It was the disheveled hair that Shikamaru noticed first: tangles, knots, and leaves marring her loose ponytail. His knees hit the forest ground as he skidded to her side. With careful hands, Shikamaru gently turned her onto her back, his eyes immediately narrowing with trepidation upon meeting her unbuttoned top. His eyes moved over the rest of her body, analyzing and accumulating a mental list of her various small wounds. A collection of light bruises and scratches were scattered throughout her arms and legs, the most prominent being a red, fist-sized bruise on her outer thigh. His eyes lingered over the length of her legs, the sight of her bare feet making him pause. Ino's expression was relaxed as if she were merely sleeping, something Shikamaru couldn't decide was a good sign or not.

"What's going on?" Chouji's asked anxiously as he stopped by Ino's feet.

Shikamaru placed two fingers on Ino's neck, his hand almost reeling back from the coolness of her skin. It was only after a few seconds had passed that he was able to let out a sigh of relief as he determined a normal resting heart rate. "Ino," he said firmly, gently shaking her shoulder.

"Shikamaru, what is it?" Chouji asked, moving to kneel besides him. He frowned as he took her limp hand into his own; the coolness of her skin immediately gave him goosebumps.

"C'mon Ino," Shikamaru muttered, giving her another shake. Nothing. With an unsteady breath he patted gently at her face, trying to ignore the rapidly growing pulse against his throat. "Come on," he repeated under his breath.

"Shikamaru?" Chouji asked, trying to catch his eyes. Shikamaru looked up for a fleeting second at the sound of his name but immediately flickered his gaze back down to Ino's closed eyes. Chouji bit at the inside of his cheek, rubbing at her hand to take the coldness away from her skin.

"Did-did she miss?" Ino heard Chouji ask. She could feel her skin heating up as she tried to will the muscles on her fingers to move, but the millimeters she managed made no difference to alert Chouji that she could hear them.

"She's missed before, right?" He asked Shikamaru with uncertainty, looking for any sign to ease his worries. Shikamaru didn't answer him, clenching his jaw as he tried to calm his thumping heartbeat and assess the situation.

"She has to find her body eventually, right?" Chouji tried again. He bit at his lip as he waited for a response, trying to maintain his composure. She's fine, she's fine, she's fine, he repeated while continuing to knead at the back of her hand. He swallowed thickly as he watched Shikamaru continue to pat her on the cheek, the silence emanating from both his teammates becoming deafening. "Shikama-?

"What!" Shikamaru snapped, his eyes tense with agitation as he finally looked back at Chouji.

Ino didn't need to have her eyes open to see the hurt expression on Chouji's face. The silent pause that followed Shikamaru's outburst told her everything she needed to know. Her muscles felt like sunken rocks on a sea floor, a vast improvement from the complete lack of feeling she was experiencing seconds ago. Feeling was slowly creeping back to her left hand, warmth filling her fingertips and spreading towards her palm.

"Calm down. He was just asking a question, Nara." Ino immediately recognized the strong timbre of Temari's voice.

"Chouji-just," Shikamaru turned back to look at him, huffing through his nose. "Just give me a second, okay?"

Chouji nodded slowly, chewing at the corner of his bottom lip as he continued to stroke Ino's hand; he intertwined his fingers with hers, massaging her soft knuckles with the tips of his fingers. He paused for a second, looking down at their linked hands, watching as her thumb and index finger twitched against the back of his hand.

"Shikamaru-" Chouji gasped out, motioning towards Ino's hand.

Ino's muscles began to respond to her with pins and needles. Slowly, she found the strength to open her eyes, her vision slowly adjusting to the image of Chouji and Shikamaru kneeling on the ground beside her, both intently watching over her hand. Temari stood behind them, hands resting firmly on her hips as she hovered behind them. Her eyes immediately flickered over to Ino as she caught the sudden fluttering of her eyes.

"Guys, she's up," Temari announced, taking a step back as Shikamaru and Chouji instantly turned to meet Ino's tired eyes.

"Ino!" Chouji beamed with bright eyes, his warm grip tightening around her hand. Ino gathered what little energy she could muster and returned the look with a shaky half-smile. And despite the fixed frown on Shikamaru's mouth, Ino could see some tension leaving his shoulders.

