"Are you going to eat that?"

Ino glared at the piece of meat sitting on her plate, and then glared at Choji who was already stuffing his face with his own meat. He had gone on a mission and was temporarily in his hot mode. It almost made him dateable, but he'd only need two days before he was back to normal.

Besides, he was more or less like a brother at this point.

"Nah," Shikamaru twirled his sake next to Choji. "You know how she is; she's probably on another diet, especially after—"

Before he could finish that sentence, Ino acted, quickly scooping up all the meat on her plate as well as some more from the grill between them and shoving all of it in her mouth, chewing vigorously. The regret wasn't instant, but it did come pretty quick as she found herself choking on the massive amount of barbeque she had just stuffed in her face.

This was it.

This was how she was going to die.

With a mouth full of meat.

God she hoped that wasn't on her tombstone.

She chewed like her life depended on it, and was rewarded by Temari handing her a very delicious cup of sake.

"Thanks." Ino coughed as she pounded on her chest for a moment. "That was a dumb idea."

"Nah, I get it." Temari said and then glared at Shikamaru. "Not your fault someone here doesn't know what tact is."

Shikamaru sighed and looked at Temari for a moment before he settled on Ino. "Look, it's not like we can just avoid talking about it forever." He reached for his smokes before changing his mind; that, or Temari's glare stopped him. "It's been months, and not only does she actively avoid it, she's been…" Shikamaru sighed and gestured at Ino. "Troublesome."

"You want me to hit him?" Temari offered with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey…" Shikamaru groaned, reclining back into his seat more. Any further and he'd be laying on the ground.

"No, it's fine," Ino let out her own sigh. "He's not wrong."

But he wasn't quite right either.

"I've been uhh…" She stared at some of the meat that Choji had happily placed on the bbq and snatched up a bite right as it finished cooking.

Choji was completely unbothered and began to simply cook more meat. He even leaned over signally the waitress for more.

"Avoiding it by stuffing your face?" Temari asked, and then shook her head. "Sorry, I mean, uhh, well, you did just stuff your face instead of talking about it. Literally."

"We all heal differently." Choji said as another batch of meats and veggies were brought out, even a plate of gyoza wrappers. "Some talk, others seek to heal others, others want to have others feel the pain they feel," He poked at the grill carefully measuring the meats and veggies as they sizzled, his hands acting with a trained grace that she had only seen him demonstrate during missions. "Shikamaru smokes, Kiba runs, Rock Lee Trains, Sakura punches." He looked towards Temari and smiled at her as his hands carefully assembled a dumpling, the dough being pinched perfectly before it was placed on the grill for just a second and then sat on Ino's plate.

The dumpling tasted so good that Ino almost wanted to cry.

"I don't know what you do Temari, but I have a feeling you seek to understand and better yourself so you won't have to be hurt again." A dumpling was placed on each other person's plate, as Choji continued to cook. "We Akamichi believe the best way to heal is with a good meal shared with family and friends."

Another dumpling was placed on Ino's plate.

"Choji I…" Ino started slowly, unsure of what she could say.

"Ino, you get loud so that people won't worry about you, if everyone else thinks that you are fine then you must be fine. But then you keep all that hurt inside letting it heal slowly over time." Choji only paused to take a bite of his own double sized dumpling before he went back to cooking. "But you're still hurt, hurt more than you're willing to let others know."

Shikamaru sighed and scratched at his beard. "Reminds me of another blond."

"Oi,"

"Different blond."

"Huh?"

"Naruto."

"Oh, yeah now that you mention it."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Can we not compare me to Naruto, I'm not that selfless, and I'm not that dumb."

Shikamaru made a sound that sounded like disagreement.

Shikamaru made a sound that sounded like slight pain.

Weird, how did her chopstick get all the way over there.

"Still, thanks Choji, but I don't think eating my problems is a good idea."

"Why? You worry too much about your figure."

