Mind (Jutsu) Games

Chapter 3 -

Fortunately for Ino’s peace of mind, Chouji didn’t mock them too badly. A few well placed jibes were all he gave before letting the subject drop. Unfortunately, Shikamaru was not so kind. He kept shooting glances at her that would cause her to blush at the worst moments. What was a girl to do, if not retaliate? She now knew how ticklish he was, and a quick run of her fingernails across his kneecap proved it, after which she proceeded to look as innocent as a lamb.

Shika jumped and nearly over set the table, getting a glare from Chouji as the last piece of bacon nearly fell off the platter before the genin could snatch it up.

Patience, he reminded himself silently. The rest of breakfast passed with a modicum of normalcy, and they completed their mission as quickly as possible.

The trip home was reasonably uneventful, but Ino almost wished something had happened, something that would help clarify the situation between herself and Shikamaru. She didn’t know how to behave around him, especially in public, so she kept silent as much as possible, and avoided the inevitably awkward moment of telling Chouji their little secret for as long as she could.

Unfortunately, Shikamaru was just as unsure and confused about the situation as Ino, and her avoidance of anything relating to the problem, including him, wasn’t helping. As the days passed, they both grew irritable, until even Chouji could sense the tension, thick enough to stop a kunai. He confronted them over dinner their last evening out of Konoha.

“Look,” the redhead said to his teammates, staring at them across the fire, “I don’t know what’s wrong, and I don’t even think I want to know. But kiss and make-up already, will you?”

Ino blinked at him for a moment, then flushed, and beat a hasty retreat into the trees, mumbling something about firewood and leaving more than half her meal behind.

Shikamaru just shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize we were being that annoying. I’ll go talk to her. How troublesome…”

“Anou…” the hesitation in the genin’s voice made him stop. “We could make it back to Konoha tonight, if we pushed it.”

“Hai, but I don’t know how long it will take me to find her, not to mention calm her down. Troublesome woman.” He idly kicked a twig across the ground.

“Well, maybe I should keep going, and give you two some time to sort things out.”

Shikamaru froze. He was pretty sure Chouji had bought Ino’s excuse of sleepwalking – it wasn’t the first time she’d done it on a mission, just the first time it had ended up with her in someone else’s bed – but did he suspect anything further? “You don’t have to..” he began, but the Aburame Clan member just shook his head.

“I’ve had enough of her for this trip. And she seems more uncomfortable when I’m around, anyway. Besides, my mom’s making barbecue tonight,” the glint in his eye as he finished gave Shikamaru his friend’s true reason for wanting to hurry the trip, and he sighed.

“Fine, whatever”

Acknowledging Chouji’s nod with one of his own, he moved off a little more slowly than his girlfriend had, carefully watching for Ino’s trail, which she had hidden reasonably well, if only by habit. It wasn’t hard to hear Chouji hastily packing his gear and moving off, but Shikamaru never failed to be amazed at the speed produced by the mere thought of food in Chouji’s mind. He found her sitting by the edge of the reservoir, whose waterfall was guarded by the statues of the first Hokage and Uchiha Madara. Shikamaru, ever the strategist, found himself wishing he knew more of the history behind that epic battle. But such thoughts were put aside as his eyes returned to his teammate's figure. She had a small pile of dead fall beside her and was skipping stones across the water half-heartedly.

Leaning against a tree, he couldn’t help but watch her for a minute or two, admiring the way the waning light played on her features, turning her white-blond hair to a fiery red, and the way her skin moved over her muscles with each throw. Granted, there wasn’t that much skin showing, but her clothing was not very loose and he had a healthy imagination.

After a bit, she gave up the stone throwing and just sat there, staring out across the water, and he moved to join her. Neither of them said anything and the silence between them nearly grew unbearable.

The voices in Ino’s head more than made up for her lack of verbal communication.

Say something!

Like what? “Nice sunset, now kiss me?”

It works.

No, it doesn’t.

How about, “Shika-kun, we need to talk.”

No. I will not start a conversation with “we need to talk.” Nothing good ever came from the words “we need to talk.” It sounds like I want to break up with him, which I don’t!

Then tell him that!

Ino was so wrapped up with the continuing argument, she almost didn’t notice Shikamaru putting his hand on her arm. “Ino?” he inquired, leaning a little closer.

She turned to face him, and suddenly found herself nose-to-nose with the chuunin, which made her blush furiously, but she would not back away. “Hai?”

He blinked, then smiled at her before closing the gap between their mouths quickly, his grip on her arm tightening as he pulled her to him. If the morning in his room had been a hesitant exploration, this was anything but. It was as if neither of them felt whole without the other one. Holding her close, he lowered them both to the sandy ground. The feel of her pressed up against him nearly drove Shikamaru mad; her taste was intoxicating, her skin and hair were like cream and silk, and the noises she made seemed to speak straight to his lower regions, causing something to clench in his gut, though not unpleasantly.

“Shika-kun?” Ino pulled back to ask, her voice breathy.

“Nani?”

She felt herself blushing, but refused to admit it. “Is Chouji still back at the campsite?”

He shrugged. “His mom’s making barbecue for dinner, so he figured he’d push it, and just go home tonight. Sorry, I forgot.”

Nodding, Ino stood and held out her hand to her boyfriend. Taking it, he rose and walked beside her back to their camp. Upon arrival, Ino hastily finished her dinner and set about getting everything ready for the night. Bedrolls were spread out and the fire was banked for the night when Shika slipped up and wrapped his arms around her from behind. Nuzzling in, he kissed the nape of her neck before glancing up and meeting her eyes. Craning her neck just a bit, Ino’s lips found his, and he lost himself in her again, all his attention on the rush of sensation sweeping through him.

