Teachers and their Pets
Chapter 26
"Urgh, my head." Ino delicately brought a limp hand up to her forehead and let out another stiff groan as she dragged her way down one of the many village paths.
The Yamanaka had left Sakura's house after around an hour of Kakashi arriving, well aware that the man most likely wasn't only there to deliver his girlfriend a book. Why they needed to be together so desperately, Ino did not know, but she wasn't about to be the awkward third wheel friend. That was just not how Ino Yamanaka rolled.
What I need now is a nice clean bed and a long lie in. At the very idea of relaxation, Ino felt her whole body strain, desperate to be in bed and to hide away from the thumping headache she was currently suffering through.
The girl could just imagine what Sakura would say if she could see her now, 'Well it's your fault anyway Ino, you're the one who drank too much.' Ino's brow pulled down. Shut up Forehead she inwardly growled.
"Well you look to be in a good mood."
At the sound of a familiar voice, Ino looked up from her feet to see Shikamaru and Choji smiling at her, Shikamaru's eyebrows raised.
"You look awful," Choji commented, tone worried. "Are you coming down with that bug again? Do you want some crisps?" The chubby boy extended his hand out and offered the bacon flavoured snacks to his friend, causing her to gag.
"Oh, urgh, no!" Ino tried to stop herself from retching before batting the bag of food away. "I just drank too much last night, that's all."
"You drank?" Choji retracted his hand, and his hurt look, and gaped at the Yamanaka. "But you're not legal!"
"No, really?" Ino gasped in response. "I completely forgot!" Then the girl winced placing her hand back onto her forehead. "It was just one bottle of gin, that's all."
"All to yourself?" Shikamaru intoned.
"Sakura had some too." The girl retorted.
"So you had a whole bottle of gin to yourself." Choji murmured.
"Hey!" Ino grouched, reaching out to punch the boy roughly on the arm. "I said Sakura had some too. Now where are you two bozos going without my illustrious companionship?"
Shikamaru and Choji exchanged a look, prompting a warning 'hey' out of their friend, but then Shikamaru answered.
"We're meeting up with Asuma Sensei for some training." He replied.
"We did actually stop by your house earlier, but since you weren't there…" Choji trailed off and then stuffed some more crisps into his mouth.
"You're feeling well enough to train?" Ino smiled at the Akimichi. "That's great. Maybe Team 10 could go on another mission soon."
"Maybe," Shikamaru shrugged, his gaze, as customary, going back up to the clouds above them all. "But it's not like you're up to training today."
"I am too!" Ino countered before quickly regretting the outburst as another jack-knife of pain ran through her cranium. "Ok," she relented. "Maybe I won't train, but I'm going to come watch you guys- moral support, you know."
Shikamaru raised his eyebrows yet again, but then shrugged. "Whatever."
Ino grinned at him before shoving her way in-between the two boys. Then the threesome set off towards the training grounds.
Asuma was not good at restraining excitement, which was why he almost had to do a complete 360 when he saw his girlfriend arriving with his two other former students at the training grounds. He'd been expecting the boys, but not Ino. Feeling butterflies beginning to beat their wings in his stomach, the man swivelled round, waiting for Ino-Shika-Cho to approach him and therefore giving him more time to compose himself. Shikamaru and Choji still didn't know about their relationship at all, they were going to have to be very careful.
"Asuma Sensei."
At the sound of Shikamaru's drawling tones, the Sarutobi turned around, grinning at them all, but trying to keep his grin a little restrained, despite the fact that Ino had a naughty smirk on her face as soon as their eyes met.
"Good, you guys made it," the man tucked his hands into his pockets, noting the way Ino followed the movement, and then threw his head towards the training grounds. "I thought you guys could start with a fitness regime-"
"Ooohhhh." Choji, apparently, was already regretting attending. Asuma had always had a penchant for getting his students to do a few laps before real training commenced -nowhere near as many as Gai enforced- and Choji had always hated running.
"-before we started talking about ambushes and how you could fight back against them with your own individual jutsu." Asuma continued steadily through Choji's groan before finally looking to Ino. They couldn't just not talk, that would look as suspicious as if they just suddenly started making out. The Sarutobi's gaze drifted to Ino's lips and he felt a twinge in his stomach. "Ino, I didn't know you'd be attending training."
"Moral support," Ino replied, checking her nails as she did so. "Plus someone's got to keep these two in line and I know you're not the greatest with…discipline, at times."
"I can be," Asuma replied, a grin spreading across his face. "If people need disciplining that is."
"Hm, if you say so Sensei, but I think I'll stay nonetheless, you need someone to look after you too- don't want Shikamaru and Choji to wear you out now, do we?"
