The Virtuosic Fool

Chapter 2: Dinner De-Railed

Two rather rambunctious Chunin's rounded the corner to Konoha's newest western restaurant, while one greatly annoyed Chunin following behind them quietly. They were known as Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji, and Nara Shikamaru. The three were synonymous with each other, which surprised many of their fellow classmates. It wasn't so long ago that Ino had despised the two, looking down on them for their low grades. These days it seemed, the only one who could insult the two of them was herself, and only with the intent of a frustrated sister trying to make her point- which often came out sounding like a nagging mother bear.

After joining Konoha as Chunin, it wasn't long until their faces were listed in the Bingo Books. At first, Choji and Ino had been surprised at the news, when Shikamaru explained the probable reasoning behind the listing though- they quickly understood.

None of them were too happy with the titles they had earned as soon as they heard of such actions.

As it would turn out, family titles went a long way in the Shinobi world. A fact that left an unpleasant taste in the mouths of many nin, but a fact none the less. In the case of Team 10, things were no different. Nara Shikaku was known throughout the hidden villages as Konoha's number one battle strategist- a title that, no doubt, would carry on to his son- and personal advisor to the Hokage. Yamanaka Inoichi was known as the Head of Konoha's Intelligence Division, a difficult title to obtain considering all S-Class jutsu necessary to carry out the job. While Akimichi Chouza was, well considered a threat just because wherever they went, he went (it definitely didn't have the pride-inducing ring to it- but it induced fear in enemies anyway.)

Due to such hyped-up family names and the future that they were predicted to play a part in, not to mention their respected responsibility to Konoha, Tsunade refrained from sending the team on the more dangerous of missions. Save for Shikamaru, she figured he'd been a Chunin long enough to know to run when best fit- unlike Yamanaka Ino, who was starting to act more and more like another blond shinobi who could never seem to refrain from calling her Obaa-Chan.

Ino, as Shikamaru expected, was the most unsettled by the constant 'down-talk' they fell victim to. She knew they were, for all intents and purposes, their own good. Unsurprisingly though, they only managed to rouse a fire within Ino that pushed her to train harder and more intensely than her teammates. Not to mention Shikamaru's growing reputation around the village as one of Konoha's most promising Chunin. Ino would be outshined by no one, especially a lazy ass like Shikamaru.

So as they stood in line to receive a seat in the bustling restaurant, it was no surprise that Shizune, Tsunade's assistant came running up to the trio and informed Shikamaru of a new mission that was, respectively, only his.

Shikamaru sighed deeply, cast Choji an apologetic look and raised a hand to Ino's shoulder. "Sorry guys. Duty calls."

Ino rolled her eyes in what Shikamaru knew was jealousy- though she played it off as annoyance- and Choji rose a hand in goodbye.

Jumping to the rooftops of Konoha's buildings, Shikamaru prepared for his meeting with the Hokage. Which no doubt, would lead to troublesome things.

"The Chunin exams are about to start again. I'm sure you would like to resume the post you took before? After all, you did such a nice job last time, and if I remember correctly you and the Sand ambassador had a rather close relationship. Luckily it happens that the Chunin exams are going to take place in Sand this year." Tsunade said, not lifting her head from the paperwork on her desk. Absently, she rubbed at her forehead, trying to repress the hangover from last night's overindulgence.

"Ah, I don't know. It's a bit much, I was hoping a for a few weeks off." Shikamaru said scratching at the back of his neck and looking out the window next to her desk, as his eyes met hers though, he quickly took back his words. "But, I wouldn't mind I suppose. More time with Temari-san."

Tsunade nodded her head in approval, "Good." her eyes left his and Shikamaru's head dropped to his chest. Ah, I was hoping to get some sleep.

"You leave tomorrow morning. The Suna Ambassador, Temari-san was it? She'll be guiding you around Sand." Tsunade said, fiercely scribbling in her paperwork. "I suppose, if you want, you can take along your teammates. I don't think I'll be having any missions for them for the next few weeks. If I do, I'll make sure to send a falcon to Suna for their return."

Shikamaru perked up at this, but still frowned heavily. Temari, he thought to himself, dear Kami.

"You're dismissed." Tsunade said, with a wave of her hand. "Oh, wait!" the lady Hokage ruffled through her desk before pulling out a scroll. "Make sure to give that to Ino, I'm sure she's been expecting it."

Shikamaru cast her a gloriously dull stare, "What is it?"

"It's the scroll notifying her that on her return to Konoha, she begins her position as a courting kunoichi." Tsunade looked up from her papers suspiciously, "Why?"

