A/N: I figure by now one of them must have been promoted so although I didn't say anything previously Shika got the nod some time in the intervening years. Though my Beta wanted to hold this back until the actual occasion, I didn't want to keep you waiting 3 weeks for a chapter…but how can fans not love the fact that Shikamaru and Ino's birthdays are consecutive days. : )
Thanks to shannny2k & Shubaltz Crazist for reviews…
Disclaimer: Kishimoto Masashi hasn't run out of ideas for his Naruto characters yet. I'm only running out of disclaimer ideas….beware the disclaimer filler arc.
Happy 21st Birthdays
The day after they returned from their mission was also a busy day for Shikamaru and Chouji as well. They had one of their regular sessions where they would train together; sometimes Ino would join them for these, but not this time. They both had things they wanted to discuss that they hadn't gotten the opportunity to while away.
After the working part of their morning was completed they decided to lie back on the grass and talk.
Chouji was already working through a bag of chips as he asked Shikamaru, "What are we gonna do about Ino?"
"What can we do?" the black haired Tokubetsu Jonin sighed. He knew far too much about the situation and had already promised he wouldn't share that information. "She's made her decision and the Hokage's given us orders on top of it: We take care of her as best we can, that's all we can do."
"I understand that."
There was something in his tone that made Shika worry. He knew how much Chouji cared about Ino, "How about you? Are you okay with things as they stand now?"
He spoke around a mouthful of chips, "There's nothing I can do." It doesn't matter, I can't allow it to hurt me. His hand slid into the bag seeking more of his favorite salted and seasoned snack. "What about you and Temari?"
"That is a 'wait and see' situation. I already put in a request with the Hokage's office our first day back from Suna that, if anything comes up, I want to go back there." He watched a cloud that happened to resemble a fan, Maybe it's a sign. His lips curved into a slight smile, "I hope it won't be too long."
The sound of crunching was the only reply. A few minutes passed as they both indulged in their favorite post-training past times.
"I wonder if it was Kazunari…" the brown haired man muttered.
"Excuse me?" Shikamaru was caught totally off guard by the comment.
"The guy who…you know." His tone suddenly sounded sullen, "I mean he was one of the regulars on guard duty for our floor. Ino was trying hard not to flirt with him the day the two of us wandered around Suna. I bet half the girls here would be falling over themselves for a guy who looks like…"
"Whoa," Shikamaru suddenly sat up and looked over at his friend, "don't even start that. We don't need you to spend all your time dwelling on who the baby's father is. It happened and that's all there is to it."
"Sorry, it was just a stray thought." The large man worked himself into a sitting position as well.
"Yeah, but it sounded like it was going to stray into some really nasty territory, Chouji." The shadow-nin looked at his companion. "It doesn't matter who the father is. Ino said he's out of her life; we just have to take her at her word."
Chouji hung his head.
"I know how much this whole situation is bothering you. Don't pretend that it isn't. I know you. There's nothing you can do except be there for her. You can't change the past however; you can try to make the future a better place for her kid to grow up."
Team 10 had two traditions involving birthdays: one was for Chouji's they went out to Yakiniku Q as a lunch party. The other was, since Ino's was the day after Shikamaru's, they'd go out for his and stay up late enough to go into hers. This year was no exception. In spite of the discovery of Ino's situation, they were determined to carry on as always. So at 10:00 (in honor of their Team number) they set up a rendezvous at Kuni's. It was about six blocks from the Yamanaka residence.
Ino tried to dress up a little even though she knew she couldn't be her usual party girl self. I might as well enjoy it while I can, she thought, I won't be able to wear this in a couple months. She adjusted the straps on her lilac camisole with the black lace overlay then put on the black jacket that matched the skirt she had put on earlier. She touched up her hair, came out of her room and went for the door.
"Have a nice evening, dear," Misao called out.
"Thanks Mom. Tell Dad I'll be home at a reasonable hour. I'm just glad he's not home right now to read me the riot act." She opened the door. "Remind him the guys will be looking out for me."
