A/N: 'blinks' Okay, how did this chapter get to be so long? Seriously, I hadn't planned for it to be this long, but one thing (or rather, one word) led to another, and, well…

Anyways, before I begin, I want to mention that this story is actually almost finished. Really. After this one, there are only three more chapters. So, it's kind of in the home stretch. Just thought that you all should know.

Now this chapter has a lot in it, so get ready. In here is Chouji's shadow-escape method, Ino's plan, and two of the most fun scenes that I have ever written. So, away we go.

Conferring is Troublesome

"Wait, you like Shikamaru?"

Chouji sighed. "Yes, I like Shikamaru, now can you please listen?" He could feel his hands ripping at the grass on the hill that they were sitting on in annoyance. Chouji understood his current companion's confusion, but this was the fifth time he had had to repeat himself. It was starting to get a little frustrating.

Chouji knew that Naruto had his own problems to deal with right now, but he really needed to talk to someone. With what Ino had done, though, he literally had no one right now, so he sought out his old childhood playmate. At least he would be less awkward to talk to about this.

Unfortunately, Naruto couldn't seem to wrap his brain around that Chouji had fallen for his best friend. "Sorry, but…I mean…I never thought that you would be gay."

"You're not really one to talk right now."

"Heh, heh, yeah, you're right. So exactly what happened? Does this have something to do with why Ino's been holed up in her room lately?"

Chouji blinked in confusion. "Ino's been…wait, how do you know that?"

"Sakura's been worried about her the past few days. She said Ino's been kind of meek lately and staying away from Shikamaru."

Chouji mulled over that for a minute. From what it Naruto had just said, it sounded like Ino really felt guilty over the whole incident. So maybe she really didn't know that Shikamaru was there after all, and the confession was supposed to be private. Still… "After what she did, she should be."

"Eh? What did she do to you?"

Chouji sighed again, this time out of nervousness. This was going to be hard for him to talk about. Then again, it was also the reason he had sought Naruto out in the first place. So, he began, "last week, she invited me out to lunch, and then afterwards she got me to confess about Shikamaru."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "And that fangirl let you live?"

Chouji chuckled at the weak joke. "She isn't that horrible, least not to me. But that's not really the problem. You see, I thought it was just the two of us, and from what you said, maybe she thought so to, but it wasn't. Shikamaru…overheard."

"…Oh…"

"…Yeah…"

Silence. Naruto was going over what he had just been told, and Chouji simply waited. It felt surprisingly good to get that off of his shoulders, especially after the torch he had been carrying in secret for over three years now. Just letting someone else know about his biggest problems always felt good, but unfortunately his only available outlet had always been Shikamaru. While he could confide in his lazy friend about his insecurities as a ninja and his size, he couldn't do that with this crush he had been holding for him. Silently, he thanked Naruto for simply existing, so that he did have someone to talk to about this now.

Of course, unlike Shikamaru, who would have listened, said that something was troublesome, and then let the subject drop, Naruto pursued the topic further. "So, what did he say?"

"I didn't stick around to find out. After I found out he was there, I just ran. I thought that Ino had set the whole thing up. Shikamaru tried to stop me, but I broke out of his hold and got out of there as fast as I could."

Naruto suddenly perked his head up. He looked somewhat confused. "Did you say hold? As in his shadow? How the hell did you get out of that?"

Chouji was a bit taken aback. "Naruto," he said a little crossly, "that really isn't the issue here…"

"C'mon, Chouji! Tell me!" Naruto seemed to be genuinely excited about this. Of course, it was public knowledge that, once ninja of the Nara clan had you ensnared, you had pretty much lost, so of course a way to escape would pique someone's interest. Especially someone like Naruto, who was always looking for ways to become stronger.

Chouji sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you. To be honest, though, I think that I may be the only one who can actually do it."

Naruto nodded energetically, giving the mass ninja his full attention. Said ninja couldn't help but think that he looked a little like a puppy that was about to be fed. Not exactly a characteristic expected for the supposed next Hokage, but then again it could have just been Kiba's influence on the blond.

