Sky on Fire: Slow Burn - Chapter 3
Title: Slow Burn
Chapter: 03 Progress
Author/Artist: Skylar Inari
Pairing: Yamanaka Ino/Nara Shikamaru
Theme: 21: BAKA!! (stupid, idiot)
Word Count: 10, 430
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. It's Kishimoto's and I just play with it. AU immediately after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Part 3 of ? Unbeta’d.
Ino fidgeted nervously and knocked sharply on the door. It had taken some work but she'd managed to track down Asuma-sensei's apartment number - and the Chuunin at the Mission Center had told her he was home. From the looks on their faces though she guessed that he wasn’t going to be for long. Knowing that this might be the last chance she’d have for weeks - it really depended on the mission - Ino had raced off to see if she could catch him before his next mission did. As it was Sunday the Academy was closed and she had a bit of free time before she had to go meet up with Shizune-sensei at the hospital.
She'd been trying to get a hold of him for the last week, since her father had told her to, but the Jounin had proved hard to reach. Only to be expected, really, but it was a nuisance just the same when she had had to conduct her search for him around all of her other training.
Shizune-sensei had taken one look at her written schedule and immediately claimed her entire day off for medical training. The training started at seven, which was why she was standing on her sensei's doorstop at just after six in the morning. She’d been up since four. In Ino logic this meant that everyone should have been up by now.
After a few minutes of her standing there waiting and belatedly realizing that not everyone would be awake - let alone willing to come to the door - Ino wondered if she ought to knock again. Surely she hadn't been too late already and that a new mission had come for him? It hadn't taken her more than ten minutes to get from the Mission Center to his place.
The door opened a few inches just as she had made up her mind to knock again. Her teacher's face appeared in the gap. Upon seeing her his eyebrows raised slightly, "Ino?"
"Good morning, Asuma-sensei!" She chirped brightly, unable to hide the fact that she was happy to see him. It was good to see him after so long. "Can I talk to you for a few minutes?"
He opened his door wordlessly, one hand lighting a cigarette as she went past. "It's quarter after six in the morning Ino, what's up?"
"Don't you do any cleaning?" She asked while pretending not to hear his question, "This place obviously needs a woman's touch," Ino gave him a coy look, "Maybe Yuuhi-san could help you?"
He spluttered.
Ino delighted in her victory even as she considered what she was going to tell him exactly. Her father hadn't said that she need to tell her sensei everything after all. She picked at the bandages on her arms and watched as he shut the door.
"How have you been doing?" He asked when he had turned back to her, running one hand through his unkempt hair, "I'm sorry that I haven't been able to keep up with what you've been doing. The boys too."
Ino took the seat he offered her and gave him her best understanding smile. This close she could see that he looked exhausted, "It's alright - we'll be put back together when Konoha can spare you from the higher missions." It wasn't that she didn't miss being on Team 10 - but rather that this break was exactly what Ino needed to work on herself. If she looked at it that way it was hard to complain about the separation.
They made small talk for a few minutes before her sensei managed to talk her back around to why she had come. "It's nice and all that you've come to visit - but what's up?" The look on his face said that she wasn’t fooling him.
Ino sighed and then ploughed forward bravely, deciding to tell him most of her practical concerns and reasons for about her decision to start learning medical jutsu - after all, what objections could he have to that? Medical jutsu were a useful skill to have.
"And you don't want it discussed with Shikamaru and Chouji?" He frowned at her.
"Well, just Shikamaru mostly - he's being unreasonable again just because I'm a girl - Chouji would be fine if I knew that he wouldn't tell." Ino shrugged, hiding her unease with casual movements - she’d known from the moment that she’d gotten to that part that he’d ask at least one question about that decision. "I don't want them to know yet."
“That’s not a good enough reason to mess with the team Ino.” Asuma-sensei’s voice was stern, “If it were just your Clan’s Techniques in particular I could excuse it, but medical ninjutsu isn’t covered under the Clan Confidential. There’s no way that it could be outside of a few specific techniques.”
She scowled openly. The Clan Confidential, as they had learned at the Academy, was the Hokage’s agreement to the village that each Clan had autonomy when it came to divulging information on their techniques. Each Hokage had to sign the agreement anew to signal that it would be upheld during their time as leader. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, “I don’t want them to know what I’m learning. I can’t, Asuma-sensei.”
Asuma-sensei took a long pull of his cigarette before replying, “I’ll need better reasons than a flat refusal, Ino. It’s not done lightly - a team can be ruined by a lack of communication. Why can’t you tell them? The full reason please.”
Ino hesitated, wondering if she could even fully explain it to herself. How did she explain the anger at the way that they had left her behind? The reasons that he must have done it for? That she was so weak that not even her own teammates had trusted her to be able to do a mission. That she would have been a liability when he’d taken Chouji with him. Anger choked her throat just thinking about it and now she had to tell him all of it…
“Ino,” she looked up and found Asuma-sensei watching her with sympathetic eyes. He patted the seat next to him, “Come talk to me - none of this will go any further than this room. I swear it. Stuff like this is one of the reasons they give Genin sensei for the first few years.”
Rubbing furiously at her eyes Ino stumbled over to him. The arm he put around her shoulders was the last straw and she burst into tears, the words tumbling over themselves until she was sure that her sensei wasn’t picking up more than half of them.
He stayed though, one hand rubbing in soothing circles at the small of her back and his low voice murmuring comforting nonsense as she explained what it had felt like to be left behind like that and how she didn’t want that to happen again. How much Shikamaru’s comments about her inability to do her job - the fact that Suzume-sensei had recommended her hadn’t seemed to make a difference to him.
His lack of trust in her hurt the most.
When she had cried herself out Asuma-sensei got her a cup of tea and a cold cloth to wipe her eyes with. He knelt down in front of her so that they were on the same eye level. “You’re doing great, Ino. It’s common knowledge that you’re one of the most outstanding up-and-coming kunoichi among the Genin.”
She flushed. Asuma-sensei wasn’t one to give compliments easily - you had to earn them. Ino had only one question though, “Then why doesn’t he see it?”
To her surprise her sensei laughed, “Because he’s a Nara through and through. Every Nara I’ve ever met has a streak of sexism a mile wide - girls are weaker than boys and so on. In his mind you’ve got to be protected. You’re his responsibility.”
“I’m able to take care of myself!” Ino burst out, anger raising its head again, “I’m not going to let him just push me to the side because I’m a girl!”
“I never said you were - I was talking about it from his point of view.” Asuma-sensei said in a soothing voice, “But that’s were I think he was coming from. Did you want me to talk to him?”
Ino stared at her hands clasped around the cup of tea, “Won’t that just make it worse?”
“It could,” He allowed, “But if might make it better too.”
When she didn’t respond Asuma-sensei sighed, “I’ll see if I can track him down before I have to leave,” Ino didn’t blame him for not sounding enthusiastic about his chances of managing that, “For now I’ll not tell them what you’re studying.”
“You won’t?” She looked up at him in surprise, “But after what you said…”
He frowned, “I said for now - and you’re to keep me fully updated on your progress. If Team 10 winds up in trouble I want to know what you can do. I’ll reconsider that decision after talking to Shikamaru.”
“Thank you, Asuma-sensei.” Ino said, finishing the last of her tea. Dabbing at her face with the cold cloth and determinedly not thinking about what she must look like after a fit like that Ino stared at him for a moment before asking, “Did you want to hear what I’ve already covered?”
They had just finished going over her training schedule - ‘be careful that you don’t take on too much’ - and her lessons so far with Shizune-sensei - ‘she’s got you reading that much theory?’ - when Ino glanced over at the clock and saw that it was half past eight.
Her blood went cold. She was an hour and a half late for her lesson! Making her excuses hurriedly, Ino was almost out the door when she paused and looked back at her teacher who was still sitting on the couch looking faintly surprised.
“Um,” She blushed, and dug out a slightly crumpled invitation, “I was wondering if you’d want to come to my, well mine and Shikamaru’s, birthday party on the 24th?” At his look she hurried on, “I know that it’s really late - over a month - but Chouji’s supposed to be out on the 20th and we didn’t want to have a party without him.”
Ino put the invitation on the counter nearest to the door and began her retreat, “Of course you don’t have to if you don’t want but I thought that you might want to come - “
“Ino?” She could tell that he was trying not to laugh at her.
“What?”
“You really want your sensei at your party?”
Ino hugged herself and looked away, “I just thought you might want to come, that’s all.” She knew that her face was no doubt brilliantly red with embarrassment.
“I’ll see if I’m in town.”
She beamed at him, “You’re the greatest, Asuma-sensei!”
Then with another pained look at the clock she bolted for the hospital. Shizune-sensei was going to kill her.
---
"Right," her father said as he turned the lights on in the Balance Room, "I trust you've read the scrolls?"
Of course she had - Ino was hardly going to just let that slide no matter how busy she was. Her Clan came first and so there had been a few days where she'd gone to see Shizune-sensei with her reading not quite as far along as it could have been. Luckily for her though she had an understanding sensei who'd merely pursed her lips and said slowly that they would have to take the studies just a bit slower then.
Ino took a seat, her usual one, and waited impatiently for her father to do the same. "Three times over." She assured him, "Most of it while hanging on the ceiling."
That way he'd know that she'd done both of the things that he'd ordered her to do. The ceiling had been an interesting challenge - Ino didn't know what he'd done to make it so slippery but she'd fallen more than once and it had taken more chakra out of her than she was used to expending for the exercise. The plus side was that she was now fairly confident that in a pinch she'd be able to stick herself on just about anything.
"How many times did you fall?" There was a gleam of amusement in his eyes.
She glowered, "Like I’d admit to that!"
To her surprise he let that pass, "I'll want to see how you do later though."
That wasn't a problem. After nearly three weeks of work at hanging herself from the ceiling from various body parts she wasn't worried about failing in front of him. Her father would be more likely to give her tips that she sorely needed on conserving her chakra - or maybe tips on building her chakra.
Now though, she knew that they'd work on the first steps of the jutsu her father had given her: Hypnosis no Jutsu.
It was a combat jutsu designed by Yamanaka Shiori during the founding of Konohagakure and the reign of the Shodaime. To offset the fact that the Yamanaka Clan, while one of the premier Clans in espionage and assassination was sorely lacking in full out war techniques, her ancestor had created it to give them a small edge in one on one combat.
Hypnosis no Jutsu was, in essence, a split second moment of utter disorientation. Down became up, front to back, even sight and sound were switched - for a second or two. It was a rare shinobi, she understood from her reading, that could recover instantaneously from that. And that was what her ancestor had wanted to cause. The few seconds that even the best shinobi would take to reorient themselves were seconds that they could take advantage of to win the fight.
As Ino understood it, if you had the chakra, the jutsu could be worn for hours at a time - making it an effective all out war technique if you were careful enough about conserving the rest of your chakra. But the scroll had mentioned that Yamanaka Shiori hadn't been able to iron all of the kinks out of it before she'd been taken down by an enemy nin.
When she mentioned the kinks her father smiled thinly, "No Yamanaka has been able to work out all of the downsides - and there are many - after all, during that war it was tradition to pass down knowledge through word of mouth and Shiori-sama didn’t have a chance to write down more than half of what she had figured. Its greatest flaw is that it’ll effect anyone who you come into eye contact with."
She winced. Ino could see times when that would be a definite disadvantage in combat. If she were to use the jutsu then she'd have to be reasonably certain that she wasn't going to accidentally come across her teammates. Which meant that she could use it reliably only when she was alone, especially as she wasn't planning on telling either of her teammates about it for the next while. Not with Shikamaru being such a boy about protecting her. Ino did make a mental note to tell Asuma-sensei though the next time that she saw him. He was out on another mission not twenty four hours after she'd left his apartment in such a rush, though so she wasn't sure when she would have a chance. Ino guessed, at best, that she'd see him at the party.
