8

Hello :)

I came up to an idea I would like to develop in a story. And I would like to share it with whoever wants to read it.

I never found anything about how Choji and Karui met, liked and decided they are family material to each other. So I am tempted to write something about them. We will see what will happen.

Well... Enjoy (I hope) :)

A New Beginning

It was over… The fourth shinobi war had just ended…In the crack of dawn everyone could take deep breaths, knowing they wouldn't put their lives on the line. Anyway that knowledge had a price… And that price was a high one - the price every single village had to pay participating in the united shinobi army. Each village gave a lot of victims. Many shinobis had buried their comrades and friends… their relatives… their love partners…some of them - even their children.

Naturally with the end of the war came the All Kages' Meeting. In that meeting, they all expressed a strong desire for a suitable end to all of this and to somehow set up the new united start of all hidden villages/together with establishing a permanent Union of the Five Great Hidden Villages. Maybe some kind of symbol - symbol of peace. One that could be carried through/over the years, so the next generations wouldn't forget about the shinobies that had lost their lives.

The Kages attending that meeting were: Oonoki - Tsuchikage of the Hidden Rock village; A - Reikage of the Hidden Cloud village; Mei - Mizukage of the Hidden Mist village; Gaara - Kazekage of the Hidden Sand village and Kakashi - Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village… and their bodyguards.

"A Festival." said Oonoki and looked at the rest of the kages underneath his thick grey eyebrows.

"Doesn't a Festival sound a bit… ordinary?" Mei disagreed while carefully throwing back her chestnut hair.

"A parade then?" offered the Reikage, placing his only arm on the table. Though none of the others reacted positively about it. That, in turn, led to a grudge on his part.

"I am thinking-" Gaara started quietly, "-it should be something symbolic that emphasises on the lack of difference between the shinobis and the villages."

Oonoki and Mai nodded, Kakashi rubbed thoroughly his chin through his mask.

"Memorable day of the masks?" Kakashi asked. All eyes turned to him, causing him to smile in discomfort. "A day we would honour all victims of the Fourth war as all shinobis wear the very same mask?"

"Isn't it a bit too impersonal?" asked Mei, pondering.

"That's the main idea." Gaara nodded, understanding perfectly the meaning Kakashi had put in the proposition. "There shouldn't be any difference, there shouldn't be any matter of the village the shinobies are coming from. I would go even further - all the same clothes and wigs."

"That sounds like too much." Reikage shook his head.

"I am going to agree with you here." Mei nodded.

"Gaara may be right, actually." Oonoki said thoughtfully. "It is clear this day is going to be more symbolic as the time goes, But about all of us, who lost so many comrades, maybe it is not too much after all…but somehow needed, so we can overcome the losses together."

"So we could do it like that this year - same masks, clothes and wigs." Kakashi intervened. "We should blend just like we did on the battlefield."

"How do we ensure safety?" Raikage asked, "We shouldn't forget that even united, we still have foes."

"We should ensure guard posts around the chosen place." Gaara crossed his arms before his chest.

"So we have to ensure a "chosen place" first." Mai pointed out.

"Since the Fire country is somewhat in the middle, it looks like it is best to be the host." Oonoki frowned and also crossed his arms before his chest.

"That can be done, yes." Kakashi nodded.

"But… Even if you put on a mask on everyone and dress them the same way, we still have our unique chakra signature. Our friends and comrades would recognise us with no mistake. The "blending" you speak of is not going to work the way you imagine it." Mei shook her head.

"Why wouldn't it?" Gaara was genuinely curious.

"Because every shinobi would prefer the company of his or her friends and comrades in most cases." the Raikage explained and narrowed his eyes.

"So you say, for the "blending" to work properly we should eliminate the "chakra signature" factor?" Gaara raised his eyebrows and tapped a finger on his chin.

"More or less, this is kind of a condition." Mei agreed, leaning ahead, placing her elbows on the table.

"Every jounin can almost perfectly suppress the chakra if it is required." Kakashi intervened.

"That's true… But if it is required, we should exclude the lower rank shinobis, shouldn't we?"

"I don't think we can gather the rest of the united army in one place." Oonoki said. "You should be a bit more realistic. It must be more symbolyc."

