Sky on Fire: Slow Burn - Chapter 11 (Part 2)
Title: Slow Burn
Chapter: 11 Breathe (Part II)
Author/Artist: Skylar Inari
Word Count: 8577
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 11 of ? Unbeta'd.
--
Mui’s eyes narrowed as she took in the scene, her question echoing in the sudden silence. She noted the way that Sakura was white and gripping the counter like it was a lifeline, she studied the way that Sayako was livid and in tears.
"I repeat," she said slowly, in the ominous voice that she’d learnt worked best for prying answers out of both her daughter and her husband-if it worked on the both of them, both Yamanaka to the bone, then it would work on these two. "What is going on here?"
There was nothing gentle about her question. It fell into the heavy air and Mui could feel the tension crackling.
No answer, still, was forthcoming.
That wouldn’t do at all. Her lips thinned and Mui almost elegantly brushed a strand of hair away from her face as she considered her options. She had many things to say, few of them kindnesses, and it was looking as if the two in front of her-both pink haired, both girls, both with personalities that were powerful for all that they hide behind smiles-that she felt a pang of regret that these two were so fundamentally different.
In ways that were not particularly compatible for a shinobi and a civilian. Some issues could be worked around, worked through, even put aside. Mui studied them, and wondered if they’d be able to manage it. Or if they’d wind up going her route.
Mui knew what it was like to be in Sakura’s place-she fully sympathized with her. Age and experience, however, had left her with a better understanding of how Sayako was likely to feel. Understanding translated into compassion. It didn’t grant forgiveness or approval though.
"Sakura-chan," she said, stepping into the growing awkward silence. "Please leave. I wish to speak to your mother alone."
Sakura spun to stare at her, eyes wide. "Yamanaka-san, I-"
"That’s enough," Mui said, her voice brooking no argument in this. "There are some things that your mother needs to hear, and you do not need to be present for it."
Indeed, having someone here who reminded her so much of her own teenaged self-not in looks, or in personality, but purely because of the situational basis that was so painfully similar to the one that had opened the rift so wide between Mui and her own mother that Ino had never even met her grandmother-would only hurt the situation more than it would help.
The talk she had in mind was not one for a girl just starting out on the path to independence and Mui had no wish to inspire Sakura to change her mind about her own life. Not at this point. Not when, in Mui’s estimation, the girl was doing fine enough on her own. Of course, children should have parents, but the fact remained that once they hit a certain age, they did not really need them.
That age just came younger for shinobi children. Sakura was, in the eyes of the village, an adult now. Mui would do her the honour of treating her like one most of the time. Right now, however, no.
"Please," Sakura said, "not right now, not here-I don’t want to cause trouble-"
"You," she said, laying slight emphasis on that word, "have not caused me trouble. You are a valuable employee, and my daughter’s best friend. It is no lie when I assure you that it is no trouble at all caring for you."
Sayako looked slightly apprehensive when Mui turned to face her.
"On the other hand," she continued, "you, Haruno-san, have come into my shop, upset my employee, necessitated the early closing of my business, and upset me." Mui wondered if Sayako even realized that she’d taken a step back. It was a bit gratifying, even if it wasn’t useful at the moment.
"Please," Sakura said, looking up at her. "Don’t do this right now-for me, please."
"It will happen," Mui said, almost gently. "I’ve put it off before now because you were left alone."
True enough. She was no monster to rake up pain and stir the pot of other peoples’ pain for the sake of it. As long as Sayako had been content to simmer and stew in the mess of her own devising then Mui had been well enough with trying to gently and carefully talk to Sakura about those same issues.
Only a little at a time-it had to be done carefully, too much would make things worse, too little would mean that things never changed at all. Mui was confident that she’d been dealing fairly well with the situation.
Sakura swallowed and stared at her with cool green eyes-calculating that, assessing it. "I know," she said finally. "But please, don’t do it here."
It would cost her nothing to relent now. Mui sighed and slipped on arm around Sakura comfortingly. "Go," she told Sayako. "Out of my shop, and don’t come back unless you require flowers."
The look she got for that from Sayako said quite clearly that if the other woman needed flowers, that it would not be from here that she’d obtain them. It was balanced, though, by the look of relief that Sakura wore, and Mui did not miss the fact that the self-same relief flickered in Sayako’s eyes.
Coward, Mui thought contemptuously, turning away. You will yell at your daughter, but not at the one who shields her from your rage? Pick your battles, and make the ones that you do engage in count. It was a basic tenant of shinobi training, and Mui was sure that she’d gained more out of this than Sayako.
Little victories, after all, built up. And she had time enough to make this young kunoichi into someone that anyone would be proud of. "Come, Sakura," she said, "we’ve got clean up to do, and then we’re going out for dinner, I think. We could use the treat."
The anger radiated at her back was worth the almost shy, pleased smile that Sakura gave her. Everything had a balance.
Behind them, the door slammed shut.
--
Shikamaru had watched silently as Ino struggled and did her best to keep pace with them all, and said nothing about slowing the team down or anything like that. He could tell, now that he was watching, that from the set of her jaw and the fire in her eyes that, if he said anything along those lines, he’d be instigating a major fight.
He didn’t want to fight with her-not right now. He wasn’t sure what, exactly, he wanted to do, but Shikamaru found himself content enough to just watch.
Of course, even as tired as she was, it was the second break of the day-Asuma-sensei claiming that it was only break time because Megumi needed the additional time to rest. The half-smile the brown haired woman had given their sensei spoke louder than words that she knew it wasn’t exactly for her, but it meant that Ino gave in with only minimal fuss-when Shikamaru found his gaze suddenly staring into bright blue eyes.
"You’re staring," Ino informed him, handing him a rations bar.
He took it automatically, unwrapping the soft, silent wrapper and biting into the crumbly bar-eugh, cinnamon apple-as he considered how to answer that. While he chewed, Ino settled down next to him, a tired sigh escaping her as she eased her body down.
"What if I am?" he said, tone idle as she fussed with her own rations bar. Strawberry, he noticed. Of course she’d claimed the better tasting one. Somehow, that made a smile tug at his lips.
"I still think you should wear a skirt," she told him pertly. "I’m keeping up, aren’t I?"
"You are," he agreed, talking another bit of his bar. It was dry, and he reached for his canteen as Ino nibbled on her bar.
She swallowed. "Then why the staring?"
"Maybe I just like staring at you," he said flippantly, putting a sarcastic spin to his voice so she wouldn’t take him seriously. What was really so wrong with him keeping an eye on his teammate?
Especially the one who was only a few days out of captivity. Who haunted his nightmares. Who was a-girl. You idiot, he thought, she's always been a girl.
"No way," Ino said, laughing and tilting her head back to soak in what little sun there was. "I thought I’m troublesome?"
"That’s why you need staring at," he said dryly, butterflies in his stomach, but glad enough that she wasn’t taking him seriously. "Can’t be left alone, should be kept away from sharp objects, needs to be kept entertained..."
Ino shoved his shoulder, rolling her eyes. She was, he noted, smiling though. "As if you even could manage that," she scoffed, "no way."
"Then you’re just going to have to deal with the staring." He shrugged and took another bite of the rations bar.
She made a face at him. "Don’t help me unless I ask for it," Ino ordered. "I’m doing fine."
"You always say that," he said, because that was true. Shikamaru couldn’t remember the last time that Ino had actually asked for their help-either she was fine alone, or she took their help as something that was so often there that it was to be taken for granted.
"Maybe I’m always fine then," Ino insisted, fiddling with her bar.
"Even when caught by enemy shinobi?" he asked pointedly. "Eat. You weight hardly anything."
Her eyes darkened, and she silently chewed on her bar for a few minutes. "That’s why you’re staring at me?" Ino asked finally, picking at the wrapper and not looking at him. "Because the mission screwed up?"
Shikamaru watched her for a moment then sighed. "I was worried."
"I can take care of myself-"
He grabbed her arm, resisting the urge to shake her. She was so annoying sometimes. This was obvious. "You can," he said flatly as she made a half-hearted attempt to get free of him. "And I was still worried."
Ino studied him for a few seconds then looked away. "I still don’t need a nursemaid."
"How about a teammate?" He was picking his words with a lot of care-the last thing he needed was her exploding at him over something that, if he was thinking, he certainly wasn’t planning to say. He didn’t need her reading insults into his comments when there were none to be found.
Shikamaru had been doing a lot of thinking in the few days that Ino had been asleep, and there’d been little to do but think, buy food for the other shinobi, and patrol carefully as they sought to avoid drawing attention to the fact that there even were Konoha nin in the village while the rest of the townspeople reacted to the news of the explosions, the deaths, and the excitement with a fury akin to that of a kicked hornet’s nest.
She swung around to stare at him. "You’re already my teammate."
"Don’t you think," he said carefully, "that teammates are allowed to worry about each other? When, for instance, one of them is in the hands of the enemy."
Ino’s eyes narrowed as she thought, absently giving her hand another tug to see if she could free it. This time, he let her go, trusting that she wasn’t going to get up and storm off anywhere. While she thought, he finished his ration bar, sipped at his canteen and offered it to her.
She took the canteen, toying with it as she thought, and Shikamaru leaned back to study the sky. It was a fairly decent day, he decided, with the clouds scudding overhead, that half shade of grey that spoke of the chance of rain, but the sun peeking through the gaps said that it wasn't going to happen here and now.
Good enough, he thought, and good enough that this was going okay. He was tired of fighting this argument and losing because he couldn't put his finger on why he didn't like it so much.
Besides, it would make her happy, winning now.
"True," she eventually conceded, sipping from his canteen. "But if you try and tell me that everything you've worried about was 'cause of that I'll dump this on you."
"I'm not," he replied, getting up and snagging her wrapper. "But in this case, that's what it was."
Sort of. He wasn't exactly sure.
She studied him intently. "Alright," Ino said, "I can deal with that."