It wasn't much of a party really, just Shikamaru and her families getting together with the Akimichi. Really, it was more of a party for Chouji because he was the one that was getting out of the hospital. Ino considered that more important than celebrating a day that was over a month past.
Shizune-sensei hadn't been happy with her at all. The only thing that had staved off complete wrath was that she'd been talking to her primary sensei. While she couldn't technically be punished for that - no matter that she'd missed nearly two hours of her training - Shizune-sensei had assigned her a massive pile of scrolls to read since then.
"However," Her father was saying and she snapped her attention back to him, "We have come up with a better way to hide the use of it until the user gains refines their control. But first I'll have you try it so that you better understand what I'm talking about. The first seal is tiger..."
As he showed her the sequence of seals and explained the way that the jutsu required her to form her chakra in conjunction. As with many of her family's techniques Hypnosis no Jutsu merely used the hand seals as a way to focus and release the jutsu. The rest of it was mental.
By the time that she had managed to make the jutsu work properly she was panting and damp with sweat. "What's it look like?" She asked as very carefully she separated her hands, being careful not to let go of the jutsu. Ino could feel the drain of it on her chakra, it was steady enough that in a prolonged fight she'd be next to useless in fifteen minutes even if this was all that she used.
"Keep your head down." Her father told her sharply when she turned to look at him, "I don't feel like having all of my perceptions shifted. Stay there and I'll get you a mirror."
She flushed with embarrassment at having forgotten that it affected everyone while it was active. "Sorry," Ino muttered as her father maneuvered behind her.
"It's alright, sweetie. You're just going to have to make sure that you keep it in mind." There was a crash as several scrolls went flying past her head and Ino had to resist the urge to turn around and see what her father was doing. Surely it couldn't be that hard to get a mirror out? Where had he put it?
"Turn around. Slowly." He ordered her and she could hear him moving out of the way.
Ino turned and looked. There had been a mirror at the back of one of the shelves - on closer inspection it proved that the mirror was the back of the shelf and her father had been clearing the space so that she could see.
Around her eyes was a violently pink glow. Squinting at her reflection she guessed that the glow extended a good two inches around her eyes. "That's what it looks like?" Ino said with horror - it didn't look like something that she'd be able to hide. How was that supposed to help her out? No shinobi would be stupid enough to over look something like that.
"That's what it looks like at your stage of control." Her father said in his teaching voice, "As you gain greater understanding and practice the area will shrink. You may release the jutsu."
Ino did so with a grateful sigh. Slumping a bit against the back of the chair and trying not to breath too deeply from her exhaustion she looked over at her father. He was picking up the scrolls and she asked nonchalantly, "Do you want me to help?"
He gave her a long look, "Don't think I can't tell you're exhausted Ino. Sit down for a bit."
Just moving around the chair took more out of her than she would have wanted to admit. Sitting down was a welcome relief and she leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. "You mentioned control affects the size of the circles?" She asked after a few minutes of just lying back and breathing. "How much of a circle do you get?"
Her father rested one hand on the top of her head and she rolled her eyes up to look at him the best that she could. "Small enough that it's hardly noticeable in daylight." He admitted, his blue eyes bright with amusement as she groaned, "Full dark is a different matter altogether - it's hard to hide the glow no matter how good your control is."
"So don't use it in the dark then?"
"I wouldn't say never use it - but only do it as a last resort. Otherwise it makes you a pretty target
and ruins your night vision all at once." Taking the seat across from her father gave a smile, "I'm impressed that you managed it at all frankly, and so quickly - though your control is dismal - practice it down here once every morning and once more before you go to bed."
Ino nodded, trying to ignore the sting of her wounded pride and making a note of the conditions she shouldn't use it under, "No rainy days then? Or underground areas?"
"That's right." Her father made a face at that, "It works the best under sunny skies - that much light around helps make it less obvious that you're using a jutsu."
"Nothing will hide two inch circles around my eyes." Ino said flatly.
"Working on your control will only serve to shrink them - and I never said that there wasn't a way that we could help conceal them."
She straightened and leaned forward, ignoring the brief dizziness from the motion. "What do I have to do?"
"First, you have to go shopping."
---
A few days later she was seated on one of the wooden chairs in Shizune-sensei's preferred practice room. The floor was tiled white and it was chilly despite the warmth of the afternoon. Shizune-sensei had told her to go and wait for her while she finished up a bit of paperwork. Ino’s hands itched to look at some of the scrolls that were carefully locked in cases along the walls - she didn’t bother to see if she could get into them though. Shizune-sensei had told her the first day that the only scrolls she’d get to read were the ones that Shizune-sensei deemed necessary.
Ino made note to bring a scroll with her the next time she had a lesson. Just in case she had to wait again. She didn’t want to waste any time.
Her classes at the Academy had gone well today. She'd been covering the basics of sewing in her first class with the six year olds and more advanced stitches for the seven year olds to practice with. Then in the afternoon she had discussed with the older girls where to hide weapons when you were undercover as a common woman.
She hummed under her breath as shifted to get more comfortable on the hard wooden chair. The older girls would be dismayed to find that they had a test tomorrow - one that she'd conveniently neglected to tell them about beforehand.
The door in front of her opened and Ino tensed standing up to be better able to move, before relaxing when she realized that it was just her sensei. Shizune-sensei was looking harried, and she shut the door firmly enough that Ino knew that someone had been making her angry. "Sorry to make you wait, Ino-kun."
Sitting back down Ino waved off the apology, "It's not a problem - after all, you're doing this as a favor to me."
That got her a smile. Shizune-sensei clapped her hands together briskly, "Today I'm going to show you a chakra transfer technique. This one is useful during long term surgery - it allows a medic nin to go on without having to stop midway to recharge."
Ino nodded her head. Many jutsu surgeries could be fatal if they weren't completed in one go. The chakra, left unfocused and lacking the direction provided by the medic nin, would turn on the body it was trying to heal. Though there were a few cases of having to leave the surgery half done for a couple of hours... her reading had hinted at as much but she didn't think that Shizune-sensei would be covering that with her. Ino would ask Sakura about it some time. Sakura was currently up to her eyebrows in common coughs and colds.
"How can it help me out in the field?" She asked, knowing that chances were slim that she'd be called to assist on a operation like that in the middle of a mission. Not when, with her team, she was the only one with medical skills. Asuma-sensei had admitted to knowing a little bit, on account of his being Jounin he’d claimed, but that he was fairly pathetic at it.
"There will be times when you won't have access to medical supplies - and while I'm going to be teaching you quite a few jutsu, you don't know them yet - this one," here she paused and with a faint frown of concentration caused a green glow to appear around her hands, "will give you a chance to get your wounded comrade to someplace where you'll be able to use other things."
Ino frowned thoughtfully, "It's a practical application of Watanabe's Overlap, right?"
Watanabe's Overlap theorized that chakra resonated on a different level for everyone. Rather like a fingerprint really, which was why it was easy to know who was coming once you knew how to differentiate between chakra signals. Suzume-sensei had shown her how but it had been Shizune-sensei who’d given her the name to what she was doing.
It was said that if you had enough control you could change your 'frequency' to something that would be almost palatable to someone else's body. It had been mentioned though, in the scrolls, that there were several side effects. "Isn't that dangerous though?"
After all, her reading had been very firm about that - people weren’t meant to contain more chakra than their own. In a situation where it happened the chakras would turn against each other. No matter what the intent of the invading chakra was.
With a wave of her hands the green glow vanished and Shizune-sensei took a seat, leaning forward in what Ino knew was her serious mode, "That's right - this technique can kill if used long enough on a healthy person. Their body goes into Chakra Shock and then very quickly death follows. If I ever catch you using it on a Konoha nin..."
Ino gulped and shook her head, "I wouldn't! I promise."
"I know you wouldn't." Shizune-sensei assured her, "But we have to make sure - medical techniques are regulated for a reason, you know, and thirteen is young enough to be learning them that some people are nervous about it."
She had heard rumors to that effect. Sakura had reported a few of them, and Ino wasn't blind to the way that a few of the older medic-nins frowned at her when she showed up to her lessons.
"People are going to be watching me," Ino figured it would be mostly her that the scrutiny fell upon because Sakura was the Hokage's apprentice and that was a different kettle of fish altogether, "to see if I mess up, right?"
"I'm afraid so, Ino-kun." Shizune-sensei sighed and shook her head, "If you were two years older... well, no use complaining about that. The chakra transfer is to be used only when the person you're directing your chakra towards is either nearly drained and close to hitting Chakra Exhaustion, or when they're wounded badly enough that your chakra acts as a crutch rather than a hindrance. The theory for that is covered in..." Shizune-sensei asked leadingly.
Happily Ino had managed to do her reading the night before, and so she could answer this without any problems, "Hiroku's Theorem."
"You've got it." Shizune-sensei said with a pleased look, "Hiroku's Theorem states that the human body requires chakra to live and when somebody is that close to death it doesn't matter where that chakra comes from. Thus, you can use that in conjunction with Watanabe's Overlap to keep them alive until further help can arrive."
"You'd have to be careful though..." Ino said thoughtfully, "It would be easy to drain yourself down to nothing if you didn't watch it."
"That's true. This technique is mostly mental control as well as knowledge of how to channel chakra into your hands. You noticed that I didn't use any seals right?" When Ino nodded Shizune-sensei continued on, "It'll take you a while to get this one down, which is why we're starting with it first - by the time you have the chakra transfer down pat the other jutsu's should be easier for you. It'll also increase your reserves the more you use it. So I want you to use it as often as you can, your reserves aren't bad for a regular kunoichi considering how little time you've been active, but medical jutsu require more than you've got to give at the moment."
Ino made a note to practise it as often as she could. If she couldn't find the time then she'd make it. Her morning taijutsu practice could stand to be cut a bit - at least until she could talk her father or Asuma-sensei into training her one on one. Even if the technique was as exhausting as Shizune-sensei, Ino thought that the rest of the day would give her enough time to recharge. That way she wouldn't be completely useless when her father taught her in the evening.
"Now come stand by me," Shizune beckoned with one hand, "and we'll have you give it a go."
---
"No, Chiharu-chan you can't just eat the batter." Ino was saying patiently to the eight year old girl, "It's got to be cooked first."
She got a wrinkled up nose for her troubles. "It tastes better before we stick it in the oven though, Ino-sensei." This was said in an almost accusatory voice.
Ino sighed inwardly while pasting a smile on her face, "Let's go look at your batter, shall we?"
She'd barely managed to contain that crisis, and convince Chiharu and Mui that she really did mean it when she said that it would come out tasting better cooked when there was a cry of outrage from the other side of the room.
"Momoko-chan! Renge-chan!" Ino came swooping swiftly over to them, spotting the source of trouble immediately.
"Momoko's stealing our batter!" Renge said furiously, in one hand a spatula and a smear of flour on her cheek, "Just because hers is all lumpy doesn't mean she can help herself!"
"You've got enough! It's not fair that you've got Shizuka-kun to work with when Shizuka-kun already knows all of this." Momoko retorted, blue eyes blazing, as her partner, Ami, busied herself with stirring their newest acquisition into their bowl of batter, "Ami and I need it more than you do!"
Shizuka merely buried her head in her hands. Ino sympathized. "What have I told you two about fighting?" Ino asked seriously, "I don't care which of you started it - don't look at me like that Momoko-chan - but this class is a test to see how well you can follow instructions."
She took a deep breath and let it out - all four of the girls watched her apprehensively. After nearly a month under her care they knew of her temper. "Momoko-chan, Ami-chan, you'll be staying tomorrow after class to redo the entire recipe. Clean this mess up and review the proper methods for addressing nobility."
Ami's shoulders slumped and whispered, "Yes, Ino-sensei." Well, Ino felt bad for Ami, but the girl had to learn to stand up for herself. She had stressed at the beginning of the lesson what anyone caught cheating would have to do.
Momoko wasn't so cowed, "It was my idea, Ino-sensei! Don't take it out on Ami-chan. I'll do the stupid recipe all by myself."
