Fanfic: The Office, Part 8
Title: The Office, Part 8/?
Author: meepers369
Summary: AU. Ino can’t help but feel miffed regarding Shikamaru’s duty to escort the Chicago representative around the office.
Read the chapter on Fanfiction.net
Read Previous: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
Shikamaru was again, inexplicably suffering from Ino's amazing ability to ignore and avoid him at all turns. On Monday he was casually strolling by her office, intent on inviting her and Chouji to that amazing restaurant with a barbecue in the table for lunch, but she merely flashed him a quick smile before hurrying off with some interns. The day continued with many harried and lame excuses for being busy, until at one point where he was driven in circles by her giggling hench(wo)men. Dear lord, he hated how easily girls giggled. This was a professional workspace. You think people would have better things to do than be amused by a frustrated man, all the while keeping Ino away from him.
When he could see her face-to-face, she would be all polite smiles and quick excuses to get away. He almost wanted her to yell at him the way she usually would when he did something wrong, but the most emotion he got was a small forced smile.
…
Ino decided the best way to avoid thinking about Shikamaru and her constant hurt was to avoid him. Annoyingly, he seemed intent on hunting her down today. Her darling associates, though, seemed to pick up on her intent to avoid Shikamaru, and helped her with it. (She could tell they found it amusing. It wasn’t often that you could get Shikamaru worked up like this.)
It was hard, though, to keep up her politeness and a frozen exterior to Shikamaru. She couldn’t help but feel sad and drained whenever she saw the pineapple head followed by a bobbing of four miniature blonde ones. So maybe she threw herself into the work harder than usual, and took on a tad bit more of the projects than delegating as she usually did, but it helped her avoid confronting a nasty set of emotions that she really didn't want to think about.
…
Shikamaru, as many would characterize, is a genius. So he took the hint. He stopped trying to look for Ino. (Temari also kept asking where he was popping to so much, and for some reason he felt like hiding it from her. Odd. ) He found Chouji instead, wonderful, reasonable, jolly Chouji who was never without a smile and had insights that would hopefully ease his pain.
"Ino's ignoring me," he muttered grumpily. "Again."
In response, Chouji merely grinned. The traitor. Even his best friend enjoyed laughing at his misery.
"I can tell you for certain that I did nothing. I haven't seen her enough these weeks to do anything. She's not even angry at me, she's just ignoring me. I detect zero anger. But she is still ignoring me. For no reason."
In response, Chouji nodded gravely. And continued to pull his next victim from a bag of potato chips.
"Can't you say something? Do you know what's wrong?" Shikamaru very much wanted to throttle someone right now, but all Chouji would do was chew. Chew chew munch munch.
"I'm seeing a new girl." Chouji finally spoke, and with pride.
"Oh? Is this the new confectioner you hired?" Shikamaru smirked at Chouji's slight blush. As if Chouji could hide anything from him!
"Amy. She's great. I'm taking her to the formal semi-formal!"
Shikamaru smiled at Chouji's pleasure. Then he scowled. "You're leading away from the topic. Why is Ino avoiding me?" Chouji merely smiled.
"Amy and I went on a date. The usual kind of thing. We watched a movie." Chouji casually continued as if Shikamaru hadn't mentioned anything. "We walked around after. Ran into Ino. Invited Ino to lunch with us. We went to the restaurant with the wonderful grill in the middle!" Chouji beamed at Shikamaru, who merely stared. "After lunch, walked around some more. Ino left us when Amy and I went into a bakery. Walked around some more. Saw Ino again, but she looked extremely upset. She walked away before I could catch up with her. Saw you," here Chouji paused and looked meaningfully at Shikamaru, "You were strolling out of some high end shop with Temari on the crook of your arm. You walked away before I said hi. Walked around some more with Amy. Took Amy home. We're going out again this weekend!"
At the end of his statement, Chouji smiled brightly returned to picking off his chips, one by one. Shikamaru gaped at Chouji.
"You--Ino--what??? You guys SAW?" Chouji merely munched on his chips. Shikamaru groaned. "Why didn't you warn me! Say hi to me? I'm never going to live this down!"
"Yeah, who knew you actually liked malls!" Chouji chirped. Shikamaru glared at him. Chouji had a suspicious smirk on his face.