"You're back," the syllables fell from her lips in a slur. Her lips felt fuzzy with a static sensation that spread down to the rest of her body. Act cool, act cool, Ino thought to herself as she noticed worry slipping back into her teammate's expressions. Unfortunately it was at that very second that she could feel a slight trail of saliva steadily making its way down the side of her chin. Shit. Not exactly the definition of 'cool' that I was going for...

"You okay?" Chouji asked.

Ino quickly gave him a short nod, firmly squeezing his hand before pulling it back and moving to push her body off the ground. It took every ounce of trained control to sit up without giving away the shakiness of her muscles. "Mm' fine," Ino managed to mumble under her breath, discreetly wiping away the drool from her chin.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked. Ino could see from her peripheral vision that he was watching her closely; her spine was growing rigid with every second his eyes were on her. Normal...act normal Ino, she reminded herself, forcing her shoulders to relax. Gently biting her lips together, Ino determined the tingling numbness had gone away enough to speak without drooling all over herself.

"I was...just out for some early training," she began slowly, pausing as she glanced at her teammates. "I guess I'm a bit out of practice," she said with a tight smile. "I was just going through some new drills and, uh, it's kind of embarrassing to admit, but uh," Ino looked down, her hand rubbing at the back of her neck to feign embarrassment; but at the sight of her dirty bare feet, she didn't have to pretend anymore. "Um," Ino swallowed, losing her train of thought. She looked up, watching as the stupid fat squirrel from before sniffed around at the base of a tree. "I was climbing up this tree here and all of a sudden this GIANT squirrel comes from out of nowhere and jumps on my face!" Ino huffed through her nose as the ridiculous words began to process in her head. "...and I guess I ended up down here for a while after I lost my balance."

"Your face must have looked like an acorn," Temari smirked above her. Ino was thankful for her lighthearted, though totally uncalled for, comment.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny," Ino gritted out, hoping she sounded somewhat casual. She finally felt some relief as Shikamaru took his eyes off her and shifted them to the forest ground. With a few flicks he ripped out a couple pieces of grass, his chest rising and falling as he forced himself to take deep breaths.

"I'm fine," Ino insisted quickly, adding an airy laugh for effect. "It wasn't even that high of a fall! I'd say...seven feet at the most?" She looked up to smile at Chouji, but felt her lips falter instantly as she caught his upset expression.

Chouji's gaze was lowered, his worried eyes roaming somewhere between her bruised legs and exposed feet. His expression was eerily similar to Shikamaru when he was putting two and two together.

"...what happened to your shoes?" Chouji finally asked.

"I..." Ino paused, trying to will the saliva in her mouth to keep from building up at the back of her throat. Her brief interrogation training had made her savvy in detecting lies and she knew swallowing before speaking was probably the easiest indicator for anyone to spot. "...was thinking I'd...train barefoot," she quickly continued as calmly as she could manage. "I figured I'd take a page from Lee's book and I just knew if I had my shoes with me I'd have second thoughts."

"Ino, are you su-"

"Chouji, be a doll and help me up, will you?" Ino interrupted him, stretching out her hand towards him. Chouji frowned, giving her a short nod before enclosing her hand in a firm grip and pulling her up with him. Ino could feel a sudden rush of blood swimming down to her legs, a lightheaded feeling momentarily taking over. She forced herself to see through a series of hazy grey spots that had appeared on the edges of her vision, her eyes meeting Temari's teal ones. Ino didn't quite know what to make of her expression, the dizziness not giving her enough time to analyze it properly.

"Hey," Ino offered, finally releasing her tight grip on Chouji's hand. "Long time, no see. Guessing you're here on official business?"

Temari nodded, offering Ino a small smile. "Mostly. I hear there's a closet room stacked to the ceiling with files that need Suna's attention. With any luck, it'll take long enough that I can be back home when the worst of the summer heat is over."

"Yikes, I've seen that room, I think you might just be able to make it back in time for Christmas," Ino joked.

