Day 91

It had been three weeks of serenity at Konoha High since Sai had finally given up on Ino. Well, as long as you didn't count Naruto's constant scheming to get Sasuke to come back to the school (the Uchiha had to change his cell phone number twice), or Sakura's endless determination to prove herself as a human being (she had yet to find what she wanted to do with life, much less compile a list of colleges to apply to next year). Yeah. Things were pretty calm and nice.

Oh yeah. Shikamaru had to get a job.

Mrs. Nara kicked him out of the house one day over Thanksgiving break and refused to let him in until he had gotten a part-time job, so he and Ino roamed the city until they found a Super Target hiring floor crew workers. He was now getting paid seven dollars an hour to basically walk around the store and act like he knew he what he was doing.

Now it was December. The air was frosty with the winter season, and the streets were busy with pedestrians running from store to store looking for Christmas gifts. Ino smiled every time she thought about the upcoming holiday: it would be her first that she could spend with someone she so dearly loved. All the Christmases past had been the same, boring story with her parents year after year.

"What do you want for Christmas, Shika?"

"Mmm…" He gazed bored out the windshield of his card as he drove her home from school, "I don't really care."

"Oh come on, it's our first Christmas together! There has to be something I can get you that will make it special!"

"Honestly, Ino, I don't care what you get me, or if you get me anything at all." He smiled at her, looking away from the road only briefly, "As long as it's from you, I'll love it."

"Shikamaru…" She stared at him in total awe, feeling as if she were falling in love with him all over again, "Thanks." The fact that she was going to ask him for a ring from Kay Jeweler's that she had seen the day before suddenly made her feel disgustingly materialistic. "I feel the same way."

"Good, because I'm hoping to surprise you for Christmas, instead of getting whatever expensive item you have on you wish list."

"Eh heh… yeah."

"Here we are." He pulled up in front of Ino's apartment and shifted the car into park, "I'll see you tomorrow."

She leaned over to his seat and kissed his cheek, "See you then."

Ino pulled her backpack out of the back seat and got out of the car, waving goodbye as she watched him drive out of the parking lot. She took a deep breath of fresh air before turning for her door. The chilly air sent shivers of excitement through her spine, reminding her of what was to come.

She noticed her father's Mercedes parked in it's usual parking space before stepping inside. This is odd, she blinked, why is he home so early?

"I'm home!" Ino called as she walked inside. She threw her backpack on the ground by the door and hung her coat up on the rack on the wall to her left. Her shoes were kicked to the side, sprawled out in a mess compared to her parents' shoes that sat in an orderly line along the bottom of the wall. She skipped into the kitchen to grab a soda.

"Welcome home," her father said to her once she entered the room. He was seated at the head of the table, his fingers laced together in front of him on top of the newspaper he was reading. Her mom sat beside him, smiling up at her.

Her smile didn't seem whole.

"Hey, what's up?" Ino asked. She opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a Diet Sunkist, then pushed the door closed with her hip as she opened the can with a light sizzle.

"We have some news for you," her father spoke at once, "Something important has come up."

The can fell to the floor with a clang, and orange soda spilled everywhere.

Shikamaru sank into the couch with a deep sigh and closed his eyes. His mother was rambling along in the background about how he needed to do his chores, but he had preferred not to listen to her right now. He'd only just returned from school, and needed a moment (or a couple hours) to relax.

"Your room is a mess. I don't understand how you can possibly live up there, it's a pig sty! You can't have Ino coming over every weekend to clean it for you, you know! I'm surprised she does it, anyway. I'm scared to even set foot in there!"

He grumbled from the couch. He was fine with his surroundings in there, wasn't that enough for her? It's not like anyone went in his room except for he and Ino, anyway. And Ino only went in there on the rarest of occasions.

"You're never going to get anywhere in life if you don't take care of yourself, Shikamaru. Don't you understand how much that worries me?"

That old hag really needed to relax more.

The door bell suddenly rang, and Yoshino asked for Shikamaru to answer it. He grumbled and sat up, flexing his back before taking a step forward. It was too early for Dad to be home, did the neighbor run out of eggs again? But wouldn't he have called first?

"Yes?" He asked lazily as he opened the door. He barely had time to register who was there before he felt someone run into his arms, gripping him tightly around his waist and burying her face into his chest. He looked down and saw only a mass of blond hair.

"Ino? This is a surprise… how'd you get here?" He asked, not seeing a car outside. She couldn't drive yet, could she? He looked back down at her, and realized she was shaking and choking out sobs, "Whoa! What's wrong?"

"Shikamaru…" she cried. She couldn't bear to look up at him, "We're moving."

"Here dear, have some tea. It'll make you feel better."

Ino accepted the warm mug of tea with a sad smile and took a long sip. Yoshino sat beside her at the table and patted her back supportively, past nagging aside. Now was not the time.

"We're moving to… Iwa." She managed to choke out, and immediately let a few tears loose with the uttering of that word. "And we're leaving on Friday."

"That's across the country…"

"Yeah." Ino tried to hide her sad face behind her mug, "I know."

"Why did you come here, dear?" Yoshino asked, "I know Shikamaru's your boyfriend, but…" Shikamaru mentally groaned, reminding himself to complain to his mother later about how he was a lot more caring towards his girlfriend than he made out to be.

