Sorry it's late again guys but I had to go school shopping and I was at my aunt's house for a few days. This is the first chapter with the new title! And a shout out to MariaLuvsYew for helping me out a lot. :D Thank you.

Chapter 10: Anywhere But Here

She was freaking out. What was she suppose to do? She knew that she had told Shikamaru that she would think about when to tell their parents but she didn't really have much time to think about it lately. Her parents had caught her when she was out and left her with no escape when they all but dragged her back to her house. Her house that she hadn't stepped a foot into for about two months, since her parents found out about her being pregnant and need some time to cool off and think things through. And for those two months she's been staying with Shikamaru at his apartment, of course no one knew that, and his apartment was starting to feel more like her home than her actual house. So here she was, two months after being kicked out, sitting in the living room of her house that no longer felt like her home, she wouldn't say that out aloud to anyone though.

"So, Ino honey how are you? Where have you been staying lately? Why didn't you come back the next day like your father told you? Do you know how worried you had us?! We almost thought that you had gone missing but we seen you a few times while you were walking around the village." Junko asked in a concerned voice and a worried look on her face. She had bombarded her daughter with questions the moment she sat down next to her.

"I-Uh I'm good. I've been staying with a friend and I don't know why I didn't come. It just didn't feel right." Ino told her parents in a small voice.

"Ino, you know that we need to talk things out. You're the next head of the clan; we can't have you doing things that would put the family name to shame. We need to figure out what's going to happen next and what you're going to do about the situation that you've found yourself in." Inoichi spoke up, he hadn't said a word since they made it to the house, he had sat across from them and stayed perfectly silent the whole time until now.

"I'm going to keep it and raise it." Ino said in a strong voice, after picking up her head to look her father in the eye, letting him know that she wouldn't have it any other way.

"But being a single mother at 18 is going to be hard. Ino are you sure that you don't want to rethink this? You have other responsibilities. You know that your mother and I will only help so much, but taking care of a baby alone with be hard and it will interfere with you profession and it'll possibly interfere with you being the head of the clan." Inoichi said eyeing his daughter closely. He wasn't put in T&I for nothing; he was trying to see if he could persuade his daughter to think differently. He knew that Ino had work very hard most of her life to be a kunoichi and to one day be the head of their clan but he can see that now she's made up her mind of what she wants to do. And though he knew that Ino was as stubborn as people came, he was going to try to change her mind. Once she had set her mind on something there was no stopping her, but he could try. He would try because he didn't want his little girl going through all of this alone, he wouldn't let that happen.

"I know all of that daddy, but I won't change my mind. This baby is my responsibility to now. And I won't be doing it all alone, I know for sure that there's one person I can count on to help me. Sure it'll be hard being a shinobi and a mother at my age but I'm sure that I can do it, and I won't be the head of the clan for some years and by then things will be different." Ino told him. She wouldn't back down, this was her baby so of course she was going to have it and take care of it, she just couldn't see it any other way. She knew that her father was trying to scare her into changing her mind about either keeping the baby of having it by telling her that everything she's worked for her entire life could be at state her but things have changed. Her priorities have changed and her child was at the top of the list now. And even if things were to get too hard for her to handle on her own Shikamaru said he would help her out and she knew that she could always count on him. He was always there to help her out with anything she needed help with, in the past and now wasn't any different.

"What about the father sweetie? Does he know about all of this, is he going to be involved?" Junko asked her daughter nervously, she could sense that neither Ino nor Inoichi wanted to budge on their views of what should happen, and Ino had mentioned someone being there to help her. Once she asked that Junko saw that Ino started to chew on her bottom lip nervously and she started thinking the worse. "It's okay Ino; just tell us who he is. It doesn't matter if he won't help and wants nothing to do with you or the baby, we just want to know who he is."

Ino started to laugh when her mother had finish talking. She was laughing because she found it pretty funny that her mother was automatically thinking the worse and that the father wanted nothing to do with this situation which was the totally opposite. Shikamaru wanted to come clean to both of their families about what was happening.