"Well, thankfully I've got some help," Temari divulged, her eyes wandering over to Shikamaru's figure for a split second. Shikamaru stood up, hands crossed over his chest as he threw Ino a discerning look.

"That sounds...great," Ino noted, a forced smile appearing on her lips as her eyes briefly wandered to the floor. She shuffled her feet, unable to think of anything to say, maybe a simple 'welcome back', a group hug, or even good kick to the crotch for the two months they had left her in the dark. Any one of them would do, really. A short stretch of silence followed, and Ino could literally hear the crickets chirping as the awkwardness began to settle in between them.

"Well," Ino began, clearing her throat and placing her hands on her hips. "It's great to have you here, even if it is just to do paperwork..., welcome!" She smiled, spreading her arms open. "I'd, ah, better let you guys get on your way, I'm sure the Hokage is waiting for you guys and I…gotta open the shop soon so I'd, um, better go get ready."

"Maybe you should just come with us, have you checked out just in case-"

Ino shrugged Chouji's idea off with a wave of her hand. "I'm fine, I'm fine. I'll just ask Sakura later when she drops by the-"

"Quit the excuses," Shikamaru interrupted. The way his lips were slightly pursed made Ino well aware that he was holding back his usual vocabulary to save her from embarrassment in front of a Suna official. "Come on," he said, nudging her in the back of her arm. Ino stumbled slightly forward, his push catching her off-guard.

In a stubborn moment of rebellion, Ino moved her body back, slowly folding her arms defiantly across her chest. "I appreciate the concern," she stated, emphasizing her words with a forced smile. "But I'm going home."

Shikamaru huffed. "Excuse us," he said to the other two, placing his hand firmly on her back and guiding her a few steps away from them. Reluctantly, Ino followed his lead and came to a stop in front of him.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a low voice.

"Hm?" Ino replied, scrunching up her eyebrows in faux confusion.

"Even if you just 'fell from a tree'," Shikamaru paused, rubbing at his face. "or whatever, you're not in your best condition, you said it yourself. Just come."

"That would be a waste of time and resources because I'm fine. Besides, I need to get to the shop and you need to report back to base, considering the nature of your mission," Ino leaned over Shikamaru's shoulder, catching Temari's figure as the Sand official crouched down to rip the tallest dandelion off the base of a tree. "You're worrying for nothing Shikamaru, quit being ridiculous."

"If I'm worrying for nothing then it won't take long, c'mon," he whispered harshly, taking hold of her wrist.

"Can't you just drop it already?" Ino fought to keep her voice low, shaking off Shikamaru's grasp on her. "Why are you always so obsessed with getting me to a hospital?" She let out an exasperated laugh, tucking an invisible strand of hair behind her ear. "Are you trying to have me committed or something?"

Shikamaru stared down at her with irritation beginning to inch into his expression. "I'm trying to make sure you're actually taking care of yourself."

"Well maybe if you'd bothered to contact me in the past two months you'd know that I've been doing just marvelous," Ino said in a mocking tone.

Shock registered in Shikamaru's eyes for a split second before his eyes flickered down to her chin and back to her eyes again. He looked at her with a neutral expression, the slight creasing of his brows being the only thing giving away any sign of his conflicting emotions.

Ino could feel herself beginning to struggle with her composure and she knew she only had seconds before her eyes began to water from the intensity of looking up into his blazing eyes. A streak of sunlight managed to flicker past Shikamaru's expression, temporarily illuminating his brown irises and revealing a variety of amber tones. Ino's breath caught in her throat, as if the realization of her teammate's presence had finally caught up with her stupid heart.

"Alright. Fine."

Ino blinked, caught off guard by the sternness behind his voice. She gave him a questioning look to which he innocently raised his eyebrows and shrugged, questioning her questioning look. This guy...seriously? Ino could practically feel herself wanting to pick another argument but only managed to subdue it with the reminder that there was a Suna authority in her presence.

"Alright..." Ino repeated, finally breaking eye contact as she sighed and shifted on her feet. "I'll see you three around, it's good to finally have you ba-"

"It's day break," Shikamaru interrupted. "We need to report to the station on time...sorry," Shikamaru added as an afterthought, though his voice never wavered from its authoritative tone.

