"Example" – Speaking Japanese
"Example" – Speaking English
'Example' – Thoughts
Chapter III
"AH-choo!"
Sniffling miserably Yamanaka Ino snuggled deeper within the folds of her lavender comforter and repositioned her legs so they were resting on the kotatsu table in her small excuse of a living room. Eyes lingering on what seemed to be a Japanese version of Wheel of Fortune she quickly pressed the next button on her remote and sighed in distaste. It was her eighth day in Japan and she was already bored out of her mind…
After flipping through most of the channels her small 15 inch television had to offer, the blonde restlessly tossed the remote aside after stumbling upon some random Japanese soap opera. Her eyes had barely focused on the TV screen for more then 5 seconds before she immediately lost interest and turned to stare out the window.
She parted her lips in surprise when she noticed that the snow storm had begun to rear its ugly face, darkening the skies as a warning sign to all. Ino watched as small flakes began to drop from the ominous clouds and remembered her father saying something about a big snowstorm heading towards the area. He even went as far as telling her to stay put and refrain from going outside today.
The seventeen year old rolled her eyes at her father's words and scoffed childishly, crossing her arms underneath the blanket.
"Like I have anywhere else I want to be…" she muttered quietly.
Pulling the covers around her tighter she leaned back and silently watched the show with a reluctant sigh.
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Creaking floorboards groaned from old age as a lone figure paused in the middle of the small hallway. After an eerie stillness followed the boy decided to let out a sigh of relief.
Shikamaru quietly continued on his way towards the front door of his house after making sure his mother was still asleep. He pulled on a rather worn looking chocolate brown ski jacket from the closet door and skillfully pulled his arms through the sleeves without making much noise. Looking down passed the many patches covering his jacket he frowned when he noticed another hole gaping out from the right side. Making a mental note to patch it up later he removed his new snow boots from the small rusty compartment by his door and silently thanked Chouji for the gift as he put them on.
Making sure his feet were securely tucked into the shoes he grabbed his knitted scarf from off the floor and wrapped it around his neck. Shikamaru carefully slid the front door open allowing a strong wind to carry in unwanted flakes. He shivered slightly through the tattered jacket and paused before he completely took a step out of the house. Turning to catch a glimpse of his mother's bedroom door he bowed his head respectfully.
"Shitsurei Shimasu" he barely whispered and slid the door closed after him.
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Ino snapped awake with surprise as a loud thunk hit the ground below her. She sleepily wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and sat up from the couch, stretching out her arms above her to remove the kinks in her back. Scratching her head she groaned at and brought her eyes towards the floor where her 'Japanese for Dummies' book lie. The blonde growled colorful words as she bent over to snatch the book from off the floor. With a small huff Ino carelessly tossed it onto the kotatsu table with small effort.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes Ino examined the clock on her wall and was displeased to find that she had only been asleep for less then an hour.
"Great. Now I have fourteen more hours to kill before bedtime" she remarked sarcastically. Standing up with the comforter still wrapped around her body Ino headed for her kitchen in search of food.
She automatically made her way to the top cabinet by the fridge where her daily meal was stashed for safe keeping. The Yamanaka heiress opened the cabinet door expecting to meet the sight of her precious instant ramen and the color nearly drained from her face when an empty space met her eyes. Ino closed her cerulean orbs again and opened them as if denying her 20/20 vision. To the girl's dismay the empty cabinet remained unchanged once she pulled the door open again a third time around. With an agitated growl she slammed the cabinet shut. Ino moodily walked over to her fridge and threw the door open with knitted brows. She could've sworn there was a whole box full of instant noodles just a week ago! She couldn't have eaten them all in eight days!
Suddenly, at the most absurd time; a flashback popped in her mind involving her friend Schuyler and five neatly wrapped hamburgers. Probably from Burger King or something…
Anyways.
Long story short, Schuyler had told her, "Damn Ino! Your stomach is like a freaking black hole! You have such a bad habit of eating too much when you're bored!"
Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!
The blonde sighed and resisted the urge to smack her forehead. Freaking random flashbacks…
With another sigh Ino decided to mourn over her lost ramen later. Her stomach demanded food and it wanted it NOW.
She rummaged through the refrigerator for what seemed to be hours and was displeased to come out empty handed…or stomached for that matter. The things in her fridge had been either condiments or suspicious looking foods that her father had brought home from who knows where.