"That's not good enough, and it was a stupid idea - what if you were posing as a servant and had no idea how to cook? There would be no Shizuka-chan and Renge-chan to cheat off of then. That kind of lazy thinking could get you killed one day. I won't have it." Ino said firmly, "Both of you knew that what you were doing was wrong. Ami-chan could have told you to stop it - even if it was your idea."
With a glower at her, Momoko turned away. Ino stood over the two girls until she was satisfied that they really were doing as she said. Then, once they'd gone with the dirty dishes to the sinks she turned to Renge and Shizuka. "Next time," she said firmly, "You two keep a better eye on what's going around you. Situational awareness is something that every kunoichi must strive to have."
They nodded and Ino was just starting to relax when, "Ino-sensei! Yoshino spit in our batter!"
She sighed and headed over to sort out another problem.
Two hours later, she slumped on one of the stools and surveyed the kitchen. The girls had done a good enough job cleaning the dishes but they had left the rest of the room in disarray. She would have to talk to them about that. Ino pursed her lips, maybe she'd make the next practical a cleaning one. The importance of hiding your evidence or something.
"My, my," said a familiar voice, "Would you like some help cleaning up, Ino-kun?"
Ino turned so quickly that she nearly fell off of the stool, "Suzume-sensei! You're back!"
"Alive and well." Her sensei agreed, standing in the doorway looking just a bit thinner than she had before leaving, "I trust my girls have made you welcome?"
"Depends on how you mean it." Ino stretched and picked up one of the cloths. Wetting it with warm soapy water Ino started scrubbing at the counter tops as Suzume-sensei did the same.
"Most of them, did anyway. Momoko-chan probably wishes that I'd go away." Unlike Risa, who was only five, who'd probably cry when she realized that Ino wasn't teaching anymore.
"I shall resume teaching tomorrow." Suzume-sensei said, echoing her thoughts, "Though I would like you to bring me up to speed with how far they've come. It would make them think that their sensei was silly if I had them repeat a lesson."
Ino laughed and as they cleaned she talked about what the students had accomplished. Once they had finished the room, leaving it as clean as it had been when they had started, and Ino had shown Suzume where she'd put the marked tests. Those would have to be gone over before they could be made a permanent part of each girl's school record.
At one point, as they discussed the marking on one of the culture tests, Suzume-sensei looked up at her with a crooked little grin and declared, "I made the right decision."
"Pardon?" Ino blinked up at her sensei.
"You would have had to work at it to be awful - instead you worked at being great and the results show." She held the papers out in example. "I am glad that my choice was a good one."
Ino flushed with pride. "I couldn't shirk on a mission - but I don't think I was all that good."
"Nevertheless," Suzume-sensei admonished, wagging one finger at her, "I am pleased. Hokage-sama will need your report within three days, I will review it before you hand it in. A written commendation is in order if everything is as well as this."
Ino knew when she was beaten, "As you wish, Suzume-sensei."
"Naturally, Ino-kun." Suzume-sensei looked over her glasses, "It is a talent."
---
“So why are we doing this again?” Sakura asked wearily as she followed Ino into another shop. “I’ve still got studying to do - Tsunade-sama’s not going to accept ‘my friend wanted to go shopping’ as an excuse.”
“I told you,” Ino said with exaggerated patience, as she scoped out another rack of sunglasses and by this time was getting just as tired of the whole mission, “My father told me - ordered really - that I buy a pair of gaudy glasses.”
And it was turning out to be a total pain, they must have been in four or five different shops already and yet they hadn’t found anything that she thought would fit what he had told her to get. Styles this year headed toward slim and elegant.
“Were those his actual words?” Her friend asked dubiously, “He really wants you to find and buy the ugliest pair of glasses in the village.”
Ino glowered as they left the shop and headed in search of another. “Well,” she temporized, “Not the ugliest but certainly nothing that I’d be caught dead in of my own free will. I mean, I don’t even wear glasses at the beach. Why would I want to buy a pair of them otherwise?”
That wasn’t exactly the truth, but then, Ino wasn’t allowed to tell the full truth because Sakura wasn’t related to her. It was a Clan secret and thus covered under the Clan Confidential so she had resorted to making up her father’s request. Which, Ino told herself virtuously, wasn’t a lie. Her father had told her to go and buy the glasses. He just hadn’t mentioned whether or not she had to go and do it alone.
Sakura sighed and stifled a yawn, “Did he have any other requirements?”
With a sigh Ino gave her the other part of what he’d told her, “He recommended pink.”
“You, in pink glasses?”
“I know, I’m totally not a pink - blue or purple would look better.” Ino said dismally, “But he insisted.”
They searched a few more shops and Ino was just beginning to lose all small remaining hope when they were walking in the general direction of home. That was when she found the perfect pair.
They were pink. Bright screaming pink with glitter on them - and to top it off on either side of them were large stars. She cringed to think of wearing them but Ino had to admit that even her father would be pleased with her selection. Frankly though, even if they hadn’t been quite so perfect, Ino might have given up on finding the perfect pair and settled for the best that she’d seen. Besides, she still had to go home and get ready for the party. Sakura had already given her a gift (Three scrolls on identifying poisons and their antidotes.)
Ino had been delighted with the gift. Most of the books that she was reading right now weren’t hers and furthermore she didn’t have both the funds and the clearance to buy them. Medical jutsu scrolls were kept under lock and key. She knew that they were certainly one of the most coveted types of intelligence that could be obtained.
After all, if you knew how your enemy was likely to be healed then you could prevent it from happening. If you were clever enough to craft jutsu like that. Shizune-sensei had talked about it briefly and that how even among medical nin’s that it was rare to have a talent like that.
“Hey, isn’t that Hinata-chan?” Sakura asked her suddenly, “Across the street - look!”
Ino looked, then she grinned, “It is, did you want to go and say hello?” She swung the bag that held her glasses, “So long as it doesn’t take that long then I’m good for it.”
“Who is that with her?” Sakura asked, “Is that um, I can’t remember her name, from the year ahead of us? The one on the same team as Lee-san?”
Ino frowned as they slipped through the throngs of people to get to the other side of the street. This was made far easier by the fact that the both of them were mostly unburdened and had been in training as kunoichi. Then she smiled as she caught sight of a familiar set of buns, “That’s Tenten-san. She’s Neji-san’s teammate.”
When they were within hailing distance Ino gave a call, “Tenten-san! Hinata-chan!”
The two girls spun around to look at them and Ino wondered what could be bothering Hinata so badly. She looked like she hadn’t been sleeping at all lately and the way that Tenten had stepped in front of her defensively before they had recognized her voice made Ino wonder if this was such a good idea.
“Oh, it’s just you.” Tenten said relaxing a bit and moving her hands away from where Ino knew, from working with her for several weeks, that she kept kunai.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ino asked good naturedly, she was determined to keep this conversation on an easy keel until she had a better idea of what was going on with the two girls. There was enough unhappiness going around that she wasn’t going to go looking for it if it didn’t come first for her.
“Ano, Ino-san I’m sure that Tenten-san didn’t mean it that way.” Hinata intervened quickly before Tenten could open her mouth to respond, “We’re very happy to see the both of you. Ino-san, Sakura-san. Would you like to join us for a drink?”
With a sidelong look at Sakura who nodded her head carefully - she hadn’t been the only one that had noticed that there was something going on that didn’t feel right. There was no reason for Hinata to be so upset about something, not when things were finally calming down.
Then she smiled at Hinata, "We'd be delighted to. Have you been shopping today?"
With that she and Sakura were careful to keep the conversation to neutral topics like what was currently on sale, what was in fashion (which was hardly the same thing at all) and what was going on among the rest of the rookies.
Ino was pleased to tell them that Chouji had gotten out of the hospital earlier that morning, and the news got the first unfettered smile from the shyer girl that she had seen. "That's great news Ino-san!"
"I know," Ino said as they ducked into a small tea shop and took seats near the door, "I was so happy that he's finally better - though he's lost a lot of ground in training due to the prolonged recovery."
"I'm sure he'll work hard to catch up." Sakura said calmly as they ordered drinks, “He told me he was planning to.”
Ino gave her friend a long look, “Been to visit him again then?”
“Tsunade-sama wanted to do a check up, she let me come along.”
“Were you shopping for anything specific, Ino-san?” Hinata asked her suddenly, “Tenten-san has told me of your current mission.”
“Yeah,” Ino paused as their orders were brought out, “But it doesn’t have anything to do with the mission. Just training supplies.”
That gave the four of them something to talk about for the next half an hour - all of the kunoichi had very different fighting skills and the equipment that went with them varied as much as they did. Tenten was in the process of explaining the exact difference between Kumo and Konoha shuriken when Hinata paled.
Following her gaze, Ino frowned when she saw that Hinata’s cousin, Neji, had entered the shop. Beside Hinata, Tenten had tensed and was whispering furiously to the smaller girl. Ino traded a look with Sakura.
What was this all about? She could understand Hinata being reluctant to be around him, he had almost killed her after all, but Tenten was his teammate and from what she had seen of the team they worked well together. Now Tenten was near glaring at Neji and Ino was surprised to realize that as he came closer that he looked acutely uncomfortable.
“Hiashi-sama requires your presence Hinata-sama.”
As Hinata hurriedly made her good-byes and got out the money for her drink, Ino frowned at Tenten. The tall girl was near to trembling with anger and she noted with surprise that Neji had been careful to avoid her eyes.
Ino was starting to feel like she and Sakura had wandered into something that really wasn’t their concern. To her, this was starting to look like Clan business and that meant she should keep her nose out of it.
Watching Hinata leave with her shoulders hunched, in the shadow of her older cousin, made it hard to remember that though.
“What was that all about?” Sakura asked the moment that the door had shut behind the two Hyuuga.
Tenten’s lips twisted in a grimace, “That would be the process of arranging a marriage.”
Ino spluttered. She was glad to see that Sakura was looking equally surprised. “Marriage?” Ino managed to squeak out, “Hinata’s getting married?”
She knew that there were a few Clans that still practiced arranged marriages - the Aburame family for one - but she hadn’t thought to apply that to the people that she knew. Ino bit her lip and tried to remember anything that she’d ever read on the subject. It wasn’t much.
“It’ll be a long engagement, right?” Sakura was asking, “I mean, we’re only thirteen - legal’s not even until fifteen.”
“Actually,” Ino said with a cough, “The moment we became Genin we’re considered fully adult in the eyes of the law. Anyone of us could get married.”
Tenten made a face, “They haven’t even decided who it’ll be yet - but Hinata’s crushed, there’s no way that they’ll pick the person that she likes. He’s not even a member of any Clan.”
Ino winced. She could see how then that would be practically impossible - Hyuuga Clan was one of the most insular Clans, and Hinata was the heir. “Do you know who some of the candidates are?”
That got her a thin-lipped smile, “Hyuuga.”
Then Tenten finished her drink and set her money down. “I’m going to go see if I can get in and talk to her - Hinata needs a girl to talk to.”
“Hey, tell her we’re willing to listen.” Sakura said and Ino found herself nodding her head in agreement.
“I’ll tell her.” Tenten promised.
Then she was gone and Ino stared at Sakura for a long moment knowing that the surprise on the pink haired girl’s face was a mirror to her own.
“I thought my problems were bad.” Sakura commented after a few minutes, “Can you imagine having to get married right now? Poor Hinata.”
Poor Hinata, indeed, Ino thought. She was glad her Clan didn’t have arranged marriages.
---
When he'd knocked on the back door of the Yamanaka's place the last person he'd expected to answer the door was his sensei. Shikamaru blinked up at Asuma-sensei, "What are you doing at Ino's house?"
His sensei laughed, and opened the door wider, "Ino invited me. Guess she didn't tell you?"
Shikamaru frowned at that as he entered the house. He and Ino hadn't talked at all lately but he would have thought that she'd have told him who was coming. Well, at least Asuma-sensei wasn't as bad as, like, Haruno. "Is anyone else coming?"