"What if…" Kakashi spoke with a bit of a dreamy voice. "Let's organise Festivals in each village at the same time. About the Memorable day of the masks, let's do it with a small group of shinobis, that we will entrust to go in each village and honour symbolically on our behalf. Travelling together." Each village will pick up from 2 to 5 shinobies. What do you think about that?"

There was a short silence as the kages were thinking about the last idea.

"I do like that." Gaara stated as the first one that spoke.

"I also find the idea good." A agreed.

Mei and Oonoki nodded.

"We could gather the representatives near the Fire country's north border as a starting travelling point." Oonoki grinned. "And the next important question appears - which will be the first village in the tour?"

"I suggest Suna." Gaara leaned back and slightly smiled. "Also I think the first village should change every year so it would be more fair that way." His idea was gladly welcomed.

"So in this case the chakra suppression is completely unnecessary." Mai said.

"It seems so." Kakashi nodded. "The masks and the outfits will be a must only during the villages' visits. It sounds more reasonable this way."

"It is not necessarily needles." said A. "Maybe it is a good idea to suppress their chakras in the villages themselves so the locals would not recognise them."

There was a short silence. It was followed by short discussion mostly about the security aspects - it was indeed dangerous to let shinobis with suppressed chakra signatures in a village. - anyone could have used that for an advantage. In the end they decided for chakras to be suppressed but the participants to go under thorough check up before entering the villages.

"According to the participants in the tour…" Oonoki spoke. "I would suggest a condition to pick up young shinobies…" He smiled slyly. "Nothing could be more uniting than travelling together, spending time together. So we may as well use this as a chance to pick the ones coming after us."

The rest of the Kages looked at the eldest one with slight surprise. Mei's face bloomed with a beautiful smile. She turned to Chojuro: "Mind to join a group of young and pleasant company for about a month?" Her voice was low and silky. The boy, almost a young man, slightly blushed by the sudden attention.

"Whatever your orders are, Mizukage-sama," he answered shortly. Then his head dropped down in embarrassment.

"Shikamaru, I hope you understand…?" Kakashi said quietly, never turning back.

"Yes, you can count on me," the black-haired young man nodded.

"Also I would ask you to pick-"

"I already have." Shikamaru interrupted him.

Kakashi smiled with some confusion and looked at him, nodding.

"Kankuro…" Gaara turned to his brother who was standing two steps behind him. "Temari and yourself are going to join that." Kankuro just nodded, not saying a word.

"Darui…" A started but the other man shook his head.

"Let Shee go." he said, a hearable plea in his voice. The Raikage nodded thoughtfully.

"Of course Kurotsuchi is also going to join." Oonoki grinned at his granddaughter, who didn't really look moved by her grandfather's choice with her performing in this task.

"Of course…" she said under her breath.

Gaara got up and vortexed a small amount of sand, mixing it up with his own chakra and held in hands a mask after a few seconds. He placed it down the table. The mask only resembled human facial features - it had holes for the eyes, little holes in the base of the nose, but it lacked mouth and expression.

The Kages were gazing at the mask for a few minutes.

"I believe-" said Oonoki. "- there is no better mask than this one."

Gaara nodded and slightly smiled.

"A Festival, called Celebration of Peace and Memorable day of the masks," whispered Mei and smiled tenderly, while looking at the mask.

—-

Kankuro looked at the rest of their little group: Temari, his sister, whom he knew better than anyone; Ameno - a medic ninja, really generous and kind person, who had gotten close to Temari after the war; Itetsu - a young shinobi, honestly admiring Gaara, which was the main reason they picked him up.

"Well, it looks like everyone is here." Temari said, placing her hands on her hips.

"So it is time to get going then." Kankuro set his pack on his back.

"It is a bit weird to be on a mission that doesn't require any fighting." Ameno said quietly, glancing at Temari, who just shrugged.

"One can never know." Kenkuro intervened, looking at her with the edge of his really dark eyes. "We shouldn't relax too much though."

"Do you really believe that everything will go on peacefully?" Itetsu asked quietly. He was feeling really uneasy in the very close presence of Suna's princess and one of their princes. He felt…small, even though Temari's height was barely reaching his nose.