--
Running home, even at what was really not her best, Ino found was made easier by the simple fact that they were going home. She’d be able to have blonde hair again, and her weapons.
Ino definitely wanted her weapons, all things considered.
At the same time, she had to admit that she was deeply pleased with herself-she would have had to be blind not to notice the fact that Asuma-sensei was happy with her, that Amaya-san was pleased, that the ANBU man-Yuuta, she thought, but he’d left before she’d gotten to know for sure-hadn’t looked at her like she was a girl that could do nothing but mess up.
That didn’t mean she wanted to do it again, not right away, at least, but there were worse outcomes to missions that had gone so badly out of shape as this one had and Ino was finding that she had no complaints about how the mission had turned out.
Even if it did mean that she needed to talk to Chouji. Like, soon. Ino made a face at that. True, she probably should’ve talked to him about what else she was learning sometime before all of this, but there hadn’t been the time...
That was an excuse. Ino scowled at that. She shouldn’t be making excuses.
Excuses were childish, and Ino very much didn't want to be childish--she didn't feel like she should be, not after the mission she'd just done, and narrowed her eyes in thought. Yes, of course she'd have to talk to Chouji, and apologize.
Making a face at that though, Ino hated apologizing, she nonetheless promised herself that she'd get on with it and not just keep putting it off. It made no sense now, definitely not now, for her to keep her silence on what she was learning (and it had been Shikamaru anyway who'd she'd originally not wanted to know, Chouji only having been lumped into the not-knowing group because she couldn't trust him not to tell...).
Ino stumbled slightly, a rock knocking her precarious balance out of whack and she was worried for a second that she'd go down--oh, how embarrassing, not up to full speed or not, she was a Genin and that was just pathetic--before she was caught on both sides by hands that held her upright and let her keep going without a fall. Chouji and Shikamaru.
"Thanks," she said, fighting the urge to retort that she'd have been fine on her own. They let her go once she was steady again, and Shikamaru rolled his eyes, while Chouji just gave her a smile. That was enough. They were a team--they didn't need more words than that for something so simple as a stumble.
Despite that, her cheeks were warm with embarrassment. Stumbling over a rock was not the way to prove that she could take care of herself. It was--
"Don't worry about it," Amaya-san said, moving up to keep pace with her easily. "You didn't go down, and you're not up to your best yet. There is no shame in not being able to do as well as you can ordinarily in that circumstance."
Easy for her to say, Ino thought, and some of her opinion must have shown on her face for Amaya-san laughed. I bet she never tripped over rocks just because she was tired earlier than she ought to be.
"I know what you’re thinking, Ino-kun," Amaya-san teased, easily keeping the pace despite the fact that her injuries had been far greater than Ino’s. Ino felt a flash of pure envy. "And you’ll see, everyone falls behind sometimes."
Her eyes narrowed slightly at that. "I’m not falling behind," she said, stung. "I won’t ever fall behind."
If she did that, now, then all those months of effort were for hardly anything. That wasn’t the truth, Ino knew that intellectually, but emotionally, she would consider it a complete failure in her attempts to improve herself. What was the point of improvement if she just fell behind again? Maybe being totally awesome was going to be a long, up-hill climb, but she didn’t want to be spending time sliding back down to the bottom. No matter what Ino wanted to keep moving forward.
"I’m not," she repeated, forcing her attention onto the ground, checking for anything that might trip her up again-that would be beyond embarrassing, wouldn’t it, if she fell while she was busy insisting that she was just as good as the rest of them.
Amaya-san rested a steady gaze on her. Despite herself, Ino found that a slow flush was spreading over her cheeks.
"You’re young," Amaya-san said lightly. "Do you think you’ll really never fall to the bottom again? Because I assure you that people older and wiser than you are have had to start all over again from the very bottom."
Ino fought the urge to scowl. "I just got out of the bottom," she said, still mostly focused on the ground in front of her. Ino hated to admit it but she couldn’t afford the distraction at the moment. She didn’t dare lose track of what she was doing and even that was still taking a bit more effort than it should’ve been. "Why would I want to consider being shoved back down again?"
"Because it’s better to think of it now," came the swift answer, "and know about the odds of it happening, than to be taken completely off guard and have to deal with the crushing surprise on top of everything else, don’t you think?"
Ino mulled over that. "I still don’t-I mean, I know I’m not the best, but there’s nothing wrong with taking a bit of pride in what I’ve accomplished already..."
Amaya-san laughed. "I didn’t mean that at all. You have every right to be proud of how far you’ve come-and in so short a time!-I just want to make sure that you know that there will always be someone better. You’re a very talented girl, Ino-kun. Don’t forget that. But also don’t forget that the shinobi world is filled with people who are greatly talented."
"I’ll keep it in mind," Ino said, making a face at her. "Even if that’s a seriously depressing world-view, don’t you think? I mean, it’s one thing to know it on the field-if you don’t, you underestimate your enemy and that’s a bad thing-but, I don’t know, I don’t think there’s any harm in being a little bit prideful."
That only earned her a smile. "Just remember," Amaya-san said as the gates to Konoha came into view. "As you go up through the ranks, the line between on the field and off of it narrows."
--
She’d finished giving her report, Amaya-san had ruffled her hair and said that they’d maybe see each other around, Shikamaru and Chouji had disappeared to get some sleep and Ino had promised Asuma-sensei that she’d go and do the same right after she checked in with Shizune-sensei.
After all, it was probably a good idea to let her know that she was back in the first place, rather than have her learn it from someone else. Ino stretched, feeling the pull and tug of her muscles as they still ached and stifled the urge to yawn.
Really, she probably could have gone straight to bed, but Ino figured that this was better-and it gave her time to cool down from the run that had left her so exhausted. Entering the hospital was like entering a whole different world.
Waving at the nurses who were busy with clipboards, or on their breaks, Ino went straight for the front desk. "Is Shizune-sensei in today?" she asked the pretty brunette who was sitting there and going through paperwork while her darker haired partner was dealing with another client about some kind of bill.
"She should be up on the fourth floor," the woman said, after a quick glance at one of the clipboards. "She doesn’t have any surgeries until this evening."
"Thank you," Ino replied, and was waved off. She knew that the only reason she’d gotten through so quickly was because she was a recognized face around here. Not just anyone could show up in Konoha’s hospital, ask for Shizune-sensei, and actually get her whereabouts.
Ino smiled as she walked through the doors that only the staff were supposed to use, and offered those she saw easy greetings as they noticed her. The halls were so clean they all but sparkled-Tsunade-sama was firm about the hygiene of the hospital-and the scent of anti-septic, and the most powerful cleaners was almost over-whelming after weeks of not having been around them.
In a way, that was a good thing, it meant she’d be less likely to miss something out of the ordinary if her sense of smell stayed good, but at the moment it was more of an encumbrance than anything else.
As she approached Shizune-sensei’s office, Ino tilted her head. She could hear voices coming from the open door, and made her steps soft and light.
"Alright, we’ll do it that way then," Shizune-sensei said to someone, as Ino peeked her head around the door and found that not only was Shizune-sensei present, but Hokage-sama was as well. Her eyes widened and she was about to pull her head back-though no doubt they already knew good and well that she was around, honestly, chakra suppressed or not, she didn’t have the training to lie to the Hokage, and Shizune-sensei knew the feel of her chakra inside and out.
"Ino-kun," Shizune-sensei said, giving her a smile. "Come in."
"Yes, sensei," she said, stepping in and bowing to Tsunade-sama and her. "Hokage-sama."
"Yamanaka-kun." Hokage-sama nodded at her, and glanced at Shizune-sensei.
Ino did too since she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on here. "Did I interrupt anything?" she asked, a bit diffidently. It wasn’t how she normally dealt with people, but Hokage-sama was right there.
"Nothing important," Hokage-sama said, giving her an intent glance. Ino resisted the urge to fidget and took the chair that was nodded to. "It's nice to see you're back and looking well."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"I presume you've finished your verbal and written reports to the Chuunin already?" Hokage-sama said, as Shizune-sensei got up and shut the door. Ino couldn't help following Shizune-sensei with her eyes and wondering at what exactly was to be expected of her now.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," she said again, as that was both true and hopefully the answer she was supposed to have given. She doubted that Hokage-sama would care to hear if she hadn't already accomplished something, so Ino was glad she had.
Ino watched out of the corner of her eyes as Shizune-sensei made tea with an electric kettle. To all appearances, her sensei looked to be in fine form.
"Good," Tsunade-sama said, leaning back in her chair, her generous bosom shifting as she moved. "Report, Genin. I'll read your formal one later."
"Right here?" Ino said, blinking in surprise even as a weak weary part of her wept at the thought of having to go through the whole situation all over again and so soon. She should've, Ino thought ruefully, just gone straight home and gotten some sleep. Next time, she resolved, that's exactly what she'd do.
Though it probably wasn't.
"Yes, Yamanaka-kun," Hokage-sama said as Shizune-sensei set her tea down in front of her, and then put one by Ino took the last for herself. "Report."
There was no way that she could refuse an order like that. Ino cast a dubious glance at Shizune-sensei, who looked mildly interested at the proceedings, and took a moment to organize her tired thoughts before launching into a report that would, hopefully, satisfy the Hokage.
Ino did her best to keep the details straight, to stress when she didn't know something directly, what exactly Amaya-san had done, what she'd done, the fact that they'd gotten caught and still weren't sure how, the way that they'd dealt with the imprisonment, their escape.
Through it all, the Hokage watched her with thoughtful eyes, and Ino did her utmost to keep the urge to wipe her palms on her skirt down, even if it would have made her feel better it was most unprofessional, as she stuck to the details. Sometimes Hokage-sama would stop her, make her go back and elaborate on things, and at those times Ino's face burned with embarrassment, because it was far worse missing something in front of her than it was back when they'd done practise reports for Iruka-sensei back in the Academy, or when Asuma-sensei decided he actually wanted to hear their reports.
