AN: I do not own Naruto. This work is a derivative fiction based on. Hitomaru and Gekkou Shiori are mine however.
Konoha Western Gate, Friday, Dawn.
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Inuzuka Kiba was, to pardon the pun, dog tired.
He'd spent the last two days out in the field on what was supposed to be fairly low rank mission with some newly-promoted Chuunin.
And Naruto…who was exhausting to deal with no matter what level of mission it was. So instead of it being just a simple escort from point A to point B, deliver and return home…no, Naruto had to find some way to make it complicated. As usual. In this case, there'd been a swamp, and some bandits, then the new little Chuunin Kunoichi had managed to get herself kidnapped and nearly killed by some overzealous Grass Nin. Then Naruto'd overreacted…pretty much standard for him, but it also meant that Kiba hadn't slept now for the better part of three days trying to keep the mission from turning into an International incident. So it was with bleary eyes that he regarded the two Shinobi in front of him who had met him at the gate and then dragged him away saying they had an important job for him, leaving a confused Naruto and the two overwhelmed newbies to file the mission report with Tsunade.
"You want me to do what now?" Kiba asked tiredly once they'd stopped. Looking from a surly Shikamaru to Chouji and then back. At his side, Akamaru dropped to the dirt to rest his heavy head on his huge paws and nap. Kiba had a perverse desire to nudge him awake, but then he remembered the two in front of him and blinked at them. "Find...what?"
"Find Ino," Shikamaru repeated. Kiba blinked again.
"Wouldn't she be at home? It's what? Almost seven in the morning?" Kiba yawned. Shikamaru made an impatient noise between his teeth, and Chouji held his hands out toward the Shadow Wielder with palms out, trying to placate him.
"Easy, easy, Shikamaru…" Chouji soothed. "There was an explosion last night at the Hokage Tower. The ANBU Headquarters was attacked. Ino's one of the missing," Chouji summarized for the exhausted canine specialist. Kiba was awake now as he looked between the two in disbelief.
"The fuck you say…" ANBU? They'd been attacked? He couldn't quite get his brain around it. Weren't they supposed to be the best of the best? "Wait…Ino's an ANBU?" he puzzled, his tired brain just catching up.
Shikamaru's scowl was getting deeper. "Irrelevant to the task at hand," Shikamaru told him. "Can you find her or not?"
Kiba tipped his head back and scented the air, squinting his eyes in the morning sun. "Maybe. It rained last night. Most scents've been washed down. I probably can…you have something of hers?" Chouji reached into his back pouch and pulled out a lacy camisole and handed it to him. Kiba raised an eyebrow. He'd undressed enough women in his life already to know that something like this was not an outer layer. Chouji blushed.
"We know where the spare key is to her apartment. I-I took…that from the top of her laundry pile," Chouji said with a vague uncomfortable wave toward the tiny scrap of lace in Kiba's hand. "I figured it was best that it was something she'd worn, right? Rather than clean?" Kiba snickered at his larger friend's obvious discomfiture.
If Akimichi Chouji had ever been to the lacy underwear stage with a woman...Kiba was a Vegetarian. Which he was definitely, not.
"Is this going to take long?" Shikamaru prodded churlishly. Kiba shot him a dirty look.
"Give me a fucking minute, willya? Damn, you're impatient. Getting me some coffee might help…" Kiba said pointedly then looked down at the purple lacy thing in his hands. "Besides, shouldn't we really be doing this at the accident site? I mean…if you want me to…identify...her…?" he trailed off thoughtfully as the gravity of the situation began to fully sink in.
Chouji shifted his weight as Shikamaru folded his arms over his chest and muttered under his breath. "Shikamaru doesn't, -I mean WE- don't believe that Ino was in the building at the time. We were hoping that you would be able to help us find out where she is," Chouji said. Kiba looked back up at Ino's teammates as they stood there in varying degrees of impatience and worry. He then considered how he would feel if something happened to Hinata and he got with the program quick.
"Yeah, okay…" he told them. Akamaru, who had been listening as he rested at his partner's feet, rose and sniffed at Ino's camisole. After Akamaru'd had his turn Kiba brought the purple lace to his face -with no small amount of embarrassment himself since it was Ino's lingerie. Couldn't Chouji have brought a scarf or a pillowcase or something since they were in public?- and inhaled deeply. Immediately, Ino's scent went straight to his brain. He closed his eyes as he kept breathing through the purple lace, deciphering the layers.
"Wow," he murmured. "Okay…I'm smelling cigarette smoke and lots of it. Probably from a bar. And…phermones…mmm…nice," he murmured as he sifted through the scents. He could ever so faintly smell the trace of Ino's attraction for someone. But if she'd been with a man, his scent wasn't on the inner layer of her clothes. "Man, she smells good," he said absently. Honeysuckle and almond soap mixed together subtly with the clean scent of her sweat. He'd never noticed before, but Ino smelled…yummy.
"This is bullshit… We should have gotten Shino," Shikamaru grouched in the background.
"Be patient," Chouji admonished. Kiba ignored them both as he took one last deep inhale, breathing Ino in.
"Yeah, Shikamaru…what's the rush?" Kiba asked, lowering the camisole from his face and giving the Shadow nin a toothy grin just to rankle him a little. Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.