Last he heard this was a family affair - Shikamaru was heading home if Ino had turned it into one of her girly parties. He couldn't stand the frills and fuss that being in the same room as so many girls his age brought with it as a matter of course.
"Chouji's family isn't here yet," Asuma-sensei told him as they headed down the hall, "And we're missing the birthday girl."
"Ino's not here yet?" Shikamaru asked, "That's not like her."
It wasn't like her at all. Ino wasn't the type to be late to her own party. Shikamaru knew that however much they called it his and hers it was really hers. Though he'd get presents. Ino was the one that liked parties. In his opinion though this was really just an excuse for their parents get together and talk about the good old days.
Asuma-sensei shrugged, "Ino's hanging out with Sakura from what I gathered. She probably just lost track of time."
"Hm." Shikamaru suffered through being greeted by Ino's mother - who was looking harried as she watched over the cooking food - and Ino's father. Asuma-sensei lounged in one of the chairs around the dining table and talked to Ino's father in low voices. Shikamaru didn't bother to see what they were speaking about.
He doubted it had anything to do with him.
His parents showed up with the Akimichi's and he perked up a bit when Chouji came in. Shikamaru hadn't been able to be there when he'd gotten out of the hospital, thanks to the mission he'd been on, but seeing Chouji now was enough to convince him that his friend really was feeling better. Looking better too.
It wasn't until twenty minutes later, and Ino's mother was starting to look severely annoyed, when Ino showed up clutching several shopping bags. "I'm sorry!" She said quickly as she squeezed through the room, and raced up the stairs, "I lost track of time!"
When she came down a few minutes later she'd changed into a long skirt and a short sleeved shirt. Her bandages around her arms remained on, he noticed, and he wondered again if it was just some stupid fashion. He hadn't noticed that many of the girls their age picking it up though... Ino got a kiss on the head from her father and Shikamaru couldn't help scowling as she whispered something to her father that man the blond man beam.
She made the rounds of greeting everyone, apologizing for her lateness, and it wasn't until Shikamaru found himself sitting across from her at the table, and she was talking animatedly to his father, that he realized she hadn't said a word to him. He'd been so busy watching her that it hadn't even occurred to him. Irritation began smoldering in him.
What, was she still mad at him? It had been nearly a month since he'd given her grief about her teaching job - one which was now over, he'd seen Suzume-sensei in the Mission Center and had no doubts that she'd be reclaiming her job. He'd been hearing through the grape-vine though that Ino had done nothing but excellent work.
Well, she was Ino so she'd have hardly done anything but work at it to the best of her ability. Ino always had been competitive like that, even when there was no one to compete against but herself. The fact remained though that she hadn't been qualified, and surely they didn't think that a Genin could just up and teach seven years worth of students at the Academy - not while they were all on different levels. Unless she'd spent the entire month teaching them about flowers.
Growing up in a flower shop would have some advantages there, he figured.
Enough to teach about it anyway.
Chouji's elbow prodded his side and he looked over to find his friend frowning at him, "Stop staring at her." Chouji said in a near whisper.
Shikamaru stabbed at his vegetables and whispered back, "She didn't even bother to say hello to me."
"Well," Chouji said logically, "she's still mad at you. Every time I mention you she snaps that she doesn't want to talk about it - what did you say to her?"
Scowling, Shikamaru looked away. He didn't feel like explaining it, not even to Chouji, when it was really just a stupid fight over nothing - and not after the reports he'd been hearing and the looming possibility that he might be the one in the wrong.
"See?" This was said heatedly and Shikamaru looked over to find that Chouji was frowning at him, "You're doing the same thing as she is - how am I supposed to help if nobody is going to talk to me?"
"It's just a stupid fight." Shikamaru dismissed the whole thing, "It'll blow over."
"It has been a month. Neither you or Ino stay that mad for so long ordinarily. Whatever it was, it wasn't just a spat - tell me, Shikamaru."
"Just drop it, alright? I don't want to talk about it."
Chouji sighed and went back to his food. Shikamaru found himself glowering across the table at Ino, who'd given no notice that she'd even realized that they were talking about her. Busy as she was with her conversation.
... why was she asking his father about their deer?
Deer were smelly, messy creatures (that looked nice from a distance) and he couldn't see fastidious Ino wanting to go near them. Unless it was under duress. He studied her face, Shikamaru didn't think that her enjoyment of the conversation was unfeigned as his father went on in detail about the medicinal properties of their antlers.
In this matter, dinner passed. He managed to behave fairly normally for a while once Akimichi Misaki, Chouji's mother, dragged him into a conversation about the reconstruction of Konoha. But he noticed, and he knew from the way that Chouji was frowning slightly by the end of it, that his friend had noticed too. Ino hadn't once looked his way.
Once the adults had dispersed for the clean up, and Ino's offer to help had been turned down, it was only the three of them left in the dining room. The silence was suddenly awkward.
"Well, I'm just going to get a scroll to read," Ino started to leave her seat, chattering all the while, "no time to waste, you know, and it will be awhile until desert and presents - "
"What is your problem?" Shikamaru demanded before she made it to the door, "Can't look at your teammate?"
Several emotions that he couldn't name crossed her face before she replied coolly, "I can talk to Chouji just fine."
So that was how it was going to be? Well, fine. "Just like a girl, to behave like this," he sneered, "you can't even make it to your own party on time. Too busy shopping?"
At the way that she'd gone dead white he knew that he'd hit a mark. "Shikamaru," she said in a low, dangerous voice, "Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about."
He saw Chouji wince out of the corner of his eye. Shikamaru ignored the both of them, "Did you think I wouldn't notice you ignoring me Ino? You spent dinner talking to my father."
"So what if I did?" She fired back, blue eyes furious, "At least he isn't being a complete jerk. Unlike you."
"I meant what I said - if you messed up on their training you could get them killed in the future."
"Suzume-sensei gave me a written commendation!" Her fists were tightly clenched and the twin spots of red on her cheeks gave him pause. Shikamaru didn't think he'd seen her this truly angry before. "And what would you know about training kunoichi?"
"Enough that a kunoichi barely out of the Academy shouldn't be teaching them!"
"Oh yeah?" she asked in a voice that he'd never heard before, "Just like I suppose then that a wet behind the ears Chuunin shouldn't be heading out on A class missions. I, at least, didn't fail."
He heard Chouji's sharp intake of breath and he was so angry that he could barely see - this was what he got for trying to keep her out of danger? "Hard to say how you would have done in my place," he said furiously, "Considering only one member of Team 10 made Chuunin. You're too weak, Ino. Just a little girl playing at being ninja."
He barely had time to register her shriek of fury and then she slapped him. The crack of her hand on his skin echoed through out the room. Shikamaru reeled back, managing to keep to his feet only through a good deal of groping at the table.
"You don't know anything about me." Ino said furiously, "I'm done talking to you. I don't associate with morons."
She stormed out of the room and from the crash of another door he guessed that she had left the house. Touching his face gingerly, she hadn't been holding back, Shikamaru looked at Chouji.
Chouji's face didn't reassure him.
"Sometimes you do really stupid things." His best friend said quietly, "Let's get you some ice."
---
The next morning she was still furious with Shikamaru - and with herself for lacking the control to remain calm and not ruin the party. She hadn't been able to sleep well even after spending a few hours on the training grounds practicing her taijutsu.
Ino yawned and stared at the glasses thoughtfully. She had considered not wearing them unless she was on a mission, but after what Shikamaru had said...
With a resolute air she picked them up and looked them over. They were, she had to admit, ugly.
They were also perfect. The stars even helped to hide the chakra overflow that she couldn't quite keep within the regular lenses yet. Ino had attempted the night before, after obtaining permission from her father (and apologizing for storming out of her own party), to try the jutsu out with the glasses on. She had immediately seen what a difference they made to her looks. She couldn’t yet keep the light from expanding beyond her eyes, but the glasses hid most of the leakage. It was a simple solution. No matter that Shikamaru thought she was being rather unbearably impractical - this was one of the most useful things that she could think of wearing on a mission. Everyone would underestimate her with these on.
After all, no half decent kunoichi would be caught dead wearing them in the field.
Making sure her hair was pinned properly, Ino put the glasses on. They were too dark for her to wear unless she was outside so with a sigh she pushed them up on her forehead.
Looking in the mirror Ino couldn't help but grin. She looked like she should be going to the beach. (So long as you ignored the rest of her outfit.) They weren't as bad as she was making them out to be, Ino consoled herself. At least they weren't yellow. Finishing her morning preparations in record time she headed downstairs. Ino frowned as she reached one hand up to steady the glasses. She would have to find a way to keep them immobile while she didn't need them. Maybe her father would have an idea?
She found him in the kitchen scrambling eggs and reading the newspaper at the same time. The radio was on in one corner playing quietly and she was amused to find that he moved very slightly with the music, "Mother will kill you if she finds you doing that." Ino observed as she helped herself to an orange from the fruit basket and set about making toast.
Her father looked at her from over his shoulder, a grin on his face, "She's still sleeping - what she doesn't know won't hurt her."
Ino snickered and buttered her toast, "You know that she'll catch you, she always does."
With a sigh her father shut the paper and tossed it on the table, "Fine, fine. No reading while cooking. I haven't burnt the house down in all the years I've been doing it though."
He deftly finished the eggs and with some toast of his own they settled into breakfast. "I like the glasses." Her father said absently. "Make you look cheerful."
She gave him a withering look, "They work for the jutsu, that's the only reason that I bought them." Ino paused then asked, "Do you know how to keep them in your hair?"
"Do I look like I ever wore my glasses like that?" He asked sounding mock offended, “I attached mine to string and hung them around my neck.”
"You don't look like you ever had to wear glasses at all!" Ino retorted, "I was just wondering." And there was no way that she was even going to consider what he’d suggested. There was ridiculous and then there was ridiculous.
Her father chewed thoughtfully, "I'd ask Shizune-san if she's got a good idea. None of your clips would work, huh?"
"The glasses are too thick." Ino said with a shake of her head.
Clearing away his dishes her father kissed the top of her head as he headed out the door.
Ino slumped in her chair, having a bit of time to waste since she didn't have to worry about making it to the Academy after her morning routine. She had the day off and while determined to do a fair bit of training Ino wasn't ready to go quite yet.
Draining her juice, Ino was debating if she was hungry enough for another piece of fruit when her father enter the room again with a letter in his hands, "There's a letter for you, sweetie." With a causal toss of his hand he sent it flying at her.
She caught it deftly and he winked at her. Ino rolled her eyes at him. "Shouldn't you be heading out?"
"I'm gone!" Then she heard the back door closing with a thump that was more than enough to wake her mother up. Sure enough, a few seconds later, she heard the sounds of her mother moving around upstairs.
Ino turned the letter over in her fingers and that telling her nothing - it didn't even have her name on it, how had her father known that it was for her? - she opened it cautiously.
Yamanaka Ino
Ninja Registration No: 012604
Notification of Reformation:
As of October 26th, Team 10 under Sarutobi Asuma (Ninja Registration No: 010829 ) is called back to regular duty. Akimichi Chouji (Ninja Registration No: 012625 ) and Nara Shikamaru (Ninja Registration No: 012611 ) have received notice as well.
Shinobi Administration Bureau
Underneath this was written in Asuma-sensei’s familiar scrawl:
We’re back in action, kids (and about time!) - meet me at the training ground at 0700.
He hadn’t bothered to sign his name.
She stared at the letter for a few minutes. Then, her hands shaking, she left the house. Deciding that she would rather train than spend time thinking about what would happen tomorrow. Ino didn't bother to put her dishes in the sink - something that her mother would no doubt mention later, but right now she had to get out of the house.
How was she going to work with him? After she'd slapped him at the party, Ino had no doubt that they would find getting along a difficult proposition.
