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Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard. Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak. Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?
"Normal."
Thoughts
Flashbacks
Jutsu
"And... BEGIN!"
Silence..
Ino observed her opponent's every move, every look and even every breath. As always Shikamaru was just standing there. Doing absolutely nothing at all.. just standing. He'd even closed his eyes! Ino grinned mentally. Maybe any other nin would choose now to operate and catch him off guard, but she was not like any other shinobi.
She was Ino.. Yamanaka Ino..
She was the girl who'd been his teammate for years, who'd caused numeral bumps on his pine-apple head, heck, she had been the one who'd invented the damn name!
She was the person he'd have his first kiss with. She was one of his best friends.
So yeah, to say that they had quite an history together wouldn't be an understatement.
And even if he was standing there, seemingly doing 'nothing', she knew better.
Always look underneath the underneath, a saying which was known world wide by every ninja..
And to be frank, well underneath Shika was a genius, but underneath the underneath, Shika was not only a genius, he was a SUPER-determined-stubborn-strong genius. So all in all, he was the best opponent or the worst one, it depended on how she'd look at it, she had to fight up until now.
She had to admit she was a bit jumpy, not exactly frightened but more like anxious. She hadn't fought with the shadow-user in a while nor had she seen him in action for a long time. Because she was now the apprentice of Morino she spent an awful lot of time at the interrogation centre and had rarely field-missions. And even if she had one, she already had an assigned partner: Hyuuga Neji.
At the first glance most people would think the person who'd paired them up had to be nuts.
They were partly right, Morino Ibiki was a bit on the crazy side, but he was also one hell of a leader with lots of experience. So the man knew what he was doing.
Even though Ino knew this, she'd gone ballistic when she heard that he'd paired her up with the Hyuuga permanently. She hadn't even got a say in it and she hated it at first. Neji just reminded her too much of a certain traitor she couldn't get her mind off.
They both acted as if they had a stick shove up their asses.
They didn't like to talk, heck they didn't like anything. Period.
They always answered with a 'Hn', and she never knew in which statement they used that stupid 'Hn'.
They were damn prodigies.
And they were too freakin' handsome for their own good.
The Hyuuga-prodigy wasn't exactly content with their forced co-operation either. In fact he even tried to go against the decision. Which didn't, well, have much succes. They had to admit, though, that their abilities, his Byakugan and her Mind-transfer jutsu, were well fitted to one another. He could exactly pinpoint her target with his eyes and could tell her the precise co-ordinations she had to follow when she entered a mind from afar.
And after a few missions in which they'd been together, they found out it wasn't really that bad after all. At first he was rated 'acceptable', then it turned into 'almost enjoyable'; and after a very dangerous mission which had almost cost her her life if it weren't for him, she accepted him as a friend. She still didn't know how he felt about her though. But she knew he respected her and her abilities and that he was able to count on her. That on itself was enough for her.
She breathed calmly and glanced once again at Shikamaru, who still hadn't moved either, she noticed.
I guess I'll have to make the first move, because it's the lazy-ass we're talking about. He'll probably want to test my abilities and improvements before he strikes. But then again, he expects me to attack first, so wouldn't it be better if I just didn't do it?
5 minutes passed...
Ino looked at the position of the sun. If she wanted to beat this guy, she had to observe her surroundings to the fullest. She had to be aware of every sunlight, wind, ground and shadow..
Suddenly she had an idea to perhaps surprise her precious, genius friend.
She draw a deep breath in, capturing the wanted attention of her audience and her opponent, and breathed out once again, her form lifting into a...
-...traditional-Hyuuga-Style taijitsu: Jyuuken?
Midst the audience Hyuuga Neji choked as everyone next to him gasped. Even Shikamaru's eyes widened for a second.
Yamanaka Ino smirked, lifting her left hand a bit more, and signaled him as a dare to come at her.
The shadow-user's eyes narrowed, but he didn't move from his spot.
She mentally cursed.
Uggh! Dammit! I'm so not gonna wait the entire day for his lazy-butt to come at me!
She had never been patient in the past, so why should she start being now?
Still in the Jyuuken-formation, she sprinted right at him, already in range for his Kage Mane.
