11-29-06
2:24pm
one-shot turned too long fic, couples- Shikamaru/Ino, Neji/Tenten, some Naruto/Hinata and Sakura/Sasuke and a smash of Kakashi/Anko
Summary- Tenten is being blackmailed and finally takes the chance to ask for Neji's help in the matter, as Kakashi's current volume of Icha Icha Paradise has gone missing and he's come to the conclusion it's been stolen. And Naruto and Hinata have just announced their engagement while Sakura and Sasuke are trying to help each other muddle through life, all the while there's a plot to push Ino and Shikamaru closer together. Life could only be less clear...
Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.
xoxo
Title-Hidden Leaves
Chapter 3
By-Moon Prynces
xoxo
She woke up with the strangest feeling, which is not to say she didn't always wake up feeling at least a little off. But today something was different.
It started when she realized there was a weight on her body, something preventing her from moving. Her feet were stuck and her torso felt like lead, and apparently although nothing was blocking or holding them down, her arms decided to join in on the fun with the rest of her body.
Sakura blearily looked around the room without moving her head. She vaguely noticed that she was late for work. At least three hours. What in the world made her sleep in like that?
But then it felt so nice, warm and comfy. The blanket covering her wasn't too thick, seeing as it wasn't winter, but not too thin for the evening breezes. And something else...
She tried to think straight and realize what else there was... something was going on. But the atmosphere was so nice she didn't bother worrying and closed her eyes again, shifting and turning over onto her other side and was about to fall asleep again.
When she was met with some resistance as she moved around. There wasn't enough space. Which was strange because the bed was pretty big enough.
Sakura blinked a few times and tried to clear the fluffiness from her head and stared. And stared. And stared.
Where the hell was she...?
She looked up into the face of the last person she wanted to see at the moment. The person who, as she soon realized, was holding tightly onto her as if... as if they were a couple or something!
A muffled shriek soon echoed through the air and she bolted upright in the bed, despite the weight of Sasuke's arm and legs holding her down. What was he doing?
This caused the other participant in the debacle to wake up, propping himself up on an arm and look around sleepily.
"What's wrong?" He asked with a half frown. Half because he was still too tired and confused to understand the situation.
Sakura turned to stare at him, her hands planted on the bed behind her to hold herself up as she stared at him in a daze. Her pink hair was in a mess and her shirt was wrinkled in all the wrong places. And unfortunately, Sasuke did take notice.
For her part though, Sakura had no idea what was going on. What alternate universe did she wake up in? Why was Sasuke on her side of the bed? As a matter of fact, why was he touching her at all? And did he just speak to her? Wasn't there some unwritten, unspoken rule they had about these things?
Her stare turned blank and she just sat there looking at him. Sasuke didn't say anything for a while and his frown eased away so he stared right back, propped up on an elbow, right next to her.
She didn't bother saying anything or answering him as she got out of bed, taking another look at the clock and letting it sink it.
"Shit." She muttered. "I'm late." And suddenly felt very self-conscious as she made her way to the bathroom clad only in her usual sleeping attire, a t-shirt and her underwear.
It never felt like that before, she thought after closing the bathroom door behind her. What was he doing?
Sasuke on the other hand, had no ill or perverted intentions toward his... roommate. When she didn't speak to him and turned away to leave he laid back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering what he'd done wrong.
Actually in fact, he hadn't done anything. Nothing much at least. Was it really so hard for anyone to believe he would sound worried? No, the real question was, was it really so hard for Sakura to believe... in him?
Were they really so out of touch with each other now that she couldn't believe he'd acknowledge her ever again? It sure seemed like it. She seemed shocked and taken-aback by his advances. Given, they were only baby steps.
But soon he'd have to start making leaps. The space between them had gotten too far for him to repair with small actions and short words. He needed to try harder. He needed to prove himself.
He tried to think of what to do now. How would he rectify the situation? Talking was always an option. If his mouth would ever listen to his brain, or even his heart. But right now, maybe that wasn't best.
It wasn't long before she came out of the bathroom and was back in the bedroom, walking about in a towel as if nothing at all had happened.
Sakura had convinced herself it was nothing. Everything was nothing. And he didn't matter to her anymore. They were only roommates for God's sake! And Sasuke would never turn into the type of person who would expect something more from her, to take advantage of her in any way.
But she didn't have many excuses for what had happened. Maybe he had rolled over onto her side, yeah, and maybe she had been drinking the night before and that would explain her sleeping in. Pfft. All the reasons were less reasonable than the last.
It was official. She'd lost her mind.
Sasuke watched her out of the corner of his eye, not moving an inch except to breathe. She walked over to a drawer and pulled out a pair of underwear and bra, neither of the two were uncomfortable about this in the least.
She opened the closet door at an angle and stood behind it, thinking he wouldn't be able to see her change and being too lazy to go back to the bathroom. Only he could see her. But he turned his head away to give her privacy, not once being tempted to look.
When the closet door closed she was fully dressed in a pair of knee length tights with a light blue dress on top, stopping mid-thigh. Her shoes were flat, making it easy to walk around in; especially compared to the open-toe sandals they used to wear.
He turned his head over to openly stare at her this time, not trying to be discreet. She stared in the mirror, brushing out her hair silently.
He sighed to himself and got up, heading to the bathroom to straighten up. Sakura noticed without letting her eyes flicker away from the task at hand. She hoped to leave before he got out to avoid anymore... awkward situations.
Either way, she resolved to completely disregard it and let life go on as normal. It was too tiring to gripe over these things nowadays. She'd already wasted hours the few days before on Sasuke already. He was a big boy; he could take care of himself. And on that note... maybe it was time they separated from each other completely.
Sakura put down the brush and nodded unconsciously to herself in the mirror. She turned to walk out of the room and grabbed her keys and bag full of other things on her way out.
She didn't hear the bathroom door open or notice the person standing in the doorway, watching her. And she didn't notice anything in her rush to get out of the house until a hand suddenly rested on her shoulder.
Sasuke had decided to take things a little slow, in his own way this time. When she looked back with wide eyes, hand still stretching to pick up her wallet, he nodded. "I'll see you when you get back." She didn't answer him. "Right?"
The pink-haired girl slowly turned back and grabbed the item and stuffed it in the bag she was holding. "Sure." She replied, causing him to remove his hand and let her continue what she had been doing before walking out the door.
She caught his eye just as she was closing the door and gave a small wave, with a peculiar look on her face.
He stared until the door closed, sighing as soon as she left.
xoxo
On the other side of the village, also sharing a bed was another... unfortunate couple... of people. Tenten stared at his face for a long time, having woken up before him. And he didn't seem to mind sleeping in as far as all his lectures on tardiness went.
Tenten examined his relaxed face, trying to come to a decision in her head. Although her neck sort of ached from staying in this position for so long she had to think.
But what would he say to that kind of thing? Wouldn't he be completely disgusted with her for letting something like this happen? With all her great skills as a kunoichi and brilliant mind this was the one thing she couldn't take care of on her own?
But maybe he had a great idea to get rid of this problem. Something that she would never have thought of, being in her frenzied state as she was. It'd be great to be able to sleep in her own bed again, without having to worry about any creep skulking around her house.
That was it! There are just some things you have to do. And then there are the things you just can't.
She slowly sat up in the bed, trying not to move around too much or make any sound. Then proceeded to slip out of bed, noticing that they both had been under the same blanket the entire night.
And then she defeated the whole purpose of being quiet when her foot got tangled in the blanket and caused her to trip onto the floor. Loudly. Enough so that Neji woke with a start.
He looked around quickly, taking in the situation. Until his eyes landed on his sheepish friend in a pile on the floor, a few feet from the bed. He raised an eyebrow. "What're you doing?"
"Sorry! I didn't mean to wake you up!" She said, looking away and getting to her feet, ignoring her aching body. "Just... go back to bed! I'll take a shower while you get some more rest."
Neji froze at the words and an image appeared in his head. A very bad one. His face darkened. "Uh... actually, I wanted to talk to you." He said in a low voice, still sitting on the bed.
Tenten looked at him, unconsciously raking her hand through her tangled hair. "Oh... okay." Inwardly she cursed, 'Damnit.' "What's up?" She asked, trying to play a good friend and moving to sit on the edge of the bed.
He opened his mouth to say something. And found he couldn't. She looked too innocent, in his opinion, to be capable of... anything involving naked pictures. But it couldn't have been his imagination damnit! That stupid picture was burned into his head! He shook his head.