"Okay, first of all, you need to understand how Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation works. He sends his shadow towards the shadow of whatever or whomever he wants to hold down or control. When the shadow reaches the target, it ensnares the shadow so tightly that it can only move wherever the shadow moves. It's kind of like trapping a fly in a jar; the fly can only move around in the jar, but not outside of it. The difference here is that the Shikamaru's shadow conforms to the shape of the target while still restraining it, like if the jar the fly is caught in is exactly the same shape and size of the fly. After that, Shikamaru can then move his shadow, the opposing shadow has to move with Shikamaru's shadow, and the target has to move with their shadow.

"However, if you go back to the fly-in-a-jar example, if the fly somehow grew larger in the fly-shaped jar, than the jar wouldn't be able to hold the fly anymore and would break open. It's the same with the shadows. If the held shadow could suddenly grow significantly larger, the user's hold would break and there would be a backlash.

"Of course, there really isn't any way to suddenly make your shadow bigger like that. However…" Chouji raised his fist and let it expand a few inches, "…I can increase my own body mass with partial expansion, which in turn makes my shadow bigger, and so I can escape. If course, using partial expansion under duress like that hurts like hell, but still…"

Naruto blinked a few times, processing everything Chouji had just explained to him. Then he formed a hug grin on his face. "That's incredible Chouji! I can't believe you actually managed to figure out how to do that on your own! I mean, you're probably the only person that Shikamaru can never beat now."

"I doubt that. He still has plenty of other techniques, like his shadow sewing," Chouji said while chuckling. He wondered exactly how much of his explanation Naruto had actually understood. It was hard to tell sometimes if the blond boy was a fool or a genius. Still, Chouji let himself enjoy the free praise. He may not have been as insecure as he once was, but it was still nice to get compliments once in a while.

After a few minutes of friendly silence, Naruto finally got back to the real topic. "You're going to have to talk to him sooner or later, you know."

"I'm okay with later."

Now Naruto sighed. "Chouji, come on. You can't just avoid him like this. He's your best friend."

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts, Chouji. Look, worse case scenario, he stays mad for a few days, gets tired of it, and will just say that you're being troublesome and move on. I mean this is Shikamaru we're talking about. He can't stay mad at anyone for more than an hour."

Naruto did have a point. Shikamaru was simply too lazy to hold a grudge against anyone with very few exceptions.

Naruto went on. "Besides, you never know. He might even like you back."

"Hmm. It's possible I suppose."

Chouji and Naruto blinked at each other. That hadn't been either one of them. They both jumped up and spun around towards the voice. Behind them sat a dark, wolf-like dog donning an eye patch. "After all," Kuromaru continued, "it's not as if he's shown any interest in those girls throwing himself at him these days."

"Wha-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" Naruto shouted at the dog at the top of his lungs. Chouji stood by, keeping silent. Both boys were wearing the same part indignant, part embarrassed expressions on their faces. Chouji, however, was blushing a little deeper, while Naruto looked noticeably angrier.

Kuromaru kept his cool demeanor. "I've been following you, of course, you dumb pup. You haven't been out of my sight the entire day."

"WHAT?"

The dog ignored Naruto's outburst and instead turned his attention to heavier human. "Now listen, you're interested in that lazy kid with his hair tied up in the back, right?" Chouji nodded dumbly. "Then just ask him out. I don't see why you humans make such a big deal out of these things. If you want him, then just take him already. After all, even if he turns you down, at least you both know where you stand, right?"

"Wait a second!" Naruto was clearly not happy being ignored. "You've been trying to scare me away for two weeks now, but you're giving him your approval?"

"You're dating Kiba, pup. He's not," Kuromaru stated matter-of-factly, as if that had always been obvious.

"So you're saying that if I was seeing anyone else, you'd be supportive, but now you're stalking me just because I'm dating an Inuzuka?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Grrr…you hypocrite!"

Slowly, Chouji began chuckling. Then he stopped holding it and let his laughter escape freely. There was just something so very funny about watching Naruto argue with a dog, even if the dog was arguing back. The two of them heard his laughter, and stopped fighting to look at him.

"Heh, heh, heh…sorry…it's just…you two…" Chouji finally regained control of his voice and spoke normally. "Listen, thanks for the advice, both of you, but I need to get going now. My dad wants me to pick up some things for dinner. See you guys later."

"Hey, Chouji!" Naruto called out to him as the mass ninja was leaving. Chouji stopped and looked over his shoulder towards his friend. "I'm not saying that you have to do it right away. If you need some time, then fine. Just talk to him though. Even if he does say no, if you don't confront him, then you won't be able to move on."

