Here's the next installment!

Thanks muchly to my reviewers! I really appreciate the input.

Disclaimer information: See chapter 1.

Enjoy!

Oh, and by the way, yes, I know that Genma is a lot older than Naruto and his peers, but he's also not ancient, or even as old as Kakashi. It's all going to work out. I promise.

Two days after Shikamaru's introduction to 'interrogation training,' Ino had returned successfully from her mission and all three members of Team 10 had completed an easy single-night mission. This morning Ino had roped the lazy genius and their 'big-boned' teammate into treating her to an early lunch at their favorite barbeque house. Shikamaru was having a difficult time meeting her eyes after he had 'used' her form the other day, but fortunately, she was too busy chattering about how successful her two back-to-back missions had been to notice.

Chouji, on the other hand, was a little more perceptive about his best friend than their female companion. He paused just long enough between bites to ask about it from across the table when Ino paused for a breath.

"Oy, Shikamaru. You're not eating as much as you usually do." Munch. "What's wrong?"

Apparently this caught Ino's attention, because she turned her focus to Shikamaru. As long as the three of them had been together, she knew to trust Chouji's instincts about the lazy genius. Usually, he could read Shikamaru better than anyone.

Shikamaru could feel the pressure of his teammates' eyes on him, waiting for an answer. He popped a piece of barbequed pork in his mouth, shooting Chouji a cold look as he took his time chewing. Unfortunately, when he finally swallowed, neither of his teammates had relented.

They must be getting used to me. I guess I'll have to try harder to be boring…what a pain.

"It's nothing. Just some training I've been doing."

Two pairs of eyebrows raised in a prompt for him to go on. When he just took another very deliberate bite, Ino seemed to decide it was time to start prying.

"Training? What kind?"

He sighed. They clearly had no intention of letting him off the hook.

Damn.

"I've just been working with Kakashi-sensei a little on some things he thinks I could use help with." Please don't let them ask for details.

Unfortunately Ino had realized by now that he didn't want to talk about it, and therefore it was a juicy secret that she refused to let slip away. Her big blue eyes had taken on that inquiring twinkle, and Chouji had slowed down in his eating to pay closer attention to the conversation.

"Things like?"

Damn. I'm going to have to tell them. I wonder how vague she'll let me be.

"Information gathering."

"Come on, Shikamaru. That's easy stuff! We learned that back when we were genins!" She gave him a conspiratory smile. "What's he really helping you with?"

"…I'd rather not say."

Finally Chouji spoke up again.

"Come on, man. We're your team. Don't you think it's important for each of us to know what the others can do?" He was grinning as he chewed.

Shikamaru shot another glare at his best friend. Damn him for knowing exactly what I would say to me.

"Just some stuff about interrogating prisoners."

Chouji gobbled down another piece of meat, never taking his eyes off Shikamaru as he waited for more of the explanation. Ino leaned forward with her elbows on the table, propping her chin on the heels of her hands. She was very interested now, and nothing would stop her from prying the information out of him. Shikamaru sighed. Maybe she should be the one learning to extract information.

"What else is there to tell? It's just another form of information gathering. Not that exciting."

Ino blinked and smiled innocently.

"Then why does it have you so distracted? Nothing ever bothers you unless it's a big deal."

Shikamaru forced himself to meet her gaze and hold it while he gathered his nerve and chose his words. He could tell her about the training without making her suspect that she'd played a part in it, right?

"It's just a little more intense than I like to deal with."

"Intense?" Chouji munched another mouthful. "How?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at their pestering. He put his chopsticks down and looked squarely at each of them.

"Kakashi-sensei is teaching me the art of hostile interrogation. How do you think it might be 'intense'?"

Two pairs of eyes widened at his forthrightness. Apparently they had either overestimated his stubbornness, or the topic was bothering him a little more than he cared to admit. Maybe a little of both?

Ino was the one to break the silence. "You mean…like…torture?" She whispered the word with wide eyes like it was a taboo, and Shikamaru figured that among most chuunin, genin, and medics, it may well be exactly that. Chouji paused in his meal to add to his own question.

"Dude. What kind of training is that? You don't look like you've been…" he trailed off, apparently deciding it was better not to finish the statement.

"You mean I don't look like I've been to hell and back?"

Chouji nodded uncertainly, and Ino's scrutiny intensified.

"That's because I haven't." He picked his chopsticks back up, hoping they'd allow the conversation to move on but knowing it was too much to ask.

"Then…how…?" Chouji's eyes narrowed, and he actually put his chopsticks down for a moment. "What part of it is he helping you with?"