"I just didn't want Ino to see…" Shikamaru mumbled. Chouji grinned. Shikamaru frowned. "But she was unhappy? That means...that..." Chouji merely continued working on his chips. Chew chew munch munch. Shikamaru didn't notice the munching much anymore. He continued mutter hesitantly. "That sounds a lot like -- I mean, I'm not trying to be an ass or anything -- but it sounds a lot like she's jealous." Chew chew munch stop. Stare. Shikamaru looked back at Chouji, aghast. "But Ino doesn't get jealous like this quiet awkward smiley way! She usually yells and huffs about it. To us. And maybe cries. If she was really serious about it."
"She looked almost as if she was in tears," offered Chouji. Chew much chew. Shikamaru watched the chips disappear, one at a time.
Well, this was a neat little tangle. This could not be solved easily. Yet somehow, knowing Ino was jealous made him feel a lot happier than before.
…
Shikamaru was mulling over these new set of revelations, almost hoping for something to take his mind off of them when Temari interrupted his thoughts.
"I have something important to discuss with you." Temari's voice was calm and serious, more so than usual. Shikamaru snapped out of his thoughts and turned to pay full attention to her.
"First of all, thank you for coming with me on Saturday. It was great having someone there, while I am still unfamiliar with the area…and I had a lot of fun." Temari paused, looking slightly embarrassed.
"My pleasure," responded Shikamaru, not without a little happiness.
Temari smiled. "The main thing I wanted to talk to you about. I've been watching you closely these past few weeks as you've guided me around and shown me your working strategies. I got off the phone yesterday with my brother, who, as you know, is the director of the Chicago branch." Temari paused, and took a deep breath. "He has, after my reports of your abilities, decided to extend you an offer. We are ready to pay double your current salary if you will switch to the Chicago branch."
Shikamaru stared at Temari, stunned. "I don't…"
Temari shook her head. "I know this is sudden and you'll need time to think about it, so you don't need to say anything for now. Just let me know of your decision by the end of this week, before the semi-formal. I'd like to announce your move then, if you take it, too." Watching Shikamaru's expression, Temari smiled gently. "I know this is difficult, since your friends and family are here but...as you can see, we really value your abilities. And I personally would really welcome you joining our branch." The soft smile disappeared as Temari returned to her business voice. "This offer is to be kept strictly confidential, though I've already informed Tsunade of it. You should not need me to tell you to keep your discretion." Temari smiled again. "I've really enjoyed the past few weeks with your company, and needless to say, I'd love to see you join our branch."
As Temari quietly sat down at her temporary desk, all previous thoughts of annoying best friends flew out of Shikamaru's mind. He couldn't think. Double the salary? But Chicago? His family? His friends? Chouji? Ino? But double the salary?
His thoughts wouldn't settle.
…
Ino was watching TV when Tenten came back home, humming to herself. Ino smirked. "Good night with Neji? On a weekday night, too, goodness gracious me." Tenten merely grinned before settling down on the couch next to Ino. They sat chatting over the TV for a bit, until Tenten quieted. After a bit, she spoke up again. "Ino? I have a strange favor to ask you."
"I'm all ears."
"You know Neji's cousin, Hinata? The quiet shy girl? Could you take her to our semi-formal?" Tenten fidgeted, blushing slightly. "Neji would have taken her himself, but then he couldn't spend that much time with me."
Ino smiled. "Of course! I'm out of options anyway, as you know. You've solved a wonderful dilemma for me. Now I don't have to go by myself!" Tenten smiled back.
"Thanks, Ino."
"Can I know why this Hyuuga heiress is so interested in our semi-formal though?"
"Don't tell anyone but...apparently she's interested in Naruto. Neji refuses to tell me everything, but last time I casually mentioned Naruto in front of her she blushed as red as a tomato! It was quite adorable."
"Naruto?!" Tenten laughed at Ino's face. Ino was quiet for a bit, then grinned. "I think I can do better than just taking Hinata to the semiformal. How about I arrange Naruto as a date for her?"
Tenten stared doubtfully at Ino.
"Can you do that? Also, Hinata is extremely, extremely shy. I don't know if she'd handle it."
"Don't worry!" said Ino gleefully. "I'll make her night my own special project!"
…
It was an easy enough affair to convince Kiba to go on a double date with Naruto and a mysterious fourth girl to the formal. Oh my god I get to see Naruto acting awkward in front of a girl for 6 hours YES OF COURSE I'LL GO and YES I'LL MAKE HIM GO we were going to go together as single bros anyway so he has no reason to refuse! Really, Kiba was like a girl sometimes, the way he got excited about these kind of things. Any material to tease his friends at later time was gold for him. From there, it was a matter of soothing Naruto's bruised ego regarding Sakura and Sasuke to get him to agree to go with a blind date.
