Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter 1:
Ino was at home, busy getting ready to go to the flower shop owned by her family. She worked part time as was expected of her, by her parents. She had a lot of work to do before she left for her mission tomorrow morning. They would probably be gone for some time and she wanted to make sure everything was perfect before she left.
It was a B-ranked mission, nothing too alarming, but she still wanted to be as prepared as possible. She didn't worry however, she had a pretty stellar team and they were more than capable of taking down their fair share of enemies. They were practically synced from birth, and yeah they weren't assigned missions together as frequently as they were in their genin years, but they always managed to fall right back into sync, like a well-oiled machine, on the rare occasion that they were. She always felt most comfortable when she with her old genin team, there was a sense of security that came with it, and she knew that no matter what went down they had her back, and vice versa.
There were some unpleasant rumors floating around that needed to be addressed, so it was their job to go scope out the place. She prided herself on always having the latest information available. Some would call her gossipy or nosey, her least favorite, but she didn't mind as long as she was always one step ahead of the crowd. She was confident that they would return successful. That didn't mean it was going to be easy however. They usually ended up getting into something bigger, and as Shikamaru like to put it, far more troublesome than they originally expected. Though they always managed to make it through in the end; she had complete and total trust in her two teammates. They knew each other inside and out, they trained together, bled together, mourned together, and made great progress throughout their careers as ninja that now at the age of nineteen they were some of the best Konoha had to offer.
She stepped out of her house feeling a wave of nostalgia hit her, thinking back on her two best friends. She started down the familiar streets of the busy village she called home when she spotted no other than her lazy bum of a teammate Shikamaru, with Choji who just so happened to have a bag of potato chips, as usual. She made her way over to where they both rested, under a large droopy tree they liked to frequent.
"Hey Shika, Choji!" She called out as she reached them.
Choji acknowledged her with a friendly wave. "How are you Ino?" He asked nicely, in true Choji fashion.
"I'm great!" She smiled. "Thanks for asking." She said rather sarcastically, aiming her voice towards her other teammate who failed to greet her, much less acknowledge her presence.
Ino walked over to him, hands on her hips and staring down at him. He was laying on a bench with a clear view of the clouds floating overhead until she blocked his view by leaning over him. She knew he wasn't asleep even if his eyes were closed.
"You know Shikamaru, you should really find some new hobbies, after all these years I would think you be bored of watching clouds all the time."
"Yea, and after all this time I would think you would be bored of telling me what to do." He finally opened his eyes to acknowledge her. His voice came out lazy and rough, how he managed to sound like he just rolled out of bed all the time she couldn't know.
Choji knowing where this conversation was going stood up eating the last bit of his chips. He crinkling up the bag and threw it into a nearby trash can. He usually enjoyed their bickering but he had to get ready for their mission tomorrow.
"Hey, guys." He said, getting their attention.
"I have some things to do before we leave tomorrow, I'll see you two later, if not tomorrow." He smiled, before walking off toward his house
"Ok, bye Choji!" Ino screamed receiving a friendly wave from him as he strolled off. Shikamaru simply nodded at him and went back to watching the clouds.
"Honestly Shikamaru I don't get what could possibly be so intriguing about watching clouds that you would waste every second of you free time just staring at them." Ino resisted the urge to roll her eyes, having had this argument a million times before.
She pushed his legs off the bench which caused him to sit up, that or fall. She took a seat next to him and looked up at the sky. Sure it was a pretty view, but she wouldn't want to spend all day watching the clouds roll by, not when there were so many better things to do, which reminded her she had to get to the shop. It was a pity however; she was starting to feel really relaxed. Maybe she should take more moments to herself.
She looked over to see Shikamaru lost in his own world. His head was tilted towards the sky and he had a blank look on his face. She studied his features carefully which she already had memorized by heart. No matter how hard she tried to deny it she knew Shikamaru was a pretty attractive guy. She was surprised when he looked over to her and they locked eyes for a couple of seconds. She quickly realized she was staring and turned away, slightly blushing. She silently praying that he hadn't noticed.
"Well I better get going Shikamaru, we have a long mission waiting for us tomorrow, and I need to take care of a few things down at the shop before we leave." She said as she stood up from the seat they were sharing.
"I'll see you tomorrow, and don't you dare be late." She threatened
"Yeah, yeah, see you then and make sure you pack enough. We might be gone for a while." He warned, lying across the bench once more.