Ino had never thought that learning her team was reforming would fill her with such dread.
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Chapter: 03 Progress
Author/Artist: Skylar Inari
Pairing: Yamanaka Ino/Nara Shikamaru
Theme: 21: BAKA!! (stupid, idiot)
Word Count: 10, 430
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. It's Kishimoto's and I just play with it. AU immediately after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Part 3 of ? Unbeta’d.
Ino fidgeted nervously and knocked sharply on the door. It had taken some work but she'd managed to track down Asuma-sensei's apartment number - and the Chuunin at the Mission Center had told her he was home. From the looks on their faces though she guessed that he wasn’t going to be for long. Knowing that this might be the last chance she’d have for weeks - it really depended on the mission - Ino had raced off to see if she could catch him before his next mission did. As it was Sunday the Academy was closed and she had a bit of free time before she had to go meet up with Shizune-sensei at the hospital.
She'd been trying to get a hold of him for the last week, since her father had told her to, but the Jounin had proved hard to reach. Only to be expected, really, but it was a nuisance just the same when she had had to conduct her search for him around all of her other training.
Shizune-sensei had taken one look at her written schedule and immediately claimed her entire day off for medical training. The training started at seven, which was why she was standing on her sensei's doorstop at just after six in the morning. She’d been up since four. In Ino logic this meant that everyone should have been up by now.
After a few minutes of her standing there waiting and belatedly realizing that not everyone would be awake - let alone willing to come to the door - Ino wondered if she ought to knock again. Surely she hadn't been too late already and that a new mission had come for him? It hadn't taken her more than ten minutes to get from the Mission Center to his place.
The door opened a few inches just as she had made up her mind to knock again. Her teacher's face appeared in the gap. Upon seeing her his eyebrows raised slightly, "Ino?"
"Good morning, Asuma-sensei!" She chirped brightly, unable to hide the fact that she was happy to see him. It was good to see him after so long. "Can I talk to you for a few minutes?"
He opened his door wordlessly, one hand lighting a cigarette as she went past. "It's quarter after six in the morning Ino, what's up?"
"Don't you do any cleaning?" She asked while pretending not to hear his question, "This place obviously needs a woman's touch," Ino gave him a coy look, "Maybe Yuuhi-san could help you?"
He spluttered.
Ino delighted in her victory even as she considered what she was going to tell him exactly. Her father hadn't said that she need to tell her sensei everything after all. She picked at the bandages on her arms and watched as he shut the door.
"How have you been doing?" He asked when he had turned back to her, running one hand through his unkempt hair, "I'm sorry that I haven't been able to keep up with what you've been doing. The boys too."
Ino took the seat he offered her and gave him her best understanding smile. This close she could see that he looked exhausted, "It's alright - we'll be put back together when Konoha can spare you from the higher missions." It wasn't that she didn't miss being on Team 10 - but rather that this break was exactly what Ino needed to work on herself. If she looked at it that way it was hard to complain about the separation.
They made small talk for a few minutes before her sensei managed to talk her back around to why she had come. "It's nice and all that you've come to visit - but what's up?" The look on his face said that she wasn’t fooling him.
Ino sighed and then ploughed forward bravely, deciding to tell him most of her practical concerns and reasons for about her decision to start learning medical jutsu - after all, what objections could he have to that? Medical jutsu were a useful skill to have.
"And you don't want it discussed with Shikamaru and Chouji?" He frowned at her.
"Well, just Shikamaru mostly - he's being unreasonable again just because I'm a girl - Chouji would be fine if I knew that he wouldn't tell." Ino shrugged, hiding her unease with casual movements - she’d known from the moment that she’d gotten to that part that he’d ask at least one question about that decision. "I don't want them to know yet."
“That’s not a good enough reason to mess with the team Ino.” Asuma-sensei’s voice was stern, “If it were just your Clan’s Techniques in particular I could excuse it, but medical ninjutsu isn’t covered under the Clan Confidential. There’s no way that it could be outside of a few specific techniques.”
She scowled openly. The Clan Confidential, as they had learned at the Academy, was the Hokage’s agreement to the village that each Clan had autonomy when it came to divulging information on their techniques. Each Hokage had to sign the agreement anew to signal that it would be upheld during their time as leader. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, “I don’t want them to know what I’m learning. I can’t, Asuma-sensei.”
Asuma-sensei took a long pull of his cigarette before replying, “I’ll need better reasons than a flat refusal, Ino. It’s not done lightly - a team can be ruined by a lack of communication. Why can’t you tell them? The full reason please.”
Ino hesitated, wondering if she could even fully explain it to herself. How did she explain the anger at the way that they had left her behind? The reasons that he must have done it for? That she was so weak that not even her own teammates had trusted her to be able to do a mission. That she would have been a liability when he’d taken Chouji with him. Anger choked her throat just thinking about it and now she had to tell him all of it…
“Ino,” she looked up and found Asuma-sensei watching her with sympathetic eyes. He patted the seat next to him, “Come talk to me - none of this will go any further than this room. I swear it. Stuff like this is one of the reasons they give Genin sensei for the first few years.”
Rubbing furiously at her eyes Ino stumbled over to him. The arm he put around her shoulders was the last straw and she burst into tears, the words tumbling over themselves until she was sure that her sensei wasn’t picking up more than half of them.
He stayed though, one hand rubbing in soothing circles at the small of her back and his low voice murmuring comforting nonsense as she explained what it had felt like to be left behind like that and how she didn’t want that to happen again. How much Shikamaru’s comments about her inability to do her job - the fact that Suzume-sensei had recommended her hadn’t seemed to make a difference to him.
His lack of trust in her hurt the most.
When she had cried herself out Asuma-sensei got her a cup of tea and a cold cloth to wipe her eyes with. He knelt down in front of her so that they were on the same eye level. “You’re doing great, Ino. It’s common knowledge that you’re one of the most outstanding up-and-coming kunoichi among the Genin.”
She flushed. Asuma-sensei wasn’t one to give compliments easily - you had to earn them. Ino had only one question though, “Then why doesn’t he see it?”
To her surprise her sensei laughed, “Because he’s a Nara through and through. Every Nara I’ve ever met has a streak of sexism a mile wide - girls are weaker than boys and so on. In his mind you’ve got to be protected. You’re his responsibility.”
“I’m able to take care of myself!” Ino burst out, anger raising its head again, “I’m not going to let him just push me to the side because I’m a girl!”
“I never said you were - I was talking about it from his point of view.” Asuma-sensei said in a soothing voice, “But that’s were I think he was coming from. Did you want me to talk to him?”
Ino stared at her hands clasped around the cup of tea, “Won’t that just make it worse?”
“It could,” He allowed, “But if might make it better too.”
When she didn’t respond Asuma-sensei sighed, “I’ll see if I can track him down before I have to leave,” Ino didn’t blame him for not sounding enthusiastic about his chances of managing that, “For now I’ll not tell them what you’re studying.”
“You won’t?” She looked up at him in surprise, “But after what you said…”
He frowned, “I said for now - and you’re to keep me fully updated on your progress. If Team 10 winds up in trouble I want to know what you can do. I’ll reconsider that decision after talking to Shikamaru.”
“Thank you, Asuma-sensei.” Ino said, finishing the last of her tea. Dabbing at her face with the cold cloth and determinedly not thinking about what she must look like after a fit like that Ino stared at him for a moment before asking, “Did you want to hear what I’ve already covered?”
They had just finished going over her training schedule - ‘be careful that you don’t take on too much’ - and her lessons so far with Shizune-sensei - ‘she’s got you reading that much theory?’ - when Ino glanced over at the clock and saw that it was half past eight.
Her blood went cold. She was an hour and a half late for her lesson! Making her excuses hurriedly, Ino was almost out the door when she paused and looked back at her teacher who was still sitting on the couch looking faintly surprised.
“Um,” She blushed, and dug out a slightly crumpled invitation, “I was wondering if you’d want to come to my, well mine and Shikamaru’s, birthday party on the 24th?” At his look she hurried on, “I know that it’s really late - over a month - but Chouji’s supposed to be out on the 20th and we didn’t want to have a party without him.”
Ino put the invitation on the counter nearest to the door and began her retreat, “Of course you don’t have to if you don’t want but I thought that you might want to come - “
“Ino?” She could tell that he was trying not to laugh at her.
“What?”
“You really want your sensei at your party?”
Ino hugged herself and looked away, “I just thought you might want to come, that’s all.” She knew that her face was no doubt brilliantly red with embarrassment.
“I’ll see if I’m in town.”
She beamed at him, “You’re the greatest, Asuma-sensei!”
Then with another pained look at the clock she bolted for the hospital. Shizune-sensei was going to kill her.
---
"Right," her father said as he turned the lights on in the Balance Room, "I trust you've read the scrolls?"
Of course she had - Ino was hardly going to just let that slide no matter how busy she was. Her Clan came first and so there had been a few days where she'd gone to see Shizune-sensei with her reading not quite as far along as it could have been. Luckily for her though she had an understanding sensei who'd merely pursed her lips and said slowly that they would have to take the studies just a bit slower then.
Ino took a seat, her usual one, and waited impatiently for her father to do the same. "Three times over." She assured him, "Most of it while hanging on the ceiling."
That way he'd know that she'd done both of the things that he'd ordered her to do. The ceiling had been an interesting challenge - Ino didn't know what he'd done to make it so slippery but she'd fallen more than once and it had taken more chakra out of her than she was used to expending for the exercise. The plus side was that she was now fairly confident that in a pinch she'd be able to stick herself on just about anything.
"How many times did you fall?" There was a gleam of amusement in his eyes.
She glowered, "Like I’d admit to that!"
To her surprise he let that pass, "I'll want to see how you do later though."
That wasn't a problem. After nearly three weeks of work at hanging herself from the ceiling from various body parts she wasn't worried about failing in front of him. Her father would be more likely to give her tips that she sorely needed on conserving her chakra - or maybe tips on building her chakra.
Now though, she knew that they'd work on the first steps of the jutsu her father had given her: Hypnosis no Jutsu.
It was a combat jutsu designed by Yamanaka Shiori during the founding of Konohagakure and the reign of the Shodaime. To offset the fact that the Yamanaka Clan, while one of the premier Clans in espionage and assassination was sorely lacking in full out war techniques, her ancestor had created it to give them a small edge in one on one combat.
Hypnosis no Jutsu was, in essence, a split second moment of utter disorientation. Down became up, front to back, even sight and sound were switched - for a second or two. It was a rare shinobi, she understood from her reading, that could recover instantaneously from that. And that was what her ancestor had wanted to cause. The few seconds that even the best shinobi would take to reorient themselves were seconds that they could take advantage of to win the fight.
As Ino understood it, if you had the chakra, the jutsu could be worn for hours at a time - making it an effective all out war technique if you were careful enough about conserving the rest of your chakra. But the scroll had mentioned that Yamanaka Shiori hadn't been able to iron all of the kinks out of it before she'd been taken down by an enemy nin.
When she mentioned the kinks her father smiled thinly, "No Yamanaka has been able to work out all of the downsides - and there are many - after all, during that war it was tradition to pass down knowledge through word of mouth and Shiori-sama didn’t have a chance to write down more than half of what she had figured. Its greatest flaw is that it’ll effect anyone who you come into eye contact with."
She winced. Ino could see times when that would be a definite disadvantage in combat. If she were to use the jutsu then she'd have to be reasonably certain that she wasn't going to accidentally come across her teammates. Which meant that she could use it reliably only when she was alone, especially as she wasn't planning on telling either of her teammates about it for the next while. Not with Shikamaru being such a boy about protecting her. Ino did make a mental note to tell Asuma-sensei though the next time that she saw him. He was out on another mission not twenty four hours after she'd left his apartment in such a rush, though so she wasn't sure when she would have a chance. Ino guessed, at best, that she'd see him at the party.