"No, mom. It's not like that. He wants to help and be involved." She started to bite her lip again, it was a nervous habit that she's had for years, should she tell her parents that Shikamaru was the father? No she wouldn't tell them just yet, she needed to talk with Shikamaru about how they would tell their parents. Should she tell them that she was currently staying with the father, she wouldn't tell them his name yet she would just say that she's been living with him since she was kicked out? "I'm actually staying with him right now." The words left her mouth in a whisper before she had even decided if she would tell them that bit of news. She didn't know if her parents had heard her not but it was too late to take it back now.

"What did you say?!" Inoichi asked his daughter in disbelief.

"I- Uh. N-Nothing." Ino stuttered. Maybe she should've put more thought into that sentence before saying it.

"No I heard what you said. I just want you to repeat yourself." Inoichi said and wife, Junko, nodded in agreement.

"I said that I'm staying with him right now. He insisted that I stay with him when he found out that I had no where else to go. I couldn't exactly say no! Where was I to go if I had told him no?" Ino told her parents who where now staring at her.

"So that's why you never came to the flower shop the next day! Is that why we haven't been seeing you much lately? Is he keeping you captive?" Inoichi started asking his daughter question after question. He knew there had to be a reason why they hadn't heard from her in almost a month. This guy who impregnated his daughter wouldn't let her leave!

"Daddy you've got it all wrong! It's not like that. Why are you trying to make him out as the bad guy here?" She couldn't stand how her dad kept trying to blame Shikamaru for everything, though he didn't know it was Shikamaru that he was talking about. She was at fault here to, and Shikamaru was trying his best to do what he thought was right!

"You keep saying that we've 'got it wrong and it's not like that' but you never clear it up for us. What are we suppose to think Ino? You won't tell us anything. We just want to help you out." Junko said close to tears.

"I'm sorry mom. I should be going it's getting late. And he's not as bad as you're trying to make him out to be. I'll tell you guys everything soon but not now." Ino said as she got up to leave the house.

"Ino wait!" Her mother called out. "The Nara's have invited the Akimichi's and us to dinner next Thursday. And no body knows that you're not staying here with us so can you please go?" Ino didn't know what to say so she just nodded letting her mother know that she would be there. "Okay be there at seven o'clock. And please talk to us soon, you that we're here for you."

"Ino, a moment please?" Ino heard her father call out to her while she was walking toward the door so she turned around again. "You know that you can come back home any time you feel like it. Our door is always opened for you, we can get though all of this together."

"Yeah, I know that dad. Thank you but I have to get going now. And don't worry about it mom I'll be there next week." Ino told her parents as she waved them goodbye.

On the way back to Shikamaru's apartment she had a lot to think about. She had let it slip that she was staying with the father but luckily the name hadn't slipped up yet. She would have to tell Shikamaru not to mention that she was staying with him, or else things would get out of hand. She knows that she has to tell her parents about Shikamaru soon or later, but she'd prefer not to tell them. But if she doesn't tell them they'll eventually find out on their own and will be disappointed in both her and Shikamaru for not telling them, though Shikamaru was just doing whatever she told him to. Not only did she have her own parents to worry about but Shikamaru's parents as well. Imagine how they will feel when they find out that they have a secret grandchild! They were all going to have to sit down at a dinner together next week and she doesn't think that she can keep it a secret with all of them there. She really needs to talk to Shikamaru; she needs his help on what she should do, though she's pretty sure that she knows what he'll say anyway.

'Shika's being really reasonable with all of this. He wants to come clean with them about all of this and I'm trying to hide it! He's the one that's known to run from things that are to much work while I'm known to step up to the plate and now look. Our roles are turned. Just what am I suppose to do? Everything's getting to messed up, Shikamaru was right keeping secrets this big is too much trouble. And if I don't come clean about al of this soon I could end up making things worse.' Ino thought to herself while walking through the streets of Konoha.

Once she got into the apartment she saw that Shikamaru was lying down on the couch watching TV, she saw that he had looked up when he heard the door open. She knew that she needed to talk to him about this as soon as possible, she couldn't keep pushing off these important conversations like she's been doing.

"Oi, Ino where were you? It's late." Shikamaru asked her when he saw her come in while sitting up straight.

"I was with my parents. They saw me when I was out earlier and dragged me to the house saying that 'we had a lot of things to talk about' and I just left not to long ago." She told him while sitting down on the other side of the couch.

This had caught his attention. He was wondering when she would talk to her parents about everything that was happening. The question now was did she tell them about him.

"What happened? What did you talk about?" Shikamaru quickly asked.

