Authors Note: So here is the next chapter. I wanted to update sooner than this, but I could not seem to get the words out of my head and onto the computer. Once I finally started typing it took a little longer than expected to actually write it. I rushed the last chapter a bit, because I was so excited about getting to the kiss (damn my hopeless romantic heart…). I tried to slow up during this chapter though; hopefully, it worked. Thanks to *TheMissMalave*, *RosieWinterMoon*, and *kngrulz*for the reviews! And once again, italic is past and regular is present.

P.S.- I don't own Naruto. If I did, you could just watch this in the anime or manga. Nevertheless, I am just writing this story. =)

What a Life

The night air was warm and comfortable. The light from the full moon lit the empty streets. Fireflies drifted through the trees at the park, along with the quiet chirping of the crickets. Paper lanterns, still hung in doorways from the summer festival, swayed lightly from the soft breeze.

Most shops had closed for the evening, but the flower shop was still open. My mom sat at the counter arranging a new bouquet of flowers for an upcoming wedding.

Outside was seemingly perfect; although, my living room was an entirely different story.

My dad and I sat on the floor, while various weapons covered the rest of the available space the room have to offer.

"Shuriken?" "Check." "Kunai?" "Check." "Scrolls?" "Check." "Explosive tags?" "Check." "You know Ino, you do not have to do this. We can tell Asuma that you are sick. Really it is no trouble; I'll just go now and tell him." My dad started to get up from his seated position on the floor.

"Wait!" I said impatiently stopping him from standing. "If you tell him that, the entire team won't be able to go on the mission. That is not fair to them. Besides, I'm not even sick. You are the one that keeps making up excuses for me not to go."

My dad's head fell in his hands, in a fake and useless attempt for me to pity him. I continued, "I'm not even scared to go on this mission, Asuma-sensei said it would be easy, and we will only be gone for a day."

'Okay so I'm a little scared, but it is my first mission, who wouldn't be?' I tried to reassure myself.

My mom strolled into the room, put her hands on her hips, and glared at us. 'Oh no, this cannot be a good sign.'

"Inoichi Yamanaka, I though you said you would do this quickly. How long does it take to put this stuff in her bag?" My dad interrupted, "But sweetheart, I wanted to make sure Ino had everything she would need."

My mom's eyes rolled before she spoke again, "Inoichi, you have already unpacked her bag three times, and you even packed her bag the first time." She stopped to run a hand through her hair. "And don't try and look so innocent, I heard you up here, "Why don't I go tell Asuma you are sick", I cannot believe you!"

I threw my hand over my mouth, trying to stop a giggle from escaping. Suddenly my mom's gaze snapped over to me. "Ino Yamanaka, what are you laughing at?" I smiled sweetly, "Nothing mother."

She continued to stare at me. "Have you had your shower? I told you to get a shower two hours ago." "Yes." Her head tilted to the side a bit, "Then tell me, why aren't you in bed? You have to get up early tomorrow."

I opened my mouth to explain that I was helping pack, but the look in my mom's face stopped the words from coming. Silently, I stood up and jumped over the various weapons on the floor.

"Good night mom, good night dad. See you in the morning." I said as a moved down the hallway towards my room.

My dad's voice stopped me as I reached my bedroom door, "Ino wait, we still need to pack" only to be cut off by my mom saying, "Oh Inoichi stop it. You will pack up the bag, because no one will ever get it right for you. After that, you will get your butt down stairs to the shop. I still need help with the wedding bouquets. The wedding is in two days."

I heard the stairs start to creak, indicating my mom went back to the shop. Quickly, I rushed back down the hallway. I eased into the living room and maneuvered my feet over the weapons. I bent down and kissed my dad on the cheek.

"Good night dad, sorry I cannot finish helping you pack my bag again." I whispered. He pulled me in for a hug and smiled, "Good night Ino, it is okay, you helped me pack the last three times." I laughed and stood back up.

"Do I hear talking up there? Ino Yamanaka, if I have to come up there I will not be a happy person." My mom's voice threatened from the stairs. I jumped back to the hallway and ran to my room, silently opening and closing the door behind me.

Moving over to my bed I slid under the covers and reached to switch off the light. I lay in the darkness waiting for my eyes to adjust. 'I hope everything goes okay on the mission. I mean don't get me wrong I trust Asuma-sensei and Choji and Shikamaru with my life, but there are so many things that could happen.'

A 'clink' sound broke my thoughts and I looked towards my window. I shoved the covers off of me and pushed myself out of bed. I tiptoed over to the window and looked, but nothing was there. 'Wow I am more tired then I though, I am hearing things.' I shrugged my shoulders and turned my back; only to have another 'clink' sound at the window.

I spun back around and unlocked the window. This time I pushed the frame up and stuck my head out. After my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realized a person was standing on the ground below my window. When said person bent down I moved back and crossed my arms.