"Right..." Ino said, straightening her back as Shikamaru gave her the slightest of nods and turned to leave. She looked up, catching a glimpse of Chouji's lost expression to which she could only offer a small smile before turning and walking away.

"-leaves without a single word...two months!...just waltzes back in here, trying to boss me around, ha! Who does he think he is?" Ino grumbled as she made her way out of the forest grounds and towards the main road.

The sun was already overhead, allowing Ino to take a good look at the poor state of her body. The gauze wrapped around her palms couldn't be farther from the fresh white they had been the previous afternoon and she was sure the bottom of her feet were a disgusting shade of grey, if not, black. She was just taking inventory of the litter of bruises adorning her body when the sight of a civilian made her quickly turn into a side street, hiding her from plain view. It was bad enough that her teammates had seen her in this state, not to mention one of Suna's highest officials, but the people that counted on her for protection? She would tarnish the Yamanaka reputation.

Ino waited for the civilian to continue down the street before taking to the road again. With her head down, she kept within the shadows until she finally arrived at her house.

She pushed the door open, pausing at the doorway. Her eyes drifted towards the crystal vase sitting atop the kitchen table while she reached to take off her shoes. The red camellias had long dried, their dark color barely giving a hint of the magnificent red they had once been. She looked down at the foot she had been brushing her hand against, letting out a soundless laugh as she realized she had been trying to slip off her non-existant sandals.

You're hopeless, Ino, you know that? She thought, sofly closing the door behind her and heading straight towards the downstairs bathroom. Ino had already shrugged off her top and slipped her skirt off by the time she clicked the bathroom lock into place. She tossed her filthy clothes in the direction of the overflowing hamper, not checking to see if they made it. Standing before the sink, Ino's eyes glazed over as she began unwrapping the bindings around her chest and removing the bandages from her hands. Goosebumps took over her body as she crossed the room and turned the shower on.

"Ah-fuck!" Ino grimaced as she pulled back her hand from the streaming water. She hissed as she shook her hand out, the blood under her nicks and cuts pulsing angrily against the irritated skin. Ino stared in confusion as she looked down at her open palms. The other was no better off. The wounds...they were fresh. It was practically impossible to count how many tiny red lines were defacing the surface of her palms. Ino didn't understand. It had been hours, almost an entire day, since she'd made the flower arrangement that had led to her bloody hands.

Ino took a deep breath in an attempt to calm the anxiety that was beginning to settle over her chest. I must have touched a fungus or something, it's nothing, Ino. Forming a concentration of chakra on her palms, she almost laughed out loud at the irony that was her 'healing hands'. It was a hasty and shoddy job at knitting the skin back together but it healed enough that she'd be able to keep it forgotten at the back of her mind.

"Shikamaru?"

"Mm?"

"Um, mind if I went to see my folks to let them know I'm back?" Chouji sat at the edge of the blue hospital chair, ready to go. "You know, while she gets clearance," Chouji said, shrugging to Temari's figure by the nurse's check-in window. Shikamaru was about to shrug and let him go when he caught Chouji scratching at the underside of the chair.

"She said she was fine." Shikamaru stood against the wall across from him, closing his eyes. "Checking on her is just going to make her upset."

"Checking on who?" Chouji's voice pitched. Shikamaru opened his eyes, tilting his head to give Chouji a knowing look.

Chouji offered an apologetic smile. "It'll just take a minute..." He interrupted before Shikamaru could respond. "PLUS...I did want to go see them."

"S'fine," Shikamaru breathed out. Chouji gave him a grateful smile as he stood and made his way down the long hallway. "Just meet us for debriefing," Shikamaru called out as he turned to watch him leave the small waiting room.

"What's with that ugly look?" Temari smirked as she made her way back from the check-in station. "Where's Akimichi?"

"He'll meet us later."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to stick around for this either." Temari sat down on a chair and stretched her arms over her head before letting out a relieved yawn and sinking further into the chair. "I swear, I should just get some special pass or something, like for every five times I get clearance, the sixth time I get to keep my blood and skip all this crap. Seriously, why does Konoha even need to know my menstru-"

"Miss Temari?" A nurse poked her head out of the double doors. "Room's ready for you."

