"Hokage-sama." Ino bowed to the strongest ninja in Konoha and waited to be acknowledged, reminding herself to keep a firm hold on the mission report in her hands.
"Ino," the hokage remarked, her voice neutral. Ino thanked her good fortune for that. At the end of a long jounin meeting, the hokage's mood was usually far from charitable. "Where's your squad leader?"
It was the squad leader's duty to report the mission details, but Naruto had been injured, so Ino had sent him to the hospital with the promise that she'd fill out and personally deliver the forms that contained the sensitive details of the mission to the hokage. Everyone knew Naruto sucked at mission reports anyway.
Ino kept her head bowed. "He's in the hospital for treatment. I offered to write the mission report. He said to tell you he'll drop by tonight after he has some ramen."
Tsunande grumbled. "Naruto needs to learn to take things seriously."
Ino knew she didn't really mean it. Naruto did take things seriously, the things that mattered anyway, and he'd always been one of the hokage's favorites.
Tsunande held out her hand and Ino gave her the mission report. "You too, Shikamaru?" the hokage asked. "You were supposed to have turned this report in yesterday."
Ino kept her head down, partly from respect for the hokage, and partly to hide her smile. She hadn't seen him in a while, but he was still as lazy as ever. Some things never changed.
"It was long and troublesome," Shikamaru replied from beside Ino as he handed in his report. "I took a few breaks."
Yup. Still lazy.
Tsunande sighed. "Don't let it happen again," she admonished, although everyone knew it would. Ino knew Tsunande let Shikamaru get away with it because he was also one of her favorites. "Shizune," the hokage ordered, "let's go. I have a headache and I need some sake."
"Hai, Tsunande-sama," came Shizune's prompt reply from across the room.
Tsunande placed a hand briefly on Ino's shoulder as she left. "Thank you for writing the report, Ino. I wasn't looking forward to reading another one of Naruto's." She met Shizune at the door, heels clicking across the floor. "I'll see you both later."
Ino waited until the sound of Tsunande and Shizune's heels had faded before pumping her fist in the air. "Yes! Tsunande-sama acknowledged me!" She jumped triumphantly up and down. The few jounin still left in the room were staring, but she didn't care. Her idol had acknowledged her existence. Sure it was only for paperwork, but that was a start, wasn't it? She threw her arms around Shikamaru, since he was conveniently still standing next to her, and squeezed as hard as she could. "I'm so happy, Shika!"
"Ino," Shikamaru said in a strained voice. "I can't breathe."
Ino released him and giggled. "Sorry."
He rolled his eyes and started walking out of the room, away from the rest of the snickering jounin. Ino fell into step beside him. "So how's it going, Shikamaru? Done any cloud watching lately?"
"No time," Shikamaru complained as they walked down the stairs. "If I'm not on a mission some annoying person always wants me to do something for them. And that something usually leads to something else."
"You must be busy. You haven't come by the flower shop lately either. But my schedule's picked up too, since I became a jounin. There's never a spare moment any more." She sighed, content, as they walked outside into the dark of the warm Konoha night.
"Why do you care so much what Tsunande thinks of you?" Shikamaru asked after a few minutes.
Ino glanced over at him, surprised. He usually indulged her by letting her chatter and didn't initiate their conversations.
