"You got a what?"

It was a bright and surprisingly fair autumn afternoon in Konoha, the kind that found most of its residence out shopping in the markets or simply walking its many paths, taking in the fresh air. On that particular day, it also found two kunoichi in the sitting room of one Ino Yamanaka.

Ino scooped up the subject of interest, waving one of its sooty paws in a farcical hello. "A cat! Isn't he just lovely?"

Sakura Haruno stared dubiously at the bedraggled animal in her best friend's arms. He was a scrawny thing, little more than skin and bones. His black fur was scraggly in some places and smooth in others, as though his previous owner had given little attention to his hygiene, and though he appeared to be faring better under Ino's care, he still looked decidedly scruffy. Perhaps his only redeeming quality was his eyes – the green orbs gleamed out of a thin face, shrewd and intelligent.

After a moment of prolonged eye contact, the feline leaned forward and sniffed Sakura's hand, before yowling contemptuously and struggling to free himself from Ino's grip. The blonde released him into the living room, where he promptly disappeared behind a sofa, likely to hide for the rest of Sakura's visit.

Ino shrugged, chuckling slightly with embarrassment, and it occurred to Sakura that this was not the first time such a thing had happened.

"Don't worry about him," Ino reassured – more for her own sake, it seemed, than Sakura's. "He's just a bit shy. He'll come around. He's really very… affectionate, when he cares to be!"

"I'm sure he is, Ino…" Sakura sipped at her tea, unable to produce any reaction other than quiet acceptance. That was not to say that she didn't have other things to say – on the contrary, her initial reaction to the news had been a mixture of incredulity and skepticism. She had plenty of questions regarding the sudden appearance of this animal. Where, in fact, had he come from? How did Ino plan to keep him while she was gone on missions?

And, what, of all things, had ever possessed Ino to decide she wanted a cat?

"I know what you're thinking, and this isn't some crazy decision that I made without thinking," Ino pursed her lips and frowned at Sakura over her mug. Sakura found herself slightly cowed; Ino's ability to see right through a person's thoughts was uncanny.

This afternoon, it seemed to be particularly acute.

"I got the cat because I wanted it. He needed a good home, and I'm well equipped to give him one!"

"Hmm." Sakura nodded slowly, still not entirely convinced. But if Ino had made her mind up, Sakura was not going to be the one to tell her otherwise. Taking a deep swig of her tea, she settled in for what was sure to be an interesting afternoon.


The house was quiet after Sakura left, though even Ino realized that it was not Sakura herself that had been the source of the noise – rather, her presence had facilitated Ino's need to fill the empty space with something other than her own thoughts. More and more recently, Ino could feel her friend growing tired of her endless rants. It was always the same things over and over – Ino's missions were all long and boring, business in the flower shop was down, her last date had been a total flop. Meanwhile, Sakura was working her way up in the hospital administration. She spent two days a week in private training with Tsunade, learning some of the most complex techniques in the Godaime's rather extensive repertoire. It wasn't surprising that she would get tired of hearing about Ino's day-to-day trials, but Ino had to give her credit: she always listened.

Don't let Sakura beat you… in ninjutsu, or romance.

Ino snorted softly at the recollection. And hadn't that worked out well? She wondered how disappointed Asuma-sensei would be if he saw her now.

Sensing Sakura's departure, the cat made his reappearance, poking an angular head out from beneath the sofa. Ino coaxed him out, stroking his fur absentmindedly. He purred and circled her ankles, then slunk off to some other corner of the house, likely to find a warm place to sleep.

He was a sweet little animal, Ino decided. It was just a shame he wasn't friendlier. Perhaps Sakura didn't quite understand why a busy kunoichi would take on the responsibility of a pet, but to Ino, it was obvious. It was nice, having someone to care for, someone who only purred and occasionally meowed, and didn't nag at you about how you were too skinny and whether you were ever going to settle down and whether you'd seen so-and-so's boy recently, and wasn't he just so well-raised?

Ino gritted her teeth. She could practically hear her mother's voice echoing in her head, a thousand reproaches with rarely a compliment to be found. It was as though, since her husband's death, a switch had been flipped in the woman's mind, leaving her with only criticism, mostly for her daughter's hazardous lifestyle. It was not as though Ino could blame her: she'd given it a lot of thought herself. Was it worth it to continue such a life, when there was only one place that it led?