"What do you think we talked about?" She told him in a sarcastic tone.

"Okay. What did you say?" He asked her slowly, not wanting to say something that would make her yell at him or hit him.

"Nothing, I told them where I was staying…but I didn't exactly say who I was staying with." Ino answered quietly.

"What do you mean Ino?" Shikamaru asked clearly confused. She said she told them where she was staying but not with who she was staying with, it didn't really make sense to him.

"I told them that I was staying with the baby's father right now, but I didn't say who that was. When they started talking about it I told them I had to leave. I just couldn't find it in me to tell them yet. I needed to talk to you about it first." Ino said now facing Shikamaru's direction.

"You know you could've told them about me. It's not like I'm some stranger or person that they don't like. They've known me my entire life."

"Yeah, but still what about telling you parents? Don't we have to do that to? Your parents invited mine and Choji's families to dinner next week, did you know that? I don't think that I can sit at a table with all of them and keep this to myself."

"What a drag." Shikamaru muttered to himself, and then looked at a frantic Ino. "It'll be okay; you sat down with all of us once and didn't say anything. If you're not ready to tell anyone then just pretend like last time."

"It was different last time. I had just found out and I was trying to wrap my mind around it, but now I know for certain and I don't want to lie to everyone about what's going on Shika." Ino wailed close to tears.

"Ino. Ino it'll be okay. Okay? You can tell whoever you want to tell whenever you want to tell them, I won't bring it up anymore if you don't want me to bring it up. Just please don't start crying, you know it freaks me out when you cry." Shikamaru told her while giving her a quick gentle hug to calm her down.

"No you're right we need to tell everyone, it's just that I don't know how. How can we just crash their worlds like this? They practically had our lives all planned out and here we are changing everything they thought they had plan. Imagine what my parents will say about it or what they'll do to you when they find out. My dad's already drawing you out to be some bad guy whose ass he has to kick. And you're parents to! Imagine how they'll react. They'll probably think I'm just some whore who tricked or something." Ino cried worriedly.

"Ino you know that's not true, you're not a whore! They would never think of you like that and you know it. They love you as if you were their own child." Shikamaru told her sternly in a soft voice. "Sometimes even more than there own child." He mumbled to himself but Ino still heard and she laughed softly.

"But you said it yourself, auntie Yoshino and uncle Shikaku see my as a second child to them so they'll just end up showing me how disappointed they are, at me, for ruining your life and I don't think I can take seeing that look on anymore people towards me. Do you know what it's like having the closest people to you look at you with so much disappointment written across their face? Sure they'll get over it after awhile but seeing it hurts." Ino said quietly while looking down at her hands, that had suddenly became much more interesting in the past couple of minutes.

"Come on Ino, you are not ruining my life. And they won't be disappointed in you at all, they'll be freaking pissed at me. They might even feel bad about it and be sympatric towards you." Shikamaru said to Ino in a serious voice. "Heh, my dad probably wouldn't really care if it were anyone else but since you're the daughter of one of his best friends he might find this pretty damn troublesome and my mom will try to kill me for it while saying that I'm a screw up but in their eyes you can do no wrong so I know they won't hate you." He told her looking her in her sky blue eyes.

"Hmm, who knows? We'll just see when it when it happens, but we're going to have to tell my parents first since they already know about the baby in general and your parents don't. And don't you think your parents would be more outraged when they find out that you got some random girl pregnant?" Ino asked him.

"I don't know. It never really came up in conversation, I should probably ask them. You know just to be prepared for their reaction." Shikamaru said lightly, trying to cheer her up.

"Yeah you probably should." Ino laughingly said. "It's getting late and I'm tired, so I'm going to get ready and go to sleep." She said after few minutes in silence.

After taking a shower and getting into her pajamas she took a second to look at self in the mirror. She noticed that her clothes, a light purple tank top and black knee length shorts, were starting to fit her a little snug, she knew it was because her small baby bump was starting to show now that she was 19 weeks pregnant. Sure she didn't want to get that big but she knew that it was because her baby was growing so she fine with that. Since she was starting to show she only wore lose fitting t-shirts when she went outside the apartment, but since she was behind on laundry she would either have to wear one of her tight fitting shirts or steal a shirt from Shikamaru.