Ino glanced at her larger teammate, realizing where he was going with his question. She turned back to Shikamaru eagerly and nervously awaiting his answer. The victim of this friendly grilling just sighed and found an interesting stain on the table to stare at.

"…all of it."

"So, so far, have you just done theory, or…are you working on…practical application?" Ino asked this time.

"…both."

Her eyes widened. "Then the reason you don't look like hell…" Her eyes narrowed on him, and he resisted the urge to flinch under her icy appraisal. "Show me your hands."

"Why?"

"Because."

"That's not a reason."

"It is if you want me to ever quit bitching at you for more than ten seconds."

Chouji almost smirked, but instead he opted to pick his chopsticks back up and resume eating. Shikamaru slumped in defeat and reluctantly offered his hands across the table, palms up.

Ino took his hands in her own and turned them over, brushing her thumbs calculatingly over his skin as her trained eyes assessed them. She looked up at him sharply.

"Your knuckles are bruised. How intense was that…what do you even call it?" Her tone was not kind.

"It was a simulation, and Kakashi didn't give me much of a choice."

Chouji piped up again. "So…who was your victim?"

"…nobody you know."

Ino let go of his hands and sat back, crossing her arms as she did so. "Lucky for you. Was it someone I patched up at the hospital?"

Shikamaru sighed, pulling his hands back into his lap. "Nope. I don't know how cruel you think I am, but he was fine."

"Those bruises are deep."

Shikamaru scowled. He had never liked getting grilled, but ignoring his teammates' questions and implied questions would only prolong the discomfort.

"…he volunteered."

"Why?"

"You'd have to ask him."

"Him who?"

"Nobody you know."

"Then what's the harm in telling me?"

"I didn't come here so you could interrogate me."

Chouji seemed to have relented already, knowing that if Shikamaru wanted to discuss it, he would do so when he was ready and until then, it was pointless to pry. Ino had no such mercy in her, and she sat for a moment just staring at him as if her eyes could burn the answer out of him. He just picked his own chopsticks back up and went back to picking at his lunch.

After several tense seconds of being pointedly ignored, Ino decided to change tactics. She resumed eating as well, and after a couple of bites, she spoke again in a less accusing tone.

"Okay then, fine. Will you at least tell me how it went?"

Instantly, Shikamaru's guard went up. Did she already suspect her part in the simulation?

"What do you mean?"

"The 'simulation'. Did you…win?"

"…yeah."

Chouji, sensing that the atmosphere had dissipated enough to be safely re-entered, joined back into the conversation.

"How?"

Shikamaru glanced over at him and suppressed a defeated sigh. "I tricked him, okay?"

Ino looked at him suspiciously. "So…you didn't just beat him to a bloody pulp?"

"…no."

"Then what about the bruises on your hands?"

"…that was part of the trick."

"I knew it."

Shikamaru's eyes jumped up to meet hers, and for once he let his famous indifferent expression slip into something slightly more frustrated.

"What do you want me to say, Ino!?"

He hadn't meant to startle her by the edge in his voice, but apparently he had. Her eyes were fixed on him with a surprised expression that quickly melted into a meek one, dropping to her plate where she was pushing food around.

Chouji paused with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. His eyes flicked between his two teammates, whose normal roles of 'harasser' and 'harassed' had temporarily been traded.

When she answered, her voice was a lot quieter. "That you had a damn good reason to abuse another human being just for the sake of training, and that you didn't enjoy it."

Shikamaru's jaw dropped a little. He had expected her to jump down his throat, but instead of raising her voice to him, she had become vulnerable. His eyes softened on his teammate, and his voice lost the harshness.

"I didn't enjoy it. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do."

Ino ventured a glance up at him. "Then…why?"

"Because…"

Shikamaru sighed and sat back in the booth, staring intently at his hands as if they might give him some incredibly insightful answer that his friend could accept without revealing his own fear of the topic. After a couple of moments, he looked up to find her searching his eyes.

"Because it's just something I have to do. I need to learn this."

Ino's eyes widened a tad, and she nodded slightly.

Unfortunately for Shikamaru, she didn't have a chance to say anything else, because at that moment, a voice spoke from beside their booth.

"Shikamaru, how's it going."

He resisted the urge to grimace as he turned to confirm the identity of the speaker.

Ah, shit.

"Genma." He responded to the offered fist with a friendly bump of his own knuckles. "Nice timing." He intentionally held back most of the sarcasm in his voice, but he was glad to see that apparently Sakura had been able to remove all evidence of their earlier interaction.

Ino's eyes had quickly evaluated their visitor, and Shikamaru recognized the flirtatious air that came over her.

Here we go again.

"Shikamaru, don't be rude. Who's your friend?" She smiled sweetly up at the jonin, who gave her a warm grin around the ever-present senbon.