Shikamaru just shrugged and shook his head. Tsunade wasn't stupid, but she didn't want to get involved in an argument with one of the brightest shinobi Konoha had seen in a while, so she just left it. She figured, if it was something big enough to worry her then she would learn of it soon enough.

Shikamaru sighed as he left her office, and started down the steps back to the restaurant his friends were at. He couldn't believe that she had interrupted his dinner for that. Honestly, couldn't she have just had Shizune ask me about it while I was with my friends?

Shikamaru jumped from rooftop to rooftop quickly, for once hurrying and hoping to catch his friends before they finished.

And this scroll for Ino... courting? Isn't she too young for that?

About fifteen minutes later he arrived at the restaurant and told the hostess that two of his friends were inside already. She allowed him in, and he began his search for them. A few minutes later he found them sitting at the bar, eating what appeared to be cheeseburgers. Shikamaru cringed, he hated western food joints.

Ino giggled at something Choji said and nodded happily, wiping at mustard that lay at edge of her mouth. "Hey guys." Shikamaru said stepping up to them, before pulling out a seat next to Ino.

They turned to him surprised, "Hey!" they both said.

"What's your mission about?" Ino asked him, knowing that it was unlikely he had such a high ranking mission that he couldn't tell them. Shikamaru noticed that she was dipping seasoned fries in honey-mustard; he decided that it must've been her time of the month. No way would Ino eat fatty things like that without her craving them.

"Chunin exams. I leave in the morning. You guys want to come? Tsunade gave me the green light to ask if anyone wanted to accompany me." Shikamaru said, trying to flag down the waitress across the bar.

Ino nodded enthusiastically before he even finished asking. "Of course! I heard Naruto is going to be in this one. No doubt, he'll pummel all of the others, but I still want to see it happen."

Shikamaru looked at her, his eyebrows raised, "Yeah? Maybe it won't be so bad to go then."

Ino didn't ask him what would make it better, her or Naruto going, but she still wondered. "Wait," she said as it occurred to her, "Why wouldn't you want to go in the first place?"

Choji snickered; already fairly sure of what would make the trip so awful for Shikamaru. "Wait, wait, wait! Let me guess... she's the sister of the Kazekage and her name starts with a T."

Shikamaru dropped his head into his hands on the bar top. "Please don't remind me."

Ino rose an eyebrow, "A girl?"

Choji snickered, "A woman."

Shikamaru's grunt was muffled by his hands.

"What's so bad about her? Oh, wait! Isn't she the one who helped you with the Chunin exams last year? The kind of pretty one?" Ino asked, watching Shikamaru.

Shikamaru looked up, "You think she's pretty?"

Ino shrugged nonchalantly, "She seems like the type that guys would think was sexy." Ino didn't show her frown. Unlike me, She thought to herself, instead, all I get is 'cute'.

Ino was proud of her beauty, more so than any of the other kunoichi's in the village, and she was proud of the fact that any day now the Hokage would be giving her espionage missions requiring her to act as a courtesan. She knew the difference in men and boys though, men wanted beauty and boys wanted sexy. Needless to say, as hot as Ino thought men were, she wanted boys- who would be happy to play with her a bit, instead of wanting to settle down. Ino didn't think she would ever be the type to settle down, shinobi life did that to a girl. Though she did occasionally toy with the thought of what she would want her wedding to be like.

Shikamaru scoffed, "That's a good way to put it."

Choji hummed his approval with his mouth full of chili cheese fries.

Ino studied her two teammates before turning to Shikamaru once more. "So what's wrong with her?"

Shikamaru sighed, thanking the waitress as she took his order. "Nothing is wrong with her, she's just annoying."

"Oh? Annoying like what?" Ino asked, sticking half eaten French fries up in a puddle of ketchup.

Shikamaru watched her, "I know you're mother told you not to play with your food, or, should I say that I know my mother has told you not to play with your food?"

Ino glanced at him, irritated, "Stop changing the subject."

Shikamaru's hand shot out to grab hers to stop her from playing with her fries. "Stop playing with your food." he retorted smartly.

Ino laughed sarcastically, "And you call me annoying. Shikamaru, just tell me about the girl."

"Woman." Choji corrected.

Ino's blue eyes cut daggers in Choji's direction, but turned back to Shikamaru when he started talking.

"You two would make good friends." Shikamaru said, studying Ino's profile.

After a moments silence, Choji commented, "I can't see it. I get the feeling Temari-San would get too annoyed with Ino-Chan." though his mouth was full of fries and so it came out more like, 'I can'th shee ith. I geht the feehling Themari-Than wouldh geth thoo annoyed with Ino-Than.' Ino and Shikamaru had long since deciphered Choji talk, so they didn't even blink.

