Firebirds
by Shameless Monkey
Chapter 2
I've left my curtains open again. In the morning, when the sunshine comes streaming in on me in uncomfortably warm panes of light it's the first thing I register, and I wonder, if on the offchance Ino ever tried to wake me up like this, I'd be any quicker at getting up. Probably not. Sunshine, buckets of icy cold water, ear splitting whistles delivered directly into my ears, having my blankets stolen… it's all one and the same, really. And even though everyone thinks I'm lazy, sometimes it's stubbornness more than anything else. Not tenacity like Ino or steadfastness like Choji. Just a general "fuck you" to the powers that be, mostly manifested in that crazy blonde herself.
I don't really know why I fight, but whenever Ino tells me what I am (rather, what she says I am) we enter a battle of wills. She thinks she knows me better than anyone else, and sometimes I think about maybe giving her a dressing down and explaining, once and for all, how much of a ridiculous statement that is, but usually I just try to undermine everything she says I am instead. Or shrug and close my eyes.
It's what I usually do when she talks at me, too. Even when I'm longing to answer. When she isn't being stupid and overbearing, she is sometimes actually interesting, and it kills me that she manages to hook my attention like that. And whatever little tantrum she's throwing at the moment, (because it's occurring to me that she's doing this to somehow get at me... maybe show me up by exaggerating my behaviour?) to try and make me step up and be a bigger person or whatever, I'm not going to let her win.
But my curiosity gets the better of me, and I go down stairs, to where Mum is cooking breakfast, and, unusually, Dad's there too. He's retired now (if one of the ninja who'll be called up for duty again in a flash if there's ever another civil emergency) and the idea that people get up when the sun is only just rising always strikes me as one of the greatest mysteries in a very mysterious universe.
I grab an apple and polish it against my vest before taking a bite, sliding down opposite my dad. He reads the newspaper while mum clatters away and the savoury smell of eggs and spring onions drifts over to the table.
"Is there something going on at the Ino's?"
At home, when we're alone, their house isn't "the Yamanaka's", but "the Ino's". Familiarity breeds a hell of a lot of contempt though, and in my mind it's always "the flower shop", because I've been so ticked off with that girl so often that I've wanted to distance myself from her as much as I can, short of getting a beating for being disrespectful (which, caught between my mother and Ino herself, isn't very far at all). But now… I kind of need the familiarity, because this is getting kind of weird.
Dad stretches, tilting his head back to look at me, and his scars cast gentle dappled shadowy patterns over his face. I remember that when we were little, Choji and Ino and I would run our fingers over them gently, and even though he was (although we didn't know it) one of the most lethal jonin in the village, Dad would succumb to the examination with closed eyes, crouching down to better allow us access to his face. Ino used to call them waves.
And even though I've seen people kind of look at him and avert their eyes, embarrassed, I love the way he looks. There's a solace for me in those lines, a security in the scar tissue. He's fought for us, and won. So when he says,
"It's under control, Shika-kun," I take a heady dose of relief from his words.
But when I just see Choji at our training ground with his eyes filled with worry, it takes all I have not to rush home and demand to know if he was lying to me.
"Shikamaru, there's something going on with Ino." He says, coming up to me, crossing his arms.
Choji is the best friend anyone would wish to have. Strong and supportive and filled with an easy sort of… grace of presence. He's stalwart and loyal and I listen to what he says as readily as he obeys my command in the field. But if there's one thing I don't get about him, it's that he and Ino are crazy about each other. I sometimes want to ask where he's put the years she spent ignoring us at the academy, pretending she didn't know who we were, but even though I've even brought it up with him once, all he would say was "She was just going through a phase." So, because he seems to have a better grasp of her than I do, hearing him say that kind of ticks me off. Caught between my father and my best friend, I don't know who to believe.
"My dad says she's fine," I snap, which is almost true, and I lace kunai through my fingers, settling into my stance and Choji realises that the subject is closed as he, too, readies himself for my attack, when –
"Oi, Shikamaru!" comes a shout, and out from between the trees, Team eight come into sight. Since Asuma-sensei died, I've gotten to know Kurenai well, and, I've known Shino and Kiba and Hinata for most of my life. I straighten up as they come up to us, and Kiba gestures to the two of us.
"Where's Ino?" he asks, and Choji glances at me.
"She's got the fl – " I begin to lie, but Kiba only means it as a token question because he interrupts me with a:
"You guys totally forgot, didn't you?"
"About what?" Choji asks, and Kurenai raises her eyebrows ever so slightly.
"The Suna-Konoha negotiations." She says. "The delegation arrive today."
Fuck. I had forgotten. I sigh though, instead of saying so, and kind of close my eyes.
"Aren't they meant to be arriving this afternoon?" I ask. "Or… freshening up after their journey?"
"Temari of the Sand wants to begin the discussions immediately," says Shino, from beneath his jacket. "Suna are in a bit of financial trouble, and she's… not the most patient of customers."
True that. When I faced her in the chunin exams she walked into what I was doing blindly. She had been in control when she faced Tenten, but she lost that with me. Because she thought she was winning. Don't get me wrong, she's a clever girl, and sure, she totally saved my butt from being killed by Tayuya, but it's a connection we never acknowledge… I think I might have stung her pride in the exams.
Suna being in trouble is news to me, though. Their desperation is sort of showing through in that they've sent their second-in-command to negotiate on our land, on our terms, but I doubt that they'll leave empty-handed, because, for one thing, Naruto, who is like Obaa-chan's surrogate son, actually likes Gaara, despite that weird time when Lee was sick and we went to visit him, which will influence whatever agreement is eventually brokered between our two villages, and for another, for all that Temari of the Sand specialises in manipulating the wind (which is perhaps why she gets on so well with Naruto herself) she is as indomitable as stone. For a second I reflect on why I – and everyone else – finds it virtually impossible to drop the epithet from her name, but then I realise that everyone is looking at me, that I need to do something, or say something, or… move.
So I do. Shrugging my hands into my pockets I begin to walk up to Hokage tower with Kiba and Choji on either side of me, and Shino and Hinata and Kurenai bringing up the rear.
END CHAPTER
A/N: I'm sorry this is kinda filler-chapter-y. And sorry for not updating as soon as I'd hoped to – I hate having to wait ages for authors to update, but like, honest-to-god, my computer stopped working properly. I can't get into my fanfiction account and my email on the same server anymore, and so I had to suss that out in order to upload. Like, I had to upload onto sendspace, send it to myself, and then open it on another computer, and upload onto fanfiction from there.
But on the bright side, Temari's coming into the picture now, too :D And others. What do you reckon? Review and tell me how it is, please. I've never written anything else in my life like this, and feedback is so good to get, so I know what it's like for you, the reader, to experience?
Oh and sorry for swearing :s It's just how I imagined him thinking it =/
The next chapter will be better, I promise!
DISCLAIMER: Shameless Monkey is shameless. She would probably try to steal the rights before she bought them, and as she has misplaced her balaclava at present, neither sitch is taking place.
