Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, unfortunately. Read on anyway!

The rebel angels fly in ranks.- Henri Petit

CHAPTER II

A BITTERSWEER REUNION

Sparring.

Training.

That had to be what was making so much noise, Shikamaru thought groggily. Still keen on sleeping, he moved his head, trying in vain to find a comfortable spot on the hard solid surface behind his head. He tried desperately to go back to sleep, subconsciously shutting his eyes tightly. Shikamaru rarely got a chance to rest anymore and why was it so hard to fall asleep now?

A huge screeching noice brought him fully awake with its high trills, but he still stirred slowly, unwillingly. With a sigh, he opened his intelligent eyes at the now fading noise emitting from beyond the walls of his small, dark cell.

Wait a second cell?! Shit! He felt a lot clearer now!

He felt like he had been doused with cold water, he blinked ferociously as he rapidly came to an alert consciousness, his hands itched to move together in their familiar thinking position, but he found he couldn't move them. At all.

Shikamaru tried to tug his hands together again and let out a sharp gasp as hard metal cut into his flesh. Manacles bound his lean arms and legs and the chains were short and didn't give him almost any mobility. A smaller, but frim tug told him that it would be difficult to break through on strength alone.

That's why you have magic wuss, the logical voice in his head said. Shikamaru blinked wearily, the voice in his head always managed to sound like Temari. Nonetheless he sent a tentative charge of power into the chains.

At once he felt a burning sensation painfully ripple across his slightly darkened skin. He hissed in pain and let out a harsh sigh as the pain began to fade away. He was still completely bound, if anything Shikamaru thought that the manacles around his wrists were gleaming a bit brighter than before. So the chain wasn't going to be easily broken through with magic either.

No shit Sherlock?

He let out a small smirk despite his depressing circumstance. Even though the logical voice always managed to sound like Temari, the smartass voice in his mind always managed to sound exactly like-

"What the fuck in this situation do you find is worth smirking over lazy ass?"

Like that voice.

Exactly like that voice.

The irrational part of him felt pissed at himself for not noticing another presence in the room, especially one that was this small. Thankfully his rational side kicked him and the idea of who was in the room with him began to fully settle in.

It had been 5 years since he last heard that voice, the steely, wisecracking, willful voice of his subconscious.

It was still as full of thorns and smartassing as before, sounding just as ready to either lash out or joke around. "Well for one, I get to see one of my old friends," he replied as casually as one could when chained to a wall by ridiculously strong metallic manacles.

"There are two things wrong with that statement lazy ass."

He saw her pushed herself of the wall and walk into the dim light slowly. She looked just like she did when he last saw her, albeit more dangerous in all that black clothing and weapons on her, but Ino still had that cheeky grin. Thankfully no hostility was present in her grin. But there was still there was something different about her.

Had she always been so painfully gorgeous? It almost hurt just to look at her.

Silently, he released a string of impressive curses aimed at himself, but the logical side of him was defensive. Shikamaru was loyal, but that didn't mean he was blind. She had always been uncommonly beautiful, he knew that, and he also knew that when she got that smug grin on her face, it usually meant that someone was in deep shit or was going to be.

In this case, it was probably him.

She was staring at him expectantly, no doubt waiting for him to respond to her banter. He always did, or at least always used to. If he waited any longer to respond she would either scoff at him and call him an idiot or she would prod at him painfully till he responded. If he was lucky.

"And what would that be?" he asked casually as his mind quickly processed where he was by who he was with. Ino looked very secure, comfortable. Chances were he was on her turf. And since he was in her company, in less than pleasant sleeping arrangements he knew where he most likely was and why she had the upper hand.

He was in hell.

Literally.

"Well for one, I'm not sure we parted as friends." She studied him intensely before taking a small step back, barely noticeable, step back.

"Not still sore about that are you Ino?" Shikamaru held in a rare wince. It certainly wasn't going to help his situation if they brought up past arguments, particulary that one. He had been a bastard that day, almost completely out of character. The one time he lost his temper and it had escalated into something that he always regretted.

"More like sour about how over-rated it is with you being right all the time."

He let the wince show this time. He knew he would be right, he usually was, he knew then too, but he hadn't wanted to be right over this particular matter. Not when being right meant turning his back on one of his oldest friends. Being forced to let her heart break in the most excruciating way.

"And what's the second thing?" Shikamaru sidestepped any awkward retort or reaction. A happy Ino would tell them why the fuck he was shackled to a wall in Hell.

With her.

"Well, secondly I can't really say 'good to see you, how's it going?' in all honesty either."

He snorted softly. He doubted they would have said that too each other in any different circumstance anyway. "I did imagine our reunion to be slightly different than this." He gestured vaguely with a chained hand to her. Something like regret flashed in her eyes, but she still retained her confident and strangely passive expression.

"Only slightly?" She smirked at him cantankerously, he could tell even from a distance and through darkness.

"Yeah. A bit different, but only a bit." He gave a grimace as he shifted ever so slightly, even that small movement cause the metal to bite in once again. He shook it off quickly, he needed some answers. "I don't suppose I can just say lets let bygones be bygones, can I?"