She was happily congratulating herself on not only successfully setting Hinata up with her crush but also getting herself a date merely days before the semi-formal when she ran into Shikamaru on her way back to her desk. He looked so shockingly troubled that Ino forgot all her bad feeling towards him.
"Shika! Something wrong?"
He smiled crookedly at her and shook his head. "What, talking to me again?" he commented wryly.
Ino harrumphed. She tried again. "You look like hell. What's wrong?"
Shikamaru gave her a little dismissive wave. "Nothing to worry your pretty little head over."
With that, Shikamaru strolled away, his stoop a little more depressing than usual. Ino was still worried, but now she was angry. She hated when the boys pretended nothing was wrong while obviously hiding (or failing to hide) their unhappy feelings. Her daddy always said that men had to have their secrets, but she still did not approve of it.
"Stop hunching, you caveman throwback!" Ino screeched at the retreating figure. Shikamaru stopped briefly and let out an exasperated sigh, but his back straightened.
…
Shikamaru's head felt much clearer. Somehow, after his tiny encounter with Ino, he understood. He understood that he was in denial about the way Temari felt towards him, and he needed to clear that up. He understood that Chouji was a lot more perceptive than he thought. He thought that Sakura probably knew about his offer, thanks to the meetings he had with Tsunade. He knew Sakura would tell Ino because in the end, she was a pretty loyal friend to Ino. He also understood that Ino could read his emotions like no one else could, even as she frustrated him with her little quirks. He understood her quirks were just part of who she was, in addition to being secretly caring and worrying, and he wouldn't have her any other way. And he knew what he was going to do about his offer.
Now it required some careful planning to make things go the right way.
…
Buildings away, Neji stumbled to catch a fainting Hinata. He looked doubtfully at Tenten, who had the honor of being the bearer of probably The Best News Hinata Had Ever Heard. She shrugged. "Hinata will be fine. Ino knows what she's doing." Neji sighed, having a sinking suspicion that his night was going to have a lot less watching Tenten dance and more keeping Hinata from being overly embarrassed than he had hoped.
Author: meepers369
Summary: AU. Ino can’t help but feel miffed regarding Shikamaru’s duty to escort the Chicago representative around the office.
Read the chapter on Fanfiction.net
Read Previous: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
Shikamaru was again, inexplicably suffering from Ino's amazing ability to ignore and avoid him at all turns. On Monday he was casually strolling by her office, intent on inviting her and Chouji to that amazing restaurant with a barbecue in the table for lunch, but she merely flashed him a quick smile before hurrying off with some interns. The day continued with many harried and lame excuses for being busy, until at one point where he was driven in circles by her giggling hench(wo)men. Dear lord, he hated how easily girls giggled. This was a professional workspace. You think people would have better things to do than be amused by a frustrated man, all the while keeping Ino away from him.
When he could see her face-to-face, she would be all polite smiles and quick excuses to get away. He almost wanted her to yell at him the way she usually would when he did something wrong, but the most emotion he got was a small forced smile.
…
Ino decided the best way to avoid thinking about Shikamaru and her constant hurt was to avoid him. Annoyingly, he seemed intent on hunting her down today. Her darling associates, though, seemed to pick up on her intent to avoid Shikamaru, and helped her with it. (She could tell they found it amusing. It wasn’t often that you could get Shikamaru worked up like this.)
It was hard, though, to keep up her politeness and a frozen exterior to Shikamaru. She couldn’t help but feel sad and drained whenever she saw the pineapple head followed by a bobbing of four miniature blonde ones. So maybe she threw herself into the work harder than usual, and took on a tad bit more of the projects than delegating as she usually did, but it helped her avoid confronting a nasty set of emotions that she really didn't want to think about.
…
Shikamaru, as many would characterize, is a genius. So he took the hint. He stopped trying to look for Ino. (Temari also kept asking where he was popping to so much, and for some reason he felt like hiding it from her. Odd. ) He found Chouji instead, wonderful, reasonable, jolly Chouji who was never without a smile and had insights that would hopefully ease his pain.
"Ino's ignoring me," he muttered grumpily. "Again."
In response, Chouji merely grinned. The traitor. Even his best friend enjoyed laughing at his misery.