Choji and Shikamaru remained silent, the former stuffing his face with crisps, while the latter looked from Asuma to Ino and back again, his brow slowly creasing.
"I can keep up." Asuma countered.
"Oh, I don't doubt that Asuma Sensei," Ino cocked her head and smiled prettily at the man. "I don't doubt that at all."
"Uhh," Shikamaru slowly raised a hand, only to be noticed a few seconds later by Asuma, who finally managed to shake his gaze free of Ino's. "Shall we start running now?"
Asuma straightened up completely and retrieved his hands from his pockets, crossing them over his broad chest before nodding importantly, apparently trying to regain his composure. "Yeah. Go ahead guys."
Shikamaru gave the man one last lingering look before pulling at Choji, forcing the boy to start blundering along next to him, still stuffing his face.
"Why'd you do that Shikamaru?" He enquired between chewing. "It looked like Asuma Sensei had almost forgotten he'd told us to run- we could have got away with not doing any warm ups!"
"It's a drag but he makes us do it for a reason," Shikamaru returned.
The two were silent for a few moments, only Choji's laboured breathes -as he tried to contend chewing with breathing properly- to accompany them, and then Shikamaru opened his mouth again, wanting to speak about what was troubling him.
"Did that interaction between Asuma Sensei and Ino not seem…weird to you?" He enquired of his best friend, turning his head slightly to look at the Akimichi. Behind the fat boy, the Nara could see that Asuma and Ino were still chatting, occasionally laughing, Ino almost bright pink in the face.
"Ino's had a…crush on…Asuma…for…a while, remember?" Choji returned. "She was just being…her…normal…flirty self. Phew!" The boy overdramatically wiped at his forehead.
Shikamaru looked at him and then looked back over at his other former team mates only to see Asuma nudge Ino in the ribs gently with his elbow.
"Yeah, but Asuma Sensei never really responded to any of that stuff before," he replied eventually. "He actually thought Ino had a crush on me until I told him it was him that she was after."
"What are you getting at Shikamaru?" Choji turned to look at his friend properly, his eyebrows pulled down as he puffed along.
Shikamaru met the boy's eyes and then looked away again, up to the sky. "Nah, it's nothing." He returned.
Eventually, after five laps and Asuma showing no signs of stopping them, Shikamaru and Choji finished running of their own accord. Choji was bright red in the face, clinging onto his best friend as the Nara moved towards his former Sensei, and former team mate.
"So you had a nice time last night?" Asuma was asking of the Yamanaka as Shikamaru drew closer.
Ino smiled. "Yeah, but I had to leave pretty sharpish in the morning because Kakashi Sensei showed up to 'give Sakura a book'." The girl performed air quotes around the last part and then she and Asuma began chuckling again.
After a few moments of laughter, however, Asuma took on a serious expression. "Have you spoken to Naruto recently by the way? Kakashi told me about what happened between them."
Ino tossed her hair back slightly and shook her head. "No," she replied. "Sakura's pretty down about it all. As far as I know, Naruto's still mad at him."
"Naruto's mad at Kakashi Sensei?"
Asuma and Ino both jerked as if they'd been shot before turning, in unison, to look at Choji, their eyes wide.
"Why?" The Akimichi enquired innocently, retrieving a bag of crisps from nowhere and slowly beginning to stuff his face as he looked between Asuma and Ino.
"Choji, how many times do I have to tell you not to eat while you're running?" Asuma questioned instead of answering. "You know I'm all for you eating while stationary, but you could chok-"
"Naruto's mad at Kakashi because Kakashi and Sakura are an item."
Asuma went silent immediately, while Ino, in the background, paled. Asuma felt a sudden trickle of doom begin weaving its way down his spine. Here it was, here was the moment he was going to lose one of his favourite students and closest friends, simply because he couldn't help who he fell in love with.
It was Shikamaru who had spoken. The Nara was gazing directly at his former Sensei, his eyes emotionless.
"What!?" Choji barked the word out in surprise, retrieving his arm from around his best friend and stepping back to look at him with confusion. "Kakashi Sensei and Sakura? She's his student though-"
"Former," Ino interrupted quickly. "She's his former student."
"I'm right, aren't I?" Shikamaru said.
Asuma found that he couldn't reply, leaving Ino -good old Ino- to respond instead.
"What business is it of yours?" She questioned airily. "They're not breaking any rules."
"It's still kinda-" Choji was interrupted by Asuma raising a hand to silence him.
The Sarutobi kept his eyes on Shikamaru's as he next spoke. "I think we all need to sit down and talk," then the man began heading off towards a nearby picnic bench.
Ino promptly followed after him, her gaze upon his back, expression one of worry. Shikamaru and Choji slowly plodded after the pair of them, Choji looking very confused, Shikamaru looking thoughtful.