Seconds later Shikamaru appeared in the open window and stepped into my room. "Ino let me stay here tonight." He said almost pleadingly. I looked at him questioningly and started to ask why.

"Please don't ask why. It is my parents' anniversary and they came home from dinner a little while ago. They are all happy and kissy and I really don't want to stay there tonight. Choji is staying with his aunt, because both of his parents are out of the house. I have nowhere else to go, please."

I rolled my eyes and turned on my heel. I bent down and pulled out the extra mattress from under my bed. I straightened back up and looked over my shoulder. "Well Shikamaru, don't just stand there and do nothing. Get the extra blanket and pillow from my closet."

As he did that, I drug the mattress to the center of the room and closed the window again.

"You know Shikamaru, you could have just used the front door like a normal person" I said as a shuffled around the mattress, towards my bed. When I fell onto my bed, I didn't even have enough energy to pull up the blanket.

"Troublesome girl, if I used the front door, your parents would see me and tell my parents I was here. Then, my parents would know that I was uncomfortable with them being all romantic and whatnot. If they knew that, they would be like that all of the time, just to annoy me."

I tried to follow what he was saying, but after listening to him talk, my eyes started getting heavier and heavier. I could feel sleep start to take over.

"Ino, did you hear me?" Shikamaru said, but I didn't reply.

I heard footsteps coming towards my bed, "Hmm troublesome girl, you can't even stay awake to hear my answer to your question." I felt the blankets move from my feet and a cocoon of warmth wrap around me before, finally, completely drifting to sleep.

"Ino, Ino wake up! It is okay, calm down." My eyes shot open and I gulped in air, trying to calm myself down.

My parents stood over me; both of their faces were laced with concern. "We were in the kitchen getting ready for breakfast, when we heard you start screaming." My mom said.

I sat up and looked around the room. The spare mattress was put away and Shikamaru was nowhere to be found. My eyes drifted to the window, the sun was barely peaking over the horizon.

Without thinking, I blurted out "Where is Shikamaru?" Only catching myself after I said his name.

"Did you hear him come in? He got here a few minutes ago. He is going to eat breakfast with us." My mom said with a smile, worry still evident on her face. "Let me go tell him you are awake."

My mom turned to leave the room, pulling my dad along with her.

I ran my hands over my face and through my hair. 'When did my skin start to feel so clammy?' I thought as I placed my hands in my lap and stared at them. A cold chill ran down my spine as I tried to think about the scene that had taken over my dreams.

"You okay Ino?" I looked up to see Shikamaru move from my doorway and sit on the bed with me. "Want to talk about it?"

'Talking about it is the last thing I want to do.' "I don't really remember the dream." I lied and avoided eye contact with him.

"If you don't want to talk, that is fine, but don't treat me like I am stupid Ino. I have known you way too long to believe you don't remember whatever your dream was." He said as he pushed himself off of the bed. "Breakfast is ready when you are." He said as he walked out.

About an hour later breakfast was over and both Shikamaru and I were trying our best to get out of the house.

"Ino, this is your last chance, if you don't want to go, just say so." My dad pleaded for the hundredth time this morning. As I shook my head he looked at Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, if she is so hell bent on going, than you take care of her. Don't let her get hurt."

My mom wrapped her hand in my dad's and smiled. "You two better leave, if you don't go now you will be late. Please both of you be careful and listen to Asuma."

Shikamaru and I turned and walked out of the door.

"I thought we would never get out of there, your parents, no my mistake your father is crazy!" Shikamaru said. I laughed in reply.

Our shoes scuffed up dirt as we walked down the road, towards the main gate. I looked up at the sky. The sun had drifted over the horizon and the sky was filled with purples and pinks and yellows.

"Did you say goodbye to your parents?" I questioned, still staring at the sky.

I saw him shutter out of the corner of my eye. "Yeah, when I left your house earlier I just made it back into my room before my mom knocked on the door."

We continued to walk down the road in silence. As we passed the school, a few teachers smiled and waved to us. All of them had been in our shoes before.

I tried to keep the worrying out of my thoughts when I saw Asuma-sensei standing by the front gate. Choji, who was nibbling on a cookie, still looked half asleep.

"So are you guys ready to go? This will be a fairly simple mission. All we have to do is take this scroll," he paused to take the scroll out of his pocket, "to the border of the Fire Country. We will camp out near the border and then start back towards the village tomorrow morning." Asuma-sensei said. He looked enthusiastic and didn't have a trace of fear anywhere on his face.

When no one said anything he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Putting it to his lips he inhaled deeply and then blew a stream of smoke into the air. "Now I know that none of you are worried about this mission, but just in case, I want all of you to know that I'll be right there with you. I've got your backs, just like I know that all of you have mine."