"The rush is, the sooner I find that troublesome woman the sooner I can throttle her for worrying us all and go back to bed," Shikamaru complained. "Now are you going to look? Or just snork her underwear some more?"
"Hey, I'm just working with what you two gave me," Kiba shrugged. "The scent trail is going to be strongest at her place, so we should start there and work our way out," Kiba told them with authority. He started to stuff Ino's camisole into his pocket, but Chouji's large hand closed around his wrist and he took back the skimpy piece of lingerie from the canine specialist with a frown. "Can't blame me for trying," Kiba grinned.
"Definitely should have asked Shino instead," Chouji muttered darkly. Shikamaru just grunted in agreement.
"Shall we, gentlemen?" Kiba offered, letting the other two lead the way to Ino's place.
It didn't take the three shinobi long before they were standing on the walkway outside of Ino's small third floor apartment. Chouji reluctantly unlocked the door and they entered. Kiba's eyes quickly adjusted to the low light and he inhaled deeply. More of Ino's intoxicating smell filled his lungs and again he worked to decipher what the subtle layers of scent could tell him. Akamaru quietly moved around the perimeter of the room as well as he worked his own scent trails.
"She hasn't been here since…" he told them thoughtfully as he tried to roughly estimate what the slightly stale air could tell him. Akamaru whoofed quietly from where he nosed at Ino's hastily made bed in the corner of the room. "Akamaru says since at least yesterday morning," he translated.
Kiba's eyes roamed over the room, taking in the many houseplants and flowers that Ino had. He followed Akamaru over toward Ino's double bed near the window - her scents were strongest here - taking note of her dark violet sheets and white down comforter. Her laundry basket was against the wall between the foot of the bed and her closet, and Kiba noticed the purple panties resting on top, the mates to the camisole that Chouji had taken. Ino was messier than he'd thought she'd be, as he noticed several pairs of shoes she'd left out in front of her closet as well as a couple of dresses on their hangers, hooked over the closet door and covering the mirror. He looked back over his shoulder when Akamaru chuffed again and nudged a small pile of black cloth on the bed. Kiba reached down and picked up the cloth and it unfurled in his hands into a pair of lace panties. He raised them to his face for a confirmation sniff and smirked.
"Clean," he told the other two.
"I'm not very comfortable with this," Chouji muttered unhappily to Shikamaru under his breath, as Kiba found the black bra that Ino had set out on her bed with the panties and was examining the lacy cups closely.
"What's the point of this, Inuzuka? We know she's not here," Shikamaru asked, his hands resting on his hips.
Kiba turned and gave the other two a narrow look. "You questioning my abilities again?" he asked the Shadow user. Shikamaru's response was to stare him down.
"No. It's your methods I'm having a problem with," Shikamaru said with a pointed look at the bra the canine nin had dangling from one finger. Kiba looked smug.
"Neither of you have sisters, do you? That's obvious enough," Kiba snorted. "She left these out because she was probably planning on changing into them at some point." Kiba jerked his chin toward the closet door and the dresses that hung there. "Hana-neechan does that same thing if she has plans after her shift. Sets out her date clothes before she leaves." Kiba twirled the bra around his finger absently as he explored his theory. "Probably the same situation here. Somebody was gonna get the benefit of this sexy lingerie, since I doubt Ino wears this," he told them, holding up the sheer black underwear so Chouji and Shikamaru could really get an eyeful of it, "under her uniform. Then again, maybe she does. Always has had a fondness for showing herself off, hasn't she?" Kiba said with a leer.
Akamaru rolled his eyes at his partner's baiting of the other two ninja and went around the corner into Ino's kitchen and laid down under her small table so he was out of the way of the brawl it seemed Kiba was provoking on purpose. Probably just overly proud of himself for figuring out something before the Genius Nara did.
Now Chouji was looking as thunderous as Shikamaru as he stalked forward and snatched Ino's lingerie from Kiba's lax fingers and crumpled it in his large hand along with the purple camisole he'd already taken from the canine specialist. Kiba fisted his hands on his hips as he waited to see what the other two would do, and he scented the air blowing in from the open door behind them again to confirm his suspicions. Under the table Akamaru cocked an ear toward the door as well.
"You're right, Kiba. Chouji and I don't have sisters. We have Ino. Our three families have known each other for so long we might as well be related. Not to mention that troublesome woman was born the day after me, so yeah, she might as well be my blood sister. And since my 'sister', my teammate, my friend, could possibly be dead, the last thing I want to do is stand here and watch you paw through her stuff when we should be making sure she isn't!" Shikamaru yelled.
"What the hell is going on in here?"
Shikamaru and Chouji's heads whipped around at the voice coming from behind them. Ino stood in the doorway behind them in the standard black uniform turtleneck and pants. Her arms filled with her green chuunin vest and what looked like a short sword balanced on the top. her hair was still damp like she'd just taken shower. She looked more confused than angry -though Shikamaru expected that was coming - as she looked back and forth between the three of them.
"Aaaand mission accomplished," Kiba said smugly.
