Hey everyone! I had to push myself to get this chapter up before leaving for this weekend. Now it's 11pm and I have to wake up at 4am, so I hope ya'll like it. I'm actually kinda proud of it. THANK YOU those who expressed their opinions on where this story should go!
Girl Fight - Brooke Valentine (works better with this chapter than the last)
In my arms- Plumb (at the end it works well since she always feels safe when in his arms) :)
Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
"Gotcha" Kiba said after smashing his thumb down on Ino's. She frowned at him since it was the sixth time she lost and it was starting to get old, yet one more try wouldn't hurt.
"Again" She demanded, slipping her thumb from under his. Once again they began fighting for dominance in their thumb war that took place in the park.
"Beat ya again." Kiba was amused and wondering if Ino would want to have another go at it. Feeling pleased with himself because of the scowl on her face he looked at Akamaru. "What did you think about that boy?" He asked the small white dog. Akamaru barked twice before Kiba felt his body weight pushed back into the ground. On his back Kiba found himself looking strait up into the angry face of the blonde, one hand resting on either side to hold herself up.
"But you can't beat me in a real fight." She said with a mischief smile. She knew it was most likely not true, but needed something to boost her confidence after losing. Ino became confused when Kiba started laughing underneath her. But before she could ask him what his problem was he rolled over so that she was pinned to the ground.
"You sure about that?" He asked while snickering. Ino just smiled sweetly right back before bringing her knee up into his stomach with enough force to push him off so she could jump to her feet.
"I think I could handle myself." Kiba glared at her before standing up. Akamaru barked furiously at Ino until she glared at the dog, making him stick his tail between his legs with a whimper. Ino quickly changed her expression and went down to pick up the small dog. "Aw, I'm sorry Akamaru. I didn't mean to get after you." She told the dog while hugging him.
"Traitor." Kiba grumbled to Akamaru at seeing Ino hugging cradling his dog like you would a child. Ino looked at him.
"At least I didn't knee you down low." She finished while putting Akamaru back on the ground.
"If you did I'd put honey in your hair next time your back is turned."
"You wouldn't."
"I would." They stared at each other for a few seconds, waiting for the other to break the eye contact. In the end it was both of them when Sakura came running up calling both their names. When she reached them she immediately bent over to rest her hands on her knees breathless. Ino and Kiba looked at her, wondering what it was that Sakura had sprint to tell them.
"You guys – are hard – to find." Sakura said between gasps of air. Kiba and Ino continued to stare, waiting for their friend to recover. When Sakura's breathing was almost to its normal rhythm she stood up strait. "You'll never guess what I just found out."
"What?" Ino and Kiba said together.
"I saw your Romeo being dragged by the wicked witch of the west on a shopping trip and decided to do some stalking, I overheard one of their conversations and what I got was that it sounds like she wants to take Shikamaru to the Sand Village for a while."
"What!" Ino screeched which unsettled a small group of songbirds from a nearby tree. "She can't take him out of town! That's cheating! That....that….." Ino screamed in frustration with her hands on her head. Kiba and Sakura eyed her, wondering if she was going to blow up while Akamaru covered his eyes.
"She probably wants to do it as a precaution since she knows that he feels something for you, plus she knows what you're up to." Kiba said
"She's going to have a lot more to worry about than losing him soon." Ino said before storming off. Kiba and Sakura looked at each other with first worry, then excitement, before running after their crazy blonde friend.
The market was extremely busy with the afternoon crowd. Ino pushed her way through, searching for Temari and Shikamaru, not yet sure what she was going to do when she finds them. Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru trailed behind her, trying to stay close.
The way Ino frantically searched the stores made it easy for her to spot the fan that the sand child carries on her back. They dashed towards Temari and Shikamaru through the crowd but had to come to an abrupt halt.
"Hello fellow youth!" Lee said with a smile that was too big for his face in front of them. "Sakura! I want to know if you will go out on a date with me. I promise all of your wildest dreams will come true. If you date me I – " Lee was cut off when Ino's fist came at him without warning, knocking the bushy eyebrow green tight suit ninja to the ground cold.
"Don't get in my way when I'm mad!" Ino yelled at the unconscious ninja. The other two looked at her wide eyed, they have seen her mad, but not this mad, not even when she competed with Sakura for Sasuke. Ino didn't hesitate before rushing off again in the same direction.
They followed their targets around a corner to see them looking at a rack of female shirts that were set up outside a shop. Ino was planning on going right up to the two and sucker punching Temari, but something made her jump behind the first clothes rack she saw.
