Hello! Guess what? I've graduated! I hope you all like this chapter!

Chapter 36: Suspicion

"You said you would think about it!"

"No."

"Ino, you're being a wet blanket."

Ino mocked disbelief and gently scratched her chin in wonder. "Wow, when was the last time I heard that? It's not like I wasn't the one saying that to you."

Sakura smirked. "Funny how the tables turned," she mumbled before jumping on the couch and grabbing Ino's shoulders. "We're talking about your child's life, your daughter's life! How crazy is that?" she questioned rambunctiously.

"If you shake me any harder, you might send me into early labor, Sakura."

Sakura released her hands and then plopped on the couch beside her blonde friend. "I'm just saying that you could dig up some dirt. Someone's files can really give you a ton of info. You might even find something Kanna or the others hid from you…but who am I—"

"Will you shut up!" Ino snapped and proceeded to cross her arms in defiance and huff, "I'm not going."

"Yeesh, since when did you become me?" There was a short pause. "Please, Ino?" Green orbs stared back at Ino's stern face as they sat in silence. Ino raised a bow as a long minutes passed. Sakura blinked. "We sat exactly like this when we had that fight about Naruto," Sakura sighed, "except I was on the other end with my arms crossed and you were me, staring at me until I gave in…and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Sakura, what we're about to do has to be illegal?"

"So you're coming?"

"I never said that."

"'Sakura, what we're about to do…' sounds like you approve that we go snoop."

The picture sat in Ino's mind clear as day. The newspaper headlines would say: Pregnant Lady and Konoha's Best Caught Breaking In. Yup, she could say goodbye to her reputation now…or what little prideful reputation left. The best friends tiptoed up the spiral stairs, both grimacing when one of them caused the aged steps to wail under their weight—Ino's steps causing a louder sound than Sakura, no surprise there.

"Ah, dang it," Sakura grumbled when a sliver of light played along the wall, disappearing and reappearing every time a stumbling, cursing figure passed the light's source. "I thought Tsunade would be gone…." The bubble gum haired shinobi raised her hand, signaling Ino to stop and take a breather, which was great since the baby didn't seem to like all the sneaking around and resorted to kicking Ino in the ribcage. Ino slumped against the wall and poked at her hard belly as she watched Sakura creep towards the cracked door and peek into the office.

"Sakura," Ino huffed, struggling to catch a breath, "this really isn't a good idea."

Sakura raised a finger as she quietly slide the door closed, leaving it slightly open in order to avoid the click the door made when closed. Sakura continued walking, leaving Ino to do one thing and one thing only: follow her best friend.

"Think about it this way," her best friend suddenly said as they stopped before navy double doors. Sakura whipped out a ring of keys and thumbed through them, testing a couple here and there. "Since you're about to explode and everything"—Sakura flashed a playful grin at the now frowning Ino—"you need to pick a family soon and doing this may save Sakura Junior from a horrible family."

"For the last time, Sakura, I'm not naming her Sakura."

"Hush!" Ino pursed her lips. "Just think about it. I'm sure Sakura will rub off on you." Sakura grinned before twisting the key to the left and pushing the grand doors open.

"There's no chance in Hell."

"I told you to be quiet…." Sakura jokingly hissed as she tiptoed into the old Konoha archives. Ino listened for her friend's footsteps and tried to feel around with her hands as she willingly stepped into utter darkness. "Look for Kanna," Sakura instructed, suddenly shining a flashlight in Ino's eyes, "and I'll find Noriko and Daichi." With that, Sakura reached into her pocket and tossed a smaller flashlight at Ino then wandered into the decrepit shelves of the Konoha archives.

"All this dust is not healthy for a pregnant woman…." Ino mumbled, watching Sakura's light disappearing.

All Ino needed to do was look for T, Tanaka Kana. Ino spun around, searching for some kind of sign that would lead her to Tanaka Kanna's file, or at least to the T section—whichever one would suffice.

"Ino…"

"Damn, Sakura, you're fast." Ino expected Sakura to shine the light in her face, or she just expected to see some sort of light as Sakura approached her, but Ino sat there in her small spotlight with her back pressed against the shelf. "Sakura?"

