"What A Best Friend Is For"

"Shikamaru?" Ino leaned over him, effectively blocking the sun. It was the one sure-fire way to get this boy's attention when he was cloud-watching. And sure enough, he grunted and squirmed to the side a little, to get a better view of the sky. " What do you want, Ino?"

"Mind if I join you?"

Shikamaru shrugged. Ino wanting to hang out and look at clouds was unusual but, "Free country, isn't it?"

Ino shot him a wiry grin." Well," she quipped, sinking down beside him, " I don't know that the daimyo would agree with that assessment, but it's decisions like that that prove you're so smart, Shika-kuuun. Nobody with any brains tells a kuionichi what they can or can't do."

Thinking of his own mother, who was now retired from ninja life but was always in his face, the boy grimaced. " Got that right."

Ino didn't reply back, but merely turned her own head to look up. In the distance, he could sense the shifting movements of the deer in the field, and he was acutely aware of the smaller body beside him, and the heat it was producing. After several minutes more, Ino spoke, still staring up at the clouds. "Shikamaru, can I ask you something?"

Turning his head slightly to see her better, he deadpanned, " I think you just did, Ino."

That earned him a swat, and his friend rolled over to her side, propping herself up on an elbow.

"I'm being serious, Shika. I want your opinion about something." Her stomach was now lightly brushing against his side and it took him a moment to process what she was saying. Why didn't she notice the serious invasion of private space going on?

"Um, yeah," He replied, shifting around onto his elbows too, to put a few inches between them. "All ears, here. Its not gonna be too troublesome, is it?"

"What do you think Chouji's, and my chances at the next chuunin exams are?"

Shikamaru struggled not to face-vault. Whatever he'd been expecting the blonde to ask, that wasn't it. And who knew what their chances were? Like he was even the best person to ask! His own promotion the previous exam had been about the last thing he expected.

"Why aren't you asking Chouji this? Wouldn't that be more useful? Or your new teammate….Oh. Its Sakura-san, isn't it?" He felt like he was beginning to understand this line of thought better. Still, why not ask at least Chouji? The Amichki had a profound, and sensitive side that helped him understand people. Many didn't realize this, because that image didn't fit with the package it came in, but as a teammate, Ino should know better!

"Yeah," Ino returned, slumping a bit." It's Sakura. The Hokage recommended it, and really, its not like there was a choice, was there? With you promoted, we needed a third teammate. Her teammates are….well, all the other teams are still intact. But I just don't know…."

It was a slightly unusual combination. The ratio of boys-to-girls was turned around and many might count that as a disadvantage, but in truth, Shikamaru felt the ratio was only common because fewer girls wanted to be ninja. " What's the deal? I thought you were best friends? Your crush-boy's gone now too, so that's a non-issue."

"Um," Ino collapsed back down, arms wrapping around her. She looked like she was shrinking in on herself. He realized with a start, it was the first time any of Team Ten had talked about The Mission, and he, of all people, was the one who had started it. Juuuust great. Ino surprised him again though, when she started back up in a subdued voice, hardly mentioning The Failure at all.

"He was never really the issue in the first place. I mean, yeah. He was part of it; she really wanted that guy, even though, obviously he turned out to be such a catch! He almost got you and Choji- well. You know. I could care less about him now. The reason we aren't friends anymore because she ended us, so we could 'be proper rivals.' And that…hurt, you know. "

There seemed to be nothing to say. Very deliberately he turned, so as not to look at her, and sank down too, closing the inches he'd put between them earlier. Thank goodness he had good friends like Chouji, and like- well, like Ino, he supposed. Though he didn't know that friends were suppose to make him feel so aware of his body all time. Or so aware of her's, Still….

"No way you didn't care about him all, Ino. Don't lay all the blame on one side." It was callous to say that, maybe, but he didn't pull punches for her. That's not what teammates did. Or friends. For a long moment there were no words, and, with their bodies so close, impossible not to notice the deadly stillness in the girl.

" Fuck you, Shika," Her voice came up low and tense, but her body did not move. He could still feel the heat radiating from her small frame. " You want me to say I did like that guy who almost got my teammates, my best friends, killed? Yeah. I'll say that. I did. But…. When I found out way back that my mousy, little, best friend liked the same guy I did, I wasn't going to say anything. Whatever, right? We were ten. I like guys, but who finds their true love at ten? You need time to have a little fun! After her little declaration of war, I wanted him just to rub it in her face." She paused, and then in a lighter, but stiffer, tone continued, "And I know you still haven't answered my question."

Shikamaru sighed. Chouji and Ino were good, and from what little he'd seen, Sakura-san was too, but that wasn't a guarantee, was it? " Team 10 had teamwork, Ino. That's all we ever really had. So you still need to ask them."

Between them, he felt her arm snake down away from where she'd wrapped it around herself. She played nervously with the grass between her fingers and, as she did so, those fingers would gently brush his side. What was with all this serious talk, anyway? It wasn't Ino, and it wasn't really him either. Talk about being too troublesome.

" What's the big deal, anyway? Being chuunin is a pain," he groused, and, unexpectedly, she burst out with a laugh that catapulted her upright. A toothy grin beamed down at him from a face that showed where streaks of tears had rolled down earlier. "Only you would say something like that, Shikamaru! You think, we work things out between us, Sakura, Chouji, and I can make it?"

She was leaning over him, and he wondered briefly what would happen if he pushed himself up, just a little, and planted a kiss on that grin? He shook his head. Man, he was getting some crazy ideas. This whole conversation had been just too much. Too troublesome. But then, Ino usually was. "Of course you will. You're thinking too much. Now quit blocking the sun."