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! She screamed in her mind, as an extra pebble that went unnoticed, appeared on the ground behind her opponent.
Shikamaru's features hardened. What the hell is she trying to do? Walking right into my Kage Mane?
"Kage Mane no Jutsu." He spoke calmly as his shadow reached out for Ino's.
Just before his shadow prisoned hers, she did a replacement jutsu and a Henge at the same time. The pebble behind Shikamaru turned into a bunshin Ino and replaced the real Ino, who was now behind him.
As his shadow made contact with the 'fake-bunshin' her, her bunshin poofed, revealing smoke.
What the..
Ino immediately took her gain from the two seconds of confusion of her opponent and attacked.
"Buro-Seishin no Jutsu.(1)" She cried out loud this time, sending him a blow of raw mind energy to his mind and making him fall down on his knees from the sudden force.
She immediately pulled out two of her kunai and connected them with her chakra before she threw them right at her target as a lasso, capturing him and immobilising him as a result. She focused some more chakra in her string as Shikamaru recovered from her previous attack and started to struggle. She walked in front of him and put her hands on her hips for a second.
"Tsk, tsk, Shika, just act like a nice boy and don't make it any harder for yourself."
His eyes narrowed as she made the seals for a jutsu with whom he was very familiar with. But wait a sec.. the last seal she'd made... that didn't belong to her Mind Body transfer jutsu...
"Bu-Shintenshin no Jutsu (2)!" Everyone waited for her to fall on the ground, only to find out...
... she didn't.
She was still standing tall, a wicked smile gracing her lips as she turned to the audience and winked.
"What the-!"
"-...Maybe her jutsu didn't succeed?"
"Yeah, isn't she supposed to...-?"
In the midst of the crowd Neji smirked. Just wait until you see what she can pull off. This is only the beginning..
On the ground 'Shikamaru' finally opened his eyes and he smirked.
"Bu-Shintenshin no Jutsu was a.. success...!" He said while 'giggling'.
"Oookay... can someone here tell me what in the world is going on?" Naruto asked, scratching his neck as a habit.
"Shouldn't she like.. fall down or anything when she enters someone's mind?"
Neji, who was standing right next to him chuckled lightly before he answered the questioning glares and comments of his friends.
"No, this is her Bu-Shintenshin, you're all confusing it with her Shintenshin no Jutsu."
"Bu... Shintenshin?" Hinata asked slowly and softly.
"Yep!" Ten-Ten answered cheerfully. She'd seen Ino spar with Neji sometimes and had even sparred with the girl herself a number of times. Placing her eyes at the fight again she explained it further to the listening crowd.
"The Bu-Shintenshin is another Yamanaka technique she's come up with, in which the user can split her mind in two and send a part to her target, while maintaining the other part in her, or his own body. That's why it's called 'Bu' Shintenshin no Jutsu: Part Mind Body transfer skill."
"Wow.." Sakura commented as she too averted her eyes to her friend.
She never knew Ino had progressed so much..
I wonder why she didn't tell me.. We used to tell each other everything, but now it seems as if we're growing more and more apart with every passing day. It kinda... scares... me.
As she watched Ino fight, she vowed herself to try her hardest to become her best friend again.
"So you're saying she actually can split her mind?" Chouji asked, as he stopped eating his bag of chips. Even he hadn't known about Ino's new ability.
"Yes." Neji spoke again. "But it does make it harder to control her target's mind, so it costs her more chakra and focus. That's why she attacked Nara's mind first before she used this jutsu, she weakened him so it would be easier to enter his mind without struggle."
"Sounds like a good strategy. Damn never knew the blonde had it in her, right Akamaru?" Kiba commented as Akamaru barked in approval.
"I still think her strategy isn't that effective since she wouldn't be able to hurt her opponent in any way, because if she did so, she would immobilise herself in progress." Shino stated calmly and indifferent.
Morino Ibiki chuckled sadistically as he heard this.
"That may be so, brat, but don't forget that she has been in my apprenticeship for three years now. Don't insult my abilities to think that I wouldn't be able to detect such a big flaw.."
Ten-Ten turned to the bug-user and smiled at him.