Mostly, she suspected, so he could mock them. It bore evidence of that, at least.
Eventually she wound down, surprised to see that her tea was gone, her throat was dry, and she was so very glad that Hokage-sama hadn't needed her to stand during the recital of the mission.
Ino was so tired of reporting the mission. She settled into her chair anxiously and waited to see what Hokage-sama had to say.
When she spoke, the approval was clear: "Well done, Yamanaka-kun."
--
The afternoon shone bright and clear and cool. Not cold enough to send people inside for the day-not when there was sun shining, not in the winter when most of what they had to look forward to was rain-but chill enough that Mui was wearing one of her heavier sweaters and glad for the warmth of her thick skirt and the tea she had was so hot that steam wafted off of it in steady tendrils. The chair she sat on was pleasingly wrought metal with a cushion to keep comfortable and prevent her from getting cold.
Had it been a usual day, she wouldn’t have been out here. Mui had too many things to do to simply come and spend the middle of the day doing nothing more than sipping tea, but it had been arranged that she and Haruno Sayako would meet here and discuss things.
The only reason Mui had relented enough for that compromise (one that she was of the opinion that Sakura’s mother ill-deserved) was that Sakura had protested so vehemently, and looked so ill-at-ease that Mui had given in.
She’d not missed the look of relief on Haruno Sayako’s face either.
All of which was what found her, in the middle of the work day, and having left her shop (no matter what Inoichi said, it was hers more than his in her mind, and that was alright with the both of them-it was theirs) in Sakura’s hands, and Mui was sitting at the outside café she’d chosen and wondering idly if she’d been stood up.
She flexed her fingers, and sipped her tea. Fifteen minutes late. So far, it was not unreasonably to simply assume that Sakura’s mother had been held up by some issue at her place of work-Sakura had mentioned that they were tailors.
Another fifteen then, that was what she would wait until she’d leave her seat at the café, and go out and about finding Sakura’s errant mother herself. Sometimes, the direct approach worked best, however dismaying it would undoubtedly prove for Haruno Sayako if that was the case.
Though not on active duty, and quite honestly not capable of handling the physical demands of active duty, Mui thought herself (with good reason, having been a Chuunin before her injuries made that impossible) more than capable of finding one pink haired civilian who badly needed a talking to about her daughter.
Tapping her fingernails against the warm porcelain of her tea cup, Mui’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. A very desperately required talking to. She was only glad that Sakura had discovered earlier than she herself had that sometimes, sometimes, you couldn’t stay.
And that sometimes, other people knew what they were about. On the subject of parents who did not want their daughter to be a ninja, Mui felt herself more than adequately equipped to deal with that-and she could only hope it would turn out better for Sakura than it had for herself. Her parents, after all, were still not talking to her, even after so many years had gone by.
Mui shook her head, glad that her hair pins kept her hair from flying about her face, and forced her thoughts away from that. Unnecessary thoughts would only be a hindrance.
All too quickly, and yet at the same time, too slowly, the extra fifteen minutes of grace that Mui had mentally granted to Haruno Sayako. As the time was up, she summoned the bill with one hand, waited to all appearances patiently as the server brought it to her and then made her change.
She left a nice tip and a friendly smile-after all, people remembered when business people did that, and her shop could always use a few more customers-before heading out. Her steps were smooth, even, and unhurried. Mui would not put so much stress on her weakened legs by forcing them to rush. Walking was no difficulty, but running or anything out of the ordinary would only serve to exhaust her.
This was no emergency, she could take her time. Inoichi wasn’t expecting her home for supper and she had more than enough on her to get dinner at a nice place. Maybe she’d see if Misato wanted to come out with her after she was done talking to Haruno...
With that happy thought to occupy her Mui eased her way down the street that their shop was on. A quick inquiry told her that Haruno hadn’t felt well that day and had taken the time off. That she was ill.
Really, Mui thought, as she headed instead for Sakura-chan’s house, that was a poor lie. Even for a civilian.
When she reached Sakura-chan’s home, Mui rapped on the door once, twice and then paused listening. The sounds of an argument reached her ears, but the words were too indistinct to make out. It was only the tone that let her know what was going on.
A faint smile graced her lips. She knocked again. This time, a man opened the door. He was handsome enough for a civilian and she recognized the line of his jaw and the curve of his eyebrows from Sakura-chan.
"Haruno-san," she said pleasantly-after all, Sakura-chan had said that her father wasn’t the cause of any of this. "My name is Yamanaka Mui. I’ve come to speak to your wife."
He winced slightly, but let her in. "She’s not really ill," he murmured as he fetched her a pair of slippers meant for guests. "I’m sorry you had to come here. I've been trying to talk her around."
"That’s quite alright," she assured him. "It may go better with less people around."
Mui watched, amused, as he winced again. "Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked instead while leading her down a hallway.
As he did, she took in her surroundings after an absent ‘no thank you’ to his offer. It was a nice house-the furniture was of good quality though not new and showed signs of being lived in. The walls were painted appealingly and the air was lightly scented with lavender. Nothing too frilly, but the way everything was so carefully cared for spoke volumes for how much work they spent on the house.
Haruno Sayako was in the living room, her face pale but stubbornly set.
"My," Mui said, so innocent that butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. "Your clerk seems to be mistaken, Haruno-san. She was under the impression that you felt unwell?"
Behind her, Sakura-chan’s father shook his head and sighed. "No hitting," he said, and quietly shut the door behind him. "I’m heading to the shop."
"We’ll be devastatingly polite," she assured him, settling a flinty gaze on Sakura-chan’s mother. "After all," Mui continued smoothly, "we’re both adults here."
Haruno Sayako blanched.
--
As she left the hospital, worn from a solid few hours of steady reporting and still basking in the glow of Hokage-sama's approval, the sky was turning red with the approach of sunset. Ino lingered at one of the bridges to watch it for a few minutes, just leaning. Absently she waved to Tenten and her team as they passed by-apparently for training, as Tenten looked resigned, Neji impassive, and Lee was rambling something about power.
Ino stifled a laugh and watched them go before turning her attention back to the gorgeous sunset that they were getting today. After another ten minutes or so Ino sighed and continued the trip home. It was nice, walking the streets with her hair half way back to it’s usual colour, her injuries only a bit stiff, and that was something that stretching and practise would get rid of. This close to the evening, the streets were fairly crowded, but Ino was in no rush and didn’t feel like heading up to the rooftops.
By the time she got home she was utterly wiped and yet in an almost serene mood, the walk through the village having rendered her calm. (Though her exhaustion probably helped, Ino admitted.) She cut around to the back of their store, making sure that her chakra wasn’t suppressed-though it was so low that, really, would it would make hardly a difference if she hadn’t, and yawned.
Somehow all of that seemed less important as she stepped inside her house and saw her dad cutting up vegetables for a stir-fry. Ino leaned wearily against the door frame and grinned a bit. He had on a pink apron her mother had bought him as a joke, and was singing, mostly in tune, along with the radio.
"I’m home," she said, when the song was over, a grin spreading over her face as he finished the song triumphantly. ‘I’m home’ was all that she needed to say. His head snapped up, and he took in her appearance for a split second before she found herself lifted straight off the ground, caught up in a hug.
Ino flung her arms around his neck and buried her face against him.
He laughed, his voice warm and Ino knew she was home and safe. She pulled back long enough to grin at him. "Did you feel me coming at all?"
Ruffling her hair, he laughed again. "I was a bit distracted," he said, setting her down and giving her another once over. "And you’re exhausted. Sit. Are you hungry?"
"Starved," she admitted, wrinkling her nose as his ushered her to a chair and grabbed her a glass of juice before she could even say she didn’t really want a glass of juice. Ino sipped the drink anyway. "I don’t want to look at a rations bar for at least another few days." Even if she’d made sure to get the ones she didn’t mind too much.
"You’ll get used to feeling like that," he said, ruffling her hair again and pulling a strand out to inspect the fading colour. "Brunette, huh? You’re better as a blonde."
She grinned up at him. "It’s easier to go darker than lighter though, so I was the one that had to change. I’m just glad it’s going away now."
"They never do like blond hair," he sighed, moving over to the stove to toss vegetables in with the chicken for the stir-fry. "Blue, sure. Green, no problem. But blond? Never. It’s always ‘too distinctive’."
"Wonder how they’d react to pink hair," she said thoughtfully, then looked around. "Where is Sakura anyway? And mom?"
"Your mother, the light of my life, is out catching up with a friend," her father replied, after a second. "Sakura-chan’s still at training. Hokage-sama’s got her doing Taijutsu this week so she’ll be wiped when she gets back."
"Mmmm," was really all Ino had to say in response to that. The smell of good food cooking was slowly filling the kitchen and only reminding her that she definitely wanted to eat. "You busy tomorrow, Dad?"
He glanced over his shoulder at her as he got utensils out of the drawer and neatly set two places-one of them right in front of her-and the look on his face said quite clearly that any attempt to get up and help would be met with refusal. Ino didn’t bother to try then, just giving him a smile. "Why, princess, do I suspect I am now?"
"Because you want to spend the day training with me," she said promptly. "Asuma-sensei gave us the next two days off." For emotional rest, he’d said, looking tired.
"Two whole days, huh," Inoichi considered that and Ino waited patiently. "We can do that, I should be able to be free for both of them if you want?"
"I still have training with Shizune-sensei in the evenings," Ino said, knowing what he wanted to know. "And with Chouji a bit during the afternoon, day after tomorrow."
He nodded. "Good enough," he decided, poking at the stir-fry with a spatula. "How about learning a new jutsu then-because of a job well done."
She flushed with pleasure. "It turned out alright in the end," she amended, not able to say much more than that about the mission-if he really wanted to know he’d have to make a formal inquiry. "I’d love to learn a new jutsu though."