Chouji responded with a solemn nod, then ran off. Neither the blond nor the dog moved, and they stood still in a decidedly un-companiable silence. Finally, Kuromaru spoke up. "Hey, pup?"

"What?"

"I need you to do me a favor."

Shikamaru had never, EVER thought that he would say this, but right now, he really wished Temari was still with him. Even if she was troublesome, as long as she had alone time with Shikamaru and no Ino in sight, she was in heaven. Of course, all the other girls in the Village Hidden in the Leaves knew how rare this heaven came to the Suna maiden, so of course they were respectable enough (i.e. afraid for their lives) to not interrupt the girl's happy time. Now that Temari had stormed away in frustration from the inattentive young chunnin, though, there was nothing to hold them back.

Which left Shikamaru running for his life, again, from a group of crazed girls, all of whom wanted the exact same thing: to make the Nara boy theirs.

While this was always annoying no matter what the circumstances, it was particularly trying his patience right now. He didn't have time to be dodging girls. He needed to think and figure out what he was going to do about Chouji. Unfortunately, any place that he could go to think would be populated by the same gaggle of beasts that were chasing him right now. If he tried to go home, though, he'd only come face to face with the scariest woman he knew: his mother. Shikamaru spent several more minutes running from the mob and desperately thinking of a plan of escape. The solution, however, was kind enough to present itself without even needing for him to think of it.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Even if it was female, the voice sounded like that of an angel to the young man. He quickly turned to the voice's direction and dashed towards it in a full sprint, the mob close behind him. Quickly, he coasted to a stop in front of the voice's owner and tried to look as nonchalant as possible, since he was Nara Shikamaru, after all.

"What's up, Sakura?"

The entire mob halted and fell silent. Sakura was popular around the village, sure, but she was as well known for her temper as he she was for her pink hair. Seeing as how she now possessed the strength to bench press a building, no one wanted to risk getting on her bad side. So, when Sakura was about to talk, no one dared to interrupt or speak over her.

The pink-haired her girl herself just smiled. "Tsunade-sensei sent me to go find you. She wants to talk with you about a few upcoming missions." The crowd let out a collective groan of despair. If Shikamaru was going to be talking with the Hokage, then they obviously couldn't interfere or try to stop him from going. That would mean facing Tsunade's wrath, and no one bar Naruto was dumb enough to risk that. The girls all shuffled off in different directions, some of them grumbling about how life wasn't fair.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, happily walked off alongside Sakura, a large grin plastered on his face. Even if they were heading to a meeting with the Hokage, and that he'd probably just be given some troublesome mission, at least for now he'd be free of all of his groupies. He decided to just not think about them, or Ino, or Temari, or even Chouji and just enjoy this peaceful moment. Which he did, until about five minutes later when he noticed something odd and stopped in his tracks. Sakura continued walking a few steps before noticing her companion's halt, and looked at him questioningly. Shikamaru returned the look.

"Sakura," he asked slowly, "where are we going? This isn't the way to the Hokage's office."

Upon hearing the question, Sakura just flashed her usual smile. "I know, but…" Sakura then stopped mid-answer to stretch her arms overhead, palms turned towards the sky. "…I've been stuck inside with my work all day. I need a break, and since Tsunade-sensei sent me for you, Shikamaru, she's not expecting us there for a while. So I figured we could both enjoy a nice, quiet stroll, okay?"

Shikamaru nodded and smiled a little. "Quiet sounds good right now." Sakura just giggled as they continued their walk. Despite her temper, the medic-nin was probably the only female in the village right now that Shikamaru wouldn't call troublesome.

Like all the other girls, Haruno Sakura had developed a crush on the infamous Uchiha Sasuke when they were children. However, unlike the other girls, Sakura had the fortune to be placed on his team. That meant that she got to spend more time around him, and had begun to see the boy behind the looks. She fell in love with him all over again, but this time, it wasn't for how handsome he was or how illustrious his clan was. She had fallen for his determination and drive to become stronger, traits that she had desperately wanted to have herself. This wasn't a simple crush anymore; Sakura had fallen for Sasuke, for real this time.