"Just watch the fight, Shino-san. I promise you won't be disappointed."
Shino pushed his shades back up his nose as an response and turned to the fight.
Tsunade's eyes twinkled as she rubbed her hands happily.
Oh.. yeah..! She would become a very rich woman after this fight...
Jiraiya was going down.
"Hiya Shika!" Ino greeted her old buddy as she entered and took control of his mind.
"Ino..." The said-old-buddy growled annoyed.
"Aww.. Now, now.. Don't be like that!"
"What do you think you're going to do anyway? You can't hurt me, remember? You're own body is useless right now, how do you think of attacking me?" He said stating the obvious.
Ino just smirked.
"You're not the only one who may have improved Shikamaru.. I know I'm not a genius like you, nor will I ever become one, but that doesn't mean that I won't try my hardest to progress."
She forced his body to open his eyes.
"I-Impossible.."
He was now staring through Ino to another standing... Ino...?
"How?"
"Bu-Shintenshin no Jutsu was a.. succes...!" She forced his body yet again to speak. She even made him giggle!
"Already pleased to meet my Bu-Shintenshin.. pine-apple head?" She said mockingly.
"Bu-Shintenshin..?"
"Yep! The one and only! I'd like to give you one long, nice, cool explanation, but since you've a possession of a great genius mind, I leave it up to you."
He shook his head softly. "So I guess you've finally found a way to split your mind, eh?"
She studied her purple dyed nails, not even trying to look a bit modest.
That's the Ino I know..
"Well, yeah.. You know, I kinda experimented with a couple of my clan's jutsus..."
"You experimented well, but it's still not good enough. Even if you have a body to attack with, you'll only hurt your own body as well if you do so. "
The blonde looked up.. bored...
"Hmmm? Oh.. you're talking about that? Don't you even worry about it! You'll see it soon enough for yourself.."
Ino had 4 minutes left before she would be forced to leave his body and enter hers fully.
For someone normal 4 minutes wasn't all that much, but she was a ninja.
And in her career it could only take 1 second to kill someone, let alone 4 entire minutes.
She considered herself lucky.
"Baria-Seishin no Jutsu (3)!" She said softly, creating a barrier of chakra around her form for defence.
Shikamaru's eyes widened. A mind barrier? That meant she could...
"Yes, Shika. That means I can now attack you without having to hurt myself! Isn't that nice?"
Outside, the 'real' Ino directed her hands to her target: Nara the Lazy-bum Shikamaru before she did a couple of seals.
"Buro Seishin no Jutsu (1)!" She shouted, sending a huge blow of mind energy to her opponent, which in this case was poor, poor Shikamaru.
He almost cried out in pain, mentally and physically.
Ino couldn't help but flinch a bit as she saw her friend grimacing, but she shook her head forcefully. This was a spar! He wouldn't go easy on her either! That would certainly be a huge blow to the ego.
"And..? Hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?"
He just growled in response. It was too troublesome to answer anyway.
"Well, it should hurt. With that amount of chakra I put in it; it effects the mind as well as the body. If the mind really goes through a lot of stress and pain it reflects it on the body itself. But I think that you already know this, if you didn't.. wel let's say that you learned it the hard way."
"Y-you have 2 minutes left, what are you going to do next.. Ino?"
She bit her lip dramatically as if she were really hard in thought.
"Hmm.. We have an easy and a hard way: You could just... like forfeit or I could go on with sending you another one of my Buro Seishin and then another one over and over again, with even much more chakra, till you forfeit! So... what's it gonna be? But before you make your choice.. I'm not going easy on you, Shikamaru. I have practised a LOT with this technique and all I need is less than 1 minute to make someone go crazy. Please choose wisely."
The shadow-user chuckled.
"I've gotta admit, Ino, you've improved a lot since the last time we fought. Heck, if you had sparred with someone else, you might have won. But you know what; it's a pity you're fighting against me, and I'll never let a woman surpass a man in a fight. Hell. No."
Her jaw fell in pure shock and anger and her eyes narrowed.
How dare he... that.. that.. UGHH!
She took a deep breath to control herself and smiled over-sweetly, too sweet.