His eyes had narrowed slightly when she’d said ‘turned out alright in the end’ and Ino could make a pretty good guess that, yeah, her father was going to be poking around later and seeing what he could find out about her mission-without asking her questions. Ino knew he wanted her to get into the habit of keeping things like mission details secret and so wouldn’t push her, especially on so little sleep, with his questions.
"Jutsu it is then," he said, sounding perfectly cheerful. Ino wasn’t fooled, she could do that to people too-act like something that bothered them really didn’t-after all, kunoichi got a lot of that in school. Her father, she knew, just had years more experience on her about it. "What can you tell me about mist?" He gave that a considering pause. "Not the village."
"Yeah, dad, I got that," Ino frowned as she forced her weary mind to think about his question. She was pretty sure ‘well, it’s white and kinda wet and annoying’ wouldn’t be taken as a real answer (not that she’d blame him for that) and absently sipped at her juice as he dished up two plates of the stir-fry, setting one down in front or her with a quick kiss to her head.
"Eat," he said, taking his own seat, and grinning over at her. "And tell me what you can."
Ino took a bite, humming in pleasure as she did, and swallowed. Twirling her fork as she thought, she drew herself up. "Let’s see... it’s pretty much fog only less thick-visibility is better..."
--
Kotone had been through a debriefing with Hokage-sama, managed to snatch five hours of sleep and a quick trip to the hospital to get her injuries looked over, and the healing the Ino-kun had done inspected for quality-better safe than sorry, really, more than any real worry, not to mention the fact that she would add it into her written report-and then had just been heading back for another bit of sleep, hopefully more than a few hours this time, when one of the Chuunin who helped keep the ANBU headquarters running smoothly, stopped her and said that Morino-san wished to see her.
Right away.
With a sigh that was mostly suppressed, she nodded her understanding and got the location of which room he was in. One of the debriefing rooms-somehow, Kotone wasn’t surprised, there were entire days where Ibiki barely left debriefing rooms. Better that, she thought with wry humour, than the interrogation rooms. There were always prisoners to interrogate, but there were very few that lasted long against the head of Torture & Interrogation. For good reason.
Tucking a bit of hair back into place, it always managed to get in her face when she left it mostly down, she made a face as she walked through the halls at a brisk but not overly hurried pace. Had she not been in ANBU, she might have been tempted to have it cut. But Kotone knew better than that-long hair on a kunoichi was a valuable asset for certain sorts of missions. It was easier to work with, and had less chance of mishaps when there was no worry of hair extensions coming loose or even falling off entirely.
The hall with the debriefing rooms was bland, and blinding with lights that gleamed down from the ceiling leaving no spot darkened, but for the shadows she brought with her. Rapping on the door with her knuckles, more of a small courtesy than out of any real need to warn him that she was there, Kotone opened the door. He nodded her towards a chair, leaning back in his with a clipboard propped up in his lap. "Agent Watanabe."
"Agent Morino," she said, her lips twitching with amusement as she shut the door, triggering the seals that would keep all noise from getting out of the room-and prevent any spies from seeing into the room at the same time-before taking the seat he’d indicated. "You wished to see me?"
"I’ve received a recording of your preliminary debrief from Hokage-sama," he said, flicking through what had to be the transcription of it-some desk Chuunin had been busy typing while she’d been asleep no doubt-and glancing up at her, the light hanging from the ceiling throwing his scars into sharp relief. "And I’m aware that you’ve yet to submit your written account of the mission."
She nodded, a gesture for him to go on. "You have questions?"
His smile stretched the scars unpleasantly. "There’s always questions," Ibiki intoned. "But yes, and while most of it can wait until your written account," it was easier, she knew, for them to ask the right questions then, "Hiromasa requires your full account of what you noted concerning Oto and Iwa immediately."
Distantly, Kotone still craved additional sleep, but this was her duty. She sat up straighter, and started talking. "The first indication of irregularities occurred..."
--
It was one of those things that had to be done. Ino knew that. She was still rather wishing that there was a way to get out of it, but it was her idea to have this talk now and so there was no way she was going to chicken out of it.
As she waited for him, she’d shown up early on purpose, Ino practiced her Taijutsu. The way each kick, punch, thrust and twist felt gave her mind something to occupy itself with as she tried to figure out what, exactly, she was going to say. The sun beat down on her, a rare gorgeous day in the middle of winter and while the ground beneath the trees was still wet, everywhere else things were slowly drying. There was no dust, not in this weather, and Ino moved, all but dancing as she practiced her forms.
This was a relief, this steady ever shifting set of motions that made her blood race through her body. Each kick she did had more power to it than the one before, each punch was done a little harder, and Ino was pleased to be able to notice that, when before she would have had to stop, now she could keep going.
Slowly she was getting stronger.
It was maybe fifteen minutes later that Ino felt Chouji’s familiar chakra signature enter the training ground. She didn’t wave or call out to him, concentrating on finishing up the series of forms she was working on. He’d understand, Ino knew, it was hardly the first time that this had happened and they’d all done it to each other before.
Practise, after all, was one of those things that it was severely rude to interrupt unless it was for a mission or for an emergency. Otherwise waiting the few minutes it generally took someone to finish what they were doing was generally not more than a minor inconvenience. Ino forced her attention wholly into her movements, trying to ignore the way that, really, she wished that something had come up that could constitute an emergency.
Anything but honesty, right? Right.
Finishing the last kick, Ino began her cool down routine, tossing Chouji a tight grin as she did. He tossed her water bottle at her in response and she grabbed it out of the air gratefully.
"You’re faster," he said, as she tossed the bottle back at him after having drank half of it. He caught it just as easily as she had in the first place. "By a fair bit."
Ino grinned over at him, hands above her head as she stretched out. "I’d be pretty depressed," she called, "if I was getting slower."
He just laughed.
She finished her stretches soon enough and headed over to him. "Hey," Ino said, flopping down on the log he was sitting on. He shifted over slightly as she reached for her water bottle again. "Hope I didn’t drag you away from anything important." Even though she’d kind of been hoping...
"Just training," he said, "I told my father I was going to train with you so he let me go. We’ll pick up what we were covering in the evening. How are you feeling now?"
Oh well, no easy way out for her. "Pretty good," she said, taking a moment to consider the condition of her body. "A bit stiff in places, but that’s getting worked out with every bit of practise I do."
She chattered on brightly, saying nothing of real importance and all the while Chouji watched her with the same patience look he got whenever he knew she was trying to get around to something that might be important. Slowly, Ino flushed. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I asked you here and then all I do is talk about nothing at all."
"Don’t worry about it," Chouji replied easily. "You always do that. By now I’m fairly used to it-you just owe me training later."
Ino made a face and laughed. "You’re going to flatten me," she accused. "I might be better now, but if you think I haven’t seen how you’re doing lately, you’re crazy."
It had always been easy just to talk with him about anything and everything on her mind. She knew that his temper was as long as hers was short, though they tended to switch that around in the field-she might snap and snarl during a mission, but she always kept her head, whereas Chouji would lose his temper no matter where when his weight was brought up to mock. And he rarely took real exception to her oft-times foul mood swings and rants. Ino glanced at him and sighed.
"I know you watch," he told her, seeming perfectly content to go along with whatever she wanted to say and Ino wondered if he really trusted her to get to the point that much. That sort of faith rather made her feel that her wish to run away was cowardly and small.
She sighed again. "I could," Ino commented, "be really cruel and make you blush for that, because really--but doing that would only make me feel worse, I think." Resisting the urge to tug on her hair-that was a childish habit-Ino turned over the entirety of what she wanted to say in her mind. "Can you, like, just-not say anything? I mean, you can ask questions later, but not during it?"
Chouji rested one hand comfortingly on her shoulder and Ino was grateful again that this was Chouji she was talking to, not Shikamaru. Shikamaru just riled her up, easy as breathing, Chouji made her feel safe. Not that she’d ever tell him that out loud. "Of course," Chouji said, "I can do that."
Her smile at him was heartfelt, if brief. "Thank you," Ino said, and steeled herself before launching into the full recital of what all she’d been doing lately. Her healing, which she’d told both Shikamaru and Asuma-sensei, but not Chouji. Ino reluctantly admitted that, hurrying to explain that it hadn’t been meant as a slight but if he took it that way-well, there was nothing she could do. She talked about how she thought it was totally unfair the way Shikamaru had kept shoving her into roles that were supportive only, and how much that had hurt. Ino admitted, fiddling with her water bottle, that she’d cried over it more than once. She explained the whole trail of thought that had led to her asking Shizune-sensei to train her, how Shikamaru had found out.
Her training with her dad she covered, but gave him a sort of rueful half-grin when she had to be sketchy on details-he understood, after all, with the Clan Confidential-and how she’d been so excited for the mission and the chance to prove herself.
And then how it had gone wrong, how scared she’d been, how terrifying it had been to find out that Amaya-san had been taken away to be tortured, and how she’d wanted so desperately to get out of it all on her own because that, at least, would’ve been a way of proving that she hadn’t needed help at all and how Amaya-san said that there was no shame in having to have help anyway. Almost shyly she confessed that the Hokage herself had said ‘well done’ about the mission.
Eventually, though, she ran out of steam and just picked at the bandages wrapped around her arms. Now and then she darted glances at him, bit her lip, and returned to fiddling.
Chouji’s face gave little away-he looked thoughtful, but no more, and Ino irrationally wished that he’d be more expressive. Finally, though, he started to laugh.
Ino blinked at him, bewildered and a bit hurt. "What’s so funny?" she demanded.
"You," he said, tugging a stray bit of her hair gently. "And Shikamaru. You two almost deserve each other. Ino, next time, don’t wait so long to talk about it."
She glanced away. "You’re not mad?"
"I’m not-mad," he said slowly. "A bit, I guess, disappointed. But not mad. You always were a schemer." Chouji slapped her lightly on the shoulder. "Come on, we’ve got training to do. You get to buy lunch later."
That was his price. Ino tossed her head. "Bring it on." And just like that, it was alright between them.