"We will form a fine group of 15-20 very well prepared shinobis… I really don't think there will be any sane person that would attack us without proper preparation. Taking in consideration that the decision about the whole organisation had been taken about 5 days ago… Let's say I have serious doubts in believing that someone is going to attack us. And what would you think will be the purpose?" Kankuro turned his face, painted with a few thick purple lines, to him.

"To stir trouble?" guessed Itetsu.

"The only valid reason for an attack I see is to simulate a battle between all of us, participants. The purpose would be to set some doubt on the Future Union and shake out the freshly created trust." Temari grinned without any trace of joy.

"Oh…" The youngest shinobi lowered his head at the image of the overly-toothy smile and the mocking sparkle in the teal eyes of his princess.

"Temari, you are scaring the boy off." Kankuro teased her. His sister didn't have a good sense when to stop sometimes…

"Sometimes the boys should get scared," she answered unabashedly.

Ameno chuckled quietly, placing a hand over her mouth.

"You do understand that there will be no man wanting to get married to you, if you keep behaving this way?" Kankuro asked, raising one of his eyebrows ironically.

"Why on earth do you think I even want to get married?" She replied a bit sharper than she wanted to.

"I have no idea if you do." He said slowly and turned to face her. They have decided to seal their uniforms in scrolls, that's why he was dressed in black from head to toe, having a hood on his head, face - carefully painted. He really looked scarier like that than he was in his uniform. "What I am saying is that it won't be happening at all if you keep behaving like that!

"It is like any woman would take you in voluntarily!" she hissed at him.

Itetsu visibly shrank and went a bit closer to Ameno, who was currently trying to get the backpack comfortable on her shoulders and untwist her sleeveless white tunic. He slightly leaned to her and whispered warily: "Are they treating each other this way usually?" he asked.

She looked at him, fixing her collar. Then she smiled kindly, shrugging…

"Most of the time, when there is nothing really important to discuss, actually they do…"

The youngest shinobi glanced at them again - Temari was threatening her brother with a fist and he didn't seem to be the one to back off. Her arms looked deceptively gentle in the long light purple sleeves of her top, over which she wore a thin strapped grey vest. Her short dark blue skirt could open fully from the front, exposing her long and muscular legs, wearing black shorts.

She was so heated and angry, that her hands grabbed the giant fan, folded on her back, ready to blow her brother away.

"Even when Gaara-sama is there?" Itetsu asked unbelievably.

"Yes, even when he is present." Ameno checked if her light brown hair was tightly tied. "Gaara-sama just ignores them and lets them sort it out by themselves."

"Oh…" was everything Itetsu could mutter.

"Don't you have siblings?" she asked, glancing at him with the edge of her eyes. Itetsu unwillingly wondered what colour her eyes were exactly - they looked amberish and brown at the same time. He decided they were light brown.

"No…"

"Well, the relations between siblings are often like what you see here. They look like they hate each other, but actually are just teasing a bit rougher since they are close enough to allow it."

He looked at Temari and Kankuro again - they had finished their argument and they looked upset with each other, And even though they walked shoulder to shoulder, they looked in different directions.

"Well, it will be quiet for a while." Ameno chuckled, nodding her head to them. "Let's go."

She took a few light and graceful stepps on the path and Itetsu followed her.

—-

The young kunoichi was standing in front of Kirigakure's gate, feeling uneasy. She was really surprised when Mei-sama called for her two days ago. She then explained that the kunoichi had been chosen to present the village in a special shinobi squad. The squad's purpose was to make a round through all of the Hidden villages, paying tribute to all shinobis,victims of the war. The young woman would have to spend almost a month in the company of complete strangers. She would have to wear a mask, a wig and a uniform inside all of the villages, while she completed a ritual of paying tribute. She felt this responsibility really heavy on her shoulders. And she was scared to be the cause for one to make fun of her village or Mei-sama.

Her dark brown hair barely reached her shoulders and now was swaying slightly from the morning breeze. It was a weird feeling to not have a forehead protector. Mei-sama had insisted on that - she had said that this squad… there will be no affiliation.

Her black eyes drifted in the distance, carefully following the outlines of the boat that was going to take them to the mainland. Them… She was waiting for someone but she didn't know who. All that she knew was, they were going to be two…

"Good morning, Ruka-san."

