Disclaimer: I don't own Blea... oh wait, wrong series. Only jesting. Seriously, don't own Naruto. (I think you all may have figured this out by now...)

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Ino rolled over groggily, pulling her pillow over her ears to drown out the sound of what she could only assume was rain.

Tap tap tap.

The noise became more insistent and Ino felt herself being pulled rapidly from the confines of dreams. She wrapped the sheets more tightly around herself, willing her mind to go back to rest and that annoying sound to subside and leave her to drift back off to sleep, restless as it had been.

Finally, the noise stopped. She relaxed a little, letting the pillow slip back down to rest beneath her head, feeling her consciousness slowly slipping away again…

…only to be shot with a sudden rush of adrenaline as she heard the latch on her window rattle.

Her hand went immediately to the nightstand beside her bed, her fingers closing around a kunai she kept in the top drawer, just in case. She sat up slowly, her breath shallow and measured.

The window was on the opposite side of her room, far enough from the bed that she could slip over to that side of the room without being seen by anyone who might be attempting to get into the window. She moved out of bed and crept along the wall, pausing to listen as she got a few inches from the sill.

"Hey… Ino. Wake up."

That made her pause. That sounded like…

She took the few extra steps to the window and threw it open, startling the person just outside to the point that he almost lost his chakra hold and fell off the wall. Ino crossed her arms, the kunai waving dangerously in her hand.

"Do you know what time it is?"

Shikamaru frowned slightly. "I'm aware of how late, yes, but I need your help. It's about Choji."

Immediately, Ino's whole demeanor changed. She opened the window the rest of the way and motioned for Shikamaru to come in, shutting it quietly behind him. "What's going on?"

Shikamaru stuck his hands in his pockets and Ino, with her back turned to shut the window, failed to notice the appraising look her gave the room in which he now found himself. "It started after the party tonight. He's been nervous all week and I'm not sure if he ate much of anything at the dinner, so I suggested we go to that place Asuma always used to take us afterwards. At first, he wouldn't eat anything, but then he just kept ordering…" The dark-haired shinobi grimaced rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Ino stared at him flatly. "Don't tell me you woke me up in the middle of the night because you couldn't foot the bill."

"No, no, nothing like that." Shikamaru continued. "I took care of that, but he overate. Made himself sick and he won't let me take him to the hospital. He's too embarrassed. I would have gone to find Sakura, but I don't know where she'd be at this hour and it'd be too troublesome to ask her anyway…"

Ino wasn't really listening as he trailed off, already rummaging through her closet for the supplies she had on hand.

"Why in the world does he do this to himself?" She muttered, pulling out different vials and rolls of bandages, only a few of which she needed. Unsuccessful in locating the necessary supplies, she moved back out into the main room with her medic bag, only to find Shikamaru examining the plant on her dresser.

"What are you doing?"

"Just looking at the flower…" He shook his head as if to clear away some stray thoughts. "You ready to go?"

Ino examined her room once over, wondering if she had any of the supplies somewhere else, but she couldn't recall it, so she moved toward the door, motioning for him to follow. "Almost. I'll have to stop by the garden and the kitchen on the way out to pick up a few supplies, but—"

She stopped abruptly as she reached the door and found Shikamaru's hand closed around the handle. She suddenly found herself awake enough to realize that she was alone, with Shikamaru, in her room. She wasn't sure he had ever been here… maybe when they were kids, but certainly not in recent years. His proximity sent a tiny shiver down her spine.

"Are you sure going out that way is the best idea?" His look of skepticism gave his own response to that question quite clearly.

Ino shrugged nonchalantly, removing his hand from the handle with practiced ease, despite the fact that she could feel her heart pounding.

"No one in my house will be up at this hour. I'd rather go out that way than try to scale the wall in a dress."

"Besides, even if my father did catch us," she added with a wry smile, "it's you. He won't think anything of it."

The truth in that statement left an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach.

The walk to Choji's house wasn't a long one. All the windows were dark when they got there, however, so they were forced to sneak in through the window.

Choji was lying over on his side, whimpering weakly.

Ino shook her head, setting her supplies out on the floor, and Shikamaru stepped back, unable to help.