It wasn't much of a party really, just Shikamaru and her families getting together with the Akimichi. Really, it was more of a party for Chouji because he was the one that was getting out of the hospital. Ino considered that more important than celebrating a day that was over a month past.
Shizune-sensei hadn't been happy with her at all. The only thing that had staved off complete wrath was that she'd been talking to her primary sensei. While she couldn't technically be punished for that - no matter that she'd missed nearly two hours of her training - Shizune-sensei had assigned her a massive pile of scrolls to read since then.
"However," Her father was saying and she snapped her attention back to him, "We have come up with a better way to hide the use of it until the user gains refines their control. But first I'll have you try it so that you better understand what I'm talking about. The first seal is tiger..."
As he showed her the sequence of seals and explained the way that the jutsu required her to form her chakra in conjunction. As with many of her family's techniques Hypnosis no Jutsu merely used the hand seals as a way to focus and release the jutsu. The rest of it was mental.
By the time that she had managed to make the jutsu work properly she was panting and damp with sweat. "What's it look like?" She asked as very carefully she separated her hands, being careful not to let go of the jutsu. Ino could feel the drain of it on her chakra, it was steady enough that in a prolonged fight she'd be next to useless in fifteen minutes even if this was all that she used.
"Keep your head down." Her father told her sharply when she turned to look at him, "I don't feel like having all of my perceptions shifted. Stay there and I'll get you a mirror."
She flushed with embarrassment at having forgotten that it affected everyone while it was active. "Sorry," Ino muttered as her father maneuvered behind her.
"It's alright, sweetie. You're just going to have to make sure that you keep it in mind." There was a crash as several scrolls went flying past her head and Ino had to resist the urge to turn around and see what her father was doing. Surely it couldn't be that hard to get a mirror out? Where had he put it?
"Turn around. Slowly." He ordered her and she could hear him moving out of the way.
Ino turned and looked. There had been a mirror at the back of one of the shelves - on closer inspection it proved that the mirror was the back of the shelf and her father had been clearing the space so that she could see.
Around her eyes was a violently pink glow. Squinting at her reflection she guessed that the glow extended a good two inches around her eyes. "That's what it looks like?" Ino said with horror - it didn't look like something that she'd be able to hide. How was that supposed to help her out? No shinobi would be stupid enough to over look something like that.
"That's what it looks like at your stage of control." Her father said in his teaching voice, "As you gain greater understanding and practice the area will shrink. You may release the jutsu."
Ino did so with a grateful sigh. Slumping a bit against the back of the chair and trying not to breath too deeply from her exhaustion she looked over at her father. He was picking up the scrolls and she asked nonchalantly, "Do you want me to help?"
He gave her a long look, "Don't think I can't tell you're exhausted Ino. Sit down for a bit."
Just moving around the chair took more out of her than she would have wanted to admit. Sitting down was a welcome relief and she leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. "You mentioned control affects the size of the circles?" She asked after a few minutes of just lying back and breathing. "How much of a circle do you get?"
Her father rested one hand on the top of her head and she rolled her eyes up to look at him the best that she could. "Small enough that it's hardly noticeable in daylight." He admitted, his blue eyes bright with amusement as she groaned, "Full dark is a different matter altogether - it's hard to hide the glow no matter how good your control is."
"So don't use it in the dark then?"
"I wouldn't say never use it - but only do it as a last resort. Otherwise it makes you a pretty target
and ruins your night vision all at once." Taking the seat across from her father gave a smile, "I'm impressed that you managed it at all frankly, and so quickly - though your control is dismal - practice it down here once every morning and once more before you go to bed."
Ino nodded, trying to ignore the sting of her wounded pride and making a note of the conditions she shouldn't use it under, "No rainy days then? Or underground areas?"
"That's right." Her father made a face at that, "It works the best under sunny skies - that much light around helps make it less obvious that you're using a jutsu."
"Nothing will hide two inch circles around my eyes." Ino said flatly.
"Working on your control will only serve to shrink them - and I never said that there wasn't a way that we could help conceal them."
She straightened and leaned forward, ignoring the brief dizziness from the motion. "What do I have to do?"
"First, you have to go shopping."
---
A few days later she was seated on one of the wooden chairs in Shizune-sensei's preferred practice room. The floor was tiled white and it was chilly despite the warmth of the afternoon. Shizune-sensei had told her to go and wait for her while she finished up a bit of paperwork. Ino’s hands itched to look at some of the scrolls that were carefully locked in cases along the walls - she didn’t bother to see if she could get into them though. Shizune-sensei had told her the first day that the only scrolls she’d get to read were the ones that Shizune-sensei deemed necessary.
Ino made note to bring a scroll with her the next time she had a lesson. Just in case she had to wait again. She didn’t want to waste any time.
Her classes at the Academy had gone well today. She'd been covering the basics of sewing in her first class with the six year olds and more advanced stitches for the seven year olds to practice with. Then in the afternoon she had discussed with the older girls where to hide weapons when you were undercover as a common woman.
She hummed under her breath as shifted to get more comfortable on the hard wooden chair. The older girls would be dismayed to find that they had a test tomorrow - one that she'd conveniently neglected to tell them about beforehand.
The door in front of her opened and Ino tensed standing up to be better able to move, before relaxing when she realized that it was just her sensei. Shizune-sensei was looking harried, and she shut the door firmly enough that Ino knew that someone had been making her angry. "Sorry to make you wait, Ino-kun."
Sitting back down Ino waved off the apology, "It's not a problem - after all, you're doing this as a favor to me."
That got her a smile. Shizune-sensei clapped her hands together briskly, "Today I'm going to show you a chakra transfer technique. This one is useful during long term surgery - it allows a medic nin to go on without having to stop midway to recharge."
Ino nodded her head. Many jutsu surgeries could be fatal if they weren't completed in one go. The chakra, left unfocused and lacking the direction provided by the medic nin, would turn on the body it was trying to heal. Though there were a few cases of having to leave the surgery half done for a couple of hours... her reading had hinted at as much but she didn't think that Shizune-sensei would be covering that with her. Ino would ask Sakura about it some time. Sakura was currently up to her eyebrows in common coughs and colds.
"How can it help me out in the field?" She asked, knowing that chances were slim that she'd be called to assist on a operation like that in the middle of a mission. Not when, with her team, she was the only one with medical skills. Asuma-sensei had admitted to knowing a little bit, on account of his being Jounin he’d claimed, but that he was fairly pathetic at it.
"There will be times when you won't have access to medical supplies - and while I'm going to be teaching you quite a few jutsu, you don't know them yet - this one," here she paused and with a faint frown of concentration caused a green glow to appear around her hands, "will give you a chance to get your wounded comrade to someplace where you'll be able to use other things."
Ino frowned thoughtfully, "It's a practical application of Watanabe's Overlap, right?"
Watanabe's Overlap theorized that chakra resonated on a different level for everyone. Rather like a fingerprint really, which was why it was easy to know who was coming once you knew how to differentiate between chakra signals. Suzume-sensei had shown her how but it had been Shizune-sensei who’d given her the name to what she was doing.
It was said that if you had enough control you could change your 'frequency' to something that would be almost palatable to someone else's body. It had been mentioned though, in the scrolls, that there were several side effects. "Isn't that dangerous though?"
After all, her reading had been very firm about that - people weren’t meant to contain more chakra than their own. In a situation where it happened the chakras would turn against each other. No matter what the intent of the invading chakra was.
With a wave of her hands the green glow vanished and Shizune-sensei took a seat, leaning forward in what Ino knew was her serious mode, "That's right - this technique can kill if used long enough on a healthy person. Their body goes into Chakra Shock and then very quickly death follows. If I ever catch you using it on a Konoha nin..."
Ino gulped and shook her head, "I wouldn't! I promise."
"I know you wouldn't." Shizune-sensei assured her, "But we have to make sure - medical techniques are regulated for a reason, you know, and thirteen is young enough to be learning them that some people are nervous about it."
She had heard rumors to that effect. Sakura had reported a few of them, and Ino wasn't blind to the way that a few of the older medic-nins frowned at her when she showed up to her lessons.
"People are going to be watching me," Ino figured it would be mostly her that the scrutiny fell upon because Sakura was the Hokage's apprentice and that was a different kettle of fish altogether, "to see if I mess up, right?"
"I'm afraid so, Ino-kun." Shizune-sensei sighed and shook her head, "If you were two years older... well, no use complaining about that. The chakra transfer is to be used only when the person you're directing your chakra towards is either nearly drained and close to hitting Chakra Exhaustion, or when they're wounded badly enough that your chakra acts as a crutch rather than a hindrance. The theory for that is covered in..." Shizune-sensei asked leadingly.
Happily Ino had managed to do her reading the night before, and so she could answer this without any problems, "Hiroku's Theorem."
"You've got it." Shizune-sensei said with a pleased look, "Hiroku's Theorem states that the human body requires chakra to live and when somebody is that close to death it doesn't matter where that chakra comes from. Thus, you can use that in conjunction with Watanabe's Overlap to keep them alive until further help can arrive."
"You'd have to be careful though..." Ino said thoughtfully, "It would be easy to drain yourself down to nothing if you didn't watch it."
"That's true. This technique is mostly mental control as well as knowledge of how to channel chakra into your hands. You noticed that I didn't use any seals right?" When Ino nodded Shizune-sensei continued on, "It'll take you a while to get this one down, which is why we're starting with it first - by the time you have the chakra transfer down pat the other jutsu's should be easier for you. It'll also increase your reserves the more you use it. So I want you to use it as often as you can, your reserves aren't bad for a regular kunoichi considering how little time you've been active, but medical jutsu require more than you've got to give at the moment."
Ino made a note to practise it as often as she could. If she couldn't find the time then she'd make it. Her morning taijutsu practice could stand to be cut a bit - at least until she could talk her father or Asuma-sensei into training her one on one. Even if the technique was as exhausting as Shizune-sensei, Ino thought that the rest of the day would give her enough time to recharge. That way she wouldn't be completely useless when her father taught her in the evening.
"Now come stand by me," Shizune beckoned with one hand, "and we'll have you give it a go."
---
"No, Chiharu-chan you can't just eat the batter." Ino was saying patiently to the eight year old girl, "It's got to be cooked first."
She got a wrinkled up nose for her troubles. "It tastes better before we stick it in the oven though, Ino-sensei." This was said in an almost accusatory voice.
Ino sighed inwardly while pasting a smile on her face, "Let's go look at your batter, shall we?"
She'd barely managed to contain that crisis, and convince Chiharu and Mui that she really did mean it when she said that it would come out tasting better cooked when there was a cry of outrage from the other side of the room.
"Momoko-chan! Renge-chan!" Ino came swooping swiftly over to them, spotting the source of trouble immediately.
"Momoko's stealing our batter!" Renge said furiously, in one hand a spatula and a smear of flour on her cheek, "Just because hers is all lumpy doesn't mean she can help herself!"
"You've got enough! It's not fair that you've got Shizuka-kun to work with when Shizuka-kun already knows all of this." Momoko retorted, blue eyes blazing, as her partner, Ami, busied herself with stirring their newest acquisition into their bowl of batter, "Ami and I need it more than you do!"
Shizuka merely buried her head in her hands. Ino sympathized. "What have I told you two about fighting?" Ino asked seriously, "I don't care which of you started it - don't look at me like that Momoko-chan - but this class is a test to see how well you can follow instructions."
She took a deep breath and let it out - all four of the girls watched her apprehensively. After nearly a month under her care they knew of her temper. "Momoko-chan, Ami-chan, you'll be staying tomorrow after class to redo the entire recipe. Clean this mess up and review the proper methods for addressing nobility."
Ami's shoulders slumped and whispered, "Yes, Ino-sensei." Well, Ino felt bad for Ami, but the girl had to learn to stand up for herself. She had stressed at the beginning of the lesson what anyone caught cheating would have to do.
Momoko wasn't so cowed, "It was my idea, Ino-sensei! Don't take it out on Ami-chan. I'll do the stupid recipe all by myself."
