Wow. Chapter Five already? I had actually been typing it up before I posted the last chapter. Hope you all like Ino in this chapter. Because I know I do. For once. I'm already typing up Chapter Six, so hopefully (and if I don't get on the Sims 2 right after I upload this) you all should be able to see it before tomorrow.

Hope you all like Shino and Kiba being a comedy duo in this one, too. Yeah, and you don't make jokes about sequels unless there isn't going to be one. Otherwise it's just lame.

Oh! fun fact: The only girls I like in the show are Hinata, Sakura, TenTen, Kurenai, Karin, and Deidara. (HAHA!)

His Favorite Food
Part Five -- "Dirty Magazines and Yam Stew"

Curling up on a rock just outside of the square wasn't the most proper thing for her to be doing, nor was it productive in any way, but she felt too terrible to go home. She'd let herself go by running her mouth again, all about not saying mean things to Chouji, when she'd gone and called him fat. She'd had no room to talk, and what had she accomplished with that? All that happened was she made herself look foolish and hypocritical in front of Chouji and his friends.

"Chouji-kun is not Naruto-kun…" She sighed, muttering to herself. Shino's words kept echoing through her head.

"You should stop making Chouji into Naruto."

She couldn't help it! It wasn't like she tried to make him into Naruto; that's just what happened… And why did she do that, anyway? She had absolutely no idea.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. In the pit of her stomach, in the deep recesses of her heart, the answer was lurking–the truth–but she couldn't accept it. The second it made even the slightest movement forward, she found herself quelling it before it even reached her head and danced across her brain. Before it made itself well-known, she had to kill it. Before she found herself not liking–

There it was again! She had to stop it. Think of something else–anything!

The wind shifted, and she heard a rustling nearby her, causing her head to shoot over to the direction of the sound. Ino was staring at her, arms over her chest, eyes showing a hint of anger. Hinata's stomach dropped out and she paled even more. She knew it: Ino would yell at her.

"Thanks."

Her eyes widened, she looked back at Ino with an almost painfully pathetic look of surprise on her face. Ino rolled her eyes, uncrossing her arms and placing one against a tree, putting her weight on it.

"What you said back there. It was very kind, so thank you."

Shaking her head, she desperately tried to toss that kind of thanks off of her. "N-No, I…I had no right to–"

"Oh, give it a rest with that 'I'm not worthy' garbage you put yourself through. It was an accident what you said; Chouji ate your cupcake and enjoyed it; he got his appetite back and is smiling again. Everything's fine, so cut that attitude. You don't give yourself nearly enough credit. You're always worried about what Naruto thinks about you, but you should be more concerned with what you think about yourself. I'm sorry if I sound rude, but it's sickening to see a girl care as much as you do about what a guy thinks of her. It's as if you need Naruto to tell you how great you are for it to be true. If you want to be like Naruto so much, just look at how he acts. He doesn't give a damn about what people think of him. He has inner strength. It's about time you got that, too." She turned, walking away, until Hinata stopped her.

"W-Wait!"

She turned around, looking agitated. "What now?"

"Th-Thank you…" She looked at her fingers, which were twining themselves around the strings of her coat.

"You don't have to thank me. I was just concerned you'd stop talking to Chouji." She made a motion to turn, but did a double-take at the sight of pink hair bobbing along next to a soft, spiky black head beyond a wall. Her face turned sour. "Oh no, she didn't!" She dashed off in that direction. "No way am I letting her get closer to Sasuke than me!"

Hinata watched her go, concern etched in her face for a moment until she realized Ino probably wasn't going to return any time soon. She sighed, standing up, firm in her new resolution. Well, that cupcake was a flop, but she had to somehow make up for it. And stew was probably the best way to do it. She didn't know many recipes for stew, so she figured she needed to go to a library to look up different recipes.

––––––––––––––

The next day, Chouji woke up bright and early, feeling refreshed and ready to train. But that wasn't the case, since they weren't going to be training today. He figured he might as well go to Shikamaru's house and they could both go off and watch the clouds or something.

Yes, that was quite a day plan. It'd be great.

And it was a great idea…until he found Shikamaru in a sour mood. He walked over to him as he sat there by the gate, and eyed him. Shikamaru looked up at him, his lip curling up in a sneer. "Why…?"

Chouji blinked, wondering what he meant. "Wh-What?"

"Why do women have to be so troublesome?"

"Uh…did something happen?"

"Everything happened, Chouji. But it's not important. Let's just go…"

Chouji said nothing, instead just opting to follow without comment. If it was bothering his friend that much, he'd blurt it out and rant about it for a while. For a while they walked around in circles, and Chouji wondered if he should say something.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Shikamaru grabbed his arm and dragged him into a nearby store, throwing him against a rack of some sort. What happened next nearly made Chouji pee his pants, because an entire rack's worth of dirty magazines collapsed over him, littering the area around his feet. He went pale, eyes darting around the room.

