Hello my lovelies, I am back one again and I apologize for my absence! But since finals are coming up next week, I obviously have to write for you darling people instead of studying. Hahahahaha!
Well, ignoring my imminent doom, lets continue on with this chapter, in which I bring back InoCho from their slumber which has lasted... 32 chapters! Yeay!
I'm back baby, so lets get this thing started up in here!
(Oh, just remembered to put this in! This was inspired by a JohnLock Fic I read titled A Case of Mistaken Occupation, where the situation is similar for Sherlock and it made me laugh and then think of this (And apologies for the atrocious title, I was desperate))
When Ino saw the illuminated Inn sign, to say she was relieved was an understatement.
She, Choji, and Shikamaru had been on a mission for a little over a month now with few stops and even less rest. They had finally taken care of the elusive and amazingly cunning band of thieves that had been terrorizing the countryside, and now after only catching snippets of sleep in the crooked branches of trees or on the cold rocky ground, they were going to stop and get some real sleep in a real bed.
Ino shivered at the cold wind that swept over her bared skin—why did she wear such short skirts and midriff bearing tops?—and she briskly rubbed her arms, cursing that stupid bridge and whoever had built it so flimsily so that in collapsed when she had walked over it. When she'd fallen into the river her pack and cloak had been dragged away with the current and Choji, being the sweet boy he was, had allowed her to use his cloak. But then they'd caught up with the thieves and the too big garment had gotten torn up in the chase and fight, so now she was freezing and miserable, but looking at the Inn she was already able to feel the relief that heat contained would get her, so she decided to look at the upside.
And the upside was a bed, a shower, some food, and warmth, not in that order.
Choji, the sweet friend he was, had offered to go get her some clothes while she and Shikamaru got a room so that she could warm up a bit, and she had been more than happy to take him up on that offer.
"It's a bit out of our budget." Shikamaru warned as they walked up to the inviting looking door, and Ino waved him away.
"We'll just share a room all together, because I am not wasting another minute to try and find something cheaper." She said, striding through the doors with an added swing to her hips because, God, that heat felt good. She stepped up to the desk and lightly tapped the bell to get the worker's attention, smiling at him charmingly when he finally looked at her.
"One room, please." She requested sweetly and as the boy, no older than nineteen, began to check the available rooms Ino noticed that after flicking over a bored-as-ever looking Shika his eyes scanned her up and down almost warily, lingering slightly over the bits of her exposed flesh. Never one to shy away from attention, Ino cocked a hip and stood a little straighter.
"I..." The boy cleared his throat as he stared down at the paper in front of him. "I apologize, but we can't do business with you right now." His voice was quiet, almost ineligible, and Ino felt bad for the poor thing, probably thinking that she would be upset that they didn't have any available rooms. It wasn't like he could control it.
"Oh well, that's fine." She sighed, flipping her pony-tail over her shoulder, "Do you know of another hotel close by that would have a room for us?"
"Well, I... Uh..." He floundered a bit, and Ino continued to feel bad for him up until Shikamaru pointed something... interesting out.
"How can there be no room for us if over half of the keys for the rooms are back there, as well as spots in the book in front of you unmarked?" He asked in his usual disinterested tone, though his eyes were sharp and aggravated. Obviously, he hadn't enjoyed their expedition through the wilds either, and wanted to get into comfort as much as Ino did.
Ino whipped her head around to stare at the boy, confusion and a bit of a glare in her eyes as she watched the boy flounder, hands waving in the air and mouth opening and closing as he tried to figure out what to say.
"I... I... I... I'm going to get my manager!" He squeaked, slipping off of his chair to scurry back to what had to be the managers office, slightly tripping over his too big feet.
Ino crossed her arms over her chest as they waited, getting more and more aggravated as time went on. At one point she saw the blinds over the office's window briefly flick open, but before she could send the opening a proper glare, it flicked closed again.
After a few minutes a straight-backed, slightly balding man—obviously the manager—came out of the office, followed by the stooped form of the boy. The manager stepped up behind the desk and tried to give them a business like, if not strained, smile.
"I'm sorry for the wait, but I agree with Mr. Abe here and I must ask you to seek a room elsewhere." His smile was tight and attempting to be cordial, but it slipped off when Ino took a threatening step forward to plant her hands on the wood of desk, leaning forward as she narrowed her eyes.
"Why? You obviously have rooms available."
The man's lips pursed and his face strained around his eyes, but he nodded. "Yes. We do."