"Well.. Shika-chan, why don't we play a little to find out who will surpass the other?"
He smirked in response. "That's alright with me, in fact I was about to suggest it myself."
Ino had planned everything out perfectly, but she had all but one flaw in her strategy...
... Nara Shikamaru was a genius. He could be called a prodigy when considered mentally.
That was where he found his strength most of the times. And that was exactly the place where he found his strength and victory this time.
Shikamaru did the ultimate attack he could perform: he thought.
Suddenly Ino grimaced as a huge wave of thoughts entered her mind, catching her off guard.
Images, numbers, co-ordinations, memories.
So much, so big, so overwhelming...!
She tried hard to maintain her focus again but failed miserably as she saw another disturbing image that almost made her fall over.
It was Shikamaru himself in the shower... doing stuff... and he WASN'T alone...!
"W-what the fuck!" She stuttered her cheeks flaming up.
That lazy-bum with the Sabaku no bitch... Temari??
OhmygodohmygodOhmygodohmygodOhmygodohmygodOhmygodohmygod
Okay, she'd known that they 'interacted' a lot, but she'd never thought that they'd actually become this intimate.
Fuck! She didn't even now that he wasn't a virgin anymore! Who could have possibly thought that he'd get laid before she would?
"Damn it! Shikamaru y-you're playing dirty, y-you bastard!" She screamed falling down to her knees as she tried to force the thoughts, crashing down onto her ,away.
Finally having maintained the most of his control, he grinned innocently.
"Now, now.. Ino, I thought you were the one always saying all was fair in love and war."
She scowled. "That's just cheating!"
He laughed as her face turned even redder as he sent another particular encounter with Temari into her mind. Their position was a bit 'unusual' to say at it least.
"Dammit! Shikamaru! Stop sending me those damn images! I'M STILL A VIRGIN!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.
Shikamaru just looked smugly in return as he repeated her former speech.
" Hmm.. We have an easy and a hard way: You could just... like forfeit or I could go on sending you another one of my lovely encounters with Temari. So... what's it gonna be? But before you make your choice.. I'm not going easy on you, Ino. I have practised a LOT with lots of original positions and all I need is less than 1 minute to make you go crazy. Please choose wisely." He mimicked her.
Ino forced her head up and looked him in in the eyes before she answered.
"That's just low..."
He shrugged his shoulders in return.
"You have one minute left..."
"Arghh! Fuck it! Whatever!" She cursed out loud, as she fully returned to her own body.
She was exactly one second to late to perform another attack as his shadow caught hers.
"Bastard!" Was all that she could manage to say, before he finally controlled her.
"So, Ino.. how does it feel to be on the other side for a change?" He said smirking as he took a step towards him, forcing her to take a step as well.
"Like I said, you've improved a lot, I'm actually very proud of you. But you made one mistake, you attacked me mentally, while you knew that my mind is my greatest weapon."
They were standing face to face now.
"But I gotta admit, this was the best spar I had in a while in which I was close to losing. Anyways, any last words?"
She pouted. "What you did was just plain mean!" She shuddered mentally at the previous received images of her friend doing not-so-innocent things.
I think he may have scarred me for life. There's absolutely NO way I'll be able to look at them normally after this.
"Anyways, exactly how are you going to 'finish me off'. I think you already noticed that there isn't a wall behind my head, so you can't win this fight with just bending a bit." She challenged him.
He raised his eyebrows and after a few seconds another Shikamaru appeared out of the bushes.
"What the..-" Her eyes widened.
"Kage Bunshin?"
He nodded indifferently.
Her eyes narrowed. "But when?"
"The moment you pulled out those kunai after hitting me with your Buro Seishin. I didn't know what to expect, so I made a Kage Bunshin and replaced it with a pebble in the bushes when you looked away. You were too busy preparing for your other attack and thought the Buro Seishin had fully immobilised me. But even though it did hurt, I was still able to preform jutsus, I didn't move, though, because I was curious to find out your abilities."
She huffed. Even after all these years he always thought a step further than her. It kinda pissed her off.
"You still played dirty!" She backfired, giving in to the urge of sticking her tung out.