As Ino blinked owlishly at her former teammates from the doorway, it was Chouji who broke his paralysis first and rushed her. Sweeping the startled blonde up in his arms as he sobbed loudly. "Oh thank goodness! I'm so relieved! Thank goodness you're all right!" Forcibly separated from her stuff when Chouji grabbed her, Ino could only let him wail all over her as he held her tightly with her arms pinned to the sides.
"Chou…ji! Ack!" Ino squeaked, as the emotionally overwhelmed Akimichi forgot himself and squeezed the blonde to his chest like she was a stuffed toy. "Let go!" Ino croaked, "Shika! Help! AIR!"
The Shadow nin just scowled in her direction with his arms folded over his chest as he watched the display in front of him. Kiba raised an eyebrow at him as Ino started turning bluish from lack of air.
"You gonna help her?" he asked curiously. Team 10's dynamic had always been a little…different, so Kiba wasn't sure if this kind of thing was normal, as Chouji sobbed, Ino was suffocated, and Shikamaru scowled.
"In a minute," Shikamaru snapped.
When Ino started looking like passing out was a distinct possibility, Kiba decided to intervene. He tried to grab Ino away from Chouji, but the moment his hands touched the blonde he found himself connecting with the opposite wall as the Akimichi flicked him away like he was a gnat. Kiba slid down the wall onto Ino's couch a little dazed. He must really be exhausted from his mission if Chouji could get the drop on him like that.
"I was so WORRIED!" Chouji wailed loudly, tears running down his face and onto Ino's as he rubbed his tattoo'd cheek against hers. He loosened his grip on her and she slumped against him like a rag doll. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" he admonished.
For her part, Ino looked a little like she'd just been flattened by a runaway produce cart as she patted Chouji's arm absently while trying to remember how to breathe. "I…have no…idea what you're…talking about," Ino gasped, then gave Shikamaru an accusing look. "And you...could have...helped!"
"Feh…you had it coming, and you're probably gonna get worse when Asuma gets his hands on you," he scolded. "Where the fuck have you been?"
Ino blinked at him again, obviously taken aback by Shikamaru's vehemence. He was usually too lazy to ever get angry with her, so the fact that she'd heard him yelling at Kiba, as well as that thundery look he kept giving her was making her uneasy. "What do you mean?" she asked.
Kiba sidled up next to her as she and Shikamaru faced each other. He leaned over, his nose almost brushing the damp hair behind her ear and took a deep breath. Ino jerked away from him and scowled at his invasion of her personal space. "Excuse me? Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked him narrowly. Kiba took a fold of her sleeve between two of his fingers and rubbed the fabric before letting it go and sauntering back over to her couch.
"Uniform's damp. And that's not her shampoo or soap either, smells like a man's stuff," Kiba offered, and then lay down on Ino's couch. Folding his arms over his chest and crossing his ankles as he settled down to watch the drama unfold. Akamaru raised his nose for a sniff in Ino's direction and chuffed quietly. Kiba's eyebrow went up. "Oh really?" he drawled, his eyes appraising Ino hotly and he grinned, exposing his canines. "That's very interesting." Ino looked fit to explode as she looked from Kiba, lounging on her couch like some overgrown housepet, to the upset Chouji and angry Shikamaru.
"What is the meaning of this?" Ino sputtered, working herself up into a righteous indignation. "Not to mention what are you guys doing in my apartment in the first place…and Chouji!" Ino screeched loudly as she suddenly caught sight of what the Akimichi was holding in one big fist. "What the fuck do you think you're doing with my underwear?" Her eyes snapped blue fire as she stomped over to her former teammate and snatched back her lingerie as he shifted his weight from foot to foot guiltily, a mortified blush creeping it's way up his face. "BOUNDARIES, damnit! We've talked about this!" she yelled at the larger shinobi, practically shaking her finger in his face. Kiba snickered under his breath as he watched Ino chew out the Akimichi.
His eyebrow twitching dangerously, Shikamaru had just about had it. He brought the flat of his palm down sharply onto the top of the counter he was standing next to. The loud noise startling them all to attention as Ino's houseplants rattled in their containers. "Enough!" Shikamaru snapped. "I'm asking you again, where the hell were you all night, Ino?"
Ino frowned at him, the hackles on the back of her neck rising as they always did whenever Shikamaru got assertive or made the Teacher face at her. Out came her inner bitch which just could not cooperate with him whenever he used that tone. "None of your goddamn business, Shikamaru! I don't answer to you," she replied, just as hotly. "Or Asuma," she added, remembering what Shikamaru had said before.
"It's my 'goddamn business' when I've had to spend the better part of the night worried you could be dead!" Shikamaru yelled at her.
"Dead?" Ino looked puzzled. Kiba was pondering the bandages on his lower legs thoughtfully as she swung her gaze to him and then to Chouji, who was likewise studying his feet. They apparently weren't comfortable either with the level of emotion on Shikamaru's face as he glared at Ino.
"The Interrogation Room, Ino," he explained with no small measure of impatience, "ANBU HQ was almost wiped out tonight. Someone blew it up! With your Squad in there! And the duty roster said you were on duty last night…so what the hell else were we supposed to think?"
"No…" Ino murmured, stunned almost into incomprehension. "No, I- I worked a double shift at the gate yesterday for Tsuzumi-kun…he - he was going to work my shift last night in return."