A sudden breeze blew by her right side and a figure stood in front of her, too far for the light to reveal what it was. Was it smart to shine the light in its face? Did Ino even want to know?

"Ino, I found it!" A breathless Sakura rounded the corner with a heavy file in her hand and a flashlight in the other. "You're not going to believe what kind of stuff is in here."

Ino took a quick second to flash the light over to where the figment of her imagination stood. As expected, nothing.

"What'd you find?" Ino asked, trying to shake off the feeling that Sakura and Ino weren't the only ones in the room. "Anything good?"

"All I'm saying is you might want to think twice about Noriko and Daichi." Sakura opened their file and flipped to a certain document. "Apparently Tsunade has them on a tight leash in order for them to stay here. It says here that they were con artists from Amekagure. They've stolen so much money and when they were found, they were forced out of the village. They basically had to beg Tsunade to let them stay here. Anyway, did you find Kanna's file?"

"Uh, no. I got distracted."

"Oh, not a problem." Sakura tucked the file under her armpit and began to walk away from the pregnant Ino. "T is a little bit this way. Wait here."

"No, I think I'll go with you this time."

Sakura turned around a corner and when Ino went to follow, she found Sakura climbing a ladder with her flashlight snug between her lips. "Ino," Sakura called with a muffled voice, "Aaan youuu mmivvee mee maaa muhhh?"

"What?"

Sakura just waved her off and pushed the ladder across the shelves, fingering through files. Ino followed, keeping a close eye on her friend.

"Mmmm!" Sakura pulled out of dusty file and carefully climbed down the ladder. Once Sakura had two feet on the ground, she spit out her flashlight and cracked open Kanna's file. Before Sakura could comment on anything, Ino snagged the file away to look at the horrible Tanaka Kanna.

Copies of achievements, a list of promotion and achievements, pictures of her medals, and a near spotless medical record crowded the majority of the folder. From her stats sheets, her successes were more than 80 percent. From what limited light Ino had, she could read that when she was captain, she had ten fatalities…out of who knows how many A-ranked missions. What made it worse is that she retired as an ANBU and she's going to be a teacher at the Academy. How frustrating…. Ino snapped the file shut and shoved it into Sakura's hands.

"What's wrong?"

"I hate being wrong."

It's been a long week for Shikamaru. The week would have been longer if the Hokage required him to stay at the tower to await the teams that survived the Forest of Death. He was able to spend time with Ino, but that was cut short when someone summoned him two days ago to run the preliminary rounds before the final stage of the exams. However, the preliminary rounds dragged on that Shikamaru almost thought there wouldn't be a final phase due to the participants taking forever to beat each other to a pulp.

A boy from the Grass caught Shikamaru's and many other eyes throughout the exams. He and his teammates made it to the tower with both scrolls the first several days while it took other teams to reach the tower the full time limit, others just making the cut by seconds. The Genin didn't look like he was anything special, but Shikamaru, the village genius, couldn't pass judgment considering people assumed he was lazy and nothing special rather than the smartest person in the entire village. The plain Jane's were the people you looked out for.

The boy was scrawny and short, normal for a boy who has yet to hit his growth spurt. His hair was very long and covered his eyes, which caused him to whip his head to the side so he could see what his opponent was doing. However, he moved with such precision and grace that Shikamaru had difficulty believing the boy became a Genin this year.

Shikamaru thumbed through the stacks of the sixteen sheets of paper, each containing background and stats on the top sixteen contenders. His name was Hideaki, at a young age of twelve- years-old.

His opponent was about fourteen and twice the size of the small boy. He fought like Naruto, loud and wild. The only difference between this boy and Naruto was that Naruto actually could plan his strategy whether it is two steps ahead or two seconds ahead. This boy….well, Shikamaru guessed the boy was only given the rank so his village could use him as a bulldozer and an intimidation factor.

"Match goes to Hideaki," the proctor suddenly announced. Shikamaru glanced up from his clipboard to see Hideaki sitting on top of the bigger boy with a kunai to his throat. "Hideaki, you win," the proctor said, inching closer to the young boy who didn't budge but pressed the blade harder against his opponent's neck.

"I'm not done yet," he growled, raising the blade above his head and driving it for the older boy's neck.