"Whatever." He shrugged as his Kage Bunshin pulled a kunai out and held it to her throat.
"I win."
She sighed defeated.
But the moment he released his Kage Mane she called out for him:
"Ooooooh.. Shikaaaaaaaa... " Her hands grabbed his arm forcefully and she pulled him towards her..
-... just to harshly kick his shin.
"And that, my dear pine-apple head, is for scarring me for life!" She finished as he groaned in pain.
"Troublesome woman.." He muttered annoyed.
To say that Ino was a bit tired, was a huge understatement.
The fight had drained a lot of her chakra as well as it had drained her mentally.
Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Don't even try to go there.. you stupid head!
She couldn't help but to blush as her mind did go THERE.
Anyway, she was glad to have been able to survive the day in one piece, 'cause for a moment she'd really thought that Tsunade was gonna kill her fine ass because she'd lost.
But it'd been a nice surprise when the Godaime had actually praised her skills, although it'd been an anti-climax when her praising followed with a stern: "That doesn't mean I'm not gonna make you work like hell for 24-7, girl! You've caused me to lose a lot of money and I'm gonna make sure that you earn me mine every last yen back, understood?"
Even Neji had told her it was a nice spar! The Hyuuga Neji complimented HER...?
"But why did you imitate the Jyuuken?" He wondered.
She just shrugged. "Wanted to catch him off guard, so I bluffed."
"So that's the reason?"
She chuckled naughtily. "Well that and partly because it always looks so damn cool when you do it and I've always wanted to do it myself one day."
"..."
She smiled as she thought of the look on his face. It was just so adorable. She almost gave in to the urge of pinching his cheeks.
Ahh.. finally! She could see her appartement from here. She was almost home!
She knew she'd deserved a wonderful, hot, long bath after that fight. And not only because of the fight, but also because she'd been forced by that lazy-bum and her shoushou to come to the interrogation-centre for further explanation of what she'd seen in the mind of that sound-nin.
It had been one long, unpleasant chat, at it least.
She really didn't want to remember anything about the Uchiha, and if it were for her , she'd turn back time to erase the image of his dead body, which was now burned in her mind forever.
Just great, she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight again.
She finally reached her appartement, only to find someone lying face down on the lawn.
Maybe one of the neighbours got boozed after drinking one glass too much...?
"Hey!" She called out as she walked closer. Her eyes widened as a smell of blood hit her.
Maybe he or she is hurt! Gotta be fast!
She got on her knees and softly shook the person's shoulder.
No response, but she could feel him, her shift a bit.
She slowly turned the person around: He or she was covered in blood!
She still couldn't see his or her face, though, and decided to slowly remove the battered material.
Silence..
The cloak fell out of her hand the moment she saw his face.
Silky, black, long hair with blood adorning them.
Pale skin, high cheekbones, small torn lips.
And worn out eyes finally opening... revealing onyx black locking with her blue, shocked, teary ones.
"N-No.." She whispered. No,no,no,no,no,no,NO,NO,NOOO!
"Aa... L-long time no see.. Ino." He choked out some more blood before he finally lost his concious.
The person in her arms...
..Uchiha Sasuke..
!TO BE CONTINUED!
(1)Buro Seishin no Jutsu: Somethin' I made up ;)) It literally means Mind Blow Skill
(2)Bu-Shintenshin no Jutsu: Once again somethin' I made up x).. Means: Part -Mind Body Switch Skill.
(3)Baria-Seishin no Jutsu: Yeah, yeah.. I made this one up friggin' AGAIN, savvy?Means: Barrier Mind Skill
A/N: Pffft... finally... DONE... ! I really did my best with the 'fightin' stuff, but I'll let you guys be the judge of it's content. To me it looked .. alright.. if I closed my eyes and imagined it... but in words.. I seriously dunno X
Anywayz, ya know it's funny, this is like maybe the first time I'm so eager to write and update a fic regularly, but like no one really 'likes' this story.. xX'
Heh.. I dunno 'bout you guys, but I'm VERY stubborn and I'll continue anywayz even if one person is readin' it. (probably myself ')
Thanx for botherin' to read and please lemme know what cha think!
MisSs005