I'm not sure yet if this will be the last chapter, I had a question from Vampirewitch if I was going to make a sequel and I don't really know yet…I thought about it and I might make a kind of 'pre-story' telling how Shika and Ino got together in the first place, but I have to end the story before I think about a sequel…One thing at a time, guys!
Anyways, back to the real reason you're all here!
I'll Be Waiting By Lynlyn-maru
Chapter 6- Surprises
In the office of the Hokage, Tsunade was busy reading up on recent mission logs when a messenger burst into the room.
"Fifth-sama! Their back, The Uchiha-retrieval squad! They found him!"
Tsunade quickly closed the log and stood, "Well, what are you waiting for, bring them in at once!" The messenger stumbled hurriedly out of the room. Seconds later, Shikamaru, and Neji walked into the room, the both of them looking exhausted, but not very badly wounded. "Shikamaru, Neji, it's very good to see the both of you back safely, where are the rest of your team members?"
Shikamaru dug his hands into his pocket lazily as Neji answered, "Lee, Moruto and Gatsuta (Totally made up characters….) are accompanying Uchiha Sasuke and some other nin into a holding container and Naruto's in the hospital."
Shikamaru chimed in, "It's nothing serious, he just took the brunt of the damage during capture, as you can well imagine."
Tsunade nodded. "Well, congratulations on the success of the mission, I'll expect a full mission report within the next three days, I want details on every piece of information you have to offer, and I want you all to give your contributions to the mission logs. You're salaries have been sent to your residences. Now I'm sure you're very eager to get home, you're excused."
The two nin nodded and turned to leave.
"Oh! Shikamaru! Would you stay for a moment?"
He sighed and turned back around to face the Hokage, Neji closing the door behind him.
"Yes?" He asked, annoyed at being made to wait.
Tsunade rummaged around in her desk and finally came upon a brown paper envelope, tossing it across the room to him.
"That is your new address, Ino moved there about four months after your departure. Your salary has been raised slightly and has been being sent to her monthly, seeing as she has not been taking any missions as of late."
Shikamaru raised and eyebrow.
'Ino? Not taking missions? I hope nothing's wrong'
He examined the contents of the envelope, seeing directions and a ring of keys.
"You may go, that's all I have for you, congrats again on the missions' success."
Shikamaru nodded and silently walked out of the room.
'Finally, I get to see you again, Ino.'
He found the house fairly easily, taking a minute to admire his new residence. He liked her taste, the house was small, but enough, obviously landscaped with a woman's instruction.
He walked up the short pathway and inserted the key. Turning the knob, he caught his breath, hearing Ino call from the inside.
"Chouji? That was a quick one! Did you not get very far-"
Shikamaru caught his breath as he saw her. She had obviously been cleaning, by the towel in her hands, which soon dropped to the floor.
Silently, he caught her into a tight embrace, never wanting to let her go.
He felt her arms wrap around him. Wet tears absorbed into his dirty vest and seeped through to his net-shirt underneath.
"S-shikamaru?" She choked out, almost sounding disbelieving.
"I'm home, Ino."
They stayed there in the entry hall for a while, kissing, hugging and laughing, until Shikamaru realized the mess he was. He felt so disgusting, hugging Ino is his present condition, like he would soil her by touching her.
Shikamaru pulled away, blushing slightly in spite of himself, Ino looked confused.
"Sorry, but I really need a bath…I feel absolutely disgusting..."
"Oh! Of course, god knows the last time you had one, I'll help wash you, how does that sound?"
Shikamaru smiled widely. 'God, I missed her'
She tugged his hand, leading him into the bathroom, starting the water as he began to undress.
Once the large tub was filled with hot water, he stepped into it, enjoying the relaxing feeling.
Ino soon returned from disposing of his dirty clothes and sat down behind him. She gently removed the tie holding up his hair and began scrubbing his long hair.
"There wasn't really the opportunity to cut it..." He grumbled, obviously embarassed.
"No problem, we can get it cut tomorrow or something if you want. I don't think it looks very bad."
Shikamaru sighed, enjoying the feeling of her hands rubbing his scalp.
"There's so much I can tell you! A lot's happened since you've been gone! Chouji's started seeing this new girl who moved from the Mist country, she's a real sweetheart. Sakura's been promoted to the head medical-nin in all of Konoha. And something else wonderful has happened"
"hmmm? What else?"
Ino blushed. "I'll tell you in a little while. Gosh…you have a lot of wounds, did you have a rough time of it during your mission?" SHe asked, seeing the numerous scars across his back and chest.
"It was tough, but we got a few days of relaxation every so often, pretty rare in an A-class mission."
Once his hair was washed and slightly conditioned, Shikamaru leaned forward to allow her to clean his broad back.
