A/N; chashitsu is tea house, or a place where tea ritual is performed.

His children were all looking round at him, eager to see what he would pull out next.

Such nosey creatures.

He knew they were all wondering about the contents of the box. He too, was curious at what his wife had left in there, as the tips of his eternally calloused fingers itched in suppressed anticipation. It wasn't particularly heavy; the tiny granddaughter sat on his knee weighed a lot more in comparison, but he was unwilling to share it all with them just yet.

He shook his head in silent answer and with the smallest of sighs placed the lid back on, gently. The mixed expectancy lingering in the air vanished immediately, to be replaced with disappointment. She had addressed it to only to him after all, his children would get their chances soon enough. An old man was permitted to be selfish about it, just a little bit longer.

Damn them for inheriting her impatient nature.

"Oi, old man it's dinner time."

"Hmmm, is there mackerel?"

"There's mackerel."

"And kelp?"

"Narumi! Is there kelp?"

"For your Dad? Yes!"

"Yea."

"Good."

Being sat round the table with his entire family was usually (at the suffering of his ear drums at times,) both a loud and happy affair. One that was leisurely afforded in the times of peace following the end of the fourth shinobi war. There were often members missing - due to missions and the like, but the silence now in her absence, was creating an overwhelming emptiness.

She was the matriarch, the head of two clans and the backbone of a solid, unbreakable foundation - her word was law. His three sons were conversing together in deep baritones in her stead, broken only by his granddaughter occasionally coveting some of the attention. The room was full of people, but to Shikamaru it was horribly vacant.

He stared down at the food on his plate, disregarding everything else - mackerel and kelp were his favourite, but somehow he didn't feel enthralled by it, then he spotted the cherry tomatoes on his plate - her favourite.

He smiled to himself and decided to pop one of the sweet globes in his mouth, savouring the taste she had loved so much.

Often at meal times his sneak of a wife would endeavour to sit next to him and not one of her grandchildren.

He knew why she would do that of course, because in the time it would take to give his wife a questioning look and a raised eyebrow and return to his plate, his tomatoes would be gone.

"Ino?"

"Yes, Dear?"

"Where are my tomatoes?"

"They mysteriously disappeared?"

"You took them."

"Don't you mean you ate them?"

"No Woman, you did."

"Don't be silly Dear, I just watched you eat them. Do you not remember? My, my, you really must be getting old!"

A tiny smirk would tug at her lips and she'd wink at him. Whether it annoyed him or not, there was no possible way to be angry at her then and he had tried many countless times to remedy that over the years, so he knew.

He was snapped out of his reminiscing, when his granddaughter leaned over and wrinkled her keen, little nose at his food.

"Grandpa! Why do eat that? It's so stinky!"

He chuckled in amusement. "Well how did you think I got so brainy, Hotaru?"

"Not from eating that?"

"Yes. Why don't you try some?"

She looked up at Shikamaru with periwinkle eyes and they were doubtful. She sniffed at the fish again.

"No."

"How do you know you like something if you've never even tried it?"

"But it stinks!"

"Here."

He picked up his chopsticks, procuring a slither of meaty fish, his hand shaking from effort of trying to keep it steady. She gave him one last trusting look.

Like a sponge could so easily and quickly absorb water, so his granddaughters face changed. A strangled cry and she spat out the offending piece of food, immediately reaching for her water bottle with her tongue poking out in consternation.

Shikamaru threw his head back and roared with laughter.

"Yucky, Grandpa!"

"That's cruel." His eldest daughter-in-law, Satomi commented from across the table. "Your Grandpa is a sly one isn't he, Hotaru?"

"I was just trying to get her to eat something healthy."

His wicked plan had had the desired effect though; everyone seated among the large table wore a grin now, instead of masked frowns that exuded sadness. The atmosphere had been lifted as much as an old man was able to do for his family.

"I didn't know you were into bullying the younger generation, Dad."

"Yea old man, what's poor Hotaru ever done to you?"