"That's not good enough, and it was a stupid idea - what if you were posing as a servant and had no idea how to cook? There would be no Shizuka-chan and Renge-chan to cheat off of then. That kind of lazy thinking could get you killed one day. I won't have it." Ino said firmly, "Both of you knew that what you were doing was wrong. Ami-chan could have told you to stop it - even if it was your idea."
With a glower at her, Momoko turned away. Ino stood over the two girls until she was satisfied that they really were doing as she said. Then, once they'd gone with the dirty dishes to the sinks she turned to Renge and Shizuka. "Next time," she said firmly, "You two keep a better eye on what's going around you. Situational awareness is something that every kunoichi must strive to have."
They nodded and Ino was just starting to relax when, "Ino-sensei! Yoshino spit in our batter!"
She sighed and headed over to sort out another problem.
Two hours later, she slumped on one of the stools and surveyed the kitchen. The girls had done a good enough job cleaning the dishes but they had left the rest of the room in disarray. She would have to talk to them about that. Ino pursed her lips, maybe she'd make the next practical a cleaning one. The importance of hiding your evidence or something.
"My, my," said a familiar voice, "Would you like some help cleaning up, Ino-kun?"
Ino turned so quickly that she nearly fell off of the stool, "Suzume-sensei! You're back!"
"Alive and well." Her sensei agreed, standing in the doorway looking just a bit thinner than she had before leaving, "I trust my girls have made you welcome?"
"Depends on how you mean it." Ino stretched and picked up one of the cloths. Wetting it with warm soapy water Ino started scrubbing at the counter tops as Suzume-sensei did the same.
"Most of them, did anyway. Momoko-chan probably wishes that I'd go away." Unlike Risa, who was only five, who'd probably cry when she realized that Ino wasn't teaching anymore.
"I shall resume teaching tomorrow." Suzume-sensei said, echoing her thoughts, "Though I would like you to bring me up to speed with how far they've come. It would make them think that their sensei was silly if I had them repeat a lesson."
Ino laughed and as they cleaned she talked about what the students had accomplished. Once they had finished the room, leaving it as clean as it had been when they had started, and Ino had shown Suzume where she'd put the marked tests. Those would have to be gone over before they could be made a permanent part of each girl's school record.
At one point, as they discussed the marking on one of the culture tests, Suzume-sensei looked up at her with a crooked little grin and declared, "I made the right decision."
"Pardon?" Ino blinked up at her sensei.
"You would have had to work at it to be awful - instead you worked at being great and the results show." She held the papers out in example. "I am glad that my choice was a good one."
Ino flushed with pride. "I couldn't shirk on a mission - but I don't think I was all that good."
"Nevertheless," Suzume-sensei admonished, wagging one finger at her, "I am pleased. Hokage-sama will need your report within three days, I will review it before you hand it in. A written commendation is in order if everything is as well as this."
Ino knew when she was beaten, "As you wish, Suzume-sensei."
"Naturally, Ino-kun." Suzume-sensei looked over her glasses, "It is a talent."
---
“So why are we doing this again?” Sakura asked wearily as she followed Ino into another shop. “I’ve still got studying to do - Tsunade-sama’s not going to accept ‘my friend wanted to go shopping’ as an excuse.”
“I told you,” Ino said with exaggerated patience, as she scoped out another rack of sunglasses and by this time was getting just as tired of the whole mission, “My father told me - ordered really - that I buy a pair of gaudy glasses.”
And it was turning out to be a total pain, they must have been in four or five different shops already and yet they hadn’t found anything that she thought would fit what he had told her to get. Styles this year headed toward slim and elegant.
“Were those his actual words?” Her friend asked dubiously, “He really wants you to find and buy the ugliest pair of glasses in the village.”
Ino glowered as they left the shop and headed in search of another. “Well,” she temporized, “Not the ugliest but certainly nothing that I’d be caught dead in of my own free will. I mean, I don’t even wear glasses at the beach. Why would I want to buy a pair of them otherwise?”
That wasn’t exactly the truth, but then, Ino wasn’t allowed to tell the full truth because Sakura wasn’t related to her. It was a Clan secret and thus covered under the Clan Confidential so she had resorted to making up her father’s request. Which, Ino told herself virtuously, wasn’t a lie. Her father had told her to go and buy the glasses. He just hadn’t mentioned whether or not she had to go and do it alone.
Sakura sighed and stifled a yawn, “Did he have any other requirements?”
With a sigh Ino gave her the other part of what he’d told her, “He recommended pink.”
“You, in pink glasses?”
“I know, I’m totally not a pink - blue or purple would look better.” Ino said dismally, “But he insisted.”
They searched a few more shops and Ino was just beginning to lose all small remaining hope when they were walking in the general direction of home. That was when she found the perfect pair.
They were pink. Bright screaming pink with glitter on them - and to top it off on either side of them were large stars. She cringed to think of wearing them but Ino had to admit that even her father would be pleased with her selection. Frankly though, even if they hadn’t been quite so perfect, Ino might have given up on finding the perfect pair and settled for the best that she’d seen. Besides, she still had to go home and get ready for the party. Sakura had already given her a gift (Three scrolls on identifying poisons and their antidotes.)
Ino had been delighted with the gift. Most of the books that she was reading right now weren’t hers and furthermore she didn’t have both the funds and the clearance to buy them. Medical jutsu scrolls were kept under lock and key. She knew that they were certainly one of the most coveted types of intelligence that could be obtained.
After all, if you knew how your enemy was likely to be healed then you could prevent it from happening. If you were clever enough to craft jutsu like that. Shizune-sensei had talked about it briefly and that how even among medical nin’s that it was rare to have a talent like that.
“Hey, isn’t that Hinata-chan?” Sakura asked her suddenly, “Across the street - look!”
Ino looked, then she grinned, “It is, did you want to go and say hello?” She swung the bag that held her glasses, “So long as it doesn’t take that long then I’m good for it.”
“Who is that with her?” Sakura asked, “Is that um, I can’t remember her name, from the year ahead of us? The one on the same team as Lee-san?”
Ino frowned as they slipped through the throngs of people to get to the other side of the street. This was made far easier by the fact that the both of them were mostly unburdened and had been in training as kunoichi. Then she smiled as she caught sight of a familiar set of buns, “That’s Tenten-san. She’s Neji-san’s teammate.”
When they were within hailing distance Ino gave a call, “Tenten-san! Hinata-chan!”
The two girls spun around to look at them and Ino wondered what could be bothering Hinata so badly. She looked like she hadn’t been sleeping at all lately and the way that Tenten had stepped in front of her defensively before they had recognized her voice made Ino wonder if this was such a good idea.
“Oh, it’s just you.” Tenten said relaxing a bit and moving her hands away from where Ino knew, from working with her for several weeks, that she kept kunai.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ino asked good naturedly, she was determined to keep this conversation on an easy keel until she had a better idea of what was going on with the two girls. There was enough unhappiness going around that she wasn’t going to go looking for it if it didn’t come first for her.
“Ano, Ino-san I’m sure that Tenten-san didn’t mean it that way.” Hinata intervened quickly before Tenten could open her mouth to respond, “We’re very happy to see the both of you. Ino-san, Sakura-san. Would you like to join us for a drink?”
With a sidelong look at Sakura who nodded her head carefully - she hadn’t been the only one that had noticed that there was something going on that didn’t feel right. There was no reason for Hinata to be so upset about something, not when things were finally calming down.
Then she smiled at Hinata, "We'd be delighted to. Have you been shopping today?"
With that she and Sakura were careful to keep the conversation to neutral topics like what was currently on sale, what was in fashion (which was hardly the same thing at all) and what was going on among the rest of the rookies.
Ino was pleased to tell them that Chouji had gotten out of the hospital earlier that morning, and the news got the first unfettered smile from the shyer girl that she had seen. "That's great news Ino-san!"
"I know," Ino said as they ducked into a small tea shop and took seats near the door, "I was so happy that he's finally better - though he's lost a lot of ground in training due to the prolonged recovery."
"I'm sure he'll work hard to catch up." Sakura said calmly as they ordered drinks, “He told me he was planning to.”
Ino gave her friend a long look, “Been to visit him again then?”
“Tsunade-sama wanted to do a check up, she let me come along.”
“Were you shopping for anything specific, Ino-san?” Hinata asked her suddenly, “Tenten-san has told me of your current mission.”
“Yeah,” Ino paused as their orders were brought out, “But it doesn’t have anything to do with the mission. Just training supplies.”
That gave the four of them something to talk about for the next half an hour - all of the kunoichi had very different fighting skills and the equipment that went with them varied as much as they did. Tenten was in the process of explaining the exact difference between Kumo and Konoha shuriken when Hinata paled.
Following her gaze, Ino frowned when she saw that Hinata’s cousin, Neji, had entered the shop. Beside Hinata, Tenten had tensed and was whispering furiously to the smaller girl. Ino traded a look with Sakura.
What was this all about? She could understand Hinata being reluctant to be around him, he had almost killed her after all, but Tenten was his teammate and from what she had seen of the team they worked well together. Now Tenten was near glaring at Neji and Ino was surprised to realize that as he came closer that he looked acutely uncomfortable.
“Hiashi-sama requires your presence Hinata-sama.”
As Hinata hurriedly made her good-byes and got out the money for her drink, Ino frowned at Tenten. The tall girl was near to trembling with anger and she noted with surprise that Neji had been careful to avoid her eyes.
Ino was starting to feel like she and Sakura had wandered into something that really wasn’t their concern. To her, this was starting to look like Clan business and that meant she should keep her nose out of it.
Watching Hinata leave with her shoulders hunched, in the shadow of her older cousin, made it hard to remember that though.
“What was that all about?” Sakura asked the moment that the door had shut behind the two Hyuuga.
Tenten’s lips twisted in a grimace, “That would be the process of arranging a marriage.”
Ino spluttered. She was glad to see that Sakura was looking equally surprised. “Marriage?” Ino managed to squeak out, “Hinata’s getting married?”
She knew that there were a few Clans that still practiced arranged marriages - the Aburame family for one - but she hadn’t thought to apply that to the people that she knew. Ino bit her lip and tried to remember anything that she’d ever read on the subject. It wasn’t much.
“It’ll be a long engagement, right?” Sakura was asking, “I mean, we’re only thirteen - legal’s not even until fifteen.”
“Actually,” Ino said with a cough, “The moment we became Genin we’re considered fully adult in the eyes of the law. Anyone of us could get married.”
Tenten made a face, “They haven’t even decided who it’ll be yet - but Hinata’s crushed, there’s no way that they’ll pick the person that she likes. He’s not even a member of any Clan.”
Ino winced. She could see how then that would be practically impossible - Hyuuga Clan was one of the most insular Clans, and Hinata was the heir. “Do you know who some of the candidates are?”
That got her a thin-lipped smile, “Hyuuga.”
Then Tenten finished her drink and set her money down. “I’m going to go see if I can get in and talk to her - Hinata needs a girl to talk to.”
“Hey, tell her we’re willing to listen.” Sakura said and Ino found herself nodding her head in agreement.
“I’ll tell her.” Tenten promised.
Then she was gone and Ino stared at Sakura for a long moment knowing that the surprise on the pink haired girl’s face was a mirror to her own.
“I thought my problems were bad.” Sakura commented after a few minutes, “Can you imagine having to get married right now? Poor Hinata.”
Poor Hinata, indeed, Ino thought. She was glad her Clan didn’t have arranged marriages.
---
When he'd knocked on the back door of the Yamanaka's place the last person he'd expected to answer the door was his sensei. Shikamaru blinked up at Asuma-sensei, "What are you doing at Ino's house?"
His sensei laughed, and opened the door wider, "Ino invited me. Guess she didn't tell you?"
Shikamaru frowned at that as he entered the house. He and Ino hadn't talked at all lately but he would have thought that she'd have told him who was coming. Well, at least Asuma-sensei wasn't as bad as, like, Haruno. "Is anyone else coming?"