But she couldn't live any other way, and that was that.

Ino stretched out on her couch, folding her arms behind her head in a posture that greatly recalled a certain teammate of hers. Closing her eyes against the fading autumn light, she let herself relax – for this evening, at least, she had no obligations.

It seemed like only moments later when the knock sounded at her door. It startled her awake, almost causing her to careen off the side of the couch. Fortunately, she recovered herself quickly enough to catch herself and scrambled to the door, running a hand through her hair as she went. She had no doubt that it looked like a bird's nest at this point.

Not bothering to check through the peephole – much though her mother scolded her to always be cautious, especially living on her own – she threw open the door, ready to ream out the unfortunate individual who had interrupted her well-deserved nap.

"Hey, Ino…"

Shikamaru held up a lazy hand, but his greeting trailed off, and his eyes narrowed. Ino knew that look – it was the one he got when someone pointed out a flaw in one of his exquisitely crafted plans, and it never meant anything good. It made Ino uncomfortable. She glared back at him.

"What is that look for, baka?"

Shikamaru considered her for a moment more. He shook his head.

"Nothing. You ready?"

It was Ino's turn to be confused.

"Ready for what?"

"Troublesome…" he mumbled. "Let me guess… you forgot."

"Forgot…" Ino slumped against the sill, wracking her brain. It wasn't like her to forget important things. She knew it wasn't a mission – that she certainly would have remembered. Choji's birthday? No, that was in May. And it certainly wasn't Shikamaru's – the proximity of his birthday to her own made it difficult to forget. So, then, today…

Slowly, the realization dawned on her.

"Today's…"

"…October eighteenth?" Shikamaru finished for her. "So you did forget."

"Oh, Kami…" Ino let it sink in, mentally berating herself. How could she possibly have let that slip her mind? "Shoot. Just give me five minutes."

Leaving Shikamaru standing outside the open door, she dashed back to her room. The wardrobe was already open, and she set upon it with a feverish zeal, throwing clothes behind her in a flurry of motion. It took a few moments to locate the outfit she was looking for – it was one she kept in the back of her closet, to be worn only once a year. The dress was black and conservatively cut: a show of reverence.

She threw it on as quickly as possible, doing her best not to put more wrinkles in the fabric, which was already slightly mussed. As she fiddled with the clasp and smoothed it down, she noticed that it didn't cling in places where it once had. She frowned as she looked in the mirror, picking at puckers in the fabric. Perhaps her mother hadn't been so far off in her criticisms about her weight loss after all.

She dashed on a light layer of makeup and ran a brush through her hair, but didn't bother to pull it up. A simple black headband would suffice. It made her look younger, a strange irony on a day that always made her feel so old.

Satisfied that she was sufficiently ready – or at least as ready as she could be on short notice – she returned to the living room.

Shikamaru, not given an invitation to enter, had done so anyway. Ino found him sitting on the couch. He had a look of slight consternation as he stared down at the feline that appeared to have attached itself to him.

Ino wasn't sure she'd ever heard the cat purr so loudly. It was curled into a perfect circle on his lap, its eyes closed, the very image of relaxation.

Ino stared at her pet, then back up at Shikamaru, who was still fixated on the cat.

"What did you do?"

Seemingly for the first time, Shikamaru noticed her, and he frowned, shrugging lazily.

"Hell if I know. I just sat down, and it…" he waved a hand at it in a gesture of defeat, shaking his head. "Well, are you ready now?"

"I guess…" In her surprise, Ino had almost forgotten for the second time why he was even here.

Shikamaru stood, and the cat made no protest, just jumped lightly from its perch on his knees to the floor, stretching languidly. It bumped its head once against his leg, and then scampered off again.


Unsurprisingly, Choji finished off the last of the barbecue. Ino didn't much of an appetite to begin with, and Shikamaru just picked at his food. Even Choji ate less than usual, only finishing two helpings before he decided to call it quits.

The owner herself brought out their check. They split the bill, and Ino pretended not to notice the way the woman teared up when they handed her the money. It wasn't said, but even after all this time, it still felt strange not to put it on the tab.

