A/N: Dear MachiGai: Ah yes, the Harry Potter book! OO! I've been taking my Japanese neighbors for granted so long that I forgot that--whoops! That wasn't supposed to leak out. cough >> I mean, that was a very legitimate loophole you pointed out and I shall correct it to the best of my abilities immediately! sweatdrop
Yes indeedy, the Japanese "n" is sometimes very soft and hard to catch. Yep, the -sama suffix is not one you would normally use, but that was intentional. Though, personally, I think the fact that Kakashi is the formidable Sharingan copy-ninja would be enough to incite a deeper tone of respect in most people, but the protagonist's use of "-sama" was just something to make her character a bit different by making her use overtly-formal tones even when it's not needed. Again, thanks for your helpful review! I love how you manage to catch the things I miss

Dear Steel Jaguar: Yay, thanks for the tips! Though the kanji for "no" isn't always the one for "field", and "no" is really only part of the two kanji characters that make up the word meaning "field"...right? By itself, the kanji "no" in the compound kanji "field" actually means "wild", doesn't it? Yeah, the literal translation of Sharingan just sounds so funny to me for some reason, so I didn't bother to put it, since it's a Naruto-specific specialized term that can't be found in normal Japanese dictionaries XD

Yes, this chapter is awfully short, it was originally connected to the next chapter, but the next chapter got too long and is giving me some problems. My apologies for the awfully long delay. Perhaps entertain yourself with my other Naruto fanfics at the moment? ;;;

CHAPTER 16: Food for Thought

Shikamaru glared at a small burn mark on the table--probably from one of Asuma's cigarettes--as if it would surrender the answers to all the mysteries of the universe if he glared at it long enough.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn't working.

"This sucks." he complained, just as another unsolved mystery of the universe stepped into the teahouse.

"But you say that for everything!" Yamanaka Ino rebuked cheerfully, slapping him playfully on the back. "Maybe things wouldn't suck as much if you actually got off your lazy bum once in a while and did something! --Right, Chouji?" she asked as another boy their age came in.

Chouji, their "plump" but easygoing teammate, just smiled benignly and stuffed another fistful of potato chips into his mouth.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Shikamaru muttered. "Hey, Ino..." he said suddenly, "Can I ask you something?" He'd been thinking over the matter for hours and still wasn't getting any results, so he might as well ask someone.

"What?" the blonde girl asked curiously. "You usually just ask me instead of asking if you could ask me--what is it?"

"What do you think about...well, alternate dimensions?" he asked, frowning.

Ino raised a blonde eyebrow. "What? Alternate dimensions?" she laughed derisively. "Why on earth are you wondering about alternate dimensions? And here I was thinking you're going to ask me for advice on some girl--"

Shikamaru abruptly cut in, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I'm serious. What do you think about it? About the possibility of alternate dimensions?"

Ino studied him for a moment, before finally shrugging. "I dunno," she said breezily. "And I don't really care about alternate dimensions and whatnot--unless I happen to be married to Sasuke in one of them," she sighed dreamily, a silly grin appearing on her face.

Shikamaru sighed in exasperation. He knew he shouldn't have asked in the first place. "Women!" he muttered. What do they see in that guy, anyway?

Not that he cared.

"Ino, you're drooling," Chouji said cheerfully, munching happily on a mouthful of barbeque-flavored potato chips.