Finally, chapter 32. Thank you all for being patient with me! Enjoy!

32. Think

Ino tapped her fingers against her stomach in the rhythm of the rain tapping on the window as she listened to the person on the other line. "Have you made any decisions yet?" her adoption agent asked through the crackling reception. Ino frowned and peeked out her window into the storming, midsummer evening. What a bad time to call... "I-Ino?" the voice called through the static. The light flickered as thunder boomed above her apartment.

"Um, no, not really," she answered with a sigh as she leaned her back against the kitchen counter. "I would like a little more time if that's all right."

"Yes, go r-right ahead! I-It's tough to figure e-everything out. When y-you have several families in m-mind, let me known. I'll call in a f-few days to check up on you."

"Thank you, and have a good night." With that, Ino set the phone in its cradle and sighed, rubbing her expanded belly and earning a nudge from inside. She peered into the living room where her rosette best friend and her boyfriend sprawled on the floor with scrapbooks scattered around them. "We'll find you a good family," she whispered.

"Ino!" Naruto waved her over from the den floor.

Ino hovered over Naruto who was skimming through a purple scrapbook. "Did you find anyone decent enough?" she asked.

The blonde pointed to a picture of a couple with a clown in the middle of them. "They look awesome," he said. "The wife is a family practitioner at the clinic on the other side of the village," he said, pointing at the woman with a charming smile, a beautiful face, and wonderful, curly blonde locks that Ino always wanted. "The best part is that the husband is a full time party clown!"

"No," Ino deadpanned, closing the scrapbook with her foot. "This child will not be raised by a clown."

"Okay, okay," Naruto said, sliding another book towards him. He flipped to a page he marked with a pen. "What about this couple? The wife is a go-go—"

"Naruto, my child will not be raised by people that have questionable careers and/or have been the epitome of my nightmares since I was three. So, whoever is a clown, stripper, go-go dancer, or whatever, you can toss their scrapbook in the bin."

"You have nightmares about go-go dancers?"

"I'm about to punch you."

Sakura placed her hand on Naruto's and giggling. "Naruto, don't piss the pregnant lady off." She grabbed the scrapbook from him and tossed it into the bin.

"It was an honest question."

Ino sat on the coffee table they pushed to the wall for more room. "Just keep looking." Ino reached into the bin and pulled out a blue scrapbook, opening it to the middle of the book to see a picture of the couple's house, a baby blue, two story house. On the next page, the couple held each other in their arms and smiled at Ino. The wife, a brunette with bright blue eyes, leaned against her husband who sported a Jonin uniform.

She peeked past her scrapbook, peering at Naruto's book. The family had a little girl, three years old and adopted. That's nice. Her child would have company, a big sister. Would he be happy about it, having a sibling?

Wait, no. Ino shouldn't care whether he likes having a sibling or not. She shouldn't care if he likes his parents because Ino wouldn't see him…ever. Just as long as it is placed in a good home.

"Naruto, let me see that."

"Why?"

"Can I just see it?"

Ino snatched the book from Naruto and placed it on her lap. Just as she flipped the book open, the lights flickered off and everything fell silent except for the tick of the clock and the pounding of the rain on the window.

"Awesome," Ino sighed, dropping the book on the ground. "Damn storm."

"Ino, the baby can hear you." Sakura jumped to her feet and stretched her arms. "I'll grab candles," she said and hustled to her room after accidentally stepping on Naruto's back.

Ino gradually stood up from the coffee table, groaning when her back protested. "I'll find a flashlight then." Ino waddled into the kitchen and rummaged through the drawers, searching for her emergency flashlight stash.

Where did she put those flashlights? Oh. Ino opened the cupboard under the sink and grabbed the brightest flashlight she could find. A loud knock echoed through the apartment, startling Ino.

"Ino, there's someone at the door. Should I answer it?"

"I got it." Ino swung the door open and flashed the flashlight at the visitor's feet, shinobi sandals. Suddenly, Ino hit him in the face with the light.

"Crap, Ino, do you have to shine the light in my face?"

"What are you doing here?" His teeth clattered boisterously. His hair was drenched and water dripped from the tips of his dark hair onto his trembling shoulders. It almost made Ino feel sorry for him, almost.

"I wanted to know if you're okay."

"Peachy."

"…and I wanted to apologize."