"Joy." Temari rolled her eyes, standing up and following behind her.

Shikamaru slumped down on the chair she had just emptied. The muscles on his back relaxed despite the stiffness that managed to come with all hospital chairs. He placed one of his feet on the chair across from him and was about to get comfortable when the nurse at the station cleared her throat and shook her head at him.

"Tch." He let his foot back down and settled for resting his head on the wall against the chair.

"Paging Medic Haruno for a clearance in ward five. Haruno to ward five," the speakers echoed the voice of the nurse sitting at the station.

It was one of those rare moments when Shikamaru's body knew what it was doing before his brain could make the connection. Or maybe he just didn't want to admit to himself what he wanted to do. His feet were moving before he knew it, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he walked past the nurse's station to the hallway that led to the double doors.

The nurse gave him a quick glance as he walked past her station but said nothing as she continued her work. Shikamaru kept his gaze on the walls at his sides, his eyes scanning over various informational diagrams and brochures without taking in any information. He looked up as he heard approaching footsteps from the adjacent hallway. Sakura was walking towards him, a tumbler in one hand and a thick stack of manila folders in the other.

"Oh, Shikamaru, hey," she said as she approached him, pausing to take a sip. "Guessing my patient is Temari, then?"

Shikamaru nodded. He watched as Sakura unloaded the folders onto the counter before taking a long gulp of her drink. "Ah, gotta love caffeine. So! How was Suna?" Sakura asked as she walked past him to take a file from the nurse's station.

Shikamaru shrugged, turning towards her. "Hot, dry, the usual."

"Yeah, I can tell by that tan you're rocking," Sakura observed. Her eyes moved down to the file, scanning each page as she flipped through it.

Shikamaru resisted the urge to shift his feet as Sakura continued perusing the file, her lips moving as she mouthed the words on the pages. However, he couldn't stop his fingers from tapping against the lighter in his right pocket. The flip of another page broke him out of his trance. He forced himself to take his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms across his chest.

"So," he cleared his throat. "You've been busy?"

Sakura's eyebrows knitted together as she continued reading. "Yeah, it's been alright. Mostly hospital work, studying, research, nothing major."

"Research, huh?" Shikamaru couldn't control the bouncing of his feet any longer, causing him to shift and recross his arms. "What kind of research?"

"Mostly neurological," Sakura answered, closing the file and placing it underneath her arm. "Trying to see if there's a correlation between iron deficiency in the brain and deteriorating memory and recognition structures." Sakura reached for her tumbler, swirling its contents before emptying the remains into her mouth.

"You mean like in early child development?" Shikamaru reached up to scratch the invisible itch on his shoulder. "Or in adults?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, taking a second to observe the man before her. Shikamaru shifted his feet again. "...what are you doing?" she finally asked, amusement in her eyes.

"Hm?" Shikamaru raised his eyebrows. "Uh...nothing?"

Sakura chuckled. "You're acting weird."

"Ah..." Shikamaru scratched the back of his neck. "I have a...question."

"Uh huh?" Sakura looked up at him with a wry smile on her lips.

"How..." He paused, trying to find the right words. "How's Ino been?"

Sakura set her tumbler on the counter behind her. "What do you mean?"

"It's just, um. Well, I ran into her on the way in, and..." Shikamaru paused.

"Go on." Sakura nodded.

"I found her unconscious." He breathed out. "And, she just seemed...off? I don't know," he shrugged. "Something doesn't feel right."

"Unconscious from what?" Sakura's eyebrows knitted together. "Mind body switch?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "She claimed she fell from a tree after a...squirrel landed on her face..." his voice trailed off, an incredulous scoff escaping his lips. "It wasn't really what she said. Her body was cold when I found her, she had bruises all over her legs, dirt all over, no shoes on."

Sakura reached for the red pen resting in her lab coat, clicking the back of it against her lips before asking, "Did you check her pulse?"

"Yeah. Normal resting rate."

"And no external injuries? Besides the bruises?"

Shikamaru shook his head.