"Well, call it pay back for all the grief you kids have given me over the years. "

"Ha! And what about the sins of the father, eh?"

"There are none. I'm a saint. Especially for putting up with you lot."

Hotaru's devious eyes travelled to his plate as he watched her, a chubby hand reached out in a flash and grabbed as many of the small fruits that could fit in her tiny palm - two, as it turned out. She shoved them both in her mouth at once; chewing loudly and deliberately, with her mouth wide open, not taking her beady eyes off him.

Not 'so' like your grandmother, more 'definitely' like your grandmother.

"Mmm tomatoes, they're my favourite."

There was movement out in the hall, the abrupt sliding of the front door and removing of shoes - his daughter had finally come home.

"Mama!"

"Sorry we're late, we had some last minute customers. Can you believe it? I think this is the only time in history a florist has received more flowers than it's sold!"

Ayame marched in with her husband trailing behind her, his granddaughter hopped down off her chair and ran towards her mother, who dutifully swooped her up in her arms.

The dried tear tracks that had run down her cheeks through the day, were visible even from the other side of the room.

It clenched at his heart that began to pound anxiously, at the sight his one and only daughter looking that way. If he could, he'd join her in her grief but he also recognised it was not his time to do so yet. He'd enjoyed a lifetime with Ino before any of them were even born, it would be selfish to do so. He'd had so much of her and them so little, and so many memories besides that.

"Get a vase for those would you, Takeo?"

It was lilac flowers he held in his hands.

Well with a wife who was a florist, it was only inevitable that he'd have memories connected to those too.

Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably underneath the still unfamiliar fabric of his chuunin vest, as he thanked another well-wisher - another female, well-wisher. When the last vapours of awkward heat had evaporated from his face, he carried his journey onwards.

Who knew Konoha was full of so many women? A hot, sticky Summer seemed to have brought them all out of hiding. Troublesome.

He hadn't moved half a mile from the Nara compound this morning, and he had already been assailed by several of them; the worst being a girl two or three years older than him, with dirty-blond hair and a slight lisp...she had eyed Shikamaru eagerly, tailing behind him with a washing basket full of whites and asking him when he would be free for a date - apparently he had no say on whether or not he'd want to accept the offer of a date, in the first instance. He'd struggled to get away, muttering under gasping-breath some thorny and awkward reply, hoping she got the message.

Women.

Shikamaru kicked a stone that had kept pace with him down the road, calculating its trajectory. It landed seamlessly where he wanted it to, in a flowerpot outside a nearby chashitsu. The action caused the material of his green jacket to nip at his neck - a reminder that somehow, he hadn't quite earned the authority of it yet. All dogs needed a degree of seasoning, an untrained puppy would still bite the hand of it's master.

He had failed his first and so far only mission as a squad leader, but he had vowed he would earn the right to wear it. The handful of short, C rank missions received since the chunnin exams hadn't allowed him that chance yet.

Shikamaru tucked his hands into his trouser pockets in practised fashion, today was another team ten meal, Asuma saying that he had some important news for them all. It wasn't at Yakiniku this time though, he supposed Choji would be disappointed.

Shikamaru felt the palpable weight on his shoulders of needing to prove he could succeed, could protect those he cared about - to his team-mates , as much as himself - the nights spent screaming, tossing and turning and waking from another sweaty nightmare were proof of that.

Choji lay neatly in a hospital bed, unmoving...Ino in despair, her head in her hands. The Fifth Hokages voice, echoing cold and truthful words - the scratching of her pen upon the clip board "Sasuke Uchiha retrieval mission, failed..."

A broken finger and few tears were nothing, not compared to how he had let his comrades down... he felt a ghostly ache in the affected digit and shivered against an invisible cold.

"Still showing off that jacket, I see."

It was Ino, a few paces in front striding purposely towards him - but as he took in the sight of her there was something... different.

