Summary: All those years ago, six-year-old Ino and Shikamaru made a contract together. Ten years later, when the contract is broken, how will Ino react? And how will Shikamaru? ShikaIno

Broken Contract

It must have been hours, and most likely was. Simply running, running, running, running. She had no one to talk to. No one was talking. They all stared ahead, with a serious look on their faces. A stern, somewhat dreadful look in their eyes. She was pale. She had been on serious missions of course. She was a chuunin, and was not unframiliar to death. But this was way over her head. Normally, if she was scared, she would have her friends along side her. Most likely Chouji and Shikamaru, or Asuma. But now, she was all alone, and that thought alone made her feel queasy.

One part that made her so uneasy was that she was clearly unfit for this mission. She was under these people in rank, and probably the weakest there. Ino was no pushover, but these men... were so powerful they seemed scary.

Some men stopped ahead of her, causing her to stop as well. Were they here? Already? The scroll said a day and a half of traveling. People started dropping through the branches, and Ino couldn't help the dumblfounded look on her face.

"It's lunchtime!" chirped a creepily framiliar voice. Ino, being tense at the time, gave a small shreik and twisted around. Seth gave a wave a small grin on his face. "Do you want to eat with me? I know you probably don't know anyone else on this team, and they're not exactly the most friednly." He added spitefully.

Ino had to calm her rapidly beating heart, and nodded. The two dropped through the trees, to a spot where a fire was already lit. Two men, a very tall man and a rather short one sat. The taller of the men, had dark hair and a rather square face, where as the little one, had bright blonde hair and looked like, a child.

Ino blinked. Were children allowed on this mission? He looked no older then ten.

"Ino, this is Hyre," Seth said, signalling to the larger man, "and of course Mikustu." The blonde haired boy gave a wave. "They're good friends of mine. Boys, this is Yamanaka Ino."

Ino looked between Mikustu, who was already getting ready to eat, and Seth. "Um..." She said, unsure how to phrase this.

Seth blinked. "Something wrong?"

"Are children allowed on this mission?" She asked, rather quietly. This comment, of course, caused Seth to burst out laughing.

Unfourtunatly for everyone in the area, Mikustu had overheard her comment. "Who are you calling short!" He demanded, instantly angered. "I'll beat you to a bloody pulp I will! I'll show you who's short you flat-chested barbaric excuse for a woman!" He snapped. Hyre, held him back, feeling slightly embaressed to call someone this short tempered a friend.

"Flat-chested?" Ino growled, as she flipped around to face him. "You're nothing but a tiny insignificent bean sprout!"

"Boar!"

"Runt!"

"You're the most pathetic excuse for a woman I have ever seen!"

"Oh what was that? You're so small I couldn't see you over the edge of my boot!"

"I am not small!" Finally, it semed as though Mikustu had calmed down. So Hyre let the jounin down. Big mistake. "I am verticly challenged!" He snapped.

Ino burst out laughing. "Verticly challenged means small! You're pretty stupid too!"

"Say that to my face you ugly boar-woman!"

Seth, laughing so hard that it seemed his sides would burst, wipped a small tear from his eye. "Okay you two, cool it." He said, able to catch his breath again. "You're going to alert everyone in the area that we're here. Miku-chan, for once, shut up and eat, and Ino-chan please refreain from using the 'S' word."

"I'll show you who'll shut up you fat, lazy, poor excuse for a jounin!" Mikustu snapped, rolling up his sleeves. Now that he was riealed up, it seemed nothing would calm him down.

Seth's eyes snapped open, he set a deathly glare over at the short jounin. "What was that?" He asked in a low, threatening tone.

And so, it began again.

"Fat!"

"Short!"

Ino sighed, taking a seat on an old fallen log, and watched the two jounin exchange insults. Hyre handed her a bowl of soup, sitting down next to her.

"Sorry if Miku-kun upset you." He said, as he started draining his own lunch. "He's like that sometimes."

