Day 19
Ino woke up that morning grinning widely. Her lips still tingled with the excitement that the prior night's kiss had given her, and once certain, pineapple-haired boy's face wouldn't leave her thoughts, pasting itself there like her bedroom's wallpaper. She hugged her blankets up to her nose, beaming and grinning so much more while her heartbeat sped to match her happiness.
It was homecoming, and she had a date with the most amazing guy she'd ever met.
She climbed out of bed and brushed out her hair, pulling it into the usual high ponytail before changing into some comfortable sweat pants and a t-shirt. The dance, after all, wasn't until later that night, and she didn't have any plans until then. Before leaving her room for breakfasts, she peeked a look into her closet once more, just like all the other times those past few days, and smiled at the purple outfit hanging in her closet which she had bought while out with Sakura the other day. It suit the homecoming theme perfectly.
She walked happily into the kitchen, hugging her mother and kissing her father's cheek good morning, before grabbing a plate of pancakes and sitting down across from her father at the table. She took the maple syrup from him and started pouring it onto her buttermilk pancakes with a hint of cinnamon, while her mother poured her a fresh glass of orange juice and set it by her plate, growing a smile to match her daughter's. Inoichi looked up from his Saturday morning paper and raised both eyebrows.
"Big day, huh?"
Ino nodded vigorously, shoving a forkful of pancakes into her mouth. Inoichi folded his paper and set it aside, then slipped off his reading glasses and placed them atop it. He folded his hands on the table and looked her in the eye.
Ino froze in mid-chew, meeting his glance. This couldn't be good.
"This doesn't sound good."
"Please, Shikamaru!" She whined into the Bluetooth headset, clicking away at the computer keyboard. She was writing her latest blog on myspace while she explained the current situation to her date, "You understand, right?"
"I'm not good with adults, Ino," he groaned, "I get along with my dad; sure, because he's my dad, he taught me everything. But I can't even get along with my own mother sometimes; she gets mad at me for being lazy and sometimes kicks me out of the house for the day."
"You get along with Asuma!"
"Because Asuma a freaking awesome teacher who pals around with everyone," he mumbled, "Every other adult I've passed by just gives me annoyed looks and talks down at me."
"That's just because you're so lazy, Shika, you don't act like you care."
"But are you sure you can't get me out of this? Your dad is just… scary. I noticed at the dinner."
He was right; Inoichi had been eyeing him and Choji distrustfully the whole night. It didn't matter that they were the sons of his best friends; he still gave them evil looks when they walked out the door, "I know my dad comes on strong, but he just wants the best for me. It'll only be like… ten minutes! Ten minutes, and I'll be beside you the whole time. I'll let you know if something's gone the wrong way."
"Fine," he groaned, "I'll talk to your dad tonight; I'll let him interview me like I'm a criminal, and I'll try my best not to make him hate me. Can you just let me go back to sleep now?"
"All right," she smiled into the phone, "I'll see you tonight."
She tugged on the last of her homecoming 'dress' and checked her hair once more in the mirror. She crossed her arms now and smiled at herself in the mirror, adjusting the fishnets on her elbows. They complemented the purple two-piece nicely, with another pair of fishnets on her legs beneath the skirt. Hopefully, the fact that she exposed her midriff wouldn't cause any teachers to get onto her about dress code.
But hey, it's ninja day at the dance! Who cares, right?
She strapped on a belt with a pouch and stuffed some fake shuriken and kunai in for a finishing touch, then put in her favorite silver hoop earrings. She then looked down at her feet, and frowned. Where did she put those ninja shoes, again? She walked into her closet and started digging through the mountain of shoe boxes that had accumulated there.
Damn, I need to get organized…
Ding, dong!
Ino found her shoes right when the doorbell rang, then hurriedly grabbed a jacket off her bed and ran for the door. She had to beat her father there…
"Hello, Shikamaru."
Too late!
Ino froze in the hall, watching her father glare deeply at Shikamaru as he was invited into the house. She dropped her shoes and pulled her jacket all the way on, glancing from one man, to the other.
Shikamaru muttered a hello to them both, but didn't move from his spot at the doorway.
"Why don't you have a seat?" Inoichi pointed at the chairs and couch not ten feet away, the same spot where Ino and Shikamaru had fought in front of Choji more than a week prior. Things had drastically changed since then, hadn't they?
Shikamaru nodded, walked over to the couch and sat down, hands shoved in his black pants and Ino tailing him. But before she could sit down with him, Inoichi spoke once more.
"Ino, dear, I think your mother wants to see you in the kitchen."
"But, daddy-"
"Go." Inoichi narrowed his eyes at his only daughter, who gulped, tugged at her jacket and looked over to Shikamaru. The latter sighed, shooting her an accusatory look for getting him into this messed, but obviously decided to himself that it couldn't be helped. Inoichi only wanted to speak to the Nara boy, not both of them. She raised her eyebrows apologetically and headed for the kitchen.
Go easy on him, daddy.
"How'd it go?"
"Your father," he eyed her as he started the car, "Is the scariest man alive."
She laughed, agreeing that he certainly did deserve that title, "So… bad then?"
"Well, he doesn't hate me."
"So he likes you?"
"He doesn't really like me either, but he can stand me, I suppose." He shrugged, "probably has something to do with my showing you around while you've been here. He's grateful, or… something. It's hard to read that man."