She pulled a vial out of her bag, shaking it slightly before uncorking it and holding it out for Choji to see.

"This should help relieve some of the pain. It will probably be a little bitter, but it will help eventually."

Choji held a hand out to take it, but a spasm of pain overtook him and he curled back up into a ball, groaning.

Ino sighed, retracting her hand. "Can you try to sit up? This is not going to go down well if you can't."

Choji nodded slowly, uncurling himself and moving slowly to sit up. Shikamaru moved around to help him, propping him back against the wall. Ino brought the vial to his mouth, making him tilt his head back so that he didn't choke on the bitter medicine.

Ino went back to her bag, pulling out a few other containers while Choji slowly felt the pain recede from his gut. After a few moments, he let out a quiet sigh of relief, his face no longer clenched in pain.

"Thanks, Ino." He intoned quietly, too ashamed to raise his head and look at her.

"Baka." She muttered without conviction. "You don't need to be eating yourself to death right before your wedding! What would Mai think?"

Choji's head sunk even lower. "She'd probably just think I'm a… well, she'd think just what everyone else thinks."

Ino paused in her search for the proper herb, placing the jar in her hand on the ground and moving to kneel right in front of Choji.

"Choji, look at me this instant. You want to know what Mai thinks of you? I'll tell you. I know these kinds of things, because when it comes to the men they love, girls are all just the same." Ino stared him down until he looked up, meeting her gaze with reluctance. Shikamaru remained frozen in the corner of the small room, expression inscrutable.

"That girl is absolutely, one hundred percent in love with you, Choji. You can see it in the way she looks at you, the way she blushes when you get up the courage to take her hand. Does she laugh at things that shouldn't be funny?"

Choji nodded slowly.

"Does she fidget when you talk? Play with her hair or wring her hands? Is she understanding when you get tongue-tied? For goodness' sake, Choji, the girl sat through an entire evening of embarrassing stories from your childhood and she still looked like the happiest person in the world when I came to tell you all goodbye this evening."

Choji's facial expression shifted slightly, as though he wasn't sure whether he should be smiling or not, but Ino could see the slow realization hitting him as he thought back on the things she had just said.

"So you mean all of those things…"

"She loves you, Choji. She wouldn't be acting that way if she didn't. She's shy, so she won't be brash about admitting like someone like me, but she's in love. And she won't want her fiancé to be making himself sick so close to your wedding, so don't do this again!"

She turned back to her medical supplies, pulling out the last vial she had handled. Inside was finely chopped dandelion root.

"Put some of this in your food for the next few days, it should help prevent any residual heartburn. Other than that, don't gorge yourself and you'll be just fine. Got it?"

Choji took it from her, examining it with a tired smile. "Thanks, Ino. I owe you one."

She let a small sigh slip between her teeth, scooping the unused medicines back into her bag. "Just keep yourself healthy, and you don't owe me anything. Consider this a favor for Mai, if anything."

Ino rubbed her eyes, feeling her weariness wash over her as the initial adrenaline rush wore off. She glanced at the clock. 1:36.

"I've got to get back home." She said slinging her bag over her shoulder and standing up. "If you need anything else, just send Shikamaru to come and get me, but preferably at during an hour that I'll actually be awake…"

"I'll be fine." Choji insisted. "He shouldn't have to hang around taking care of me anyway. You should walk her home, Shikamaru."

Ino looked at Choji skeptically as she moved to the window. "I think I can take care of myself."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Che. It's troublesome, but I was the one who dragged you all the way out here. Might as well make sure you make it back home. See you, Choji."

He climbed out the window before Ino even had the chance to protest, so she had no choice but to follow him.

"I would've been perfectly fine on my own, you know." She noted as she caught up to him, matching his leisurely pace. He seemed to not even take notice of her statement, staring up at the stars as he walked.

Ino watched him out of the corner of her eye, not for the first time wondering what was running through his head. If she could only get one tiny little glimpse… maybe then she would know what to do.

"Ino?"

She rushed to his side faster than she could even begin to process the situation.

"What did you do, baka? I told you time and time again to stay off this leg, but do you ever listen? Of course not! Heaven forbid I know more than Konoha's genius because—"

"Ino!" He grimaced in pain, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out. "Can you shut up for just a minute and let me talk? Troublesome woman…"

"I'm troublesome?" She cried indignantly; if he hadn't already been in pain, she would have been very tempted to slap the arrogance right out of him. "I'm trying to help you."

