"Do you even have a car?" Shikamaru asked making her jump. He was outside the back door in the shadows.

"Don't do that." She replied.

"Do you?" He asked.

"I ride the night bus okay?" She asked.

"No. I'll take you home." He offered.

"Aren't you supposed to be someone's designated driver?" She asked.

"Who would I have to take home?" He replied.

"Then you lied to me in there?" She stated more then asked.

"Yea." He answered. "I'll take you home. It'll be safer then the bus and I'm sure it'll smell better. You always were condescending like that."
"Shikamaru, I work in a bar where I get hit on daily by drunken idiots. I can't be very snooty." She replied.

"I bet you are." He answered holding out a hand to her. "Let me drive you home."

She sighed but gave in. "Fine, where's your car?" She asked obviously not taking his hand.

"Over there." He said as he walked past her towards his car. She was shocked it looked so expensive. A silver Mustang convertible. He could never afford something like this back in high school. "You coming?" He asked when he reached the car and noticed how she wasn't moving.

"You take that thing in my neighborhood you're just asking to get mugged." She mumbled before walking up and getting into the passenger side.

He pulled out of the parking lot and waited at a stop light. "Where am I going?" He asked.

"9th street. I'll give you more directions when you get there." She said.

"Alright." He replied.

There was silence as he drove across town that was starting to make Ino feel uncomfortable. "Do you still hang out with them?" Ino asked after awhile.

"Who?" He asked.

"Any of them." She replied.

"Well, I still hang out with Choji and Naruto on more then one occasion. And Sakura to since she started dating Naruto." He answered.

"Really? What happened to Sasuke?" Ino asked.

"He got a scholarship to a collage overseas and left shortly afterwards." Shikamaru answered.

"So what about you? Whatever happened to you that got you a very expensive car?" She asked.

"I graduated collage early and landed a cushy job." He answered. "And I don't have to do much so I like it."

Ino laughed at him. "You're always going to be the same lazy ass I knew in high school."
"What about you?" He asked. "You've made it clear you're not the same girl I once knew."

"I'm not." She replied almost sadly. "I think I always knew that I was causing trouble. Cheating on Kiba, flirting with almost anyone else and by the end of it all you all hated me. So after I graduated I thought that it'd be better if I just left. I caused too much trouble I hurt to many people for me to stick around."

"So what did you do?" He asked.

"Turn here." She commented as he reached 9th street. "I got a scholarship to the same school as most everyone else, but like I said, I couldn't stick around so I left. I didn't go to collage and instead I got a job as a waitress in a dinner. The place went bankrupt last year so I got a job at that bar. At least I'm not stripping or worse for money. Things aren't that bad."

"What about your parents?" He asked.

"What do they care about me?" She retorted.

"Well, the fake name that you gave out earlier, Hana. Your parents own that flower shop so why don't you go work for them?" Shikamaru asked.

"My parents don't care about what I do and I don't want to spend my life selling flowers to idiots who think love is actually possible." She replied.

"You didn't use to think like that." Shikamaru commented.

"I was in high school. I know better now. Hell Shikamaru even you know better then that." She answered. "How's Temari by the way?" Ino asked.

"Hell if I know." Shikamaru replied. "I haven't seen her in three years."

"You two broke up?" She asked.

"Yea." He answered. "She was bossy and I guess I'm just not the type who goes well with relationships."

"I guess neither am I." She said. "It's the apartment building two houses down." She added changing the subject.

He parked just outside the building and surveyed it. It was better then some places she could be living, but didn't exactly look safe. "Apartment, huh?"

"Well it's no mansion Mr. Rich." She teased unbuckling her seat belt and opening her door.

"I don't live in a mansion." He corrected her. "I live in a condo."

"How nice." She replied. "So long. Don't come around that bar often." She said half seriously. She entered her apartment building shutting him out. She peeked through the door and watched him drive away.

Ino couldn't stop the tears that fell now. She'd betrayed her friends for reasons she couldn't explain and even now Shikamaru would talk to her. She knew that she'd messed up back then and now there was a voice screaming in her head that things could be fixed. If Shikamaru was willing to talk to her, would Sakura maybe? Or Choji? Maybe even Naruto?

She was still crying when she ran up the stairs to her apartment and opened the door. She entered her apartment and let herself fall face down on the couch. She felt almost a sense of being forgiven and she wanted to slap Shikamaru for it. He was probably only talking to her out of pity that she was stuck in that hell hole. Or pity that after all her big high school talk she was riding the night bus with the hobos. He was pitting her, and she knew she'd never see him again.

-XXX-

"What are you doing?" Shikamaru asked looking at Choji who was lying on the floor clutching his stomach.

