Connection.
Ino had always felt a connection with her teammates. Sometimes, that 'connection' would falter, but in the end, it always grew stronger. The connection she felt with her teammates, friends, and family were all different. For one, her teammates were most likely the most complicated to describe, and yet the easiest seeing as she's known one of them since birth, and the other since her toddler years.
Her friends were a lot easier to connect with, but at the same time, the most difficult. Her family was just that, a family connection. But it was the connection she shared with her team that intrigued her the most.
First, Asuma sensei. He was like a second father to her. He always cared for her and her teammates, and would listen to whatever she wanted to babble about. She remembered a time when Asuma's fatherly instincts kicked in. It was during a mission, and Shika and Chouji were already ahead. Asuma was behind, and she was in front of him. They were racing through the forest while it was pouring down rain, on their way home from a two month long mission.
She had heard a great cracking sound coming from her left. Looking that way, she stopped dead in her tracks to see possibly the largest tree she has ever seen in her life come falling towards her small, frail body. She began to move again, but she wasn't fast enough with lack of energy and chakra depletion.
"Ino!!!!" she heard three separate voices call, all male.
She felt another body, much larger than her own, envelope hers in a protective embrace. Her eyes shut tightly as she scrunched herself up against the man's body. She felt the person twist so that their body would be the one to hit the ground on impact, which is exactly what happened. Opening her bright blue eyes, she found the man who had saved her.
"Thank you Asuma sensei." Then all she saw was black.
The next morning, she had woken up to the sunlight glaring at her eyelids, almost forcing them to open. The first thing she saw was a plump face with red swirls on the cheeks, and an almost relieved look in his eyes.
"Chouji, what happened?" she asked him, noticing that she was definitely not at home in her nice, warm and comfy bed. Looking around, she found that she was in a tent, and lying in a sleeping roll that was not her own.
"Well, a big tree, that not even I could have stopped, got knocked over and was headed straight for you. Asuma sensei ran as fast as I have ever seen him run, and caught you before the tree fell on top of you. Then we set camp in this cave, and laid you down to rest for a while. Shikamaru leant you his sleeping roll." He grinned.
The only part Ino caught was maybe the first sentence or two before she just lost the words he was spilling out at a pace not even she could rival.
"Are you alright though Ino?" He asked her worriedly. She smiled and nodded.
The connection she felt with Chouji was like a brother-sister bond. He was protective over her, and always liked to tease her at any given chance. Though he would never share his food with her, he would always be willing to share his opinions on her thoughts when he listened.
That was the type of connection she felt with him. A brother-sister type of relationship. She realized he was still grinning in a goofy way, and she wondered why.
"What's with the goofy grin?" she asked, not having a clue.
"Did you not even hear what I said earlier?" his grin widened.
She sat up immediately, the cover of the borrowed sleeping roll, which it had just registered in her mind who let her borrow it, falling off to only cover the lower part of her body. She felt a shiver run through her body as she realized she was only dressed in her chest bindings and underwear.
Chouji's grin widened even more if it was possible. "Speaking of him, it's his turn to check up, and I bet he's just dying to do so." With that he left as quickly as possible, letting a sleep deprived Shika barge in.
Bright blue met dark brown, and time seemed to pause for a moment. Ino could see an endless amount of worry, worry for her, deep in those dark brown eyes of his.
Shika was the hardest connection to describe. He was like a brother, but more. He couldn't be like a father, because he was younger than her, even if it was only by a day. He was so caring of her, and was always willing to sacrifice something to help her. In this case, that would be his sleeping roll.
She would never be able to figure out the type of connection that they had with one another. Because she was so used to the undefined connection they had at the present moment. The time pause ended, and he rushed towards her.
His strong arms enveloped her in possibly the warmest hug she had ever received from him. "Thank Kami you're okay! I was so worried, I couldn't sleep!" he couldn't sleep? Now she felt like a hindrance.
She felt him draw back, and she was about to say something, but was cut off by something soft and warm on top of her lips. Shika had drawn her close and leaned down so their lips connected. She felt a jolt of electricity shock her entire body, and she could nothing but kiss him back with all she could muster from her fatigued body.
She was definitely not used to this kind of connection with her teammates…
i had a sudden inspiration for a ShikaIno...don't ask. but please tell me if you liked it! if you didn't like the pairing, then i'm sorry. but i do like this pairing, so deal with it. . lols.
thank you for reading! R&R!!
-cat