So sorry for the late upload! I started an internship and it leaves me with little time on my hands to type this out, but I assure you I will finish this and not leave mid way!

Thank you everyone for the lovely reviews! I will properly express my thanks once I get more time- for now I hope you enjoy this story as a token of my gratitude towards you all.

(Warning: Slightly boring chapter.)
Disclaimer: Do not make money off of this. Do not own Naruto. And other legal-stuffies.

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This is stupid. He's just a boy.

Just another boy who clearly doesn't want me.

Ino's mind kept going back to thoughts on the dark haired former Root no matter how hard she tried not to.

Her initial feelings of hurt and sadness were slowly manifesting itself into anger.

He had no right to talk to her like that. She had been nothing but kind and helpful towards him. He was the one who started to spend more time with her, he was the one who made it seem like he enjoyed her company…after everything to treat her like she was a hindrance…it was just too much.

Before her mood took a more dark turn she felt something push past her right shoulder. Irritated at the sudden interruption of her thoughts, the kunoichi glared at the offending person.

"Watch where you're – oh ..it's you Lady Tsunade." Ino changed her tone mid sentence to a more formal one as she nodded respectfully.

"Ah Ino…" Tsunade looked like she was slightly tipsy but still coherent enough to make sense, the Sannin rubbed her temples and gave Ino a one over, "my my… you look so grown up."

Ino tucked some of her blonde strands behind her ear and braced her features, "I feel grown up."

"Ah…war makes adults out of everyone sooner rather than later." Tsunade had a distant look in her eye for a few seconds, she then shook her head and gestured ahead, "I'm heading to the hospital, you coming?"

"I'll pass." Ino answered briskly.

The Sannin seemed to not have been expecting that answer and probed, "Strange I thought you'd be eager to check on your friend Sai's progress, I recall you being extremely anxious about his condition."

"I'm sure all my friends will recover fast under your care my Lady, as for not showing up for my rounds… Sakura must have told you I was ill yesterday."

"Hmmm… I see… For someone who almost tackled me the moment I completed my operation on him .. you seem to have lost your interest on our resident artist."

Why does everyone treat me like some love sick puppy?

She felt her anger bubble and thinking back on her last encounter with Sai only made it worse.

"Why should I care about that tactless jerk?" She hissed.

Tsunade gave a low chuckle, "I don't even want to know what's going on…"

Ino gritted her teeth and without thinking felt the words tumble out of her, "Then stop badgering me about it."

The former Hokage was too shocked by her outburst to reply and before she could Ino was gone.

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She mulled over her run in with Tsunade long after the incident. She didn't pay much attention to the people drifting in and out of the shop, she paced the shop and tended to simple takes but nothing would really take her mind off of recent events.

It was almost evening when she was finally pulled out of her reverie.

"That looks pretty neat Ino."

"Huh what?" The blonde kunoichi was brought out of her thoughts and looked up at the hulking form of Choji , she looked down and realized she had started arranging a yellow and purple bouquet while she was lost in her thoughts.

"Yellow and purple…just like you." Choji gave her a friendly smile as he approached closer, "What's in it?"

"The yellow ones are Candytuft," Symbolizing indifference. "The purple ones are Geraniums." Symbolizing folly.

Ino answered as she looked at the bouquet as if for the first time realizing her choice of flowers. Indifference and folly. How appropriate. That about sums up everything.

"Oh is that right?" Choji remarked cheerfully oblivious to Ino's thoughts, he looked at the yellow flowers wistfully before chuckling, "Too bad they're not made of candy… I could go for a snack."

Ino shook her head and looked up at her team mate, "Don't you ever get tired of eating Cho?"

"You shouldn't ask questions you already know the answer to Ino." Shikamaru's bored drawl made the blonde yelp, the dark haired Jonin smirked and raised an eyebrow taking in her new hair and wardrobe choice, "Nice makeover."