Sakura tapped the pen against her lips. "Do you think she was attacked?"

"It didn't seem like an external attack," Shikamaru muttered, the image of Ino's still body flashing through his mind. "It almost looked like she was just sleeping."

"But what about the bruises then?"

"I don't know," he huffed. "That's what's been bugging me. She looked messy, which is odd to say the least. It's like she's not taking care of herself."

"'Messy' doesn't sound like Ino," Sakura bit at the tip of her pen with her lips. "But, you know, she has been kind of tired lately and running the shop by herself has been really stressing her out." Sakura stared at the wall behind Shikamaru, her brows furrowing as she continued to contemplate.

"You don't think she's...?" her voice lingered.

Shikamaru met her questioning eyes; the ink from the pen had bled slightly into her bottom lip. He looked away, a frown set on his lips. "...she wouldn't do that to herself."

"Medic Haruno?" the nurse called over from the main station.

Sakura's gaze lingered on Shikamaru's flak jacket, her eyes slowly focusing as she registered her name being called behind her. "Hm?"

"They're requesting you in ward seven to oversee rounds as soon as you're free," the nurse said, placing the phone back on the receiver.

"Right," Sakura whispered. She placed the pen back in her pocket, reaching for the folder underneath her arm. "I'm gonna have to talk to her."

Shikamaru exhaled, his brows furrowed. "It doesn't seem like it's something she wants to talk about. Maybe you should thread lightly."

"Don't worry," she offered him a small smile, gently touching his forearm. "I will."

With one last kiss to his mother's cheek and a yet another promise to come over for dinner that night, Chouji left his family's compound. He rushed towards his desired destination, wishing he had gone there first.

Ino's house was hidden behind a wall of green bushes that were about a foot taller than Chouji. He remembered as a child he'd come along with his father just to see if he'd gotten any closer to reaching the top. A small smile crossed his lips as his fingertips easily brushed against the top when a loud bark broke him from his thoughts.

Puzzled, Chouji made his way towards the entranceway and was surprised to spot Kiba standing by the doorsteps. He raised his hand in greeting before clicking the gate closed behind him. Kiba returned the greeting with a short nod as Akamaru continued running circles around the yard, his massive size surprisingly not knocking any pots down.

"Hey, are you looking for Ino?" Chouji asked warily as he walked towards him.

"Oh, hey. Nah, just wanted to drop something off," Kiba said tiredly, motioning to the brown paper bag in his hand. "I'm just gonna leave it here for when she comes back," he muttered, setting the bag down on the steps.

"She's not in?" Chouji took a step forward.

"Um, dunno actually," Kiba muttered, shrugging his shoulders.

"The shop doesn't open for about another hour, " Chouji said, going up the steps. "She should be in, let me check -"

"Nah, Chou, it's cool." Kiba reached out his hands and rested them over the handrails, blocking his way. "It's really not that important and anyways, I really need to get going."

Chouji resisted the urge to frown but couldn't help the quirk of his eyebrows as Kiba continued blocking the staircase. "You sure?"

"Yeah. Listen, I gotta go," he said, carefully taking his hands off the railings as if he'd just realized what he had been doing. Stuffing his hands in his jacket, Kiba walked swiftly past Chouji and left without calling Akamaru to follow.

It was hard to resist peeking into the bag as it crinkled beneath Chouji's fingers upon picking it up. It wasn't particularly heavy or light, nor did its contents have much room to move around in it; Chouji couldn't really guess. He made his way up the small staircase and squinted through the frost of the glass door. It was hard to make anything out with the sunlight pouring through it from the other side. He gave the doorknob a small jiggle that told him the door was locked.

Chouji walked over to the banister, running his hand beneath it until he found a key. Despite its rustiness, it still did the job, Chouji noted as he stepped inside Ino's house and slipped his shoes off.

"Chouji?" he heard a call as soon as he closed the door behind him.

Ino was halfway down the steps when Chouji looked up at the call of his name. Her eyes were the first thing he noticed, swollen from sleep and squinting down at him as if she had just woken up seconds ago. The length of her hair was still wrapped around a white towel that she held onto as she made the rest of her way down.

