"You okay, Ino?"
Choji always knew where to find her. From the moment Ino had been allowed to leave her hospital room, she'd visited the grave everyday. There were the names carved out in stone, Sarutobi, Asuma and Nara, Shikamaru. One right after the other. Her fingers brushed against his name and then against the blank space where her own, Yamanaka, Ino, used to rest.
"I saw Sakura today."
Choji sighed and sat down beside her. "You didn't hit her again, did you?"
"No." Ino said, "I wanted to. She's such a twit."
Twit was a mild way to describe it. Sakura simply refused to accept the truth. Sasuke Uchiha had raped Ino Yamanaka. Ino wondered exactly what kind of person Sakura thought she was, to lie about something like that. She hadn't wanted to admit it but Tsunade had demanded a full report and Sakura had specifically asked, pleaded for news of her old teammate. So Ino had laid it out, black and white, word for word. She refused to be delicate about it. There was nothing delicate about it.
"You're a liar!" She'd screamed so loudly that Choji, waiting in the hallway, could hear her.
"Sakura!" Tsunade snapped at her apprentice, "Control yourself!"
"Sasuke wouldn't! He wouldn't! You're a liar!"
"I'm a liar?" Ino said, her voice dangerously calm, "I'm a liar? You're fucking hero betray Konoha, betrayed you, by his own free will and ignored the sacrifices made for him and I'm a liar?!"
"Ino, you fucking pig!" Tears flowed down Sakura's pretty face like rivers, "You fucking whore! I hate you!"
"You're a child, Sakura." Ino stood up to face her, "After all this time, you're still a fucking child! Holding on to that crack pot dream that your Prince Sasuke will come and rescue you! Accept the truth! He doesn't care about you or me, he doesn't care about Shikamaru, he doesn't care about Naruto and he doesn't care about Konoha! He's a traitor and lying rapist and all he cares about is his own fucking vengeance!"
"Liar! Ino, you lying- lying, Pig Whore!"
Who is this? Ino thought, Sanna? Maybe you were always Sanna, fucking obsessed over someone who doesn't exist!
"Grow up, Sakura."
"I hate you!" Sakura shouted, "I hate you and that lazy asshole Shikamaru!"
BAM!! Sakura hadn't been expecting Ino to slap her. What ever pity Ino had harbored for poor deluded Sakura had left her the moment Shikamaru's name was spoken. No one, with the exception of Choji and their parents, was allowed to speak of Shikamaru to her like that. It was all Ino could do to keep from killing the bitch right there.
"You believe whatever the hell you want." She said dangerously, "I'm out of here."
"I really wanted to hit her today." Ino sighed, "I would have but… people generally don't like fist fights in the grocery store."
"What'd she do?"
Ino thought. "Nothing really. She just inspires violence in me, I guess."
Choji nodded, "Naruto's the same way."
Ino laughed, "I noticed he was supporting a couple of black eyes."
"Men work through their differences in strange ways." Choji smiled, "Beating the crap out of each other is one of them. I actually like Naruto…we've just made a pact never to talk about Sasuke again."
"I don't think that will work with Sakura." Ino said, "Naruto didn't love the bastard."
Choji looked closely at his friend, "Are you really okay, Ino?"
"I'm pregnant."
Choji sat dumbstruck for a few moments. Ino had told him everything, albeit not in great detail, that had happened in Kobe 59. That Sasuke raped, that Shikamaru saved her and that they had- the implications were confusing to say the least.
"Is it-"
"Shika's I hope." Ino sighed, "It was only the one time though so there's a pretty good chance-"
"It's Shika's." Choji said.
"Choji, there's a significant possibility-"
"It's Shika's…" Choji repeated obstinately, "Because Shika's the one who loves you and Shika's the one whose coming back."
She sniffed and wiped a speck of dust- or was it a tear- out of her eye. "He did promise." She said softly, "He's not dead, Choji. I'd know if he was but…he might be tomorrow and then… no matter whose it is, this baby won't have a father."
Choji put his arm around her and Ino rested in comfortable sadness on her friend's chubby shoulder. "He'll be back." Choji said softly, "He promised."
"Shadow Neck Bind!"
"Sharingan Eye!" Damn, but he was fast! Shikamaru felt the dark fist tighten round his throat and heard Sasuke's cold voice, "Why are you trying to kill me, Nara?"
