"Hey, check it out, Shikamaru."

Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Asuma, a.k.a. Team Awesome (a name Ino came up with for the group and Ino's word was law, because no one else was devoted enough to care), had gone out to dinner at a restaurant that had never been mentioned in the Naruto series because it wasn't Ichiraku. As their main course arrived, Ino flung her fork in Shikamaru's surprised-but-still-bored-looking face.

"…What am I supposed to be checking out?" Shikamaru asked in his usual jaded tone.

"See that little bump between the middle and left sticky-thingy on the fork?" Ino pressed her finger on the two.

"It's called a 'prong', smart one, not a 'sticky-thingy'," Shikamaru pointed out, just to be annoying. "And yeah, I see it. So what about it?"

"Isn't it obvious? Another prong started growing between the two!" Ino stated matter-of-factly.

Asuma turned his attention from Chouji's grotesque eating habits to the two's obviously inane conversation.

"Let me see that." Shikamaru yanked the fork from Ino's hand and examined it closely. "Hmm… I think you're right. They must've left it on the tree for too long." He nodded, handing it back to her.

"Wait a minute. Another prong started growing? Left it on the tree? What are you talking about?" Asuma cut in, their miscellaneous conversation slightly peaking his interest for the first time.

"This fork, Asuma." Ino shoved it in his face this time, and Asuma leaned back a little in case Ino happened to forget she was holding a fork and, intending on being funny, bopping him on what was meant to be lightly on the nose. Oh well, at least it wasn't a steak knife this time. Either way, Asuma didn't trust Ino with silverware. "Look in the middle of these two sticky-thingies. Another sticky-thingy was growing."

Asuma blinked. "A prong was growing out of the fork."

Ino nodded. "Yeah. They must've picked it late."

Asuma gave her a weird look, as she was deserving of such. "Are you intending that forks… grow on trees?"

"Well, where the heck else would they come from?" Shikamaru questioned, not sounding so smart anymore after the previous correction about prongs.

Asuma sighed heavily. Where the heck do they hear this stuff? "You know, not everyone is a ninja. Some people cook, some people go cross-country skiing. Some people make forks. It's just what they do. "

Silence filled the table, other than the strident noises of Chouji devouring his meal, which that particular group had learned to ignore at this time. Ino and Shikamaru stared strangely at Asuma. Then they turned back to each other.

"Fork breeders must have the best jobs," Ino stated exuberantly. "Let one fork grow for a while, and BAM! You've got a seven-pronged fork!"

"Whoa. You're so right," Shikamaru agreed with as much interest as he regularly-bored voice could muster. "We should make our own fork tree and do that."

"Yeah. But I sure wonder where you can buy fork seeds," Ino said thoughtfully, tapping her chin.

"I wonder what fork seeds look like," Shikamaru wondered aloud.

"Has anyone else wondered why we're using forks when we should be using chopsticks?" Asuma mumbled fruitlessly.
"We have to get some," Ino near-shouted confidently. "I'm making seven-pronged forks, gosh darn it."

"Wait a minute… we're eating soup…" Asuma groaned.

"You need to make giant forks, too; you know, those ones you see on the farms all the time," Shikamaru added in a voice that was excited-sounding for him.

"Never mind… Chouji ate all of our soup…" Asuma sighed hopelessly. Chouji was eating so fast he had managed to keep the soup on the fork as he shoveled it into his mouth.

So they all walked home, Chouji full, Asuma starving, and Shikamaru and Ino discussing something about a fork and spoon hybrid. So ended another normal day for Team Awesome.