Several minutes later, Ino finally pulled away, smiling shyly at him. “Oyasumi, Shika-kun,” she whispered before moving off to seek her bed.

His smirk was only slightly tinged with sadness that she was putting a halt to the evening’s activities. “Oyasumi, Ino-chan.”

It took him some while to settle into his sleeping bag, by which time Ino was already in dreamland. He shook his head, forcing himself to relax and not take advantage of his girlfriend on their first night alone together, despite the fact that he was still hard. It wouldn’t be the first time she had unwittingly sent him to bed in this state, and he had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last.

With a sigh, he turned to look at her in the moonlight. Her skin glowed faintly, what little he could see of it, and he couldn’t help but notice her nearest hand laying not six inches from him. With a murmur of “troublesome wench,” he took her hand and soon had dropped into dreams.

~~~~*~~~~

“I grow impatient, Mizu.”

“Please forgive us, Master, but she is a deeper person than she look from the surface. You would not wish my sister and I to step wrong and alert anyone to our presence, surely?”

“No. But you are taking too long. You have till the end of the month to take her, or I will take matters into my own hands. And I will not be gentle.”

“Oyu would not like that, Master.”

“Then I suggest you rectify the situation. Get to work.”

~~~~*~~~~

The morning found him waking with a dead arm. Looking over, he saw that Ino had shifted again in the night and was using his numb limb as a pillow. Grabbing the object intended for that purpose, he used a quick replacement jutsu before gritting his teeth and forcing his arm into motion, trying to work the circulation back. The sensation of pins and needles shot through his arm and he shivered before continuing. A few minutes later, he was back to normal and he curled the now revived arm around Ino’s pillow, settling back in beside her, not wanting to admit to being awake just yet.

He couldn’t deny it; not only was he enjoying waking up beside this girl, he was beginning to expect it, in a weird sort of way. It had been happening for nearly a week, now, and he wondered how it was going to feel to wake up in his own bed the next morning and not have her warmth alongside him. He also couldn’t help but wonder what she thought of their nightly cuddling, and whether or not she would miss it when they returned to the village.

Mumbling something in her sleep, she shifted slightly before rolling away from him and settling on her side. He smiled, wondering what she was dreaming about and feeling an almost overwhelming urge to carry her off someplace where they could be alone forever. He had to admit, though, that such a desire was unpractical and impossible. Even if she didn’t object, which he doubted – she was the most popular genin in Konoha, and was the sort who required the attention of the masses to be truly happy – they were both ninja, and he doubted Konoha would just let them disappear for any length of time. But for the moment, as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back flush against his chest, he could pretend they were just normal people, waking in each other’s arms without a care in the world. He could hold her for now, and it would have to be enough.

~~~~*~~~~

Ino awoke not long after but, not wanting to admit their trip was at an end, she played possum, trying to shake of the last remnants of a really strange dream, until she realized the boy who’s breath was tickling her neck was doing the same. “You do realize this is hopeless?” she asked bemusedly.

“Excuse me?” Shikamaru prayed he had misheard. He didn’t see their relationship as hopeless, and he certainly hoped she didn’t, or else it truly would be. If either of them gave up on this relationship, it wouldn’t work. There would be enough pitfalls along the way as was, he knew, just because they were ninja.

“Both of us pretending to be asleep,” she clarified. “We can’t just lay here forever.”

“Well, we could,” Shikamaru mused, “but I think we’d get hungry after a while. And Chouji might come looking for us if we took too long to get back to the village.”

Giggling, she rolled in his arms so she could face him, bringing her lips gently to his. “Ohaiyou, Shika-kun.”

His smile was faint, but there as he returned her gesture, with interest. “Ohaiyou,” he replied almost a minute later.

Sticking out her tongue, she smacked his arm playfully. “Don’t do that, or I’ll never want to get out of bed!”

“Would that be so horrible?”

She couldn’t quite tell if he was joking or serious, and after a moment wasn’t sure she wanted to know. “It would be if Chouji found us,” she pointed out.

“True.” He sighed, gave her one last hug, then began the attempt of extricating them both from the tangled blankets. It never ceased to amaze him how tousled the bedding became with two of them sharing it.

He got the fire going as she started breakfast, and the morning continued like any other on a mission, with them readying themselves for the day and breaking camp in companionable silence except when asking for a hand here or there.

Finally, they both were ready to continue their interrupted journey, and Shikamaru shouldered his pack with a sigh before reaching his hand out for hers. She looked at it for a moment before hesitantly taking it with a soft smile. “We can hold hands for now, I guess, but we shouldn’t once we hit town.”

“Why not?” He knew his reasons for wanting to keep their relationship under the radar – mostly to keep from having to deal with her father just yet – but he was curious to hear hers.

“Because, silly, you’re a chuunin now, meaning there will be times you will be assigned your own missions, and can choose who you want to take on them. I don’t expect you to always pick me, especially if someone else is better suited for the task, but if everyone knows we’re an item, they’ll get suspicious each time you do take me. They might even purposely keep you from being able to take me, thinking that they’re doing us a favor. See? It’s better if we keep it under wraps.”

He smiled warmly. “I always knew you were the smart one. I was just trying to avoid your dad.” At her blush, his smile grew, but he turned serious again very quickly. “How troublesome, though. I finally have a girlfriend, and I can’t even tell anyone.”

“Patience, Shika-kun. You’ll be able to tell them soon enough, and by then, everyone will be so used to seeing us together, they won’t try to separate us.”

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Three chapters in three days; some might ask why. And I'll tell you. I got a new job today, and I was so happy, I had to share the joy. So I decided to post a new part of both my multi-chapter stories. I hope you all enjoy, and let me know if there are any ideas that tickle you brain as you read this, or any parts/witty lines that you particularly like.
Have a good day, and good reading to you!

CrimsonIris