She stared around the room for a bit while Neji was apparently gathering his thoughts. That's when her eyes landed on... the bag. They almost popped out of their sockets. She turned back to him, and saw he was looking in the same direction too. "Neji, I actually..." She trailed off when he looked at her, and she swore the look on his face just wasn't pleasant, or comfortable. "Really need to take a shower!" She jumped up.
It only took a few seconds for her to grab the bag and dash into the bathroom, swiftly pushing the door closed behind her. But in the escape she didn't do it properly.
Neji blinked, realizing he'd lost his chance. He immediately got mad that he let himself get distracted. It wasn't like he'd never seen a naked woman before!
...Well okay, maybe it was kinda true.
He cursed and also jumped up from the bed, heading to the door intently. He could easily see the crack in the doorway, meaning she hadn't paid any attention to what she had been doing when she went in a few seconds ago.
The Hyuuga brashly, without warning or thinking about it, pushed open the door. And luckily Tenten hadn't even begun undressing; she had only been standing over the counter with her hands gripping onto it. She looked up and gasped in surprise.
"Tenten, I need to talk to you." He started with a scowl on his face as he stalked over, making the gap between the two very, very small.
It was very similar to the scene last night. Except this time Neji had resolved to get an answer out of her, for her own sake. Nothing would stop him. Not even that dumb picture hidden in her bag that could possibly give him a nosebleed. The bag, which incidentally, he just happened to spot lying at their feet. An edge of the photo stuck out noticeably.
Tenten stared at him, scared that she would suddenly blurt out the whole situation in the most incoherent and horribly embarrassing way. She started turning pink herself as words starting coming to mind, trying to find the most tactful way to say it.
Neji did think about dropping down and grabbing the picture out of the bag and then demanding what it was... but decided that would be too drastic. She might beat the crap out of him just for knowing about its existence.
"Look, I know something's been going on. And I'm getting tired of hearing that you can take care of it. Does this look like taking care of it?!" He shouted, throwing his arms up to show where they were. "You are at my house, you do realize. And you've never cared about coming over here. You probably didn't care if I live in a dumpster! And now something's happened and all of a sudden you need a place to stay? And there isn't even a logical reason for that either!" He went on, and Tenten tuned out and let her eyes roam around the room as she tried to piece the right words together like a puzzle. "The last I saw the only problem with your place is it's a huge mess! What's going on? I'm not letting you leave until you tell me-"
Tenten reached up and flicked his forehead. "Shut up." She said, then turned away and began biting her lip. "I'll tell you! You don't have to throw a fit you idiot." She folded her arms and scowled, walking a few steps to her right, trying to clear space for the explosion.
Neji put a hand on the counter to lean on it. "Well we don't have all day."
"Uh..." She turned back to stare at him blankly. "Okay, you see..." Then paused to look up with an embarrassed expression, trying desperately to keep it down.
He also found himself turning slightly red, and he realized it must have had something to do with that picture. But maybe his mind was just jumping to conclusions and he really was turning into a pervert.
"Neji, I think you should sit down." She said, coming to put a hand on his shoulder in an 'I've got really bad news' kind of way. She backed him up to sit on the closed toilet seat then took a few steps back. "Okay, it started a few days ago." Tenten said, looking up as she recalled the event in her head. "I got an envelope with no name or address or anything at all on it. It was just in my mailbox and it was pretty full of something."
Neji nodded, listening closely.
"And, I found inside... at least four dozen pictures in it." She said, looking back at him in the eye.
He suddenly colored at that, trying to hold her gaze.
"They were pictures of me." Tenten said, her voice sounding normal as if it were a regular story she told. "Pictures of me walking around the village. Getting the groceries or talking to people around and what not." She stopped to think something over. "Since no one had signed it or anything I figured it might be some kind of secret admirer or something and they were too shy to say or write anything. I thought maybe the pictures had some kind of symbolic meaning he, or she," She gave Neji a pointed look as he grinned to himself. "Wanted to get across. But I'm no good at that stuff so I scrapped the idea and left 'em at home."
Neji's grin faded when he noticed her aggravated look.
"And then the next day the same thing happened. But I really have no idea; they could've left the envelope there at night or some time while I was at work. I did try watching out for anything suspicious after the second batch but I never saw or heard or felt anyone near my home." She shook her head and went on. "Yeah, so the next day there were more pictures. They weren't random at all. They were all pictures of me from the day before. With me filling out stupid paperwork and reports for the Godaime. Or talking to you, or Sakura or whoever. Pictures of my entire day until the time I got home!" Tenten herself looked stunned just saying this out loud.
It really was hard work, but Neji managed to restrain himself from speaking. He didn't want to interrupt, have her burst into tears and then never hear the end of her story. Although it was creepy and stalker-ish, he was getting a little confused, having completely forgotten about the picture in her bag.
Then he realized she had stopped talking altogether and was looking around the bathroom at the tiles and such, making herself interested in it with no real effort. If he didn't know her well enough he'd wonder what the hell she was doing and if she had ADD. But he was quick to understand she didn't want to continue with the story.
He raised an eyebrow. "Hm?" He went, trying not to scare her.
Tenten looked at him in the eyes. She blinked a few times. Then mumbled something he couldn't hear, glancing away and rubbing her arm.
"Huh?" Oh how wonderful, his vast vocabulary was being put to great use.
She cleared her throat exaggeratedly. "Um... the other day." She made a hand motion. "I was getting ready to meet you guys to train." And let her eyes trail along the floor tiles. "And I opened my door to leave. There was an envelope on the doorstep this time. And it had a picture... in it..." She let her voice mumble out the end.
Neji suddenly sat up straight, his voice stuck. Now he definitely remembered. "Tenten, I have something to... I have a confession."
She looked up, confused, brushing her still messy hair out of her face. About to open her mouth, but was abruptly cut off.
"I saw the picture." He said grimly, trying not to turn red.
Tenten let her mouth drop open in surprise. She tried to say something and only made a few sounds. "You... Ah... I-" She stopped a moment and then tried again. "If this were a chick flick I would have fainted by now." And then promptly started blushing like there was no tomorrow. She sat down on the tub frame and covered her face in her hands. "How?" Was what he heard, although muffled.
He shrugged, well aware she couldn't see it. "It just... fell out of your bag yesterday. Before when you went to get the rest of your things from the bathroom and I went to pick it up... and I..." He stopped short, realizing this was dangerous territory.
Tenten screeched and stood up again, pointing a finger at him. "Why did you- How could you- You shouldn't have seen it!" And in two seconds she was running out of the bathroom and shoving the things into her bag.
Neji smacked his head and ran out after her. "Where are you going? We still haven't resolved this whole thing. What about the person that's been-"
"I don't care! You saw- You saw- You saw!" She finally screamed, looking up at him angrily. "I need to get as far away from you as possible now! Don't be surprised when I never speak to you again." She stated hurriedly, grabbing her brush and other things from the dresser.
"Tenten! We can work this out! How is it possible you'll never make contact with me ever again?" He said logically, walking around the room after her.
"Don't be dumb! I can always just leave the village." She rolled her eyes as if it were obvious.
Until he grabbed her in a get-over-yourself kind of way. Which almost snapped her out of it. If she hadn't seen his eyes flicker below her face.
Tenten went angry again. "Stop looking at me!" She screamed, breaking out of his grasp, jumping on the bed and throwing the blanket on herself.
Neji sighed to himself. It was like dealing with a little kid. Then put on a stern face. "Tenten if you don't stop... doing that, then as your superior I'm going to ban you from any mission for at least two months." He said firmly.
She sat up abruptly and pulled the blanket off her head and gaped. "What? You can't do that! I... I..."
"If you keep getting so worked up and anxious you're bound to put yourself, others and the mission itself in jeopardy. There's no way you're in the fit mental and emotional condition to do anything but sit at home, avoiding me." He lifted a brow smartly and folded his arms. "If that's what you really want."
Tenten scowled, hating the difficult position she was being put in. She really didn't want to have to talk to him now. She knew it would be hard... but now knowing that he'd already seen the picture made it seem impossible. Unconsciously she held the blanket tightly in front of her body. It still felt like he could see through everything, right to the skin.
"Fine." She responded with a pout and nervous eyes. "What? You want me to continue? You know the rest now! The last picture that was sent to me... was of when I was in the shower, just two hours before." While waiting for Neji to answer she tried to calm herself down, tried to pretend Neji couldn't see through every piece of fabric that was in front of her, tried to imagine that the picture wasn't engraved in his mind.