"Shika? When did you get in? Actually when did either of you get in?" She narrowed her eyes at the Nara genius and then at her brown haired team mate.

"Me and Choji got in together, you must have been pretty distracted to not notice … or maybe that hair really does impair your vision..I mean Cho for one isn't exactly hard to miss." Shikamaru shook his head and walked over to the counter Ino was working on, "Any reason you're cooped up in the shop in a nice day like this?"

"Well it is the Yamanaka Flower Shop and I am Ino Yamanaka, isn't that reason enough for me to be here?" Ino put the flower arrangement aside and stepped away from the counter, putting her hands on her hips she added coldly, "Anyways, it's not like either of you give me the time of day so where else would I be?"

The truth in her words seemed to have taken both the men aback who looked away guiltily.

"It's not like that Ino, I've just been really busy with clan duties!" Choji shuffled his feet clearly feeling bad about neglecting his friend.

"Yeah don't be such a drag Ino, you have any idea how annoying Jonin duties are?" Shikamaru grimaced.

"Excuses excuses." Ino muttered darkly as she wiped her hands on her apron.

" Your mother sent us over with food." Choji tried his best to diffuse the tension with the only way he knew how: with mention of food; as he gestured towards the packages in his left hand, "You hungry?"

Ino eyed him apprehensively but then the rumble in her stomach gave her away, reminding her that she hadn't eaten all day.

Sighing in resignation she turned the shop sign to "closed" and motioned her team mates to follow her into the back room.

There on the neat little table the three friends sat down to share the meal but for once there was no loud chatter, no Shikamaru complaining about how troublesome things were or how the meal was a drag, no angry counters and accusations from Ino and no stressed out Choji trying to placate the two. The silence bore down on her, and she could sense the real reason behind their little visit would soon prop up.

"Go on say it, I can't stand the quiet like it is." She finally cracked and broke the silence.

"W-What d'you mean?" Choji tried to feign ignorance as he quickly stuffed another rice ball in his mouth.

Ino tapped her nails on the table impatiently, Choji clearly wasn't the mastermind behind this no, she turned her attention to Shikamaru and narrowed her eyes, "Out with it Nara."

Shikamaru groaned and shook his head, "Ugh, why do I always have to do the explaining. Cho you pick real convenient times to stuff your face."

Ino put her chopsticks down and pressed her team mates, "Well what is it?"

"Sakura talked to me about your little fainting stint at the hospital... apparently you had an incident earlier today that made her feel like we needed a talk." Shikamaru looked straight at her.

"That little pink ...uh that totally goes against doctor patient privacy!" Ino gritted her teeth.

She was not a child she could take care of herself, the idea that the Pinkette thought it was necessary to inform her team mates made her feel like some sort of invalid.

"Don't be angry at Sakura, she was speaking as your friend not your doctor, she's worried about you. We all are." Choji answered meekly, " Is everything okay?"

The genuine concern in Choji's tone and his earnest expression dulled her initial outrage, "I'm fine Choji, was just exhausted." She used her most reassuring smile, "Really I'm fine."

"So this has nothing to do with the fact that you're avoiding Sai?"

Shikamaru's question blindsided her and she felt her jaw tighten, "Excuse me?"

"Any particular reason you're not visiting him today despite the fact that he's still recovering in the hospital and you don't seem to have much to do?" Shikamaru watched her closely as he said each word.

Ino knew better than to try to outsmart Shikamaru, she was sure he knew full well that the fact that she as avoiding Sai had a lot to do with her passing out.

"Waait, hold on… What does Sai have to do with anything?" Choji piped up suddenly.

"Oh, yeah I forgot we didn't fill you in yet. Ino likes Sai." Shikamaru turned back to Ino, "So as I was saying-"

"Wait what? Ino likes a lot of things… define like? Like Sasuke like?" Choji interrupted rubbing his temples.

"I mean when you put it like that it sounds trivial. She was a kid when she liked him." Shikamaru made a flippant gesture with his hands.

