To my son, Inou,

Happy fifteenth birthday. Though on this particular day you are one year older, and one year closer to adulthood, I know in my heart that with every day that passes, you continue to grow into an even finer young man, and because of that, you continue to make me proud of you.

I am genuinely sorry that I cannot be with you on this day to celebrate you and your achievements. I know also that this simple gift to you is not nearly enough to replace my presence. I ask for your forgiveness, and promise to be a better father going forward.

I look forward to your future, and the great things that I know you will do.
- Your father

- Letter accompanying a birthday gift, delivered to Uchiha Inou two weeks after his fifteenth birthday

ACT 14

RECOVERY

Chapter 138 - Halloween Candy

Ino did not quite know, even as she was walking down the road to Shikamaru's house, why she was doing this.

She had nothing to gain. Or lose, really, since they barely ever talked to each other any more, since the—thing they had with each other.

(It was not an affair, and it never would be.)

And even after semi-practical reasons floated and floundered on the surface of her mind, she didn't feel that any one was worth clinging to as a reason.

But then again.

Well.

There had been some rumors going around about her husband—well, Sasuke. And rumors watered the flowers of strange treatment and whispers from behind hands in public places.

But instead of the ridicule she had so-long expected, Ino found herself the target of strange and consistent sympathy, whenever anyone dared to say anything.

"Oh, Ino, I'm so sorry for you." This came from Makura, once a classmate, and now a nurse at the hospital. She caught Ino on the street as she was coming out of the flower shop, to check on her father and daughter. "First your house and your son, and now your husband leaves you to be with his lover? You poor thing, is there anything I can do?"

"I… don't think so?" Ino blinked a few times. "I'm sorry, but I don't need any more help…"

Makura tut-tutted. "You brave woman." She left after that.

That was the first time Ino heard of this "lover." And she heard more of it, in disproving mutters and vague terms, until:

"Really, Ino-san, it's so selfish of him to have used you as his cover story for so long. Everyone knew he really wanted to be with Naruto."

The woman Yubeshi, a neighbor from Ino's childhood, waved her hand at her with pursed lips.

"…wait, Naruto?" Ino said.

"What, it wasn't obvious?" Yubeshi gasped a little, a bit too strongly for it to have been genuine. "Oh… you really did have the wool over your eyes, didn't you…"

Ino excused herself, saying she had to go home and cook dinner. She heard Yubeshi saying to herself, in walking off, "Poor thing, poor thing…"

What a bizarre thing for someone to say, she thought to herself first. Was that the reason why Sasuke wasn't coming home? Why he was staying at Naruto's house?

…no, certainly not, Naruto just said that Sasuke was recovering, that he felt guilty, and… well, that seemed a good enough excuse at the time…

But as Ino settled in for bed that night, she couldn't sleep.

Years of evidence were sitting on her forehead.

Sasuke's lack of intimacy. His absolute revulsion when it came to sex. His disinterest in her as anything but a mother to his children.

The only thing that kept her from sitting up and outright declaring to herself, "Holy shit, my husband was in love with Naruto this whole time?!" was the fact that, well… Sasuke wasn't that… intimate with Naruto either. Mind, she didn't have any way of knowing how they behaved when she wasn't around, but… somehow she doubted that the begrudging, almost comedic-duo chemistry of the two was anything that could result in… well, this.

It was just housewives being the rumor-mills that they were. After all, people had been saying things like this as far back as… well, the end of the War, practically. Just not this overtly. Maybe.

Besides, Sasuke just…

Sasuke just…

…well, he didn't seem the type.

Ino managed to sleep, upon this conclusion.

But the next day, on an afternoon shopping trip to the grocery store, Ino saw Sasuke.

And.

Their eyes met for a moment, as they shared an aisle.

Sasuke seemed healthier. He was dressed in what were undeniably Naruto's clothes, track pants and white t-shirt, clothes he'd never have touched otherwise.

She knew that he saw her. He opened his mouth, raised a hand, maybe to say something, but then closed it. His hand remained, half-closed, near his chest.

And then Naruto appeared. He had a basket in the crook of his arm, and he was saying something about how they needed to get this brand and not the one Sasuke had gotten. Ino was unsure of if he saw her.