Her hair that was long enough now to wear down, hung freely a few inches past her shoulders, reflecting the sun... But that wasn't it. Shikamaru was never very observant when it came to women. At thirteen, aside from his duties as a Shinobi his list of priorities remained a little wet behind the ears, but something was definitely absent from the Ino he knew as she stopped, allowing him to catch up with her.

Her movements seemed more free than usual, as his eyes travelled her person - analysing... Ah, bindings... they were gone now, leaving her stomach exposed; taught from repeated exercise, but also softer...curvier, her purple outfit fitting tighter around the hips than he remembered. Shikamaru looked away as quickly as he could, so his eyes would not be caught lingering.

Maybe Ino sensed this, or maybe it was just too humid of a day, but the blond kunoichi deliberately licked the moisture off her top lip. "I'm parched."

"You been training?"

"Yes, with my Dad.. Since early this morning. Some of us make sure to wake before eight 'o clock most days, you know!" She smirked.

It was her way of boasting really, he knew. Still, old smart-arsed habits refused to die. He just had to take a dig if he could.

"Your sleep-pattern may be healthier than mine, but what about your eating tendencies," He could feel himself doing the smirking now "Surprised you showed today for a meal, of all things. How's the diet going?"

Her hands flew to her hips, nostrils flaring dangerously. "What is that supposed to mean!" The hairs on his arms, pricked as the electricity of her anger filled the air around them, this was the Ino he knew - truly, her appearance had changed, but much else remained the same. "I stopped dieting months ago, actually." She sounded confident, happy about it.

The fact that she was no longer changing her appearance or dieting for the sake of someone else, a boy, any boy... Made her seem just a little less irritating to him now. He had a healthy amount of respect for Ino as a team-mate, much less as a somewhat antagonising friend, but as a boy who had witnessed a Father as hen-pecked as his had been... Well, Ino as a woman was something unyielding, and he was certainly unwilling to deal with that.

Shikamaru was becoming more focused and analytical these days, his Father seeing to it that he would not have an emotional reaction to everything that irritated him - anything that was troublesome. Shikamaru was too much like his Mother in that respect and he had had to learn to tolerate Ino, they couldn't have two, clashing hot heads on one team..his Father had also mentioned a few months back that her not eating had caused a serious confrontation with Inoichi Yamanaka... and he had refused to facilitate her training any further until she did. In telling Shikamaru this, he was relying on his Son to hear his unspoken words in the gesture - watch out for her.

Perhaps also because, by his own deductions - her rivalry with Sakura, who seemed to be rapidly surpassing her in medical ninjutsu gave call for it. A shinobi couldn't run on an empty stomach...

"Anyway, speaking of that - what have you been eating?" She stepped closer, bridging the gap between them "When did you get so tall? Taller than me!"

For emphasis she flattened her palm and fingers, measuring the distance diagonally between the two of them. "About an inch, inch and a half - give or take."

"Hadn't noticed." He replied automatically.

She was looking at him strangely now, with reserved curiosity. Somehow this unnerved him more than the rest of the female attention he had received - he felt the tips of his ears burning. Relief was his saviour as he spotted Choji waving happily at them from across the street, but Ino continued to search his face long after - and watch his movements, carefully.

XxX

"I'm glad you all could make it, to this - the only restaurant in Konoha that lets me smoke inside." Asuma chuckled lightly at his own joke.

Shame the food looks sort of bland, Shikamaru thought to himself, and that their sensei had been late.

"So what do you have to tell us?" Prompted Ino impatiently, fanning herself with a menu.

"Not so fast, not so fast. We haven't all been together in quite a few months now. The day is still young, and so are we."

"You sound like Kakashi."

"Or Gai" Offered Ino

"Or both." Agreed Choji.

Asuma looked put out, mockingly jutting his chin out. "Oh come on. Surely my lovely students think a little more highly of me than that?"

He seemed in a particularly good mood today, noted Shikamaru, as he stared at his Sensei's prominent laughter lines.