Ino sighed when she finally reached a troublesome conclusion and she peered out the window to see that the snow had started falling in large flakes. Groaning at her predicament she reluctantly dragged her feet in the direction of her room where she could change into a pair of warm clothes to face the dreadful weather brewing outside of her comfort zone…
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"Nara-kun, please deliver this to Miho-san at the art museum in Shiomi Nawate"
Shikamaru nodded and took the ramen container from the old man. Looking at the empty ramen shop he lowered his eyes guiltily. Rubbing the back of his head he tightened his grip on the handle of the wooden ramen container in anger.
"Teuchi-san…I knew it wasn't just my imagination…because of me, your shop--"
"Hurry up boy or we'll have to pay the customer a refund!" the ramen chef abruptly cut in as he shook the noodles in his strainer to get rid of the water. He continued to discard the noodles in a large ramen bowl. Before Shikamaru could have his say the man interrupted once again.
"If you don't hurry up this old man's gunna eat his special beef ramen without his helper" Teuchi threatened good-naturedly. Shikamaru blinked in surprise before giving him a small smile and turning to leave the shop hurriedly.
"Hey! And don't be running or you'll spill the ramen!"
The ramen chef smiled as the door closed with a small "Gomen!" coming from the other side. Listening to the fading footsteps he turned around and continued to make his promised meal for two.
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Blue eyes peeled away from the window of the small convenience store.
"Ahree-gah-toe" Ino thanked in her broken Japanese and nodded slowly when the cashier said something she had no clue how to decipher.
Taking the plastic bag from the man she quietly left the shop so she wouldn't embarrass herself any further. Ino silently treaded among the soft snow and listened as they softly crunched beneath her boots. Looking at the long stretch of gravel that would take her to her house Ino stopped in her tracks. She shifted her vision towards the woods to her right.
'Maybe it'll be quicker if I just cut through the forest' she reconsidered as she thought about the forever winding road she usually took to get back home. After a moment of contemplation Ino looked down at her knee high boots and concluded that they were tolerable to harsh conditions.
Shrugging slightly Ino headed for the right and entered the forest carefully, dodging branches that threatened to pierce her jacket. She used her gloves to brush the branches away and was lucky enough to squeeze between two small trees.
As time passed the blonde began to regret her decision and looked back, seeing nothing but an endless field of trees and snow. Sighing once again Ino continued to dodge branches and cursed when her plastic bag snagged on an unsuspected branch. She carefully removed the wooden annoyance from her precious food and resumed her walk, hoping to escape the cold weather.
About another ten minutes had passed and the speed of the snow was already beginning to pick up drastically, making the harsh winds pick up amongst the trees. Somewhere behind her Ino heard a large clump of snow that must've fallen off one of the trees. Pulling her hood tighter around her head Ino squinted to make out the path of trees in front of her eyes. This was getting bad. She could already tell by the flurries of snow twirling around her small body. Ino held her hands up to cover her mouth and took another step forward, clenching her jaw when the icy flakes made contact with her eyes. Her eyelashes had already begun to freeze over, making her lids droopy from the added weight.
Bowing her head to stare at the ground Ino quickened her pace and carefully maneuvered around the trees once more. Her house should be close by now. It was only at least two miles away from the town and she had walked a little more than a half hour already.
Spotting a clearing through the thick flurries of snow Ino quickened her pace, ignoring how her boots would sink in the snow every few minutes.
Ino sighed in relief once she reached the clearing but stopped as soon as her eyes quickly scanned the area.
This…
…wasn't what she had expected to see…
The blonde spotted nothing but a frozen creek and a small wooden shack a few yards away from her current position. The shack, at least it wasn't technically a shack, maybe a very small run down cabin or something; looked as if it were struggling to withstand the strong winds brought forth by the storm. To prove her theory further, the sound of it's old wood creaked in synchronization with the wind.
Pulling her jacket closer Ino made the decision to take shelter in the small shack when the wind began to pick up around her. She gave a little sniffle before hurriedly trudging through the snow to the front of the shabby cabin.
It wasn't until she had settled herself inside the small shed and had shrugged off her damp jacket when she realized her surroundings properly.
Ino's eyes grew in surprise once she spotted evidence of a person's presence lingering around the dusty hallway of the home. She examined the old jacket that hung limply on the back of a broken chair and the loud gagging of a noisy heater sitting a few feet beyond the hallway.
"Oh crap! I didn't think there'd actually be a person who'd live here!"
Looking around the run down shack Ino backed away towards the front door quietly.
"I need to leave before they catch me!" she mumbled nervously against her long white scarf. The last thing she wanted to do was delay her hunger and deal with angry people.
Getting ready to pull on her wet jacket once again Ino paused when she heard the sound of movement beyond the door at the end of the tiny hallway. A slight shuffling of movement sounded and the small creak of floorboards followed after.
"You're home earlier than usual…" a soft voice said as it got closer to the slide door.
