Shikamaru climbed through the window as silent as he possibly could. He didn't want to wake up Ino. Sure, he could've knocked at the front door, but he didn't want to wake up Hinata either. He just about made it when his foot got stuck on the ledge, and tripped, knocking him into the dresser. He stood still, with his eyes shut, and stopped breathing. He really didn't want to wake up Ino. She would have his head for waking her up and scaring her to death in the middle of the night, no matter how happy she would be to see him.
When he saw that Ino made no movement to waking up, he walked towards the bed. The moon lit up the room enough for him to see her lying peacefully asleep, with the bed sheets tangled in her legs. As he moved closer, he saw that she was hugging his pillow tightly and her face almost buried in it. His heart melted watching the moonlight shine on her face. Shikamaru wanted to touch her and wake her up and kiss her, and tell her that he was home, and he missed her.
But first, I really need a shower. I really stink. He walked into her bathroom, trying not to make a sound. Quietly closing the door turned on the light and ran a bath. A shower would be much too noisy to wake her up. He felt so clean and refreshed as he washed his hair and his face.
He walked out of the bathroom to Ino's dresser. He rummaged through the drawers, looking for clothes he knew he had left there. He finally came up with a pair of shorts and a shirt. Shikamaru then walked to the window, stretched and yawn, and looked at the stars. It's so good to be back.
He knelt down toward Ino, and brushed a strand of her blonde hair away from her face. Ino's eyes twitched, and opened her eyes. She looked for a couple seconds before going back to sleep.
Must've been a dream, I could've sworn I saw Shikamaru was standing in front of me. Ino smiled, and rolled over in her bed. Wait a minute, that was much too real for it to be a dream. Too real. With a jerk, Ino turned back around and sat up, looking at Shikamaru in the eyes.
"Shikamaru-kun, you're here, you're home. When did get home? How'd you get in?" Ino wrapped his neck with his arms and kissed him on his lips and all over his face. "Oh my god, I missed you so much. Where have you been? What took you so long to get here. You were supposed to be back a month ago. What's the deal with that?"
"Oi, Ino, I just got here. Calm down. Geez, give me a break." Shikamaru held her in her arms. Ino squeezed as hard as she could, not wanting to let go. "Ino! Wait! OWWW!" Ino quickly let go and looked at him with concern. "My ribs are badly bruised, but I'll be alright, just don't hold me so tight."
"I'm so sorry. What happened?"
"We were attacked not too long ago. It's okay, though, I'm healing."
"When did you get back?"
"A little while ago, I didn't want to wake up just yet, so I went and took a bath."
"You haven't been home to see your parents yet?"
"No, I came for my pillow." Shikamaru gave Ino an evil grin, as she grabbed the pillow and swatted him.
The Next Morning
Ino woke up with the biggest smile on her face. She still couldn't believe he had come home about 4 hours ago. The sun was starting to come up, and Ino was already showered and dressed, ready for the day ahead of her. She wanted so badly to wake Shikamaru up, but she decided that it was better that he slept in, then later he could go see Tsunade-sama and Naruto.
She walked to the kitchen and made herself a quick breakfast, and was just about to leave when she remembered that Hinata wasn't home yet. I'll leave her a note. That way she won't be too surprised when she sees Shikamaru here.
Ino grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and began writing her note:
Hinata,
Shikamaru came home last night. He's asleep in the room. I'll be back around 1:00 with some lunch.
--Ino
With that, Ino walked out and locked the door. As she was going down the stairs, she saw Chouji coming up. "Good morning, Chouji. Guess what?" He just looked at her, eating his morning bag of chips. "Shikamaru came home last night, he's asleep in the room. Isn't that great?!" Ino jumped on Chouji, giving him the biggest hug.
"That's great, can I see him? Did you guys… you know?" Chouji winked at her and gave her an evil smile. Ino slapped him playfully on his arm.