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe so, Temari-San is a lot more mature."

Ino raised a fine eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Choji tapped on Ino's arm and she turned her attention back to him, he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Temari-San is like, four years older than us. I'm fairly sure that she and Shikamaru have a thing." Ino tried not to feel uncomfortable as Choji's warm breath fanned against her cheek, they were friends and it wasn't unlike friends to whisper to each other. Still, she didn't want to smell the onions on his breath.

Ino looked at Choji with both eyebrows raised and eyes wide, "Eh? Seriously? It's hard to imagine a girl actually liking Shikamaru."

Choji laughed boisterously. "I wouldn't say that. As of recently, I'd say that Shikamaru has just as many fans in the village as Naruto. One in particular, what was her name again? Shiho?" he asked, looking across Ino to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru nodded to him, staring down at what the menu had said was Fish and Chips. Those looked like French fries, not chips. Shikamaru sighed and slid a hand down his face. Ino watched him, bemused.

"How is it I've managed to miss all of these fan girls?" Ino asked, laughing as Shikamaru tried to figure out how to use his fork to cut the fish.

Choji turned to glance at Shikamaru as well, and laughed when he noticed Shikamaru glaring at the upside down fork. "You'd think a genius like Shikamaru would learn how to use a fork after going to all these western restaurants with us."

Shikamaru looked up at them, with an annoyed expression four times as scathing as the one he almost always wore. "You guys know I hate these types of restaurants."

Ino giggled, "Why do you think we come to them so often?" her blue eyes twinkled as she took in Shikamaru's blank stare filled with his everyday annoyance.

Shikamaru dropped his fork. "I give up."

Ino and Choji laughed at him openly. "Gah, I love you guys." Ino said, her pink lips turning up in a smile that made her face hurt.

Choji and Shikamaru didn't answer her. Choji offered one of his chili cheese fries affectionately instead, while Shikamaru just flushed and went back to glaring at his food.

After accepting Choji's fry, Ino turned to her other male companion. "I love the blush Shikamaru gets whenever I say things like that." Ino said, catching his face in her hands. His flush doubled when her cool fingers rubbed absently at the small stubble growing there. He didn't know it, but Ino very much enjoyed the way the small hairs prickled at her fingers, as any girl would. "Aw, look, he's blushing even more!"

Shikamaru scowled at her and grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands off of his face. His hands swallowed her small ones whole, and Ino had to refrain from following any stray thoughts were heading in the direction of big hands. Nearly blushing herself at her train of thought. She hated being a teenager sometimes.

Ino and Choji laughed at the uncomfortable air around him, "Stop it." he murmured.

Ino just laughed more, before sighing and tossing a French fry into her mouth. "So, this Temari-San? You like her?"

Shikamaru scowl darkened. "It's not like that."

"It's funny; I seem to recall Naruto saying that you said the same thing last year when he saw the two of you walking through the village." Ino said, Choji nodded before adding to her statement, "Not to mention, when it was time for Temari-San to leave the village, you-" Choji's words were cut off by a scathing glare from Shikamaru.

Ino glanced at Choji, "He what?"

Choji smiled, "He woke up early just to escort her to the gates."

Ino made an encouraging sound of surprise, while she smiled broadly at the very much embarrassed Shikamaru. Shikamaru grimaced and looked at Ino, "Like I said, it's not like that. It was part of my mission to escort her around town."

Choji smirked, "You sure did take such an easy mission seriously Shikamaru."

Shikamaru frowned at his friend, "I always take my missions seriously Choji."

Ino nodded and closed her eyes as she took in a dark bubbly drink. "You can't argue with that. Shikamaru has to be one of the most dedicated shinobi I know." It wasn't a left-handed compliment.

Unexpectedly Shikamaru blushed again and Ino nearly spit out her drink as she choked on her laughs, "Man, I'm on a roll tonight." Inwardly, Ino acknowledged that it was most likely the heat of the spotlight on Shikamaru that was making him blush, not her added sentiments.

Shikamaru glared at her and leaned over to pinch her thigh. "Ow!" Ino yelped, "That hurt!"

In return, Ino leaned over and pinched at Shikamaru's bicep through his dark green shirt. Shikamaru glared at her and Choji sighed, getting up from his bar stool as Ino and Shikamaru started their normal routine. He led them to the door, where his friends briefly stopped what Choji called their Game to pay the hostess for the meal.

Shikamaru completely forgot about the scroll he was supposed to give Ino, he didn't however forget to tell Choji about it after they'd dropped her off at her apartment.

