Chapter 14: Rushing Through

"The end," Inojin finished. He started fidgeted nervously where he sat. "Well… Uh, how was it?"

Boruto and Shikadai exchanged looks. "Well…"

"It sucked, didn't it?" Inojin mumbled.

"No," said Boruto quickly. "No, it was… uh… Shikadai?"

"It was a little… Um… How do I put it?" Shikadai gave Boruto a pleading look, needing help with his answer. He wasn't sure what do say.

Thankfully, Sai already had a response for his son's campfire story. "It was strange."

"Come on!" the boys booed and Boruto threw a marshmallow at him.

"What?" Sai asked. "It was strange but it was a chilling tale. I never said it was bad because it wasn't. It was different."

"It sucked," Inojin pouted.

"No," said Sai in an assuring tone. "Being different isn't a bad thing."

"I knew I wasn't ready. I told you I didn't have enough time to make it good."

"Your dad's right, though," said Boruto. "It wasn't bad. It didn't suck as bad as you think it did."

"Are you kidding?" Inojin said, upset. "I changed it up halfway through because I panicked. It was supposed to be my mom who saw the painting and not Shikamaru but I thought she'd be pissed if she knew I depicted her that way so I made it him and then changed it when I thought it worked better. That and she didn't come on this trip and probably wouldn't know…"

Sai gave a nervous grin. "So that's how you see her."

"No," Inojin said quickly, turning to face his dad. "That wasn't really her in the story. Not how I see her. I know she's not nuts. It was just if she acted that way in my story, she might be mad in real…"

"I get it. That wasn't quite what I meant anyway." Sai patted Inojin on the shoulder. "But it was a chilling tale. Very effective."

"Did you kill me off at the end of your story?" Shikamaru asked from the other side of the firepit. "Not cool."

"And like what he did to his mom was any better."

"She can never know about that!" Inojin waved his arms frantically. "I just did that for cinematic effect. I'd never-"

"I'm not telling your mom, Inojin. Relax."

"You should worry about your dad telling her."

Inojin gave his dad a worried look.

"Why would I tell her?"

"We're just teasing," Shikadai and Shikamaru said at once.

"Everything in these stories is made-up," Sai said. "Who cares how people are depicted?"

"I'll keep that in mind when I make you a villain in my next story," Shikamaru said under his breath, nudging Shikadai who smiled in response.

"Well, the story wasn't bad, but it was kind of rushed," Boruto said, thinking he wasn't criticizing too harshly. "The twist ending was good but I wasn't at all satisfied with what you did with Ino and Shikamaru."

"No kidding," said Shikamaru without looking up.

"But overall, it was good. It had tons of potential."

"That's another way of saying it sucked." Inojin sighed heavily. "I should have stuck with my first idea but that one was too similar to another story I heard and wanted it to be different. Instead, I came up with a bad story that was all over the place and rushed at the end."

"You gave more details to the painting than anything else in the story," said Boruto.

"What was your original idea, Inojin?" Shikadai asked.

"A painting that came to life. But that was too similar to one I heard about a while ago and didn't want to make it too close. And a haunted painting is too on the nose. There are a million of those. I just threw this together and most of it I made up on the spot and it clearly showed."

"I still liked it."

"Yeah, it wasn't bad. Don't be so hard on yourself." Boruto gave him a big grin. "At least yours had actually scary stuff in it. So way to go there."

Inojin moped around, unmoved by Boruto's words. "I told you the pressure was on to make a good scary story and I failed. It had elements but no real story. I think I knew that and wanted to get it done quick so that's why it felt rushed."

"Not because you were stuck for a storyline?" his father commented without thinking. Then he said, "But instead of dragging it on when you felt like that, it was probably good to rush it a little. Better to be quick than tedious, right?"

He looked over at Shikamaru, mouthing words with a shake of his head to see if Shikamaru had any advice for him. He wasn't sure if he had said the right thing and apparently neither was Shikamaru. He just shrugged and shook his head as if to say, "What do you expect me to do?"

"I was depicted pretty well in your tale," Sai said and patted Inojin on the back. "Thanks."

"I'd just like to point out that I've been in every story so far," Shikamaru said as he threw a piece of wood onto the fire.

"So what?"

"Your point being?"

Shikamaru squinted against the crackling flames and sparks that shot up as the wood was swallowed up. "Just saying."

"What are you saying?"

"Why me?" Shikamaru finally said, knowing they weren't going to leave it alone. "And why am I the one acting weird in half of them?"

"Others were acting weird, too. Even Sai. Just look at Boruto's story."

"I know, but what is this fascination with having me be the victim? With us being out of character or just plain weird?"

"It's fun," the boys said at once.

Sai smiled at him. "It is interesting seeing yourself depicted in different ways, isn't it?"

Shikamaru grumbled and sighed at the same time. He found it mostly embarrassing but he supposed that was the point.

"You should hear some of Chocho's fantasy things about you," said Inojin.

"Oh?" Shikamaru seemed intrigued. He was mildly curious about how a girl his son's age perceived him.

"She said that with the right attitude, even you could be appealing."

Shikamaru wrinkled his nose. "What? Is Chocho having thoughts about me? I'm too old for her."

"No, not like that," Inojin said quickly. "Though she did say you'd be pretty cool if you weren't such a slob."

"A slob?" Shikamaru repeated in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Says you're not man enough to be cool in her book."

Sai's body shook with laughter.

"What the hell's so funny?" Shikamaru asked him.

"I've been called more feminine than you," Sai confessed, still trying to keep from laughing.

Shikamaru snorted then started laughing himself. "That's true. Remember when Ino wanted to use you as a model that one time?"

"That was because I lost a bet."

"That's what we told you."

Sai leaned forward in surprise. "You mean that wasn't true?"

"Can we hear this story?" Boruto asked.

"Do we want to?" asked Shikadai.

"I'd rather not picture my dad in a dress," said Inojin. "Even if he had the figure for it."

Shikamaru sat back on the log he was sharing with his son. "I get your point, though. Chocho doesn't think I'm cool. Which is fine. I never thought of myself that way in the first place."

"Don't you want to be cool?" asked Boruto.

"Nah. Too troublesome."

Thinking he could redeem himself after that lackluster story, Inojin decided to take another crack at storytelling. "Well, that does remind me of a tale a lot of people can sink their teeth into."