"We need to find who's been doing this to you. Do you have any thoughts on who it could be, or why?" She didn't answer and he thought this was a sign of affirmation to continue. "I think it's some form of blackmail or something. Maybe it is a sick stalker type of person and they were trying to get something out of you."
"Or off of me." The brunette muttered, glancing off to the side. Neji burned up at the thought, his mind taking the perverted lead.
He looked over to the clock and sighed. "We're late. I'll tell Tsunade-sama that you and I aren't in any condition to take missions at the moment. We'll see what we can do about this later."
She stared at him blankly.
"What?"
Her eyes left his to roam around. "If you mention the two of us... at the same time... then wouldn't she-?"
"No!" Neji changed color again. "Why would she?-"
"Of course not! You're right!" Tenten said.
The two stayed quiet for a long few moments. He looked up.
"Maybe we should go-"
"Get ready? Yeah sure!"
xoxo
Shikamaru awoke to the sound of his mother yelling at him from the doorway. Only to realize it was all in his head, for the simple fact that he had moved out of his parents place a year ago. That was just sick.
He sat up and looked around the room. It wasn't too big. And neither was the rest of his place. It was small, cozy, and just enough for one person. A one-floor house just like something most of his friends had. He chose it because it was cheap and because it didn't matter how small it was since he wouldn't be home most of the time anyway.
He shoved his hand through his messy hair and headed to the bathroom, with the weird feeling of just having forgotten a dream when he woke up. It was disturbing and usually left him feeling odd all day, although he tried not to think about it.
After getting ready for his day Shikamaru remembered what had transpired between Ino and him the day before. And almost lost his footing on the way out the door.
He tried to maintain a fairly normal walk on his way around Konoha, forgetting where he was going, but obviously his feet knew it well enough. But on the other topic he was left a very confused guy when he left Ino's place last night.
Though, not meant to imply anything, the statement triggered the wrong impression in his mind.
'Stupid IQ.' He grumbled with a grouchy face, shoving hands in his pockets.
He had to admit though (only to himself of course) it did feel comfortable to have that... conversation with Ino the other night. Not too strange. Until they both realized what they were doing, which was when awkwardness kicked the two.
Him? And Ino? Flirting? Considering this before would have seemed laughable and most definitely impossible. But then what were they doing, talking about sex and stuff last night? Both tempting each other with insinuations and looks.
He might have thought it was a mistake or would like the pretend they were both joking too much... but he was just too curious. How would it feel to look at Ino as a prospect for something more? More than what they had at least.
It wasn't like he was looking for a relationship though, no way. Curiosity struck at him though. What if's and all that crap.
So he was going to find out. But first he needed to find Ino.
xoxo
She stalked down the street in a strange mood. Her usual attire gone and now she strutted around the village in a pair of loose jeans and t-shirt, trying to attract as little attention as possible. Which was apparently having the opposite effect. It took all her will power to not yell at someone today.
Anko was definitely in a mood. She had fallen asleep half an hour after the break-in. After taking a cold shower and taking some aspirin for the light ache on her wrists. Now she was back to being pissed off.
"Hello there. Beautiful day, isn't it?" And lo and behold, it was the last person she wanted to see at the moment.
She gritted her teeth. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were looking for me. How else would you have known I'd be in this part of the village after requesting a day off?" She said angrily.
Kakashi just waved a hand in dismissal. "Nice to know you're as sharp as ever." He sounded rather pleased with himself. "Now if you'll follow me, taking the day off won't be a complete waste for you after all." He turned around and looked over his shoulder.
Anko glared. "What are you talking about? What do you want now?" Although it was clear the ideas in her head were... not something to be viewed publicly.
"Well... if I remember correctly you promised to help me search for my book." He stated with his usual look.
Anko's anger faded. "What? When?"
"Do I really need to describe the entire thing to you right here, right now?" He asked, the hint in his voice.
She smirked. "Oh? So you think you can blackmail me into helping you with this stupid mission of yours? Think again. As if half of Konoha doesn't already know I have a reputation-"
"For being with co-workers?" He asked, staring at her lazily.
The anger came back. She meant to kick him but he started walking when she had the chance. There was no choice but to follow. Even if it was unwilling and with her muttering curses and rambling to herself.
Kakashi seemed to have no conscience at all. And who knew where he was taking her. Finally he stopped and turned around to look at her with what she suspected to be a smile.
"Thought you might be hungry. My treat." He said, short and simple.
Anko stared at him after glancing to the stall behind him. "You brought me here... to get me food?" Too unfathomable for her to believe. There was definitely something up with this.
He only nodded and took a seat at the counter, prompting her to do the same, but not sparing him the strange look as she played along. But shrugged it off because hey, it was his wallet.
In half an hour she had ordered as much food as she could to fill up her stomach but not too much so she'd be able to run away from this maniac fast enough. Which was probably impossible, with a full stomach or not, given his reputation. After finishing, she wiped daintily at her mouth with a napkin and noticed out of the corner of her eyes, he was looked at her amusedly.
"What?" She questioned irritably with her nose in the air. "And if you are laughing at me like I suspect it's kind of hard to tell with the stupid mask on your face you know." She pointed out, not looking at him.
Kakashi's smile didn't fade. "Nothing." He shrugged to himself. "I guess your big appetite compliments your big mouth pretty well."
She was stunned beyond belief at the statement. Was he actually trying to get on her nerves? Wasn't she the one supposedly helping him?
"It's just a joke." He said again with the same easygoing manner, then shrugged. "What else should I do without my book?"
Her eye twitched. "Let's get this over with. I'll probably be able to find your stupid book in a few hours and then this deal will be over. Maybe if that stupid forehead protector wasn't always draping over your eye you'd actually find it yourself." She got up and left him to pay as she began walking down whatever path she chose.
He stayed a few steps behind and let her lead the way.
xoxo
'This is ridiculous.' She thought, letting the back of her hand hit her forehead. She sighed and opened her eyes again to continue pruning.
Ino had volunteered herself to help out at the flower shop on this absolutely lovely day she had off from any missions. Although really she should have been filling out the report waiting at home.
She was trying to find something to occupy her mind. So she wouldn't be thinking about last night. Freaked her out? Definitely. Her and Shikamaru flirting? Discussing... R-rated things? Very strange. Yes, they were good friends and yes they did talk about almost everything under the sun. Key word being 'almost'.
They never actually brought up their love lives to have each other examine, maybe just in passing. And they never brought up these things so flamboyantly and... with intent... or something.
She shivered at the thought. Her? And Shikamaru? Never. Not in a million years. Not even in the afterlife or rebirth or whatever came after death.
Ino paused in her task and let her elbow rest on the table, face on top of her hand. Well, the hand that wasn't holding the flowers, but grasping the pruning shears.
But it had been a while right? And everyone needed their required fix, right? Right?
"Argh." She groaned, throwing the shears on the table and placing the flowers in a vase. The hormones and lack of sex really must be getting to her.
Damnit! And why did Shikamaru have to be the one to bring all this up anyway?
The day passed on as usual, customers coming in and out, needing help, asking questions and blah-blah. It kept her busy though, so she was thankful for the job her mother had given her. Something more time-consuming than picking up groceries but not the hassle of cooking anything.
The blonde looked up upon hearing the bell tinkle when the door was opened. "Hi, welcome to-" She stopped short and stared a few seconds before regaining her wits. "Hey Shika!" She tried to be excited. After all, it was one of her best friends. No need to ruin a great friendship.
"Hey. Hope I'm not interrupting anything." He replied sheepishly, walking over and looking up and down the counter.
She hopped up from the stool she was sitting on. "Oh no! Just arranging some flowers and all. Nothing too big." Ino felt stupid and thought they looked like two thirteen-year old kids. How pathetic. "Nice of you to stop by, how'd you find me?" She turned away to pick up a few lilies.
Shikamaru scratched his chin unsurely. He'd never admit to actually have been running around trying to track her down. That would be dumb. And he had no real reason other than wanting to figure out a problem in his head, one that could never be explained out loud.
"Just bored, no missions or paperwork or anything to fill out today." He leaned casually against the counter. "How's your day been?"
She shook her head, staring in concentration at the group of flowers before turning to another. "Busy." She responded shortly.
He stared at her, not in the least disappointed with her answer or demeanor. Was it just him... or was she avoiding him?
"Oh." He was still watching her. Ino tried not to notice.
Shikamaru stared at the way her hands worked, moving on their own. And her hair was still very long, after she let it grow out again. She wore pretty boring clothes today, most likely because of working in the flower shop. There wasn't much that was too special.
