Chapter two: A willing soul

Indeed, this girl was crazy, going against a genius who was the first to become Chuunin first. Ino's now icy blue eyes glared at Shikamaru,

"Fight me with everything you got!" She yelled,

smirking some. It was that same cold field, nothing changed from the last time they had fought. He was the one to make the first more, his shadow leaping outwards. But, the problem was Ino knew this trick well, way too well. She jumped backwards, into a trees shadow and just stood there.

"For a genius you sure are stupid!"She snickered,

raising an eyebrow as he ran at her. She ducked one of his punches, putting her arms over her face as she dodged another. She was hit back a few times, not having enough time to dodge.

"I don't need any jutsus to beat you."Shikamaru said,

punching her in the stomach. Soon, Ino's back hit a tree as she slid down on her butt, she covered her face with her hands.

"How..could I lose?" Were the words that came from her lips,

as she let a few tears slid down her face, not removing her hands. Just now, she made a complete fool of herself yet again, losing to Shikamaru. Once Shikamaru put his hand down to her to help her up, she hit his hand away, standing on her own.

"I'm fine."She growled,

crossing her arms and looking at her sensei whom nodded to her. Now, she had to go into the forest of death with Shikamaru, which she really didn't want to. The thought of leaving this very night crossed her mind, but she knew she wouldn't be able to make it on her own. She walked over to her sensei, whom was now named Asuma or Asuma-sensei.

"Yes, I know.. I have to go with Shikamaru into the forest now, but why can't I go alone!" She demanded to know,

as she glared at her sensei. Just because she was a girl didn't mean she wasn't strong, she happened to be one of the very skilled kunoichi's in this village. No, she wasn't able to become a Chuunin due to not being able to make it to the final rounds of the exams. So, she had stayed as a Genin, but knew she could of won if she hadn't fought her rival.

"You will be leaving Tuesday night, where you'll meet Shikamaru at the gates." She heard her sensei say,

which she only nodded to. That gave her three days to get together what she needed, and maybe even escape from this nightmare. Though, she wasn't sure if she wanted to escape or not, running away into the Forest of Death alone was never a good idea, but if that's what it was going to lead to then fine. A smirk lit up on her quite beautiful face, having a plan in her head already. Tonight was going to be the night she was going to leave, but she didn't know someone else had similar plans to hers.

'Tonight..I'll go somewhere else by myself and show them, that I can defend myself.' She thought,

bowing to her sensei and starting to move for her house. She glanced back, noticing the black haired one follow her. An eyebrow raised on the girl's slightly tanned face,

"Can I help you?" She asked,

sighing and just turning to watch him. Shikamaru seemed to stop also, looking at her for a second before shrugging,

"This is the way to my house." He had said,

shaking his head and walking around her. Ino blinked, rubbing her head some and just walking off towards the flower shop. The flower shop happened to be her home, well the top half of it was her home. She slowly opened the door, twitching when the sudden bell rang, alerting someone was entering. She sighed in relief when her father was no where to be seen, probably off on some mission or something. A smile lit up her face, as she locked the door behind her and quickly made her way up stairs, but switching the flower shop sign to 'closed' first. Once up in her room, she pulled out a small backpack starting to throw stuff in it.

"Clothes..water..bandages..medicine..just in case." She named everything,

zipping up the backpack. With that she heard the door open downstairs, quickly shoving the backpack under her bed and laying down on her bed, with a book none the less. She pretended to read the book, listening to her father walk up the stairs and into his own room.

"That was close."She whispered,

looking to the clock. The clock read seven o'clock, and she hadn't really planned when her escape was going to happen. She laid there on the bed, thinking things over for a good hour or so...