So, when Sasuke betrayed the village, betrayed her, she took it hard. Oddly enough, though, that heartbreak had also woken something in her. A desire to become stronger, to stand up to Sasuke herself, to take him back with Naruto, instead of forcing him to do all the work, even if the avenger came kicking and screaming. To that end, she had really thrown herself into her training, and had quickly surpassed most, if not all the kunoichi chunnin in the village. Shikamaru actually had it on good authority (Ino) that the only reason that Sakura wasn't a jonin by now was because she hadn't wanted to leave Naruto too far behind in rank.

Because of this, however, Sakura had grown up a bit faster than most, and had stopped focusing on boys all the time like she had done as a genin. She now knew what most teenage girls have yet to learn: there's more to the world than just boys. As such, Sakura did not, never had, and hopefully never would go after Shikamaru, her only given reason being that he "wasn't her type." Sakura was the one girl that Shikamaru was safe around.

However, she was the best friend with someone who wasn't safe to be around, especially Shikamaru. So, not too long after they began their trek, the silence was broken by a loud, distinctly feminine call of Sakura's name. Both of them turned to the voice, and saw Ino running towards them (or rather, towards Sakura), her long ponytail flapping in the wind as she moved.

"There you are Sakura!" The girl skidded to a stop in front of her friend. "I've been looking all over fo-oh!" Ino stopped her words in surprise when she saw the boy with Sakura. Her voice lost its bouncy tone when she addressed him. "H-hey, there, Shikamaru. What are you doing here?"

Shikamaru didn't answer, opting to stare off somewhere else, clearly not wanting to talk to Ino. If Sakura felt any tension between the two teammates, she didn't show it. "Tsunade-sensei sent me to find him," she answered for him. "We're just taking some time before we faced her. Now, what's up? Is there something you wanted to talk about?"

Ino didn't answer. She just looked at the nearby shadow ninja with a mix of apprehension and shame. Shikamaru, however, noticed this, and while he understood the shame part of it, he wondered what the blond was so apprehensive about.

Once again, Sakura supplied an answer. "Is it something to do with Chouji?" At that, Shikamaru's eyes went wide for a split second, before they began throwing a decidedly pointed glare at the blond. Ino, for her part, cringed under her friend's accusing eyes and looked off to the side. Sakura blinked at both of their reactions. Confused, she turned to Ino. "I thought you told me that he knew?"

Ino responded quickly. "Oh, yes. Shikamaru knows that Chouji's gay." On that final word, Ino then returned the glare Shikamaru had been giving her. Shikamaru got the message. Apparently, the Akamichi's preference was all that she had told Sakura, and had left the confession out. Ino returned to looking at Sakura. "It's just that Chouji's kind of mad that I outed him, so Shikamaru's mad as well."

Sakura smiled and nodded, as if that made all the sense in the world. "You better be careful then," she giggled. "He might just end up running of with Temari." Both of her friends sweat dropped in disgust, though for very different reasons.

Ino recovered first. "I think I have a way to make it up to him though, and I wanted to talk to you about it, but…" she trailed off, looking at Shikamaru again. He and Sakura both got the message: she wasn't sure if she should talk about Chouji in front of his best friend.

Sakura just shrugged. "I think it's okay. Who knows? Maybe Shikamaru can give you some input, too."

Ino kept her gaze on her love interest, the apprehension/shame mixture back on her face. Shikamaru kept quiet, but gave a very slight nod. Honestly, he didn't know if he wanted to be here for this. However, he was getting pretty fed up with Ino's plans. After what happened with the last one, there was no way in hell that he was going to let another one go unchecked.

Ino stood silent. She really, really shouldn't have this conversation in front of Shikamaru right now, but he had given his permission…sort of. She sighed. "…Okay. Let's talk while we walk."

The three of them continued down the same direction Sakura and Shikamaru had been heading earlier. Ino let it stay quiet for a few minutes before she began. "Okay, so like I said, Chouji's upset because I outed him in front of Shikamaru, so I thought that maybe he'd forgive me if I, well…found him a boyfriend." Ino very purposefully did NOT look to see what Shikamaru felt about this, although she felt that if she had, it would be something akin to what Sasuke would look like had he been told that his brother was dead—and not by his hand.

So instead, she focused on Sakura, who seemed to be mulling it over. "Makes sense. So, any ideas as to who you'd like to set him up with?"