Ino froze mid-step and dared not to turn around.
The sound of footsteps stopped just behind the door and all of a sudden the owner of the soft voice began to cough in violent gasps of breaths. Ino flinched and instinctively turned her head at the sound of the ragged breaths. She bit her lip and debated on whether she should take this opportunity to run or stay.
The hacking fits stopped momentarily and the woman's weak voice cut in once again, "It's alright honey, you should get some rest. This is nothi—" the woman's calm voice was interrupted with a set of even more violent coughs and Ino suddenly felt colder then she should've been. She shook her head, telling herself that it was none of her business and made her way towards the front door hurriedly.
Just as her hand reached the loose brass doorknob she heard a noise eerily familiar to something soft and heavy hitting the floor behind her.
The blonde stopped, releasing her grip on the knob and turned around, knowing fully well what she must do.
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Shikamaru thanked Teuchi for the meal as he pushed his empty bowl forward on the counter, laying his chopsticks neatly on top of it.
"Arigatou Teuchi-san. I've never been so full in my life!" he joked and leaned back against the stool as far as he could. The ramen chef smiled and sat up, collecting both of their empty bowls on his way to the kitchen.
Shikamaru stood in protest to the man's kindness and was stopped as Teuchi placed the wooden ramen container on top of the counter before him.
"I have one more delivery for you to make boy" he stated quickly and to the point. Shikamaru stared at the container before raising his gaze at his boss in confusion.
Teuchi gave a brood smile, his eyes disappearing into the wrinkles on his aged face.
"I made this especially for Nara-san. The ingredients I used should be able to help raise her health a bit" The man added, forcing the handle into his assistants.
It took Shikamaru awhile to get the message and he could only bow in gratefulness before hurrying out the door once more.
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Ino pulled her hand from the tub of hot water and wrung the cloth dry before placing it over the frail woman's sweating forehead. She wiped her own forehead with the back of her hand and sighed in relief.
After slamming the slide door open she had been shocked to find the woman lying unconscious on the floor. It also surprised her how weightless the woman felt when she had carried her to the bed.
Ino used her fingers to gently sweep the woman's tawny bangs away from her face. She clenched her fists at her sides quietly, dropping her eyes towards the floor. It was funny how someone she had just met could all of a sudden feel so familiar to her. Ino cast her gaze at the sleeping woman before bringing them away once again. She closed her blue orbs and took in a chilling breath. The woman reminded her so much of…
"Mom…"
Biting her lower lip Ino unclenched her fingers and quietly stood, never taking her eyes off the deathly pale woman.
She looked around the small room.
'Does she live here alone?'
The thought alone made Ino's insides churn. How could someone allow such a sick woman to care for herself? Wasn't there anyone she knew? Why was she living in such poor conditions?
Ino clenched her fists as a picture flashed in her mind of a long-haired pale blonde woman, smiling at her despite the pain in her eyes.
Shaking her head Ino cleared her thoughts. She gave the woman one last look, keeping her hand on the side of the sliding door as if hesitant to leave.
"I'm really sorry…but this is all I can do for you" she quietly whispered before shutting the door.
As she left the molding walls of the wooden home and trudged across the purely white fields of snow Ino found herself smiling up at the bright golden sun that shined down on her. It occurred to her that somewhere, deep in her heart she knew that the woman living in that small cabin was not alone…that somewhere out there, there was someone who was working hard to take care of her…
And just the thought brought a smile to her lips once more.
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Shikamaru quietly stepped inside his house, living in it long enough to avoid the creaking floorboards without effort. He gently pulled open the door and smiled when he saw his mother sleeping peacefully on the futon by the heater.
Letting out a tired sigh Shikamaru helped himself to a seat beside her futon, setting down the wooden ramen container.
Placing the bowl of steaming ramen aside he pushed the wooden box away and gently removed the wet cloth from off his mother's forehead, knowing that it should be time to change the water in the tub.
Dropping the cloth inside the small pink bowl he stopped abruptly.
The water was still warm.
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Tsuzuku...
Sorry for the unbelievably LONG delay! I've been busy with lots of things...I'm trying to work out the chapter for Your Wish but I can't seem to be satisfied with it everytime I rewrite it. Ugh. And Usotsuki Boy is pretty much the same but hopefully I'll think of something...
Oh! and seriously. LAST CHANCE TO VOTE ON SHIKAxINO POLL! I'm going to close it this Saturday so hurry and vote!
I'm sorry about the lack of Shika/Ino interaction. I know I promised to put it in this chapter but I wanted to drag out their meeting a little more...
Notes: Shitsurei Shimasu – (formal speech) I'll be leaving now/ I'm going out