"I will."
"Bye!" she closed the door and headed down the stairs, to the still busy nighttime streets.
It was a nice September night, clear skies and no clouds. Ino looked up and felt just a twinge of sadness. That smug bastard is probably out there staring up at the heavens without a care in the world… then she remembered how he had talked, except his impending death. Yeah, you go dwell on that. You don't deserve this beautiful starry sky. For just a moment she thought she might start crying.
"Hey."
She head snapped around to see Chouji had fallen in alongside her. "Hey, yourself." She recovered herself enough to smile up at him, "Where's the birthday boy, I thought he'd be with you."
"Said he'd meet us there," Chouji put a hand on her shoulder. He was dressed for comfort in a red hoodie and jeans. "He has some family business to take care of."
"What, the Nara Clan has some secret ritual for 21 year olds?" Ino gave him a puzzled look.
"No idea."
"Guess we'll find out when he gets here." They walked inside and claimed a booth near the bar. Ino sat across from her teammate.
Before you knew it the waitress, Yukari, had come over to take their orders. She had her blue-black hair held back with a saffron colored headband that matched the polo shirt that was like her uniform there. The woman had been their favorite server since they'd all turned legal.
"These three items," Chouji pointed at the menu, then turned to Ino, "You better get something to if you're going to be drink…" he paused then shot a quick glance toward the waitress, then back to Ino.
Her teeth clenched for just a moment, like she was biting down to stop what she really wanted to say from escaping. Word of her condition was not common knowledge yet…the longer she could put it off, the better in her mind. "Fine." She growled then pointed to one of the items on the menu. She released the tension in her jaw and added, "I'm just getting over that bug, so I'd better not have any alcohol tonight. Do you have both orange and cranberry juice?"
"Oh, sure," Yukari smiled.
"Can you get them poured over some ice so they don't mix too much to make it look like a real drink?" Ino smiled.
"I suppose."
"Hey, the birthday boy's here." Chouji raised a hand to signal Shikamaru over to where they were.
"It's on me...well, the drinks anyways," she eyed Chouji as Shika got to the table. "Bring a bottle of number 4, and boxes for my team mates." She sent the waitress off and when out of ear shot she told them, "You're drinking for me tonight…okay."
"Thanks, I guess," Shikamaru muttered. He, like Chouji, had opted for comfort, wearing an olive colored sweatshirt and black jeans.
"So what happened with your family?" Chouji asked.
"Nothing important, just a friendly reminder that I'm getting close to that age where they think I should start thinking seriously about settling down. The Nara's have our obligations, the deer, the research and all that comes with it." In spite of everything he was talking about he still had an almost bored expression on his face…as usual.
Yukari came over and distributed their drinks: the bottle and boxes for the guys and Ino's juice. "If you need me, you know the drill…" she smiled then she walked off again.
Ino poured the first round for both her teammates as Shikamaru continued his story, "Next thing you know I told him just a little more than I should about our Suna trip and Temari. I could see he was considering all the scenarios…I go there to be with her, she comes here…knowing him he probably came up with a few I haven't run through myself." He took a swallow from the box, "Needless to say…"
"…it's troublesome," they all said together.
"So how many letters has she sent?" Ino put a hand on his to try to show her support.
"Two so far, the second arrived while we were off on our last mission."
"And?"
"We're trying to work out the best way to see each other again." He looked at his now empty box. While he did so, Chouji reached over to refill it. "It won't be for the next chuunin exam though, they've apparently decided to send someone else to set up for that one." Again he tossed back the drink and set his box down.
"Chouji, you're not doing your part keeping up with him." Ino pointed to the sake that was still sitting in front of him.
He gave Ino a look like she was crazy. It was right then that Yukari returned with the food items. Suddenly he seemed just a little happier.
"What, you're following the advice you were trying to give me earlier?" Ino shook her head. "Now that you've got your munchies are you gonna drink?"
