A Special Case: Personally, I just don't like this chapter. Nothing really happens, so next few chapters are going to be action! action! action! Hopefully. Anyway, ENJOY!
Life as it is
Summary for last ch.
"Oh yes," Tenten mischievously said, "and how he would hunt that special girl until he found her, even if he took—Hinata!"
The blue-haired girl had fainted atop the silken sheets.
"Poor girl," Tenten remarked, "she must have been under so much pressure she couldn't handle it all at the end."
They all remembered her demand for them to leave. Very un-Hinata like.
"Or perhaps she just fainted at your mention at Naruto… " Sakura suggested.
"What! No way, you started it!"
The three girls spun round the room, chasing each other until they were breathless.
*
Down on the front path, Neji turned from where he was farewelling his friends to Hinata's window, swearing he saw something like Tenten's trademark buns pass by, but shook his head as he dismissed the thought.
Tenten couldn't possibly be there, right?
Chapter 10
Shikamaru stared at the shougi board.
Asuma stared at Shikamaru.
Kurenai was staring at both of them.
"Hey, Shikamaru, it's not that hard, do you really need the last seven minutes to think of one move?" His sensei complained, cigarette muffling his words.
A further one minute passed, Kurenai fidgeting with her cup of tea.
Suddenly, Shikamaru dropped his head into his hands. "I can't do iiiit," he groaned, falling onto his back.
In shock, the cigarette hit the ground. Asuma stared wildly at the board, then to Shikamaru, then to the board again. He reached across to his pupil, feeling his forehead and examining his body. "Shikamaru, you aren't sick, are you? You should have told me if you were sick. Go home and have some sleep!" Asuma scolded the tired ninja.
"Noooo," came another groan, "It's about Ino."
Asuma rocked back on his heels, letting out a relieved sigh. Kurenai, too, let go of the breath she'd been holding; imagine, Shikamaru being defeated by Asuma in shougi…the thought made her feel faint. "Ah, girl troubles," the jounin said, picking up his bent cigarette, "you got me a little worried there."
"And girl troubles isn't worrying?" Shikamaru asked, lifting an eyelid.
Asuma looked up into the air, eyebrows fused together. "Now you mention it, there was something strange about the sentence…"
"It's Ino! I'm having girl troubles with Ino!" Shikamaru forced the words out his mouth, reassuring himself that his sensei would not laugh at such a serious matter.
"Sh-Shikamaru? Girl troubles… Ino-buahahahahahhahaha!" Asuma broke off in laughter, and even Kurenai let out a giggle from behind her cup. That sentence did sound strange coming from his mouth.
Shikamaru shook his head in annoyance. He originally wanted to clear his head of this, but it came up while playing shougi, and the issue was… addictive.
"Stop laughing, it's embarrassing!" He grumbled.
"Okay, okay, sorry," Asuma replied, tears still present in the corner of his eyes, "So, wanna talk about it?"
"I don't know," Shikamaru shrugged, "I've repeated it so many times that it gets more confusing every time. But in short, we had an…I guess you could call a misunderstanding."
"Aaaah," Asuma nodded wisely, "a misunderstanding."
"So?" asked Shikamaru, "do you have any advice?"
"Absolutely!" Asuma leaned close, beckoning his student. "The secret… is to beg for her forgiveness, whatever it takes!"
"Eh? Whatever it takes?" Shikamaru whispered.
"Of course," Asuma leaned back, winking sneakily at Kurenai, "It's a sure-win strategy. You'd still have to do it, even if it embarrasses you!"
Shikamaru took in a deep breath, weighing up the options. His manly pride-vs.-Ino. Both were pretty important…
"You can always give her something, as a gift," Kurenai offered.
Shikamaru shook his head dejectedly, "it's not that kind of argument. It's just that it was all normal and then… I don't know what I did!"
"Hmmm," Asuma tilted his head thoughtfully, "In that case, pretend it never happened."
Shikamaru stared shocked at his teacher. "Sensei! You know how Ino goes when she tries to ignore something!"
They both made an uncomfortable face at the memory of Ino trying to forget that she walked into Shikamaru changing. They cringed. She had nearly killed them and herself with her attempt to be normal.
"Kurenai," Asuma asked, "you're a female, any ideas?"
"Well," she started, "I don't really know Ino that well, but…" Both males looked up hopefully, "…I think that you should casually say sorry for the other day and then leave it. I'm sure that Ino would be embarrassed about it and I wouldn't be surprised if she apologised first." She stopped there.
Asuma opened his mouth to talk, but was cut off as Kurenai started to speak again. "Actually, I think whatever weird thing happened yesterday was just a one-off. Ino would probably be relieved if you left it, as Asuma said."
Asuma opened his mouth again, but Kurenai intervened…again. "Yes, I think all you have to do is to go to the flower shop today, casually walk in and start a conversation with Ino. Maybe ask her to go take a walk with you or something. Or you can always buy flowers…" she trailed off, looking as if she enjoyed the situation greatly.