After that, Ino insisted they stop by the flower shop. She made them stand outside as she searched the dark back room, feeling increasingly guilty as she realized that her forgetfulness meant that she hadn't prepared anything ahead of time. Various orders were scattered about the room, waiting to be filled. Ino reviewed them before she selected anything – if she took some of the inventory needed to fill the orders, she would never hear the end of it from her mother.

Eventually, she found an arrangement that satisfied her and returned to her teammates, trying not to meet their gazes. She wasn't sure if Choji knew about her memory lapse, but she could feel Shikamaru's dark-eyed gaze boring into her. Whether it held concern or accusation, she couldn't be sure. With him, it was impossible to be sure of anything.

The graveyard was almost deserted – only a few other mourners made their way through the rows of headstones, silent in their grief. Shikamaru, Choji and Ino filed through in a single line. Ino could have walked the path with her eyes closed, but she kept them open, marking the graves as she went. Recently, more of the stones held familiar names.

It was not merely the chill of the autumn night that made her shudder.

When they came to the grave, they knelt before it, heads bowed. Choji set out the box they'd taken from the restaurant; Ino laid the flowers across the headstone; Shikamaru pulled out a lighter and a cigarette – soon enough, the acrid stench of smoke burned their nostrils. Even Shikamaru coughed, and it made Ino slightly glad – at least that meant he wasn't used to it anymore.

In the stillness of the night, Ino offered a silent apology. She imagined it as though she were actually speaking to him – she was timid at first, ashamed for having forgotten his birthday, for getting so caught up in her own worries that she had neglected the traditions of their team, but then, she imagined him zoning out as he always did when she ranted, and she could see herself yelling at him for not listening. The image brought a smile to her face.

But she sobered again as she imagined how the rest of the conversation would go. Eventually, he would fix her with a probing gaze, and she would cave, spilling out her true fear. That if she forgot this time, who was to say that it wouldn't get worse with time? That she'd forget not only his birthday, but Shikamaru's and Choji's as well, that she would drift away from them.

Reflexively, her hands shot out and found those of her teammates' – Choji's, large and warm, and Shikamaru's, bony and scarred. Both of them clasped her hands tightly, a rare gesture of affection.

"Rest well, Asuma-sensei. Thank you for all you taught us."


Choji had to excuse himself earlier than usual – he had a clan meeting to attend, and though he wanted to stay and catch up with his teammates, his obligations took precedence. Ino and Shikamaru walked back in silence. Ino could still feel the shame of her absentmindedness weighing heavily on her, clinging like a shadow.

When they came to the fork where their path separated, Ino expected Shikamaru to offer a terse goodnight and then take his leave. But instead, he turned with her, hands in his pockets, still silent. She glanced over at him, expecting an explanation, but none came.

"You don't have to walk me home, you know." She said.

He simply shrugged.

Ino decided to go a different direction with the conversation.

"I've never seen my cat act like that."

"Since when do you have a cat?"

Ino bit back a smile. Of course that was his response.

"I wanted one. So I got one. Recently."

Shikamaru sniffed derisively. "Never figured you for a cat person."

"Me neither." Ino admitted quietly.

Shikamaru had no response to that, and the conversation lapsed back into silence.

They stopped outside her door, and though he'd not been overly talkative, Ino was still reluctant to let Shikamaru leave like that. This night was hard on all of them, but it was especially difficult for Shikamaru.

"You want to come in?"

He gave a noncommittal shrug, but he followed her in anyway, making himself at home almost immediately. Ino left him in the living room while she went to put on some tea. When she returned, she had to put a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling at the sight that met her eyes.

The lazy shinobi was stretched out on her couch, arms crossed behind his head, and laying on his chest, locked in a staring contest with him, was the bedraggled little cat. Both of them looked up at Ino's entrance.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru rumbled. "What is with this ridiculous animal?"

Ino shrugged as she took a seat in the chair next to him, smiling.

"I guess he just… likes you."

Shikamaru frowned at the cat. It meowed gently and sniffed at him.

After a few moments of silence, Shikamaru sat up, causing the cat to leap down to the floor. He leaned forward, folding his hand and staring at the floor. He didn't look up at her when he spoke.