That night, Shikamaru went to sleep with regrets about waking up so early as to leave for Suna in the morning, but still anxiously awaiting the half vacation where he would most likely get to see the future Hokage climb a rank- if not two. Shikamaru knew that Tsunade-Sama was just itching to give Naruto the opportunity to prove himself the way he so dreamed of doing.

While Shikamaru dreamed, not a good, but not a bad, dream about Temari-San, Ino lay a few compounds away thinking about the training she was going to miss while she was away in Sand. She couldn't miss this trip though, not with all the benefits it presented. The chance to hook Shikamaru up with Kazekage's sister? Once in a lifetime. The chance to watch Konoha's 'Best-Timed' ninja be promoted? Also, a once in a lifetime chance. All the Suna boys who'd be, no doubt, looking for a no-strings-attached relationship? Something she would be unable to turn down. She could only hope that this Chunin exam didn't end like her own.

Choji, of course, went to sleep with sweet dreams about the all the Sand-Specialty foods he'd get to ingest.

The next morning, the three met up and went about with normal routine for missions, because though this was simply a mission out of respect for Suna, it was still a mission.

They left Konoha around six in the morning, fairly early for a mission such as this. It was agreed though, between Ino and Choji, that they wanted to get to Sand as soon as possible. Shikamaru could have easily waited a few more years before he saw Temari-San again. When Shikmaru told his friends of this Ino had merely called him a coward.

"Are you sure he wants to go Choji? I'm not too sure." Ino said, looking back to her slow teammate with an easy smile.

Choji laughed, "Oh yeah, he wants to see Temari."

Very quickly a rock hit Choji in the back of the head, when Choji turned around Shikamaru was ignoring him and staring sullenly ahead. Choji rolled his eyes, "For someone so smart, you'd think he'd be a bit more mature."

Shikamaru made a disgruntled noise from behind his two teammates. "You two constantly over estimate the limits of brain-power."

Ino turned dryly back to her teammate, jumping backwards, leaving her vulnerable should anyone attack them from out of nowhere. She had no fears though, her teammates had her back. "On the contrary, I think you underestimate it Shikamaru. That's one thing you've always done so well, underestimate yourself."

Leave it to Ino to turn everything into a pep talk. Shikamaru thought to himself.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and said to Choji, "Isn't it funny how she always plays as support?" knowing that it would ruffle the Yamanaka's feathers a bit.

Choji only rolled his eyes in response, "Can you two not stop for ten minutes?"

"She's the one who starts it." Shikamaru said begrudingly, pointing a finger in Ino's direction. It was times like this that Choji missed Asuma-Sensei, how was it that Choji ended up being the one for Ino and Shikamaru to lean on? Who was he supposed to turn to?

"You are so childish Shikamaru. I can honestly say that I don't understand what those girls see in you." Ino said, turning around again and flicking her long ponytail over her shoulder. It was a lie, she knew very well what they saw in him. He was afterall, a genius.

Shikamaru glared at her back icily, "You'd think a girl who's supposed to be good at espionage missions would know how to lie convincingly." his said slowly, his voice was low and the rumble in his chest could barely be understood by Ino.

Ino visibly bristled at that, "Excuse me? I'm not lying and if I was- at least I don't stutter like someone else on our team!"

"I do not stutter!" Shikamaru said, his voice raising as he glared at Ino with an expression between annoyance and boredom.

"Really?" Ino said, "What about that time when-"

Choji cut her off, "Guys! Seriously, will you both just shut up?"

Shikamaru and Ino glared at each other before sharply turning their attention back to the forest.

"Troublesome girl." Shikamaru said beneath his breath.

There was a moment's silence, when Choji thought Ino would just ignore Shikamaru and he glanced at her, surprised, only to see the back of her head as she turned and flung herself at Shikamaru.

"I am not a girl, I am a woman!" Ino yelled indignantly, Shikamaru only looked at her with trepidation as he swiftly avoided her and joined Choji in the front of their trio. His speed was twice as fast as what he was going before.

As Shikamaru passed Choji, Ino followed behind him gaining speed. This only served to speed up Shikamaru even more, and as Ino gained on Choji she indiscriminately winked at him.

Choji couldn't help but think to himself, 'For a guy so smart you'd think he'd be able to see through Ino's plots. He underestimates her.'

As it would be, Ino knew Shikamaru better than anyone in the village- aside from his own father and Choji, she knew how to manipulate the most manipulative guy of all-time, and that was by doing things he didn't expect- by putting up acts. Ino had a strong talent at that.