He looked at us and let out a bellowing laugh while walking out of the gates. Shikamaru and Choji followed behind him. I stood alone and stared at the ground on the other side of the gate, 'Once I step out there, there is no turning back. I'll officially be a ninja, and I'll have to put my life in danger every day. But I refuse to let this scare me. Here I go!'

With that I stepped out of the village and ran to catch up with the team.

Hours later as we neared the border of fire country, exhaustion started to take its toll. The mission had been uneventful to say the least. We saw some birds flying overhead and a few animals scurrying about the forest, but not one enemy had shown up. To tell you the truth it was actually kind of boring.

"Asuma-sensei are we almost there, I feel like I haven't eaten in days!" Choji said as we jumped through the trees. "Choji we stopped two hours ago and you ate chips." I said in an irritated tone.

"Ino, don't be irritated with him, it has been a long day. The border is coming up; once we turn the scroll over the guard we can start back and look for a good place to set up camp.

Choji cheered and Shikamaru signed in relief. 'I cannot wait to stop and eat dinner. Wow I never thought I would say that.'

We stopped a few feet from the border and a man in, what appeared to be, normal ninja attire walked up to us.

"Asuma it is good to see you." He said with a smile. "This must be your team of genin; I take it you all have the scroll the hokage was supposed to send."

"It's good to see you Tsuzumi, here is the scroll." Asuma-sensei handed him the scroll and turned to us. "Well that's it; all we have to do is get home." He waved goodbye to the guard and we started back into the forest.

I jumped through the trees looking for a clear spot on the forest floor. Once we found said spot, we could set up camp, build a fire, and start to cook dinner.

"How about setting up camp there sensei," Shikamaru said and pointed to a small clearing of trees.

Asuma-sensei jumped down and looked around the site, "This spot looks good, great job Shikamaru."

Shikamaru, Choji, and I jumped from the trees and landed on the grassy surface. "Okay Ino and Shikamaru, you two start setting up the tent. Everything is in my bag here." He slipped the bag off of his shoulders and it landed on the ground with a 'thud'.

"Choji and I will go collect some fire wood, to start the fire." His eyes drifted toward the cloud covered, "It looks like we are going to have to hurry if we want dinner. If we wait too long the rain will destroy and chance of building a fire."

Chojis' eyes widened and he raced into the trees. Asuma-sensei laughed and followed at a slower pace.

"Okay Ino, you can handle putting the tent up and all of that right, I think I'll lay over here and take a short nap." Shikamaru said in what sounded like a completely serious tone.

I shot him a look that stopped him in his tracks. He muttered something that sounded like 'troublesome' and moved to the bag Asuma-sensei had set down.

Shikamaru pulled out the material for the tent and started to set it up. I collected the four sleeping bags and laid them on the ground near the unconstructed tent. Then I picked up the material and helped Shikamaru form it into a shelter.

After the assembly was finished I picked up two sleeping bags and crawled through the opening of the tent.

I unrolled two sleeping bags and placed them on the ground. Shikamaru rolled the other two sleeping bags into the tent and I repeated the process.

When I crawled back outside, I noticed that Asuma-sensei and Choji had returned and were building a fire. "Everyone stand back." Sensei instructed as he formed a few hand signs and fire shot from him to the pile of logs on the ground.

I got a few packages of ramen out of a bag and gave one to each person. Each package was laid near the fire and soon heated up enough to eat.

Dinner was almost entire silent, unless you count the slurping of noodles and crackling of the firewood noise. As I finished my noodles I drop of water hit my nose. My eyes shifted towards the sky as another drop hit my forehead.

"Ah you guys, I think it is starting to," I said before a blanket of rain fell from the sky. "Are you serious?" I yelled, mostly to the sky. A hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me into the tent.

"Ino, the sky is not going to talk back to you and it is not going to stop raining because you yell at it." Asuma-sensei said, trying to keep a straight face. "Well I hope everyone it tired, because the only thing to do now is sleep." Sensei said. I looked over to see Choji laid out on a sleeping bag already passed out.

Asuma-sensei moved to the sleeping bag between Choji and the wall of the tent. Shikamaru started to move toward the sleeping bag on the other side, near the opposite wall if the tent.

'Oh no I am not sleeping between them, with Chojis' snoring I won't get any sleep tonight.' Quickly I jumped on the sleeping bag near the wall and glared at Shikamaru. "Shika he is your best friend, you sleep next to him." With that said I unzipped the zipper of the sleeping bag and scooted into the makeshift bed.

I lay on the ground looking up at the roof of the shelter. The sound of rain usually helped me get to sleep, but this much rain was ridiculous! I closed my eyes and finally drifted to sleep.

A 'crack' pushed me back into consciousness. Rain continues to fall from the sky and I decided it was lightning that woke me up. As I was lying there listening to the rain, I felt another presence. 'That's weird, I don't know that chakra. Maybe it is a guard nearby."