'I'm so going to kick Shikamaru's ass for this when this is all over, it's his fault that I'm getting fat anyway.' Ino thought to her self as she went off to Shikamaru's room; he had basically given her his room since the day she showed up saying that he could sleep on the couch.

The next morning Ino got up first, so she decided to wake up Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru." Ino whispered while nudging his sleeping form. When all he did was groan and toss his body over on the couch Ino got mad and went over to the window to move the curtains a little to some sunlight come in and hit Shikamaru. As she was adjusting the curtains there was a knock on the door.

She knew it wouldn't be a good idea if she were to go and answer his door so she decided to shake him. "Shikamaru, wake up!"

"Ugh. What do you want troublesome? I'm trying to sleep. There's no practice this morning so I can sleep in for a few more hours before we go meet up the genin." Shikamaru mumbled, in a sleep filled voice. Ever since Ino started staying with Shikamaru at his apartment she would go with him to practice with his team everyday, when she didn't have to go work at the hospital or before she had her shift, sometimes they would even meet up with Choji. It was actually kind of fun to be out there with them all, expect for the attitude that Katsumi would sometimes give Ino for some unknown reason.

"There's someone at the door." She said in a hurried whisper.

"Okay. Why can't you answer it? You live here to." Shikamaru said with his eyes still closed.

"I can't answer because I'm in my pajamas and no body knows that I live here! And nobody can know yet." Ino told him while shaking him more strongly than before.

Opening one eye Shikamaru saw what she was wearing. He could've sworn almost all of her shirts were getting smaller and smaller on her just about everyday, but he wouldn't say that to her, she'd kill him. She was going to have to go out to get some clothes that will fit her when she gets bigger. She was already starting to show and only a handful of people knew about it, he knew that they were going to have to start telling people soon and he was going to tell her that then but then he heard the door knob jingling, as if someone where trying to open the door.

'But the only person who has a key other than Ino is Choji and Choji wouldn't come here this early without telling me.' Shikamaru thought to himself, as the door opened to reveal the other member of Team 10, Choji.

"Shikamaru why didn't you answer the door I've been outside for almost ten minutes?! Your mom wanted me to come over and tell you that she wants you to go to dinner next week at the house." Choji said walking in and closing the door. After turning around he noticed Ino. "Ino? What are you doing here?" He asked in a confuse tone, looking her over before noticing the slight bulge she had in her belly, unsure of what to say about that. "Uh, what's going on? Why is Ino here so early and in her pajamas that look small?"

"Ugh, I'll be back!" Ino said before going to Shikamaru's room to go get dressed.

'How dare he say my clothes look small?! My clothes still fit perfectly fine; it's just this damn baby bump that makes my clothes smaller.' Ino thought angrily, while looking for a shirt big enough to cover up her small bump. 'Maybe we should just already tell him now since he'd here and he saw my bump.'

She couldn't find one so she decided to just throw on a different outfit. She put on a light gray T-shirt, that that clung to her a bit tightly and some black pants, before walking off towards where the guys were.

Once she walked into the living room she sat down on the opposite side of the couch from Shikamaru and Choji, she saw them watching her.

"We should really tell him Ino. You can't keep something like this a secret for long." Shikamaru told her while looking her in the eyes.

After a short silence Ino decided to talk. "I guess so, I mean it's now or never."

"What are you talking about?" Choji asked her with concern in his voice. "Come on I really want to go eat breakfast and since you're already here Ino, which you'll have explain to me once we're out, I don't have to go track you down after dragging Shikamaru's ass out of bed and telling him what his mom asked me to tell him." Choji told them while crossing his arms over his chest.

"I... you know what I'll just tell you when we're eating since I'm hungry to. Come on let's go." Ino said gesturing toward the door nervously. "Where is it you wanted to go Choji?"

"I- Uh the usual BBQ place." Choji said waiting for Shikamaru to get up so that they could catch up with Ino. He knew that something was up and he had a sinking feeling that he knew what it was.

'She couldn't be, could she? Maybe, I mean she does seem to have a bigger appetite than usual and she ran out last time just 'cause Shikamaru lit a cigarette I mean I know she does like them but she's never ran out before. And she has a small bump, but if she is pregnant I wonder who the father is. She's like a little sister to me! I'll kick the bastards' ass that did this, if she is pregnant.' Choji thought to himself.