"Thank goodness for that," Chouji exhaled.
Ino got paler and paler as Shikamaru went on to fill her in on the details of what had happened the night before. When he finished, she looked blindsided as she brought her hand up to cover her eyes and wobbled a bit. A quick whistle from Kiba brought Akamaru out from under Ino's table just in time to catch her as her legs went out from under her. She slid down Akamaru's side to the floor, her legs sprawled and hung her head, her hair covering her face. Akamaru whined softly and curled around her, shoving his muzzle under the lax hand she had at her side.
"My whole Squad? All of them?" she asked weakly. "What…what about Ibiki?" The loss of the honorific onto her Captain's name wasn't lost on any of the men present, especially Shikamaru, who had begun to hear the whispers about the two of them…once he knew to listen. It didn't lessen his worry for her to hear them either.
"He's still alive, Tsunade-sama has been with him all night. It's still not certain if he'll make it though," Shikamaru said in a much calmer tone. He'd vented most of his frustration and worry when he'd yelled at her, now he was just feeling the wash of relief that she was alive and whole as well as a deep fatigue from the past night's events.
At the word that her Shishou and Captain was still alive, albeit in critical condition Ino snapped out of her stupor and raised her head, her blue eyes sharpening as her ANBU training took over. There would be time for emotions and self-recriminations later. Pushing those thoughts down deep she made herself focus on the immediate, becoming the efficient shinobi that Ibiki had molded her into as she rose to her feet gracefully.
"I've got to report in," she said brusquely. Chouji, Shikamaru and Kiba all but forgotten as she moved with quick purpose to her closet and gathered up her spare ANBU pants, sandals and turtleneck -the rest of her uniform including her mask safely stored in her locker- and took them to the bathroom to change..
Kiba looked up when he heard the bathroom door close firmly and squinted at Shikamaru thoughtfully. "That was…unexpected…"
"Shikamaru?" Chouji murmured.
Shikamaru frowned. He'd known Ino his entire life thanks to their family's connection. He thought he knew her as well as she knew him, but it was suddenly becoming apparent that while he'd been lackadaisically going about his merry way teaching at the academy, going on the occasional mission with Asuma and Chouji, and planning battle contingencies for the Village, Ino had changed. He was irritated with himself for not noticing. When had she gone from that obnoxious, loud, narcissistic girl to the cold professional he'd just seen rise from the floor like a phoenix. She'd always been over-confident and bossy, but this was something else. He didn't like the thought that he'd been blind to the changes in one of his closest friends, and before he could think that it might not be a good idea he'd crossed the room to her bathroom and let himself in without knocking. Closing the door behind him.
Ino sat on the closed lid of the toilet, already changed into the base layer of her ANBU uniform as she propped one foot up on the side of her bathtub to fasten the straps of her tall black sandals. She barely glanced up at him, before switching legs to fasten the other over her shins.
"Huh," Shikamaru grunted when she said nothing. Not even reacting to his presence in the bathroom with her. He'd expected sarcasm for his failure to knock or a vicious throttling at the very least.
"What?" Ino asked him flatly as she rose and turned to the sink to brush her teeth.
"I expected you to kill me for coming in here unannounced. You might have been naked," Shikamaru said, provoking her on purpose. Ino shrugged at him as she leaned over the sink.
"I'd hope at this point in your life you'd know what a naked woman looks like, Shikamaru…it shouldn't be a shocker," she said around her toothbrush as she looked at him reflected behind her in the mirror. "Unless you don't like girls," she finished, baiting him back.
Shikamaru scowled and blushed at the same time as only he could do. "Females are so troublesome, " he muttered. "And you still haven't said where you were last night, Ino…" he asked again.
Ino made him wait as she spit toothpaste into the sink and rinsed before meeting his eyes in the mirror. "I was not here, Shikamaru. And I was not on duty. That's all you're getting, " she stated bluntly.
"Ino," he started sternly, "this isn't a game. People are dead. You're going to be expected to account for your whereabouts." Ino whipped around to face him and Shikamaru was almost taken aback by the fierce look in her eyes. Again he couldn't help but feel that he didn't know this Ino at all.
"You're right, Shikamaru…it isn't a game, and I'm not playing one. I had nothing to do with what happened last night if that's what you're leading up to. I worked a double shift with Mozuku-kun at the Eastern Gate. I ran into Asuma-sensei and joined you guys for a drink, and then I had a date," Ino listed, ticking each item off on her fingers. "My whereabouts after that aren't anyone's business, but mine and the person's I was with. And it's gonna take someone with a lot more clout than you to make me tell and let my private life become yet more fodder for the rumor mill. I've had enough already with that bullshit they're saying about me and my Captain," Ino said hotly, poking him in the chest.
"Of course I don't believe you had anything to do with what happened, Ino. I know you too well to ever think that. But the fact remains that you are the only one from your Squad that's not dead or nearly so. Think about this, the attack was on ANBU HQ and centered on the Interrogation Room itself. You're ANBU now, Ino…you know it isn't easy for an outsider to get in there."
"No, it's not," Ino replied slowly.