Ino turned her sky blue eyes over to Miku and Seth. Seth picked up a rather large boulder, and Miku was gnawing on Seth's leg. "They're good friends, aren't they?" She asked, rather quiet.

"Yes," Hyre said. "We all are. Right back to gennin days."

"You three were a team?" Ino asked, diverting her attention to the other man next to her.

He simply nodded.

"You seem like you have a strong bond between you..." she said trailing off. "I hope you all come out safely."

Hyre nodded. "I know we will. We all will."

---

They were moving again. They had been for hours. They were drawing closer and closer to the target, Ino could feel it in her bones. Every step, every clunk on the branch, meant coming closer to her doom. A drop landed on her head, and she wondered what it was, before three more came with it. Before she knew it, it was raining, and quite heavily.

"Perfect."

She growled. She really didn't like the rain. She hated it. Just plain old fasion hated it. It was so cleche, not to meantion depressing, and to top it off you get soaked. Ino hated getting soaked. Although, it seemed this time it had meaning. Like that depressing ending to a sad story. It was a bad omen, and she knew it.

It started out with a cry, and then a spray of blood not far off. She flipped around, and with a battle cry, the battle began.

Weapons were flying everywhere. Justu after justu. People were dying all around her. The fear was firmly in place. She had not been spotted yet. It didnt occur to her they were still another day of traveling away from the interceting point. It didn't occur to her that people around her were dying. It didn't occur to her that she should be doing something. Her legs felt like jelly. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak. All she was, was afraid. She was terrified, and her mind was blank. She tried to think of something to do, but all she could think of doing was sitting there on the tree branch and screaming her lungs out.

A man dropped in front of her, with a kunai in hand and a sound headband slung lazily across his forehead. He grinned at her visciously, before he slumped to the ground. Dead. She looked up horrified as Mikustu landed in front of her. "Are you okay?" He asked. "Common, you have to move."

She nodded and got to her feet, pulling out a kunai. She could do this, it wasn't that hard. Her legs were jelly. She still couldn't move. The entire area was a blur.

"Move!" Mikustu suddenly yelled, shoving her out of the way. She plumeted through the branches, getting scratched and cut before she finally landed painfully on a branch. She looked up, fearful, as the branch she was on momentarily exploded.

"Miku.." she breathed, as she watched his body fall through the branches. He was clearly unconscious. "Mikustu!" She screetched, getting to her feet and running after him. She managed to catch him, before he hit the ground, landing soundlessly on a branch. Thankfully, he was light, due to his small size.

She turned to him, her eyes wide and fearful, he was unconscious, and burned pretty badly. "Mikustu! Are you okay! Answer me you little runt!" She yelled.

The jounin groaned. "Don't...call.. me short..." Ino visably relaxed, as she set him gently down on the branch.

"You rest here Miku, I'm going to fight." She said, her fear replaced with anger. She felt a pressance behind her, and flipped around, coming face to face with a man covered in forehead protectors. He had some from leaf, stone, sand, even some from sound. He grinned sickly, and with a quick slice, Ino's headband fell from her head and landed in his hand.

"Another to add to my collection, wouldn't you say deary?" He asked in a manic type of voice, before a kunai was rammed into her shoulder. She blinked at the pain, and looked down. The kunai had a bomb seal in it! She tried to rip it from her shoulder, but it seemed too deep. She was really going to die here! All her regrets came flooding back to her. How stupid she'd been.

The manic's laughter started to fill her ears, as the seal started to glow.

"Shikamaru..."

And then everything went black.

---

Nara Shikamaru opened the door to his house, slamming it closed behind him. The dreaded sounds of Temari and her training left his ears and he panted slightly. That girl gave him a killer headache. What he ever saw in her was beyond him. Unknown to the the dark haired Nara boy, the small letter in the crack of the door that had been placed there by a framiliar blonde drifted soundlesly to the ground. A small gust of wind kicked up, and the letter floated along the pourch then up into the sky.

