A/N: Some of you may have noticed the lack of Sasuke in this fic. I haven't said much about him because I really don't know what the future holds for that boy. I can see him becoming taken over by Orochimaru, I can see him somehow breaking free, I can see any number of things. So, rather than trying to explain that and figure it out, I'm just leaving him out. Besides, he's not integral to what I'm trying to do with this story. Sorry about that. I'm just not secure enough to deal with him. And no, there won't be a sequel to this, although I'm thinking about writing a couple short (hopefully!) fics about the other characters that coincide with this fic. We'll see if I have time, though.

Anyhow, please read, enjoy, and review. See you again in a couple of days.

Months had gone by. Shikamaru and his team had made a full recovery, although they admitted to one another they still had nightmares and couldn't deal with ice or steam well, but they all hoped that would go away as time passed. He hadn't been seeing much of Ino, only able to catch a meal with her here and there, which was most often truncated by some sort of summons. Conversation had been easier, but he hadn't dared touch her, and she hadn't made any moves, either. He was just happy their friendship was back on track, and it seemed greedy to want more from her.

Shikamaru stood in front of the assignment counter, glaring at the scroll he had been handed by a certain blonde kunoichi. He was supposed to meet his team in fifteen minutes and brief them on the mission. "Ino," he drawled.

She sat behind the counter, back straight and hands folded in front of her. "Yes?"

"I know what you're doing."

Ino cocked her head to the side, blinking up at him. "And what might that be?"

He felt beads of sweat form at his brow, but he couldn't tell if it was fear or irritation causing them. "This is the sixth C-rank assignment we've had in a row."

Again she blinked. "And?"

Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly. Damn, she was troublesome. "We're a jounin squad. This is a C-rank mission. What, is our town out of genin or something?"

"Probably."

His jaw clenched. He refused to grind his teeth in front of Ino. He refused to let her see how she got under his skin. "Fine," he growled and stormed off. He stormed right up to Tsunade's office, snarling at Shizune as she tried to interfere, and barged right in. "Do you know what's going on down there?"

Tsunade raised her eyes from the book she was examining, scowling. "What brings you here, Nara? You had better have a good reason for interrupting me."

"You're happy to get out of work and you know it," he barked, then bit his tongue and held his breath, sensing he'd gone too far.

Tsunade rose from her chair and appeared right in front of him, brown eyes narrowed. Her index finger came out and poked him squarely in the chest. "I-was-bus-y-and-you-in-ter-rup-ted-me," she grated, stabbing him at each syllable with her finger.

"Ow!" he whined, trying to evade her. "Sorry!"

She followed him around the room, fuming as she poked him as hard as she could, which was pretty damn hard. He was worried she was going to break the skin, even underneath his flak jacket. "What-is-so-im-por-tant-that-you-have-to-both-er-me?"

"Ow, hey! Stop it and I'll tell you!"

"Fine. You have thirty seconds. I'm busy today."

"Jeez," he moaned, rubbing his chest. "I'll bring you some sake later, okay?"

"Okay," Tsunade said and was suddenly all smiles. She seated herself behind her desk and rested her forearms on the surface. "So, what's bothering you?"

"Has my team been demoted?" he asked, knowing the answer, but also knowing he had to ask it if he was going to see the results he wanted.

Tsunade's eyes widened. "Of course not! Whatever made you think that? You're one of my most valuable teams."

"Then why have we been getting C-rank missions for the past several weeks?"

Tsunade's eyes widened even further, followed by the pursing of her lips. "Your team has been getting C-rank missions?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Yes."

"From who?"

"Ino. I think you should reassign her team to normal duty."

She raised her eyebrow. "I see."

"So will you?"

"No."

Shikamaru moaned and ran a hand over his face. "What? Why not?"

Tsunade examined her fingernails. "She's one of the most talented administrative-nin I have ever had the honor to work with. She's increased the efficiency of that department greatly over the last few weeks, and she has even more ideas."

"Ino never lacks for ideas," he grumbled.

"You can see why she might be an asset."

"Listen," he said, leaning one hand on her desk. "You can understand where I'm coming from too, right? C-rank missions are definitely less troublesome than A-rank missions. I have no problem with that, but my team is getting restless. That's really troublesome. And being made feel like we're incompetent and can't handle a harder mission than that is troublesome."

"You did botch the last one you were on. A lot of people got in trouble because of you. Neji, Sakura, Chouji, Ino, and Naruto are all on probation because they went after you without permission."

Shikamaru fell silent. "We did the best we could. Sometimes people die. We're ninja; we're willing to take that risk."

"And not being allowed to take that risk is troublesome?"

He looked at her, gaze flat. "What's troublesome is that some hotshot, stupid jounin or chuunin is going to get the mission that was meant for my team, and those people will die, because they can't handle what our team can. You know that I am capable of getting my team out alive, if only because people care about us enough to come save our asses."

"And if I say no?"

Shikamaru put his hands on his hips. "Then why should I bother remaining a ninja?"

The room fell silent, the two of them staring at one another. Shikamaru's jaw was fixed, his hips thrust forward as he slouched while standing. Tsunade's body was tense, her fingers tightly curled where her hands lay on her desk. "Okay, Nara. I'll reassign Ino on one condition: you have to get her to ask for reassignment herself. If you can convince her to stop protecting you then I'll do what you ask. Sound reasonable?"

"Unfortunately, yes," he grumbled.

"Then off with you. Have fun on your mission."

Shikamaru paused at the door. "Thanks, Hokaga-sama," he drawled, and shut the door.

"Smartass," he heard Tsunade say through the wood, and Shizune sighed.

Shikamaru nodded at her and walked down to the cafeteria, where his team was waiting. "Bad news," he said. "C-rank."

Tenten groaned. "I thought you said you were going to fix this!" she moaned.

"I will," he replied sharply. "This is the last one, I swear."

Lee stood up abruptly, putting his fist over his heart. "We will accomplish it quickly and with the utmost perfection! No one can accomplish a C-rank mission like we can!"

"By now, certainly not," Shikamaru grumbled. "We've done enough of them."

"I believe in you," Hinata said with a quiet smile. "We should hurry. We can be done by dinner."

"Ehh, for you, anything," he replied, and gathered up his weapons. "Okay, let's go."