That got a small smile. But it was a smile, and that was better than a smirking Ino. A smirking Ino meant she was cocky and she got angry easier when she was cocky. "You can try," she said

"Well then, let's let bygones be bygones?"

He saw Ino sigh in fake pondering. "I don't suppose bitching at you would change anything. So why the hell not?" She shrugged and grinned at him in familiar cheerfulness and infamous 'screw it' attitude.

"Since when did that ever stop you before?" He still remembered the Ino who bitched at him if she felt he deserved it or just plain felt like it.

"Maybe I matured?" She gave another noncommittal shrug, and Shikamaru snorted again.

"I doubt it." Ino was childish, dependable, loyal, and temperamental, it was one of life's reassuring constants.

She gave a full smile, showing all her white teeth. "True," she conceded, "But since when did me being unsettled make you offer an apology?"

"I didn't apologize," he muttered, his face flushed.

"Not directly," she pointed out swiftly. "Or is it that you're just in a hurry to get back into my good graces for information maybe?" Damn her intuition!

He winced. She gave a snort this time. "Makes sense the only way we'd get over it would be in something like this." Ino sounded, slightly... sad. Shikamaru felt a strong pang of regret, knowing his last words were less than kind. Far from it actually.

Still what was done was done, and she was right about that.

"What am I doing in Hellion cell, why are you here and what does he want with me?" They both knew who "he" was.

"Who said we wanted you for anything?" Ino countered so casually he might have believed it. Might have being the key word.

He snorted again. "I'm chained by a material that doesn't kill but gives enough pain to discourage any attempts at escapes. And I'm a neutral. I hardly think you guys capture one for just for kicks, it's too dangerous. Something's up and I want to know what the fuck I'm doing here."

"And people say you lose brain cells when you die." Ino shook her head mournfully at him. "They obviously haven't met you."

"Ino," he growled in rare anger. So similar to the anger displayed at her expense before, but Shikamaru was too fed up andd tired, and pissed to notice the dangerous similarities. This was exactly why he hated getting angry.

"I wouldn't say I haven't matured," she continued twirling a lock of hair idly, completely ignoring his question. "I think that little experience changed me a bit don't you think? I mean I know I'm not the same." She released the strand of gleaming hair and raised a slim eyebrow at him, crossing her slender arms. "Do you?"

His anger evaporated, he should be angry at her. He knew he should be, but he just couldn't. After all she deserved to be angry at him too, it's not like he was a saint. And she was right, she did change. The Ino he knew, never danced around a question, she was straight-on, in your face blunt kinda girl. And maybe she still was. Maybe she just finally learned how to control that wild temper.

"Yeah I do," he confessed softly and caught her passive blue gaze. "But I don't think it was for the better."

"Neither do I," Ino admitted in a hard voice, clashing with her stoic question from earlier. "But what's done is done. The past is the past and I have changed. For better or for worse. And so have you."

Shikamaru nodded slightly, acknowledging that point. He knew he had changed since that day. But unlike her, he still wasn't sure if everything he went through these last few years were for better or for worse. If he underwent a positive change or not. But maybe that was the point. He was neutral, there wasn't supposed to be a for better or for worse for him. No good or bad, black and white, or just shades of gray. But Shikamaru still he yearned for the less complicated days from before.

"Can't we just pretend that we're not in hell? Can we pretend you're not still raw, I wasn't an ass, that we're still close?" Big, sky blue eyes looked back at him unflinchingly. "Can't we just pretend for a few minutes? Can we pretend that I'm being oblivious again and you're going to explain things to me and call me the smartest dumbass you've ever known? Just for a little a while?" Her eyes seem to soften only by a degree, but they did.

"You know I would have thought that being with Temari, would have made you tougher," Ino commented, breaking the solemn mood. "She was always such a hard ass after all."

Shikamaru grimaced, "You still hate her don't you? I don't know why you do, I was the asshole."

"I don't hate her," Ino corrected. She caught his skeptical expression and elaborated. "I hate what she caused."

"She didn't cause anything," he said slowly, but somewhere deep down, he knew it wasn't true.

Ino sighed loudly like so many times before.

"She caused the rift between us."

He looked down escaping her gaze. Ino may have said that but there was a note in her voice that sounded like she thought he was at fault to. And he was.

He was the one that drifted away.

He was the one who destroyed 22 years of friendship.

He was the one who chose romance over friends when it matter the most after lecturing her for so many years.

He was the one who gave her the shittiest ultimatum when she needed him to be understanding.

He was the one who turned her away in favor of more logical, less complicated path.

And she knew it too.

Temari may have been the spark, but he was the one who torched their valued and long camaraderie. Ino may have been a cunt sometimes (alright most of the time), but she was loyal and stood by her friends when it mattered, no matter how bitchy she was in between. Shikamaru couldn't say the same thing about himself anymore. He used to be the considerate, listening one, who never judged and was always a good person to have around. But he destroyed that concept of himself long ago.

"But," she continued, choosing to ignore his decisive lack of eye contact with her. "Since we're pretending to be chummy here, and spreading love around and you're once again being unnecessarily stupid, I guess I can outline the situation for you a bit. Especially since you're going our guest for a while. You guys pissed of our psychotic leader, who's a sadistic son of bitch and now you're interwoven in his grand scheme of domination."