The foursome sat down upon the stone table that Asuma had chosen and then they were all silent. Ino tapped her fingers anxiously upon the table top, her other hand enclosed within Asuma's, though Shikamaru and Choji could not see this as they both gazed at their Sensei, awaiting his next words.
"How did you know about Kakashi Sensei and Sakura?" The oldest of them asked eventually, his question directed at Shikamaru.
"It doesn't take a genius," Shikamaru replied quietly, aware that his Sensei's emotions seemed to be rather wild at the moment. The Nara could only guess he'd hit a sore spot…as he'd expected. "I've seen the pair of them together and they act like, well, like they're 'together'."
"So it's true?" Choji gaped at Shikamaru. "How come you didn't tell me this!?"
"Too troublesome," Shikamaru replied. "It's not any of my business anyway. I don't want to gossip."
Choji looked to Ino.
"Sakura's one of my best friends, even if it doesn't seem it at times," the Yamanaka responded. "I wasn't about to betray her trust. They love each other."
"Like you two do?"
Silence.
Ino's eyes widened, but she stared resolutely down at the table. Asuma squeezed her hand, but maintained eye contact with Shikamaru. The Nara was a hell of a lot less volatile than Naruto, but Asuma didn't know how this news was going to affect him. He and Ino were two of the people he trusted the most in the world, the Sarutobi just hoped he wasn't going to take this as a breach of his trust.
"What?" Choji again, looking very confused now.
"Yes." Asuma managed after a while, his tone gruff.
"How long?" Shikamaru asked, his voice level, though his expression was slightly off, and he seemed to be going a slightly greenish colour.
"A while now." Ino answered.
"What?" Choji questioned.
"Ok." Shikamaru sat back and stared down at his hands, apparently digesting the information. The Nara had obviously worked it out beforehand, but actually processing the information seemingly took more out of him.
"What?" Choji asked.
They all sat in silence for a few moments, Choji looking in-between them all, completely perplexed by the whole situation.
"Are you…mad at us?" Ino's voice was very little as she asked the question.
Asuma felt a jolt as he realised the girl was just as worried about losing people due to their relationship as he was. Seeing her sitting next to him, fragile and breakable, with the large open wound of their relationship now out for the world to poke at, the man wanted nothing more than to hug her until she wasn't worried anymore. But he couldn't. The pair of them stayed sitting next to each other, awaiting Shikamaru's reply.
It took a while.
"…no," he answered, though he did not seem too sure himself. "I'm not…mad…" the boy glanced to the side. "I'm shocked," he admitted. "And a little confused, but I'm not mad at you."
"Y…you're not?" Ino sounded as if she could barely believe it.
"What?" Choji asked.
"It's going to take a little while to get used to," Shikamaru said, still unable to meet neither Asuma's or Ino's eyes. "But I can't be angry at you for falling in love, and I understand why you didn't tell me or Choji either."
"Wait…Asuma Sensei and Ino, you're in…you're a couple?" Choji gestured between the pair of them, looking shocked.
Ino and Asuma both nodded and Choji's mouth dropped open before he rocked back and stared at Asuma.
"It's going to take us a while to get used to, I think," Shikamaru commented wryly after shaking his head a little at his best friend. "But I don't think either I or Choji are mad."
"I'm not mad, I just…" Choji trailed off and then continued gawping at his Sensei.
Asuma shuffled uncomfortably. "Choji, would you mind possibly not staring at me like that?"
"Oh, sorry Sensei." The Akimichi swapped his gaze onto Ino.
She bristled. "Choji! Stop staring at us like we're animals in a zoo!"
"I'm…I'm sorry!" Choji replied immediately. "I just…uh…"
"Trust us, we know how you're feeling." Asuma intoned.
Shikamaru let a quick smile slip onto his lips. "You never like to do things the easy way, do you Sensei?"
"Thank God I've got you to back me up Shikamaru." Asuma replied, squeezing Ino's hand once more as, slowly, tentative relief began to flow through him.
Thank you to UsagiNamikaze (I hope maybe my story could change your idea of Ino! I love her a lot aha. Thank you so much for taking the time to review!), Kakashi'sFangirl (Always glad to hear I have brought people into liking AsuIno! I love both KakaSaku and AsuIno a whole lot!), deathrosekitty, Hannahneko, AnneLea, Trunksmybaby, bookluv22, Laurie, , Emzy2k11, CurlyTika7, harvestangel99, Salinia and electrickpanda (I can see myself doing a oneshot of that aha!) for your reviews, they really mean a lot to me, and I'm sorry for taking so long to update. Uni really kicks your butt.