3. New Hope
Fours years after Shikamaru's death
"Ino-sensei please wait!"
"What's wrong Nayuki?"
"I want you to teach me more about controlling Chakra."
"We also want to learn more." said her teammates Yuuichi and Keiichi.
"You've trained all day already, don't you want to go home?"
"No, we want to learn how to control Chakra properly."
"What about you sensei, don't you want to go home?" asked Nayuki.
"I don't mind giving you training, I quite like it actually."
"But don't you have a husband or a boyfriend?"
"Nope."
"Why not?" asked Nayaki.
"It's not important, I'll tell you another time."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
"We continue training, let's do the tree excersise!"
"How troublesome!" said Keiichi.
Ino stared at Keiichi, she had whiped out every memory of Shikamaru to ease her pain. But Keiichi reminded her of him.
"Sensei what's wrong?" asked Keiichi.
"Nothing, just continue training."
Keiichi, Yuuichi and Nayuki each picked out a tree and started training. Ino sat down under a tree and looked up to the clouds. They seemed so careless. Her hand went to the golden necklace she was wearing. The one Shikamaru gave her four years ago.
She wanted to be alone for a while and said that she would get some ramen from Ichiraku's and walked off. The forest made her feel comfortable and the sadness drifted of.
---
"Ramen!" yelled Yuuichi.
Everyone was hungry from training and started eating.
"You all must be very tired."
"You have no idea." replied Keiichi.
They all lay down in the grass and looked up to the stars. It was a bright night and the moon was clearly visible.
"Sensei, are you going to tell me now why you're not married, it's not because you're not pretty." asked Nayuki.
"Ok." started Ino, "I'm going to tell you a little story first."
"Ok." replied Nayuki a bit confused.
"Once upon a time there were two Shinobi. They loved each other very much and were very happy together. They were sure that they would marry when they were older, and live happily long after. One day before one of the two Shinobi went on a mission he gave the other Shinobi a beautiful golden necklace. After he had given her the necklace he went on his mission. The other Shinobi waited for his return which was supposed to be after three weeks. But the three weeks went by and the Shinobi had still not returned. Another Shinobi told her he was dead and she was heart-broken. Luckily there was a very kind Shinobi who helped her to recover. And now the Shinobi is happy again."
The last sentence wasn't true, she had still difficulties with bearing the pain of his loss.
It was silent for a long time.
Finally Keiichi asked, "Sensei, are you one of the Shinobi in the story?"
Ino smiled and said. "Yes."
"Oh."
"What was his name?" asked Yuuichi.
"Nara Shikamaru."
"He was in the same team as me, and so where our fathers, by the way your father was our Sensei, Nayuki."
Nayuki was the daughter of Asuma and Kurenai and had the same red eyes like her mother's.
"He was?" she asked curiously.
"Yep."
"Enough about if, time to go home."
Ino watched the three kids leave and then walked home.
"Ino!" yelled someone.
Ino turned around and saw that it was Tsunade.
"Yes?"
"Tomorrow some Shinobi from the hidden village of Clouds will arrive, they will stay a week and like the other Jounin teachers you have to guide one of the Shinobi."
"No way, I'm not going to work together with someone from the Cloud village." she replied.
"Ino you can't blame the whole clouds village for his death."
"I know, but one bastard in that village killed the person I loved most and I'm not going to work with anyone who might be the one who killed him."
"There might be an alliance after their visit, and with that we can prevend more deaths."
Ino knew Tsunade was right.
"Ok. I'll try, how about my students?"
"Just take them with you, the Shinobi from the Cloud Village also bring their students."
"Well I'll see you tomorrow then." said Ino and walked home.
---
Ino sat down on the couch in her small living room. She wasn't tired yet, there were too many things on her mind. Her hand went to the golden necklace again."Shika why did you have to die?" she said soft. Tears started to stream, and she wished with all her heart that he was here right now, so he could comfort her and say, "It's all right, I'm here."
The sadness returned and Ino felt terrible lonely. She walked to the bedroom and went to sleep trying to bear the sadness that shaded her heart.