"So the possibility that it's an infiltration has to be considered, but what if it's worse? What if there's actually a traitor? Everyone would be under suspicion, even you. Especially you, given your specialty classification within ANBU," Shikamaru told her. Ino's eyes narrowed at him.
The previous year, when Ibiki had first approached her about joining his Interrogation Division, he had told her that even if she never functioned as an ANBU outside of his Interrogation and Torture Squad, she would still have to meet the minimum requirements for all ANBU members to be eligible to transfer. So in addition to the accelerated taijutsu and ninjutsu training she'd done just to satisfy those basic requirements, she'd also learned that all ANBU had to have one area of expertise. Luckily, Ino had discovered with her background in the Intelligence Division and being a spy that she was exceedingly good at traps…especially those involving exploding tags and genjutsu.
"What are you saying, Shika? And how do you even know about any of that?"
Shikamaru stuffed his hands into his pockets as he leaned against her bathroom door and gazed at her levelly. "I suppose you're not the only one that has secrets, Ino. I do more for this Village than teach brats ninjutsu, I have access to files. I took a look at yours last night..."
"You did what?" she inhaled sharply, her eyebrows coming down.
"I've been asked to look into this incident by the Council. They want a report from me so it was part of my job, but I'm not going to lie to you, Ino. Things don't look good. Not a lot of this makes sense yet, but a shitstorm is brewing and I don't like the feeling you're somehow in the middle of it. If the attack was directed at your Squad, you're isolated now…so watch yourself, Ino…watch your back," he said gruffly.
Ino's expression softened a bit at his words, but Shikamaru could see that her eyes still held that same dangerous gleam that had made him follow her into the bathroom in the first place. That look that made him feel like he was in a genjutsu, not sure which Ino was real, and which wasn't. She raised her hands and cupped his face in her palms, holding his head gently between her hands.
"You and Chouji have always had my back. Always."
"But we're not always going to be there to back you up, Ino…" Shikamaru started to explain. Exasperated that again she didn't seem to be giving the possibility that she could be suspected or implicated in the ANBU attack the same level of seriousness that he was. Ino leaned in and gave him a brief chaste kiss on the lips, effectively shutting him up in surprise. She smiled a little at his gobsmacked expression, having never expected her to do that and she rubbed her thumbs lightly over his cheekbones.
"I can handle myself, Shikamaru, you and Chouji don't need to worry about me anymore," she said gently and let him go. His normal sulky expression fell over his face now that she wasn't touching him.
"How can we not worry? You're You…you're like a divining rod for trouble. All I have to do is sit back and wait for the mayhem to ensue," Shikamaru complained. Ino nudged him out of the way of the door with her elbow and reached for the knob.
"Feh, pretend I'm Temari then…you don't worry about her," Ino teased him with a narrow look over her shoulder. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
"Of course I do. You always worry about the people you love, Ino."
Ino paused at the revelation with her hand on the knob. It wasn't like she didn't know that Shikamaru cared for her, they'd been teammates and friends forever, but to hear him more or less say it out loud for the first time ever was something different. She looked at Shikamaru, really looked at him and saw the fatigue and concern etched in his face. She'd really worried him. Ino let go of the doorknob to slip her arms around his neck and hug him.
"I'm sorry if I scared you," she whispered in his ear. Shikamaru didn't answer, just squeezed her tightly to his chest much as Chouji had before, but thankfully without the same crushing power. Ino was the one to let go first as she pulled away and opened the door. "Oh, and don't think we're not having a discussion later about you being in love with Temari," she tossed over her shoulder as she left the bathroom.
"Too troublesome," Shikamaru muttered as he followed her out. Ino picked up the violet tunic she'd worn the other night and pulled it on to cover the ANBU tattoo on her arm as well as the partial uniform.
Kiba was still sprawled on her couch half-asleep, but given his proximity to the bathroom door and excellent hearing the canine nin probably now knew everything that had just happened. He cracked one eye open and watched her as Ino tied her hitae-ate loosely around her waist like a sash and then collected the kodachi from where it'd dropped on the floor and tucked it into the knot at the small of her back. Kiba sniffed again quietly. The scent of Shikamaru on her couldn't completely cover the smell of the male she'd been with, which was now even clearer to him since she was closer. It was also familiar and he looked up at her with a smirk. "Gen-?" he managed to get out before Ino's expression went deadly.
"Do you like your teeth, Kiba?" He opened his mouth to speak and her eyes narrowed even more, "IN your head?" she finished quietly. Akamaru chuffed softly in amusement from where he was curled on the floor near the foot of her bed. Kiba swallowed as her eyebrow went up questioningly and her hand went toward the kodachi at her waist threateningly.
"Not a word," he promised, and rolled over on his side away from her, facing the back of the couch and he closed his eyes again. Mashing the ratty little purple throw pillow under his head into a more comfortable position as he settled in for a nap.
Ino looked up and saw that Shikamaru was nearly in the same pose as he lay on Ino's bed on the top of her comforter with his back to her and facing the window. Ino rolled her eyes. "You'd better not drool on my pillow again, Shikamaru," she warned him. She barely got an annoyed grunt in response from the exhausted shadow user. It wasn't the first time he'd crashed at her place while she was on duty, it was one of Shikamaru's favorite hiding spots when he wanted to avoid work and sleep.
