Chapter 3

Ino was discharged in the morning. Her parents took her home. I watched her from afar walking with her parents, her hand on her arm where the needle was stuck in. She didn't look particularly happy. Someone crept up behind me.

"I have a new assignment for you," a woman whispered. It was Tsunade.

I nearly fell backwards.

"Ahh!" I said throatily. I fell on my butt and there is no fat there for me to retaliate on. "What?"

"Your new assignment is to watch Ino. You were sleeping like a sloth in the corner last night so she was the one who reported the incident to me. Report immediately if anything weird happens. Since you didn't even complete the job I gave you last night, you can't refuse this one. Besides the town is in shambles. This is the only thing I'm asking of you."

"Blar, fine," I grumbled.

"And stop hiding around corners, it makes you look like a creepy prowler," she said. She turned around sharply and almost whacked my face with her gigantic chest. I was stunned for a moment. "Gross!" I thought and walked off with my hands in my pocket.

Hooray. Out of all assignments, I have to follow a girl around. I could only imagine what I would have to do. Watch her paint her nails, cut flowers, complain about being too fat. Joy. I can always find something to complain about. I may be the master of running away but I am also the master of complaining too. But it's not so bad… at least I'm not babysitting a child. And it's Ino. I know how she is.

So here I am, in front of Ino's house. I haven't been here in a long while. Our dads are close friends anyway. I was about to knock on the door when the door slid open by itself.

"About time you got here!" Ino said sharply. My ears hurt from her screeching.

I sat by the table and watched her. I don't get why she's so cranky. She looked different because she had these weird tubes in her hair, like those things my mom would wear to make her hair curly. After an eternity of waiting in the kitchen for her to get ready, she dragged me with her to the flower shop. I felt like I was in the Yamanaka Ino showcase.

I sat with her watching her. A snip here, a snip there. She sat there arranging flowers for customers.

God, I was bored out of my life.

"Might as well make yourself useful. You keep lying around on the benches. Can you pick up the leftover stems?" she asked me.

It was a chore to get up. I did it anyway and chucked all the stems in the garbage.

There were petals all over the ground. What a waste of flowers. She put all the flowers in vases and sat by the cash register. Now she was doing nothing.

"Don't you get tired of this job?" I asked

"You just don't appreciate flowers, Shikamaru, that's why you can't understand this."

"Since when is there anything to understand about flowers?"

Ino didn't answer me. It was okay. I just outstretched myself on the floor. Ino scoffed.

"Is that all you know how to do?" she asked me, putting vases on the shelf with petals falling all over my face. I wiped the petals off my face. They felt annoying and made me sneeze.

"Yes, this is all I know how to do. You know, you should try to be a little more careful," replying back to her sourly.

Ino didn't say anything and kept pampering the flowers.

"I risk my ass to go save you after you retardedly drank a whole can laced with intoxicators."

She remained still and picked up a vase of lilies and put them in front of the window. I knew she heard me. She was refusing to hear it. I could see her twitching.

"Listen, Ino, you don't just drink whatever hasn't been poured in your face. It's common sense. I was watching you that night. And those people from the Rain Country, I don't know who the hell they are, but now, I have to protect you."

Ino put her hand down from the glass vase. She just looked at me, her hair strands brushing along her cheeks. She still wasn't answering.

"I'm telling you now and you'd better listen. There are creeps out there. Be careful. I'm, not your babysitter. I'm just here 'cos Tsunade made me. Just… just watch yourself."

"If you don't want to be here then just go," she said softly, pulling more glass vases out of the cabinets. I think I just pissed her off. "Go play your stupid Shougi games. You're already an old man like Asuma-sensei said." She took the blue jar and pulled out a bushel of more flowers.

I was tempted to leave but if I did, I'd probably get slapped on the head with newspaper by Tsunade. Besides, I'm at Chuunin rank. I know my duties even if they are troublesome. And I know not to abandon someone just because I feel tired. So I sat down on the bench with one leg up staring at the ceiling. I don't remember falling asleep, but it must have been an hour or so. By that time, Ino looked like she was ready to leave, carrying an arranged flower vase with her. I slid off the bench. My eyelids were so heavy… I wanted to go back to sleep. But I trudged after her.

"Where are you going?" I garbled, wiping the drool off my mouth.

"What's it to you? And wipe your mouth. You look like a dog," she replied, locking the door to the flower shop and holding her vase full of arranged flowers. She must have spent a long time doing it. It even caught my attention. And I don't even like flowers.

"Are you going to an ikebana contest?"

"Oh gee, you're so smart... yes," she said crassly.

I sighed and just followed her until we reached Konoha gates. I grabbed her by the shoulder but she forcefully pushed my hand off. "Wait, you can't leave the city premises without permission."

"I already asked Tsunade-sama. Quit bugging me."

"I'm supposed to watch you. I can't quit bugging you. And quit lying, I know Tsunade wouldn't give you permission to leave."

"Ugh, go do something else. You're troublesome."

"That's my line, Ino."

She just walked off with her ikebana display. I ran after her into the forest trail.

"Look, I don't know what's going on or these people after you. All I know is that I have to protect you. So if you would just cooperate…."

"You, asking me to cooperate?" she scoffed, laughing in my face and kept walking.

"I can't believe this," I muttered under my breath. I had no other choice. I caught up to her. Why does she keep mocking me? Is it her time of the month of something? My mom always mentioned that… but what is it?

Kage Mane no Jutsu!

I captured Ino before she could elude my shadow. It was broad daylight after all.