"I don't need your help at the moment." He snapped back, attempting to adjust his leg so he could shift the weight away from it.

Ino sent him a cold glare. "Fine. Have fun getting back to the medical tents on your own."

She began to walk away from him, putting just the right amount of anger into her step.

3… 2…

"Ino!" The pain was palpable in his voice. "I didn't mean it, you troublesome…"

"What now?" She half-turned back to face him.

He made a face that spoke of utter resignation. "Please, Ino."

She shook her head, walking back to his side and looping his arm around her shoulders to support him. "You should just be glad I'm a forgiving person."

Shikamaru snorted indelicately, grinning at her wryly. "I'll believe that when I see it."

"Ino!" She was startled out of her reverie as she was jerked sideways and narrowly missed crashing into a bench. Unfortunately, the force of the sudden jerk sent her crashing into something else entirely.

Shikamaru stumbled as she rammed straight into him, spinning her slightly to keep from being thrown off balance. Ino's hands braced against his chest for support, and he gave her a look of utter bewilderment as they came to a stop.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think you wanted me to save you. That's the second time today."

Ino flushed, pushing herself away from him quickly. "I'm just tired. It's two in the morning; I have a right to be a little out of it."

Shikamaru stopped in the middle of the street, studying her.

"What?" She resisted the reflex to wrap her arms around herself self-consciously.

"You're lying. You're even still wearing what you wore to the dinner. Something's wrong."

Ino looked down, remembering her apathy upon arriving home. She hadn't bothered to put her hair up or even brush it, much less change clothes.

"Like I said, I was tired. I didn't think much about changing."

Shikamaru looked dissatisfied, but he shrugged it off, continuing to walk. "Fine. If you're not going to explain, I'm not going to go to the trouble of trying to figure it out."

True to his word, Shikamaru spent the rest of their walk in silence. When they reached her house, he stopped, still not bothering to look at her as he spoke.

"Thanks for helping Choji. I know he appreciates it."

"Yeah, no problem." Ino replied tersely, brushing past him to the door. If he was going to act this way, she could be just as brusque. She had put the key in the lock when a hand touched her shoulder lightly.

"Ino."

Her hand dropped away from the lock, and she took a deep breath, blinking slowly before turning back around.

"Yes?"

Shikamaru was all seriousness, staring straight through her with that penetrating gaze of his.

"Honestly, thank you. What you said to Choji… I'm no good with any of that and her opinion been his main worry all along. You said exactly what he needed to hear."

Ino felt a small smile breaking across her face. "I just don't want to see him so worked up when there's no need to be."

"Well, it's… thanks."

Ino nodded slowly, and just like that her anger was receding to a warm glow of affection again. She bit her lip. "No problem."

"And Ino?"

"Hmm?" She looked up, trying her best to keep her face free of emotion. As tired as she was, she wasn't sure how much control she could keep over it.

"You really need to get more sleep."

She frowned, stepping back from him huffily. "You know something, you mm—"

Ino was forced to stop abruptly; his hand was covering her mouth.

His mouth stayed in a perfectly straight line, but his dark eyes sparkled with mirth.

"And you talk too much, even when you're tired. And if you would give me just a second more to get a word in edgewise, I would say you should wear your hair down more often, troublesome woman. It looks nice."

He took a step back and put his hands in his pockets, raising an eyebrow. "But what would I know? If I wouldn't know a dress from a hole in the ground…"

Shikamaru left the statement unfinished and retreated into the night, easily blending with the shadows that he so easily manipulated.

Not the only thing he easily manipulated. Ino put a hand over her mouth.

If she hadn't been certain of her wakefulness, she would have sworn it was all a dream.

A/N: I am so so so terribly sorry for the late update. I've been drowning in schoolwork and extracurriculars, but that is no excuse. So here it is; hopefully the length makes up for my woefully bad timing. Once again, thank you to those who review. It never ceases to make me smile. I hope I am continuing to uphold your expectations. And, if you are feeling particularly generous after reading this, I always love more reviews. :) - Senka