She turned around so suddenly, her hair got in her eyes. In front of her stood not anyone else, but one of Mizukage-sama's personal bodyguards and a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. The young man was shy at first sight and Ruka had never actually communicated with him at all. She had never seen him from such a short distance as well. She had a chance to actually take a look at him - he had a nice-looking face and his sides were flushed with embarrassment. His light blue hair was shortly cut, his dark eyes were protected by glasses, as were his ears. She thought the ear protectors were actually a headset when she first saw them.

The holster of his sword Hiramekarei was passing over his left shoulder and his chest. Underneath it Chojuro was wearing a simple long-sleeve blue polo top. His legs were in simple beige pants. She realised that if Hiramekarei's handle wasn't peeking over his right shoulder, she may not be able to recognise the man at all.

"Good morning, Chojuro-sama," she replied politely and bowed down in respect.

He smiled shyly, revealing his sharpened teeth, typical for the members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

"We will have to spend the next month together," he quietly said. "You can lose the sama... " when he peeked into her eyes, filled with doubts, he added: "If you feel it is suitable, of course."

"I think I will keep it for the time being." She laughed uncomfortably and shifted her gaze to the boat in an attempt to change the topic. "Maybe we should board?"

"Yeah, we could board. The boat should depart in fifteen minutes." The man looked at his watch.

Chojuro walked past her at a respectful distance, heading down to the dock. Ruka took a deep breath and followed him. She didn't expect him. She actually didn't know who she was expecting, but it certainly was not him.

He slowed down a bit, giving her a chance to catch up.

She had some questions… quite a lot actually, But she wasn't sure it was all right to just ask away. She didn't know him, even a bit. Although he looked like a calm and collected person, he may get angry at her curiosity.

"You look troubled…?" he asked without even looking at her.

Ruka glanced at him and decided that honesty would be the best policy at the moment.

"I don't know anyone… We will be together with shinobis, absolutely foreign to me." She looked at him yet again.

"Well, they will also be with shinobis they don't know anything about. Well, most of them anyway," he shrugged. He was right though.

"But… but…" she took a breath, struggling to form a sentence.

"Look…" Chojuro turned to her just before he stepped on the boat. "You don't know me either. I do understand you are worried. But they are not our enemies. I am not an enemy. I will be there, by your side, all the time. Whatever happens I will be there, and we will fight side by side if we must. You know you can trust me about that one, don't you?"

She nodded shortly. He was Mei-sama's bodyguard. Ruka was sure that Chojuro was maybe the most trustful shinobi in her whole village.

"And you do have an advantage - you surely know more about me than I do about you. Actually the only thing I know about you is your name."

The man stepped on the boat and reached his hand to her. She nodded and took his hand.

—-

The two men were walking to the Tsuchikag's tower. They had already introduced themselves to each other so they were just walking side by side in comfortable silence.

The younger one had obviously constrained facial expression. His complexion was pale and his black, shoulder length hair was covered with a red wrap. He was shorter than the other man, thinner. The older one was taller and bigger. His face expression was definite, calmer and his skin - slightly darker. His short light brown hair was sticking out pleasantly and the circular beard made him look even more collected than he already was.

"Wasn't it more logical to meet up at Iwagakure's gates?" asked the younger one.

"Tsuchikage-sama wants to talk with us. So we have to go to the tower anyway. It was simply easier Kurotsuchi-sama to wait there for us," the older one answered calmly.

When they reached the tower, the guards checked their passes and let them in.

In Oonoki's office a young short kunoichi with short black hair and interesting pink eyes had made herself comfortable. She had placed her feet on a short table in the corner, eating an apple. When the men entered inside, she put her feet down, left the apple in a small white plate, then got up. She approached them and reached out for the older man with her hand, smiling softly.

"Good morning! I am Kurotsuchi."

"Ittan," the man replied. "Good morning, Kurotsuchi-sama." When she released his hand, he stepped back and bowed.

There was a slight uneasiness crossing on her face but she didn't say a thing. Instead, she turned to the younger one to introduce herself.

"Sagan, your highness…" he muttered, looking down, his sides flushed. That was the princess… And he had felt anxious about meeting her.