"Hey! You bastard, let me go!" she squealed with bared teeth.

I just smirked. I wouldn't be caught dead doing this, but I did. I started to dance. I shook my hips and moved my legs. Ino did likewise. I was watching her. It was hilarious. I was nice enough to know not to move my arms around for she would have dropped her ikebana display and that would be the end of the days I would be seeing straight if I "accidentally-on-purpose" broke her display.

"Quit making me dance, you jerk!" Ino was turning red.

I squatted to the floor and motioned Ino to put her ikebana display on the ground. I walked a few steps to the left to make Ino face a tree then I hugged the mid-air. She then began to hug the tree. I couldn't help but laugh. She looked so ridiculously funny.

"Mmmff! Stop!" she managed to breathe out.

"Not till you say, 'I'll do what you say, Nara Shikamaru.'"

Ino smirked. "I'm not that stupid," she said confidently. I wondered what she was going to do. She knows me too well. After all, I am on a team with her. I can't hold my shadow forever without consuming most of my chakra. I let her go.

"Humph," she said, brushing off the dirt off her shirt with the ikebana display in one hand. She picked up her display and continued to walk on.

"Ino, I'm not going to argue. Why is this contest so important? There are always contests every year. Must you cause more trouble?"

"Yes, but only for you," she said smiling. She scooped up her display and a twig off the ground and pointed it at me.

"Oh yeah, like a stupid stick is going to knock me out," I said, with my hands on my sides. I had a feeling she was going to use her technique but seeing that she's always extra careful with her flower displays, I'm not too sure.

Shintenshin no Jutsu!

Oh crap. How could I have fallen for that? I've known her since we were young and I fall for the oldest trick in the book. The last thing I remember when I finally regained my own mind was that my legs were tied together and my holster was no longer attached to my thigh. Instead, it was thrown five feet away. I hopped to it and there were no kunai knives in it at all.

"Ugh you stupid….!" I screamed out, hopping towards her. I fell flat on my face. "You suck!" I yelled after her. She kept walking and I kept hopping. I must have fallen down at least three times. The dirt tasted so nasty. She smiled and walked back to me.

"What's the matter? Having trouble talking?"

"Um, no you tied me up. Now hand me a kunai!" I coughed, spitting to keep the dirt out of my mouth.

"Nope," she said, and kept walking.

I bent down and tried to squiggle out of the ropes. I finally managed to get them loose but I lost time that way, about five minutes. I had to run after her. I saw what she was doing. By doing various little tricks, she would slowly lure me closer to whatever city she was going to and by that time it would be too late to get back. Then I'd get in trouble. I smirked.

"So that's the little game she's playing," I thought. I ran after her and decided to play along with her little scheme. But for some reason, I couldn't find her.

I would just simply scream out her name. But at this point, I realized we were no longer within Konoha reach for back-up to appear for us instantly. We were in the middle of the forest once again, and I could not find Ino. I have to keep her safe and she's just playing around. Why does she not taking anything I say seriously?

"Boo…" someone said behind me.

"Gah!" I screamed, nearly jumping a foot off the ground, startled. It was Ino.

I grabbed her and used my shadow technique immediately.

"Quit playing games! Ino, I swear you act like a kid. I don't care if I run out of chakra but I'm dragging you back to Konoha with my shadow." I continued to walk.

"You know I'd just run back when the time comes when you run out of chakra."

She kind of got me there. I had thought of a million strategies but for some reason I couldn't execute them. I guess Ino has spent enough time with me during training to know my pattern of strategies, even if I had come up with two-hundred of them.

"Okay Ino, where is it that you want to go to SO badly?" I finally gave up. Ino was not a hard opponent but I didn't feel like wasting energy just to make her sit down and behave. Wow, I now have the role of baby sitter. Since when was Ino been this childish?

"It's just a small town. Actually I'm not going to a contest, I'm delivering the display."

I was about ready to shout at her.

"What? After all that trouble for a stupid delivery? You could have mailed this! And plus you know it's still not safe! I have to protect you, you know,"

"I didn't hire you to be my bodyguard. I don't know why but you're irritating me."

"You were knocked out, okay? And no, it's not like I happily volunteered for this job, okay? I was asked. It's my duty to protect you. And it still is. During that time I had to carry you with me and figure out these guys. They're no ordinary stupid spies. Okay, one of them is stupid but the other has a bloodline limit and I don't know how to evade it just yet. And either do you. And if I'm irritating you, well, you have no choice. You irritate me too."

"What?"

"Well it's true. All you do is boss people around and take charge. Not to mention chasing lost causes…"

"Excuse me? Don't refer to Sasuke-kun that way!" she walked off. "You're such a…"

"A what, huh?"

I give up. Why are we fighting over trivial matters? This is stupid.

"Never mind. I'm leaving. You're annoying, lazy and a big fat whiner. You were always annoying in the first place. You're a great strategist. I wish I could think the way you could. Maybe I wouldn't get myself into these situations. But I can't get along with you without getting into some useless bickering."

I stared into her eyes. I stepped up to her, inches away from her face and looked her straight into the eye. "What is it, Ino-san, that you want to do so badly?"

"Come with me," she whispered.

"You make it sound like we're eloping."

She hit me on the head. "Not that you moron. Not in a million years. Eww. Get your mind out of the gutter. There's just somewhere I want to go, okay?"

"Well we don't have the authorization or precautions to really go anywhere. I don't see the point of going any further."

"Stop being a pessimist. Let's just go," she said, dragging me by the hand.

End Chapter 3.