"I can tell you for certain that I did nothing. I haven't seen her enough these weeks to do anything. She's not even angry at me, she's just ignoring me. I detect zero anger. But she is still ignoring me. For no reason."
In response, Chouji nodded gravely. And continued to pull his next victim from a bag of potato chips.
"Can't you say something? Do you know what's wrong?" Shikamaru very much wanted to throttle someone right now, but all Chouji would do was chew. Chew chew munch munch.
"I'm seeing a new girl." Chouji finally spoke, and with pride.
"Oh? Is this the new confectioner you hired?" Shikamaru smirked at Chouji's slight blush. As if Chouji could hide anything from him!
"Amy. She's great. I'm taking her to the formal semi-formal!"
Shikamaru smiled at Chouji's pleasure. Then he scowled. "You're leading away from the topic. Why is Ino avoiding me?" Chouji merely smiled.
"Amy and I went on a date. The usual kind of thing. We watched a movie." Chouji casually continued as if Shikamaru hadn't mentioned anything. "We walked around after. Ran into Ino. Invited Ino to lunch with us. We went to the restaurant with the wonderful grill in the middle!" Chouji beamed at Shikamaru, who merely stared. "After lunch, walked around some more. Ino left us when Amy and I went into a bakery. Walked around some more. Saw Ino again, but she looked extremely upset. She walked away before I could catch up with her. Saw you," here Chouji paused and looked meaningfully at Shikamaru, "You were strolling out of some high end shop with Temari on the crook of your arm. You walked away before I said hi. Walked around some more with Amy. Took Amy home. We're going out again this weekend!"
At the end of his statement, Chouji smiled brightly returned to picking off his chips, one by one. Shikamaru gaped at Chouji.
"You--Ino--what??? You guys SAW?" Chouji merely munched on his chips. Shikamaru groaned. "Why didn't you warn me! Say hi to me? I'm never going to live this down!"
"Yeah, who knew you actually liked malls!" Chouji chirped. Shikamaru glared at him. Chouji had a suspicious smirk on his face.
"I just didn't want Ino to see…" Shikamaru mumbled. Chouji grinned. Shikamaru frowned. "But she was unhappy? That means...that..." Chouji merely continued working on his chips. Chew chew munch munch. Shikamaru didn't notice the munching much anymore. He continued mutter hesitantly. "That sounds a lot like -- I mean, I'm not trying to be an ass or anything -- but it sounds a lot like she's jealous." Chew chew munch stop. Stare. Shikamaru looked back at Chouji, aghast. "But Ino doesn't get jealous like this quiet awkward smiley way! She usually yells and huffs about it. To us. And maybe cries. If she was really serious about it."
"She looked almost as if she was in tears," offered Chouji. Chew much chew. Shikamaru watched the chips disappear, one at a time.
Well, this was a neat little tangle. This could not be solved easily. Yet somehow, knowing Ino was jealous made him feel a lot happier than before.
…
Shikamaru was mulling over these new set of revelations, almost hoping for something to take his mind off of them when Temari interrupted his thoughts.
"I have something important to discuss with you." Temari's voice was calm and serious, more so than usual. Shikamaru snapped out of his thoughts and turned to pay full attention to her.
"First of all, thank you for coming with me on Saturday. It was great having someone there, while I am still unfamiliar with the area…and I had a lot of fun." Temari paused, looking slightly embarrassed.
"My pleasure," responded Shikamaru, not without a little happiness.
Temari smiled. "The main thing I wanted to talk to you about. I've been watching you closely these past few weeks as you've guided me around and shown me your working strategies. I got off the phone yesterday with my brother, who, as you know, is the director of the Chicago branch." Temari paused, and took a deep breath. "He has, after my reports of your abilities, decided to extend you an offer. We are ready to pay double your current salary if you will switch to the Chicago branch."
Shikamaru stared at Temari, stunned. "I don't…"
Temari shook her head. "I know this is sudden and you'll need time to think about it, so you don't need to say anything for now. Just let me know of your decision by the end of this week, before the semi-formal. I'd like to announce your move then, if you take it, too." Watching Shikamaru's expression, Temari smiled gently. "I know this is difficult, since your friends and family are here but...as you can see, we really value your abilities. And I personally would really welcome you joining our branch." The soft smile disappeared as Temari returned to her business voice. "This offer is to be kept strictly confidential, though I've already informed Tsunade of it. You should not need me to tell you to keep your discretion." Temari smiled again. "I've really enjoyed the past few weeks with your company, and needless to say, I'd love to see you join our branch."