Now that's what she wanted to hear. "Come inside. You're shivering."

Shikamaru followed to the kitchen, water squishing in his shoes as he walked across the linoleum. He pulled off his sandals and his soaked vest, placing them in the sink. Ino turned her back to him when he started taking off his shirt and pants. "Naruto might have spare clothes somewhere….He always leaves his clothes lying around here."

Ino found Naruto sitting on the couch with his nose pressed in a scrapbook. "Looking closer isn't going to make you see any better, Naruto," Ino sighed, taking the scrapbook away from her friend. "Can you hide these somewhere, please?" she whispered, giving the book back to Naruto.

"Why?"

Ino leaned closer, mouth against his ear. "Shikamaru can't know I'm giving it up for adoption. Not yet at least. Please do it for me."

"All right," he mumbled and rolled off the couch, landing on his knees and swiftly piling the colorful books into an organized stack. He took the pile in his arms and bumped them into the blue bin. "Happy?" he grumbled, frowning at Ino over his shoulder.

"Yes. Oh, by the way, do you have any spare clothes Shikamaru could borrow? He's drenched."

"They should be in Sakura's room, somewhere in her closet."

"Don't worry, Ino! I'll get them!" Sakura bellowed from her room followed by crashes and glass shattering. "Oh, shit…" The rosette emerged into the room with a lit candle in one hand and a bundle of clothes nestled under her other arm. Sakura smiled and handed the clothes to Ino before placing the candle on the coffee table and settling into Naruto's side.

"Here you go." Ino chucked the clothes in the direction of the half-naked teammate who curled up on the kitchen counter with his trembling arms crossed over his bare chest. Ino could hear his teeth chattering from she stood.

Ino turned around to leave Shikamaru to dress in peace and solitude, but Shikamaru's voice stopped her, "Temari's gone. I guess I never realized how troublesome that woman can be."

Was that a relief? Well, of course Ino was elated to hear the news, but Shikamaru, as much as Ino hated the idea of it, liked Temari and…well, enjoyed her company. Was he just saying that to make her happy? Ino huffed and turned to face the silhouette that tugged a shirt over his head. "Kudos to you, Shikamaru."

"That's it? No 'ding dong the bitch is gone?'"

"I'll dance around in a tutu and sing a song about how much I hate her when I don't have a baby sitting on my bladder."

"I'm holding you to that."

Shikamaru watched Ino's silhouette turn and exit the kitchen, leaving him to shiver in the frigid kitchen, so he quickly pulled on Naruto's sweatpants—that were a bit too short and tight for him, but hey, he couldn't complain—and followed Ino, hoping she'd give him a blanket he could wrap himself in.

When Naruto spotted Shikamaru, he waved from under the blanket. "Hey, it's been a while! What have you been up to?"

Shikamaru hastily returned the waved. "Work," he chuckled and nodded at Sakura when she appeared from under the blanket. The dull candlelight hit the side of Sakura's face perfectly, revealing her suspicious expression towards him. He decided to ignore it. "I've been planning the Chunin exams for the past few weeks." Sakura glared at him. Touchy subject—got it. Shikamaru cleared his throat and focused his attention to his feet. "What about you, Naruto?" he mumbled.

"Just a bunch of paper work," Naruto said with a frown. "I thought being initiated as the Hokage would be more exciting, but all of it is just paperwork."

Sakura rolled her eyes, nudging him with her elbow. 'That's what the Hokage does, Naruto. You of all people should understand that the Hokage hardly fights. You are there to control the peace between the other nations and take care of the village. When the time comes, you may—"

"Yeah, yeah, ye—ow!"

"Don't interrupt me!" Sakura wailed as she knocked the blonde in the head with the side of her fist once more.

"You didn't have to punch me."

"My fist slipped."

A blanket fell on top of Shikamaru's head, clocking his body with immediate warmth. He wrapped the blanket around his body. "Thanks," he sighed as his body stopped shivering. Wanting to take a quick peek at Ino, Shikamaru glanced over at Ino who unfortunately had a blanket wrapped around her body, hiding herself away from him. Shikamaru almost frowned, wanting to see how big Ino has gotten. How far along was she anyway?

Ino merely stared at him without a single emotion skipping across her face, making Shikamaru feel awkward. He cleared his throat and sat on the ground, leaning against the couch that was pushed against the wall by the television set? What were the three of them doing earlier? A game of Twister?