"Actually, I was kind of hoping that you could help be brainstorm on that. My first two choices are currently dating each other, so I'm really not sure who would be a good match for him."

Sakura nodded in response. The girls seemed to have forgotten that Shikamaru was there, now being caught up in there own world. Shikamaru, however, kept quiet, and settled for listening in as they talked.

"So, a boyfriend for Chouji, huh?" Sakura began. "Well, what about Lee? He's sweet, and he's very encouraging, so Chouji might not feel so insecure if they went out."

"No way. The chances of Lee having an interest in anyone but you are little to none. Besides, if they did date, you know that Chouji would end up in one of those ridiculous green outfits." Both girls stopped for a second and paled in horror at the image of Akamichi Chouji in tight green spandex. Shikamaru gagged.

"A-anyway…" Ino tried to shake the image from her head and continue the conversation, "I guess the obvious answer would be Sai. I mean, he's about as gay as they get, right?"

"I don't know…" Sakura brought a finger to her chin in thought.

"Too perverted?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, that's not it. It's more that Sai doesn't really understand emotions all that well, so I really can't see him having an interest in anyone, male of female, for at least a few years." She smiled. "Besides, Chouji would kill him the minute he called him fat."

Ino chuckled at that. "Good point. So, any other ideas?"

"Hmm…how about Neji? He's nice enough, and it's not like he's ever shown an interest in girls before. He's very loyal, too, so you know he wouldn't mistreat Chouji."

Ino pondered that for a minute. "I don't know. He's kind of a stiff, you know? I'm not sure he'd go for it if he thought that it would be bad for his clan in any way."

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Shino?"

Both girls looked at each other for a second, then they broke into laughter. Definitely not Shino. He probably couldn't even spell 'romance.'

"Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way," Sakura offered after they both had calmed down. "I mean, who says that it has to be someone here? My dad lived in the Land of Clouds until he and my mom married, and I know that they dated before then."

Ino thought about, and then her eyes lit up. "Oh! What about Gaara? I mean you can't do much better than a Kage, right?"

"Garra, huh?" Sakura thought about it. "Well, he is a nice enough guy. Kind of unstable, though, and he's not very good at expressing himself yet."

"Yeah, but he's better at it than Sai," Ino argued.

"True, although…" Sakura seemed to be considering something. "Actually, Kankuro might be a good choice, too."

"Isn't that the guy with the face paint and those creepy puppets?"

"He's not as menacing as he looks. Actually, he looks pretty good without the face paint. And I don't think that he'd care too much about Chouji's weight, either."

"Fair enough. Hey what about—" Ino stopped mid-sentence as she saw Shikamaru begin to walk away from the two chatting girls. "…Shikamaru?"

He stopped a few yards away from them. "Lady Hokage never called for me, did she?" He didn't even turn around as he asked the question. Both girls could tell that he was angry, his shoulders were rigid and his fists were clearly clenched in his pockets.

Seconds passed, and neither girl responded. "Thought so. You two are really troublesome, you know that?" Still no response. Eventually, Shikamaru sighed and relaxed into his normal slouch. "Look," he said, still facing away, "I don't know what kind of reaction you two were expecting from me, but forget it. You wouldn't get how I feel about this. Hell, I don't even know how I feel about this. So stop trying to push it, all right?" And with that, he walked away, leaving the two girls behind.

"Well, that would have gone better," Sakura said a little while after the boy left.

Ino shrugged. "Still I did get my answer, sort of."

"You know, you probably could have just asked him."

"Yeah, but he probably wouldn't tell me the truth. The only way that he'll confide in me right now is if I get him angry."

"Okay then, Ino. So, what are you going to do now that you have your answer? It's not like it was anything concrete. He said for himself he doesn't now how he feels."

"About what?"

Ino and Sakura blinked at each other. That hadn't been either one of them.

They turned around to see an irate Temari walking towards them. The older girl continued talking without waiting for a response. "Shikamaru's been distracted all day, and it sounds like you two know why. So, out with it. Now."

In retrospect, Kuromaru really couldn't blame the fox-scented human for being upset. After all, he had requested the boy to summon Gamabunta for him, then immediately told the boy to essentially get lost. Still, the dog had no problem showing his amusement as the blond walked off in a huff.