--
Previous Chapter // Chapter List // Next Chapter
Chapter: 11 Breathe (Part II)
Author/Artist: Skylar Inari
Word Count: 8577
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 11 of ? Unbeta'd.
--
Mui’s eyes narrowed as she took in the scene, her question echoing in the sudden silence. She noted the way that Sakura was white and gripping the counter like it was a lifeline, she studied the way that Sayako was livid and in tears.
"I repeat," she said slowly, in the ominous voice that she’d learnt worked best for prying answers out of both her daughter and her husband-if it worked on the both of them, both Yamanaka to the bone, then it would work on these two. "What is going on here?"
There was nothing gentle about her question. It fell into the heavy air and Mui could feel the tension crackling.
No answer, still, was forthcoming.
That wouldn’t do at all. Her lips thinned and Mui almost elegantly brushed a strand of hair away from her face as she considered her options. She had many things to say, few of them kindnesses, and it was looking as if the two in front of her-both pink haired, both girls, both with personalities that were powerful for all that they hide behind smiles-that she felt a pang of regret that these two were so fundamentally different.
In ways that were not particularly compatible for a shinobi and a civilian. Some issues could be worked around, worked through, even put aside. Mui studied them, and wondered if they’d be able to manage it. Or if they’d wind up going her route.
Mui knew what it was like to be in Sakura’s place-she fully sympathized with her. Age and experience, however, had left her with a better understanding of how Sayako was likely to feel. Understanding translated into compassion. It didn’t grant forgiveness or approval though.
"Sakura-chan," she said, stepping into the growing awkward silence. "Please leave. I wish to speak to your mother alone."
Sakura spun to stare at her, eyes wide. "Yamanaka-san, I-"
"That’s enough," Mui said, her voice brooking no argument in this. "There are some things that your mother needs to hear, and you do not need to be present for it."
Indeed, having someone here who reminded her so much of her own teenaged self-not in looks, or in personality, but purely because of the situational basis that was so painfully similar to the one that had opened the rift so wide between Mui and her own mother that Ino had never even met her grandmother-would only hurt the situation more than it would help.
The talk she had in mind was not one for a girl just starting out on the path to independence and Mui had no wish to inspire Sakura to change her mind about her own life. Not at this point. Not when, in Mui’s estimation, the girl was doing fine enough on her own. Of course, children should have parents, but the fact remained that once they hit a certain age, they did not really need them.
That age just came younger for shinobi children. Sakura was, in the eyes of the village, an adult now. Mui would do her the honour of treating her like one most of the time. Right now, however, no.
"Please," Sakura said, "not right now, not here-I don’t want to cause trouble-"
"You," she said, laying slight emphasis on that word, "have not caused me trouble. You are a valuable employee, and my daughter’s best friend. It is no lie when I assure you that it is no trouble at all caring for you."
Sayako looked slightly apprehensive when Mui turned to face her.
"On the other hand," she continued, "you, Haruno-san, have come into my shop, upset my employee, necessitated the early closing of my business, and upset me." Mui wondered if Sayako even realized that she’d taken a step back. It was a bit gratifying, even if it wasn’t useful at the moment.
"Please," Sakura said, looking up at her. "Don’t do this right now-for me, please."
"It will happen," Mui said, almost gently. "I’ve put it off before now because you were left alone."
True enough. She was no monster to rake up pain and stir the pot of other peoples’ pain for the sake of it. As long as Sayako had been content to simmer and stew in the mess of her own devising then Mui had been well enough with trying to gently and carefully talk to Sakura about those same issues.
Only a little at a time-it had to be done carefully, too much would make things worse, too little would mean that things never changed at all. Mui was confident that she’d been dealing fairly well with the situation.
Sakura swallowed and stared at her with cool green eyes-calculating that, assessing it. "I know," she said finally. "But please, don’t do it here."
It would cost her nothing to relent now. Mui sighed and slipped on arm around Sakura comfortingly. "Go," she told Sayako. "Out of my shop, and don’t come back unless you require flowers."
The look she got for that from Sayako said quite clearly that if the other woman needed flowers, that it would not be from here that she’d obtain them. It was balanced, though, by the look of relief that Sakura wore, and Mui did not miss the fact that the self-same relief flickered in Sayako’s eyes.
Coward, Mui thought contemptuously, turning away. You will yell at your daughter, but not at the one who shields her from your rage? Pick your battles, and make the ones that you do engage in count. It was a basic tenant of shinobi training, and Mui was sure that she’d gained more out of this than Sayako.
Little victories, after all, built up. And she had time enough to make this young kunoichi into someone that anyone would be proud of. "Come, Sakura," she said, "we’ve got clean up to do, and then we’re going out for dinner, I think. We could use the treat."
The anger radiated at her back was worth the almost shy, pleased smile that Sakura gave her. Everything had a balance.
Behind them, the door slammed shut.
--
Shikamaru had watched silently as Ino struggled and did her best to keep pace with them all, and said nothing about slowing the team down or anything like that. He could tell, now that he was watching, that from the set of her jaw and the fire in her eyes that, if he said anything along those lines, he’d be instigating a major fight.
He didn’t want to fight with her-not right now. He wasn’t sure what, exactly, he wanted to do, but Shikamaru found himself content enough to just watch.
Of course, even as tired as she was, it was the second break of the day-Asuma-sensei claiming that it was only break time because Megumi needed the additional time to rest. The half-smile the brown haired woman had given their sensei spoke louder than words that she knew it wasn’t exactly for her, but it meant that Ino gave in with only minimal fuss-when Shikamaru found his gaze suddenly staring into bright blue eyes.
"You’re staring," Ino informed him, handing him a rations bar.
He took it automatically, unwrapping the soft, silent wrapper and biting into the crumbly bar-eugh, cinnamon apple-as he considered how to answer that. While he chewed, Ino settled down next to him, a tired sigh escaping her as she eased her body down.
"What if I am?" he said, tone idle as she fussed with her own rations bar. Strawberry, he noticed. Of course she’d claimed the better tasting one. Somehow, that made a smile tug at his lips.
"I still think you should wear a skirt," she told him pertly. "I’m keeping up, aren’t I?"
"You are," he agreed, talking another bit of his bar. It was dry, and he reached for his canteen as Ino nibbled on her bar.
She swallowed. "Then why the staring?"
"Maybe I just like staring at you," he said flippantly, putting a sarcastic spin to his voice so she wouldn’t take him seriously. What was really so wrong with him keeping an eye on his teammate?
Especially the one who was only a few days out of captivity. Who haunted his nightmares. Who was a-girl. You idiot, he thought, she's always been a girl.
"No way," Ino said, laughing and tilting her head back to soak in what little sun there was. "I thought I’m troublesome?"
"That’s why you need staring at," he said dryly, butterflies in his stomach, but glad enough that she wasn’t taking him seriously. "Can’t be left alone, should be kept away from sharp objects, needs to be kept entertained..."
Ino shoved his shoulder, rolling her eyes. She was, he noted, smiling though. "As if you even could manage that," she scoffed, "no way."
"Then you’re just going to have to deal with the staring." He shrugged and took another bite of the rations bar.
She made a face at him. "Don’t help me unless I ask for it," Ino ordered. "I’m doing fine."
"You always say that," he said, because that was true. Shikamaru couldn’t remember the last time that Ino had actually asked for their help-either she was fine alone, or she took their help as something that was so often there that it was to be taken for granted.
"Maybe I’m always fine then," Ino insisted, fiddling with her bar.
"Even when caught by enemy shinobi?" he asked pointedly. "Eat. You weight hardly anything."
Her eyes darkened, and she silently chewed on her bar for a few minutes. "That’s why you’re staring at me?" Ino asked finally, picking at the wrapper and not looking at him. "Because the mission screwed up?"
Shikamaru watched her for a moment then sighed. "I was worried."
"I can take care of myself-"
He grabbed her arm, resisting the urge to shake her. She was so annoying sometimes. This was obvious. "You can," he said flatly as she made a half-hearted attempt to get free of him. "And I was still worried."
Ino studied him for a few seconds then looked away. "I still don’t need a nursemaid."
"How about a teammate?" He was picking his words with a lot of care-the last thing he needed was her exploding at him over something that, if he was thinking, he certainly wasn’t planning to say. He didn’t need her reading insults into his comments when there were none to be found.
Shikamaru had been doing a lot of thinking in the few days that Ino had been asleep, and there’d been little to do but think, buy food for the other shinobi, and patrol carefully as they sought to avoid drawing attention to the fact that there even were Konoha nin in the village while the rest of the townspeople reacted to the news of the explosions, the deaths, and the excitement with a fury akin to that of a kicked hornet’s nest.
She swung around to stare at him. "You’re already my teammate."
"Don’t you think," he said carefully, "that teammates are allowed to worry about each other? When, for instance, one of them is in the hands of the enemy."
Ino’s eyes narrowed as she thought, absently giving her hand another tug to see if she could free it. This time, he let her go, trusting that she wasn’t going to get up and storm off anywhere. While she thought, he finished his ration bar, sipped at his canteen and offered it to her.
She took the canteen, toying with it as she thought, and Shikamaru leaned back to study the sky. It was a fairly decent day, he decided, with the clouds scudding overhead, that half shade of grey that spoke of the chance of rain, but the sun peeking through the gaps said that it wasn't going to happen here and now.
Good enough, he thought, and good enough that this was going okay. He was tired of fighting this argument and losing because he couldn't put his finger on why he didn't like it so much.
Besides, it would make her happy, winning now.
"True," she eventually conceded, sipping from his canteen. "But if you try and tell me that everything you've worried about was 'cause of that I'll dump this on you."
"I'm not," he replied, getting up and snagging her wrapper. "But in this case, that's what it was."
Sort of. He wasn't exactly sure.
She studied him intently. "Alright," Ino said, "I can deal with that."