All she could see of Chouji as she made her way to the front door was the back end of him hanging out of her refrigerator. Good luck there, since she rarely kept much food in her place and he knew it. He straightened up from his inspection of her icebox and looked at her gravely.
"Remember to lock up when you guys go," she told him. Chouji just nodded at her.
"Please be careful, Ino," Chouji said quietly.
She gave him a brilliant smile that didn't reach her eyes, because unlike with Shikamaru, it was always easy to lie to Chouji.
"Of course!"
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Shiranui Genma whistled happily as he strolled into the Jounin break room a little after eight. The room was curiously empty, except for a sour looking Raidou who was sprawled out on one of the window seats.
"Morning," Genma said lightly as he went to get a cup of tea. Raidou's look just got darker.
"You're awfully chipper this morning for a man only a few hours away from missing Nin status," Raidou growled at him. Genma raised an eyebrow at the tone before he really processed what Raidou had said.
"And you're a grump as usual…wait, what? Missing Nin?" Genma frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?" He turned and noticed for the first time that Raidou was wearing most of his ANBU gear, he'd only taken off the vest and gloves, his mask turned around to the back, and was glaring at him. "Why are you wearing that?" he asked, pointing at him with the hand holding his tea cup.
"Oh, I just thought it would be a giggle to play dress up and relive the glory days," Raidou snapped sarcastically. Genma raised an eyebrow questioningly at his friend and tipped the end of his senbon up at the corner of his mouth. Raidou was in a mood it seemed, and Genma'd learned over all the years of their friendship to just let Raidou get it out of his system when he started getting pissy.
"Uh huh," Genma grunted neutrally as he finished getting his tea. He crossed the room and sat down on one of the other padded benches across from Raidou, propping his feet up on the window seat next to him. Setting the tea aside, he casually picked up a newspaper someone had left behind, knowing full well it would irritate the shit out of Raidou. He could practically hear the other man gnashing his teeth. Genma wasn't about to let the scarred shinobi's rotten mood spoil his morning as he pretended to read. In reality his mind was still full of Ino and the night…and morning they'd spent together. He was especially enjoying replaying the vivid memory of the lengthy shower they'd taken together before going their separate ways for the day. He folded the newspaper and laid it over his face as he tipped his head back and folded his arms over his chest. He and Ino hadn't done much sleeping the night before, not that he was complaining at all, but he was always good at catch as catch can when it came to making it up. And since Raidou didn't seem to want to be forthcoming on why he was being an asshole…
"So where the hell were you last night?" Raidou sniped churlishly at him.
And here we go.
Genma wasn't sure he should rise to the bait, but he was curious as to why Raidou seemed to have his boxers in such a bunch first thing in the morning. "What're you, my mother?" he questioned from behind the newspaper. Raidou snorted.
"I sure hope she was worth it for you to miss a Summons."
Genma sighed and took the paper down from his face, leveling a look at the man across from him. "Okay, Raidou…I'll bite. What are you getting at?"
Raidou scoffed and shook his head. "You really have no idea what went down here last night? Whatever bed you crawled out of must've been on the far side of the Village for you not to know,"
It was only Genma's good mood that helped him keep his patience with Raidou's bad one. "For your information, the only bed I crawled out of was my own."
Raidou's eyebrows about hit his hairline as they shot up. "You were home? ANBU HQ blew up last night. We have over a dozen dead ANBU…your place is close to the Tower, how could you not hear it?" Raidou asked incredulously.
Genma frowned at the news. "What time did that happen? Is Yuugao okay?"
"Happened just before ten I think. Yuugao's fine, she was with me at the time. Ibiki got messed up pretty bad. It was touch and go for a while, but they think he's going to pull through. Iwashi's dead though," Raidou told him.
"Shit," Genma exhaled, absorbing the news. So that must have been the something he had heard about the time he and Ino were getting…friendly.
"Asuma's girl is gone too," Raidou said, watching his best friend closely. Genma's eyes widened.
"Kurenai's dead?" he asked incredulously. Raidou shook his head.
"No, no, his student. The little blonde one Yuugao's taken under her wing…Ino. Asuma was about to lose his shit last night when he found out about it too."
Genma frowned, "What are you talking about?"
"Ibiki's entire Squad was taken out last night. Little Ino's is the only body they haven't recovered yet, well hers and some other guy…Saragaki? Sarugooki…something like that," Raidou dismissed with a vague wave. "Fuck, I'm tired…" he groaned, tipping his head back.
"Ino's not dead."
Raidou's head snapped back up and his scowl came back full force. "How do you know that?" he asked narrowly, and then realized he already knew. Hadn't Yuugao been going on and on last night about how Genma had asked their younger friend to dinner? Raidou had assumed -knowing how Genma operated- that if anything the senbon shinobi had found other company after his dinner with the blonde. Since he wasn't at his apartment when the Summons was delivered. The idea that love-them-and-leave-them Shiranui Genma would carry on a liaison at his place, or with Little Ino was just…absurd. No matter how 'wonderful' Yuugao found the idea.
