Akimichi Chouji; 1 Year Later

Age 13

-Relief-

Whew…oh boy. I had been out late last night.

Shikamaru was due to return home from his mission at six o'clock yesterday afternoon but he never got back. I was pretty worried about him so I hung around the gate. He never came. I hope he got back okay.

Finally, my father made me come back to the house. After all, I had training this morning.

Speaking of which…what time was it?

Oops, I'm late.

I got out of bed and hurried down the stairs.

"Look who's finally up!" said my dad.

"Dad, why didn't you wake me up?" I asked.

"You were out late last night." He replied as he handed me some breakfast.

"Do you know if Shikamaru got back?" I questioned.

"Chouji, try not to worry." Said my dad. "You're just like your mother. I'm sure he's FINE!"

FINE, he says! Then why is he so late?

I smiled just to make my dad happy. Then I grabbed as much as I could and threw it into a bag. I took as much as I could carry and hurried out the door. "See you later, dad!" I called. "If Shikamaru gets back, tell him I said hi!"

I didn't even wait for a response as I closed the door behind me.

I jogged for as long as my body would allow. But it wasn't really all that much, especially since I was carrying loads of breakfast with me.

Finally, I got to the meeting spot where Asuma and Ino were already waiting. They looked a little angry at me when I arrived but when I offered them some of my breakfast, they couldn't help but lighten up a bit.

"Why are you late?" Asuma asked.

"My dad let me sleep in because I was out late!" I answered. "Do you know if Shikamaru came back from his mission yet?"

"No, not yet." Asuma replied.

"Oh…okay." I said with a sigh.

"Can we start with the training?" Ino said impatiently.

Asuma began with a bit of conditioning. All I could think of was Shikamaru! Was he okay? How long until the Hokage would send out a search party for him? He went on a pretty hard mission with only one other jounin. I mean…what if he was hurt somewhere?

"CHOUJI!" yelled Asuma suddenly.

It made me jump.

"Yes?" I said, trying not to sound nervous.

"Stop letting your mind wander!" he scolded me.

"Okay…okay…" I said, feeling a little embarrassed. But Shikamaru was my very best friend and I was worried about him.

Maybe Asuma was just upset because neither Ino or I made it to the Chuunin Exam tournament that year. In fact, we didn't even make it to the preliminaries… someone had stolen our scroll in the Forest of Death and we didn't make it back to the tower in time.

Our entire team went to watch the tournament. The only people we knew that were in it were Lee, Neji and Shino and it's not like we actually KNOW them. I was surprised that Sasuke wasn't in it, but not nearly surprised as Ino was when she found out. I think she fainted. Nevertheless, she still states that she is the woman Sasuke will marry! Honestly, she's really too young to be thinking about MARRIAGE, in my opinion.

I know I must sound like an old man, but I guess it's just because love hasn't really hit me yet. Some day, far off in the future, I can see myself getting married to a woman I TRULY love, but in the meantime…

Where is Shikamaru?!

And I'm kind of hungry.

But more importantly…where is Shikamaru?

"Chouji, stop thinking about Shikamaru." Said Ino.

"What?" I said. "How did you know?!"

"I can tell!" said Ino. "You've been worrying about him ever since he left and your training has been getting really—" She went on, but I've learned to block out her nonsensical blather. That's what Shikamaru calls it anyway. "He's going to be fine!" I heard finally.

Ino acted as though she had inside information. EVERYONE was acting as though they had inside information but had anyone heard from Shikamaru? NO! And if they had, it was rather cruel that no one was sharing this contact they had with me!

"You don't KNOW that, Ino!!" I said, sounding more angry than I had originally meant to. I had WANTED to have a bit of an edge in my voice but I guess I had hyped myself up a little too much. And I could tell that Ino was a bit taken aback by my tone because she was looking at me with a slightly confused and slightly hurt expression.

"Now now, enough of this." Said Asuma, coming in between us.

"Asuma, YOU tell him." Said Ino.

I don't know how Ino was just going around acting as though Shikamaru's fate didn't matter to her in the least bit. I knew she had to be worried about him too, she just didn't want to admit it.

"Ino, you can't tell me that YOU'RE not worried about him too!" I said.

"I AM!" she said, though I didn't expect it. I had thought she would deny it until hell froze over but she proved me wrong! "But not to the unhealthy extent that you are!"

Suddenly, a jounin ninja dropped down from the trees. I didn't know who he was or why he was there, but I assumed he had a message from the Hokage because he immediately took Asuma aside out of earshot of Ino and me.

I couldn't help but start to bite my nails, something I always do when I get nervous. What if he had awful news that he found Shikamaru somewhere in a ditch and that…no! I can't think of that kind of stuff! I'm sure Shikamaru's all right because no one would ever be able to defeat him!