The woman slightly laughed and turned to the elder man behind the desk.

"Well, they are already here. I am going to get my bag and we can be on our way." She smiled and left the office.

"Now, let's talk business now." Oonoki started to talk to both of the men the moment the door shut. "You have been chosen because you do not tend to stir trouble. And the last thing we need right now is trouble." It was well known Oonoki had become painfully straight forward as he aged. "I want you to blend with the other shinobis from the other villages. And not only to not cause trouble, but to interject each time there is even a glimpse of an eventual problem. And to prevent it."

Ittan frowned but nodded. Sagan didn't dare to breathe.

"Kurotsuchi is well aware of all of that. But if you have to, you can remind her what we talked about." Oonoki sighed and placed his hands over the desk. "This is much more of an organised squad to honour the victims. This is kind of a check-up if we are able to collaborate together… the villages I mean." He looked at them under his big grey eyebrows. Ittan nodded, calm yet again, Sagan flinched.

"We will do everything for the event to go as smoothly and peacefully as possible," said Ittan and bowed slightly.

"Alright, alright." Oonoki nodded almost happily. "Nara Shikamaru will be there as far as I am informed. Listen well to what he is saying. He is one of the smartest men living in the five villages."

Sagan's eyes widened. The older one nodded again, still and peaceful as there wasn't anything important. He had seen Shikamaru during the war and he already had an observation on him. It was not so hard to believe - he knew the Konoha's shinobi was the Hokage's oficial bodyguard and his advisor. The advisors were picked carefully. And if Shikamaru was elected to that position, there was a good reason.

"You can go." The Tsuchikage waved, attempting to shoo them out of the office.

The men went out in the hallway and headed for the exit of the tower, where they were going to wait for Kurotsuchi.

—-

"Nothing will happen if I tap my finger on your mask!" The red-haired woman with dark skin and amber eyes tapped on one of the masks demonstratively. "Do you see?! Stop making it up!"

"It is not true - an inconspicuous crack may appear, it can expand with the climate changes in the different villages. Especially considering we are going to Suna first. You are aware that the bodies expand in higher temperatures, so that means the crask will expand even more. And the desert - there is a strong wind over there that could dig the sand out of the mask. When we hold the ritual the mask may fall apart over my face. That could mean…"

"Just stop!" The woman hit him hard, sending him a few feet away. "That's just your pessimistic gibberish and you know it!"

Omoi rubbed his chin unhappily. He looked up at his teammate and frowned - she was getting angry way too easily. She just…refused to sit and think the way he was doing it. But he could tell she was pissed enough and he prefered to stay silent. He got up and took a lollipop out of his pocket.

Karui huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Her body was thin, lithe, her breasts were small, which was a reason for Omoi's often offences. She tried to fix up her white vest over the olive green sleeveless top. Her vest was standard for all the uniforms of the Cloud shinobis - it was passing over her right shoulder and enveloping her torso.

Contrasting the dark skins Karui and Omoi had, there were two light skinned and blond-haired shinobis approaching. The woman looked bored, the man was smiling impishly. She turned and without any obvious reason she grabbed his ear, twisting it painfully.

"Atsui-" she said calmly and narrowed her blue eyes, ignoring his protests fully. "-behave. Do you hear me?" she asked.

"Yes, yes! Damn it! Let me go, Oneesan!"

"I will let you go, though I want to make sure you have heard me. That's why I am even here."

He nodded, a painful expression over his face.

"Good." The woman released him and he placed a hand over his ear, sulking. "If you cause any problems, A-sama will punish you harshly when you come back," she added, distractingly massaging her shoulder. "As far as I was informed your punishment will include a lot of missions rank D, three groups of small children unfinished at the academy and regularly cleaning of not so pleasant trash."

The man shrank visibly and slightly snarled.

"I am happy you understand."

"Samui, why are you so evil?" he shouted.

"I am the older one, I am supposed to be evil. It is coming with the age difference."

Karui laughed purely-heartedly, Omoi raised his eyebrows and moved the lollipop in his other cheek.

"Amai-san, you can come out now," announced Samui looking at the second tree on the left.

