"You got that, Ino?" Shikamaru asked as she struggled with the crib. They'd "volunteered" to help Kurenai-sensei get the new baby room ready. The baby was due any moment now, and she wanted everything ready just in case.
"Yea. It just these instructions are crap!" She complained as she sat down cross legged as in defiance to the crib. "Obviously whoever wrote this shit never tried building it!"
"Need some help?" he asked over her shoulder now. She blushed. She felt so awkward around him for the last couple days, every sense she heard from Sakura, that Naruto told her he'd been having dirty dreams about her. Not that she found it all to out of the blue, they did work together, spent almost 24/7 with each other. They'd even shared a blanket when camping. She thanked whoever loved her, he wasn't dreaming of her at that point in time, or at least that she knows of.
"Ah, no. I got it. Besides you're helping them move stuff right?"
"Actually…I'm getting in the way. I've never been much help at manual labor." He sat next to her and picked up the instuctions, a moment of silence followed. "Is this in a fucking different language?!" He yelled towards the instructions. And so, 4 hours, 15 extra helpers and 2 translators later, they finished.
"What the hell am I going to do?!" Ino asked Sakura quietly. They'd all gone to IchiRaku, where she and Sakura sat at one end, and Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto sat at the other end.
"About what now? I wasn't paying attention…" Sakura replied honestly.
"Thanks. I just don't know if I'm mad at him for it…" She said quieter looking over to make sure they weren't listening. "Every 5 seconds when I decide on destroying him, something else happens! It's almost impossible to stay mad at Shikamaru.
"Really? You who can hold grudges for years can't stay mad at Shikamaru?" she giggled. "Maybe you've fallen for him."
Ino blushed, "NO WAY! THAT'S TOTALLY NOT AN OPTION!"
"Ino?" Shikamaru asked behind them now. "Why are you yelling?"
"Why are you listening to my conversation?!" She snapped back before dropping her head and sighing.
"Whatever. Choji and I are taking off. See Ya tomorrow."
"Yea, bye." She said into her arm not looking up from the table she was now laying her head on in embarrassment.
"Wow…that is kinda sad…"
"I know. UGH! He doesn't even act any different! You'd think he'd act weird around me, like 'I'm having naughty dreams about you, but I'm gonna die soon, cause you're gonna kill me, and I've seen you naked in my dreams and…"
"I came into the wrong part of that conversation." Naruto said as he walked by them.
"What did you hear baka?!" Ino's glare here seemed life threatening to the poor blonde.
"Just…something bout…seeing someone naked…in dreams…That's it I swear!" He defended with his life.
"Ok." She gave up. "I'm gonna go home and come up with a good way to punish him!" She stormed out.
"Punish….?" Naruto asked.
"Don't worry, she was talking about someone else."
"…Thank God. Do you wanna walk home together?"
"Sure."
The next day, Team 10 was to meet over some things. Sense Asuma-sensei died, Shikamaru has been in charge of the team, and to be honest, paperwork wasn't his strong suit. Anyway, as usual though, nobody had done a thing. Choji was munching on something and reading some random manga. Shikamaru of course, was laying out across the couch relaxing. Ino had spent all night contemplating ways to punish Shikamaru, or at least make him confess. However, Choji probably shouldn't be around as she got her "revenge."