Asuma didn't bother to say anything. He and Shikamaru were amazed at her analysis that whittled the solution down to time and place. The scary powers of women.
"Well…?" she inquired, smiling knowingly.
"Huh, oh yeah! Yeah, that's a good idea. Right, Shikamaru?"
"Wha-oh, right. Yeah, that's a good-good idea. I'll-yeah, I'll do that. In fact, I'll do it now."
"That's my boy-What? Hey! We haven't finished the game!"
Too late. All that was left was a disappearing cloud of dust. Asuma looked sadly down at the game board. Poor boy. Girl troubles were bad enough, but Ino was literally double trouble.
He raised his eyebrows as Kurenai settled into Shikamaru's abandoned seat.
"Let's play."
With her beautiful, innocent face, he couldn't say no. That was until she had him in checkmate in under two minutes. He shuddered at her gentle smile. The scary power of women.
*
Shikamaru took a step round the corner, froze, then turned round and hid behind the brick wall. 'What if Kurenai was wrong? What if he addressed the matter and she became nervous again? She'd probably destroy the whole flower shop with her clumsiness.
He leant there against the wall, closing his eyes to sort out the mental turmoil. He didn't think he had ever felt this nervous before. Jeez! What was wrong with him! It was just Ino. Just his friendship on the line. Just a bipolar girl with unexpected reactions.
He sighed, turned the corner and walked into the shop.
Ino just finished retying her apron when she sensed him come in. On reflex, her legs gave way as she scurried under the counter. Her breathing became stretched, and then stopped completely as she heard him call out her name.
"Ino! I know you're here! Hello?"
Behind the counter, Ino consoled herself with deep breaths. 'I had asked Hinata to tell him. I had wanted this. I had needed this. Why am I using past tense!?'
Shikamaru could hear scuffling on the other side of the counter. He looked over to see a blonde head nodding profusely.
'I am a strong girl. I can handle one conversation. Okay!' She pasted on a cheery smile and bolted straight up . However, her head connected with something, hard. Ino heard a pained cry and let out a scream herself when she saw Shikamaru clutching his nose while a steady stream of blood dripped down to the tiles.
"Oh my gosh! Oh my- Shika! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Ino screamed.
He made some grunting noises in reply, waving his hand as if to say, 'No, this is perfectly fine. It's just a possible broken nose that you just caused.'
Immediately, her motherly instincts took over as she ushered him up the stairs to her home.
He stood awkwardly with his head held up, making muffled noises at her countless questions. The edges of the ceiling started to slip out of focus, as all he could think of was the image of Ino's head rushing up to meet his face.
He felt a familiar tickle in his nose. No! He couldn't sneeze now, not in the middle of her living room! He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to stop the sneeze. With a burst of air up the windpipe, his ears blocked up, and all he could see was black.
Ino expertly slid the bowl of cold water onto the coffee table and threw against the falling body as she saw Shikamaru fall.
"Jeez, Shika, you need a twenty-four hour watch just to keep you unhurt," she muttered as she dragged him over to the couch, one hand around his waist and one keeping the tissues on his nose.
The next five minutes included her swopping the tissues and squeezing water on his face in an attempt to wake him up. When seven minutes passed, she panicked a little. Wasn't fainting normally about two minutes? Why was he still unconscious?
She leant her head close to his heart. Ba-dump, ba-dump. A heart beat. Thank god. She dropped her head on his chest in relief, before jerking back embarrassedly.
With a guilty swallow, Ino surveyed her patient's sleeping face. "He's so peaceful," she whispered.
A quick look at the clock told her that no one would be coming up for an hour.
"An hour," she said to him, "what are we going to do with you, sleepy head?" flicking him softly on his cheek.
His nose had stopped bleeding, and Ino let down her guard, going back to her cheerful self.
"You know, you really freaked me out there," she said while cleaning up, "lucky I'm very skillful, huh? Seriously, what would you do without me?" She gave him a fond look before plunking down on the carpet beside him.
"And you know about the other day, its okay. I don't think that we need to talk about it. Take it as…something that just happened. But I think I should probably apologise to you first. After all, you were the one who had to experience my strangeness, right?" She turned to his unchanged face with a baby doll smile.
"Such a waste of words, Ino," she said to herself, "but then again, this is practice for when he's actually conscious. Better take advantage of the situation." She blushed when she realised that the last sentence was a little wrong.
She tilted her head slightly as she looked at his face. She was close enough to see each eyelash, each tiny freckle on his nose, to see his lips were slightly open.
Ba-dump, ba-dump. She could hear her heart clearly as an uncontrollable impulse forced her closer to was nothing in her head. Just the irregular ba-dump, ba-dump as she got closer, and closer. Her own mouth opened the slightest and her eyes half closed as she got closer and closer.
Close enough that if she breathed out, their lips would be touching.
Shikamaru suddenly shifted in his sleep, closing the tiny gap between them. Ino gasped and scuttled back from the couch. She stared at him, aghast, with her right hand pressed tightly against her mouth.