But she saw him take Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke was pulled away after that, into another part of the store.

Ino left also, to pay for the half-list of groceries she had managed to get, and hurried to get home, feeling strangely uncomfortable.

She could get the rest of the groceries another time, or have Nadeshiko get them. Say she forgot.

Her face felt hot. Ino hoped dearly that she wasn't blushing.

So that was what people were talking about.

(And this was long before Sasuke was seen out in public with that strange, enormous man and his tiny, bone-like son.)

(It would be a good long while before Ino heard those rumors, and the pity and curiosity that came with them.)

When she got to her father's house, she put away all the food and tried to find something to preoccupy herself. There was nobody in the house: Karai was on a mission, Inou and Nadeshiko and her father were all at work, and Hajime's friend Jimichi had come by to take him out somewhere—the last of which Ino found particular comfort in, knowing that her son had more than just his family to support him.

And Takeru was still in the hospital. He was awake, thank goodness, and they were starting him on physical therapies.

(But he always maintained a stiff and angry silence whenever she visited him.)

With nobody to distract her, the sparseness of her father's house gave even less for Ino to do. She had already cleaned, rearranged, sorted everything she could.

Perhaps that was one reason she went to Shikamaru's house.

Then again, perhaps it was also in the pursuit of comfort.

Not physical comfort, no. Maybe comfort wasn't even the word for it.

Satisfaction? Or closure, maybe?

Since she knew what she was going to do. She knew that as soon as she had decided to leave. She just didn't know why.

Still, she took a breath, and knocked on Shikamaru's door.

He looked like he'd recently been sleeping, and his hair was loose. "Ah, Ino. What do you want?"

"Can we talk?" Ino said.

"About what?"

Ino sighed. "You've heard about what's happened to—Sasuke, right?"

"What, that he left you to shack up with Naruto after that Orochimaru stuff?"

Ino felt her mouth tighten. "You don't have to put it like that."

Shikamaru shrugged. "What about it? If you're looking for sympathy, you're probably better off talking to Chouji."

"Shikamaru, honestly." Ino shook her head. "I'm not looking to vent, or anything like that."

"Then, what is it?"

Ino knew what she had to say. She didn't know why she was going to say it.

Or, really, how to lead into it.

But she had to say it. And she was going to.

"Before he left me, Shikamaru, I told him about us."

Shikamaru's expression didn't change. "What do you mean, 'us'?"

"The fact that we were—involved, once." Ino crossed her arms.

"Oh. You mean that." He scratched at his hairline. "So? Did telling him make him think he had a right to run off and have an affair too?"

That stupid word. "It wasn't an affair," Ino said, flatly.

"Whatever," Shikamaru said. "Why are you telling me this, then?"

"Because I told him about our son, too."

Shikamaru's face finally wrinkled. He stood in place for a moment, before jutting his head slightly forward. "Uh, 'our' son?"

"My second son, Takeru—he's yours, Shikamaru." Ino's shoulders felt stiff, and her breath was hard as she inhaled through her nose, but she did not feel nervous. "From when we were together."

"Uh… you never told me this," Shikamaru said.

"Of course I didn't tell you," Ino said, rolling her eyes. "I decided to take care of things myself. Involving you would only… complicate things."

"Okay…" Shikamaru looked troubled, but it looked more like he was considering a small mess on the floor than any sort of distress. "So… you decide to involve me now… why? You need me to pay child support now that your husband left you, or something?"

"Absolutely not," Ino replied. She tightened her crossed arms, and leaned back. "I don't need your support. And I still don't."

"All right." Shikamaru shrugged again. "So, what is it?"

"Well, Takeru's in the hospital now. He was attacked by Orochimaru. His back was broken."

Ino paused, considering excuses. She'd entertained, on the way over, a notion that if Takeru needed blood or any other sort of donated organ, that Shikamaru would be the only match. It would be partially lying—Takeru, so far, was in no need of any organ transplants, and there was enough stored blood at the hospital for everything else—but at the same time…

But then, Shikamaru said, "Do you expect me to care?"