A shinobi in a standard uniform for the Hidden Cloud jumped down from the tree - black sleeveless top, black loose pants, ordinary sandals and white vest. The moment he landed, he bowed respectfully to Samui, then got up. He was young, kind of pretty - he had short soft light brown hair and big black eyes. He slightly smiled at the rest of the group.

"How long… have you…?" Omoi asked, pointing to the tree with his chin.

"Oh, around an hour or so," he said with a shy smile.

"Why didn't you show up?" Karui stepped up, showing provocatively her leg through her dark green skirt's slit. She looked like she was going to attack him.

"I do have an explanation." Samui said, sighing lightly. "As far as I know you two, and I do pretty well, you started yelling at each other even before you got here. In his place, I would have also stood hidden."

Atsui started to laugh out loud and his blond chin-long hair moved along with his head. His sister glanced at him through her eyelashes but said nothing.

"Karui, Omoi…" she sighed. "Omoi, please try to keep those logical conclusions and predictions to yourself." She was looking at the man with short cut white hair, dressed in a loose grey hooded top under the standard vest. "Karui, try to count to ten before hitting anyone or yelling at someone, unless it is my brother. Then you don't have to count, he usually deserves it anyway…"

Karui's smile caused really unpleasant chills over Atsui's back. He slid his hands over his body sides as he was checking his weapons' supply. His clothes, anyway, weren't different from what Amai wore, as they weren't different from the clothes of the man with sand-colored hair, black eyes and light complexion that was approaching them.

"Well, it looks like Shee is here as well." Samui said and pulled out a scroll from her pocket.

When the newcomer was close enough, she handed the scroll in.

"You got instructions on how to open the Hidden Mist Village's scroll, right?" she asked.

"Yes." Shee nodded. "And we are supposed to give our scroll to the Hidden Stone shinobies, right?" he exclaimed tightly.

Samui nodded. Then she stepped towards her brother, placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed tightly. He took a sharp breath through his teeth.

"Would you stop hurting me?" he hissed.

"There are two decent medics in your group," she replied softly. "You will be fine." She looked at them for the last time. "Good luck." Then she turned around and walked down the path with moderately slow steps.

"Great… I am in a group with men only… I am going to die out of boredom," Karui mumbled.

"There are women that would actually be happy." Astui grinned so widely that his light blue eyes looked like two slits for a moment.

"Right on the target," Omoi said. "Women, not flat-chested…"

Karui turned to her teammate, dangerous flames sparkled in her amber eyes.

"I would run if I was you." Atsui shared and looked at Omoi with pity.

Karui prepared her fist for a tough hit. Omoi really ran off. Atsui chuckled. Amai and Shee crossed gazes and just shrugged.

—-

The Residences of the three clans - Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi, shared a common border, marked with beautiful wooden gazebo. That place had become the most used one for meeting between the three representatives of these clans and former teammates. Although they didn't have any blood relationship, their clans were so close between each other, that they had grown together and were feeling like real relatives - two brothers and a sister, siblings. Their clans have developed the perfect collaboration between the specific for each of the clan's abilities.

This morning there was a man headed down to the gazebo - he had a lithe figure and tied on a high spiky ponytail black hair. Even if he looked potentially very agile, he was moving slowly, even lazy, as if what was about to happen next was really something he loathed. His face looked quite bored. His hands darted to his pockets and settled comfortably in them.

There was a man and a woman already waiting in the gazebo - the woman was blond, the man was big, his brown hair was cascading down his back in spikes. They were talking but the woman was obviously anxious. Her long sparkling blonde hair slightly moved when she shook her head emotionally. When she saw the man approaching, she got up right away and took a few angry stepps towards him, staring at him with bright blue eyes.

"Oi, Shikamaru!" Ino frowned at her ex-teammate and childhood friend. "Will I ever see you hurry for anything at all?" She crossed her arms before her chest, still looking pissed.

"There are ten more minutes until the meeting at the gate. There is no reason for me to be in a hurry. We will get there earlier anyway." He replied and didn't even try to hide his tired facial expression.

"We have to go to Tenten's apartment," she sighed with a slightly worried expression. "I worry about her."

"You are worried about almost everybody." The other man said, stepping out of the gazebo.