"Force of habit." Shikamaru choked, smirking at his enemy, "I keep thinking I'll catch you off guard sometime."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and released his grip, "Keep thinking that then." He said, "Its no concern of mine what you do."
"That's why you lock your door when you sleep." Shika said, "I don't fight fair, Sasuke. I will kill you if you let your guard down."
"You're an irritant, Nara. Little more than a bug." Sasuke took a seat on a nearby chair, "Barely worth killing. You're lucky Orochimaru likes you."
Lucky was not what Shikamaru would have called it and the Uchiha knew it. That was the one thing these two had in common. "No." Shikamaru said, "You're lucky Orochimaru likes me. Who'd he fuck before you came along, Sasuke? Kabuto?"
Sasuke stood and drew his katana, pointing it at Shikamaru's throat. "I could end you right now."
"And go back to being chief Bitch in residence?" Shikamaru grinned, "You miss him that much?"
The Uchiha sheathed the sword and sat back down. "You are a good strategist."
"Ten steps ahead, baby."
"You're bold. And I would say stupid if I didn't know your I.Q myself. Why do you persist in making your own life harder?"
Shikamaru grinned again, "That's what comes from having nothing to lose. That's what comes of knowing… that whatever you do to me… it'll be a fucking release compared to what I've been through."
"What about Ino Yamanaka?"
Shikamaru said nothing. He made it a point not to think about Ino anymore. Not to remember her, the way she looked sleeping next to him, the smell of her hair, the warmth of her touch, the taste of her lips on his mouth. He knew the moment he let himself remember her, remember that she was out there, safe and waiting for him, he would have a reason to live. He would have a reason to be afraid of death and that would cripple him. But he dreamed about her still and the one night they'd been together.
"You know, I think that scar is your best feature, Sasuke."
"Too personal?" Sasuke asked mildly, "Very well. Let's talk strategy. Orochimaru wants a raid on one of the Suna villages…"
Shikamaru did not listen to Sasuke explain the reasoning behind Orochimaru's plot. The snake lord was always making attacks of villages, spiriting away the best warriors in the land for his own private army. He supposed that was why he was allowed to live. That and the other reason…
It had been over a month since Ino had been released. A month and two weeks to be exact. The first week was the hardest. After the first week, he knew he could survive just about anything. The first week of his total allegiance to the sound, Orochimaru had been quite eager to test out his new "toy" as Shikamaru was horrifically and affectionately entitled. That was the week Shikamaru decided to try not to think about Ino. There was something terribly humiliating about being fucked up the ass against his will (actually, everything about it was terribly humiliating) that thinking about Ino did not help. He just wished Orochimaru's tastes didn't lean towards that. If only he'd been beaten or starved or-
But he wasn't. For the first week that Ino was gone, Shikamaru had had his hand tied behind him again. He was locked in Orochimaru's quarters and he was…naked quite a lot. It saved time, Orochimaru said. Actually, Shikamaru was alone for most of it. Sanna came in every day to feed him. It was much better food than he and Choji had ever received. Sanna appeared to have given up her crusade to fuck him now that Ino was gone or perhaps it was because nobody else was allowed to "play" with Orochimaru's "toys". Yet he was naked quite a lot in her presence and between Sanna's staring and Orochimaru…he had no privacy.
After the first week, things were better. True, he was still forced to retire to Orochimaru's bedroom each night but he got to walk around and put on clothes and plan strategy. Planning strategy was the only thing he enjoyed about Kobe 59, not that he would ever admit it. He pretended it was Shoji with Asuma-sensei or his father. That was how you survived in prison. By staying one step ahead of your opponent.
"Whore!" The whispered word followed her where ever she went like a disease.
Boy. Ino thought mildly, if I had a nickel for everything somebody called me a whore…but nine months pregnant with no boyfriend or husband in sight will do that for your reputation.
She would have told the perpetrator off but she just didn't have the energy. Being pregnant really helped her identify with Shikamaru's philosophy on life. However, if the lazy ninja had been there, Ino felt certain she would have wanted to whack him over the head. Right after she made love to him like there was no tomorrow.
"Aww shit!" Her body rocked with pain, "Ugh, shit this baby wants out."
Being pregnant eat up your chakra so Ino had to stagger to the Konoha hospital on her own two feet. Fortunately, Choji's girlfriend, Ayume Sanaguchi was on duty that day.