But she was Ino after all. And he'd known her for just too long. Although many noticed how great looking she was, he still just saw his blond, bubbly and over exaggerated friend.
Then it happened. When she glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, then turned back to admire her work with a small smile. And her hair flew over her eye, the other one looking as clear as sky blue. He stared harder, wondering what had just happened. Maybe it had been her smile. Because when you found yourself in the presence of Yamanaka Ino's smile it was hard to fight the urge to smile yourself. He was sure many people would vouch for him.
He grinned to himself, still staring silently. "Hey Ino, you wanna catch a movie when you're done here?"
She froze at the invitation. And turned to him, letting a fake smile slide into place. "What? Got nothing better to do?" She said jokingly, trying to hide the fact that she was feeling a little self-conscious.
Shikamaru scoffed. "Well I'm sorry. I didn't think the great Yamanaka Ino would consider herself so much better than her friend so she wouldn't be able to spend time with him."
"Don't talk about yourself in the third person." Ino said, smiling for real this time. "It's weird."
He gave a flat look. "Shikamaru doesn't think so." And pointed to his face.
She smacked his hand down with a giggle. He grinned at her. "Shikamaru, if I didn't know any better..." She peered at him with a suspicious look, implementing a plan that just came to her. "I'd think you were asking me out on a date."
But he didn't fall so easily into the trap, instead grinning wider. "Maybe I am. Is that a yes?" And then raised an eyebrow at her.
Ino shook her head with a laugh. "You're trying to seduce me, aren't you?" She joked again. "Did our conversation last night bring you any dreams you want to make real?" She teased, going a little overboard with it.
There was dead silence for a few seconds. She realized her mistake. Shikamaru glanced away in this time before looking back at her.
"I guess you won't know unless you accept the offer." He shrugged, back to being nonchalant about the proposal.
She bit her lip, cursing her stupid mouth. "Not sure when I'll be done here. How about I give you a call when I get home?" She watched as he nodded and looked away uninterestedly. He turned and began walking away, and Ino watched for a second. "Wait!" She shouted, running around from behind the counter and walking up to him. She threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug, exhibiting the normal Ino-like behavior he was used to. When she pulled back she used her pointer fingers to stretch his mouth. "Smile you idiot! Or else I take back what I said and I'll find another way to spend my night. I don't want to spend time around a grouch."
Shikamaru stared at her, his mouth being stretched made him look too funny. He grabbed her hands to pull them away, letting him smile on his own. "Yeah, sure." Then let it turn into a smirk. "Now if you're done throwing yourself all over me, and yes I know you can't help yourself, I gotta get home and take a nap."
Ino pulled away completely with a sugary smile. "So you did lose some sleep over me after all!" She commented with her hands clasped behind her back.
Shikamaru shook his own head as he turned and left. Things were suddenly looking pretty good with this "experiment" he was trying with his former teammate. Sure, maybe most people would find this offensive and cruel and blah-blah, but it was all in good fun. And if she really was expecting something, he wouldn't disappoint. But if nothing like that were to happen he would be able to control himself.
What he really wanted to figure out now was what happened in the shop. The moment before she turned around, before he said anything and disrupted the scene. Something happened. But what?
Still inside the shop, Ino gazed at the familiar figure walking away and turned around to clean up around the place.
This was weird. A little. Ok, maybe a lot. But either way she would be able to go out tonight. And it wasn't a date. Well, maybe it was. But that part hadn't been clarified too well. And she really couldn't help it, the way she had talked to him. She was just a very flirty person, and besides he was the one who started it!
She sighed to herself, grabbing a broom to sweep up the nonexistent dust in a corner.
It was Shikamaru. Calm down. Having sex with him was not an option. Flirting? Maybe. A harmless, unclear hanging out type thing that might be considered a date? Possibly ok. But sex? NO. No way. Never. There should be a sign saying 'Warning! Entering Best Friend Territory!' to make sure you avoid stupid situations.
Still... she couldn't help the smile on her face or the abnormally bubbly feeling she got. Going out tonight! With Shikamaru (as a friend of course)! Two great combinations! Nothing could go wrong!
Of course Chouji had warned them about jinxing things...
xoxo
Although she now wasn't the type to get girly over little things or most things at all, Hinata couldn't help but start getting that excited feeling in her stomach. Getting married. Albeit it was a while away, the actual wedding ceremony that is.
And after talking to Neji and Kurenai-sensei she was starting to lose most of her worry and anxiety over everything. It was all putting her in a good mood. But she had to say, unhappily, that she hadn't seen Naruto in a few days. It might have been because she was busy dealing with her own things and he was had his own business to take care of as well.
It was a blow when she woke up that morning missing him.
The dark haired girl shook her head; she had a lifetime to be with him. And jokingly she thought she would probably get sick of him within a year of being wedded. Anyway, right now she needed to see her friends. Two people that she had spent so much time with in her genin days.
As she walked down the streets of Konoha this time of afternoon, after being briefed on something by the Godaime, she wondered where they could be. Neither of the two were at home, training on their usual grounds or anywhere else she could think of.
Hinata sighed. And it would so much easier to talk to both of them at the same time. Meeting up and just... being Team Eight. It was very lucky that as she strutted around, she noticed something.
A few minutes later, after she had spotted Kiba's mother and talked to her (being congratulated and fawned over), Hinata discovered the location of him and Shino, along with the ever faithful Akamaru.
She headed over in a slight jog, excited to greet her friends. When she passed the familiar cluster of trees she saw it.
"Shino! Kiba!" Hinata said, her pace faster and her smile wide, waving a hand at them enthusiastically.
The two, along with Akamaru turned back to look at her as she came closer.
"Hey, I thought you'd be with lover-boy all this time." Kiba joked, hands in his pockets.
Shino, for once was not sporting his big coat and sunglasses, nodded to her.
"I don't spend all my time with Naruto." She said with a smile. "I was actually looking for you two. It's almost like you were avoiding me on purpose!"
"We hardly ever see you nowadays." Shino finally stated. Akamaru barked and nudged her leg.
Hinata bent down to pet him and scratch under his chin affectionately. "Heh, hope you don't treat Naruto that well already, right Hinata?" Kiba said with a grin.
She turned a shade of red. "We haven't done anything like that!" Then stopped to laugh at herself. "But I really wanted to talk to you two... about things." She stood up after smiling at Akamaru. "It's true; we hardly get to see each other anymore. It's all the missions and stuff we have isn't it?" Hinata looked at the two pleadingly. "I'm so sorry though! That I haven't kept in touch like I should have! I don't want you guys to think I shut you out when Naruto and I got together, or that it'll be like this when we get married."
Shino shook his head and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't get so worked up. We never thought that. We never would have blamed Naruto for anything, or you. We've all been busy, like you said."
Hinata beamed at him suddenly. She filled with pride, and thus threw her arms around his neck in a grateful hug that he easily complied with. Hearing Shino, just hearing him showed how much he'd matured. Although he was still brilliant and talented and a great shinobi, he wasn't as introverted as when they were still genin. Sure, she was the youngest out of the three, heck out of the entire group of them but it didn't matter anymore.
Kiba put on a fake pout. "Hey where's my hug?" Hinata looked up and leaped from one to the other. Akamaru barked in acknowledgement. "Shino's right. But what did you wanna talk to us about?" He said, still giving into the tight embrace.
When she pulled back, she was tearing up. "Oh, um..." She swiped at the corners of her eyes, getting rid of the liquid. "Well... maybe we should find somewhere to sit down?" She suggested.
The four, counting the canine, headed around the trees to the visible portion of the park, and spotted a bench not too far away. Hinata and Shino took the obvious seat while Kiba chose to stay on the ground, taking a seat on the grass with Akamaru by his side, yipping in joy at the old team meeting up again.
Hinata started the conversation instead, by asking about the lives of her fellow comrades, finding it more interesting than her own. Shino talked about being set up on dates by Lee and Gai-sensei, mostly dates that never worked out. Kiba on the other hand was still engrossed in learning more techniques and skills from his family. But when the two had exhausted of talking about themselves they turned to her expectantly.
She shifted uneasily under the gaze. "Uh...?"
"Wasn't there something specific you wanted to talk to us about?" Shino questioned, his keen eyes on her.
Kiba nodded. "You must've found our stuff pretty boring. I mean, nothing beats getting engaged, right Hinata-chan?"
"No, it's okay. I've waited so long to have a chance to catch up with you guys. There isn't any need to talk about that right now." She smiled lightly at them. There was a pause in which she twisted her lips and looked around before opening her mouth again. "But I do have a question." She stated.