When he finally took in their surroundings, he found himself and Shikamaru in a smut shop. Kakashi's silver hair could be seen behind another rack, and he finally came out, turning to the other side of the rack. He looked completely oblivious of the two boys standing near the entrance amidst a pile of dirty magazines that had come tumbling down with a clatter, and instead was looking through the rack of books, disgruntled. From what they could see, he wasn't finding what he was looking for. He narrowed his eyes, looking at the book he'd just picked up accusingly, muttering, "Still not out yet…? I already have this one…"

Chouji's cheeks turned red and he turned to Shikamaru, sputtering. "Sh-Shikamaru! My mother would kill me if she found me a place like this!"

From the corner of his eye, Shikamaru could see Kakashi glance at them for a second, but that was no concern of his. He leaned into Chouji, his voice scarcely over a whisper. "If you haven't noticed yet, those idiots in Team Eight have been following us for ten minutes now! I don't know what they're planning, but it most likely has something to do with you. You walk out that door and call back inside, say something clever like, 'I'll come back for you later, Shikamaru,' or something like that. Got it? Then, I want you to continue in the direction we were just going in."

Chouji blinked and swallowed, not asking questions. He didn't need to know why Shikamaru wasn't going to follow him; he trusted that Shikamaru had a plan with this. So, he walked out the door and turned back, waving happily. "B-Bye Shikamaru. M-My mother would hate to find me in a place like this… Um…come meet me when you're done…"

And so he walked, a bit fast for how he normally walked, now that he knew someone was following him. And Shikamaru hadn't said who, so for all he knew it could've been just Hinata. The idea made him very uncomfortable for some reason. She usually did that to Naruto, right?

There was a shout behind him after a few moments and he turned around to see Shino and Kiba frozen in place in front of the shop. They were arguing with each other, and Chouji took it upon himself to dash over.

"What did I tell you, Kiba? Take the back way, right?? But you wouldn't listen."

"Shut up, Shino! Akamaru, attack Shikamaru! We have to get out of here!!"

But they were too late. Chouji jumped, grabbing Akamaru as he leapt from his pal's coat. He smiled, standing up with the struggling puppy in his arms to see Shikamaru in the entrance to the shop, his shadows connecting themselves to Kiba and Shino. His friend returned his smile, releasing the two.

Then, his face turned cold. "Why are you following us?" He turned to Shino, knowing he'd be sensible. "Shino…?"

But Shino shook his head obstinately, instead turning to Kiba and muttering. "This is all your fault. I told you we should've gone a different way, but you refused to let Chouji out of your sight. I knew Shikamaru was onto us, but you wouldn't listen to that either. And now you've no one to blame but yourself…"

Kiba laughed. "Oh, don't give me a guilt trip, Shino! Who cares if they know why!? We were waiting for Chouji to say something about Hinata! There, I said it!" He ripped Akamaru out of Chouji's plump arms, hugging the pup against his chest. "Now get your hands off my best friend!"

Shino shot his best friend a look. "You know Kiba, Akamaru will never live as long as a human being, like me for instance…"

Kiba gasped, covering Akamaru's ears. "Shino! Akamaru doesn't know that yet! Why are you always so cruel to my pal!? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous!" He laughed, patting Akamaru on the head. "But that's too ridiculous for you, Shino. Being jealous of Akamaru… That's absurd."

Shino clenched his fists, his lips pulling into a tight line, and it looked almost as if he were about to swarm Kiba with bugs, until it happened.

Akamaru let out a soft bark and dropped out of Kiba's hands. He bit at his hindquarters, scratched at his ears, turning around in circles and yelping helplessly. Kiba screamed as the pup dashed off down the street. "A-Akamaru! Wh-What's wrong, buddy!?" He dashed off after his dog, completely oblivious. "You got fleas again!? That's the fifth time this year! Where are they all coming from!?"

Shino smirked, glancing at Shikamaru and giving him a frown. "You're lucky food never gets in the way of your friendship with Chouji." And without another word, he walked off.

Shikamaru watched the two go, glancing back at Chouji. "Those idiots. I swear, they get stupider each time I see them." He grumbled, stalking off in the direction of their training grounds and his favorite spot to watch clouds. Chouji followed him, not catching him mutter, "I better not get a comedy duo of Neji and Lee in my sequel, dammit."

–––––––––––––––––––

They were sitting, staring at the clouds, when Shikamaru finally blew up. He turned to Chouji, eyes set, lips in a tight line. "You said when you overheard her back at the Academy, she gagged when they asked her if she liked Neji. You hearing things funny?"