The time passed in uncomfortable silence. Naruto and Sakura whispered to one another, occasionally looking at Shikamaru as if they were gossiping about him. Shikamaru fidgeted in his spot on the ground, hoping someone would start a conversation. He looked to Naruto who was the king of busting awkward silence with his stupid comments and questions, but his blonde headed friend was busy with Sakura to even notice Shikamaru's telepathic cry for help.

Ino stood there, staring at Shikamaru with the same blank expression from before. He couldn't tell if she was pissed or what, but it made him think it was the wrong time to become the knight in shining armor. Besides the fact that she looked beyond angry with him, one, Naruto was over and if he talked to Ino about what he did, his confessions would circulate the streets by sunrise. So he couldn't technically apologize now. Also, when the electricity failed and the whole village fell black, Shikamaru took the moment to run to Ino's apartment to the play the heroic knight when in reality, he risked hypothermia and getting the biggest beat down from Sakura or Ino or both. Thirdly, he just looked like a plain idiot when he came knocking, wondering if she was safe when she was in the comfort of her own home. All odds of becoming the good guy once again were against him….

Sakura cleared her throat, breaking Ino's intense gaze on Shikamaru, who sighed in relief and realized that he's been holding his breath. "Well, it's getting late," Sakura finally said. "I'm going to bed. Naruto, let's go to bed."

"When you say 'let's go to bed', do you mean—?"

"I mean let's go to bed!" Tsunade's protégé bounced up and hustled to her room with Naruto, who tripped over their blankets and managed to grab one before Sakura dragged him into her room.

Once Sakura's door closed, Ino sat on the couch, gripping the blanket closer to her body. "I don't understand you. Why are you here?"

"You want the truth or a romantic, lovesick version of the truth?"

"I don't think I could keep a straight face so just give me the truth."

Shikamaru huffed and rolled his eyes. He worked so hard creating his charming speech on his way over. "It was wrong of me to go to Temari, and it just came to my attention that she…harassed you. She's not in my life anymore, so I hope you take me back."

"Your fickleness is downright irritating."

Did he hear that right? Shikamaru glared at the blonde. "My fickleness? Can we please discuss yours? Or how about we discuss your annoying habit of keeping secrets?"

"Okay, Shikamaru," Ino snapped. "If you talk any louder, Naruto and Sakura will hear. I'm not going to ruin our night with bickering."

"You started it."

Ino scoffed. "You're a child."

"Are you trying to start another argument?"

"Would you like another blanket? You look cold."

Shikamaru smirked at the subject change. He won this round. "No, thank you."

"Well, if you want one, you can have mine," Ino said as she took the blanket off her shoulders, showing the bulging baby bump. "He's telling me he's hot…I think."

"It's a he?" Shikamaru lunged forward only to stop himself when Ino lurched into the couch and put up her foot to stop him from coming any closer. She quickly caught her actions and settled down.

"Sakura thinks it is so I'm going to go with what she says for now."

"Can I…?"

"I…Sure," she whispered, taking his hand and resting it against her stomach. He never imagined a pregnant woman's stomach as firm and hard, like underneath her skin was a shell that protects the child. "27 weeks if you were wondering."

"You're getting close."

"Yeah…" Ino's face, in the candlelight, looked almost detached from this moment as if she thought about the future. She suddenly smiled and looked up at him. "You didn't come here just to apologize, right?"

Shikamaru cleared his throat. Damn, she caught him. "Well, now that you reminded me, I came here to ask you a question."

"I'm not marrying you if that's what you're wondering. This 'relationship' is fake, remember?"

"I, uh need a favor from you," he mumbled. Ino cocked an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. "The Chunin exams are starting in two weeks, and we're down one proctor. I'd ask Sakura and Naruto, but they're busy playing Hokage and doctor and everyone else is included in the exams, so I was wondering if…?"

His blonde teammate snorted in amusement. "Do you honestly think the testers will be intimidated by a pregnant proctor?"

"You could fake hormonal rage before they start testing."

"Funny, Shikamaru."

"I'm being serious. Throw someone out the window."

Ino sighed. "My doctor isn't going to approve of this, neither is Tsunade if she finds out."

"She already knows. As long as we keep you in the back corner and out of sight, she thinks there won't be a problem. If there is, you got me."