"Then go ahead already. I'm dying with suspense." Kiba rolled his eyes with a grin, resting his arm on the one leg propped up.
"Have you guys had sex before?"
The two guys turned to stare at Hinata incredulously, seeing as she came right out and asked, unlike her encounter with Neji, unlike what they expected. No blushes, no embarrassed look or averted gaze. She looked at them inquiringly, innocently.
"Why?" Kiba asked with suspicion. A look passed over his face as something clicked and then he looked angry. "Is Naruto making you do anything you don't want to? Is he forcing something on you? Do we need to go-"
Hinata leaned forward on the bench and hit his forehead with heel of her palm. "No! Naruto would never do anything like that to me! You all know him well enough; does it look like he'd be the type of person to force me into something?" She smiled all the same.
Shino shook his head. "You and you're mouth Kiba. Haven't I told you enough times it'll get you in a really tight spot someday?" A pause.
"I'm sure that's where I'd wanna be." Kiba muttered, glancing away.
When Hinata got the implication she blushed slightly. "But neither of you answered me!" She protested.
Shino and Kiba looked at each other, there was a momentary silence until Shino looked at her and nodded. Hinata felt she would fall off the seat. She didn't actually anticipate them saying yes. This is strange.
"Really?" She made a curious face. "With who?"
The boy just shook his head and folded his arms, motioning to Kiba.
Kiba, who also nodded his head, although looked down, a little embarrassed himself. It was one thing to make dirty jokes, but another to admit the truth about something like this with your closest friends.
"But..." Hinata stared at the two, feeling forlorn, and left out. Which really was dumb. There was no need to rush herself into having sex, based on other people.
"Why are you asking?" Shino questioned with a suspicious look like Kiba had before.
"I- I don't know." She admitted. "I was just wondering actually. I had a talk with Neji before..." At their expectant faces she dashed away their hope. "I can't tell you about his personal life! Don't be silly! He might not kill me, but that just seals your fate, you know."
The two looked away feeling dumb. "Wait. Hinata? Are you a virgin?" Kiba asked, looking at her blankly.
To answer this she colored again. "Uh... yeah." Then hastily defended herself. "Who have you ever seen me go out with? I was always waiting for Naruto, I never did anything with other people just for the fun of it." She glared at him without the anger.
"So you and Naruto really haven't done anything?" Kiba tried again, watching as she began twiddling her thumbs, a smirk spreading across his face.
"I'm sure you already know the answer Kiba." Shino said dryly, as Kiba started cracking up and Hinata blushed further.
"So does that mean that Naruto's...?" Kiba stopped chuckling enough to ask.
They all stared around at each other, Akamaru barked in the silence, before the eyes rested on Hinata once again.
"I- I don't know! I haven't asked him that kind of thing!" She stuttered.
"Yeah, but he is your fiancé." The Inuzuka said with a sly look. "Haven't you guys talked about any of that? Or at least gotten close and almost-"
He was stopped from making Hinata explode by Shino sticking a foot in his face. The said ninja calmly removed his appendage and glared.
"Maybe that's why she hardly wants to talk to us." Shino stated smartly.
Quiet at first, then picking up volume the two boys along with the canine, listened as Hinata started laughing gaily to herself, apparently setting aside her feelings to find this situation very amusing. Shino cracked a smile and while rubbing his face Kiba managed a weak one too.
After calming herself down, she looked to the two happily. "So you guys don't really... I mean, you're happy for me right?" She asked unsurely.
"That's a pretty dumb question Hinata-chan." Kiba said casually, still trying to ease the ache on his face, shooting Shino a glare.
Which the other boy pointedly ignored. "Of course we're happy for you, why wouldn't we be?" Shino asked blankly. "You are right, we do know Naruto well enough. It's great that you are finally together."
Hinata stared at him a moment. "But you don't think it'll take away our friendship or anything right? You won't turn away from me after we've gotten married?" Then started and replied quickly. "I mean, I know you guys aren't like that! But... I don't know!" She said, throwing her hands up.
Kiba looked at her strangely. "Are you sure you're ready for this then? I know being engaged doesn't seem like much compared to marriage... but it's still big."
To which she replied by nodding her head vigorously. "Of course I'm ready! Why would I have said yes?"
Shino observed quietly before speaking. "We don't mean to insult any part of your relation to Naruto... but it seems like this talk was more for you than it was for us. You're not really making sure we're okay with it, you know we are. You just want to know if you're okay with it."
The other male stared at him as he spoke before looking over at Hinata. "Is that it then?"
She stared at them, just the way she would look at other people when she was twelve. "I talked with Kurenai-sensei too. I was afraid. Of being close to Naruto and then losing him like when she lost Asuma-sensei. And I talked to Neji about his disapproval, which was just my mind jumping to conclusions." She was stopped by Shino.
"So then, as already asked, are you sure you're ready for this? It seems as though you're looking for ways to get out of it."
Akamaru whimpered and got up from where he sat to nuzzle at Hinata's leg. She looked down at him, her expression full of worry. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe she was just as worried as she had been before talking to these people, Kurenai and Neji. Maybe she was even more worried than before.
So was she just looking for an excuse to not get married to Naruto? That was hard for even her to believe. But they were right, all her behavior pointed to that.
Kiba stood up and brushed off his clothes. "You need to talk to Naruto. This is something you two really need to discuss." He smiled at her. "But it's good you wanted to talk to us. We did help you a bit, right? Now you just gotta go and try to solve this one on your own."
Shino glared at him. "I was the one who came to the conclusion." Then looked at her also. "And this isn't something you're going to solve by yourself. Naruto will be there."
Hinata stared at the two unsurely for a moment as they stood up before her. Akamaru grabbed her shoe lightly to make himself known. They both held out a hand, which she accepted with her own and let them tug her off the seat.
xoxo
"So then, where were you that day?" She questioned, leaning against the counter on one elbow.
"I was at the market actually. Why do you ask? Were you looking for me for something?" The man asked with a smirk.
Anko groaned on the inside. "Nope." She shook her head. "I just thought I saw you around at the park, you know, stalking little kids. Gotta go now! Ciao!" And with that she turned around and flounced away leaving the man flushed and utterly confused.
She made her way to the back of the bar to a table where Kakashi waited. Her face coveted a multitude of emotions, right now displaying disgust and annoyance.
"This is the dumbest thing I've ever had to do. And now every person I talk to thinks I'm hitting on them." She seethed.
"Well you have given yourself the reputation." He said logically, making her glare at him.
"How are you going to find any information from these people? No one here cares about your dumb book." With that she took a gulp of the alcoholic beverage they'd ordered. "In fact, I bet all these idiots are perverted just like you with their own collection of those books. Jiraiya has been on the top sellers list for a reason. For losers like you who can't seem to get any action."
Kakashi stared at her in his usual way. "Is that how you think of it?" He raised his eyebrow, the one that could be seen.
"Come on Kakashi, when was the last time you were with a woman?" She laughed to herself. "Scratch that, I mean anyone."
His face darkened at the insinuation. "Thanks for the help." He replied sarcastically. "Actually, I read those books because I find them vastly entertaining, and I don't mean just the physical interaction."
Anko laughed again. "What? Is there some kind of psychology to why a bunch of docile women suddenly want to rip off their clothes when left alone and go at it like animals? Really, I thought you had a better reason to entertain me with." She shook her head and took another sip, keeping her eye on him.
He chose not to respond, instead turning to eye the familiar, yet suspicious characters. "So you haven't gotten anything helpful from anyone?" He questioned without turning to her.
She got angry. "Sorry, nothing. It's too bad for you. Besides what makes you think someone would easily give up information about something they've supposedly stolen?"
The male shinobi looked at her. "Actually it's too bad for you because until we find it, you're still working for me."
"What if I just throw your threat to the wind?" She countered.
"Then you'll probably be getting calls from everyone you work with." He smiled through the mask.
"As if that's new." She muttered, folding her arms and looking away. "Now what?"
Kakashi finally stood up, placing some money on the table. "You're going to do some more investigating for me. I need to go, an appointment." He coughed at the end, making her realize it was a lie.
She glared at him as he left her to do his work. No wonder, he was a pretty lazy shinobi, no matter what his reputation proclaimed. And why did she still sit there wondering what to do next and not leave his book to burn in hell?
It might have been because she was a good person. Or that she admired his Icha Icha Paradise book and maybe wanted to borrow it. Or that she was good friends with Kakashi and didn't mind doing him a favor.