Asuma lit a cigarette with a smile, and two waitresses arrived to take orders. Shikamaru was hyper-aware of how the youngest one eyed him, looking away and smiling shyly when he met her gaze. He hoped the others hadn't noticed.

"I believe Ino, you are excelling well in your medical training, but haven't chosen to specialise in anything yet. Your Father has now primarily taken over your training, is that correct?"

"Yes...early mornings and evenings with my Dad," Ino tried and failed to stifle a yawn. "I'm either in the shop or helping at the hospital in between. Sakura's taken on studying both chakra surgery and poisons...she has to try and be a know it all, doesn't she?!"

Ino had been maturing over the few months, that much was clear to him - but her rivalry with his former best friend still remained. Much in the same way their own relationship had endured, they still always found a way to vex one another even when they weren't really trying to.

"So what's your Dad teaching you?" He found himself asking.

The subtle techniques of the Yamanaka clan had always fascinated him, for as far back as he was aware of them. Not so obvious as the brute strength of the Akimichi or unassuming then ultimately terrifying as his own clans. They were mysterious,...and clever. His Father had warned him on more than one occasion never to underestimate them. Like each clan that had a Kekkei Genkai to protect, even those that worked together to compliment eachother and excel, they were still held as closely guarded secrets.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She evidently read that last thought in his eyes.

"I hear it through the grapevine too, and by that I mean from Lady Fifth, that you have begun tapping into the famous Yamanaka sensory prowess?"

"I have." She returned eagerly, setting the menu in her hand down. "Medical training has helped a lot with my Chakra control. My Father says I far excel him, as he was at thirteen." Only Ino could manage to make a innocent simper, look overly-boastful.

"What a talented Lady we have in our midst, Gentlemen. Take note."

"Are we going to let her head swell even more?" Despite the immense pride he felt for Ino in that moment, he just couldn't help himself.

"Excuse me?!" Ino bristled and swiped up her chopsticks, angrily jabbing them, inches from his face. "You're just jealous! Some of us work hard to get where we are, we don't rely on god given genius to get us through!"

This, was the second ever time she had noted that about him. He felt his heart give a small surprised jolt, then his mood began to darken.

Sensing the atmosphere heating up even more beyond the sweltering weather outside, Asuma changed tact before shikamaru could supply a bickering response.

"And Choji, you are also doing the majority of your training under your Father now too, I heard?"

Choji nodded. "Started about two months back, I had to get through all my physio, first," Shikamaru felt immediately guilty. "But I want to learn the butterfly technique without needing food pils." Then, like Ino before him, "There's other stuff too, but that's all I'm saying for now."

"Well -" Asuma flicked some ash off the table with the back of one of his fingers, "I would like a few joint training sessions soon, to see what you have learned. Then, I can draw you up a more in depth training programme which I think we will all benefit from." Asuma, for all his japing was straight down to business and cared equally about all his students, unlike a certain other Sensei he could name. "My first bit of big news..." He turned to Shikamaru. "You will be part of the squad I am assembling for the next mission I am leading, in a few weeks times - So I'd like to invite you to play a game of Shogi later, to discuss strategy."

"Me?"

Ino was still seething from her team-mates earlier comment. "Why does he get special treatment?!"

"Are you jealous now too, Ino?" Teased Asuma.

"No! But I'm betting that's the big news," She resigned, folding her arms - narrowing her eyes at both Asuma and Shikamaru, but mainly Shikamaru.

"Yes, Shikamaru - you. He carried on "I think you are more than capable for this mission."

"I think...that's...great." Congratulated Choji, in between the last mouthful of complimentary dumplings they had received, and only he had touched.

"Did you think I wouldn't have anything for my two lovely genin, too?" Placing emphasis on the title, Ino was still fixed in place with a stony glare. "Choji, Ino. I have enrolled you to take part in the next Chuunin exams."

Ino stood quickly and slammed her fists on the table, making everyone jump. Choji dropped the napkin he had been about to wipe his mouth with.

In response Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his noise, sighing. Troublesome... He'd never known anyone, man or woman who's mood could swing so fast.