Ino could only roll her eyes as she enjoyed yet another heavenly dumpling.

"Uhh, I'm not exactly sure how girl talk works." Temari scratched at her curly blonde hair and offered a slight shrug. "But, uhh, if you need me to set you up with someone I know a few guys from Suna."

Ino just hummed and drummed her fingers along the table. "Kankuro and Gaara."

Temari shrugged. "They're both high ranking officials in Suna so… I mean, that's gotta count for something."

"It's actually a downside." Ino sat straight, "I'd have to leave Konoha."

"Ehh, at least I can tell Kankuro I tried so he'd stop bugging me about it." Temari just shrugged. "But, besides that terrible idea, what's going on with you? Last I heard you were dating that Sai guy right? He seemed alright."

She twinged when Temari said his name. Why did it feel like every time it felt like she was getting over it, she'd end up just feeling worse? "Well, basically he was using me to see if he felt emotions"

"Sai was raised by Root," Shikamaru interjected, his finger tapping on his smokes. "Meaning he was trained from a young age to not feel emotions. So he's been trying to learn. Apparently it doesn't work."

"Has Naruto punched him?" Temari asked with a smile on her face as she held up her hands. "Look, I'm just saying, that punk knocked the humanity back into my brother when they were kids. I mean you saw how Gaara was before."

Boy did they ever.

"No idea," Ino shrugged, "I think Sakura maybe hit him at least once, she complained about him a lot back then."

Really that should have been a red flag.

Ino sighed and finished off her sake in a single sip. "I kind of thought things were fine, my standards were really just hot man with black hair and pale skin."

"Sasuke?" Temari asked.

"Sasuke." Choji and Shikamaru answered.

Ino felt her cheeks redden.

"We dated for a long time, he was a gentleman, blah blah blah, better than this lazy ass over here." Ino gestured towards Shikamaru.

"Here here!" Temari raised her own glass.

"Troublesome."

"But, when I brought up the idea of marriage, well, he told me that he read that it was for something that people in love did, and well." Ino felt a tear fall from her eye. "Last I saw him, he said he felt guilty about leading me on for so long."

"Damn, that sucks." Temari placed a hand on Ino's shoulder. "But look at it this way! You're like the third most popular Konoha shinobi in Suna!"

"Huh?" Ino asked, where was this going.

"Yeah, Naruto is first because well, Gaara, and then Sakura is second because, well, Gaara again, but you're known as the uhh, the super cutie from Konoha!"

Temari's left eye gave a slight twitch as she gave Ino a big goofy smile.

Ino laughed.

She laughed hard.

"You are such a bad liar Temari."

"Uhh, I am?"

"Yep, the absolute worst."

The smile Ino wore was real and genuine.

At least until she was alone, and it all came crashing down around her again. But at least this time, she felt like she could at least breathe.

She laid on her bed, staring up at her ceiling for a long time as she took in a deep breath. Her stomach was full with good food, and the buzz she had built up from drinking with her team and Temari had felt good.

Her lips tingle, and she remembered again what it was like when she first kissed Sai. It had been awkward, and awkwarder still when they did so after he researched it, but she still remembered the tingles.

She was glad that Shikamaru had Temari, the two made a good couple. Temari could keep him in line, and well… honestly she had no idea what Temari got out of the deal. "Pfft," Ino snorted and flopped in her bed. "Shikamaru is fine, he's actually reliable now."

Just took some death.

But she was also glad that she got along well with Temari. The girl from Suna had a strong will and was… well, she was just nice to talk to once she got over the awkwardness.

"The next generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho combo might happen after all."

At least one third of it will, maybe one of the branch families could pick up Choji's slack, or some other Yamanaka could take over for her. There had to be a few generations where the Ino-Shika-Cho combo didn't have the clan heads. Sure most of them did… but…

Ino brought up her knees to her chest and felt her eyes slowly close.

She let out a ragged breath as sleep began to take over.

"Sai…"

I love you.