Ino looked up from her thoughts. "Excuse me?"

"You literally just told me a minute ago that we had a kid together, for one, and for two, I don't even know him," Shikamaru said. "S'far as I'm concerned—I mean, unless you need legal support, which I guess can't be helped if that's what you want—I have no reason to care any more than I would for some stranger."

Ino was hit with a nauseatingly familiar feeling of shock.

(The shock that she even cared about his apathy. That she should have expected it.)

"Whoa, so you mean that you got it on with Inou's mom?"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Shikamaru's daughter—the one he had with Temari, Ino's mind rang—appeared behind him. Her small eyes were wide.

"Wow, Dad, use some protection next time," she continued.

"Shikake, what are you doing out of your room." His voice got thin and rough.

"I mean, then again, I shouldn't expect much from you. I mean, how else was I conceived?"

Shikamaru grabbed her wrist, and lifted it. "You're supposed to be grounded."

"You were asleep, I figured you wouldn't notice," Shikake replied.

"Get back inside."

"No, I wanna hear more about this," Shikake said. "Hey, Inou's Mom, so which of your kids is my dad's bastard, again?"

Shikamaru pulled her inside, and Shikake stumbled a little. "Stop it, Shikake."

"Oh, am I embarrassing you in front of your mistress?" Shikake replied.

Shikamaru pulled on her arm, closer to him. "This is none of your business."

"Until Mom finds out." She smirked at him. "Then it'll be everyone's business."

He began marching her down the hallway, apparently to her bedroom, where he let go of her with almost a shove. "If I see you out of your room one more time…"

"You'll do what. Starve me? I'll call child services." Shikake's voice was quiet with distance.

Shikamaru slammed the door in response, and returned to the front door, and Ino.

"How many other people have you told?" he said. He was tapping his foot.

Ino, however, had turned the stiffness in her shoulders into strength. "You know what, I think telling even you was too much," she said.

"So, just me and Sasuke?"

"Forget it." She turned to leave, but then looked back over her shoulder. "I'm glad I made the decision to keep you out of his life, though."

(Takeru was hard enough to handle without Shikamaru's influence.)

(If his daughter's behavior and Shikamaru's reaction to it was any indication, anyways.)

"Whatever." Shikamaru closed the door without saying goodbye.

Ino swallowed, taking in another breath of cold air, before continuing on.

Yes, she decided, as she reached home. She did this for satisfaction. Perhaps it hadn't been that way at the start, but it was certainly the case now.

Shikamaru said he didn't care, but she could tell he was uncomfortable with the news, with the prospect of responsibility.

Well? So be it. Even if he didn't do anything about it, he'd have to live with the fact now. However much or little discomfort that brought him didn't matter. He knew, and that was that.

Becalmed by whatever reason in the bouquet of relief that this whole business brought her, Ino returned home and began dinner for her family.

And in truth, Shikamaru didn't do anything. He mused for a while, certainly, about the irrationality of women and perhaps a bit on how he had lucked out of the trouble of another child for his family to know about—unless Ino decided to be petty and tell them about it herself, though he doubted it, given her preoccupation with her reputation. After all this, he went to get a snack and play shogi against himself, and set the matter aside for the day, if not the rest of his life.

Shikake, however, refused to take all this news without taking action. This was a sibling—related to Inou, too—so of course she was curious. And beyond that, it was more ammunition to bother her father with. The leverage she could wring from the situation, in regards to her mother, was absolutely tantalizing in its weight.

But first things were first. She had to meet the guy in person. She didn't really interact with any of Inou's siblings, so he had no idea what to expect, anyways.

Her father had told her that if he saw her outside of her room, then he'd do something-something probably nothing. Much as she loved annoying him, she didn't want for many obstacles.

Besides, she had a window in her room, which she'd used many, many times before in getting out without him noticing. Which was already an easy task, but the window made it easier. Shikamaru was an idiot, after all.

So, Ino had said that this kid—Takeru wasn't it?—was in the hospital. As she went along, Shikake tried to recall what she could about the name. Inou had whined about him once or twice, said he was an arrogant jerk, among other things.

Oh, this was going to be fun.