Shikamaru sighed. At least he was off the hook.

"Ino, Chouji, this is Genma. Genma, my team. Yamananka Ino and Akimichi Chouji."

The brown-haired shinobi nodded to each of them. Chouji returned the gesture, and Ino smiled sweetly at him. Shikamaru didn't miss the way the jonin's eyes lingered on her for an extra second before turning back to him.

"Kakashi's looking for you. Wants to know if you're busy tomorrow night."

Ino's eyes narrowed, and Shikamaru pretended not to notice.

"Are you officially his errand boy now?"

"Not quite." The senbon twitched mischievously, and Shikamaru noticed how the older ninja's eyes flicked over to Ino for a split second before returning to Shikamaru with a subtle smirk.

"I was just passing by and thought I'd drop in to say hello."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. That's what we get for sitting at the window. "Ah. No, tomorrow night's good."

Ino had put two and two together, and it showed in her eyes. If Chouji had done the same, he was considerate enough to pretend he hadn't. Ino shifted and her smile turned back to the one she used whenever she was up to no good. Shikamaru recognized it and groaned inwardly.

"Genma? How do you know Shikamaru?"

The senbon user turned his attention back to her and grinned.

"Just through some training. Why?"

"Would that be…'information gathering' training?"

He raised an eyebrow and cut his eyes over toward Shikamaru with an inquiring lift of the weapon in his mouth. The younger shinobi subtly shook his head, signaling that no, he hadn't given any details. Genma turned back to Ino with an unreadable expression, but it wasn't unfriendly.

"It might be. Why do you ask?"

She shrugged. "I'm just curious about what kind of training my favorite genius has been doing. He hasn't been very talkative about it." She put on her cutest pout. "Would you care to fill in some of the blanks for me?" Her voice was dripping with feminine charm.

Genma glanced back at Shikamaru, who had closed his eyes and slumped into the seat, seemingly resigned to whatever cruelness Ino had planned for him.

Apparently, Genma really was a good guy after all. He spared Shikamaru, leaning to rest his knuckles on the edge of the table and towering over Ino with a charming glint in his own eyes.

"It was nothing interesting. I'd be a lot more interested in hearing about you. Shikamaru didn't quite do you justice."

"It seems you have an advantage, then. He hasn't mentioned you."

"Too bad. I've heard you're a real ace with hearts."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. He figured Genma was probably laughing at him on the inside, and his little reference to what the card had been was his way of showing it. Ino didn't appear to catch the reference, but that was okay. She didn't press the issue for once.

Ino shifted in her seat, turning more to face her newest acquaintance.

"I remember you from the Chuunin Exams, right?"

"Yes ma'am, you certainly do."

Chouji was proudly savoring the Last Bite, and Ino turned to face her boys.

"Why don't you two go wait for me at the training grounds? I'll be along in a little while."

Shikamaru sighed and obeyed like a well-trained puppy, pausing to whisper a quick 'I owe you one, man' to Genma. Chouji, on the other hand, just eyed the handsome, brown-haired jonin suspiciously. Ino's voice turned a little firmer.

"Don't worry, Chouji. I'm a big girl. I promise not to get lost." She slid out of the booth to let him by, and he grudgingly followed Shikamaru. The boys stopped at the counter to pay for lunch, then they were gone.

Ino slid back into the booth, scooting over to Chouji's seat and patting the empty space beside her, which Genma accepted with a friendly grin and a twitch of a senbon.

…

Ino and Genma had been shooting the breeze and flirting for about three minutes before the topic had turned back to Shikamaru's secret training, which Genma had smoothly redirected toward other forms of interrogation. Inevitably with two of the biggest flirts in Konoha, that had led to a discussion of seduction for information-gathering purposes, and apparently Ino was feeling cocky.

"I'm not worried about ever being seduced. No guy has ever managed to make me beg, and I don't think they'll ever be able to."

There was a pause as the blonde speaker beamed confidently.

"Careful, little girl. I might take that as a challenge, if I was that kind of guy."

"Oh? And what kind of guy is that?" Ino looked innocently back at the senbon user, who just cocked his eyebrow. The needle-like weapon between his teeth lifted as he leaned close to her, lowering his voice.

"The kind that likes to take advantage of an innocent girl."

She lowered her voice in response. "Pity. That's the kind I like."

"…is it now."

He sat back up in the booth, and she followed suit.

"Mm-hmm. But I guess you do look pretty innocent…I wouldn't want to get you into trouble."

"It's my greatest advantage." He gave her a winning grin before lowering his voice. "And maybe you're not as innocent as I thought."