--
Running home, even at what was really not her best, Ino found was made easier by the simple fact that they were going home. She’d be able to have blonde hair again, and her weapons.
Ino definitely wanted her weapons, all things considered.
At the same time, she had to admit that she was deeply pleased with herself-she would have had to be blind not to notice the fact that Asuma-sensei was happy with her, that Amaya-san was pleased, that the ANBU man-Yuuta, she thought, but he’d left before she’d gotten to know for sure-hadn’t looked at her like she was a girl that could do nothing but mess up.
That didn’t mean she wanted to do it again, not right away, at least, but there were worse outcomes to missions that had gone so badly out of shape as this one had and Ino was finding that she had no complaints about how the mission had turned out.
Even if it did mean that she needed to talk to Chouji. Like, soon. Ino made a face at that. True, she probably should’ve talked to him about what else she was learning sometime before all of this, but there hadn’t been the time...
That was an excuse. Ino scowled at that. She shouldn’t be making excuses.
Excuses were childish, and Ino very much didn't want to be childish--she didn't feel like she should be, not after the mission she'd just done, and narrowed her eyes in thought. Yes, of course she'd have to talk to Chouji, and apologize.
Making a face at that though, Ino hated apologizing, she nonetheless promised herself that she'd get on with it and not just keep putting it off. It made no sense now, definitely not now, for her to keep her silence on what she was learning (and it had been Shikamaru anyway who'd she'd originally not wanted to know, Chouji only having been lumped into the not-knowing group because she couldn't trust him not to tell...).
Ino stumbled slightly, a rock knocking her precarious balance out of whack and she was worried for a second that she'd go down--oh, how embarrassing, not up to full speed or not, she was a Genin and that was just pathetic--before she was caught on both sides by hands that held her upright and let her keep going without a fall. Chouji and Shikamaru.
"Thanks," she said, fighting the urge to retort that she'd have been fine on her own. They let her go once she was steady again, and Shikamaru rolled his eyes, while Chouji just gave her a smile. That was enough. They were a team--they didn't need more words than that for something so simple as a stumble.
Despite that, her cheeks were warm with embarrassment. Stumbling over a rock was not the way to prove that she could take care of herself. It was--
"Don't worry about it," Amaya-san said, moving up to keep pace with her easily. "You didn't go down, and you're not up to your best yet. There is no shame in not being able to do as well as you can ordinarily in that circumstance."
Easy for her to say, Ino thought, and some of her opinion must have shown on her face for Amaya-san laughed. I bet she never tripped over rocks just because she was tired earlier than she ought to be.
"I know what you’re thinking, Ino-kun," Amaya-san teased, easily keeping the pace despite the fact that her injuries had been far greater than Ino’s. Ino felt a flash of pure envy. "And you’ll see, everyone falls behind sometimes."
Her eyes narrowed slightly at that. "I’m not falling behind," she said, stung. "I won’t ever fall behind."
If she did that, now, then all those months of effort were for hardly anything. That wasn’t the truth, Ino knew that intellectually, but emotionally, she would consider it a complete failure in her attempts to improve herself. What was the point of improvement if she just fell behind again? Maybe being totally awesome was going to be a long, up-hill climb, but she didn’t want to be spending time sliding back down to the bottom. No matter what Ino wanted to keep moving forward.
"I’m not," she repeated, forcing her attention onto the ground, checking for anything that might trip her up again-that would be beyond embarrassing, wouldn’t it, if she fell while she was busy insisting that she was just as good as the rest of them.
Amaya-san rested a steady gaze on her. Despite herself, Ino found that a slow flush was spreading over her cheeks.
"You’re young," Amaya-san said lightly. "Do you think you’ll really never fall to the bottom again? Because I assure you that people older and wiser than you are have had to start all over again from the very bottom."
Ino fought the urge to scowl. "I just got out of the bottom," she said, still mostly focused on the ground in front of her. Ino hated to admit it but she couldn’t afford the distraction at the moment. She didn’t dare lose track of what she was doing and even that was still taking a bit more effort than it should’ve been. "Why would I want to consider being shoved back down again?"
"Because it’s better to think of it now," came the swift answer, "and know about the odds of it happening, than to be taken completely off guard and have to deal with the crushing surprise on top of everything else, don’t you think?"
Ino mulled over that. "I still don’t-I mean, I know I’m not the best, but there’s nothing wrong with taking a bit of pride in what I’ve accomplished already..."
Amaya-san laughed. "I didn’t mean that at all. You have every right to be proud of how far you’ve come-and in so short a time!-I just want to make sure that you know that there will always be someone better. You’re a very talented girl, Ino-kun. Don’t forget that. But also don’t forget that the shinobi world is filled with people who are greatly talented."
"I’ll keep it in mind," Ino said, making a face at her. "Even if that’s a seriously depressing world-view, don’t you think? I mean, it’s one thing to know it on the field-if you don’t, you underestimate your enemy and that’s a bad thing-but, I don’t know, I don’t think there’s any harm in being a little bit prideful."
That only earned her a smile. "Just remember," Amaya-san said as the gates to Konoha came into view. "As you go up through the ranks, the line between on the field and off of it narrows."
--
She’d finished giving her report, Amaya-san had ruffled her hair and said that they’d maybe see each other around, Shikamaru and Chouji had disappeared to get some sleep and Ino had promised Asuma-sensei that she’d go and do the same right after she checked in with Shizune-sensei.
After all, it was probably a good idea to let her know that she was back in the first place, rather than have her learn it from someone else. Ino stretched, feeling the pull and tug of her muscles as they still ached and stifled the urge to yawn.
Really, she probably could have gone straight to bed, but Ino figured that this was better-and it gave her time to cool down from the run that had left her so exhausted. Entering the hospital was like entering a whole different world.
Waving at the nurses who were busy with clipboards, or on their breaks, Ino went straight for the front desk. "Is Shizune-sensei in today?" she asked the pretty brunette who was sitting there and going through paperwork while her darker haired partner was dealing with another client about some kind of bill.
"She should be up on the fourth floor," the woman said, after a quick glance at one of the clipboards. "She doesn’t have any surgeries until this evening."
"Thank you," Ino replied, and was waved off. She knew that the only reason she’d gotten through so quickly was because she was a recognized face around here. Not just anyone could show up in Konoha’s hospital, ask for Shizune-sensei, and actually get her whereabouts.
Ino smiled as she walked through the doors that only the staff were supposed to use, and offered those she saw easy greetings as they noticed her. The halls were so clean they all but sparkled-Tsunade-sama was firm about the hygiene of the hospital-and the scent of anti-septic, and the most powerful cleaners was almost over-whelming after weeks of not having been around them.
In a way, that was a good thing, it meant she’d be less likely to miss something out of the ordinary if her sense of smell stayed good, but at the moment it was more of an encumbrance than anything else.
As she approached Shizune-sensei’s office, Ino tilted her head. She could hear voices coming from the open door, and made her steps soft and light.
"Alright, we’ll do it that way then," Shizune-sensei said to someone, as Ino peeked her head around the door and found that not only was Shizune-sensei present, but Hokage-sama was as well. Her eyes widened and she was about to pull her head back-though no doubt they already knew good and well that she was around, honestly, chakra suppressed or not, she didn’t have the training to lie to the Hokage, and Shizune-sensei knew the feel of her chakra inside and out.
"Ino-kun," Shizune-sensei said, giving her a smile. "Come in."
"Yes, sensei," she said, stepping in and bowing to Tsunade-sama and her. "Hokage-sama."
"Yamanaka-kun." Hokage-sama nodded at her, and glanced at Shizune-sensei.
Ino did too since she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on here. "Did I interrupt anything?" she asked, a bit diffidently. It wasn’t how she normally dealt with people, but Hokage-sama was right there.
"Nothing important," Hokage-sama said, giving her an intent glance. Ino resisted the urge to fidget and took the chair that was nodded to. "It's nice to see you're back and looking well."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"I presume you've finished your verbal and written reports to the Chuunin already?" Hokage-sama said, as Shizune-sensei got up and shut the door. Ino couldn't help following Shizune-sensei with her eyes and wondering at what exactly was to be expected of her now.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," she said again, as that was both true and hopefully the answer she was supposed to have given. She doubted that Hokage-sama would care to hear if she hadn't already accomplished something, so Ino was glad she had.
Ino watched out of the corner of her eyes as Shizune-sensei made tea with an electric kettle. To all appearances, her sensei looked to be in fine form.
"Good," Tsunade-sama said, leaning back in her chair, her generous bosom shifting as she moved. "Report, Genin. I'll read your formal one later."
"Right here?" Ino said, blinking in surprise even as a weak weary part of her wept at the thought of having to go through the whole situation all over again and so soon. She should've, Ino thought ruefully, just gone straight home and gotten some sleep. Next time, she resolved, that's exactly what she'd do.
Though it probably wasn't.
"Yes, Yamanaka-kun," Hokage-sama said as Shizune-sensei set her tea down in front of her, and then put one by Ino took the last for herself. "Report."
There was no way that she could refuse an order like that. Ino cast a dubious glance at Shizune-sensei, who looked mildly interested at the proceedings, and took a moment to organize her tired thoughts before launching into a report that would, hopefully, satisfy the Hokage.
Ino did her best to keep the details straight, to stress when she didn't know something directly, what exactly Amaya-san had done, what she'd done, the fact that they'd gotten caught and still weren't sure how, the way that they'd dealt with the imprisonment, their escape.
Through it all, the Hokage watched her with thoughtful eyes, and Ino did her utmost to keep the urge to wipe her palms on her skirt down, even if it would have made her feel better it was most unprofessional, as she stuck to the details. Sometimes Hokage-sama would stop her, make her go back and elaborate on things, and at those times Ino's face burned with embarrassment, because it was far worse missing something in front of her than it was back when they'd done practise reports for Iruka-sensei back in the Academy, or when Asuma-sensei decided he actually wanted to hear their reports.