"Erm…" Genma stalled, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
"Oh HELL no," Raidou snapped, "tell me you did not spend last night fucking INO," Raidou all but yelled.
It was Genma's turn to scowl. "Will you keep your goddamn voice down!" he hissed, with a sharp look toward the open door. "And mind your own business."
His older friend just gaped at him, his mouth hanging open. "You've got to be shitting me. Ino? What kind of death wish have you got? You even have any idea how old she is? She's a baby!"
"She's definitely not a baby. And I know exactly how old she is," Genma told him. "She's legal, it was consensual, so what of it?" Genma had up-close, first hand knowledge just how much of a baby Ino wasn't.
Raidou just shook his head in disbelief before coming back with, "You've got some balls. Asuma is going to fucking tear you up when he finds out about it. And if he doesn't, you know Inoichi will."
Genma frowned. He hadn't really given much thought to what Ino's former sensei -and one of his very good friends- would think about him taking up with her. Or what her family might think. Besides, it was really Ino's place to tell -or not tell- her father and ex-sensei who she was or wasn't sleeping with. Right? Yet why would she? Wasn't anything between them…between them? Evidently not in the scarred shinobi's eyes.
"Perhaps it's best they don't find out then, right?" Genma asked bluntly. Raidou was an excellent friend, but he and Aoba had a tendency to gossip like a couple of old women.
Raidou was still looking at him like he'd dropped in from outer space as he kept shaking his head slowly. "Un-freaking-believable. Worst night of my life; Iwashi and Ibiki get themselves blown to hell, I get dragged back into the shit, Yuugao got pissed at me for…God only knows why, and You…" he included Genma in his rhetorical pity party with a magnanimous sweep of his hand. "You spend all night fucking a teenager," he finished. Ignoring the malice pouring off the senbon chewing shinobi across from him in waves. So much for Genma's good mood.
"You really need to let that go," Genma told him stonily.
"She's half your age!" Raidou accused loudly. Genma could hear footsteps coming down the hall toward the break room.
"She is not, quit exaggerating! And will you quit being such a prick about it and shut the fuck up?"
Kurenai had the misfortune of walking into the break room just as the two Tokubetsu Jounin were engaged in a silent battle of wills. She'd heard Raidou's raised voice, and Genma's angry lowered one, but not exactly what they'd been saying, other than a lot of "she's". Either way the crimson-eyed jounin couldn't help feeling like she'd walked in on something she shouldn't have.
"Uh…" she looked from one to the other, "What's going on?" She couldn't help but ask, her eyebrows raised.
Raidou in a fit of pique pointed accusingly at Genma who was furiously chewing on his senbon as he sat with arms folded over his chest glaring at him. "Ask him why he missed the Summons last night."
Kurenai's gaze jumped from the scarred shinobi to the long-haired one sitting across from him. "Genma?" she asked hesitantly, not sure she should be drawn in to a personal spat.
"I was busy," Genma bit out defensively, still clenching the senbon between his teeth in an effort not to spit it into Raidou's smug face. He knew Raidou was just in a nasty, vindictive mood and was taking it out on him, but there was only so much he'd let Raidou get away with at his expense.
Raidou leaned forward onto his elbows, grinning evilly. "Doing what to who?" he baited. "After all, it's not a big deal if anyone knows, right?-"
Kurenai could sense Genma getting more and more annoyed the more Raidou pushed. "Raidou-kun, it's not really anyone's business if Genma-kun doesn't want to say-" Kurenai interrupted, trying to cut Raidou off before he went over the line.
"-That you spent the night with Ino," Raidou announced, and in that second you could have heard a pin drop.
Too late.
Kurenai gasped. Not that the announcement was a complete shock to her, she'd noticed the way Genma had been paying extra attention to the blonde lately, especially the night of his birthday. But more because if Ino had been with Genma, that meant…
"No shit?" Another voice from over Kurenai's left shoulder said. All the heads in the room swiveled to the doorway where Yamashiro Aoba stood with a coffee cup and slack jaw. "Yamanaka Ino? I thought she was supposed to be dead?" the sunglasses wearing Jounin asked, confused. Genma groaned inwardly. Nice timing, asshole…
"Raidou, you got a big fucking mouth," Genma sighed with more than a little exasperation.
"So she's not dead?" Aoba asked Raidou. The scarred shinobi shook his head in confirmation. "And she's dating…him?" he pointed at Genma disbelievingly. "I thought she had a thing going with Ibiki…?" Kurenai caught the inside of her upper lip between her teeth at the expression on Genma's face. He was normally so unflappable and reserved, but now he was scowling and chewing on his senbon so hard she was afraid for his teeth. Raidou gave Genma another of his nasty smiles.
"I don't know…is dating really the right word here, Genma?" Raidou sneered. Genma said nothing, but his glare said volumes. It promised that one day, very soon, Raidou would pay.
"Does Asuma know yet?" Aoba asked the room at large. Raidou just chuckled once sarcastically. "Guess not…" Aoba shifted a step backwards toward the door. He couldn't wait to tell Anko-chan the latest scuttlebutt. After all, if the tidbit was juicy enough and he played his cards right he could entice his favorite snake-kunoichi out for drinks and who knew where it would lead to from there?