Chouji blinked, stuttering. "N-No. I distinctly remember–"

"Then why was she eating lunch with Neji yesterday? I followed her after you were done eating yesterday afternoon, and she met up with Neji. They laughed and started talking. What do you mean when you said she gagged?"

"Sh-She gagged. That's…what she did. I don't know what else to say."

He threw his arms up in the air, tossing them out from behind his head, groaning. "Why are women so troublesome!? And then Hinata has the gall to come over at seven in the morning and ask me what you like eating!"

Chouji turned red, turning to his friend. He scooted over closer, his head soon overshadowing his friend's face. Shikamaru glared at him, upset that his sight of the clouds was gone, but he couldn't help but smirk at how excited Chouji looked. Chouji's lips curled into an almost-smile, his eyes stared at Shikamaru's curiously. "Wh-What did you say?"

"I told her you liked chips. I really don't see how she didn't see that. Naruto has his ramen and you have your chips. Kiba'd probably have a raw steak somewhere in his pockets, that mutt."

"Why didn't you tell her I liked yams? I really like yams."

Shikamaru just snorted. "Chouji, you'd eat anything put in front of you. Don't even deny it…" He scooted over, back to where he could see the clouds, out from under Chouji's face, and looked up at the sky, watching a cloud that looked like a giant horse head drift by. "I wonder what she'll cook you for lunch today… Don't you find it odd that she's been making you lunch almost four days in a row now? Wouldn't her dad get angry that she was using up all the food in the house or something?"

"Well, I imagine her house would be able to hold a lot of food, considering how important their clan is…"

Shikamaru laughed, his bad mood suspended. "Hey, all you have to do is marry into that clan and you'll be in heaven!"

That's when they heard it. It was soft at first, far off even, but slowly it grew louder–the soft voice of Hinata Hyuuga. "Ch-Chouji-kun! Shikamaru-kun! G-G-Good afternoon!"

She was running toward them, holding something that looked like a giant bowl with her. There was a cover on it, though they could see droplets of the contents leaking out the sides as she ran. Finally, she reached them. She put the bowl on the ground and held out a spoon.

As she did, the cover came off and some of the thick soup spilled onto Shikamaru's legs. He sat up abruptly at the heat, wincing. She gasped, "Oh–Oh no! I-I'm so sorry! Are you alright!?"

Shikamaru nodded, rubbing at his legs and hoping the infernal soup wouldn't stain. "S'alright," he mumbled, trying to convince her–and himself–that he'd be fine. "It's just a little bit hot is all…" He glanced at the bowl. "Don't mind me. Chouji can finish that off. I don't want any."

Chouji looked at it, taking a whiff. His mouth began to water as the aroma of yams filled his senses. It looked like it had chunks of some sort of meat in there, and he scooted over, taking the spoon from her. He spooned out a chunk of the meat and tasted it, delighted to find it was a pork dumpling. He slurped up some of the soup eagerly, the taste of yams and pork tingling at his tongue. It was then that he also noticed all of the rice she'd added. He looked at her, eyes watering.

"This is incredible, Hinata-chan…"

She turned red, nodding her head and smiling, taking a spot across from him, by the bowl, in the grass. "Th-Thank you…"

The more he ate, the more tears it brought to his eyes, and they started to flow freely. Finally, when he was done, he wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, being sure to wipe off his entire face. "I-It was wonderful, Hinata-chan. Really, it was absolutely delicious. Y-Yams are my favorite."

She smiled, picking up the bowl. "Th-Thank you…" She looked off, towards the grass. "I was hoping to make some for N-Naruto-kun, and I wanted to see how good it was first…"

Chouji paled, remembering how Naruto had given him a look the other day. "Y-You didn't give any to him yet, did you?"

She blushed. "N-No…this was all I made."

He nodded. "Good. He doesn't like yams. So you should probably try something else with him…"

"Oh? Thank you…Ch-Chouji-kun…" She glanced at Shikamaru, back to the bowl, anywhere but at Chouji. Finally, she stood up.

Shikamaru gave her a wicked grin, putting on his nonchalant act. "When a man is brought to tears by a woman's cooking, it's only natural for the two to get married."

Chouji nearly choked, turning bright red and feeling the air catch in his throat.

On the other hand, Hinata's face lit up like a siren, and she dropped the bowl. It shattered into pieces, but she didn't even hear it break. She made a slight squeal and a whimper, all combined into one, before she tumbled onto her back, fainting on the spot. Chouji shot Shikamaru a dirty look and went to her side, attempting to help her come to.

"Now what did you do that for, Shikamaru? That…That was so un…called…" He looked back at her, his words trailing off dumbly. With cheeks flaring up again, he dropped her immediately when he realized he was holding her in his arms. He shot Shikamaru another look, but Shikamaru just snickered.

After a while, his friend looked off bitterly. "You're one of the lucky ones, Chouji…"