Sorry for taking months to update. I'm a pretty slow writer when I'm not feeling motivated. But thanks to your guys' encouragement I'm determined to finish this story by the end of this month!
Enjoy!
"I'm home."
No answer.
"Guess everyone left." Since she had to leave in a few hours Shikamaru had decided to head home and get ready. She'd be able to concentrate better since no one was home.
She headed upstairs to her room. She grabbed a duffel bag laying in the corner to put her stuff in. They were going to be there for a few days, so she might as well pack a few things.
Shikamaru had always had pretty bad luck, but this took the cake. Why her of all people? And why with Ino of all people? How was she supposed to act? What was she even supposed to wear? A dress?
"What a pain in the ass," she mumbled. She had never been in a relationship before nor been interested in any guys so she never had to worry about trivial things like this before.
She threw open her closet and examined the contents. It was filled mostly with vests, black shirts and sweaters, and baggy pants. She'd always been a huge tomboy. The last time she wore a dress was when her mom forced her to when they attended her friend's wedding, and that was 10 years ago.
She grabbed a few shirts and pants and threw them into the bag. She was getting ready to close the closet when out of the corner of her eye, she spotted it. A medium length pale green dress her mom had bought her a few years back because she didn't have any "feminine clothing." Of course she'd never worn it. She'd never had an occasion to wear it, but maybe… this would be a good occasion?
After contemplating it for a few minutes she finally grabbed it off the hanger and threw it into the bag too. She probably wouldn't wear it anyway but it wouldn't hurt. Right?
A few hours later she had everything packed and ready to go. For her outfit she finally settled on a simple black t-shirt and a pair of one of her nicer pants. She'd never dressed up for a guy before and she sure as hell wasn't going to for Ino.
She was just getting ready to leave when the door suddenly opened. Yoshino had come back home, groceries in her hands. Her eyes landed on Shikamaru's bag, "Where are you going?"
"I was assigned on a mission by Tsuande-sama."
"With who?"
"Ino."
"Just Ino?" Yoshino questioned.
"Yeah."
"Oh really? Well don't get into any trouble."
Shikamaru raised her eyebrows, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well you know Ino's a pretty good looking young man, and when a guy and girl are alone together, they might have certain urges-"
"Okay I'm leaving now!" Before her mom could finish Shikamaru practically bolted out of the door and slammed it shut. She couldn't believe her mom would even bring up something like that. Something like that would never have popped into her mind in a million years, especially not about Ino.
Why were people so troublesome?
Shikamaru sighed. Okay, she just needed to complete this mission and it would all be over with. And the sooner she started, the sooner it would be over.
As she began her trip to the front gates, she took a deep breath, "Here goes nothing."
...
As she approached the main gate she saw a figure standing there. As she got closer she could now clearly make out the slender, tall frame and long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. She was surprised to see Ino there before her, he was usually the last one to show up whenever they had missions.
His back was facing her so he didn't see her coming.
"You ready?"
He turned around, startled then narrowed his eyes when he saw it was her. He looked her up and down judgingly. "You couldn't find anything nicer to wear than that?"
"You're one to talk you're just wearing your everyday clothes," Shikamaru retorted.
Ino crossed his arms, "Yeah well guys don't have to look nice, but girls do, not that you'd know anything about that."
Shikamaru rolled her eyes. "Let's just go please."
...
About two hours later they were still heading to the village. They had been traveling by jumping through the trees at first, but as they neared the village they had to walk like normal civilians so anyone who saw them wouldn't get suspicious and mistake them for shinobi.
Ino had been surprisingly quiet so far. Usually when they were out on missions he would be talking and complaining non-stop. He was probably still giving her the silent treatment. Shikamaru hated to admit it, but it was weird not having Ino's constant chatter. Instead a tense, uncomfortable silence filled the air.
"Looks like the village up ahead." Shikamaru had become so accustomed to the quiet, she jumped a little when Ino finally spoke.
Sure enough, before them stood a huge pair of red wooden gates surrounded by tall brick walls. Outside of the gate stood a lady, relatively young, dressed in a traditional kimono. She was probably the village greeter. She smiled widely as they approached.