"Fine." The brawny chuunin tossed back his first box like Shikamaru had, set it down and grabbed for the plates. He then turned his attention to his friend, speaking between bites. "So this means it'll be a while before you get to see her again."
"Yeah, unless I can think of a reason for the Hokage to send me to Suna again." He rested his chin on his hand and looked at the ceiling.
Great, thought Ino, we both get to spend the evening moping because of someone in Suna… Happy Birthday to us. She poked at her glass of juice with her index finger, pushing it across the table a little at a time.
After about an hour their moods were starting to improve. By midnight they were pretty much themselves again…except in Shikamaru's case, he was noticeably drunk.
Ino was just heading back over to their table after a trip to the ladies room.
"Hey Ino, Happy Birthday…right?" it was Izumo. He and Kotetsu were at a corner of the bar.
"So you wanna come back and party with us?" Kotetsu smiled.
"Didn't I tell you two off, back in June?" She growled at them. "You were entertaining once, but now you're both turning into world class pains." She flipped her hand like she was dismissing them.
"Bet you'd like us better if we bought you a drink or two." Izumo grabbed her left wrist and pulled her over. "What's your pleasure?"
Ino glared at him but didn't answer.
"Hey Yukari, what's she been drinking?" his buddy called out.
"Just juice. Said she's getting over something," the waitress replied to them.
"You just got back from a mission two days ago." Kotetsu looked at her, "You've always been a party girl, what's going on?"
She jerked her wrist free, "You guys seem to an exaggerated image of your own brilliance. No wonder you can't get regular girlfriends. They discover what you're both really like and tell you 'buh-bye'." She headed back to the table.
Chouji was standing next to it. "What was that all about? I was just going to come over and see what was going on."
"They were just being jerks. I told them off, no problem."
Yukari came up along side Ino. "The guys at the bar are still trying to buy you a drink. I told them I wouldn't bring anything over without your okay."
"I don't want anything from them. Go tell them that again for me please." Ino slid into the booth along side Shikamaru. A moment later she picked up the bottle and poured more into her teammates boxes then picked up what was left of her drink. "Com'on, 'Kanpai', guys"
"What the hell we drinking to now?" Shika muttered, "The fact that as a team were totally screwed. Nah, never mind, my problem is I can't screw around right now…and you got done too well."
"So where does that leave Chouji?" spoke a voice.
They looked up at see Kotetsu, Izumo was behind him. Ino hissed through her teeth.
"Now if I'm getting right, does this mean you're preggers Ino?" Kotetsu sneered. "I mean, you are wearing a medical alert, aren't you?"
"I thought you prided yourself on your preparedness. So who's got the exaggerated sense of brilliance now?" Izumo added. "Obviously from what Shikamaru said he's not the daddy."
"Daddy's back in Suna, okay?" Ino growled, "Totally out of my life."
"Suna, huh? Well, the only people we know from there are the one's who come here for the chuunin exams." Izumo smirked, "Any chance we've met, 'Mr. pumped you then dumped you'?"
"That's enough, I've had it with you guys," Ino glared at them, then heard Shikamaru started to drawl something that sounded like, "Kan." Her eyes widened as she looked at him in a panic.
"Can't say." He completed his comment, then hung his head down.
Izumo suddenly grinned. "The only person from Suna who's memorable isn't your type. That Temari is one hot babe."
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind making some sweet time with…" Kotetsu couldn't finish the sentence. A shadow hand was wrapping around his throat. Izumo had the same problem.
"Don't talk trash about my woman," Shikamaru snarled.
Both Ino and Chouji stared in shock. This was not the Shikamaru they knew.
"You bastards think you're so clever," Shikamaru made the grip tighten.
"They're not worth it, Shika," Ino started to say.
Chouji didn't make a move. He couldn't think of anything to say or do. He had been getting fed up with what they were doing to Ino, but hadn't been able to decide what he wanted to do about it. One part of him really wanted to watch them squirm. Another was terrified; he knew he'd never seen the kind of look that in his friend's eyes before. It was just plain cold.