"I think I ate too much." He wined.

"I could guess that." Shikamaru replied. "Why are you at my house?"

"My Mom kicked me out telling me to get a real job." Choji answered. "I'm an author. That's a real job."

"And you really don't do anything nor do you really earn any money." Shikamaru replied. "So what makes you think you can crash here?"
"Naruto said it was okay." Choji retorted.

"Naruto is also crashing here much without my consent." He stated.

"C'mon Shika," Naruto pleaded joining them in the living room. "Have a heart, we need somewhere to go, and you have the space."

"I promise I'll get a day job and I'll be gone as soon as I do." Choji offered.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto. "I make no promises." Naruto said.

"Fine." Shikamaru said then sighed. "Don't…mess anything up. I'll make you clean it."

"Great!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Why do you smell like beer?" Choji asked plugging his nose.

"I saw Ino today." Shikamaru answered.

"I don't think that was an answer." Choji said slightly pouting at the sound of his former friend's name.

"You talk to her?" Naruto asked.

"Yea, I also drove her home since she didn't have a car and it was late. But I saw her at a bar when I was leaving the drug store and I thought I'd drop in to say hi." Shikamaru answered.

"How is she?" Choji asked reluctantly.

"Different. I think she really regrets a lot of things about how things went in high school. I think I'll go see her again tomorrow. She was kind of fun to talk to." Shikamaru replied.

"That's good." Naruto commented. "Shika's got a crush. Shika's got a crush." Naruto teased.

"I'll kill you." Shikamaru warned.

-XXX-

"Hey, Ino?" Her roommate greeted warily. "Why are you crashed on the couch?"

"Rough night." Ino answered.

"You get hit on again?" She asked.

"As a matter of fact, I did, but I'm over that." Ino answered. "Some weird guy I know from high school was there and he wouldn't stop bugging me."

"Maybe he likes you." Her roommate guessed.

"Be serious, Yuri." Ino replied. "They all turned their backs on me and don't give a shit about what I do. I can't blame them. I would've turned on one of them if they cheated on one of my closest friends and threw their weight around."
"Honey, you would've been best friends with that person." Yuri commented. "But that's the past, now you're here so work on getting out of here." Yuri tossed Ino a flying for a dinner now hiring. "Better then a bar."
"Hell ya it is. I'm so checking this out as soon as possible. Thanks Yuri!"

"No problem."

-XXX-

"Hey, Hana." Shikamaru teased sitting at the bar.

"Oh no." Ino replied with a sense of dread. "If you're not drinking, I'll kick you out." She warned.

"Then I'll have a beer." Shikamaru answered.

Ino sighed. "Coming right up." She said snidely.

"Man, you're always so mean to me. What'd I do this time?" He asked.

She ignored him but pulled a beer from the mini-fridge bellow the counter. She served a few more drinks thankful it was a slow night. However, that meant Shikamaru had more chances to talk to her.

"Do you need something or do I really need to start looking for a new job." She asked.

"Ouch." He replied.

"I'm serious Shikamaru. If this is some way for you to come here and flaunt about how you turned out while I'm stuck serving jack-asses beer all evening…" She stopped there and took a breath. "I don't want to see you."

"Jeez aren't you paranoid?" Shikamaru asked.

She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to the back room. "Don't make me beat the shit out of you until you don't remember the meaning of the word light!"

"Ino, calm down okay? I'm not here to flaunt anything; I just think it's good… seeing you. You know I'm not like that. Besides, I've got two idiots crashing at my place and it's nice to get out. Talking to you is the closet I'm going to get to an intelligent conversation." Shikamaru said.

"Fine." Ino replied letting go of his collar. "You have a point. But if I find out that you're telling everyone you know that I work in a bar that was spit from hell, I'll tear you apart piece by piece. Got it?!"

Shikamaru chuckled. "Yea." He was thinking why she would care if he said anything and guessed that the old Ino wasn't too far gone. She still cared a little about what people who knew her thought about her.

She led him out of the back room and he sat back in his stool.

"Hey, Shikamaru?" Ino asked getting his attention. "How come you haven't touched your drink?"

"I wanna be sober enough to drive you home." He replied.

"What?! You're going to drive me home again?!" Ino asked.

"Yep." He answered.

"How long do you plan on imposing yourself into my life?" She asked sounding like she was wining.

"I don't know." He answered truthfully.

"Great." She replied with a pout. She had decided not to tell him that she was looking for a new job part of her hoping that as soon as she left he'd be out of her life. But another part of her liked seeing Shikamaru. It was like, forgiveness. The answer to everything that she'd ever done. And she liked seeing him because of that. Selfish, but it was true.

- YuukiSoma