'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.' She felt like laughing and crying at the same time. She was stunned, but underneath the shock, she could feel a warm happiness swell up.
Shikamaru lifted a hand to his forehead and let out a groan, his eyes still closed. Ino immediately composed herself, forcing an innocent grin onto her face.
"Hello, how are you feeling?"
"Umm, a little dizzy."
"Well, you have been unconscious for ten minutes. I think it was the loss of blood."
The next few minutes included many suspicious looks from Shikamaru and a hyperventilating Ino trying to keep normal. And her trying to shove him out.
In the end, Shikamaru didn't get to bring the topic up, and Ino was left a mess on the floor, crying and laughing.
*
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Sakura yelled, as she threw off her mittens and ran down the hall, sliding to a stop in front of the phone.
"Who is it?" Sakura asked just to hear high pitched voice crying and laughing on the other end.
"Ino...?"
"Are you okay?"
" Uh-huh. What did he say?"
"Oh! What! Ow…"
"Uh-huh."
"Yeah, I'm listening."
"Ya-WHAT! WOW WOW WOW WOW!"
"Yep, yep, yep."
"Did he notice?"
"Oh my gosh, how romantic…"
"Okay, okay, sorry, not romantic- hey, wait, I have someone at the door."
"Coming!" She yelled, opening the door with a flourish. Sasuke was leaning comfortably against her front porch, his onyx eyes staring at her flushed face.
Her initial reflex was to slam the door in his face. Which she did. After a few seconds of staring at the peeling paint on her door, she opened it up again. The dark-haired boy was still there, looking back at her with bored eyes.
"Umm, what's up?" she started, her eyes unnaturally large and her smile unnaturally big.
"You're smoking."
"What!?" Did. He. Just. Say. She. Was. Smoking. ?. As in smoking...hot?
"You're kitchen is filling up with smoke." Okay, maybe not.
Sakura turned towards her kitchen, and sure enough, a distinctive mist was floating out. She let out a scream and rushed to the oven to find the cake fully charred and burnt. The anguish on her face as she dumped it into the bin turned into anger as she saw Sasuke casually wonder into her house.
"What are you doing in my house!?"
"This is all I get for telling you your kitchen was on fire?"
"Yes! What else do you expect?"
On the other line, Ino was listening to every word with concentration, thoroughly intrigued by this discussion.
"Don't I get the right for some hospitality... and one question?" he prompted with an eyebrow, "after all, your house could be on fire right now and you'd be oblivious to it."
Sakura shot an annoyed glance at him. "Why are you so pushy today?"
He only shrugged and dropped into a seat at her kitchen table.
"Fine," she said with pursed lips, "one question."
He stared at her amusedly, hands on hips and an adamant stare. "Why are you baking a cake?"
She looked at him like he was stupid. "Why wouldn't I? Baking a cake is a normal thing for me to do!"
"No it isn't. You never bake."
"How do you know that!"
"Because you're uncoordinated in everything apart from fighting and medical procedures. Which includes household activities."
Sakura pouted.
"Which means there must be a good reason why you're baking today."
Sakura twitched uncomfortably. He had hit it. She slumped into the chair next to him and buried her head in her arms.
"My mmph comiph offeph toniphe mmmm thmmpppphhhh.."
"Excuse me? I couldn't hear that." He couldn't help letting out a smirk when he saw her face colour.
"My mother is coming over tonight because it's her birthday!" She retorted, then reburied her head.
"Oh, so?"
"So? So? So? What do you mean so? This is a disaster! I've always gotten Ino to cook for me when my mom comes home on her birthday because it's tradition! Tradition!" Sakura got up and paced around in her living room, "But Ino is… she just can't cook right now! And my mum is going to come home in an hour and I have to bake a cake! And if I don't, my mum's gonna find out that I've been lying for the past six years!" With a dramatic sigh, she sank to the floor, and started to repeatedly hit her head.
"So you're going to continue to lie to her?"
"Sasuke, I don't think you get it. My mom… she opposes so much to me being a kunoichi that she gets - she gets really happy when she sees me doing something like baking a cake." Sakura started crying in frustration, and wiped her eyes with her hand.
"My mom, I hardly see her happy. It just makes me feel less guilty for picking this – this path compared to housework," she said the last word with distaste.
There was silence as Sakura entertained scenarios of her breaking her hand or something and Sasuke watched her scheming form.
"I can bake it for you."
Her head shot up in shock. Her eyes bulged. Sasuke was going to bake a cake!?
"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Sasuke, this is a really serious situation!"
"I'm am serious."
The laughter froze on the pink-haired girl's face. "You can't be… you're joking, right?" she whispered.
"Are you going to take it or not?"
Sakura turned to look at Sasuke fully. He was staring somewhere to her left, lips slightly pursed, cheeks an adorable pink.
"Absolutely!"
On the other line, Ino's jaw fell open.
A Special Case:Hahahahaha, Sasuke can cook! Or can he...
A Random Stranger:You don't know, do you?
A Special Case: Shuddup. Ever heard of winging it?
A Random Stranger:Suuuure.