Here is chapter trois!
Still don't own Naruto.
The next morning came, and now they had set off again after a short argument about who spilled soup all over the left side of the tent.
Ino found she was quite sore, as if her injuries had worsened over night. She was very slow due to her aching body, and the others had probably noticed her unusual slowness by now.
She didn't like the way Shikamaru kept looking back at her quizzically. It made her worry the genius would figure it out. Chouji only glanced back with concern and slowed his pace a little. Even Lee noticed and slowed down, even though it was obviously killing him to have to go this slow.
She worried Asuma would figure it out. The man was a jounin after all.
Her thoughts were broken by a sudden "Hey Ino!" from the exuberantly green kid who had slowed down so he was running next to her. "What?" she answered, a little nervous about what he might ask.
Her worries were pushed aside when he said "Do you want a piggyback ride or something? Because it would be good training for me and you're really slow today!"
She frowned in a dangerous way Chouji and Shikamaru had learned to recognize. "What do you mean 'good training'?"
"The extra weight would make it that much harder for me to go faster than everyone else!" Lee explained, oblivious to the deepening frown on Ino's face.
"Extra weight?! I barely weigh anything!" the blonde screamed at him. Lee looked taken aback, holding up his hands in surrender.
"I'm sorry! I just meant it'd be more than I weigh...." He said, obviously trying to smooth things over.
"You think I weigh more than you?!" Ino was livid at the very idea. Lee panicked. "No! That's not what I was trying to say!"
"You jerk!" Ino shouted, "just leave me alone!"
She tried to dart faster ahead of him, but this was where things hit a snag. A tear on her leg reacted painfully and she cried out and fell down.
She was swarmed by Chouji, Asuma, and Lee. Shikamaru hung back a little, watching with curiousity.
"Ino, are you okay?" "I'm sorry that I pushed you to your limit! I will do 200 pushups, and if I can't do that-" "munch You feeling okay, Ino? munch"
Ino pushed back her worried team. "I'm just fine!" she snapped, biting back tears.
She stood up, her teammates watching with concern. "You don't seem just fine," Lee pointed out. Lee was used to people who insisted they were fine when they clearly were not.
"Well, I am! Shut up, loser!" She took off at her previous speed, not looking back at any of them. Chouji and Shikamaru shrugged and started running again too. Asuma looked after Ino with concern, but shut up about it.
Lee did not understand it. How could they do nothing when it was clear something was wrong with their teammate?
The rest of the day while they ran was uncomfortably silent.
They arrived at their next campsite late in the evening. The sun bathed everything in a glow of orange as it set. The beauty was lost on Ino, who was busy struggling with a tent and cursing under her breath.
Lee came over. "Do you need any help, Ino?"
She just growled at him. "I don't need help!"
Lee watched as she turned her back to him and walked away, leaving the tent in its mess. He knew something was wrong, and he was going to make it up to her......
Sorry this took so long! Also sorry it's not that good!