"But not to us?"
"No. Not to someone of your... Occupation." The last word sounded like something unbearably dirty when he said it, and Ino couldn't figure out why nor could she figure out why they couldn't get a room. There were actual laws place that said that all Inns had to be opened to the shinobi of their villages for a price, so unless the man was stupid and was determined to break the law there was no reason for him to deny them stay.
A piece of the puzzle was missing.
"Why would someone of my 'occupation' not be allowed to get a room here?" She asked, her voice furious and frustrated, and dear God she was so close to a bed but this idiot was keeping her from it.
If he didn't let her through soon, she'd have to do some things quite a few people wouldn't approve of so that she could get her way.
"I apologize," The man said stiffly, his thick neck and face beginning to redden at his outrage of this conversation having gone on this long, "But it is stated in our rules that we are not to rent out a room to someone in the occupation of selling their body for the night. Other places may be more lenient, but we will not be, and I must ask you to leave now."
He thought...
Ino stared incredulously at the man, eyes wide and stunned as her mouth gaped, her whole body going slack as the thought tried to register.
He thought that she was...
Slowly she stiffened, nails scraping over the grain of the wood as her fingers curled and uncurled. Every muscle in her body tensed, and in a moment her eyes went from being incredulous to being so enraged that they burned with the flames of a fury so hot that the manager and the boy flinched back from the heat of them.
"You," She hissed, "Think that I am a prostitute?!"
"A-Aren't you?" The boy asked, stepping back when the full force of that horrific glare turned on him.
"You think that I am a prostitute? Me?" She whipped around to look at Shikamaru, "They think that I am a prostitute!"
"So they do." Shikamaru murmured, narrowing his eyes at the baffled pair behind the desk.
"Me! A prostitute!" She banged her hands down on the desk, hard, and though it seemed impossible her glare got even more devastating.
It was to this scene that Choji walked in from his shopping trip and he paused for a moment to take in the severely aggressive stance Ino was in as well as the slightly less so stance of Shikamaru, and the cowering pair behind the desk and the audience of inn stayers who were pressed up against the walls or seated at the edges of their seats, watching whatever was going on with rapt attention.
"Um..." He cleared his throat, bringing some of the attention on himself, "Is something wrong in here?"
"Oh yes," Ino growled, whirling around to face him, glare still dangerously—and to him, attractively—in place. "These idiots," She pointed behind her to the two cowering workers, "Said that they won't give us a room because they think I am a PROSTITUTE!" She screeched, and suddenly the manager and the desk-boy found themselves faced with yet another horrifyingly furious glare.
"Why would they think something like that?" He asked, his voice dangerously low, especially put against Ino's screeching. The manager cleared his throat and straightened his tie, hoping to resume some sort of order.
"Her state of dress, for one. In this weather, no one would wear so little and such revealing clothes, and her attitude just suggests-"
"The reason I am wearing 'so little' clothing is because all my other clothes got washed away in a river! And I just so happen to be confident in my body, thank you very much!" She leaned in a little closer and narrowed her eyes. "And what about my attitude?" She growled.
The manager and worker paled considerably, and as their eyes darted to the two men who were apparently accompanying the girl, they noticed suddenly the the hidden Leaf symbols that had been previously hidden by the cloaks they had worn. It took barely a moment for them to add two and two together and understand just what kind of people they had upset.
"I-I apologize." The manager stuttered, hurrying for the keys. "It was just a mistake a worker of mine made, and I trusted his judgment." The older man glared at the now ill looking boy. "Your stay here will be free, obviously."
"Of course we will." Ino snapped, still angry but able to see the opportunity available now. "Two rooms, connected. And they had better be the best you've got." The manager nodded quickly, and did as the angry blonde ninja bid, nearly tripping over himself in his hurry.
The desk boy led them up the stairs to their rooms and then scurried away as soon as possible, not daring to make eye contact with any of them, quickly handing the keys to Shikamaru since he seemed to be the least angry of the trio. After he had scrambled back down the hall and stairs, the tree of them stood there for a silent moment.
"Ino-" Choji started, wondering and worried if the girl was hurt by the assumptions. But before he could ask after his crush she took the bag of clothes from him and brushed past him, snatching one of the keys from Shikamaru's hand before marching into a room and slamming the door behind her.