"He's not very friendly."
"I noticed. My father noticed. Do you know what my dad said to me before I left the house, today?"
Ino sighed, "What did he say?"
"He told me to watch my back, and then in the most serious tone, said 'Don't be you!'"
Ino raised an eyebrow, "So…?"
"My dad is about ten times lazier than I am. If he tells me not to be me, something's up."
"I thought yours and my dad were like… best friends?"
"They are," he rolled his eyes, "after about… a year of Inoichi wanting to beat him up or something."
"Good lord," she laughed. He didn't respond to this, and a moment of silence befell the pair as he drove through the streets to the school. She looked him over: the flak jacket suited him nicely, and his fishnets on his arms and legs and silver hoops earrings matched her. She laughed: some coincidence, right?
"You know," he finally said, breaking Ino's trance and forcing her to pay attention, "You betrayed me back there."
"What?"
"You said you'd be by my side the whole time!" He looked at her accusingly, "But what's this, Ino? You hung out in the kitchen the whole time!"
"I couldn't help it!" She laughed, "He kicked me out!"
"I'm not talking to you."
"Shika!" She punched his arm, which he soon rubbed and shot her an amused glance. He pulled into the school parking lot and they made their way into the school for the dance.
Sakura had been right: the dance was more of a costume party than anything formal. Everyone was dressed in ninja attire, quite a few, actually, wearing the same flak jacket that Shikamaru wore. She grinned, he definitely looked better in it, though.
"Ino, you're here!"
"Sakura!" She grinned, "I was definitely right, you work that red and white ninja gear perfectly." She paused, and looked around, "Where's Naruto?"
"Don't address me by that name!" a boy suddenly popped up, wielding two pairs of nun chucks and had an orange headband around his eyes with two holes poked through to see. He wore a plastic turtle shell on his back over an orange and black jumpsuit. "My name is Michelangelo, dattebayo!"
"Na… Naruto!?"
Shikamaru burst out laughing, "Good one, man!"
Naruto grinned, "Though, if I had it my way, I'd be Leonardo. You know, with the swords!! But no, apparently I'm too hyper, so I have to be Mikey, 'ttebayo!"
"You definitely fit the part, Naruto. But who told you that you couldn't be Leo?"
"I did!" Kiba showed up this time, also wearing a turtle shell, but over a black jumpsuit. He had a pair of fake, twin swords strapped to the shell and sported a blue mask as opposed to Naruto's orange one, "I'm Leonardo!"
"…so where are the other two?"
"What?" Kiba and Naruto stared at Shikamaru blankly in response to his question.
"You're missing Rafael and Donatello. Where are they?"
"Well," Naruto crossed his arms, "We tried to get Neji to do it, but he laughed at us. And when we told him we were serious, he laughed even more. Shino said he'd be Donatello, but he's not dressed to the part, so apparently he was kidding. And Lee said he would have done it, if he hadn't already gotten some 'rad' costume from Coach Gai. Gaara just… stared at us. And then walked away. And Sasuke called us idiots."
"…yeah, I'm not surprised."
"But seriously, who wouldn't want to be a ninja turtle!? Come on, dattebayo!"
"Give it up, Naruto, I think you're embarrassing Sakura." Ino laughed. Naruto looked over to Sakura, worried.
"Am I really embarrassing you, Sakura?"
"No! Not at all!" Sakura waved her hands in front of her and sweat dropped, "you're fine, don't worry!"
Naruto brightened and hugged her, "Thank you so much, 'ttebayo!"
Kiba looked around, "Hey, anyone seen Hinata? She was just with me a second ago…"
"Maybe Hinata's embarrassed, too."
"No! It can't be! I'll find you, Hinata!" Kiba dived into the crowd of dancing students, searching for his date.
After watching his turtle partner run into the crowd like a crazed maniac, Naruto surveyed it and posed a question.
"Where's Uchiha, 'ttebayo?"
The three of them all looked at Sakura, who froze and stared back at them, startled.
"What!? Like I'm supposed to know where he is!"
"Don't you… stalk him, or something?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. Ino giggled at the statement.
"No! I have never… argh!" Sakura yelled, clenching her gloved fists. Naruto took her shoulders and patted them, and she soon regained composure, "I have officially given up on him. I could care less what he does."
"Good, because I think I see him dancing with one of the cheerleaders."
"What!?" Sakura shot look over into the crowd, but immediately closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "No, no. I don't care. I have Naruto now, instead."
"Aww, Sakura!" Naruto hugged her tightly around her shoulders and grinned widely. "I love you, too!"
"I didn't say that!" She laughed, trying to tug his arms off her, "Stop hugging me so tightly!"
Shikamaru and Ino laughed, creeping away from the two lovebirds. The dance was only just beginning, and it had already showed to be a great delight thus far.
…or so it seemed.
CLIFFHANGER! Pwnage!
All right, so this chapter wasn't entirely the dance, but I had to squeeze in something about Ino's dad.
And also, I'd like to make a point that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles totally pwn.
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE NICE REVIEWS!!! Wow, I'm totally happy now! It was so great to get so many awesome reviews from you guys!
But still remember…
EVERY TIME YOU READ WITHOUT REVIEWING, A HORSE FALLS OVER ONTO ITS SIDE IN SOME BIZARRE ACCIDENT AND CAN'T GET UP SO IT ENDS UP DIEING!
Save the horses, people.