"Hey, I was just-" Chouji stopped, interrupted by Ino's hands pulling him close to her. Her towel dropped to the ground, exposing the rest of her damp hair as it spilled down her back. Despite his confusion at her change in demeanor from an hour ago, Chouji's hands instinctively wrapped around her shoulders, the brown paper bag darkening as it met her hair.

"Missed you." Ino's voice muffled against the fabric of his flak jacket before pulling away. "I thought you guys would still be reporting at base?"

"Huh? Oh right. Temari's still waiting to get clearance so I thought I'd catch you before work." He offered her a warm smile. "Oh, this was left for you," Chouji said, extending the bag towards her.

"For me?" Ino asked in surprise as she accepted the bag and began uncurling the edges.

"Mm-hm." Chouji tried not to look too curious as she reached her hand in the bag. "Kiba just dropped it off."

Ino pulled her hand out, revealing a pair of low black sandals. "Oh," Ino whispered, her eyes glossing over as she put them back in the bag and crumpled its edges closed.

"Shoes?" Chouji asked with the tilt of his head. "Are they yours?"

"...it's a long story." Ino tossed the bag towards the rest of her shoes by the entrance. "You hungry?"

"I am, actually," Chouji grinned. "Are you? I can make us something while you catch me up on what I've missed." His feet instinctively lead him towards the kitchen without waiting for an answer.

"I probably wouldn't be the best to catch you up on gossip," Ino called out to him, picking up her towel before following behind him. "I've been holed up in the shop since you guys were gone. Unless you want to know how the hospital basically has me running a drug operation at the back of the shop." Ino chuckled, hanging the towel over the back of a chair and taking a seat at the kitchen table as Chouji rummaged through the fridge.

"Drug operation?" Chouji looked up from behind the open fridge door.

"Yeah, don't mention it to anyone though. Morphine's been running low in the past decade for patients but apparently they're using it as bargaining for some drug-addicted lord who just inherited some ancient crap that Konoha wants. So now they've got me growing opium poppy by the batches. Priorities, right?" Ino ran a hand through her damp fringe before resting her chin on her open palm. She observed him as he moved around the kitchen, surprising her as his hands instinctively found things she had long forgotten existed.

"Well..." Chouji hesitated before answering. "I'm sure there's reasons. I doubt they want Konoha to suffer and you've seen how addicting those kinds of things can get. It's probably for the greater good that patients aren't exposed to it so frequently."

"Well, I can't say I disagree with that..." Ino frowned. "Let's just keep this between us, I'm not supposed to tell anyone," Ino said, standing up and grabbing the water filter on her way to the counter.

Chouji turned towards her, the heavy spatula in his hand expertly not dropping any of the peppers. "Then why'd you tell me?" he asked, perplexed.

"Why wouldn't I? I've been dying to tell someone for weeks! And I couldn't exactly mention it to Sakura, she'd probably just rob the shop if I told her," she added the last part beneath her breath.

"I don't know Ino, you could get in a lot of trouble for breaking protocol," Chouji gave a small shrug, clicking the stove on to a low heat.

Ino's eyes concentrated on the steady stream of water that she poured into the coffee maker. "Why? Are you gonna report me or something?" she asked, a hint of contempt slipping into her tone.

"Well, no, of course not," Chouji said quickly. "But someone could."

Ino forced her shoulders to relax as she poured a cup of ground coffee into the filter and pressed the machine on. "I don't see what the problem is," she began, finally turning to face him. "You're my friend. Don't friends share things?"

Chouji remained quiet; his body remained still, aside from the occasional movement of his wrist over the pan. "I get that," he finally said. "It's just...rules are there for a reason, you know? For safety, mainly."

"Some rules are bullshit," Ino mumbled to herself as she turned towards the cabinet and picked out her largest mug.

"Hm?"

"Nothing," she answered, offering him a tight smile. She leaned against the counter and closed her eyes; a deep inhale of the dark roast's bold aroma served to calm her nerves. "So tell me, how was your mission?"