Kotetsu was starting to look a little gray around the edges.
Then all of a sudden Shikamaru jerked and the jutsu released.
Izumo and Kotetsu went to their knees gasping. Shikamaru slumped against the table for a moment then looked around. He grimaced and put a hand to his head.
"Damn, you're a mean drunk Shikamaru," Chouji commented.
"Not a good way to celebrate a birthday." They looked over to see Inoichi standing nearby. "I have a feeling it was a good thing I arrived when I did."
Kotetsu and Izumo stumbled to their feet and moved across the room.
"It's never a good idea to get into a fight when you're drunk." The older jonin looked at Shikamaru, "Worse yet to try to kill someone with your ninjutsu in a bar."
"You used the Shinranshin no Jutsu on Shikamaru, didn't you?" Ino looked at her father.
"Only for the briefest moment so I could get him to lose control his attack." Inoichi's brow furrowed, "Especially since his teammates weren't doing anything about the situation."
Ino gave him one of those 'fish' moments where her mouth opened and closed a few times but nothing came out. Chouji just hung his head.
"Come on Ino. I think it's time for you to come home." He offered a hand to his daughter. She took it as she slid out of the booth, then took a moment to throw a little extra onto the tip money they'd set out earlier.
Inoichi turned back to Chouji, "You think you'll be able to get him home all right?" He gestured at Shikamaru who was still holding his head.
"I'll manage," was his reply.
As they went out the door Ino asked her father. "What made you come looking for me?"
"A father's intuition."
"Uh huh," she smirked, "and what else?"
"Ino, I just had a feeling that you were going to make those boys…"
"Men, Dad."
"Sorry…men… drink for you tonight. Am I wrong?" Inoichi thought in the back of his mind that no matter how much time passed he was always going to think of Ino as his little girl, so by default that made Shikamaru and Chouji boys. Oh well, I guess it is time to admit I'm getting old. Sometime next year I'll become a grandfather.
"No Dad, that's exactly what I did," Ino admitted to him. "I did pay for the privilege though, I figured that was the least I could do under the circumstances."
Inoichi chuckled, "Shikamaru doesn't drink like you, let alone like Shikaku. So you probably still got off cheap."
"Dad!" She batted his arm.
He put that arm around her shoulder and hugged her against himself, "Ino, I'm sorry. No matter what you say or do I'm entitled to worry about you."
"And your grandchild."
"Yeah, my grandchild too." He kissed her forehead. "Let's get you home so your mother can wish you a happy birthday, at the exact hour."
Shikamaru went looking for Ino the early the next day. During business hours both he and Chouji made a point of checking the flower shop first when looking for their teammate. As he walked through the door it was plain that she was working behind the counter.
"Hope he's feeling better soon," she smiled at a young kunoichi of about thirteen.
The brown haired girl was paying for a red rose. "Thank you," she smiled as her gaze settled on the flower for the briefest moment, a bright glow crossing her cheeks. She turned and headed out past Shikamaru.
"Hey," he strolled leisurely toward Ino.
"Did you catch that?" Ino had a wistful expression on her face, "I remember when I used to do things like that." She giggled, "Gawd, I was so young and foolish about Sasuke…although I hope this girl has better luck with her boy than I did."
"Speaking of foolish," he grinned sheepishly, "I am so sorry about my loss of control during our birthday outing."
"No need to apologize to me, but maybe you'd better wander over to Kuni's and see if it's still gonna be one of our hangouts." She moved to re-arrange some of the vases on the shelf behind her, "But I bet Yukari will still be on our side after the tip we left her."
"Yeah, whatever," he muttered. Watching her body language, she was acting like it was a dismissal. He sighed. It was time to get to the matter that he really wanted to talk to her about. "Ino, we really haven't had much of a chance to talk since you found out…I figured you were being a little cautious because you didn't want anyone else to know about…" he glanced around making sure no one was walking up toward the door of the shop, "him. Are you holding up all right?"