It was, her acting skills that is, which made her such a good kunoichi and put her on the Hokage's list of students soon to be taught in the art of being a courtesan. The sooner Ino was taught, the sooner Ino would be able to accept the vastly understaffed job of being a full espionage kunoichi.

Inoichi didn't care what Chouza and Shikaku said, he had faith in his little girl.

Love this chapter, wayyyy more than the first chapter... I'm considering just adding it to the last chapter. I don't know though...

Okay, so I finished this chapter a lot earlier than expected. :) Not quite sure if I adequately described the dynamics of Ino and Shikamaru's relationship, are they always so, mean? Haha, I'm pretty sure that Shikamaru just gets tired of those fights before he even gets involved in them, but he's stubborn so, I'm kind of like 'How in the world is it possible for him to be stubborn and lazy?' Anyways, I think I like slightly-immature Shikamaru, don't worry though, he's definitely still got his depth that makes all of us fan girls swoon. Ahh, Shikamaru... XD you drive me crazy, *rolls eyes into back of head*.

Also, if you can't tell, Ino will soon be under the very watchful eye of the Hokage, and perhaps later... ANBU? AH, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, that's a LONG ways in the future. I'm not quite sure how long I plan this story to be, but by the looks of it it's going to be REALLY long... probably thirty or more chapters. Geez, just thinking about makes me want to pull at my hair. The words are rotting inside me and dying to get out, so the plot might change with my dying ideas. Haha, that's a rather morbid way to describe it, but it does the job.

I've decided to take on NaruSaku, NaruHina, and SasuSaku... I got a review last chapter telling me not to do SasuSaku and to be fairly honest I really don't want to do SasuSaku, but I mean, how can I NOT put in a little SasuSaku? I mean, I personally don't see what Sakura ever saw in Sasuke, but the chit obviously had it bad. Anyways, my main pairing for the entire series of Naruto is- unwaveringly- NaruSaku. No doubt. I'm like seriously crazy, head-over-heels, in love with this couple. But, I mean, if Naruto had a crush on Ten Ten I undoubtedly would be screaming for that pairing to happen. Sorry guys, I won't change my mind on that. I'm fairly sure that Kishimoto-San is like most other writers and will end the series with Naruto being with the girl he's blindly been in love with his entire life. I'm not going to lie though- he's making it pretty difficult to see how they'll get together. I mean, the whole reason Naruto like Sakura is because all she wants is to be noticed by Sasuke and that's all he ever wanted as well... you want tragic love triangle? Well, that's it for you.

Anyways, on the whole, which pairing is this story... well I really don't want to say just yet. ShikaTema definitely will play a large part, and ShikaIno will seem to pop up like pop tarts, but I'm still not sure how I'm going to end the story. I know who Shikamaru will end up with, I'm just not sure if I'm going to add in the whole bittersweet side-effect of him also being in love with the other just yet. I honestly don't know why I'm even considering it (it makes me cry when I read it other stories) but for some reason it seems to ring true to Shikamaru, so it's in the playbook for possible use.

Also, this story right now is an easy-read, but later I plan for it to actually kind of be depressing (but I mean, doesn't that make the happy ending all the more sweet?). LEMONS will DEFINITLY be present, they play a rather disturbing large role in the story, mainly one specific turn of events. I don't want to ruin it though. ;) I'll post the lemons under a different title on my profile though, so as to not disturb the teenage readers out there who don't want to read them. :) I'm and angel like that. Haha, multiple lemons between multiple characters should be present, Shikamaru obviously with his two (perhaps three? -Shiho) girls and the Ino with maybe *waves hand uncertainly* Kiba, Gaara, Kankuro, an OC... I really don't know yet. Tell me who YOU think she should have it with... I love to hear your kinky opinions hahaha...

Fairly sure that I'm changing the name of the story, I don't really like this one and I kind of came up with off the top of my head and I figure that's an injustice. Maybe something like Mind vs. Heart (is that too cheesy?) or Settled Scores (I kind of like that one) or Fool Me, Fool You, (I think that's my favorite right now.) Anyway, tell me which you like in a review! You can tell me if think I shouldn't change it too! :)

I'm really proud to say I got seven reviews on the first chapter... I was very pleasantly surprised. And over 100 hits after two days was completely jaw-dropping, I was REALLY not expecting that... all I have to say is... to all you peeps who didn't review I would love it if you did this time... I respond to everyone that I can. :D

SOOO, please review... And in the words of amazing RayWilliamJohnson Leave any interesting comments or questions by clicking on the review button BELOW! :) Give me a quirky question to ask everyone next chapter and WILL DO- I'll post the answers next chapter.

So, what's the weirdest thing a kid's ever said to you?

p.s. the LONGEST authors note ever