I slid myself out of my sleeping bag and sat up looking over at the others. "No one else seems to feel it, it can't be dangerous then. I guess I'll tell the guard that we are here going home from the mission.'

I moved silently through the tent, careful not to step on anyone, and out into the rain.

The fire had been extinguished by the rain and the moon and stars were covered by the clouds above. It was really dark outside. I reached back into the tent and retrieved the flashlight from my pack.

Slowly I turned on the light and moved toward the chakra. I was soaked to the bone and shivering from the chilled rain.

I moved toward the presence, but no one was in sight. "Hello, is someone there? Sorry to bother you, we just set up camp over there." I said the darkness, but there was no reply. A chill ran over already cold skin. 'Maybe this was not such a good idea.' I backed up only to run into another body.

"Oh good Asuma-sensei, I was starting to get scared." I said as I turned. When I shined the light on the other body, I found it was not Asuma-sensei, but a man with dark eyes that were staring back into mine.

I scream ripped from my throat as grabbed my arm and threw me backwards. I fell to the ground and the flashlight flew from my hand and hit a tree, breaking in the process.

My senses went into over drive. I heard footsteps coming towards me so I threw my hands on the wet ground and pushed myself backwards. A hand wrapped around my leg and started to pull me towards, what I presumed was a body.

A small 'thud' sounded and was followed by an unknown voice, "Shit!" the hand released my leg and I lay there paralyzed on the ground.

Another pair of hands enclosed over my shoulders and pulled me to another body. I felt someone's breath hit my face. I was now shaking and I was too scared to protect myself.

"Ino, Ino are you okay. Choji is she okay, why isn't she talking?" Shikamarus' voice entered my head and I now knew that Shikamaru was in front of me and Choji was the one that pulled me away.

I all but threw myself at the darkness, finding Shikamaru and wrapping my arms around him. His hands moved to my back tears started to fall.

There was a break in the clouds above. Light from the moon covered the forest for a brief second. When the clouds recovered the moon, rain started to fall again. During that brief light, I looked ahead, only to see Asuma-sensei kill the man that tried to attack me.

When the light from the moon disappeared, I pushed my face into Shikamarus' shoulder and cried.

"Shikamaru, you idiot, why did you do that?" I yelled at him. Shikamaru lay on the ground with a gash across his torso.

He coughed and grimaced in pain before answering. "You were busy killing the other guy. He would have killed you if I wouldn't have jumped in the way."

"Oh shut up, I did not want you to answer. Damn it Shika!" I pushed chakra into my hands and began to heal the gash. I turned my head to look at Choji. He was single handedly stopping the other two guys from getting to Shikamaru and I. One of which did this to Shikamaru.

Blood covered my hands and I pushed a larger amount of chakra onto the wound. I could feel the slowly start to close up. "This is taking too long, Shika you are losing to much blood." I looked at his face and he smirked, "It sounds like you are worried about me Ino."

"Oh don't be stupid, I'm not worried about you. I am worried about our moms. They have put so much time into planning the wedding. If you died, it would all be a waste." He laughed.

"Ino don't make me laugh, it hurts to laugh. But you can keep telling yourself that if you want. As long as I don't die, I am perfectly happy with whatever you want to tell yourself."

I rolled my eyes at his comment. With all of the chakra I was using the wound was bleeding a lot less now and I could feel the gash closing up. The only problem was with all of the fighting and now the healing, I was running out of chakra and energy fast and could feel my mind start to fade because of it.

'Just a little more, come on Ino don't give up now.' I kept repeating to myself. With one last surge of chakra I fully healed the wound and fell to the ground beside Shikamaru.

I tilted my head to look at him. "Look at that, Choji killed the guys; we can rest for a second." I said then tried my best to look at him threateningly, "Don't ever do anything that stupid again Shikamaru." I said lifting my hand and failing at an attempt to punch him. He smirked at me and moved his face closer to mine.

"I can't make you any promises about that Ino. I already promised you father I would protect you. I can't break a promise with him."

I laughed and replied, "Someone has to be scared of him I guess."

He pushed himself up moved him lips to mine. Even a year after first kissing him, he still managed to stir butterflies up in my stomach. "Gross! Can you two stop making out for like five seconds. We need to move." Choji said from a few feet away.

A blush covered my face and I tried to get up, only to fail. Shikamaru noticed and pushed his body up from the ground. Once he stood up he bent down and picked me up. "Troublesome woman."

Authors Note: Okay so that was the chapter. As I said before, I tried to write this chapter slower. It is a bit longer than the previous chapters; however, in this particular chapter the past is way longer than the present. It wasn't intentional, the story just kind of happened to turn out that way. Anyone who is still reading this PLEASE COMMENT ON THE STORY! I love reviews!

Blondegirl09