"Asuma! That's less than a month away! People are already leaving the village right now to travel to Kirigakure!"

"Calm down, Ino. No, no...I meant the next chunnin exams. ' He winked at her "They're to be held in Sunagakure, in around eight months time. That does pose a problem, however. You need a three man cell to compete, another genin to join you and Choji."

Ino relaxed then, slinking back into her seat opposite Shikamaru. "Yes, very funny Sensei." She'd caught on, though belatedly.

Shikamaru silently wondered at what had gotten into his Sensei, to make him so suddenly playful.

"Got anyone in mind, either of you?" He took a prolonged drag of his cigarette.

Choji shook his head. Ino answered.

"I have, but they'll need some persuading."

Logically, Sakura.

"Well, me and our young genius here will be gone a while - 3 months, maybe," He took one final inhale on his cigarette and butted it in the ashtry "of course, we will fit in a few InoShikaCho training sessions before then, I promise. But when we are back I want you to be ready to really knuckle down." He had a fond look in his eye as he spoke."Team eight will also be competing, and we can't lose to them now, can we?"

"Yea!" exclaimed Choji who was suddenly very animated.

Ah, Kurenai. That was also a very logical answer.

The reason Choji was suddenly very spirited was apparent as a raven-haired waitress appeared at their table with another plate of dumplings. "Over there," she began- gesturing her finger toward a gaggle of waitresses, who were all looking over their shoulders, giggling. "Wants me to give you this." she quickly slid a piece of folded paper Shikamaru's way - looking put upon that she had been the one to have to do it.

A phone number.

"Shikamaru gets all the girls," Sniggered Choji proudly, as the waitress walked away, moodily.

Asuma barked a laugh, his throat still heavy from his last cigarette "But which one I wonder?" He said something further - the words of which were drowned out as blood whistled through Shikamaru's ear with a deep, embarrassed throbbing; but he caught Ino's next words, and watched her eyes follow the group of girls with an emotion he could not place.

"So, I was right afterall. Even a lazy bastard like you does seem respectable, in that jacket. How's all this attention working out for you?"

He didn't dignify it with any other answer, than colour rising steadily up his face.

They never went back to that restaurant again, and he was glad for it.

XxX

His Mother, his Father, Chouza, Choji, Inoichi, Ino...

All were waiting to see him off. What Asuma hadn't mentioned at the restaurant was that the mission was a top-tier B rank reconnaissance job, with strict orders, a dangerous territory and possibility they could find themselves in unpredictable circumstances. Asuma had an unwavering faith - it gave Shikamaru a piercing load in his chest that felt almost too much to bear. It buckled under and wrestled with his logical minding telling him to get a grip. In many peoples eyes, Shikamaru Nara was apathetic, lazy, a failure...but Asuma was giving him a chance to change that perception. To show that his witted, sharp mind would and could be a useful asset to Konoha.

Shikamaru faced the line of well-wishers he much preferred - there were no unwanted, strange females in sight. He greets them one by one, like a polite congregation.

"Keep your head, Son." Says his Father, one of his large weighted hands touching his shoulder - in a rare display of tenderness. Even through his thick, green, armoured jacket Shikamaru can imagine the many scars he knows to be there.

As usual, his Mother fusses, picking invisible lint off his shoulder. "Have you got everything?" She clicks her tongue, and starts scrubbing at what she believes to be a stain on the collar.

"Yes. Mum, I'm going to be climbing trees, wading through water -"

"Oh! Let me be your Mother for once!" She snaps.

The love he feels for her shines through his irritation and despite himself he lets her have this moment.

Choji's absent Mother has packed him a lunch, which her Son hands to him, beaming. "I know you'll do great, Shikamaru. You always do."

"Thanks." He wishes he had Choji's confidence.

"Good luck, Shikamaru." Chouza smiles the same warm smile that Choji inherited.

As he picks them off one by one, they pool around Asuma - falling into final conversation. They'll soon cross the threshold and delve into their mission.