Shikamaru processed this information quickly, the wheels in his head starting to whirl at a rapid pace. "I'm assuming that my fellow neutrals are the 'you guys' in this situation."

"You assume correctly."

"But why the hell would he capture me?" he demanded uncharacteristically, he knew he was being impatient, but what the hell? "Unless he wants to plan an attack on us, but that would just be stupid. Heaven is our ally." He then focused on her position, she was examining her cuticles. "Unless, he has something else planned."

"Maybe."

"Something that needs us to be unable to face off with him should it come to that." Shikamaru was better acquainted with their weakness than anybody. The took him to break the chain of power.

"Possibly."

"You're not going to divulge any more details are you?"

"Yep." She gave him a slightly apologetic grin. "Asshole or not he's still our leader. And I am not one for mutiny."

"This coming from someone who helped rally a revolution," Shikamaru said dryly. Even is Purgatory did know everything, the Hellion council hadn't exactly made a secret of it.

"That was different," she protested.

"Whatever." Suddenly Shikamaru frowned and his eyebrows dipped low. Ino raised an eyebrow at his suddenly serious disposition. "How would he know how to go about this? It's risky to do this, so how he knew when I would be off my guard is beyond me. I don't suppose you know about that do you?"

"No idea," she promptly.

She sounded honest. But still, he came to a quick and horrifying realization. He forced himself to voice his suspicion to her. "You were the one who told him how, weren't you?"

Her eyes snapped to him. Her eyes were like ice now. "I'm not a neutral Shikamaru, I wouldn't know when would have been the proper time to strike," she rejected curtly and her eyes were flinty.

"But you were in Intelligence, espionage is your thing. You could've found out and you did. You told him."

Ino was gifted at all forms of information gathering. She always was, even when they were kids. She knew what was gossip and what was not, and later on how to subtly and expertly extract info. He had no idea how gifted she was now, her natural abilities were probably enhanced, just as his were. But she could have found and she did. He knew he did. She never could hide things from him well.

It was probably why they would have never made a good couple

"You did didn't you?" He watched her carefully. Her eyes lost some steel and were less like ice. He saw her heave a small sigh.

"Yeah," Ino said at last, looking straight at him. "I did."

"Why?" His voice came out in coarse whisper. "Do you hate me so much?"

"No," Ino whispered back earnestly. "I did suggest it," she relented softly. "That's true." Shikamaru tore his gaze away. "But, I hadn't known it would be you. Honest. You know how much I care about loyalty, even to past relationships."

He was inclined to believe her and Ino was a soldier, a soldier obeys. But it still hurt that she made no movement to release him from his troublesome and painful confinement. "Why are you doing this then? And why me?"

"You're more valuable then you let on. They need you more," Ino explained looking at her slim pale hands. He stared at her continuously, still waiting for her to answer his initial question. She met his gaze at last. "Shikamaru, I can't refuse. You know I can't. Please, understand." And he did, he even felt bad, he just barely remembered the hold they had on her.

Smart move Nara.

"Yeah I know and I do." He was rewarded with another small smile as he prepared to fire of another question.

"Why are you here?" Ino shot an injured look at him, so he quickly amended his question. "I mean why are they letting you see me? Wouldn't they consider that risky, considering that we know each other?"

Her head was bowed and her arms straight at her sides and hands fisted. Ino was glaring at the ground. He recognized this. She looked like this whenever she was forced to do something she didn't want to do. But what was it that she didn't want to do?

"Ino?" he called out cautiously.

She moved her head upward and met his gaze steadily, he was surprised to her look so close to tears, her eyes shined, but nothing fell. That at least was not surprising, she hated crying, but she rarely came close to it anyways. Whatever it was, it was probably bad. She took several small steps forward and raised a small hand to cup the smooth cheekbone of his face. Her hand felt cool, but Shikamaru felt warm somehow. "Ino?" He squirmed a bit.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, gripping his face harder.

For what, Shikamaru started to ask, but found he couldn't bring himself to say it. It felt like every drop of energy in his body, both physically and mentally, was being drained. For what, he thought he heard himself say, but wasn't sure. He was so tired. It hurt to keep his eyes open and his vision was getting blurry. He fought to stay awake, to ask her what the fuck was going on, but he couldn't. His mind was exhausted and he needed to sleep. Now. His stopped fighting, and let himself drift away.

I'm sorry he thought he heard her say, but he was too drowsy to be sure. And then the welcoming pitch black darkness of slumber enloping him slowly.

He was guarenteed a good ngiht's sleep.

END OF CHAPTER II

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Hey thanks to everybody for reviewing. I didn't think the first chapter would be so well received. You sure know how to make someone feel flattered. Thanks to ino-chanlove, Rainforestfrogs, fallenmad, kosumi, LostsoulsofRegret, sugarmonkey778, CrystalSoul Jutsu, sugarspiice, alice fools-, amwong88, and Intuition for reviewing and I hope you liked the update. Reviews are welcome. I like hearing what you have to say.