But since we know none of this is true it was simply because his blackmail would be a heavy hit to her flaking and weak reputation around Konoha and she had nothing better to do that day.
So after watching him leave the bar, Anko stared around at the people in the room trying to use her gut instinct and women's intuition to zero in on the sucker so she could leave as fast as possible. But then again, going around and shaking every likely and even unlikely person in the village would also damage her standing just like Kakashi's word.
She sighed and took a gulp of the drink, finishing it soon enough and left. This really was ridiculous. And beside that, no one in there looked suspicious to her. But it might have been her lethargic behavior and the small amount of alcohol her system had recently acquired.
As she strolled around, trying to find a more effective way to weed out the suspects. This is when she happened to pass by a young-er shinobi talking to someone. And suddenly it all made sense.
But just to make sure, she discreetly followed the two.
xoxo
The air was full of tension, and more than once on the walk over there she had considered running away from him. But that would be foolish. Not to mention he could easily catch up to her and make her feel even stupider as people around them stared when he did catch her. So there wasn't any choice left.
Neji was trying to keep his head on straight. It had to be the hormones again. Which oddly made him sound like a pregnant woman. Or the cows they talk about on the milk carton when they say 'No hormones added'.
Anyway, the situation was bad. They barely got out of the house without exploding into a pool of red color, which had to be blood. Tenten had left her bag in his room but stuffed the picture in a pocket, then decided against it and stuffed it between her cleavage. Although slightly uncomfortable it was an unlikely spot for someone to search.
Unfortunately, Neji had witnessed this and almost passed out, even though his female friend hadn't noticed. So now they walked comfortably in awkward silence.
It didn't take too long to get to Tenten's place. Before walking up to the door Tenten let her eyes roam around, looking for something. When she didn't see it she sighed and took out her keys to open the door. Neji followed her into the room.
"Now what?" She asked after closing the door behind him and locking everything on the back of the door.
He looked around at the still messy room. "I would suggest looking around for... but you seem to have already tried that." He said with a raised eyebrow at her. "So that's why you didn't want us in here yesterday."
Her look was enough. "I did try obviously. I've already been through everything and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary." She stopped looking at him and made a thoughtful face. "But then again, there was only that one picture taken when I was inside my house."
The two looked around the room a moment, in silence. Neji looked up at her sharply. "Wait, so if that was the only picture taken from in here, then whoever it was had been in your house." Tenten shuddered at the thought after looking at him. "Maybe from looking at the picture we can tell where the person was standing when they took it."
Immediately at the suggestion she glared at him accusingly. He put up his hands in defense.
"I mean... you can probably figure it out on your own anyway." Neji responded cautiously. "I wasn't asking to look at it again." She glared harder. "Not that there's anything wrong with you!" He tried again. When she held the gaze he became frustrated. "There just isn't any way to win here..." He muttered, moving around and plopping down on the couch.
This time, not bothering with his presence, Tenten pulled down the neckline in front of her shirt and pulled out the folded paper. Neji looked away hastily, even though she seemed not to care. "Okay... well..." She studied the photo carefully, examining the surroundings and trying to not look at herself to keep from feeling defiled. "I think..." She began walking in the direction towards the hallway without glancing up.
Neji shot up and headed over to steer her away from walking into a wall. He also managed to carefully avoid looking at the picture in her hands. She let his hands guide her away from danger and kept walking.
Soon she was standing at the bathroom door, with it half open in her wake. Finally snapping out of her trance, Neji standing just a few feet away down the hallway, she looked up and stared into the bathroom.
Tenten boldly held up the picture in front of her, taking its place in the bathroom to show exactly where she had been standing when it was taken. "I've got it. Whoever it was, they were standing right here." She shuddered again and frowned. "They got this close to me; it's even creepier than before. They had the chance to do anything to me while I was most vulnerable but all he or she did was... take a picture?" She ended in a confused tone.
Neji walked up next to her. "What? You would've wanted them to attack you?"
She put down the picture from sight and glared at him for the twentieth time that day. "At least then I would know who it was. And I probably would've been able to stop them easily. Just because I don't have a weapon in my hands doesn't mean I can't make someone fall to their knees."
He grinned suddenly. "You mean by force? Or with the full frontal view of your nude body?"
For that he received a smack on the head with a book that was lying at her feet. He rubbed his head grumpily. "Excuse me Hyuuga, you might have thought that was a joke, or even a compliment but I am not smiling or laughing here."
Finally, Neji got fed up and glared back. "Well if you really don't want my help with this then just tell me so! I'll leave if you want me to." He stared at her hard, their faces quite close, before turning around and heading for the front door. His hand rested on the knob but he waited.
Tenten stared at him with her mouth open. "W-what are you talking about?! I-" She stopped abruptly, still gaping with no words left. Then, "You'd really leave me?" She asked in her quiet voice.
Neji shrugged and glanced to the side of the door. When it seemed like she hadn't seen his motion he turned around to look at her. "I spent about how many days worried about what was up with you. And even though I kept asking you didn't wanna say anything. When you finally admitted to something being wrong but still wouldn't tell me, you kept saying you could handle it. Well if that's it then go ahead and handle it." He folded his arms. "I'll wait and see. Not to be backup or anything, mind you." He moved to sit down on the closest sofa.
She kept staring at him with an unreadable expression before it turned to anger again. "So you think it's okay now to just- to just walk away from this?" She asked, her voice rising. "You've tried and helped and even though it's not over you're gonna leave me alone now?! What if something happens next time?! What if I get attacked by this crazy stalker person? Or- Or- Or-" Tenten tried to make herself continue but found herself repeating the same word over and over again like a broken record.
Neji soon found himself at the end of another assault, although not the kind he was used to, when the kunoichi suddenly leapt over the piles of stuff on the floor and launched herself onto his lap. Tenten sat there, straddling his hips as he sat frozen while she cried onto his shoulder. She grabbed the front of his shirt in her state of hysterics.
The Hyuuga suddenly had no idea where he was or what was going on. He was literally, between a sofa and a woman (as strange as it was to admit) that might be more hormonal than himself. It took a few moments but he finally sighed and cautiously put his arms on her back. It didn't seem to make things better and she was still sobbing uncontrollably on his shoulder. Her hair was tickling his face and his body was rigid, and it was starting to get to him.
Tenten on the other hand couldn't think straight, too frustrated and freaked out and she swore if Neji threatened to leave her again she'd kill him and drag his corpse along everywhere. She tried desperately to calm herself down and felt his hand on her back start moving in slow, rhythmic circles.
She finally calmed herself enough to be mortified at her actions and the situation. It was bad enough she'd just lost her grip on reality, but did it have to be in front of Hyuuga Neji?! The one person she admired above everyone and one of her best friends. Now he probably wouldn't ever be able to look her in the face without remembering this incident.
'Well,' She thought. 'This one and my picture.' And let her lips twist into a wry smile in his shirt.
"No one's gonna come try to harm you Tenten." He tried to explain. She waited but didn't move. "I'll just stay over for a few days right? And if the person does try something I'll get him before anything happens."
"I can't get to sleep." She replied in a small voice. "Too scared, I guess." She flinched as she said it. Dealing with Lee and Gai-sensei? No problem. Practicing with Neji? Sure. Taking care of an S-class criminal or an A-rank mission? Of course! But a stalker coming into your home in the middle of the night, or even day, and defiling your body? ...
Surprised, he tried to look at her, which was a problem with their position and her hair being in the way. "But you were asleep last night when I got out of the shower."
"For about an hour." She confessed, turning her face deeper into his shoulder. "Sorry, I must be heavy. I'll get up now."
Neji sighed and didn't stop her from getting up; his legs were starting to go numb. Tenten carefully removed herself from his person, avoiding his face all the same. She headed straight for the bathroom, trying to ignore the creepy vibes she got in there and immediately stepped into the tub for a shower, still fully clothed.
Of course he had to get up when he heard the water running, only to make sure she wasn't going to drown herself or something. The door hadn't been closed at all and he stared at her strangely, standing under the water in her clothes.
"What are you doing?" He asked incredulously.
Trying to ease back into her normal behavior, Tenten turned to look at him and blinked. "Well it's too creepy to take a shower in here without my clothes now."
He smiled, shaking his head at her from where he stood in the doorway. "Then how is it a shower if you're still in your clothes?"
She turned back towards the water with a huff. "Why is it that everything you say sounds like a proposition or something perverted?" Her eyes closed as the water hit her and bounced off in every direction. "Are you suggesting you want to undress me?" Even with her eyes closed she raised a brow.