Inoichi's face is stern when he reaches him, his word curt, "Good luck, boy."

Shikamaru notes the tendon in the older mans neck tighten as he speaks - a sign he has learned to recognise as someone holding back on what they really want to say. But this is an Inoichi he has not seen before - the man is usually so polite. Shikamaru swallows, he doesn't dare voice that thought. Ino's Father is a very, very scary man.

Ino lingers behind her Dad, looking like she wants to say something and watches as her Father reluctantly pulls away to join the group of people conversing. Her hands are clasped behind her back, her shoulders wiggle in a shimmy, a shimmy he knew not then would become one of her most endearing traits, but in the moment completely bemuses him.

"Are you feeling okay?"

She blushes and unclasps her hands to produce a tiny stem, numerous in light-purple flowers. He doesn't immediately take it.

"What's...that for?" His face begins to feel hot.

"Oh, just take the stupid thing! - for luck" - she adds hastily, biting down on her bottom lip - she stuffs it quickly and expertly into the breast of his jacket. If any one but observant Inoichi, the villages top interrogator and mind reader had been watching, they could have easily missed it.

"I won't fail this time."

He says the words out loud to himself just as much as he wants Ino to hear them.

Ino shakes her head. "It doesn't matter, stupid. Just come home safe."

An Awkwardness, a charged silence neither of them has ever experienced while together, slowly submerges anything they might have wanted to say then.

Shikamaru clears his throat.

Ino giving people flowers was nothing new. When she was six she gave Sakura a red ribbon for confidence and a yellow rose to signify their friendship. When Choji was in the hospital she brought him baskets of fruit and posies of daises to say 'get well soon'. When Ino was seven, she gave Sasuke a miniature sunflower in it's own pot - he rejects it.

Shikamaru swims in his head for something - anything to say. Perhaps he can walk away now and join the group just a few feet away, in exchange? He finds his feet are glued to the spot, as Ino outwardly probes him with her cyan-blue eyes. Eye's he hadn't realised till now were so big, with thick, pale lashes... he's too used to them being glared and narrowed in his direction, right now though... he can not look away. He knows, logically, that all this happens in mere fractions of seconds, but it feels like an eternity.

Ino signs and blinks, and her eyes refocus elsewhere - on their Sensei, the hold is broken.

"Oi, Asuma! I think you should bring Kurenai an orchid when you get back. Orchids mean 'I missed you', come see me at the shop!"

She grins, and it brings everyone into laughter.

Shikamaru's fingers brush the shape in his pocket, wondering just what the blossom means. Luck...hmm, he senses this isn't the case but an uncommonly flustered Asuma has broken the collective powwow and started shoving his team out of the gate, he feels himself being swept up - Izumo and Kotetsu are laughing wildly at the scene.

The weight of the single flower in his pocket seems unnaturally heavy now, and he can still feel Inoichi's gaze upon him like an choking, overpowering scent in the air... Troublesome.

He doesn't discover until quite some years later what her giving him lilacs really meant, in an incident that allows him to prove a point, and for Ino to blush about it.

When he returns two months later, celebrating a successfully completed mission, much sooner than anticipated, he's surprised to discover with an innate sense of pride that he is now a whole three inches taller than her.

A/N; Thank you for the faves, follows and reviews since I started posting this. If you want to find out what the lilacs represent, I have written a short companion piece called Floweshop woes while this was in the works, that explains. I am toying with the idea of turning that into a collection of one-shots connected to this fic - as I intend this to be multi-chaptered, and I keep getting ideas I can't slot in here.

Arrrgh. I hate how they portrayed Ino in the Naruto/Naruto Shippuden filliers during her training...like she was weak and insecure with really poor chakra control?! I took liberties here (but not really, to us Ino lovers) as in my mind, nearly two years after graduating the academy she is already working on all the abilities that make her the most versatile female character... - rant over with!

I'm now working on chapter four. As ever, feedback is appreciated :)