Naruto
Results of the Makeover
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Chapter 21- Rare Scenes 3
"We never did hear about the incident where Chouji went on a diet did we?" Tenten randomly brought up one day.
Ino paused in mid-sip, "I didn't, did I?"
"I actually want to know," Sakura leaned forward, "Come one. This is a perfect time to tell us."
Hinata nodded.
"Well," Ino paused for a second, "Some of the details are hazy, but I'll tell you as best as I can. It was a couple of years ago during the summer."
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Couple of years ago during the summer
Ino and Shikamaru were greedily gobbling food down since Chouji was distracted.
"She was so pretty," he sighed, resting his head on his hands, "Her cheeks were pink as cherry sugar drops and she had the sweetest smile. She was really nice too. She didn't laugh even when the other people in the store were.
Shikamaru cast a confused look at Ino.
"He was grocery shopping," Ino explained whispering, snatching another piece of yakinuki from the grill.
Shikamaru nodded understanding before turning Chouji out again.
"Ino."
Ino jumped out cheeks bulging. She painfully swallowed her mouthful before gesturing Chouji to go on.
"I need your help to ask her out."
"Me?" Ino repeated, "What do you want me to do? Help you practice, dress you up, what?"
"Help me go on a diet."
Shikamaru's bowl dropped and cracked spilling soy sauce, but no one paid attention to it.
While Ino was helping Shikamaru clean up in the bathroom, Shikamaru was still in shock, "Did I hear what I heard?"
"Y-y-yeah," she replied uncertain, "I can't believe it. After all these years of telling him to do so, he decided to do it on his own."
"So are you going to help him?"
She shot him a look that had him wanting to run for the hills.
Shikamaru sighed clicking the timer when Chouji passed, "20: 21. Five more laps to go."
Chouji huffed, "Water."
He sighed tossing a bottle for Chouji to fumble to catch, "Don't know why you're going through all this. If she likes you, it wouldn't matter if you went on a diet or not."
"I want to be something worthy of her," Chouji finally responded after gulping down half of the bottle, "I'm not good enough for her like this."
Shikamaru sighed, knowing that nothing would stop him, "Where's Ino?"
"She's cooking."
An eyebrow cocked, "Ino…cooking…well now I've seen everything."
At that moment, Ino came running towards them, "Hey guys."
She stopped next to Chouji, "Good job. Take a break." She held up a triple layer bento, "Here. Ino's completely healthy bento."
"You made that all by yourself?" Shikamaru's voice held complete disbelief and doubt.
"Fine," she gritted, "Mom helped me. It's certified good. When dad ate it for a week, he lost ten pounds."
"Ah," Shikamaru nodded, "I remember. He was telling my dad that he lost it due to barfing it out." He wisely shut up at the look Ino sent him.
"Yosh!" Ino cheered, "Let's keep it up!"
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Present
"How much did he manage to lose?" Sakura asked. They all were clinging on to Ino's every word. Even the cake they bought remained untouched in the center of the table.
"Ah, this I remember exactly," Ino proudly said, "Twenty-five full pounds."
"I don't remember Chouji looking any different though," Hinata said.
"Well," Ino sighed
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Couple of years ago during the summer after some weeks
"AHHHH!" Ino yelped when they entered Chouji's room.
They had rushed over after Chouji had stopped coming to training for a while.
Even Shikamaru stopped dead at the door. There were wrappers everywhere in the room and in the middle was a now fat again Chouji gloomfully eating a five pound block of chocolate whole.
"Chouji," Ino didn't know where to step, "What happened? The diet?"
"I'll never diet again!" Chouji stuffed the rest of the block into his stomach.
Ino heard Shikamaru gag next to her.
"Chouji," she kicked aside some wrappers to get to him, "Put down the food and talk to us. What happened?"
"My broken heart is what happened!" Chouji bawled, "Right when I was about to ask her out, guess what?"
"What?"
Ino held back a shudder when he grabbed her shirt with his stained hands and said loudly with his odorous breath, "Her boyfriend showed up! He was everything I wasn't. I was such a fool."
His grip suddenly released, she fell back among the wrappers.
"I swear," Chouji stood suddenly holding a long sausage stick like a sword, "I will never diet again!" Cue the music.
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Present
"And that's what happened." Ino nodded saddened, "All that hard work gone. Just like that."
"It's really odd that none of us noticed it," Tenten commented, "You think one of us would have known."
"Who was the girl anyways?" Sakura asked.
"It was the ramen girl."
"You mean the ramen shop owner's daughter?" They all stared at her wide-eyed.
"Yeah," Ino nodded, "That's why Chouji has a hard time with ramen now."
"Well that explains two things," Tenten said, satisfied with that, "Well I have training, so later."
Sakura and Hinata soon left after that, leavng Ino with a whole cake.
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Making sure no one was around, she eagerly took a forkful. Lifting it up to her mouth, she prepared to experience happiness.
"INO!"
Happiness postponed.
Chouji sat in the chair where Sakura had been sitting, "I need your help. I'm going on a diet."
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thanks for reading.
NinjaPower