The blade clattered against the floor and loose bricks in the wall crumbled to the floor as Gai karate kicked Hideaki off the now crying boy.

Hideaki groaned in distaste as he stood up, brushing the daubery from his already ruined clothes. Shikamaru leaned against the railing to watch what the boy would do next and what he did next surprised the Jonin. The young boy pushed his matted hair away from his face and zeroed in on Shikamaru, whose posture straightened due to tension. Hideaki smiled and winked at the genius before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"I can't believe I broke into the archives."

"Ino."

"I can't believe I was about to give my kid to a couple of con artists….

"Ino."

"What the hell was I thinking?" Ino continued to rant as she swirled the water around in her cup. "They would raise hi—her to become a swindler. I blame Shikamaru! If he hadn't said that he liked Kanna, I wouldn't feel like I had to contradict him!"

"Ino, please—"

"I broke the privacy act but I saved my daughter from a life of crime. Does that cancel things out? Without having one more con artist on the street that just means there's less crime on the streets, right?"

"Ino, will you freaking listen to me!" Sakura hollered, squeezing the blonde's cheeks and staring into her eyes. "Shut. Up. Now." Sakura inhaled a shaky breath and slowly whispered, "Someone is knocking on the door."

"Tsunade knows!"

A muffled voice came from the door, "Tsunade doesn't know anything—can you please let me in?"

Sakura opened the door. Shikamaru leaned against the door frame with his head tilted back so it rested on the frame as well. He had dark purple bags under his eyes and the poor man just looked like he was about to die of exhaustion. His eyes locked onto Ino, who gazes at him with curiosity and concern. Sighing in what sounded like relief, Shikamaru smiled.

"Um," Sakura hummed, "I think I'm going to run home really quick. Shikamaru, make sure Ino doesn't jump out the window."

"Why would you do that?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"She's riddled with guilt…," Sakura sighed and brushed past him before Shikamaru could ask for an explanation.

"Riddled with guilt, huh?" Shikamaru chuckled and gently closed the door behind him before sitting next to Ino on the couch. "Are you uncomfortable?"

"Huh? Uh, no, I have a pillow helping my back a little," Ino answered, refusing to make eye contact with the young man next to her. She could feel his searching eyes boring a hole in her face. "How was your day?" she asked, hoping that carrying a conversation would keep him from dissecting her face any further.

"Bothersome," he mumbled. The fatigue was prominent on his young face. His eyes were dragged down by the large bags under them. Ino patted her lap and beckoned for him to lay his head down. "It won't bug him, right?"

Ino smiled. "There's plenty of room."

Her fingers combed through his hair. She could feel his even, warm breaths against her bare knees as Shikamaru fell into a slumber. Ino tilted her head back against the couch and closed her eyes, combing Shikamaru's hair at a slow, steady rhythm.

"Talk to me," Ino whispered.

"Ino," Shikamaru whispered back as he surprised her by tracing a circle on her knee. "What if our families had dinner together?"

"What makes you think that is a great idea?" Ino laughed. "My dad hates your guts, not to mention mine and your mom is most likely going to kill you when the subject comes up."

"She's already tried," Shikamaru quietly groaned, probably the exhaustion taking over him. "Mom is the one that wants the dinner."

"Oh, right. I forgot she already beat the shit out of you, so I guess she'll behave this time, huh?"

Shikamaru ignored her and just patted her knee. "Shh, Ino, I'm trying to sleep."

Ino giggled. She placed her hand on his arm and gently squeezed. "Go to bed then, but…" Ino trailed as she leaned forward, "I'm having a girl."

Shikamaru didn't response for a long minute, but he looked over his shoulder to stare at Ino's face. "A girl?" he uttered, sounding as if he didn't believe her. Ino nodded, smiling. Shikamaru sat up to stare at the belly that held their precious daughter and—Ino couldn't believe her eyes—he leaned down and kissed Ino's stomach.

