When the Deer Run
Chapter 3
For the Good of All of Us
Red, red, red, red...
I'm going round in a BIG red circle.
Red, red, red, red…
"Ino, you actually going to stop walking round and sit down or do you wish to see if you can erode a giant circle in the floor before Shika comes?"
"Not now Chou."
"No, really though, you must have walked round this entire floor over ten times by now."
"Their fault for making it circular."
"Really now?"
Laughing with my old, slightly obese friend, I stopped and looked up at him. We had both been called to the Hokage's office along side Shika which only meant one thing…
"So," I said leaning against the wall next to him, "What do you think this mission is gonna be?"
"I dunno but it's gonna be … amusing if we're back together again."
"I miss our old Ino-Shika-Chou trio."
"Ditto."
"Inoichi! Chouza!" Damn! Hokage-sama sounds angry. This is gonna be an interesting briefing.
Standing up, through the door, dodge the breakable what-ever-it-was that she through at us, stand to attention, apologize for Shika not being there... All that was standard and something that always seems to happen to us lately when ever we enter this office except the apologizing for Shika bit. Normally we're apologizing for what ever else we've done or haven't done.
Sighing she looks up at us. Holy! Is she gonna start without Shika here!? This is big what ever it is!
"We have a problem. There is a threat reported to be heading Konoha's way. It is very likely that it is already here or at least a part of the threat has somehow entered the village."
Knew it! "Um… what type of threat?"
"We don't now yet."
"You mean to say we have a spy/traitor in the village for an unknown threat?"
"Yes."
"Oh this is gonna be classic!" I mutter to Chou.
Grimacing slightly Chou looked at the Hokage and spoke for the first this meeting, "What do you want us to do?"
"I wish for you three (so can you tell Shikaku this please) to find our little intruder and if possible get as much information as possible out of him. As soon as you locate him report straight back to me."
"Yes sir!"
That had been this morning. We had tried to get a hold of Shika but he said he wasn't feeling well so didn't come and see us. We didn't bother any more with trying to get him to help. Even if he was sick or not if he didn't want to come out, he wouldn't come out. I'll try again later though.
But until then…
"Hey! Dad!" Yelled my daughter waving at me and running over with Chouji and Shikamaru close behind as she began her usual wining. "Dad! Shikamaru won't let me have a look at Asuma's lighter! I know he has it! I saw him with it yesterday!"
"I'm sure he'd be willing to give it to you if you stop complaining." Turning with a scowl to Chouji, she began raving at him about how life was unfair. Laughing at Chouji's expression and Chouza's sudden interest in the ground by his feet I glance at Shikamaru.
He looks just like his dad, I marvel as he stared up at the sky and clouds, hands stuffed in his pockets and a casual, unconcerned, almost bored look on his face. Smirking I can think of the time that I first saw Shika doing this. But the smirk quickly faded into a frown when I saw a slight tinge of purple on his check that I had never noticed before. It looked almost like a bruise.
"Shikamaru…" He didn't make any movements but I knew he was listening to me so I continued not even knowing what I was going to say. "How ya doing? I haven't heard you talk lately, not even once. So you alright?"
I know he's not and he knows I know. I also know he did hear me so if he dares ignore me or says he's fine I will not be a happy pig.
"Hey! You two! Get a move on! Chouji and Chouza have invited us to dinner at their place. Get a move on!" Looking back at my daughter who was now waving at us from over by the tree line with Chouza and his son I grinned. She may deny that she has a thing for the boy but, call it fathers intuition, she is doing her very best to make her chubby friend jealous even if she realizes it yet or not.
Before I could answer, a small voice next to me muttered something about going home and turned to leave.
"Oh, come on Shikamaru." Glancing back at the other three, I note Chouza's frown, Ino's confused and Chouji's slightly hurt expressions. "It'll be fun besides we can't eat all the food by our selves."
"You're gonna have to try then." He muttered back.
"Shikamaru…" Began Chouza's son as he walk back to Shikamaru.
"No Chouji. I have to go home."
"You don't have to do anything," I corrected already knowing this was going to be a losing battle, "and as I said it'll be fun and you seem in need of a bit of fun lately. What do you say?"
"No."
And with that simple statement Shika's boy walk off in the other direction.
Oh gods, this can't be good.
Authors Notes:- I was gonna add another scene on the end of this but it was taking too long to write, no inspiration was coming to me and I could not, for the life of me, figure out a way to make this chapter better and less … awkward. I also tried to maker this chapter more light-hearted 'cause I always imagine Inoichi to be a light-hearted kind of guy. Also Inoichi called himself a pig at one point, don't worry, it's just 'Ino' means boar. You'll see a lot of references to Ino-Shika-Chou (which means Boar-Deer-Butterfly) in this story.
Anyways I promise I'll update more regularly and try to make the next chapter and improvement on this one. Oh and the next chapter will be from Shikamaru's point of view again.
Hope you enjoyed this failure of a chapter but I needed it to explain a lot about the future story. I think it's pretty obvious now what is about to happen, well not instantly but the vague jist of the next few chapters, lets see if anyone gets it =P.
Click Here For Cake
Don't Click Here For Pickled Eggs
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