Ino wakes up in Chouji's bed with a splitting headache. Last night was Purim, and she only has a vague memory of the festivities – she recalls dressing up as a yuki-onna, while Chouji wore fairy wings, a tutu and a tiara. His father had been a kemonomimi with cat ears, Rabbi Nara – who had earlier conducted the Purim service and read the Megillah – a shinigami, Shikamaru some kind of forest spirit with leaves in his hair and a green kimono, Temari a courtesan, and both Tenten and Temari's brother, Kankuro, who had come to visit from Sunagakure, were in drag. Tenten, remarking that 'he looks better in a dress than I do, the bastard', had given herself a charcoal moustache and Lee-ish eyebrows, and had procured a top hat from somewhere.
The Jewish shinobi and civilians at the service had brought pots and pans to bang every time Rabbi Nara mentioned the word 'Haman' – the bad guy in the story, if Ino recalled correctly. Afterwards, there had been sake and wine and cocktails and fuck knows what else, and she and Chouji had had drunken sex, and she had worried that she was going to throw up, but luckily it was a false alarm. Ino hates looking like a tit in front of anyone, especially the man she loves.
She wraps herself in Chouji's jacket and goes to the bathroom to get herself a glass of water. She can't remember the last time she got so pissed – she thinks it was probably when she and Sakura became chuunin, and she had stroked Sakura's back in the ladies' toilets of their local as Sakura vomited copiously. Never could handle her drink, that girl. The Akimichi, on the other hand, had a reputation for being pissheads. Chouji probably isn't going to have much of a hangover. She envies him.
Author's note:
Purim: Jewish Festival of Lots, in which it is customary to dress up and drink a lot
Yuki-onna: Japanese snow woman
Kemonomimi: a human with animal ears and/or a tail
Megillah: the scroll containing the Purim story
Haman: king who plotted to massacre the Jews of Persia