Chapter Four – A Necessary Third Wheel

Ino hummed merry tune the next morning. She danced her way through the morning, much to her father's confusion. He'd finally managed to get a day off work and had been surprised to come home to find a large sign on the front of his family's shop, stating that they now did deliveries. Ino had explained that it was just while her mother was away, as sort of an extra training/business move. Inoichi never bothered himself with the flower shop, so he just let his daughter get on with it.

Ino was just tying up the last of her bandages when she heard the bell chime. "I'll get it!" she shouted through to her father unnecessarily, he was too absorbed in the morning news to have even noticed the bell. Ino skipped down the stairs a flight at a time, and almost tripped when she saw who was standing outside, peering through the large glass window. She jogged over to open the door.

"Shikamaru? What are you doing here so early? Come in" she asked and demanded all in one breath. Her team mate sauntered through the door, yawning. He turned to face her. Ino felt her heart pounding a dent into her ribcage. Had he figured it out? She wasn't anywhere near ready for that! The shadow user put his hands behind his head and turned his face away from her, apparently looking at some rhododendrons adorning a hanging basket in the corner.
"I'm sorry to bother you so early," he began, "But I have to be at the competition grounds soon and I figure I don't need this on my mind when I'm trying to concentrate". Ino's heart squeezed its way up to her throat. "So I was wondering… about the flowers you delivered yesterday…"
"W-What about them?" Ino asked disguising her stutter with a yawn, she tried to get a look at his face in the wall mirror. Was he blushing? She couldn't quite see.
"I was wondering… who were from?" Shikamaru finished quietly, trying to keep all tone out of his voice.

Several things went through Ino's mind at that moment. Two predictions of events as a result of each possible choice she could make, as well as a flurry of questions. Could she tell him now? Was it the right time? The right place? The right way? What if he rejected her? What if he laughed at her? What if it came out wrong? Was that worse than it not coming out at all? All this happened in a moment before she decided to answer.
"The sender," She answered, somewhat shyly, "Wished to remain anonymous" It wasn't an outright lie. Shikamaru turned back to face her; he seemed slightly surprised."
"Oh… well… I understand… makes sense I suppose" he said acceptingly, "If they had wanted me to know they would have included a note" he reasoned, "I'm sorry to bother you, and I'm sorry about the other day"
"Don't worry about it, I over-reacted" Ino responded quietly, but quickly perked up as Shikamaru gave her a suspicious glance. The young chunin turned back to face her:
"Hey can you do me a favour, if you see the person who sent me the flowers again?" he asked, Ino nodded stiffly, so he continued "Well… I'm not great with words, but… tell them I said thanks… and it was very brave of them… and very nice…" If he hadn't been blushing before he certainly was now. Ino couldn't help but smile at how cute it was. Add that to the light floating feeling that had replaced the choking sensation from before. The feeling lasted long after Shikamaru had left and Ino had drifted back upstairs to just lounge about in her room. Lost in her temporary bliss.

It was short-lived; as it turns out Tenten had been passing by on her way to training and spotted Shikamaru; looking thoughtful and blushing, and had immediately rushed to see Ino. After snapping Ino out of her reverie with a comment on how stupid she looked with an ear-to-ear grin plastered across her face, she demanded details. When Ino finished Tenten, who had been quivering the whole time, began screaming but had a pillow shoved in her face to stifle it. Ino didn't want her Dad thinking someone was getting killed. Once she was released, Tenten launched herself at Ino, half choking the life out of her with a hug.
"You have no excuse now" she said slyly with a wink. "At least you know he won't take it the wrong way"
Ino shook her head, and explained that she was sticking to her Chunin Exams plan. That way she would feel less guilty about focusing on things outside her ninja abilities.

Later that day she made her way to the training grounds where her team usually practised. There she found Chouji, no Shikamaru as expected, and… no Asuma? That was odd, not only was it unusual that Chouji would be training alone of his own free will but Asuma always supervised them, kept them motivated and more often than he really ought to, rewarded their efforts. The blonde kunoichi dashed over to her team mate.
"Good afternoon Chouji, Asuma-sensei not around today?"
Chouji stopped his training briefly and turned to face his team mate. She hadn't referred to him by his weight; she was in an unusually good mood. He greeted her and told her that Asuma had told him to keep training while he went to check something and that, if she were to arrive, to tell her to wait for him to come back and discuss the exams with them. Ino smiled and began jumping around one of the training dummies, tossing various ninja tools at it, practising her aim on the move. The exams were exactly what she'd wanted to ask Asuma about.

It was about half an hour before their sensei returned, looking rather pleased. Ino suppressed a gag at the overwhelming stench of cologne coming off of him; clearly he'd been trying to cover the smell of smoke.
"So how was your date with Kurenai-sensei?" she asked teasingly. She giggled as her sensei blushed and hurriedly spewed his usual protests and denials. Once they'd all calmed down Asuma began talking about the exams.
"I'd be perfectly happy to let you take the exams this year, I mean if I thought you were ready last year then I have no doubt whatsoever now." He began, but there was a slightly apologetic undertone that Ino wasn't liking, "…but, the exams require teams of three; and Shikamaru already passed." The Jounin explained. Ino felt crushed; she had been counting on the chunin exams as a bolster. If she couldn't take them then…
"Asuma-sensei please!" she pleaded, "We have to find a third team mate, surely there's someone available?"
"Well I can tell you that all members of Team Eight are entering, so that rules them out. And I don't see Gai's team sitting out" Asuma stated remorsefully.

Ino's head was spinning. She had to take part in the Chunin exams, she couldn't afford not to. It wasn't just her pride as a ninja anymore; it was her heart on the line. Surely there was someone available to help. Ino thought for a moment, once she could. Asuma had said that two other teams were entering… but weren't there four teams? Ino counted them off: team Asuma, team Kurenai, team Gai and team Kakashi. Ino shook her head, team Kakashi was out of the question, what with Naruto away training, and Sasuke leaving the village….

"Oh no…" Ino said despairingly, burying her hands in her face as she realised who her only hope was.

Author's Note: This is the last chapter I had written before my long period of absence, I will try and get the next chapter written within the next week. Apologies to my current readers for making you wait ^_^;