First of all, please forgive us for updating so late. The last chapter hit 10 reviews since Friday, but we were experiencing a major case of writer's block and couldn't put a decent chapter together. Sorry about that.
That said, we would like to inform you that starting from now we'll be constantly skipping through months so that the birth process won't take forever. We will also try to provide you with as much romance as possible (given the plot of the story) before the drama starts to kick back in.
What? You didn't really expect the drama to be over, did you?
As a reminder, Ino found out that she was 9 weeks pregnant on chapter 7 (Consequence), so this will be the 3rd month. Hope this chapter is to your liking despite the fact that we pretty much had to bang our heads together in order to finish it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Strange, Strange
(Month Three)
The beam of sunlight hitting him directly on the eyes forced him to wake up much earlier than he would have liked. Groaning, he sat up with his eyes half-closed and stretched his aching back, which felt stiff after having to sleep huddled in a couch that wasn't big enough for him.
"Haaaaaa." He yawned noisily and pushed the sheet aside to stretch his creaky legs to the floor. "Damn, I feel like sh-"
Wait a second…
Shikamaru turned his head to the sheet and stared at it suspiciously. As far as he remembered, he'd only brought a pillow with him the previous night, so where had that sheet come from?
"Morning!" Ino chirped. He looked up to see his teammate…
Scratch that.
He looked up to see his wife standing at the door that connected the kitchen and the living room, already fully dressed and radiant while his eyes were still stuck together at the corners.
"Did you bring this?" He asked, gesturing with his head at the sheet.
"Oh." Ino gave him a content smile. "You looked like you were cold, so I brought it for you. I figured you'd be too lazy to get up and do it yourself."
"Hm, thanks." He replied simply, not wanting to tell her that the only reason he'd been curled up while sleeping was because the couch was too small for him. That would only remind her why he had slept there to begin with. "What are you doing up so early anyways?"
"I have to go to work."
"Work?" He got up and stretched his back some more. "Have you talked to Tsunade already? You shouldn't get missions assigned to you anymore."
"I can still go out on missions." She pouted childishly. "But that's not what I'm doing. I have my job at the flower shop, in case you don't remember."
"Will you be fine with that, though? Your dad told me you haven't been feeling well lately."
"My, my. Are you worried about me?" Ino batted her thick lashes at him.
"I need a shower." He rolled his eyes. "Don't leave without me, I want to walk you there in case you decide to faint on the way."
"Oh-kay!" Ino sang cheerfully. "But breakfast is ready, so hurry up!"
Shikamaru stopped in his tracks.
"You made breakfast? … for me?"
(Loves Me… Loves Me Not…)
"Ne, ne."
"Hm?"
"What are you going to do today?" Ino asked as they made their way to the village. "Do you have any missions?"
"Nah, I have the day off." He yawned. "I guess I'll just drop by at Chouji's place, or maybe pay my fols a visit. I could walk you back home after work if you'd like."
"Sure!" Her eyes lit up as his offer. "That'd be great!"
"Sorry it's so far from the village." Shikamaru apologized, knowing that in a few months the distance to be covered would cause her many inconveniences. "It was the only thing I could get in such a short notice."
"It's ok. I love our new house." She smiled and edged closer to him, hanging on to his arm.
His back stiffened at her unexpected action.
"You don't mind, do you?"
"N-No, no…" He shook his head awkwardly, focussing his eyes on the road.
"You know, I've always wanted to have a boyfriend so we could walk like this. It looks really sweet when couples do it."
"Yeah? Too bad instead of the boyfriend you wanted, you got a husband like me."
"Haha. What's wrong with that?" She tilt her head. "Aside from you being lazy, bitter, boring-"
"Oi, oi. I get it!" He chuckled. "You couldn't have found anyone better!"
"Riiiiiiight! I just thought that, since we're a couple now, we should act like one."
"Mendo-" He began to mumble, but was interrupted by Ino.
"Ne, Shikamaru… Do you think we make a cute couple?" She asked, her cheeks blushing slightly.
"Not if the couple includes me!" He laughed out.
(Loves Me… Loves Me not…)
"Ino-chan!" Ino's mother greeted with a pleasant smile as soon as they laid a foot inside the flower shop. "Good morning, Shikamaru-kun."
Shikamaru blinked in surprise at the familiarity with which she talked to him.
Despite their father's friendship and 5 years as teammates, Ino's mother had rarely ever talked to him (unlike Chouji's mother, who insisted on feeding him 3 servings of everything whenever he visited) and had most certainly never referred to him using the -kun suffix.
"Good morning, Mrs. Yamanaka." He replied with an awkward smile.
"Morning!" Ino greeted as well, completely oblivious to his uneasiness.