As Temari quietly sat down at her temporary desk, all previous thoughts of annoying best friends flew out of Shikamaru's mind. He couldn't think. Double the salary? But Chicago? His family? His friends? Chouji? Ino? But double the salary?
His thoughts wouldn't settle.
…
Ino was watching TV when Tenten came back home, humming to herself. Ino smirked. "Good night with Neji? On a weekday night, too, goodness gracious me." Tenten merely grinned before settling down on the couch next to Ino. They sat chatting over the TV for a bit, until Tenten quieted. After a bit, she spoke up again. "Ino? I have a strange favor to ask you."
"I'm all ears."
"You know Neji's cousin, Hinata? The quiet shy girl? Could you take her to our semi-formal?" Tenten fidgeted, blushing slightly. "Neji would have taken her himself, but then he couldn't spend that much time with me."
Ino smiled. "Of course! I'm out of options anyway, as you know. You've solved a wonderful dilemma for me. Now I don't have to go by myself!" Tenten smiled back.
"Thanks, Ino."
"Can I know why this Hyuuga heiress is so interested in our semi-formal though?"
"Don't tell anyone but...apparently she's interested in Naruto. Neji refuses to tell me everything, but last time I casually mentioned Naruto in front of her she blushed as red as a tomato! It was quite adorable."
"Naruto?!" Tenten laughed at Ino's face. Ino was quiet for a bit, then grinned. "I think I can do better than just taking Hinata to the semiformal. How about I arrange Naruto as a date for her?"
Tenten stared doubtfully at Ino.
"Can you do that? Also, Hinata is extremely, extremely shy. I don't know if she'd handle it."
"Don't worry!" said Ino gleefully. "I'll make her night my own special project!"
…
It was an easy enough affair to convince Kiba to go on a double date with Naruto and a mysterious fourth girl to the formal. Oh my god I get to see Naruto acting awkward in front of a girl for 6 hours YES OF COURSE I'LL GO and YES I'LL MAKE HIM GO we were going to go together as single bros anyway so he has no reason to refuse! Really, Kiba was like a girl sometimes, the way he got excited about these kind of things. Any material to tease his friends at later time was gold for him. From there, it was a matter of soothing Naruto's bruised ego regarding Sakura and Sasuke to get him to agree to go with a blind date.
She was happily congratulating herself on not only successfully setting Hinata up with her crush but also getting herself a date merely days before the semi-formal when she ran into Shikamaru on her way back to her desk. He looked so shockingly troubled that Ino forgot all her bad feeling towards him.
"Shika! Something wrong?"
He smiled crookedly at her and shook his head. "What, talking to me again?" he commented wryly.
Ino harrumphed. She tried again. "You look like hell. What's wrong?"
Shikamaru gave her a little dismissive wave. "Nothing to worry your pretty little head over."
With that, Shikamaru strolled away, his stoop a little more depressing than usual. Ino was still worried, but now she was angry. She hated when the boys pretended nothing was wrong while obviously hiding (or failing to hide) their unhappy feelings. Her daddy always said that men had to have their secrets, but she still did not approve of it.
"Stop hunching, you caveman throwback!" Ino screeched at the retreating figure. Shikamaru stopped briefly and let out an exasperated sigh, but his back straightened.
…
Shikamaru's head felt much clearer. Somehow, after his tiny encounter with Ino, he understood. He understood that he was in denial about the way Temari felt towards him, and he needed to clear that up. He understood that Chouji was a lot more perceptive than he thought. He thought that Sakura probably knew about his offer, thanks to the meetings he had with Tsunade. He knew Sakura would tell Ino because in the end, she was a pretty loyal friend to Ino. He also understood that Ino could read his emotions like no one else could, even as she frustrated him with her little quirks. He understood her quirks were just part of who she was, in addition to being secretly caring and worrying, and he wouldn't have her any other way. And he knew what he was going to do about his offer.
Now it required some careful planning to make things go the right way.
…
Buildings away, Neji stumbled to catch a fainting Hinata. He looked doubtfully at Tenten, who had the honor of being the bearer of probably The Best News Hinata Had Ever Heard. She shrugged. "Hinata will be fine. Ino knows what she's doing." Neji sighed, having a sinking suspicion that his night was going to have a lot less watching Tenten dance and more keeping Hinata from being overly embarrassed than he had hoped.