Still, now he had more important company to attend to. Kuromaru looked on as a large female toad in a kimono set a cup of sake down in front of him on the grass, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. He was somewhat surprised that the leader of the rock toads hadn't set a dog bowl in front of him as a joke again. He looked up at the mountain-sized toad as he took a sip from his own large cup. The dog then took a few laps from his own saucer. He looked back up at the toad chief and smirked softly. "You always did go for the good stuff, old friend."

"If you like it, then don't complain," the amphibian retorted. Gamabunta kept his voice low, so as to keep the conversation quiet while considering his usual load vocal range. Not that Kuromaru had a hard time understanding him, what with his canine hearing. Gamabunta set his cup back on the ground. "Now, what's own your mind? I doubt that you had the brat summon me just to talk about my choice in alcohol."

Kuromaru's thought out his words for a moment before he spoke. "I need to ask for your advice. As a father."

Gamabunta too a long drag from his pipe and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke before he answered. "I don't seem to recall Kiba ever being your son."

Kuromaru's remaining eye narrowed. "You knew about this, then."

"The brat talks to Gamakichi. He, in turn tells me anything that he feels is pertinent."

"And you're all right with it?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I don't seem to recall you ever having a problem with orientations, either."

The dog's eye narrowed even further, and he got up from his sitting position to his four legs to show his ire. "That's easy for you to say. The fox isn't related to you. And there's also the matter of Kiba's position as the future head of the Inuzuka clan. Tell me, honestly, what would you do if one of your sons came to you and said that they had fallen in love with another man? Could you really accept that?"

Gamabunta took another long puff of his pipe. "Well, I do wonder about Gamatatsu sometimes…"

"Don't avoid the question, damn it!"

"I'm not avoiding the question. I just simply find it irrelevant." Kuromaru was growling at him now, Gamabunta couldn't seem to care less. "This isn't about succession, and you know it," the toad chief continued. "This is about you're so-called 'son' thinking that he's found his mate for life. And you're afraid that he's right."

Kuromaru stopped growling after that. He returned back to his sitting position and stared down into his sake cup. The dog's now sullen aura told Gamabunta that he had been right. "Just because he found someone doesn't mean that he's leaving the clan. Hell, it doesn't even mean he's leaving the house. Kiba's growing up now, and you know as well as I that you can't keep him on a leash forever."

"I know," the black dog admitted. "Damn it, I've already had several of my pups go off and leave when their times came. Why is it so hard with Kiba?"

Gamabunta just shrugged. "Eh, he's a human. They don't come in litters." Both of them chuckled at that. Gamabunta then spoke again. "Your pup's in good hands, Kuromaru. You know that Naruto's reliable and won't hurt him, even if he is a brat."

Kuromaru sighed. "Yeah, yeah, fine. I'll go and tell Tsume to lay off the pup. And I suppose Kiba could have chosen worse. Since when did you become so good at giving family advice anyways?" Kuromaru took a few more laps out of the sake cup as he waited for whatever retort the amphibian was going to throw back at him.

"Since we had this same conversation three years ago when your Aomaru ran off to be with that mountain dog." Gamabunta didn't even bother to hold his laughter, as his friend spewed is sake on the grass in front of him.

A/N: Okay, show of hands, how many of you actually got an image of Chouji in the gree Might Guy/Rock Lee outfit? You can thank me for your nightmares later. )

Once again, I would like to state that I am taking a good deal of artistic license with this. Really, I have now idea if Chouji can escape the Shadow Imitation technique or not, I don't know if Kuromaru and Gamabunta know each other, and for all I know, Sakura's father could be an elephant. If I said anything that contradicts canon, I apologize.

Anyways, the part where Sakura and Ino are discussing possible boyfriends for Chouji has a hidden purpose: to inspire. Seriously, people, Chouji is probably the most unused character in yaoi fiction for this series, and when he is, it's always with Shikamaru. Don't get me wrong, I love the ShikaChou pairing to death, as proven by the fact that I'm writing this, but Shikamaru at least appears often enough in other pairings. So, come on, give Chouji more love, people! That being said, there is a really good Kankuro/Chouji story called "The Shirt" that's being written right now. If that pairing doesn't completely freak you out, than look it up. It's pretty funny.

Oh, by the way, Aomaru means "blue mark," similar to how Akamaru means "red mark." That's everything, I think, so until the next time!