Ino pushed herself off the couch. "I'll do it but I'm not going to be happy." Shikamaru smiled at her, but she couldn't see. "I'm going to bed now. You can sleep on the couch." He grunted in response, laying down on the soft cushions and pulling the blanket up to his neck.

He watched Ino waddle away, rubbing her back and mumbling about how bad the baby killed her back. As she closed her bedroom door, the fire of the candle flickered, dancing across the white walls and the tickle-me-pink carpet. The light uncovered a blue bin in the corner of the room, hiding behind a fake tree Sakura and Ino kept to make things look "nature-y." Shikamaru rolled off the couch and crawled towards the bin, trying to make minute noises.

Scrapbooks. He took the scrapbook on the top of the stack and flipped through the pages. It contained pictures of houses, animals, and people—mostly pictures of the same two people, a couple maybe. On the back cover of the scrapbook, the words "Why we're the Best Parents for Your Child" popped at him.

What the hell was she thinking? Adoption, really? She wanted to toss a relationship with her child out the window and allow someone else to have that parent-child relationship because why? From what he knew, Ino was capable of raising a child. She—when she wanted to be, that is—could be mother like and caring. She could cook, do laundry, and love. So why did she want to give her son up for adoption? He could be a great father. However, Shikamaru had to remember that it's not his child and he's only pretending to be the father until…who knows when. What was Ino's plan after the child's birth if she decided to keep it?

As much as Shikamaru wanted to bust into Ino's room and interrogate her, he sat there in the corner and took the scrapbook he threw and began to look for his son's new family.

They'll talk about it in the morning.

Can't breathe. Can't breathe. Ino opened her eyes to close them again due to the summer morning sun shining bright in her face through her open window. She sat up and sucked in a deep breath, regretting the decision to roll on her back to sleep. Despite being seven months pregnant, she can never remember that sleeping on her back is a "no-no."

Well, in two more months she can sleep on her stomach or back—whatever she wanted because she would have a little rascal in the way. If only those two months would speed by.

Ino looked at her window to see what happened in the streets but her gaze was greeted by a face that she was too familiar with in her nightmares. Those lavender eyes stared back at her and he smirked at her as Hidan sat outside her window, elbows perched on the flower box that hung on her window.

"Hey, Blondie."

Ino rubbed her eyes and he was gone.

Ino hastily rolled out of bed and went into the living room to see Shikamaru rummaging through the scrapbooks. Great, one nightmare after another. Ino glanced over her shoulder to look if Hidan really disappeared or if he did some magic trick and was sitting on her bed as she stood before Shikamaru. The silver haired criminal didn't sit on her bed, nor was he hanging on her flowerbox outside the window. She was going crazy.

"When were you going to tell me about this?" Shikamaru suddenly asked, startling Ino. He flipped a page and continued to speak to her while he glared at the picture of the couple, "Or were you not going to tell me?"

"I planned to tell you eventually."

"It'd be nice to know that you were considering adoption. We could have discussed it."

Ino clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes at him. "Adoption didn't come to my mind until literally a few days ago. The idea is still new. Anyway, I hope you're not going to try to convince me into keeping him, right? We both know that we're not ready to be parents, and we both know you'll be wasting your life caring for something that isn't even yours."

"What makes you think that we're not ready to be parents?"

"We're both 19, Shikamaru. As much as you'd like to think otherwise, we are naïve. Plus, we have our jobs. You can't forget that even though you are the 'father', this child won't even consider you as one because you'll be gone all the time. I'm not going to be stuck in the house forever. I still want to be a kunoichi and a medic. A baby isn't going to let me do that." It pained Ino to see Shikamaru avoid her eyes, discouraged, but he—and it's a rarity for anyone to say this about Shikamaru—needed to think. He needed to think about the future and what is best for the child, not just him and Ino.

"I still don't like the idea," Shikamaru mumbled. He beckoned his head towards a stack of five scrapbooks. "I found some families that I like. Have you found any?"

"No," she sighed. "You're making progress, though." Ino sat down next to him and grabbed the first scrapbook in the pile Shikamaru made.

"Well, when do you want to meet these couples?"

Ino opened the book and then quickly slammed the book shut, whacking Shikamaru behind the head with it. "When you realize that this child will not be raised by a freaking clown!"

Thank you for reading!
Review, favorite, alert,
what you do,
I appreciate you!