Mostly, she suspected, so he could mock them. It bore evidence of that, at least.
Eventually she wound down, surprised to see that her tea was gone, her throat was dry, and she was so very glad that Hokage-sama hadn't needed her to stand during the recital of the mission.
Ino was so tired of reporting the mission. She settled into her chair anxiously and waited to see what Hokage-sama had to say.
When she spoke, the approval was clear: "Well done, Yamanaka-kun."
--
The afternoon shone bright and clear and cool. Not cold enough to send people inside for the day-not when there was sun shining, not in the winter when most of what they had to look forward to was rain-but chill enough that Mui was wearing one of her heavier sweaters and glad for the warmth of her thick skirt and the tea she had was so hot that steam wafted off of it in steady tendrils. The chair she sat on was pleasingly wrought metal with a cushion to keep comfortable and prevent her from getting cold.
Had it been a usual day, she wouldn’t have been out here. Mui had too many things to do to simply come and spend the middle of the day doing nothing more than sipping tea, but it had been arranged that she and Haruno Sayako would meet here and discuss things.
The only reason Mui had relented enough for that compromise (one that she was of the opinion that Sakura’s mother ill-deserved) was that Sakura had protested so vehemently, and looked so ill-at-ease that Mui had given in.
She’d not missed the look of relief on Haruno Sayako’s face either.
All of which was what found her, in the middle of the work day, and having left her shop (no matter what Inoichi said, it was hers more than his in her mind, and that was alright with the both of them-it was theirs) in Sakura’s hands, and Mui was sitting at the outside café she’d chosen and wondering idly if she’d been stood up.
She flexed her fingers, and sipped her tea. Fifteen minutes late. So far, it was not unreasonably to simply assume that Sakura’s mother had been held up by some issue at her place of work-Sakura had mentioned that they were tailors.
Another fifteen then, that was what she would wait until she’d leave her seat at the café, and go out and about finding Sakura’s errant mother herself. Sometimes, the direct approach worked best, however dismaying it would undoubtedly prove for Haruno Sayako if that was the case.
Though not on active duty, and quite honestly not capable of handling the physical demands of active duty, Mui thought herself (with good reason, having been a Chuunin before her injuries made that impossible) more than capable of finding one pink haired civilian who badly needed a talking to about her daughter.
Tapping her fingernails against the warm porcelain of her tea cup, Mui’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. A very desperately required talking to. She was only glad that Sakura had discovered earlier than she herself had that sometimes, sometimes, you couldn’t stay.
And that sometimes, other people knew what they were about. On the subject of parents who did not want their daughter to be a ninja, Mui felt herself more than adequately equipped to deal with that-and she could only hope it would turn out better for Sakura than it had for herself. Her parents, after all, were still not talking to her, even after so many years had gone by.
Mui shook her head, glad that her hair pins kept her hair from flying about her face, and forced her thoughts away from that. Unnecessary thoughts would only be a hindrance.
All too quickly, and yet at the same time, too slowly, the extra fifteen minutes of grace that Mui had mentally granted to Haruno Sayako. As the time was up, she summoned the bill with one hand, waited to all appearances patiently as the server brought it to her and then made her change.
She left a nice tip and a friendly smile-after all, people remembered when business people did that, and her shop could always use a few more customers-before heading out. Her steps were smooth, even, and unhurried. Mui would not put so much stress on her weakened legs by forcing them to rush. Walking was no difficulty, but running or anything out of the ordinary would only serve to exhaust her.
This was no emergency, she could take her time. Inoichi wasn’t expecting her home for supper and she had more than enough on her to get dinner at a nice place. Maybe she’d see if Misato wanted to come out with her after she was done talking to Haruno...
With that happy thought to occupy her Mui eased her way down the street that their shop was on. A quick inquiry told her that Haruno hadn’t felt well that day and had taken the time off. That she was ill.
Really, Mui thought, as she headed instead for Sakura-chan’s house, that was a poor lie. Even for a civilian.
When she reached Sakura-chan’s home, Mui rapped on the door once, twice and then paused listening. The sounds of an argument reached her ears, but the words were too indistinct to make out. It was only the tone that let her know what was going on.
A faint smile graced her lips. She knocked again. This time, a man opened the door. He was handsome enough for a civilian and she recognized the line of his jaw and the curve of his eyebrows from Sakura-chan.
"Haruno-san," she said pleasantly-after all, Sakura-chan had said that her father wasn’t the cause of any of this. "My name is Yamanaka Mui. I’ve come to speak to your wife."
He winced slightly, but let her in. "She’s not really ill," he murmured as he fetched her a pair of slippers meant for guests. "I’m sorry you had to come here. I've been trying to talk her around."
"That’s quite alright," she assured him. "It may go better with less people around."
Mui watched, amused, as he winced again. "Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked instead while leading her down a hallway.
As he did, she took in her surroundings after an absent ‘no thank you’ to his offer. It was a nice house-the furniture was of good quality though not new and showed signs of being lived in. The walls were painted appealingly and the air was lightly scented with lavender. Nothing too frilly, but the way everything was so carefully cared for spoke volumes for how much work they spent on the house.
Haruno Sayako was in the living room, her face pale but stubbornly set.
"My," Mui said, so innocent that butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. "Your clerk seems to be mistaken, Haruno-san. She was under the impression that you felt unwell?"
Behind her, Sakura-chan’s father shook his head and sighed. "No hitting," he said, and quietly shut the door behind him. "I’m heading to the shop."
"We’ll be devastatingly polite," she assured him, settling a flinty gaze on Sakura-chan’s mother. "After all," Mui continued smoothly, "we’re both adults here."
Haruno Sayako blanched.
--
As she left the hospital, worn from a solid few hours of steady reporting and still basking in the glow of Hokage-sama's approval, the sky was turning red with the approach of sunset. Ino lingered at one of the bridges to watch it for a few minutes, just leaning. Absently she waved to Tenten and her team as they passed by-apparently for training, as Tenten looked resigned, Neji impassive, and Lee was rambling something about power.
Ino stifled a laugh and watched them go before turning her attention back to the gorgeous sunset that they were getting today. After another ten minutes or so Ino sighed and continued the trip home. It was nice, walking the streets with her hair half way back to it’s usual colour, her injuries only a bit stiff, and that was something that stretching and practise would get rid of. This close to the evening, the streets were fairly crowded, but Ino was in no rush and didn’t feel like heading up to the rooftops.
By the time she got home she was utterly wiped and yet in an almost serene mood, the walk through the village having rendered her calm. (Though her exhaustion probably helped, Ino admitted.) She cut around to the back of their store, making sure that her chakra wasn’t suppressed-though it was so low that, really, would it would make hardly a difference if she hadn’t, and yawned.
Somehow all of that seemed less important as she stepped inside her house and saw her dad cutting up vegetables for a stir-fry. Ino leaned wearily against the door frame and grinned a bit. He had on a pink apron her mother had bought him as a joke, and was singing, mostly in tune, along with the radio.
"I’m home," she said, when the song was over, a grin spreading over her face as he finished the song triumphantly. ‘I’m home’ was all that she needed to say. His head snapped up, and he took in her appearance for a split second before she found herself lifted straight off the ground, caught up in a hug.
Ino flung her arms around his neck and buried her face against him.
He laughed, his voice warm and Ino knew she was home and safe. She pulled back long enough to grin at him. "Did you feel me coming at all?"
Ruffling her hair, he laughed again. "I was a bit distracted," he said, setting her down and giving her another once over. "And you’re exhausted. Sit. Are you hungry?"
"Starved," she admitted, wrinkling her nose as his ushered her to a chair and grabbed her a glass of juice before she could even say she didn’t really want a glass of juice. Ino sipped the drink anyway. "I don’t want to look at a rations bar for at least another few days." Even if she’d made sure to get the ones she didn’t mind too much.
"You’ll get used to feeling like that," he said, ruffling her hair again and pulling a strand out to inspect the fading colour. "Brunette, huh? You’re better as a blonde."
She grinned up at him. "It’s easier to go darker than lighter though, so I was the one that had to change. I’m just glad it’s going away now."
"They never do like blond hair," he sighed, moving over to the stove to toss vegetables in with the chicken for the stir-fry. "Blue, sure. Green, no problem. But blond? Never. It’s always ‘too distinctive’."
"Wonder how they’d react to pink hair," she said thoughtfully, then looked around. "Where is Sakura anyway? And mom?"
"Your mother, the light of my life, is out catching up with a friend," her father replied, after a second. "Sakura-chan’s still at training. Hokage-sama’s got her doing Taijutsu this week so she’ll be wiped when she gets back."
"Mmmm," was really all Ino had to say in response to that. The smell of good food cooking was slowly filling the kitchen and only reminding her that she definitely wanted to eat. "You busy tomorrow, Dad?"
He glanced over his shoulder at her as he got utensils out of the drawer and neatly set two places-one of them right in front of her-and the look on his face said quite clearly that any attempt to get up and help would be met with refusal. Ino didn’t bother to try then, just giving him a smile. "Why, princess, do I suspect I am now?"
"Because you want to spend the day training with me," she said promptly. "Asuma-sensei gave us the next two days off." For emotional rest, he’d said, looking tired.
"Two whole days, huh," Inoichi considered that and Ino waited patiently. "We can do that, I should be able to be free for both of them if you want?"
"I still have training with Shizune-sensei in the evenings," Ino said, knowing what he wanted to know. "And with Chouji a bit during the afternoon, day after tomorrow."
He nodded. "Good enough," he decided, poking at the stir-fry with a spatula. "How about learning a new jutsu then-because of a job well done."
She flushed with pleasure. "It turned out alright in the end," she amended, not able to say much more than that about the mission-if he really wanted to know he’d have to make a formal inquiry. "I’d love to learn a new jutsu though."