"Remember Ino stick to character." Shikamaru whispered.
"Follow your own advice." Ino sneered.
Before Shikamaru could reply the lady called out to them. "Hello, I'm Mai and welcome to Naegi Village, the village where romance blossoms! What brings you two here today?"
Shikamaru and Ino exchanged a quick glance.
Ino cleared his throat. "Me and my er, girlfriend decided it would be nice to take a relaxing trip. You know, get away from the boring everyday village life back home." He flashed her a flirtatious grin.
Mai giggled and smiled back, "How nice, how long have you two been together?"
Shikamaru groaned internally, 'Geez what's with all the questions lady?'
"Oh, well you know, we've been together for a few months now. Isn't that right... babe?" Ino made a nauseated face, apparently also disgusted with himself for using such a word.
Shikamaru cringed, what the hell is he doing? "Yeah that's about right." She faked a smile.
The lady inspected them suspiciously. "Oh, really?"
Ino awkwardly put his arm around Shikamaru's shoulder. She could feel the tenseness in his body. "Hahaha yeah that's us a nice happy, couple. Couldn't be happier! If you ask anyone in our village who the happiest couple is all fingers would point to us! That's how happy we are! We're the envy of all our friends cause we're so happy! Hahaha!"
Shikamaru kicked him in the leg to end his rambling, earning a look of death from Ino. "Sorry about my boyfriend here, we've had a long journey I think he needs to lay down and rest."
Mai looked them over skeptically. She didn't look quite convinced, but after a few seconds she smiled and pushed open the gate for them. "Well enjoy your stay! Feel free to try out our complimentary bath houses, spas and renowned restaurants."
"Thanks so much," Shikamaru gave another fake smile as they made their way through the entrance. As soon as the gate shut and they were out of view Ino quickly took his arm off of Shikamaru's shoulder. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?"
Shikamaru brought her hand to her face in exasperation*,"Shut up, people are staring."
Sure enough several people had stopped what they were doing and were now staring at the eccentric couple.
"Well then maybe you shouldn't kick people!" Ino yelled.
"Ino!" she growled
"Fine," he huffed. He crossed his arms like a little kid who had just been scolded. "Let's just get back to business."
Shikamaru was a little taken aback that he gave in so easily. Usually he'd go on for several minutes. Could it be that Ino had somewhat matured? She shook the thought from her head. Like that would ever happen.
Now that they were no longer being stared at Shikamaru took the opportunity to look around the village, and take in her surroundings. It was pretty lively for such a small village. Various shops and food stands lined the streets. And there were couples everywhere. Holding hands as they walked down the streets, enjoying dango and riceballs at the small shops. An average person would never guess that the village housed notorious shinobi and spies who stole information from other villages.
"Don't even think of holding my hand!" Ino snapped at her.
Shikamaru glared at him. Yeah, he definitely hadn't matured. "Believe me that's the furthest thing from my mind. Just keep your eyes open for any suspicious activity."
After walking through the village for a little while and trying to appear as unsuspicious as possible to recover form the earlier outburst, Shikamaru turned to Ino and lowered her voice. "Okay here's what we're going to do. The best thing to do is to split up, we can cover more ground that way. Try and ask questions but don't make it too obvious that you're looking for something. Look for anything or anyone out of place. If anyone asks if you came with someone say yes but that we wanted to check out different parts of town."
She pointed at a nearby Ramen shop that had a line of people waiting to get in. "At exactly 11pm let's meet back at this Ramen place and then from there we'll go to the hotel together like a normal couple. Understood?"
"Why do you get to give the directions? I don't recall Tsunade putting you in charge!" Ino protested.
She was too tired to retaliate so she simply looked fixedly into his eyes daring him to say something else. He stared back with equal determination. Finally he looked away and scoffed. "Whatever as long as you're paying for my Ramen." He turned his back and began walking in the opposite direction.
Shikamaru sighed. She wanted this mission to end as soon as possible.
*aka facepalm :P
Wow I really need to finish this story already, it's been 4 years! Hopefully I'll have it finished real soon, like by the end of this month.
Anyway what do you guys think? Should I make this smutty or should I just keep it T rated? Any suggestions? Let me know.