"So you have a cat."

She nodded, not daring to say anything. His tone said this was not just a cursory observation.

"And you forgot about tonight."

"Yes," she said, so quietly that it was almost inaudible.

"Ino…" He finally turned his head to look at her, black-eyed gaze boring into the side of her head. "You're acting strange, even for you."

She shook her head.

"Doesn't matter. Leave it alone."

He said nothing, just waited. She could feel the weight of his gaze building.

Almost immediately, she cracked.

"Do you ever feel like we're fighting a losing battle?"

He raised an eyebrow, his suspicions confirmed. Ino was almost ashamed at giving in so quickly, but now that it was out, she might as well continue.

"I think that's why I got the cat. It's nice to have something to care for." She sighed. "Something that needs you."

Shikamaru looked away from her, closing his eyes as he sunk back into the couch.

Just as Ino was about to ask if he'd heard her, he spoke.

"So… what? You think we're all going to end like Asuma-sensei? Die suddenly, just another casualty of Konoha, leave behind children, spouses, students that need us?" He made the questions sound nonchalant, but he couldn't quite the bitterness out of them.

Ino meant to say something articulate, something that bolstered her confidence, but that was not what came out.

"Yes!"

The exclamation, half-desperate, half-resigned, hung in the air. When he didn't offer an answer, she pressed on.

"I'm just going to end up as one more name on a monument somewhere. Who knows if I'll even have those people to remember me?"

Shikamaru opened his eyes.

"You'll have the cat."

Ino giggled, and after a moment or two, the giggle turned into a full laugh. She clutched at Shikamaru's arm, trying to regain her breath.

Shikamaru gave her a skeptical look.

"It wasn't that funny."

Coughing slightly, she brought herself back under control, offering a half-hearted smile.

"Maybe not to you."

He frowned, and her stomach clenched. All of a sudden, it felt like she had confessed her deepest secrets to a stranger, baring her wounds to someone who was totally indifferent. Shikamaru had never been emotional, but had he always been this cold? In a matter of moments, a chasm had opened between them, and she was staring into its depths.

He sat on the couch, not looking at her, hands clasped in front of him.

Something in her chest gave a sharp little twinge.

"Maybe you should go."

He didn't question her suggestion, just got up from the couch and began to shuffle toward the door. The cat poked its ugly little head out and scampered forward, circling his legs in a brief gesture of affection.

He let himself out without saying goodbye.

Ino stayed where she was, pulling her legs up underneath her in the chair like a little girl. Perhaps he had just been angry because she'd forgotten, but…

"…you're dependable… Take care of Choji and Shikamaru."

Ino pulled the headband out, mussing her hair.

Looks like I've failed you in every way possible, Asuma-sensei.

With a weary stretch, she finally pulled herself up from the hair and started back toward her room. She was almost there when she heard the knock.

She glanced around as she walked back. Shikamaru hadn't forgotten anything, had he?

Ino opened the door. Regardless of what she was expecting, it was not what she got.

Two arms pulled her into a rough embrace. Her head pressed against his chest, it took Ino a few moments to process what was going on. When she finally did, she was more concerned than anything else.

"Shika…?"

He let go of her then, taking a few steps back. Even in the dim moonlight, she could see red blotches sprinkled across his face.

"It's troublesome, but I just…"

She noticed, then, the red rims around his eyes, puffy from suppressing tears.

Ino wrapped her arms around his waist again.

"You're an idiot." She mumbled.

She felt him chuckle, felt it rumble up inside his chest.

"Che."

It was a long moment before she released him again, stepping back to stand in her doorsill.

"Well, are you coming in or not?"

He smiled slightly.

"Well, you do seem to be in the habit of picking up strays."

He followed her inside, and they sat for a long while in silence, both knowing what needed to be said, but neither willing to do so. It was enough, for now, to be in one another's presence.

And when the cat slipped out of hiding and found its way back to Shikamaru, Ino decided that, perhaps, two strays was not too many for one household.


A/N: This particular one-shot was a long time in the works. I seem to recall that it might have been started in October of last year, in fact. I'm still not sure that I'm entirely happy with it, but here it is.

Leave me a review, if you'd be so kind?