His eyes had narrowed slightly when she’d said ‘turned out alright in the end’ and Ino could make a pretty good guess that, yeah, her father was going to be poking around later and seeing what he could find out about her mission-without asking her questions. Ino knew he wanted her to get into the habit of keeping things like mission details secret and so wouldn’t push her, especially on so little sleep, with his questions.
"Jutsu it is then," he said, sounding perfectly cheerful. Ino wasn’t fooled, she could do that to people too-act like something that bothered them really didn’t-after all, kunoichi got a lot of that in school. Her father, she knew, just had years more experience on her about it. "What can you tell me about mist?" He gave that a considering pause. "Not the village."
"Yeah, dad, I got that," Ino frowned as she forced her weary mind to think about his question. She was pretty sure ‘well, it’s white and kinda wet and annoying’ wouldn’t be taken as a real answer (not that she’d blame him for that) and absently sipped at her juice as he dished up two plates of the stir-fry, setting one down in front or her with a quick kiss to her head.
"Eat," he said, taking his own seat, and grinning over at her. "And tell me what you can."
Ino took a bite, humming in pleasure as she did, and swallowed. Twirling her fork as she thought, she drew herself up. "Let’s see... it’s pretty much fog only less thick-visibility is better..."
--
Kotone had been through a debriefing with Hokage-sama, managed to snatch five hours of sleep and a quick trip to the hospital to get her injuries looked over, and the healing the Ino-kun had done inspected for quality-better safe than sorry, really, more than any real worry, not to mention the fact that she would add it into her written report-and then had just been heading back for another bit of sleep, hopefully more than a few hours this time, when one of the Chuunin who helped keep the ANBU headquarters running smoothly, stopped her and said that Morino-san wished to see her.
Right away.
With a sigh that was mostly suppressed, she nodded her understanding and got the location of which room he was in. One of the debriefing rooms-somehow, Kotone wasn’t surprised, there were entire days where Ibiki barely left debriefing rooms. Better that, she thought with wry humour, than the interrogation rooms. There were always prisoners to interrogate, but there were very few that lasted long against the head of Torture & Interrogation. For good reason.
Tucking a bit of hair back into place, it always managed to get in her face when she left it mostly down, she made a face as she walked through the halls at a brisk but not overly hurried pace. Had she not been in ANBU, she might have been tempted to have it cut. But Kotone knew better than that-long hair on a kunoichi was a valuable asset for certain sorts of missions. It was easier to work with, and had less chance of mishaps when there was no worry of hair extensions coming loose or even falling off entirely.
The hall with the debriefing rooms was bland, and blinding with lights that gleamed down from the ceiling leaving no spot darkened, but for the shadows she brought with her. Rapping on the door with her knuckles, more of a small courtesy than out of any real need to warn him that she was there, Kotone opened the door. He nodded her towards a chair, leaning back in his with a clipboard propped up in his lap. "Agent Watanabe."
"Agent Morino," she said, her lips twitching with amusement as she shut the door, triggering the seals that would keep all noise from getting out of the room-and prevent any spies from seeing into the room at the same time-before taking the seat he’d indicated. "You wished to see me?"
"I’ve received a recording of your preliminary debrief from Hokage-sama," he said, flicking through what had to be the transcription of it-some desk Chuunin had been busy typing while she’d been asleep no doubt-and glancing up at her, the light hanging from the ceiling throwing his scars into sharp relief. "And I’m aware that you’ve yet to submit your written account of the mission."
She nodded, a gesture for him to go on. "You have questions?"
His smile stretched the scars unpleasantly. "There’s always questions," Ibiki intoned. "But yes, and while most of it can wait until your written account," it was easier, she knew, for them to ask the right questions then, "Hiromasa requires your full account of what you noted concerning Oto and Iwa immediately."
Distantly, Kotone still craved additional sleep, but this was her duty. She sat up straighter, and started talking. "The first indication of irregularities occurred..."
--
It was one of those things that had to be done. Ino knew that. She was still rather wishing that there was a way to get out of it, but it was her idea to have this talk now and so there was no way she was going to chicken out of it.
As she waited for him, she’d shown up early on purpose, Ino practiced her Taijutsu. The way each kick, punch, thrust and twist felt gave her mind something to occupy itself with as she tried to figure out what, exactly, she was going to say. The sun beat down on her, a rare gorgeous day in the middle of winter and while the ground beneath the trees was still wet, everywhere else things were slowly drying. There was no dust, not in this weather, and Ino moved, all but dancing as she practiced her forms.
This was a relief, this steady ever shifting set of motions that made her blood race through her body. Each kick she did had more power to it than the one before, each punch was done a little harder, and Ino was pleased to be able to notice that, when before she would have had to stop, now she could keep going.
Slowly she was getting stronger.
It was maybe fifteen minutes later that Ino felt Chouji’s familiar chakra signature enter the training ground. She didn’t wave or call out to him, concentrating on finishing up the series of forms she was working on. He’d understand, Ino knew, it was hardly the first time that this had happened and they’d all done it to each other before.
Practise, after all, was one of those things that it was severely rude to interrupt unless it was for a mission or for an emergency. Otherwise waiting the few minutes it generally took someone to finish what they were doing was generally not more than a minor inconvenience. Ino forced her attention wholly into her movements, trying to ignore the way that, really, she wished that something had come up that could constitute an emergency.
Anything but honesty, right? Right.
Finishing the last kick, Ino began her cool down routine, tossing Chouji a tight grin as she did. He tossed her water bottle at her in response and she grabbed it out of the air gratefully.
"You’re faster," he said, as she tossed the bottle back at him after having drank half of it. He caught it just as easily as she had in the first place. "By a fair bit."
Ino grinned over at him, hands above her head as she stretched out. "I’d be pretty depressed," she called, "if I was getting slower."
He just laughed.
She finished her stretches soon enough and headed over to him. "Hey," Ino said, flopping down on the log he was sitting on. He shifted over slightly as she reached for her water bottle again. "Hope I didn’t drag you away from anything important." Even though she’d kind of been hoping...
"Just training," he said, "I told my father I was going to train with you so he let me go. We’ll pick up what we were covering in the evening. How are you feeling now?"
Oh well, no easy way out for her. "Pretty good," she said, taking a moment to consider the condition of her body. "A bit stiff in places, but that’s getting worked out with every bit of practise I do."
She chattered on brightly, saying nothing of real importance and all the while Chouji watched her with the same patience look he got whenever he knew she was trying to get around to something that might be important. Slowly, Ino flushed. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I asked you here and then all I do is talk about nothing at all."
"Don’t worry about it," Chouji replied easily. "You always do that. By now I’m fairly used to it-you just owe me training later."
Ino made a face and laughed. "You’re going to flatten me," she accused. "I might be better now, but if you think I haven’t seen how you’re doing lately, you’re crazy."
It had always been easy just to talk with him about anything and everything on her mind. She knew that his temper was as long as hers was short, though they tended to switch that around in the field-she might snap and snarl during a mission, but she always kept her head, whereas Chouji would lose his temper no matter where when his weight was brought up to mock. And he rarely took real exception to her oft-times foul mood swings and rants. Ino glanced at him and sighed.
"I know you watch," he told her, seeming perfectly content to go along with whatever she wanted to say and Ino wondered if he really trusted her to get to the point that much. That sort of faith rather made her feel that her wish to run away was cowardly and small.
She sighed again. "I could," Ino commented, "be really cruel and make you blush for that, because really--but doing that would only make me feel worse, I think." Resisting the urge to tug on her hair-that was a childish habit-Ino turned over the entirety of what she wanted to say in her mind. "Can you, like, just-not say anything? I mean, you can ask questions later, but not during it?"
Chouji rested one hand comfortingly on her shoulder and Ino was grateful again that this was Chouji she was talking to, not Shikamaru. Shikamaru just riled her up, easy as breathing, Chouji made her feel safe. Not that she’d ever tell him that out loud. "Of course," Chouji said, "I can do that."
Her smile at him was heartfelt, if brief. "Thank you," Ino said, and steeled herself before launching into the full recital of what all she’d been doing lately. Her healing, which she’d told both Shikamaru and Asuma-sensei, but not Chouji. Ino reluctantly admitted that, hurrying to explain that it hadn’t been meant as a slight but if he took it that way-well, there was nothing she could do. She talked about how she thought it was totally unfair the way Shikamaru had kept shoving her into roles that were supportive only, and how much that had hurt. Ino admitted, fiddling with her water bottle, that she’d cried over it more than once. She explained the whole trail of thought that had led to her asking Shizune-sensei to train her, how Shikamaru had found out.
Her training with her dad she covered, but gave him a sort of rueful half-grin when she had to be sketchy on details-he understood, after all, with the Clan Confidential-and how she’d been so excited for the mission and the chance to prove herself.
And then how it had gone wrong, how scared she’d been, how terrifying it had been to find out that Amaya-san had been taken away to be tortured, and how she’d wanted so desperately to get out of it all on her own because that, at least, would’ve been a way of proving that she hadn’t needed help at all and how Amaya-san said that there was no shame in having to have help anyway. Almost shyly she confessed that the Hokage herself had said ‘well done’ about the mission.
Eventually, though, she ran out of steam and just picked at the bandages wrapped around her arms. Now and then she darted glances at him, bit her lip, and returned to fiddling.
Chouji’s face gave little away-he looked thoughtful, but no more, and Ino irrationally wished that he’d be more expressive. Finally, though, he started to laugh.
Ino blinked at him, bewildered and a bit hurt. "What’s so funny?" she demanded.
"You," he said, tugging a stray bit of her hair gently. "And Shikamaru. You two almost deserve each other. Ino, next time, don’t wait so long to talk about it."
She glanced away. "You’re not mad?"
"I’m not-mad," he said slowly. "A bit, I guess, disappointed. But not mad. You always were a schemer." Chouji slapped her lightly on the shoulder. "Come on, we’ve got training to do. You get to buy lunch later."
That was his price. Ino tossed her head. "Bring it on." And just like that, it was alright between them.
--
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