"That's not true!" she denied, glancing at him over her shoulder.

"It's true." The black-haired one sighed and shrugged. "And why on earth should we all go to Tenten's apartment? Just head there alone, pick her up and come to the meeting. We will be there."

"I just can't believe how hard-hearted you have gotten and you don't give a damn about anything!" Her mouth was indeed slightly opened by surprise while he was talking.

"Don't be a drag," he frowned. "Whatever… I am heading to the gate. You can do whatever you please." Shikamaru turned and walked to the gate. "Just have in mind we are leaving on time. Make sure to not be late." He had turned his head slightly over his shoulder, but he never raised his very dark eyes to look at her.

"I just can't believe it…" she whispered, repeating and shaking her head.

The big man wasn't sure how he was supposed to react. He wanted to follow both of them, though that could not be possible. He was standing on the gazebo's entrance, shoulders relaxed, moving his sad gaze from one of his friends to the other.

"Choji, it is all right." She turned to him with a kind smile. "You can go with him. You would tell me afterwards how he scratched his ears till blood came out, because I intend to curse him all the way to Tenten's. His ears should be burning."

The man looked at her in disbelief.

"Ino, that's really not… you." Ha said, trying to calm her.

"But for him-" she pointed at the other man with her chin. "-I can become one."

Choji shook his head, looking at her with great doubt and ran off after his friend. His hair spikes slightly moved because of the speed and his light grey vest caught a glimpse of the sunlight, making it sparkle for just a moment.

Ino flinched. Shikamaru had changed quite a bit after his father's death. He had become more…distant and more…rude. It was like his soft side had become rougher. She was worried for him as well but he had dodged all of her efforts to help him, refusing to cooperate. And she really wanted to help him because he was really dear to her. He was one of her brothers. Of course Ino was not going to give up - she was planning to get under his skin little by little and make him share his feelings with her. It was going to be hard, but Choji was going to help her.

She turned on her heels and ran off towards Tenten's apartment. She was already late and there was a chance her friend had left. And she really had - when Ino got there and knocked on the door, no one answered. She looked up to the window - whenever Tenten was home, the window was open and the light bluish veil was waving out. It was closed at the moment.

Ino squeezed her eyes for a moment and ran towards Konoha's gate. Of course she got there last.

Tenten nodded at her, Lee waved a greeting with a really wide smile on his face.

"Good morning, Ino-san," he greeted respectfully and slightly more enthusiastically than it was bearable for her right now.

Though he was guilty of nothing, she suppressed her bad mood and smiled back: "Good morning." Then she turned to Tenten and her smile changed to an apologetical one. "I am sorry, I had some seat backs on the way." She glanced at Shikamaru. He did nothing but ignore her completely.

"Don't worry." Tenten smiled tiredly and narrowed her beautiful hazel eyes. "Lee was so nice to come over my place about 30 minutes before the time to leave. Really, don't worry about it."

Ino nodded and looked at the other woman - Tenten, as all the rest of the group, except Choji, was dressed in a standard Konoha's uniform. It looked like Tenten's uniform was borrowed by a woman 2 sizes bigger. Ino knew her friend had started to lose weight after the war. Actually Tenten had always been more leith and skinnier, but her body was closer to siklish right now. Her face was thinner and paler than her usual self. Her chestnut colour hair was stubbornly kept in the very same style - 2 symmetrical buns on the temporal part of her head. Sometimes Ino would insist for her on trying something different, but her friend was just shaking head with a "no".

The war had made some changes for all of them - for some of them less, for some of them more… Ino was well aware of why Tenten looked the way she did. Ino herself had changed quite a lot after her father's death.

"How are you?" Ino asked quietly, when she was close enough to Tenten.

"Fine." She smiled slightly. The young woman had denied the need of grief. When the war was over, she hadn't shed a tear. She just had straightened up, neglecting her feelings as something with lesser meaning and went on with her life the way she thought it was right. Even though… Ino sighed quietly…

"It is time to leave." Shikamaru announced, swinging his backpack over his shoulder, then walked slowly ahead.

Choji and Lee followed him in silence. Tenten and Ino crossed gazes and walked last in the group. The trip started much quieter than Ino expected. Maybe it was not so bad though… Maybe?