Watching the couple she saw them swinging their hands together while Temari dug through the clothes with her free hand while Shikamaru whispered sweet nothings in her ear. The scene made Ino's insides seem to melt as her heart sunk. It looked like something you would see in a movie the way the two played out, only the girl was cast wrong.
"Can I go kick her but?" Ino helplessly whispered to her friends who looked at each other with question. Sakura looked back at her friend to see Ino's face ha dropped and was looking at her own hands in her lap.
"I don't see why not." Sakura said, wondering why Ino hadn't already done so. A few moments passed with the sound of Temari's laugh sounding loudest among all the voices in the street.
Without a word, Ino stood up with her face still looking down. Walking around the rack, she made her way through the other customers over to Shikamaru and Temari. Shikamaru was rolling his eyes at something Temari had said when they landed at Ino approaching. His mouth opened a bit upon sight, but there was a slight hesitation before he spoke.
"Ino" He said with part question and part shock. Temari instantly turned around and glared at the smaller girl. Ino made a mental not at how Temari's hand tightened on her boyfriends hand, as if afraid Ino would rip their hands apart. But it wasn't Ino who pried their hands apart, but Shikamaru when he slipped his hand away from hers and hid it behind his back.
"What are you guys doing?" Ino asked, unsure of what she was doing. Shikamaru looked back and fourth with hesitation.
"Oh, we're just shopping. Shikamaru's coming back with me to the Sand Village for a while." Temari answered while rubbing her hand under Shikamaru's chin as if polishing off a price.
"Oh really? He didn't say anything about that." Ino said with a little more confidence, her eyes turned to her comrade.
"I told you I'm not going." He said with a firm voice to Temari.
"But, Shika…" Temari complained.
"I can't leave, I have to stay incase there's a mission I need to go on." His tone told Temari that there was no debate. Temari turned her head to shoot daggers with her eyes at Ino who couldn't help but smirk.
"Why are you here?" Temari demanded. Ino's smirk was wiped off when her eyes started to dart around in panic on what she was doing.
"Uh…. Shopping." She said while starting to look through some clothes on a rack near by.
"By yourself?"
"Uh…. "
"Hey Ino, what do you think about this color?" All three turned their heads to see Kiba holding up a red sweatshirt in front of him, releasing the tension off Ino.
"Well it defiantly matches those things under your eyes." Ino said after a slight hesitation.
"Oh, you're with him." Shikamaru said.
"Yea, Ino said I needed a new wardrobe. I don't see what's wrong with what I usually wear." Kiba answered. Shikamaru just nodded in understanding. "Hey Shikamaru, what do you say we go get some ramen and let the girls do some of their own shopping together?"
"WHAT?!" Temari and Ino yelled at the exact same moment.
"We'll ditch you two and do some guy stuff." Kiba explained as if the two were stupid, Ino could see the humor behind the dog boy's eyes. It was so not funny to her.
"YOU'RE GOING TO LEAVE ME WITH HER?!" They said once again at the same time while pointing at each other.
"Doesn't sound like such a bad plan." Shikamaru decided, not wanting to be around the "troublesome" girls. Ino couldn't believe what Kiba was doing. Was he asking for blood shed? She perked up That's it! He was giving her a chance to rip out the other girls hair without Shikamaru witnessing.
"Bye, bye, you two have fun." Kiba waved while pushing Shikamaru away. The second they went around the corner, the two blondes swung their heads to face each other.
"You better back off if you know what's good for you." Temari said, not afraid to show her nasty side with Shikamaru out of sight.
"Make me." Ino shot right back. Temari narrowed her eyes.
"You already had your chance and missed. He's with me now, get over it."
"You know what, I've had trouble with guys through my whole life. Shikamaru was the first one that saw more in me than others would and I know that you're scared because you know that we have something that can be more than just friendship. So if you think I'm just going to let him go or back off just from a verbal threat, then you've got another thing coming."
"Then how about a physical one!" Temari yelled while throwing her fist into Ino's face. Thanks to Ino's quick reflexes she was able to block the hit, but not the kick to her gut that came after.
Ino bent forward with a gasp, shocked by the strength that was in the kick. But Ino was quick to recover so that when Temari went to bring her elbow down hard on Ino's back, she managed to grab Temari's arm before it could make contact. Swiftly she twisted it so that she held it pinned to the sand brat's back.