"Yeah that's true… but you're saying Ino's really into Sai then?"

"Oh yeah. The whole I-want-your-children shebang I suppose.. you know how women are. Such a drag."

"Ahem, ahem…" Ino cleared her throat gruffly, "STOP TALKING ABOUT ME LIKE I'M NOT HERE!"

"You don't have to yell, I was just bringing Cho up to date." Shikamaru winced, "But seriously Ino what in the world happened?"

"Nothing happened. He just wants me to leave him alone, I'm just doing like he asked." She snapped at him.

Like hell if she knew what happened.

"You sure it wasn't just a misunderstanding?" The Jonin asked skeptically.

"Well seeing as he specifically asked me to leave, I'd think no." Ino spat, her patience wearing thin.

Choji started to nervously stuff more rice balls in his mouth as the tension in the room started to build up again.

"Man that's just messed up I was certain he liked you." Shikamaru muttered as he shook his head.

"What?!" Ino slammed her hands down on the table, "What are you not telling me Shika?"

"Uh this is gonna be a real drag." The dark haired shinobi took a deep breath before starting, "Look, I thought you two would probably talk it over by now… Man I hate being in the middle of these things…"

"Get to the point Nara!" Ino hissed.

"So during our last mission… you know the one where Sai tagged along." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, after you did the switch… he helped me carry you …drew one of his bird things… made traveling lugging you around real easy."

Ino rolled her eyes, Shikamaru was uncharacteristically wasting more time than necessary on this, "Get to the part where you're 'certain' he likes me already!"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, "I'm sorry do you want to do all the talking? Or should I continue?"

"Sorry." Ino grudgingly apologized, then shot Choji a glare when she noticed him stifling a chuckle.

"As I was saying, he helped carry you and since he seemed pretty capable of keeping you safe, I left you with him when I went to scout the area. When I got back, I caught him drawing you- which is not a really big deal considering he's Sai and that's like his thing. But get this when I casually call him out he totally freaks out and makes me promise not to tell you. I thought I'd tease him a bit and asked him if he had a crush on you and he actually went red. Well as red as Sai gets atleast." Shikamaru drawled like a man describing nothing more interesting than yesterday's weather, "but before he answered you signaled us."

"…Is that why he wouldn't look at me when I helped him sneak in? I mean I thought I pissed him off somehow!" Ino tried to think back, "Wait…it's still guess work at best. You can't really say he likes me based off of that. It's circumstantial!"

"Trust me Ino you didn't see him fight those guys who attacked you. If you did you'd be just as sure as I am. You don't see rage like that over nothing…"

Ino put her head down on the table and groaned, "I don't know what to think anymore…"

Shikamaru shrugged as he got up, "Look at any rate, we all know what Sai's like, even if things worked out you must've known he'd never be boyfriend of the year. He's just programmed differently."

"Don't let it get you so down." Choji added kindly, "…He's a tough nut to crack. It's not a reflection on you. We're here for you, whatever it is you need to talk about."

Oh God. Boy-Advice from Shika and Cho? How low have I sunk?

Ino wondered whether it would be appropriate to cry or laugh…opting for neither she stood up and shook her head.

"You guys worry about me too much." She sighed, "Thank you."

Her team mates looked relieved at her reaction and exchanged a glance amongst themselves, Ino was certain they were both thankful she didn't actually press them for advice.

She didn't need to; in all honesty. She was fairly certain what needed to be done, she had decided on that the moment she fainted.

When seeing her team mates out the door she calmly asked, "Shikamaru..when are you leaving for Suna next?"

"Huh? Uh..tomorrow around noon…why?" The Jonin looked apprehensive, almost as if he knew what she was thinking.

"I'm coming with you." She answered with as much steel in her voice as she could muster.

She was done chasing.

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Sorry if that looked haphazard I didn't get to proofread let me know if I need to fix or change anything! Always open to your thoughts and suggestions!
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