Disclaimer: Feh. I don't own Naruto and frankly I don't want to- I could never drawn a weekly manga chapter because: 1. I can't draw very well 2. I don't know japanese!

Summary: Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru are on a misson together as ANBU members. But why does Ino choke at the worst possible moment of the mission? Ino/Shikamaru

KageMane no Justsu means shadow imitation technique (Shikamaru's technique)

Shintenshin no Jutsu means body-switching technique (Ino's technique)

Jutsu means technique

Yin and Yang

Chapter 2

The Calm After the Storm

-----( aller )-----

Looks like a leaf, Ino thought as she looked up at the cloud spotted blue sky. She used to think Shikamaru's cloud watching habit was very strange and a waste of time- and that was back when she use to sit and watch Sasuke-kun for hours. Now she found the pastime very enjoyable, surprisingly. She never knew how relaxing and freeing it could be. Her ninja instincts told her someone was approaching, but she knew it was Shikamaru by the way he walked and the sound his feet made. She pretended not to notice him.

Shikamaru walked over to the grassy plain that Ino was lying in and instantly knew she was going to play the ignoring game. How troublesome… he thought. He decided to join her in her cloud gazing and sat down close to her.

Ino could see Shikamaru in her peripheral vision without even turning her eyes from the sky. He probably wants an explanation as to why I couldn't kill Saito, she thought. But, she didn't want to talk about it. She tried to ignore Shikamaru who was sitting about one foot to the left of her left arm, but that was against her talkative nature.

"I just couldn't do it, okay? I couldn't kill him and…" she half shouted, "and I don't know why!"

"I didn't say anything."

"Well you wanted to know, didn't you? That's why you are here, isn't it? You want to know how I even can call myself an ANBU member without even being able to murder one evil man, right? Well I", she stumbled, "I… arg leave me alone!"

I didn't say anything, Shikamaru thought as he sighed.

"It's not like I have never killed anyone before!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. He actually wasn't sure if Ino had ever killed someone on a mission before or otherwise. He'd just figured she got around it by always working in teams and letting the others do the killing. Whenever they were on missions together, and they had had about 18 missions together by now, she always let him do any of the dirty work if necessary. At first he would just always make the kill first, but on the last few missions Ino was suppose to make the kill and she hadn't been able to. She would always choke at the last minute. It really hadn't impacted any of their missions, until now.

"I did kill… at first. It didn't even bother me too much as long as I didn't get any of their blood on me. But then there was this one time I had to kill this man and right before I did it he- he begged me to let him live and- and I did it anyways. I found out later that that man- the man I killed with my own hands- had a 13 year old daughter and a wife. That wouldn't have bothered me as much if I hadn't known that the man loved his family and they loved him. They didn't even know about his duel lifestyle- all they knew is that they lost their husband and father whom they loved very much. Ever since then I haven't been able to do it…"

Shikamaru wondered if he should say something or see if Ino was going to continue. He wanted to comfort her, he just didn't know how and before he could even think of anything to say, she sat upright and faced him. Her eyes had a glazed over, wet look and she looked like she was going to cry. Please don't cry… Shikamaru silently pleaded.

"I- I actually went to the funeral."

Shikamaru was surprised to hear this. It was against the rules to get involved with the family of a victim of ANBU.

"I saw the man's wife and his daughter. The daughter was clinging to her mom and crying like a 4 year old. His wife wasn't holding up much better. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't just stand there- as the murder of their loved one- and watch them cry because their hearts were broken and my-my heart was bro- broken"

Ino had started to make small sobbing noises. Her speech was starting to break up. She looked like her heart had been broken into millions of pieces. Don't cry…Shikamaru pleaded again.

"I- I just can't do it anymore! What if- if I killed another man that- that had a family like him- I can't live with that guilt!" She was sobbing louder now and a single tear from each eye fell down her face.

Shikamaru couldn't take it anymore. He reacted by placing his left hand on Ino's cheek and wiped away a tear with his thumb.

"Please don't cry, Ino."

She wasn't surprised by the action- too much. It instantly made her want to fall apart more. I don't deserve this! No one should have to worry about a coward like me… Ino thought.

Another part of her melted- the part that was glad Shikamaru cared.

"It was your duty to kill that man. You aren't to blame. If you hadn't killed him another ANBU would have. But, if you want… I mean I will do all the murders myself when we are on a team together. And that happens most of the time anyways. In any other case I can talk to your teammates and tell them the situation. Or just tell them you have hematophobia- or something"

Ino was taken back- why does he even care?

-----( arrêt )-----

Author's Notes: Okay, anyone who is reading this has permission to murder me! I wrote this chapter ages ago and never posted it. I am pretty damn sure I am not going to continue this, but I will consider it. Sorry about the abrupt ending.