Ino never expected Shikamaru to be the sort of person that would or want to care for a child, but she also never expected him to volunteer as a father. Someone who volunteered to parent a child that wasn't theirs was rare, especially among the teens and early twenties. Shikamaru had a life ahead of him, probably marry the woman of his dreams and have beautiful kids. If Ino decided to keep their daughter, Ino would take everything away from Shikamaru, and she couldn't do that since she probably made his life a living hell the past eight months. Over such a long course, Ino didn't recognize the Shikamaru in front of her. This Shikamaru was altruistic and always full of surprises, or was Shikamaru always like this and Ino needed a pregnancy to notice this side to Shikamaru?

A scratching noise screeched from the window, unfortunately ruining the moment Ino and the Nara were in. Shikamaru growled under his breath. He rolled off the couch and trudged towards the window, opening it. A tiny hawk hops in from the outside and perched itself on the couch arm. Ino hesitantly took the note that was tied to its leg.

Yamanaka, my office A.S.A.P!
Tsunade

Ino groaned and crumpled the note, tossing it over her shoulder. She looks at Shikamaru with eyes the size of grapefruits. "She freaking knows."

"I'm glad you managed to make it all the way up here without busting your water, Ino," Tsunade snorted as Ino trekked into the Hokage's office. "Do you have Shikamaru carrying you the whole way or what?"

No, ma'am," Ino snickered back. "I'd like to inform you that I can move and walk like I did before I was pregnant."

"That's an unlikely statement, but I digress. Uh, Shikamaru, you look like you've been wrestling a tiger."

Shikamaru plopped into the seat in front of the Hokage's desk, crossed his arms and stretched out his long legs. "It's been a long day. To be brutally honest, Lady Hokage, this unexpected call was troublesome. It's scary at night and you make us walk."

"You should be used to it."

"Not when someone walks two miles an hour and has to take a break every five minutes."

That's the Shikamaru Ino knew….

Ino smacked Shikamaru across the back of his head. "How about we switch bodies and see how fast you can walk?" She rubbed her belly and pouted. Shikamaru reached over and placed a hand over hers with an apologetic smile. She just smacked his hand away.

"Anyway," Tsunade snapped, waving her hand to dismiss the scene playing in front of her. "I have urgent news and you two are acting like a newlywed couple." The Hokage waited a second to analyze the young shinobi, who were now flushed ten shades of red. "Ino, please sit down before the weight of your stomach causes you to fall face first." Still blushing, Ino dropped into a seat.

"We're ready," Shikamaru said.

"I was informed by the Kumo shinobi that about two weeks ago, the Blue Pub burned to the ground. The cause is assumed to be a grease fire gone badly, but there is still further investigation. According to witnesses, there were only three survivors. The rest…well…."

The room began to spin. Ino wasn't sure if it was the pregnancy starting to kick in, exhaustion catching up to her, or the sudden nausea of thinking that her second family being in danger.

"They burned in the fire," Shikamaru assumed.

"No, they were found dead in the back of the restaurant. They were found lined up. I'm guess someone killed them and then burned the place down, but I'm wondering why this person didn't burn the bodies with the pub."

Shikamaru sideways glanced at Ino before returning his attention to their superior. "If it's the person I'm thinking of, there should be a reason why he did such a thing. Will there be autopsies?"

"Yes."

"Are we getting the results?"

"No," Tsunade responded, "but I can request them."

"Mmm, what can you tell me about the survivors? Like who they are?"

"The survivors are yet to be discovered. Witnesses just saw three people walking out of the pub a few minutes before the fire starting. They couldn't see their faces because they had hoods over them, but authorities are searching for them based off eye witnesses who have seen them around Kumo in the past few days. From what I'm told, they're heading in this direction, and I'm assuming that if they're on their way, so is Hidan." Tsunade flashes a concerned look in Ino's direction, but she ignores it and focuses on not having some sort of heart or panic attack. "Hidan was spotted a few days ago in Grass. I'll have border patrol keep their eyes out for all of them and I'll have ANBU looking for Hidan. Shikamaru, please stay vigilant and stay with Ino. We can never predict an Akatsuki member's moves."

"Understood."

"Good, go get some rest. I'll have ANBU walk you home; I know you two are very tired."

As Shikamaru and Ino made their way down the stairs, Ino grasped Shikamaru hand and gripped it tightly. "I'm scared," she whispered. Her voice sounded shaky and Shikamaru knew she was holding back tears.

"Yeah," he whispered back, squeezing her hand. "I am, too."