"How are you doing? Are you hungry? I can fix you something up if you want." She offered sweetly and Shikamaru couldn't ignore the fact that the questions were directed to him and not to both of them.
Strange...
"He's already had breakfast mom!" Ino puted indignantly. "Did you think I wouldn't feed my husband?!"
And all of a sudden, he felt like a newly acquired pet.
So that was it! No wonder she'd wanted to hold on to his arm as they walked and beamed and waved at any familiar face they found. She was showing him off as she would a new pair of shoes or an expensive coat!
It was hard to decide if he should feel flattered or insulted, so he remained neutral instead.
"Where's Daddy, anyways?"
"He had a mission, so he left this morning." Her mother pulled off her pink apron and held it out for Ino to take. "Well, the flower shop's all yours dear. If you need anything, let me know."
"Yeah, yeah." Ino huffed. "Like I haven't been working here forever."
"She's acting… strange…" He commented as soon as the woman had stepped out of the shop.
"She's always strange." Ino answered while tying on the apron. "It's just that she hardly talks, that's why Daddy and I take care of the shop most of the time."
"So what time should I pick you up?"
"At six." She smiled, her blue eyes twinkling. "Thank you for walking me- Sai-kun!"
Her smile widened into an ear-to-ear grin as all her attention was focussed on the pale boy that had just walked in, Shikamaru becoming instantly invisible.
"Good morning." Sai greeted with that awfully annoying blank smile plastered on his face.
"Hm." Shikamaru grunted in response. Sai's presence seemed to bother him more than usual today.
"Good morning." Ino gushed out, every word dripping with honey as she leaned sassily against the counter and batted her thick lashes at him. "How can I help you?"
"I want to make some new paintings and remembered that you had nice bouquets here the last time I came." Sai's smile remained as emotionless as his words, but Ino was too obviously fixated by his bare abbs that the fact went unnoticed by her.
"'Course we do!" Shikamaru grimace as Ino skipped next to Sai and held on to his arm, steering him over to the extravagant bouquets lining the right wall. "Are you looking for any sort of flowers in specific, or…"
He knew well enough that flirting was part of Ino's nature, it came to her almost as naturally as breathing and, to be honest, it wouldn't be the first time she flirted with someone right on his face.
He was also aware that she'd had a crush on Sai for quite a while (even though her insinuations were never detected by the clueless artist) and that the way she was acting right now wasn't unusual at all, he only thought that Ino should at least try to control herself given the fact that she was now, you know, married…
To him of all people!
A married woman shouldn't be acting like that, especially when she was about to be a mother. Even he knew that!
Yes, that was what bothered him.
Not the way she was looking at Sai.
Not the way she held on to Sai's arm as she had done with him barely 10 minutes before.
Certainly NOT the way she seemed to have completely forgotten about his existence, because being angry about such things would mean he was jealous, and Shikamaru was definitely not jealous.
"I'm heading to Chouji's place.· He announced as he made his way to the door, even though Ino was probably too busy with her "customer" to even listen, let alone care. "See you at six."
He was right at the door when he felt a slight tug on his arm and his eyes were lost in a tangle of blonde hair.
"Bye!" Ino chirped, placing a light kiss on his right cheek. "Take care!" And with that she skipped back inside the shop.
Shikamaru stood frozen in place, looking up at the street in confusion.
Where… was he supposed to be going?
(Loves Me… Loves Me Not…)
Ino.- Q&A Time!
Shikamaru.- I thought you'd stopped doing that already.
Ino.- Question N6, "Why (seriously why) was there no lemon in the last chapter?" Hey, I remember you wanted to add something like that, didn't you?
Ten.- Well, yeah… but after some debating with my team, we decided it would be better to avoid such scenes, given the fact that this is a T rated story and all.
Shikamaru.- In other words, they forbid you from writing it.
Ten.- Pretty much, yeah.
Glacia.- The story is fine as it is. There is no need nor place for such scenes in it.
Shikamaru.- Really? 'Cause I heard lemon makes you uneasy.
Glacia.- Gah! That… that is not…
Vianey.- Hey, come on Shikamaru! You didn't want the lemon either.
Shikamaru.- True, but I can't really waste an opportunity to bash you all, can I?
Vianey.- Hmp! You know well enough that we prefer fluff to lemon and that we couldn't write lemon scenes even if we wanted to!
Shikamaru.- Yeah, I know. I mean, without first-hand experience, how could you?
Vianey.- OMG Shikamaru! I'm going to kill you!
Shikamaru.- *Sprints away* You'll have to catch me first! Hahahah!
Vianey.- Get back here!
Ino.- I have no idea what's going on in here… heh… review?