Just when I was running out of fingernails, the ninja finally left and Asuma turned to address us, passing along to message. He stood and waited for a moment and I was unable to read his expression. Wasn't he going to answer? Wasn't he going to tell us what the message was about? For all I knew, it had nothing to do with Shikamaru and I was just worrying myself over nothing!!

"What happened?" I asked finally when I could hold it in no more.

Asuma began to laugh.

That immediately relieved me. Shikamaru was okay.

"Shikamaru has returned from his mission!" Asuma announced. "He is unscathed and doing just fine!"

I finally remembered to take a breath and let out a sigh of relief. I looked at Ino and she looked a little annoyed, but relieved.

It had been almost three days since we had seen him last, and I'm sure he wanted to see us and catch up on the things he missed. And besides, I was curious of what his mission was for! "Let's go visit him!" I said.

"Didn't you hear Asuma?!" Ino said angrily "Shikamaru's FINE! We don't have to visit him!"

I just looked at her. So she finally gave in and we all went back to the village. I went right up to Shikamaru's door and knocked on it.

Shikamaru's mother was there in a matter of seconds.

"Shikamaru's in the backyard." She said before we even had to ask. It's like she already knew why we were there.

"Thank you." The three of us responded as we all went into the backyard.

"Shikamaru!!" I said, running over to him. "We're so relieved you're okay!"

"Oh, hey Chouji." Said Shikamaru.

"You ARE all right, aren't you, Shikamaru?" I double-checked.

"Of course I am." Shikamaru answered. "What could have possibly happened?"

"COUNTLESS things, Shikamaru!" I said. "ANYTHING could have happened! It was a dangerous mission!"

"What were you doing on your mission this time?" Ino asked.

"I can't share the details of this mission with a genin." Said Shikamaru. How strange. Usually he told us.

"Please, Shikamaru?" Ino pleaded.

"I can't share the details of this mission with a genin." He repeated.

Maybe this mission was a whole lot more dangerous and important than Ino and I could ever come to understand unless we were chuunins. I was ready to completely drop the matter but Ino continued persistently.

"At LEAST tell us why you were late!" she said.

"I can't share the details of this mission with a genin."

"Fine." Said Ino, finally calling it quits. "Well, I have to go to work anyway."

And that's when she left, leaving Shikamaru, Asuma and I there in Shikamaru's backyard with the opportunity to catch up on the three days we had missed!

"Are you glad to be back, Shikamaru?" I asked him.

"Yes." He answered. He didn't say any more than that.

"I'm glad to see you're all right." Said Asuma to Shikamaru. "But I can't hang around anymore. Chouji, you can have the rest of the day off."

With that, Asuma was gone.

Shikamaru let out a loud sigh.

"What's the matter, Shikamaru?" I asked.

He only shook his head in response.

We both looked at the clouds for a few minutes. I decided to try a go at his thinking thing a little while ago, and ever since I did, I feel as though I understand Shikamaru more!

Maybe he was thinking about the good old days when he, Ino and I would train all the time and go out to eat even more often! But he was a chuunin now and I'm sure he has the potential to become a jounin. Yeah, maybe he was thinking about that.

"Do you miss being a genin, Shikamaru?"

"Sometimes." He replied.

"Today?"

"No, not to today."

So something else had caused him to sigh like that.

"Did something go wrong on your mission?"

"You could say that."

What a broad answer! I knew he wasn't injured or anything or else he surely would have told me beforehand. Perhaps he had failed his mission and didn't get paid for it. Then again, that sort of stuff never really bothered Shikamaru. Well, the failing part bothered him but he was never in it for the money. I know Shikamaru and I KNOW he's in it for helping people!

Then Shikamaru did something I had never expected!

"What have you been up to, Chouji?"

"Me?" I said. So many things! I had to tell him so many things! But I didn't want to bore him with extensive details or talking about something silly that didn't matter, especially compared to his important life that he was leading as a chuunin!

Then again, he DID ask me so that at least meant he was interested in my life when he wasn't there.

Or maybe he was just trying to talk about something else because he didn't want to talk about himself anymore.

No matter what I said at that point, I would have been babbling.

"Oh, Shikamaru." I said finally. "Nothing really at all. It's not interesting around here when you're away on missions."

Shikamaru sat up from his lying down position and looked at me questioningly. I guess he expected me to babble on about nothingness as usual.

"That's nice." He said, lying back down.

I felt satisfied that I hadn't irritated Shikamaru to the point in which he thought up an excuse to leave. He looked back up at the clouds and didn't say anything more.

"Shikamaru, when is your next mission?" I asked.

"I'm not sure." Shikamaru answered after a moment's pause. "Within the week."

Within the week?? He just got back!! "Already?" I said, trying not to sound outraged even though I was.

"Yup." He answered.

"Wow, Shikamaru." I said. "Being a chuunin must be really tough."

Shikamaru didn't reply for a good while. I think he was captivated by the clouds and was waiting for the right answer.

"Yeah, Chouji." He said finally. "It really is."