"Of course not. Besides he passed out asleep last night. Later when he gets up, he's going to see Tsunade-sama and Naruto about his mission, then he's probably going to see his parents. He might be stopping by your place later."
Ino and Chouji walked down the street, stopping by the Ichiraku's so Ino can by Chouji some ramen. That was a way Ino repaid Chouji for waking up so early and walking her to the flower shop. "Now that Shikamaru is back, he can treat me to some barbeque as a thank you for taking care of you." Chouji's eyes lit up as he thought of his idea. Mmm… Barbeque.
When they reached the shop, Ino thanked her friend, and went inside and up the stairs to see her mother. Mrs. Yamanaka was already up, and reading her book when Ino walked in. "Good morning, sweetie, you look extra happy this morning." She put the book down and kissed Ino on her forehead. "Yeah, Shikamaru came home last night, he stopped by to see."
"You mean he stayed the night to see you?" Her mother gave her a disapproving look. As much as she loved Shikamaru, and the thought of him being her only daughter's boyfriend, she still didn't approve that he would visit her for alone in her apartment.
"Mom, it's not like that. Really. He came by to see me. Leave it alone." Ino gave her mother a kiss, and went downstairs to open the shop.
Back at the house
Hinata walked inside her home, it was close to noon. She was supposed to go have lunch with Kiba today, so she wanted to shower and be ready by the time he got there. She walked to the fridge to grab some juice, when she noticed the note the that Ino had left for her.
Oh how nice, he came home. I should fix him a little something to eat before Ino gets back. As she pulled some eggs out of the fridge, Shikamaru walked in. "Oh, good morning, Shikamaru. I'm glad you made it home safe."
"Morning, good to see you too." He yawned and stretched as he sat down at the kitchen table.
Just then there was a knock on the door. Hinata went to answer it, and let Kiba in.
"Well, look who it is. Shikamaru, good to see that you finally made it back in one piece. Must've been one hell of a mission, huh?" Kiba went and smacked him on the back.
"You're so troublesome, you know that?" Shikamaru gave him a frown with sleepy looking face. Inside, he was kind of glad to see him.
Hinata made him an egg sandwich with some orange juice, and he quickly ate it. "Ino said she'll be home at around 1:00." Shikamaru just nodded and thanked her. He got up and went to Ino's bathroom to take a shower.
To the shop
"Bye Mom, Sakura's here, I'll see you tomorrow." Ino yelled to her mother from the bottom of the stairs.
"You know, I told you that'd he come back. I'm happy for you, Ino-pig." Sakura gave her friend a hug. Some afternoons, Sakura would come and take the afternoon shift working at the shop so Ino could go train or run some errands. Ino had planned to go training today, but she wanted to stop by the house first to see Shikamaru, and then she'd be off to meet with Asuma and Ten-Ten. She was finally promoted to Chuunin a few years back with Sakura, Hinata, Ten-Ten, Lee, and Chouji. Since then, she had wanted to become stronger so that she would be promoted to Jounin quicker.
"I have to run, see you later, Fore-head." Ino ran outside and to her home.
Home
"Hey, you're up." Said Ino as she walked in her room. Shikamaru was gathering his clothes and his belongings so that he can get ready to leave.
"Yeah. I have to go see Tsunade-sama and Naruto and give them the mission report." Shikamaru replied. "I ate, Hinata made me a small lunch. She told me you were coming back."
"That's good." Ino went to give him a hug and kiss. "I'm about to go meet up with Asuma-sensei and Ten-Ten in a few. I'll be out training, that'll give you some time to see them, Chouji, and your parents." She stared at him as he walked about the room, picking up his clothes. When he was done, he stood in front of Ino, and pulled her into a hug. "Geez, I missed you." He said kissing her on her neck. "I'll see you later."
Ino smiled to herself. Then she left to get started on her training
Meeting with the Hokage
"Well, tell us what's going on, and what's going to happen." Tsunage took her seat next to Naruto.
Shikamaru sighed, then he began to explain to her the situation.