"Where else would I go? I didn't want to stay there anymore."

"You can't run from moving."

"I can, and will." She choked again. Shikamaru bit his lip; he knew what was coming, "I'm not going with them!"

Yoshino and Shikamaru exchanged worried looks, then Yoshino looked back to Ino and rubbed her shoulder, "But where would you stay?"

The question puzzled Shikamaru as well. He knew she couldn't stay with Sakura, due to her father's alcoholism. Hinata's family was way too high-class and high-strung to accept Ino into their home. Tenten had never spoken of her family, but he was pretty sure that the whole of them were too busy to deal with another household member. Temari was… Temari. The two of them may not be sworn enemies anymore, but that didn't mean Ino would survive in the probably-death-trap of the Temari and Gaara's home. Who was left?

"Well… couldn't I stay here?"

The two Naras suddenly looked at one another, surprised, not sure of what to do. "Ino…" Yoshino managed, choosing words carefully, "I'm… not sure…"

"I've spent the weekend here with Shikamaru and Choji before, and nothing went wrong!" Ino pleaded, tightening her grip on the mug. She looked up to Yoshino in desperation, "And you've seen me clean Shikamaru's room, I can help you… no, I'll do all the housework!"

Yoshino bit her lip, still unsure how to respond. Shikamaru leaned back against the wall behind him and crossed his arms. This was a puzzling predicament indeed. It's not that the Naras didn't mind Ino staying in their home… she wouldn't be much of a burden, and could probably take care of herself. But what would her parents do?

"Ino, I'm really not sure we can let you stay here… I mean, your parents would be devastated…"

"I don't care!" Ino shouted, causing both Yoshino and Shikamaru to jump. "They can't do this to me anymore! Especially not now, right before Christmas! This is the first place I've ever been able to make such great friends… it's the first time I was going to get to spend the holidays with someone I loved! But no, we have to move! On Friday!"

"Ino, honey…" Yoshino rubbed her back again, and sighed, "Go ahead and stay here tonight. You brought an overnight bag, right? The guest room's upstairs, I'm sure you remember. Take the night to relax and let everything soak in, but please remember," Yoshino took Ino's face with both hands and made her meet her gaze, "We cannot take you in, dear."

Ino immediately looked away and stood from her seat, harshly breaking Yoshino's hold on her. She grabbed her overnight bag from the ground and quietly made her way out of the kitchen, up the stairs and towards the guest room.

Yoshino sighed, "She's so upset. I wish we could do more to help her."

"Isn't there any way to keep her family from moving?"

"I don't think so. Her father's a naval officer, in case you forgot. He can't just ignore orders, even if it's his daughter's feelings he's hurting."

Shikamaru bit his lip and nodded, "I better go talk to her."

"Good idea."

"Ino?"

Shikamaru poked his head through the door, briefly going blind as his eyes took their time adjusting to the thick darkness that was set over the guest room. The hall light was too contrasting against it, and he was sure the creature inside the room didn't enjoy it, but he had a feeling deep in the pit of his stomach that if he closed that door behind him, bad, terrible things would happen. He surveyed the moment, and decided that indeed, his safety was very important to him, even in contrast to Ino's emotional damage.

"What?" She hissed from within. Shikamaru finally found her curled up in a ball at the foot of the bed. Deciding that the door was best left open, he unhinged it all the way and made his way inside.

"Are you going to be all right?"

"What do you think?"

"Ino…" he sighed, and crawled onto the bed next to her. He took her into his arms and held her close to himself; she resisted at first, but quickly melted into his embrace, "I wish there was something I could really do, but you're underage. You can't leave your family just like that."

She was quiet for a while; it was, after all, pretty tough to battle Shikamaru's logic.

"You know, long-distance relationships never work."

"We'll make it work," he squeezed her tighter, "I promise."

He could feel her smile as she responded to his hug, finally, but wrapping her arms around him and hugging back. He patted the top of her head before resting his chin there.

"Will you write me every day?"

"Sure."

Ino laughed to herself lightly, thinking of the task that Shikamaru was actually going to make himself do, "And maybe I can still come back over winter break for Christmas."

"We'll see."

Ino lifted her head and arched her eyebrows, "If I didn't know you were such a lazy man, I'd say you didn't want me around."

"But luckily you do know."

"Yes, well…" she sighed and rested her head against his chest again. A long moment of silence passed again as neither of them moved, just enjoying each other's presence as the clocked ticked away their last moments together.

"Shikamaru?"

"What is it?"

"I… love you."

Shikamaru froze, his mind for once blank with no idea what to say. All thought processes seemed to stop; he couldn't predict the next 200 possible moves as usual.

Because Ino had uttered the three words a man in a relationship fears hearing most.

IT'S. NOT. DEAD. YET.

I WILL FINISH THIS DAMN THING. I'LL DO IT.

Oh, plus…

EVERYTIME YOU READ WITHOUT REVIEWING, TEDDY GRAHAMS COME TO LIFE AND ARE SUPER COOL AND LIKE YOUR BEST FRIENDS EVER UNTIL A LITTLE KID COMES BY WITH A GLASS OF MILK AND EATS THEM ALL.

Save the teddy grahams, kids.