As they sat down Ino decided to sit in the seat that was by the wall which left Choji and Shikamaru to sit across from each other.

"Okay so I have some big news to tell you Choji...but you can't too mad. Please don't be to mad." Ino started off the conversation glancing at Choji to see him nodding, letting her know to go on. She knew that he was probably suspicious now that Ino was avoiding eye contact with him.

'Keep breathing, just keep breathing Ino. It won't be as hard as it was to tell Shikamaru or my parents. This is Choji, one of my best friends. He won't hate me he'll just be…surprised.' Ino told herself, while trying to stay calm.

"Okay it's now or never… I'm pregnant Choji." Ino said in a rush, still avoiding eye contact with either of the boys now.

"And?" Shikamaru said. His tone letting Choji know there was more to it than just that.

"And I have to go use the restroom. I'll be back guys." Ino said as she got up to walk toward the restrooms.

Choji was shocked! How could this have happened to his little sister? She hadn't ever really had a boyfriend. Inoichi wouldn't let her date unless he approved of the guy (which would never happen) and Ino didn't like to go behind her parents' backs. He assumed she was when he saw her but he couldn't have been sure.

'Oh man if I'm this shocked I wonder how poor Shikamaru is taking it. I know that he likes to claim that she annoys him and that he won't ever admit it but as his best friend I can tell that he really likes her.' Choji thought to himself while looking at Shikamaru who was just staring off into the direction that Ino had gone. 'Aw man it's worst than I thought.'

"How are you holding up Shika?" Choji said after awhile.

"What?" Shikamaru asked. He wasn't exactly paying full attention to Choji at the moment; he had other things on his mind, blonde blue-eyed things.

"Come on Shikamaru I know you like her, so this must be hard on you." Choji said eyeing the pineapple haired shinobi.

"Tch. I don't know what you're talking about Choji. This whole situation is just unexpected." Sure it was true that he liked her but he didn't tell Choji exactly for this reason. He would try pushing him to do something about it and Shikamaru didn't feel like putting so much hard work into it just to be turned down. He didn't want to lie to Choji by denying it but he also didn't want to tell him that it was true, so he decided to just change the topic. Ino being pregnant was hard on him but it wasn't entirely because of the reasons Choji thought.

"Don't lie to me Shika. I've known you for years. I know that you like her and I thought that she liked you back but I guess I was wrong about that."

"Seriously Choji? Don't you know Ino?" Shikamaru said with a hint of bitterness. As if Ino would ever feel the same for him, the closest he thought that he might ever get from her is platonic love or pity, neither of which did he really want.

"Shikamaru, I know she's everything you want and all you hate and that it just freaks you out but come on just let it out. It's okay to say that you like someone even if they don't like you back." Choji said in a serious tone of voice.

"You know what, Choji? Just drop it. Okay? You're just talking nonsense now. Ino's not done telling you everything." Shikamaru said in an annoyed voice.

"Hmm. Okay for now. And you're right. I wonder who the father is. I'm going to kick his ass for doing this to Ino."

"What if it wasn't his fault this all happened?" Shikamaru asked.

"Of course it's his fault. Our Ino wouldn't do such a thing." Choji said crossing his arms over his chest.

After a minute of silence Ino came back from the restroom looking more calm than she did the entire morning.

"Ino you now I'm not mad or disappointed in you or anything. And neither is Shika. Just tell who the father is." Choji told Ino after putting a hand on her shoulder.

When Ino let out a laugh Choji looked around confused. Even Shikamaru seemed to have a small smirk on his face.

"I thought that you would have figured out who the father was by now." Ino told Choji after she was done with her laughing fit. "The father is…Shikamaru." Ino said in a low voice.

"WHAT!?" Choji yelled looking between both of this teammates and childhood friends.

And I'm going to cut it off there, sorry. I'm hoping to finish this story before school starts in 2 weeks.

Help me out guys, my parents have agreed to let me get snake bites (lip piercings) but I'm not sure if I want them anymore. I was watching TV and I saw how pretty everyone's clear face was and I don't want a big ugly scar permanently on my face I mean sure I have two moles on my face and a couple small scars from pimples but you can barely see them. So I need your help deciding what I should do, get them or not? And what color should I do my hair for school?

Any who, the parents find out next chapter!