"It was surprisingly easy, almost like a vacation." Chouji clicked the stove off, slipping the steaming vegetables and rice onto the plates with the back of the wooden spoon. "I was mostly doing guard work while Shikamaru helped deal with some inter country laws. We didn't really expect to be gone for so long but it turned into this whole deal with conditions and appendixes and...long story short, there's some new laws that are about twenty pages long."

"I bet Shikamaru loved that," Ino smirked as she poured herself coffee. Chouji chuckled, turning to set the plates down on the table. He paused as his eyes flickered over the dead flowers drooping over the crystal vase. Frowning, he took a quick scan of the kitchen; the counters were practically cleared of anything besides the coffeemaker. Ino was no slob, but Chouji knew she was prone to procrastinating when it came to housework.

"Coffee?" Ino interrupted his thoughts, reaching for a second mug.

Chouji shook his head. "Still can't stand the taste, I'll have tea," he said, taking out a steel tin from his vest's pocket. Ino smiled as she watched him take a whiff of the tea leaves and grabbed a tea cup he liked before taking a seat in front of him.

"I wouldn't have minded staying longer but Shikamaru couldn't wait to get back. They had him writing all the notes since he was the youngest one there," Chouji said while he poured the steaming water over the leaves and mixing it with a spoon.

"Woah, you didn't brew that tea like a proper gentleman?" Ino teased, looking up at him with false shock. "What's next, no pinkies up?"

Chouji rolled his eyes. "I'm thirsty."

"Tsk, tsk." Ino shook her head, taking a sip of her black coffee.

"Fine, pinkies up, see?" Chouji raised his teacup, his pinkie up as he went to take a sip. His eyebrows shot up as he gulped the tea down and began coughing.

Ino bit her lips, pushing back the urge to smile as she asked, "You okay?"

"m'fine," Chouji's voice squeaked out, his fist thumping his chest while he attempted to clear his throat. The squeak broke Ino's composure, a stifled laugh bursting from her lips. Chouji looked up to glare at her while he continued to cough, only causing Ino to laugh harder.

She closed her eyes as her stomach muscles began to hurt from struggling to stop her laughter. That's when she felt it, and without any further warning, her laughter began dying down. A sigh escaped her lips and she began to feel her body melt into limpness. She could still hear Chouji coughing, the scratch of his chair as he stood up, and the large gulps of water he was taking. Hell, she could still feel the lingering smile on her lips and her hands resting over her stomach.

"Ino?"

"Hm?" She managed to slip from her lips before opening her eyes and sitting up straight. He was watching her, his hands clasped over the back of the chair.

"You okay?" they both asked at the same time.

"Huh? Yeah. You're the one that was just choking," she chuckled, taking a spoonful of rice into her mouth. She looked up after he didn't sit down, his eyes still observing her.

"Um, what just happened?" Chouji asked with the tilt of his head.

"What do you mean?" Ino asked through another mouthful of rice.

"Did you just fall asleep?"

"Um, no?" Ino laughed softly. "I started feeling a little lightheaded so I was resting my eyes. Um...I didn't have dinner last night, okay?" Ino lied, seeing as how Chouji was still standing and looking down at her with a heavy gaze.

Chouji gasped. "You should have told me!" he exclaimed, emptying his plate onto hers before turning to the stove and serving the remainders on his own plate.

"I'll be fine," she tried to say in her most convincing voice, not entirely sure if it was for his benefit. "Now sit down and tell me more about Shikamaru suffering," she said with a smirk when he finally sat down.

"Well...there was a couple instances. Like when..."

Ino started to tune out, looking down at her plate as she cleared it spoonful by spoonful. She only half listened to Chouji's stories, smiling and nodding when appropriate and making the occasional comment.

Despite Chouji's warm presence, Ino couldn't help her mind from wandering to her momentary loss of control. So I can't even laugh now? she thought, a callous smile forming onto her lips.

This might be getting out of hand.

It didn't take me a year to write this but it did take me a year to get off my butt and stop procrastinating. Thanks to my best friend for making me rewrite this only about 9,000 times and thanks for the amazingly kind reviews that kept me optimistic when I thought I had ran out of fuel.

I apologize for the wait and sincerely hope I still have readers out there :) Hope to hear from you guys.