The alarm went off on Ino's bedside table at 5 am, as usual. She stretched and yawned, thinking of the dream she was just pulled out of. It was the same dream she had been having for a long while now, ever since she had that confrontation with Neji in the Forest… but it was too early to be thinking too deeply.

She sat up, and with a groan of pain from yesterday's training, pulled herself to her feet. God, why couldn't Asuma-sensei give us the day off, she wondered to herself, he practically killed us yesterday. But she had no further time to dawdle on these thoughts, because she could already hear her mother yelling from the other room that Shikamaru and Chouji were waiting for her in the other room. This surprised her a great deal, seeing as Shikamaru was, on any other day, to be expected to show up about an hour late, under the alibi that his alarm was not working.

Ino chuckled to herself at this latest thought. Faulty alarm, my foot. More like faulty priorities if you ask me. She walked to her closet and got dressed, then left her room. The first thing she saw was a large amount of human filling her hallway just outside of her door. "CHOUJI!" she yelled, jumping back in surprise. "Don't I tell you every day to don't do that to me in the morning?" "Geez, sorry, Ino," he replied, although it was hard to tell through the mouthful of potato chips what he said anyway. Ino rolled her eyes, and scooped her hair up into a ponytail, letting a little bit in the front fall forward and onto her face. Her trademark hairstyle.

She followed Chouji as he maneuvered his large girth back down the hallway and into the main room of her house. She distinctly heard a mutter of "How troublesome…" from the doorway. She looked up and saw Shikamaru leaning against the doorway, his head back and his eyes closed. "Hmm… no improvement there, eh Shika-kun?" She crossed her arms and smiled, knowing what he would say even before he had time to reply. He sat up at the sound of his name, then looked at Ino and smiled back. "Nope, and don't plan on doing anything about it either. Anyway, I came to tell you that training is cancelled." Ino stared back in complete shock. "Please, let me explain. Apparently, on his way to the training grounds, Kurenai-sensei had a 'big announcement' for him…"

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. If it means we get a break, fine by me. I'll be with Chouji at the grill. See ya later Ino-chan." And with that he walked out the door, closely followed by Chouji. "Ooh boy, do I get barbeque?" she heard him mumble excitedly under his breath. She smiled, remembering how much he loved barbeque. All of a sudden, she remembered that Team Gai was training today. As she started walking outside, she stopped.

Wait… why do I care about Team Gai... she thought to herself. She shook her head a little when she could come up with no answer. Oh well… might as well go and watch them, seeing as I have nothing else to do today. And with a sigh, she walked out into the village.