"I'm not as easy to take down as I look." Ino said into her ear, ignoring the faces that turned to stare, including Sakura's who came out from behind the clothing rack.
She held Temari locked and defenseless. She could have defeated her right then and there. But it wouldn't be enough, they both wanted to scratch each others faces to nothing. So instead of breaking the arm, Ino sent Temari stumbling forward only regain her balance a few feet away. Looking up, Temari was confused on why it didn't end. But then she smiled, ready for a fight.
Both girls took out their throwing knives with malice all over their faces. Then, as if someone had fired a shot, they ran at each other. Ino thrust her knife at Temari who dodged and went to kick Ino's feet out from under her.
Ino jumped to avoid the feet while throwing her knife at Temari. The sand child knocked it away before throwing her own that missed by a hair. Ino took out three throwing stars and threw them. Temari dodged all but one which got her across the cheek, creating a small cut.
They paused while Temari reached up to touch the hot blood that started to slowly make its way down the side of her face. Taking her hand away, she observed the red liquid on her finger tips before her eyebrows came together.
"Eliminate the competition, erase the threat." She said to herself before taking out a throwing star of her own. She threw them before Ino could react, slicing the blondes leg. With a cry of pain she fell to the ground, grabbing at her leg that the star was still sticking out of. Biting her lip, she ripped it out, ignoring the pain from how deep it went.
"Dammit" She mumbled from her stupidity of being taken off guard because of the blood that had come into the game, she meant to cut off her hair, not actually make her bleed. But now Temari became truly pissed, rushing to the blonde on the ground only to kick her in the gut, making Ino spit out blood. Then, showing no mercy, she dragged Ino up by the hair and slugged her in the face which cut her lip.
Sakura intervened by knocking Temari away from Ino from the side before she could throw another hit, and then stood ready to defend her friend. A smile of amusement arose on Temari's face as she reached for her fan with eyes on Sakura who stood with her knife ready to fight. Sakura braced herself so she could survive the wind, but Temari's kick to the face that followed was what made her go flying to the side, out for the count.
Slowly, Temari walked up to Ino who laid on the ground in pain, unable to move. The look on her face screamed evil intentions when her foot steps came to an abrupt halt at the same time the Kiba stepped between her and Ino, with a pissed off look.
"What do you think you're doing?" Asked a furious Shikamaru that kneeled a few yards behind her with his shadow possession jutsu holding her in place. Temari's face drained of color to hear his voice.
"Defending myself." She said after recovering from shock.
"That wasn't defending you were doing. That was finishing." Kiba growled, ready to launch at her himself.
"She attacked me first." Temari said, pointing at Ino who laid behind Kiba with her eyes squeezed shut from the pain of the deep cut in her leg.
"Doesn't matter who attacked who." Shikamaru said as his jutsu retracted back to him. "You were going for the kill."
Temari looked at him before staring towards the ground. Pain filled her face from getting caught, she admitted it was getting out of hand, and she wasn't planning on going for the actual kill. Just leaving an imprint on Ino that would last so she would stay away from Shikamaru. Sakura let out a low moan as she slowly go into sitting position to see the scene before her.
Assuming that Temari wasn't going to try anything stupid, Kiba relaxed his defensive stance, but still kept an eye on her. Shikamaru rushed over to Ino, not even glancing in Temari's direction.
Kneeling down, he slowly hovered his hand over the cut, as if the action would heal it. Then, gently and quickly he wiped away some of the blood, trying to see how deep it really was. The second his hands made contact with the skin Ino let out a hiss of pain, her arm flew up to grab Shikamaru's above the elbow.
"She needs to go to the hospital." Shikamaru announced while taking in her cut and bruised face. "I'll take her."
"You sure?" Kiba asked, still staring at Temari, noticing how her face twisted for a second of fury.
"Yes, I am disgusted to be around her right now." Shikamaru said while nodding in Temari's direction. Kiba nodded, Shikamaru slipped one arm behind Ino's shoulder and the other under her knees to pick her up. Another hiss of pain left her lips when he lifted her off the ground. Unable to hold her head up, she let it slump against Shikamaru's chest, able to hear the frantic beating of his chests as he rushed her to the hospital. Slowly, her eyes began to close with body seeming to go numb. Shikamaru felt the sudden change in her body, knowing that she was fading.
"Hold on Ino." He silently said. "Hold on."
Hope ya'll liked it. PLEASE REVIEW - makes my day + feedback really helps.