"Thanks, see you later." She smiled, leaving him to his cloud watching once more.
She made sure she was a safe distance away before shaking her head at herself. What came over her back there? She hoped he didn't notice. Why did he have to be so damn attractive? They didn't have this problem when they were twelve, damn hormones. Stop thinking that way Ino, she berated herself. He's your best friend and you're not going to risk that over something as stupid as love, or attraction.
As shinobi we have to detach ourselves from any emotion we might feel. It'll only blind our judgment and cause us to make stupid mistakes out in the field. She had to admit however out of all the sacrifices that came with being a skilled kunoichi that was the hardest to follow. Not that she had much to worry about, Shikamaru wouldn't be thinking of her in that way. Sure she considered herself pretty attractive but she was obviously not his type. She was far to "troublesome" as he would put it so it wasn't like she had much to worry about.
She continues walking caught in thought until she slammed into something hard or more like someone. She took a few steps back and rubbed her head before looking up to see who had gotten in her way. It was embarrassing to think she literally ran into someone, what kind of a ninja was she? Reeling back her embarrassment she quickly apologized.
"I'm really sorry I didn't mean to run into you." She bowed, before actually seeing who it was.
"It's fine, just make sure to watch where you're going next time." Said none other than the eldest sand sibling, Temari. Who turned around to face her. No wonder her head hurt, she ran right into the older girl's fan, doubly as embarrassing. The two blonds stood there in awkward silence until Ino decided to speak up.
"So Temari what are you doing here? I thought you were back in the sand village?" She asked curiously.
"Well you see I just got here and I thought you knew that we have a mission tomorrow." Temari seemed confused that she didn't know that.
"Oh, so you're coming with us! Lady Tsunade said we would have an extra member, but she didn't really tell us who it was. She said she would finish briefing us when she finished writing up the mission details. She seemed a little agitated when we went to see her so we were in and out pretty quickly." Ino shrugged, already used to the Hokage's antics.
"Ah, well then I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She reached out to shake Ino's hand, which she found a bit odd, but quickly responded to the gesture. Maybe Temari and she could finally shake off the cold edges of their relationship. They weren't particularly unfriendly to each other, but there seemed to be some tension between them. Ino had the feeling the sand kunoichi wasn't particularly fond of her.
"By the way do you by any chance know where Shikamaru might be?" Temari asked, adjusting the weapon she held across her back.
"Actually I…" She didn't know why she did it, but her mouth suddenly had a mind of its own. "…uh no, sorry I don't. I haven't seen him today, but he's probably off somewhere training or sleeping." She smiled.
"I see, well thanks anyways Ino." Temari said, before walking off in the opposite direction Ino was going.
"See you tomorrow!" She waved her off.
Sighing deeply to herself she wondered why she lied to her. She knew exactly where Shikamaru was, yet she deliberately kept it from her. What business did Temari have with Shikamaru anyways? He was busy enjoying his day off before their mission. She doubted he wanted to be interrupted in his watching clouds for a second time today. She was doing the lazy bastard a favor, he should be thanking her. She was a good friend, at least she was trying to convince herself she was. Plus the two of them talk enough as is, sometimes it was like she didn't even exists when Temari was in town, and they were supposed to be best friends. Him and her, not him and Temari.
What was she saying? He was allowed to spend as much time with whomever he wanted too. It's not like she own him or anything. He could do whatever he wanted. She didn't care who he spent his time with, as long as he remembered to spend time with her as well.
Besides it's not like there was anything wrong with the two of them hanging out, as long as that was all it was, because anything else was off limits. No, wait that didn't come out right, it's not that it was off limits, it's just that there was a certain level of professionalism that should be displayed. She didn't want things to become awkward between any of them.
Plus it's not like Temari was his type. She tried to reason in her mind. I mean… oh who was she kidding, if tall, bright and beautiful wasn't any man's type than she was in a bit of trouble herself. It was more than obvious it was going to happen sooner or later. The two of them where practically made for one another, both beautifully intimidating and mysterious. It was pretty obvious he was fond of the girl, simply judging by the way Shikamaru acted around her. If it was about any other girl he be the one to end a conversation, not start one. What chance did she have there, but then again it's not like she saw Shikamaru as anything more than a friend. So why was she so pissed off at the thought of Shikamaru potentially starting a relationship?
Thank you for reading!