Last he heard this was a family affair - Shikamaru was heading home if Ino had turned it into one of her girly parties. He couldn't stand the frills and fuss that being in the same room as so many girls his age brought with it as a matter of course.
"Chouji's family isn't here yet," Asuma-sensei told him as they headed down the hall, "And we're missing the birthday girl."
"Ino's not here yet?" Shikamaru asked, "That's not like her."
It wasn't like her at all. Ino wasn't the type to be late to her own party. Shikamaru knew that however much they called it his and hers it was really hers. Though he'd get presents. Ino was the one that liked parties. In his opinion though this was really just an excuse for their parents get together and talk about the good old days.
Asuma-sensei shrugged, "Ino's hanging out with Sakura from what I gathered. She probably just lost track of time."
"Hm." Shikamaru suffered through being greeted by Ino's mother - who was looking harried as she watched over the cooking food - and Ino's father. Asuma-sensei lounged in one of the chairs around the dining table and talked to Ino's father in low voices. Shikamaru didn't bother to see what they were speaking about.
He doubted it had anything to do with him.
His parents showed up with the Akimichi's and he perked up a bit when Chouji came in. Shikamaru hadn't been able to be there when he'd gotten out of the hospital, thanks to the mission he'd been on, but seeing Chouji now was enough to convince him that his friend really was feeling better. Looking better too.
It wasn't until twenty minutes later, and Ino's mother was starting to look severely annoyed, when Ino showed up clutching several shopping bags. "I'm sorry!" She said quickly as she squeezed through the room, and raced up the stairs, "I lost track of time!"
When she came down a few minutes later she'd changed into a long skirt and a short sleeved shirt. Her bandages around her arms remained on, he noticed, and he wondered again if it was just some stupid fashion. He hadn't noticed that many of the girls their age picking it up though... Ino got a kiss on the head from her father and Shikamaru couldn't help scowling as she whispered something to her father that man the blond man beam.
She made the rounds of greeting everyone, apologizing for her lateness, and it wasn't until Shikamaru found himself sitting across from her at the table, and she was talking animatedly to his father, that he realized she hadn't said a word to him. He'd been so busy watching her that it hadn't even occurred to him. Irritation began smoldering in him.
What, was she still mad at him? It had been nearly a month since he'd given her grief about her teaching job - one which was now over, he'd seen Suzume-sensei in the Mission Center and had no doubts that she'd be reclaiming her job. He'd been hearing through the grape-vine though that Ino had done nothing but excellent work.
Well, she was Ino so she'd have hardly done anything but work at it to the best of her ability. Ino always had been competitive like that, even when there was no one to compete against but herself. The fact remained though that she hadn't been qualified, and surely they didn't think that a Genin could just up and teach seven years worth of students at the Academy - not while they were all on different levels. Unless she'd spent the entire month teaching them about flowers.
Growing up in a flower shop would have some advantages there, he figured.
Enough to teach about it anyway.
Chouji's elbow prodded his side and he looked over to find his friend frowning at him, "Stop staring at her." Chouji said in a near whisper.
Shikamaru stabbed at his vegetables and whispered back, "She didn't even bother to say hello to me."
"Well," Chouji said logically, "she's still mad at you. Every time I mention you she snaps that she doesn't want to talk about it - what did you say to her?"
Scowling, Shikamaru looked away. He didn't feel like explaining it, not even to Chouji, when it was really just a stupid fight over nothing - and not after the reports he'd been hearing and the looming possibility that he might be the one in the wrong.
"See?" This was said heatedly and Shikamaru looked over to find that Chouji was frowning at him, "You're doing the same thing as she is - how am I supposed to help if nobody is going to talk to me?"
"It's just a stupid fight." Shikamaru dismissed the whole thing, "It'll blow over."
"It has been a month. Neither you or Ino stay that mad for so long ordinarily. Whatever it was, it wasn't just a spat - tell me, Shikamaru."
"Just drop it, alright? I don't want to talk about it."
Chouji sighed and went back to his food. Shikamaru found himself glowering across the table at Ino, who'd given no notice that she'd even realized that they were talking about her. Busy as she was with her conversation.
... why was she asking his father about their deer?
Deer were smelly, messy creatures (that looked nice from a distance) and he couldn't see fastidious Ino wanting to go near them. Unless it was under duress. He studied her face, Shikamaru didn't think that her enjoyment of the conversation was unfeigned as his father went on in detail about the medicinal properties of their antlers.
In this matter, dinner passed. He managed to behave fairly normally for a while once Akimichi Misaki, Chouji's mother, dragged him into a conversation about the reconstruction of Konoha. But he noticed, and he knew from the way that Chouji was frowning slightly by the end of it, that his friend had noticed too. Ino hadn't once looked his way.
Once the adults had dispersed for the clean up, and Ino's offer to help had been turned down, it was only the three of them left in the dining room. The silence was suddenly awkward.
"Well, I'm just going to get a scroll to read," Ino started to leave her seat, chattering all the while, "no time to waste, you know, and it will be awhile until desert and presents - "
"What is your problem?" Shikamaru demanded before she made it to the door, "Can't look at your teammate?"
Several emotions that he couldn't name crossed her face before she replied coolly, "I can talk to Chouji just fine."
So that was how it was going to be? Well, fine. "Just like a girl, to behave like this," he sneered, "you can't even make it to your own party on time. Too busy shopping?"
At the way that she'd gone dead white he knew that he'd hit a mark. "Shikamaru," she said in a low, dangerous voice, "Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about."
He saw Chouji wince out of the corner of his eye. Shikamaru ignored the both of them, "Did you think I wouldn't notice you ignoring me Ino? You spent dinner talking to my father."
"So what if I did?" She fired back, blue eyes furious, "At least he isn't being a complete jerk. Unlike you."
"I meant what I said - if you messed up on their training you could get them killed in the future."
"Suzume-sensei gave me a written commendation!" Her fists were tightly clenched and the twin spots of red on her cheeks gave him pause. Shikamaru didn't think he'd seen her this truly angry before. "And what would you know about training kunoichi?"
"Enough that a kunoichi barely out of the Academy shouldn't be teaching them!"
"Oh yeah?" she asked in a voice that he'd never heard before, "Just like I suppose then that a wet behind the ears Chuunin shouldn't be heading out on A class missions. I, at least, didn't fail."
He heard Chouji's sharp intake of breath and he was so angry that he could barely see - this was what he got for trying to keep her out of danger? "Hard to say how you would have done in my place," he said furiously, "Considering only one member of Team 10 made Chuunin. You're too weak, Ino. Just a little girl playing at being ninja."
He barely had time to register her shriek of fury and then she slapped him. The crack of her hand on his skin echoed through out the room. Shikamaru reeled back, managing to keep to his feet only through a good deal of groping at the table.
"You don't know anything about me." Ino said furiously, "I'm done talking to you. I don't associate with morons."
She stormed out of the room and from the crash of another door he guessed that she had left the house. Touching his face gingerly, she hadn't been holding back, Shikamaru looked at Chouji.
Chouji's face didn't reassure him.
"Sometimes you do really stupid things." His best friend said quietly, "Let's get you some ice."
---
The next morning she was still furious with Shikamaru - and with herself for lacking the control to remain calm and not ruin the party. She hadn't been able to sleep well even after spending a few hours on the training grounds practicing her taijutsu.
Ino yawned and stared at the glasses thoughtfully. She had considered not wearing them unless she was on a mission, but after what Shikamaru had said...
With a resolute air she picked them up and looked them over. They were, she had to admit, ugly.
They were also perfect. The stars even helped to hide the chakra overflow that she couldn't quite keep within the regular lenses yet. Ino had attempted the night before, after obtaining permission from her father (and apologizing for storming out of her own party), to try the jutsu out with the glasses on. She had immediately seen what a difference they made to her looks. She couldn’t yet keep the light from expanding beyond her eyes, but the glasses hid most of the leakage. It was a simple solution. No matter that Shikamaru thought she was being rather unbearably impractical - this was one of the most useful things that she could think of wearing on a mission. Everyone would underestimate her with these on.
After all, no half decent kunoichi would be caught dead wearing them in the field.
Making sure her hair was pinned properly, Ino put the glasses on. They were too dark for her to wear unless she was outside so with a sigh she pushed them up on her forehead.
Looking in the mirror Ino couldn't help but grin. She looked like she should be going to the beach. (So long as you ignored the rest of her outfit.) They weren't as bad as she was making them out to be, Ino consoled herself. At least they weren't yellow. Finishing her morning preparations in record time she headed downstairs. Ino frowned as she reached one hand up to steady the glasses. She would have to find a way to keep them immobile while she didn't need them. Maybe her father would have an idea?
She found him in the kitchen scrambling eggs and reading the newspaper at the same time. The radio was on in one corner playing quietly and she was amused to find that he moved very slightly with the music, "Mother will kill you if she finds you doing that." Ino observed as she helped herself to an orange from the fruit basket and set about making toast.
Her father looked at her from over his shoulder, a grin on his face, "She's still sleeping - what she doesn't know won't hurt her."
Ino snickered and buttered her toast, "You know that she'll catch you, she always does."
With a sigh her father shut the paper and tossed it on the table, "Fine, fine. No reading while cooking. I haven't burnt the house down in all the years I've been doing it though."
He deftly finished the eggs and with some toast of his own they settled into breakfast. "I like the glasses." Her father said absently. "Make you look cheerful."
She gave him a withering look, "They work for the jutsu, that's the only reason that I bought them." Ino paused then asked, "Do you know how to keep them in your hair?"
"Do I look like I ever wore my glasses like that?" He asked sounding mock offended, “I attached mine to string and hung them around my neck.”
"You don't look like you ever had to wear glasses at all!" Ino retorted, "I was just wondering." And there was no way that she was even going to consider what he’d suggested. There was ridiculous and then there was ridiculous.
Her father chewed thoughtfully, "I'd ask Shizune-san if she's got a good idea. None of your clips would work, huh?"
"The glasses are too thick." Ino said with a shake of her head.
Clearing away his dishes her father kissed the top of her head as he headed out the door.
Ino slumped in her chair, having a bit of time to waste since she didn't have to worry about making it to the Academy after her morning routine. She had the day off and while determined to do a fair bit of training Ino wasn't ready to go quite yet.
Draining her juice, Ino was debating if she was hungry enough for another piece of fruit when her father enter the room again with a letter in his hands, "There's a letter for you, sweetie." With a causal toss of his hand he sent it flying at her.
She caught it deftly and he winked at her. Ino rolled her eyes at him. "Shouldn't you be heading out?"
"I'm gone!" Then she heard the back door closing with a thump that was more than enough to wake her mother up. Sure enough, a few seconds later, she heard the sounds of her mother moving around upstairs.
Ino turned the letter over in her fingers and that telling her nothing - it didn't even have her name on it, how had her father known that it was for her? - she opened it cautiously.
Yamanaka Ino
Ninja Registration No: 012604
Notification of Reformation:
As of October 26th, Team 10 under Sarutobi Asuma (Ninja Registration No: 010829 ) is called back to regular duty. Akimichi Chouji (Ninja Registration No: 012625 ) and Nara Shikamaru (Ninja Registration No: 012611 ) have received notice as well.
Shinobi Administration Bureau
Underneath this was written in Asuma-sensei’s familiar scrawl:
We’re back in action, kids (and about time!) - meet me at the training ground at 0700.
He hadn’t bothered to sign his name.
She stared at the letter for a few minutes. Then, her hands shaking, she left the house. Deciding that she would rather train than spend time thinking about what would happen tomorrow. Ino didn't bother to put her dishes in the sink - something that her mother would no doubt mention later, but right now she had to get out of the house.
How was she going to work with him? After she'd slapped him at the party, Ino had no doubt that they would find getting along a difficult proposition.
Ino had never thought that learning her team was reforming would fill her with such dread.
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