If it weren't for all the experiences like this he'd gone through in the past three days Neji would've blushed. Instead he leaned against the doorway and clucked his tongue.
Tenten snorted. "Even that sounded like an innuendo."
"You're acting so jaded." He stated. "And your not."
The brown-haired girl turned her head to look at him directly. "Neji, you've seen me naked. My life is over. I can act jaded all I want." She said with a look, trying to get her point across. "Now do you mind? I would like to take a shower in peace."
Neji sighed at the... yeah, and unfolded his arms as he turned around and left the doorway. Really though, she did seem surprisingly calm now, for someone who was completely out of her mind with paranoia. Oh well, the really crazy ones always seem too normal before going off the deep end.
xoxo
No matter how many times Ino told herself it wasn't a "date" she couldn't help but think of it that way in order to get ready and prepare. After getting out of the flower shop she interrupted Shikamaru's nap with a phone call and they'd decided on the time.
True, it was actually only a little past noon and their "get together" was an hour away. But Ino believed in being prepared. Other than that she also had a few errands to do before meeting up with him at the movies.
After contemplating in front of the full length mirror for fifteen minutes something hit her like a rock (well maybe it was) and she realized how foolish she was being. She then resolved to stop thinking about it so much and grabbed a skirt and top, barely giving herself time to have them match (a white collared shirt with short sleeves and green pleated skirt and black boots) and headed out of the house.
First off, she needed to go shopping for food and other products. So as she perused the aisles at the local 'all or nothing' kind of store Ino kept foreign thoughts out of her head. That is, until she came up to the counter and something spotted her eye.
"Is this all, Miss?" The clerk asked, giving what he hoped to be a charming smile.
Ino was stumped as she stared at him blankly. "Uh... huh..." Was the sound that came out of her open mouth. She dumped the stuff in her arms on the counter.
She wasn't slick enough however and the young man who was probably around her age turned around to see what had caught her attention. He grabbed something and grinned, turning back to see Ino's blank face. "Did you need any?"
After that she finally woke up. "No, I don't-"
But he seemed insistent. "Don't worry about it. I'll let you have a few for free. No problem right? You seem pretty torn between getting them or not so I'll just make it easier." He paid no attention to her mouth dropping open again in a small 'o' and went on the ring up the prices. He then went right onto filling the bags with her purchases, adding the free item in last.
Ino stared. When he looked up at her expectantly she looked down and hastily went through her purse to find the exact change. "Uh, thanks." She said before hurriedly grabbing the two bags and practically flying out of the store.
The blonde sighed to herself and paused in the getaway when she was a block away and was absolutely sure the clerk could no longer see her. She didn't dare look into the bag to see the guy's little '"gift" staring up at her.
She tried to slow her breathing. "Oh, why of all days..." She groaned, leaning over in a show of tiredness, causing some people to stare. She did however admit silently to herself she was running low so... but still, when was she expecting to use it??
After gathering her wits she stood up straight and began walking back home at a fairly brisk pace, trying to get their fast enough to dump the bags on the floor. Her hands were on fire. Why was she still holding the bags anyway? Why couldn't she just let go and leave them in the middle of the not-so-crowded street?
Almost there. Only a few more blocks. So close.
When disaster strikes.
"Hey, I was just on my way over." Shikamaru said, having come from another direction and was now standing directly in front of her. He rubbed the back of his head anxiously. "You went shopping?" He raised an eyebrow at his words, and even more so because she didn't answer him.
Ino stood there with her mouth agape. What the hell was her problem? Bad, bad luck... that had to be it... "Uh..." Was once again all she managed out through the tiny space between her lips.
With his eyebrow still cocked he went on. "How about I help you-"
"No!" Ino jerked away the bags protectively, half turned away. Then realized how dumb she sounded. "No, they're not even heavy. Don't worry about it."
Now both his eyebrows were up. "Sure... You still wanna go see a movie then or what?" He questioned, pretty much fearing that she'd cancel on him. Which was dumb. It was Ino. They could spend whenever together. In fact, he'd probably spent too much time with her as a genin and in the academy. He sighed inwardly.
"Of course. I've just... got to get home and drop these off." She was about to start walking when he spoke up.
"I'll just come with you then." He shrugged.
Ino froze on the spot. "Uh... w-why are you even coming to my place anyway? I thought we were gonna meet at the place, for the thing." She cursed herself, still managing the confused look on her face.
He shrugged again. Ino noticed how for once in a while he wasn't wearing his chuunin vest or usual clothes, instead sporting a dark t-shirt and green khaki pants. "Dunno, just thought it'd be nice to walk over there together. You don't live all that far from my place." He responded.
'Oh shit. I don't? Damnit. Damnitdamnitdamnit.' She wanted to bang her head against the wall on her left when these thoughts surfaced. "Actually, I really need for you not to be here right now." She stated as honestly, not to mention desperately, as she could. "I gotta get home! I'll see you there in a twenty minutes!" She shouted, taking off down the path to her house in a run.
Shikamaru stared strangely at the girl, wondering what disease was eating at her head today. As he turned to walk in the direction of the theater something still fluttering to the floor, no doubt from the take-off Ino had made, caught his eye.
He stopped and stared at it with a few blinks in disbelief. Was that a...?
He bent down and snatched it up before someone rounded the corner and saw. He looked up to see the direction Ino had headed in.
A condom...?
Now things would be interesting... and strange.
He pocketed it. For "safety measures" of course.
xoxo
Although quite achingly difficult and embarrassing as it was to follow someone and their dog, it was worth it. Anko now held in her hands the dusty and dirty book, walking slowly down the street.
The story of how she got it was being played in her head over and over again. It really was a great coincidence and she was lucky now to get off the hook from Kakashi's idiocy.
As she walked down the street toward the pervert's house she let herself snort at the cover and was soon flipping pages through the book.
It didn't take long for her to stop in her tracks as an absolutely evil grin came over her face. Really, it was only fair. She could finally get Kakashi back for being a jerk and making her do the "work" involved in getting his precious book back.
'Besides,' She thought, letting her eyes roam over the pages. 'He might even enjoy it. Who ever said being a sadist was cruel?'
Instead of heading straight to his place to rectify the situation he'd created, Anko turned around and headed home, clutching the small book in one hand.
"Stupid Kakashi." She mumbled to herself.
While at the other end of town, the said ninja suddenly bit his tongue and looked up lazily from where he sat on the sofa.
"Hm?" Was the sound he made, scratching his forehead.
xoxo
When Ino did show up at the theater half an hour later she was twitching worse than an experiment of Orochimaru's. Of course Shikamaru tried to ignore this, along with the urge to grin at the stricken look on her face.
He had planned to flash the condom before the date with the simple question of whether she'd dropped it in her hurry... but decided not to. It'd be too awkward for her.
"Hey, what took so long?" Shikamaru questioned.
Ino put on a glare. "I'm on time. You're the one who's early." Was her retort.
Then he did grin. It was funny to realize how angry or annoyed she got over stupid, little things. "Yeah, okay." He said, brushing it off. "What do you wanna see?"
She turned to look at the various movie posters advertising. "How about a foreign film?" She asked, examining a few.
Shikamaru shrugged. They picked a movie, he bought the tickets and they went in.
Only to stumble out after ten minutes of previews and five minutes into the movie.
"How do you change your mind after the first minute of the opening scene?" Shikamaru grumbled, sticking his hands in his pockets.
Ino looked sick. "Were you even paying attention? There was so much gore in there they practically threw packets of fake blood at the camera!" She exclaimed. "I just... am not in the mood for that."
"Whatever. Let's go eat something." He said, and began walking.
"Are you kidding? Gore? Blood?" She jogged to catch up.
"Yeah, reminds me of ketchup, and tomato sauce on pizza." He shrugged.
She rolled her eyes and followed him. "You know, I hardly see anyone anymore." She said, letting her eyes dart to his passive face. "Except you. I see you almost everyday now."
"What? Not satisfied?" He smirked, still staring straight ahead.
Ino laughed and hit him with her elbow. "Nah, gets kinda annoying after a while."
"Right, I'm annoying." He rolled his eyes in response.
They stopped in at the nearest place, which happened to be a pizza parlor. Ino thought maybe Shikamaru focused some telepathic ability to make it appear there. Or else he had been heading in that direction all along.
They sat down at a booth in the mostly empty place and ordered a pizza with too many toppings.
The blonde glanced around at the people. "It's been so quiet lately." She commented.
"Huh?"