"I'm as innocent as I want to be." She traced her purple fingernail lightly along the edge of the tabletop as if there was some incredibly interesting design that only she could see.

Genma didn't bother to look away from the gesture, idly imagining that fingernail tracing that pattern on his stomach. She was watching him demurely out of the corner of her eye.

"So…just what type of guy are you then?"

He looked at her carefully with one eyebrow raised. Shikamaru had said she was more talk than action, but…should he encourage it in someone so young?

"The kind that likes slightly more experienced women."

"Sounds like my lucky day."

The senbon twitched. "I don't think you know what you're trying to get yourself into, little girl."

"Your pants?"

Genma couldn't hide his surprise at her forwardness so he just masked it with a cough. She winked at him with a Cheshire grin, and damn it was hot! He let his eyes wander casually down her body and back up again, and when he returned to her face, he saw a confident expression.

"You're awfully confident for someone so young." He raised his hand to brush an imaginary stray hair behind her ear, lowering his voice. "You really think you could resist my charm…" he trailed the backs of his fingers lightly down the small bit of exposed skin of her neck, leaning forward to whisper in her ear, "…behind closed doors?"

She closed her eyes, shamelessly enjoying the caress. When his hand reached purple fabric of her high collar, she looked at him without turning her head. She dropped her voice to match his sexy tone.

"I think I'd like to find out."

He pulled his hand away as he smirked with his eyes.

"…you sure about that? I didn't peg you for a one-night-stand type."

She ran her hands casually down her body, so that to anyone else in the barbecue house it looked like she was just smoothing out her clothes. Genma didn't miss the way her hands lingered over her chest and on the front of her hips, though, and he knew it was for his benefit.

He successfully resisted the urge to shift and make himself more comfortable. He was no amateur, after all. She leaned in close.

"Do I look like a little girl to you, Genma, or do I look like a grown woman?"

It was clearly a rhetorical question, but he felt his southern thinking apparatus answer anyway. Those adult curves were dangerous on a kunoichi. Ino continued.

"You know, I see the way boys look at me, but I'm not really interested in any of them."

"Maybe the other girls should look out, then?" he teased.

Ino smiled wickedly.

"Maybe they should. Otherwise, I'll beat them to whatever man I decide I want."

She's sure not pulling punches. That over-confidence could get her in trouble.

He turned to face her a little more, not bothering to hide his semi-arousal. He noticed when her eyes dropped to his lap, then widened slightly before she gave him a seductive smile.

"And what if that man beats you at your own game?"

"Then I guess I'll be put in my place."

… Ah, what the hell. She's gotta learn sometime, and better me than an enemy. I guess I'll take another one for the team. He smirked to himself.

He saw her eyes flick down to his mouth, and she licked her lips.

Time for a sample, then.

He smirked devilishly and leaned toward her a little. She followed suit, batting her eyelashes and tilting her head slightly.

"What time do you normally eat dinner, little girl?" He reached up and pulled the senbon smoothly out of his mouth.

"Around eight thirty. Why?" There was an innocent smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she leaned even closer. "Got a cheesy pick-up line you want to use on me?"

He dropped his voice.

"You think I need one?"

He leaned forward the rest of the way to capture her mouth in a light kiss. He spent a few seconds caressing her lips with his own, and then he felt her tongue running over his teeth as she sought entrance into his mouth. He denied it with a mischievous half-grin.

Her lip gloss tasted like watermelon, and he teased her by slipping his own tongue out and just running it lightly over her lips. He felt her open her mouth, inviting him to explore, but he didn't accept the offer. There would be plenty of time for that later when he could make her beg for it.

Her hand found his knee, and he felt feminine fingers beginning to slide deliciously up the inside of his thigh.

Abruptly, he pulled back from the kiss and caught her wrist with a teasing glint in his eyes. A shadow of surprise passed briefly over her features before being replaced with a sexy pout as he gently but firmly placed her hands back in her own lap. He casually returned the senbon to its normal perch between his teeth.

She smiled sweetly and crossed her legs, making sure to flash him a little of her fishnet-wrapped thigh in the process. The gesture didn't go unnoticed -or unappreciated.

Genma stood up and turned toward the door. When he had almost reached it and Ino was certain that she'd just ruined any chance of bedding him, he turned his head to speak to her over his shoulder.

"I'll pick you up at eight."

Then with the flick of a senbon he was gone, and Ino practically melted into the booth.

**EDIT**

Some of you may remember that there was some hot smut in the chapter following this one; don't get your hopes up. The crucial story moments from that part will be worked in (which may still include a bit of the adult material); the majority of the citrus, however, has been removed due to my personal convictions about the kind of writer I want to be.