It was a few hours later that Ino finally emerged from her room and strode into theirs from the adjourning door, wrapped in a long and fluffy robe provided by the hotel and smelling of sweet soaps. Her hair was still slightly damp, and was loose from its usual constraints, and her face was strained. She paced barefooted across the carpet for a few minutes before whirling around to face her two best friends with a hard look in her eye that set them both on edge.
"Do I dress like a whore?" She asked, and the two men could only blink for a moment as they tried to process this.
"What?" Choji asked dumbly.
"What those guys were saying and assuming... Do I dress like I'm 'asking for it'?"
They stared at her a moment completely stunned before they got angry. Really angry.
"That has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say." Shikamaru said simply, eyes narrow ed to slits. Choji nodded in agreement.
"I know! I know. But... What those guys were saying down there, I know some people think that way because I do dress kind of revealingly and I sleep with guys and hey, maybe I'm easy, so maybe I am just kind of a slut and maybe they weren't too far off with the prostitute thing because even though I don't take money for sex and I never will, I have slept with someone on a mission and that's kind of the same thing and I take presents when a guy gives them to me and if he gives me a present that usually leads to sex and..." She took a breath to stop her rambling since Shikamaru and Choji were apparently too stunned to stop her themselves, and she looked away so they wouldn't see how wet her eyes had gotten, crossing her arms and cupping her elbows in her hands as she tried to stop herself from crying. She had hoped the tears she had shed in the shower—hot and angry tears that had made her chest tight and that had made her get to thinking until they shifted over to sad tears that dug into her like dull nails—had been the last of them.
"So... maybe I'm-"
"You're confident." Choji said, interrupting her before she could push herself any lower. "You're confident and you wear clothes that make you look good and feel about yourself. There's nothing wrong with that. And sex," He blushed just a little bit, "Well, just because you have sex and enjoy it, it doesn't mean anything bad. It just means that you just... like sex, and there is nothing wrong with that. You didn't go into any of those relationships with ulterior motives or to do anything bad, and you at least had some sort of feelings for those people and you never did anything wrong. So you should stop being so hard on yourself because there just isn't any reason to be."
Ino stared at him for a moment before nodding her head and straightening her spine. She let out a deep and shuddering breath and blinked the last of her held back tears and worries away. Then with a small smile she walked over to where Choji sat on the side of his bed to give him a brief but warm hug.
"Thanks." She murmured, moving over to do the same to Shikamaru before leaving the room with a thankful smile and a "Goodnight."
The two boys sat there in silence for a few moments, Choji feeling a rush of warmth from the hug and the fact that he could make Ino feel better about herself, but then Shikamaru chose to speak.
"You should really just tell her already and get it over with." He sighed, laying back on his bed and ignoring the half-hearted mean look he received for his efforts to help in his love life.
"No. She's... It's... It just... No." He stated firmly and Shikamaru just sighed, wondering when the inevitable would happen and his two friends would finally just get together and stop being so obvious and oblivious all at the same time.
"Troublesome."
Yeah, it's going to be a couple of years before anything happens, so... Too bad, so sad, Shikamaru.
Sooooo... BABY TIME!
Hello to my new sweet babies blackcherrieswithsprinkles11 (Thank you, and are you just the most darling thing? And yes, I agree with you, and I'll try to fit a Sasuke bit in because I do think that that is a good idea that makes a lot of sense) Molly Grace 16, damnyank09, and who was so devoted to reading my story in one go that she sort of passed out, the poor dear.
And also to Rohain Tahquil, who had an actual baby I send all my happiness for you and well wishes and love!
And now... For perhaps (most certainly) the weirdest review I have ever gotten.
I've always felt superior to some of the other writers when they complain in their chapters about the hateful reviews they get because you, my sweet darlings, are quite simply the most wonderful and the most darling beings. And this review wasn't mean... Just... strange, declaring that my stories are "fairly okay" and that they like me as a "boringly normal person". Soo... Thank... You?
List of things I have done recently that I feel like telling you about:
-I saw Thor Dark World (Oh God Oh God, the Loki feels)
-I got a Tumblr (peer pressured into it!)
-I got too much Bath and BodyWorks at discount prices.
-I got a happy snowman blanket!
-I got like four $30 dresses for less than $7 each! DEEAAALSSS!
-I went to Cheddar's and The Cheesecake Factory for the first time.
-I finally got to read the most recent Percy Jackson book.
-I read The Hobbit (and I want to start reading Game of Thrones).
Well now, my loves, I shall see you again if you so wish it!