"I mean, with the missions and all. I haven't even been assigned to anything new yet. Usually I'd have something waiting in my mailbox when I'd just get back from one. How about you?" Ino asked, turning to look at him.
He leaned back in his seat. "Now that you mention it, no. But maybe we should take that as a good sign. Didn't Chouji say not to jinx things?" He paused. "Ah, well Chouji says a lot of things."
She looked around again. "Right... in any case I'll probably be meeting up with the girls soon anyway."
They lapsed into silence, not sure what to talk about. Actually, a lot of their relationship was just based on silence. Usually when Ino found Shikamaru sleeping or cloud watching in his favorite spot. But until lately there hadn't been enough time for it.
Ino stared at him openly. He caught on and stared right back. "You grew up Shikamaru." She said softly. "Stupid jounin." She joked. "You know," She spoke up and leaned over the table slightly. "You look the same. But different. You get it, right?"
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her. "Uh... sure."
"Oh!" She replied in an admonishing tone. "Like, you seem the same, but I can see how much you've changed. You aren't as lazy and thoughtless as before."
"Hey, when was I thoughtless?" He demanded.
"When you forgot about my birthday." She said matter-of-factly.
"I forgot about my own birthday that year! Someone had to remind me!" He said with a hand on his head. "And why do you keep bringing this up? The whole changing and being different and crap?"
"I don't know." She replied indignantly. "It's just something to think about. And lately it's always on my brain. And if you didn't want to hear about it why didn't you just say so?"
Shikamaru smiled amusedly. "Would you have listened anyway?"
There was a spare second of silence. "Yes." She said decisively in a calm manner that freaked him out.
He stared at her incredulously. The pizza came and Ino started eating daintily without him. He caught on though and finally started chowing down as well.
"I think I'll go home after I'm done." She said in-between a few small bites. "More errands and things." She left out the part where she'd normally say 'we need to hang out more often, and bring Chouji along too!' and kept eating.
He stopped, mouth still open and awaiting the slice of pizza that was less than an inch away from it. The realization came at the worst time.
He didn't want her to leave. He wanted to spend more time with her.
Ino wasn't paying attention to this, too busy trying to regain her appetite and wondering why she was suddenly in a foul mood. After all these years she'd thought she was able to control her temperament.
Shikamaru hastily resumed eating and trying to form a plan in his head. An idea came to him and he gulped down the bite he was chewing before speaking. "Hey, you've never really seen my place before, right? How about coming over to visit?"
She opened her mouth to protest, not having eaten much anyway. Which was strange considering she usually scarfed down anything she loved now that she'd thrown away the diet and crap idea.
"It won't take too long. I won't keep you from your errands." He grinned at the end. His look aimed at her excuse.
Ino knew this and huffed. "Sure. Bout time you actually invited me over too. You always make me wait in the doorway when you wake up late."
"Oh come on. That's only happened around three times or so." He rolled his eyes.
She stared at him a second before beaming. The blonde reached across the table to put a thumb on his lower lip. She admired his grin for a moment before it faded in his confusion and then grinned herself. She moved her thumb across his lip before pulling away with tomato sauce on it and stuck it in her mouth with a laugh. His face was priceless; Ino just shook her head, still sucking lightly on her thumb before pulling it out.
xoxo
He opened the door cautiously, looking around once before moving aside to let her in. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
Ino looked around with hawk eyes at the small place that Shikamaru called his home. She looked fairly unimpressed. After two steps inside and closing the front door he walked around in front of her. She raised a brow at him.
"No need for a tour or anything, go look around if you want." He shrugged, walking to the small kitchen and getting himself a soda from the refrigerator.
The kunoichi did as was expected and walked around the place, examining everything. She looked at the ordinary kitchen and living room, then bathroom. And before Shikamaru could yell out a 'hey!' she was in his bedroom.
Also, as to be expected, this was the only room that looked lived in. It was a complete mess. Ino was wrinkling her nose at the sight of clothes flung over every surface. Shikamaru appeared in the doorway with a frown.
Ino walked around, nearing a window on the left side of his bed and end table. "Lazy." She said under her breath, also frowning. "Maybe you should hire a maid." She said looking up at him. "You know I'd expect more with that jounin salary."
"Why're you criticizing my bedroom? Why don't you just clean it yourself then?" He complained, walking to the bed and dropping himself on it.
Ino stared as he did so, her frown still there. Suddenly she was lost in thought with that look on her face.
Being around Shikamaru was so weird. They joked a lot, and sometimes flirted. And then other times it was so... dry, like now. How did she ever think there'd be some passionate feeling between them? Must've been wishful thinking.
She was brought back when something Shikamaru had thrown at her hit her leg, and apparently it had a slightly sharpened corner that scraped lightly at her skin. Ino was surprised at first as she snapped out of her daze, then frowned and looked down at the object while unconsciously rubbing the spot on her leg. She froze.
Shikamaru stared at her reaction, lying on his side on the bed with a leg propped up.
"Uh..." She started as she bent down to pick it up. "Are you trying to... ask me something?" Ino questioned, holding the condom pinched between two fingers.
He slowly began grinning. "Actually, I just had that lying around. Why? You wanna make use of it?"
Her eye twitched. There it was again. The misleading behavior. And now this opportunity was here, it was within grasp. But she couldn't tell if he was joking. And if he wasn't joking, then what? Go for it? Jump in the sack with your best friend and former teammate, Shikamaru?!
She wasn't considering it! At least that's what she wanted to think. But just thinking about it meant something.
"I gotta go Shika!" She said hurriedly, dashing to the bed and dropping the packet before giving him a quick, friendly (and slightly experimental) kiss on the lips and dashing out of the room.
Shikamaru was so caught off guard he shot up into a sitting position after she'd left the room. In fact with her speed she was probably down the block by now. He stared at the door blankly. Then sighed, shook his head and shoved a hand in his hair.
"Guess that was bad timing." He said to himself. "She's not ready to try it."
Of course, who would though? Moving from a comfortable friendship to something more? Perhaps even destroying the bond altogether for some gratification and change.
Still... maybe he was getting somewhere after all. She kept complaining about not changing and everybody leaving her behind, well if he worked at it maybe he could help some.
Or else be a fool and end up killing himself after a failed attempt at this. Not something he wanted to dwell on.
xoxo
She wasn't home yet. It was past midnight now. And he had no idea where she was.
She couldn't possibly be with the Hokage, or at the hospital, or working because... well it was late!
Sasuke sat in a brooding position on the sofa, staring at the front door. He was still waiting for her to come home. And it was strange that she wasn't back yet.
He might have given into the thoughts that she could be in trouble if he didn't know how capable of a ninja she was. And besides that, where would he look for her? Where could she possibly have gone?
It was time to admit the truth. Sakura was avoiding him. On purpose. Why else would she be out so late? On most nights, usually her very demanding days, she couldn't wait to be home.
The Uchiha stared sullenly at the door, waiting. She wouldn't dare stay out the entire night though. Sakura loved her home, her bed. No matter how uncomfortable it was between them she would always come back. Right?
He wasn't surprised to realize how ironic the situation was. That now instead of her waiting for him to come back it was the other way around. And he was loathe to think that maybe, just maybe she had finally given up on waiting for him.
That maybe she was finally just too tired to be with him. Tired of dealing with him and taking care of him. The thought of that made him more depressed than he already was.
If he didn't even have Sakura by his side anymore, who did he have? There was always Naruto, there like the best friend he'd never admit him to be. But Naruto had Hinata now. Things were changing, and people were moving on.
And perhaps he'd just been holding Sakura back. Perhaps she wanted to get away from Sasuke and get out into the world. She'd hardly ever had any romantic entanglements like most people her age. She was sometimes too serious, and it was probably all his fault.
She was taking care of him like he was a child. Or a crippled person. But she didn't show the same concern she showed her patients. Around him she always seemed exhausted and stressed. As if this child had finally crushed all her nerve and she couldn't deal with him anymore.
Now was not the time to wait. He really did have to act. Well... wait for her to come home, yes. Wait for her to acknowledge him again, no. Do something you idiot!
xoxo
Third chapter done. Nothing much to say. If I do it will probably be added later when I reread, edit and such. Strange chapter. Anyways, hopefully the next will be the last one and it'll be good and make up for what this was lacking.
12-8-06
9:26pm
Uh, whoops. I guess I was supposed to update this like a week ago or something. All's well, it doesn't seem to be generating that much success anyway, prolly cuz it's so long. Word count for this chapter? Oh, about ... 15.3k. Yeah. Harsh.
MUAH! KISSES!
10-18-07
11:13pm