She turned to face him again, a strange combination of weariness and relief on her face. "It's not easy," her lips creased into something like a pout, "one minute I want to curse him forever and always, the next I want him to walk through whatever door I'm nearest to take me in his arms and apologize for everything he said and did to me that last week." Her eyes turned downward, watching her left foot as she scuffed it back across the floor. "I know that's just plain foolish to believe that he would do that…from what we all saw of him during those days in Sunagakure, he's the kind of person who never thinks he's wrong."
"That's why I figured you'd need someone to talk to. There are just some parts of this story that no one else knows," he looked toward the ceiling for the briefest moment, "and until you decide to confide in someone else, I guess I'll just have to wander over occasionally so you can rant about him."
"I wouldn't call what I just did a rant."
"No, but I bet there'll be some days in the future when you'll really need to get it out."
"Thank you," she put her arms around him in a hug, "I'll find a way you let you know if I have some serious ranting. Okay?"
"Sure."
Team 10 managed to get in another successful character assassination a little over a month later. Ino was surprised by the way things were going for her, from all the conversations she'd been having with Sakura and Hinata she'd expected to have morning sickness or some other classic minor problem. Nothing at all, and even better still Shikamaru and Chouji took such good care of her when they traveled now. They took a more leisurely pace home afterwards no matter how much she reassured them she wasn't tired.
They stopped early for the night and made camp. Shikamaru's idea this time and now he was asleep. While sitting with her back against a tree, Ino was talking to Chouji because she wasn't weary.
"You really should get some sleep," he decided they had been talking long enough. "Since we're talking an extra day to get home, you should take full advantage it."
"I told you before I'm not tired yet." Ino folded her arms across her chest and looked at him with a very stubborn expression. "It's one thing for the two of you to keep an eye on me, it's another for you to try to be my mother…then again my father is more likely to go into this over-protectiveness that the two of you seem to be getting into."
"I'm sorry. It's just that I've never spent this much time around a woman in your condition," he replied. "Just remember the Hokage did give us orders to take care of you."
A groan came for Shikamaru, "Temari." They turned to look at him. He had taken his vest and was hugging it against himself in an almost embarrassing manner. "Oh, how I've missed you."
"I hope I haven't done anything like that." Ino looked at Chouji with a slightly disturbed expression.
"If you had I'd have definitely remembered it." He tried to make light of the situation.
Oh yeah, if I'd have said his name you sure as hell would have. She thought as she looked into his eyes just to be sure he wasn't hiding anything. "So, shall we do our best to ignore him until he's done with his 'reunion'?"
"I suppose we don't have much choice." The way Ino regarded me is curious, like she's looking for something. Com'on, open up, I don't want to pry but if you don't say something soon…
"By any chance did you bring a deck of cards?"
Chouji sighed, but was grateful that he could honestly answer her, "No."
When they arrived home Tsunade did her regular evaluation of Ino's health. "Everything seems to be going fine. How about you give me a demonstration of how your chakra focusing is doing."
"What do you want me to do?" Ino looked over as her teammates waited. I hope she doesn't want me to possess one of them, it'll seem too much like regular practice.
The Hokage smirked, "How about something easy, a disguise jutsu, imitate someone you haven't seen but thought about recently."
Ino winked at Shikamaru.
He started to flinch, worried what she'd do. Then she did the transform and suddenly Temari was there in her place.
The Hokage studied Ino's chakra control intensely for just a moment "Okay you can release now, that looks okay too. Team 10 is officially dismissed."
They stepped out into the hall. Shikamaru looked at Ino, "Why did you pick her?"
Chouji answered for her, "Somebody was talking in his sleep last night." He grinned.
"You gotta be kidding me." Shikamaru looked from one of them to the other.
"Don't worry you didn't say anything too embarrassing." Ino smiled.
"But I might consider washing my vest if I was you." Chouji added.
Shikamaru gave them a very annoyed look as they both burst out laughing.
A/N: Once again nothing from Suna…soon…soon.