It pained Ino's heart to see all of the faded and freshly made scars. Gently, she cleaned him, being extra careful on the newer cuts, until he was freshly scrubbed all over. She left to fetch him fresh clothes as he shaved his stubbly face. 'Shaving with a kunai really didn;t do any good at all...'
Upon he return, he was almost back to being the normal-looking Shikamaru. He dressed and they made their way down to the living room, sitting on the couch to face each other.
Then Shikamaru remembered, "Oh yeah. Tsunade said that you haven't been taking any missions for a while, why it that? Is something wrong? You're not sick are you?"
Ino smiled, taking Shikamaru's hand.
"Shikamaru…I'm not sick. It's just that a…little…someone has been taking up a lot of my time recently."
Shikamaru processed her words, autonmatically taking the wrong, anger welling up inside him.'SOMEONE? Has she been seeing someone! I swear, I'll rip his head off!'
Ino noticed his angry expression and quickly corrected her sentence. "Wait! No, I haven't been seeing anyone! It's not like that!"
Shikamaru calmed a bit, taking his eyes from Ino for a moment.
"Oh, good. You had me a little...worried there." That was when he noticed, for the first time, some of the newer objects in the room. Various little toys were displaced about the floor, and where did that carrier come from? His eyes darted around the room, finally resting on Ino. She even looked a little different. Her body had softened from it's former firmness. "What the hell is going on?"
Ino smiled, taking his other hand." Shikamaru…while you were gone, I-"
At that moment, the door opened wide. Shikamaru looked up to see his best friend Chouji standing in it, holding a small child that couldn't be more than 9 months old.
Ino sighed and stood, walking over and taking the child from him, and returning to her place on the couch, the infant in her lap.
"Shikamaru. This is your son, Shikaji."
Shikamaru stared at Shikaji. Shikaji stared at Shikamaru. Neither of them made a sound, just stared.
Chouji, seeing the awkward situation at hand, excused himself and closed the door, quickly wishing Shikamaru a 'Welcome home, buddy.'
"My son? Are you sure? I mean..." Shikamaru studdered, his mind racing. Ino chuckled, "Or course he's YOUR son, Shika. The little cutie is just like you too... lazy to the core, he barely cries..."
The child in Ino's arms gurgled and stretched his arms out towards the man in front of him. Shikamaru hesitated, glancing at Ino for some kind of approval. "It's okay, go ahead." She said, smiling and holding Shikaji out to him. Shikamaru lifted the small boy from under the arms, out of his mothers' grasp. Shikaji gurgled at his father, obviously recognizing him instantly.
"I've told him about you a lot, he knows his daddy it seems." Ino smiled, a few stray tears running down her cheek. "I'm sorry. I know how you wanted a girl first..."
"Ino….don't, really." He looked back into his sons' blue eyes and nuzzled their noses. "He's got to be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life."
"It was really hard, you not being there for the birth, I only found out right after you left, Sakura said he must've been a honeymoon baby, I was already a month along by your first week gone."
"I'm so sorry, I should've been there…I didn't even know…" Shikamaru's expression saddened as he faced her.
Ino scooted closer to her family on the couch, wrapping her arms around the both of them. Shikamaru placed the boy on his lap and raised a hand to stroke her cheek. "My family...My son…..Ino, God I love you. You're so beautiful, I don't think I've ever been this happy in my entire life."
Between them, the infant cooed and giggled, before rolling over onto his fathers chest and dozing off.
Ino noticed the sleeping baby, smiling warmly at him. "Lay down and let him rest on your chest, he'll sleep soundly that way, I've noticed." She said, rising to go find a blanket.
Shikamaru slowly scooted down until the infant rested on his chest, dreaming happily. He stroked his sons short, black hair for a few minutes, admiring how soft it was.
His mind drifted, filling with images of all the things he wanted to do with his boy. Teaching him the shadow jitsu, throwing kunais, making friends, cloud-watching.
The boy on his chest yawned widely.
'You've already got the right idea, kiddo.' He thought, his own yawn following in suit.
When Ino returned with a small blue baby blanket, she found both of them on the couch, sleeping soundly. She draped the blanket over the two of them.
As she turned to leave them, she noticed that they both wore the same expression, that of a lazy slumber, a small amount of drool beginning to pool in the corners of both their mouths.
'Like father, like son….how troublesome.'
I hope that was a good ending! It was a pretty good story, ne? I worked really hard! Like I said, I MIGHT write a sequel and/or prologue, but I'm not sure yet. I have ideas for both, but not enough for a complete chapter.
Please keep the reviews coming, I love hearing from all of you!
Look out for upcoming stories, I have a bunch working around in my head! (And any couple requests, I would be happy to oblige!)
-Fin...