"Ino!" She looked up as the Yamanaka entered, "Its time?"
"I'd say so." Ino grimaced and grabbed the wall for support.
"I'll get you to your room." Ayume said quickly, "Here, lean on me. Is there anything else you need?"
"P-pain killers." Ino clutched her protruding belly, "God what a violent kid!"
"Right. Pain killers." Ayume repeated, helping Ino climb into bed, "Anything else?"
"Ch-Choji. He'll want to be here." Choji had followed Ino around like a dog for the passed week, waiting for her to squeeze the kid out because "Shikamaru told me to take care of you!", "Tell my family too and Shikamaru's parents."
Ayume did so and another nurse came in momentarily with the pain killers. They did their job immediately and Ino sat comfortably in her drugged up stopper.
Shikamaru. She thought quietly, I wish you were here.
"It's a boy!" Ayume beamed, "A healthy baby boy."
"Let me see him." The baby was still bloody and still bawling at the cold world it had been thrust into, but Ino had to know for sure. Miraculously the child stopped howling when she took it and regarded her intently with deep hazel eyes.
"Heh." She couldn't help feeling a bit relieved, "I knew you were Shikamaru's. Twenty two hours of labor. You sure took your time about."
"Here." Ayume reached out, "Let me wash him off."
"So what are you going to call him?" Shikaku, Shikamaru's father, asked.
Ino hadn't really thought about it. She was more concerned with getting the thing born and figuring out who the father was but the name came to her instantly. It was as if it had always been there, just waiting for her to speak.
"Shikachi."
"That's a good name." Shikamaru's father frowned slightly, "But what about Shikamaru?"
Ino shook her head. "It'll make things confusing won't it?" She said, "When his father gets back."
Shikaku leaned back against the hospital wall and said nothing. Ino Yamanaka had been officially adopted into the Nara clan several months ago. She still refused to give in to the idea that Shikamaru was dead. Shikaku knew it was wrong for him to give up home like this but…being a ninja meant death. It had been almost three years since he'd last seen his son. He'd resigned himself. Shikamaru was dead and this small crying thing in his daughter in law's arms was all that was left of him.
Let her keep her hopes. The new grandfather thought taking his place at Ino's bedside to look at the baby, I have a grandson!
"So…I hear you killed Orochimaru." The rumor had flooded Kobe 59 like the plague. Shikamaru was particularly intrigued because…at the very least it meant his body was his own again. However, it could also mean he was about to die. Now as Sasuke Uchiha sat idly across from him, he had to know.
"You heard correctly."
"So…" This is what it all comes down to. Shikamaru thought suddenly, After three years, liberty or death!, "Now what?"
"You're free."
"I'm what?"
"Let's not get emotional, Shikamaru." Sasuke said coldly, "I have no further use for you. I'm dissolving Orochimaru's organization and pursuing my own agenda."
"Itachi." Shikamaru said. By now he knew Sasuke's entire history and quest.
"Precisely." He agreed, "Much as you irritate me, I don't really want to kill you."
"Thanks for that." Shikamaru stood, "So I can go."
"Not quite yet." Sasuke said, "There's still the small matter of whether or not you really want to kill me. After all, I did take your woman."
"True." Shikamaru sat down again, "And I don't think I forgive you for that…"
"No?"
"But I suppose I owe you a life debt now, don't I?" He sighed, "How troublesome."
"You once said you wanted to kill me."
"I still do." Shikamaru admitted, "But I don't think I could, you know? So here's what I propose. You stay away from Konoha. You stay away from me and the people I care about. I don't try to kill you."
"It seems fair." The Uchiha sat back, "I guess this is good bye then."
"Lets not get emotional." Shikamaru said, "I'm not gonna thank you, considering you should have done it five years ago. I'm gone."
Sasuke watched him as he walked slowly out of the room and Shikamaru never felt so tired in all his life. The fact of the matter didn't even dawn on him until he was outside of the prison walls. He was free. He'd survived. He was going home.
"Ino..." Shikamaru had not dared to say that name aloud for three years, "I'm coming home."
Well, wasn't that a good montage? I skipped over the more dramatic parts. I refuse to write about ass raping. I sorry. Incidently, Ino's opinion of Sakura matches my own. She just...inspires violence.
I wrote this in one day, just before I go on vaction so no new chapter untill I get back next week. But I promise it will be filled with Shikaino goodness. ONE MORE TO GO!