Just as Aoba edged flush with the doorway a rapid series of quiet thuds hit the doorjamb and he looked down to see the sleeve of his left arm -the one holding his coffee- was now pinned to the wood from elbow to shoulder with senbon, perfectly tracing the outline of his arm. He looked up as Genma refolded his arms and narrowed his heavy-lidded eyes at him.
"Oi, you wouldn't be running off to spread rumors now would you…" one eyebrow went up menacingly, "Aoba-kun?" The threat hanging in the air.
Aoba gulped quietly, internally weighing the pro's of an overly grateful tipsy Anko against the huge con of being on Shiranui's bad side. "Of course not!" Aoba tried to sound offended he would even suggest such a thing. Raidou sniggered quietly. Bastard. He was the one who'd spilled the beans. Genma turned back to the chuckling source of his ire, all but dismissing his pin-cushioned colleague.
"Then we're good. Keep it that way," he told Aoba.
Aoba flailed as he tried pulling the embedded senbon out of the doorjamb with his right hand without tearing up his shirt or spilling too much of the coffee he carried in his left. In the end it was Kurenai who stepped up and freed him. Aoba glared at the senbon user as he sulked and inspected the row of torn holes in his uniform shirt. Best gossip EVER and it had to be about Shiranui who had no fucking sense of humor whatsoever about these kinds of things. Aoba didn't know why he wasn't using Namiashi for target practice since it seemed the scarred man was the one pushing the issue.
"Fucker…you owe me a new shirt," he complained at Genma. Genma just shot him a look from the corner of his eye and Aoba wisely decided retreat was the better part of valor and disappeared back down the hall the way he came.
"He's going to tell everyone he knows," Kurenai said thoughtfully, looking over her shoulder as she moved farther into the room and gave the handful of senbon back to Genma, who re-concealed them so fast Kurenai barely saw him move.
"Naw," Raidou said cheerfully, jabbing a thumb in Genma's direction. "He's got the fear of Genma in him now. If anything he'll spread the news she's not dead, but he wouldn't dare cross the cradle-robber here on the rest. He has too big of a self-preservation streak in him."
His patience at an end with Raidou's snide remarks about Ino's age, Genma uncrossed one leg and placed a hard, well-aimed kick at the other shinobi's torso. Raidou tried dodging, but wasn't quite quick enough. "Too bad I can't say the same for you, Teme…" Genma pointed out dryly as Raidou complained under his breath and rubbed his abused ribs. "Kurenai?"
Kurenai's eyes snapped to Genma's as he addressed her, one of his eyebrows raising questioningly. She blinked at him and then caught his meaning. "Oh! I'm not going to say anything!" she said quickly.
"Not even to Asuma? I'm sure he'd love to know…" Raidou taunted, grinning. Genma raised one foot threateningly again and Raidou slid down the bench quickly until he was out of kicking range.
"No," Kurenai said quietly, sinking down to sit on the bench behind her. "It's not my place. There're certain things he doesn't need to know about his students," she said, more to herself than the two shinobi in the room.
They hadn't been there the night before when Asuma was so crazy that Ino could have been killed. She knew it was because Ino was his girl. His awkward, brassy, square-peg-in-a-round-hole-brat that he'd just never known how to handle. Asuma had always treated Ino with the same care and suspicion one would give a live grenade or angry rattlesnake. Still, all of Team 10 was overly protective of their female teammate. And as such given his recent revelation that he hadn't been the best sensei to Ino, Kurenai really didn't think her lover was ready to go a step farther and accept that his flat-chested little genin had become a grown woman. And she certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell him that her choice of lover was older than he was. She had to live with the man after all.
"See? That's the proper attitude," Genma lectured Raidou.
"But," Kurenai added, turning her attention back to Genma. "Ino's a good girl. I would hate for her to get hurt," she said pointedly. Genma nodded grudgingly. "And," she continued, this time turning her crimson gaze to Raidou. "I know how I would feel if I heard any unsavory rumors going around about any of my 'kids'. It would…upset me. And I might not be so forgiving towards the bearer of that bad news…understand, Raidou-senpai?"
Raidou had the good sense to look chagrinned. "Yeah, yeah…point taken," he muttered contritely.
Footsteps coming quickly down the hall pulled the three shinobi's attention back to the door and a second later Aoba dashed back in the doorway. "Oh yeah," he said pointing at Genma, "I remembered what I'd come in here for in the first place. Shikaku-san's looking for you."
Raidou was looking entirely too elated at that bit of news for Genma's comfort level, but the senbon-user tore his eyes away from his questionable-at-the-moment-best-friend to give Aoba his attention.
"He say what it was about?" Raidou asked before Genma could. Aoba looked annoyed.
"Do I look like Shikaku's bitch? Go find out your own damn self," he griped and left again.
Kurenai looked puzzled at Raidou's obvious glee as the scarred shinobi folded his arms behind his head and grinned at Genma.
Genma was getting a sinking feeling he knew what it was too and he sighed heavily before getting up, picking up his up until then forgotten tea and downing the tepid liquid in one shot.
So much for his good morning.
P.S. Good grief that turned out long… O_o
As always, until next time! Reviews are lovely and very much appreciated. ^_^