Unfourtunatly, the teenager new nothing of Ino's decission and her letter, and so instead, started running down the street, trying to get away from his insane girlfriend. His heart pounded in his ears, his legs not used to the tourment. They had been given a two week vacation and didn't like the idea of cutting it short.

The boy rounded a corner, kicking up dirt with him, as he started heading down the new street. He ducted into an alley and breathed, sinking down to the ground below. He felt like he had to do something. It seemed as though something was lingering in the back of his mind. What day was it today? Saturday.. what did he have to do on Saturday?

As if someone had kicked him in the teeth, he bolted to his feet. "Ino!" He cried. "Man.. she's gonna be mad..." He quickly checked his watch. Five o'clock. Damnit. He was going to hear about this tomorrow.

"Nara Shikamaru!" a strong, framiliar voice barked. Instantly, he tensed.

"I can explain!" He said on reflex, not entirely sure who was standing behind him, but not sure he wanted to look.

"Boy, you look like someone has you on a short lesh." When the boy realized the voice didn't belong to Temari or Ino, he turned around to see the pink-haired girl, standing behind him giving him an odd look.

He placed on a scowl, realizing he had just embaressed himself in front of Sakura. "What do you want?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"Tsuande-sama wants to see you." She said with a shrug. "I'm not sure what it's about, but she said it was urgent and that you had to get there as soon as you could."

Unsure of what the old woman wanted, Shikamaru placed his hands in his pockets and stepped around Sakura, heading towards the Hokage's office. Did she mean to cut his vacation short? He had another day or so left. He wouldn't put it against her. Or perhaps she was giving him notice to a mission that started after his vacation. Shikamaru sighed, it was just like her to throw him back into work.

Finally, he came to stand in front of the Hokage's office. He glanced up at it with a grimmace. Now he wasn't sure he wanted to go inside. He stepped in a puddle, completely soaking his right leg. It had rained earlier, and the evedince was everywhere.

He knocked on her door, and when the muffled reply came, he stepped inside. The Hokage was seated on the edge of her desk, facing a man with deep black hair. He was soacked to the core, and looked as though he had come back from a mision.

"Unlucky bastard must be getting a mission right when he gets back from one," Shikamaru inwardly sighed. "Tsuande-sama." He said. "You called for me?"

The woman sighed. "Shikamaru, take a seat."

"It's not nessacary." The boy replied. "Just give me the mission scroll and I'll go."

Tsuande looked at the dark haired man and sighed. "Shikamaru. You know that recently Ino went on a mission?" She asked.

This caused Shikamaru's brows to furr together in confusion. "What kind of mission?" He asked, unsure of where the Hokage was going with this.

"This is Seth," Tsunade said. "He was the leader of the mission, so therefore, it is his right to tell you about it. Not mine."

Shikamaru crossed his arms, and turned his annoyed look to Seth, who sighed. "Yamanaka Ino was assigned to Mission # 164-9 Intercept a Sound attack Rank A," he paused, diverting his eyes momentarily. "She... died on the mission."

Shiamaru lost his footing, and stumbled backwards, his eyes wide. "No." He said. "Ino would've told me if she was going to go on such a mission."

"She didn't even tell her parents." Tsuande cut in.

"I'm sorry," Seth said.

Shikamaru scoffed. "You've clearly got something wrong...she couldn't have..." It just didn't sound right. Ino couldn't be dead! It wasn't true! It felt as though someone had shoved a kunai in his heart, twisted it, ripped it out, then shoved it back in.

Seth held out a headband, and Shikamaru accepted it with a shacky hand. "This was found in the possesion of her killer." He said softly. Shikamaru looked over the headband. It had a bloodstain on it, and looked pretty scratched up. He flipped it over in his finger, and in the corner, were the words. "Yamanaka Ino" stitched into the fabric.

"I'm sorry," Seth said again. "But she is, without a doubt, dead."

A/N: Now I feel evil. Don't you just hate me? I'll assure you that this is going to keep going. This is not the last chapter. I'm not sure how many more I'll have. Let's say a few. Well, I want to thank eveyone who reviewed, and of course my beta reader.