Everybody was present except him.
"Where's Shikamaru?" Ino whispered to her side.
Chouji shrugged. "I went to his house, but his mom said he'd left a while ago…"
"Where are you going?" He added, seeing the tall blonde was about to leave.
Ino replied thoughtfully. "I have to take care of some business."
She found him lying on the grassy field, head tilted up high staring at the clouds. She could see the smoke coming from him. The grey substance floating lazily in the air, disappeared and was replaced again. She frowned. She hated to see him so down like this.
She knew he knew she was there. She was sure he sensed her presence.
But he didn't acknowledge her. He kept on staring at the clouds, blowing smoke after smoke, lost in his own world. She inched closer until she arrived just a foot away from him.
He tilted his head just enough to catch a glimpse of her and then focused back on the clouds.
She studied the cigarette between his lips, his empty stare and his emotionless face. Her heart ached.
She settled down beside him and wordlessly, she took the burning cigarette from his mouth. She twirled it between her fingers for a quick second before she crushed it on the ground.
"You shouldn't smoke," she said quietly. "It's bad for health."
He grunted in response. She knew, the muffled sound meant "I don't care…" or "Whatever…" or any phrase in similar meaning.
He slipped his hand inside his pocket and pulled out an old cigarette pack - the one belonged to Asuma, and a lighter - also Asuma's. But before he could take a single cigarette and lit it, Ino grabbed the two items calmly from him and put them by her side.
Shikamaru raised his brows questioningly at her and she swore she could see the look of annoyance hidden deep in his dark eyes. His hand made its way on the ground to reach the pack again, but silently she stopped his moving hand and placed it on his chest. He tried his action again for a few times but still failed under her observation.
Finally, he gave up and tucked his hands back behind his head. A displeased look painted on his face. "Troublesome…" He muttered to the sky, which actually directly meant for her.
He bit his lip. His mouth itched, feeling the need to smoke. He sighed heavily, wanting the young woman by his side to notice how uncomfortable he was feeling right now. And she wasn't dumb not to notice.
"You better stop while you're at it." She meant about the smoking thing. "It'll become a habit."
"Tch…" He smirked teasingly. He knew that one day she'll come to him and confront him about the new liking he picked from Asuma, but he never knew that it was this early. Ino sure was going to keep her promise, about her taking care after him and Chouji.
"Let's go to the funeral, Shikamaru."
He glanced at her. There were lines of dry tears marred on her face but the look of confidence was still in place. She was going to dominate him and want him to comply to every of her demand as he always did before but right now, he didn't have the heart to just go with her flow.
"Let me smoke first."
Ino frowned. His eyes insisted.
"No." She replied.
He said nothing but his hand roamed on the ground once again to reach for the pack. This time, he got what he wanted. He quickly pulled out one out of the five remaining cigarettes, slipped it between his lips and lit it. He gave a heavy sigh of relief once the he blew away some smoke from his mouth.
