Shikamaru had been the first to arrive for the burial. Or so he probably thought.

From her vantage point Ino watched as Shikamaru paced back and forth between the two large holes in the ground. Her childhood friend was dressed in a sleek civilian suit that she was surprised he owned. It was clearly well tailored. His mother had probably managed to drag him to a nice store and had it made.

Ino flew lower and got a better look at his face. He looked tired. He sat down next to one of the large holes on the grass crossed legged and Ino cringed. Had she been down there she would have chewed his head off for sitting on the grass in his nice clothes. Or maybe not. Maybe she would have joined in and sat next to the other large hole. Maybe she would even lie down on the grass like Shikamaru proceeded to do.

Just as she expected, Shikamaru folded his arms behind his head and assumed his sleepy yet thoughtful cloud gazing position. He would be fine she told herself. Oh how she desperately wanted to talk to him, not knowing if it was out of concern for her own sanity or his.

Ino hadn't been home in days. Upon the agreement to bury her father in one of the forests on the Nara's land, she had been camped here. Had it been anywhere else or anyone else it would have been trespassing. Her name might as well have been Nara-Akimichi-Yamanaka. Ino had gone flower picking in these forests ever since she was a child and she, Chouji, and Shikamaru spent many a childhood summer playing hide and seek and many an adolescent training camp in these woods.

This was her childhood playground and it would be her father's final resting place.

While she no longer lived at home, before she left she told her mother she needed be alone and gone for a few days but would be present for the burial. Ino got herself dressed appropriately, took some rations and water she had lying around her apartment, the world's smallest tent and headed for the Nara property.

She was having a lovely time feeling numb on that first day. But there she heard a bird.

She opened her eyes as it had disrupted her meditation when she saw the bird peached on a branch chirping peacefully. Before she even realized she made the decision to, she had performed her mind transfer-jutsu and had been enjoying the freedom of flying since. She did not abuse her ability, she flew for a bit, tried her hand at hunting, gathering, and even pollinating out of curiosity. She made sure the bird's body was not exhausted and well rested and properly hydrated before returning to the branch she first saw it and returned to her body. The experience was uncharted territory for her and boy was it exhilarating.

She had been in and out of so many birds, insects, and woodland creatures over the past few days, returning only to restore her chakra, relieve herself, and walk in her own body so it didn't get too stiff. Ino had never been more than one day without looking at a mirror or spent so many days on end not in her own body. It was exhausting but it the experience was so liberating. There was no immediate threat to the village and she was not out on a mission.

Ino began flying lower and made a mental note that she should return to civilization. She quite enjoyed the past few days though and was happy that this at least marked her turn to less damaging means of coping with loss. Partying, shopping sprees, spa treatments, binge drinking, she could not admit to herself until now that they were exhausting and were very hit or miss experiences.

The second she returned to her body she felt trapped. She missed the freedom of the sky, the lightness of a body in flight, the warmth of feathers, and the simple happiness it came with. She felt heavy and the numbness was back.

She looked around for a mirror, which of course she packed. Ino instinctively started pulling her hair up in a ponytail but quickly decided against it. This was a hard day enough already she didn't need any more pain, even if it was next to minuscule like the tightness of her scalp in an up do. She would let her hair down for today.

She tested her breath and man was it foul. She swished some of her water and took a breath mint she found in her bag. This was the best she could do for now. She took down her tent and packed all of it up. She decided to leave her things by the side of the tree and walked over to where she knew Shikamaru lay.

Shikamaru turned his head to look in her direction as she approached him and turned back to look up at the sky. It wasn't fair. It was a beautiful day.

Ino wanted to say something about his lack of greeting. But what did she want him to say, Sorry about your dad? Sorry for your loss? My condolences? She didn't want any of that. Not from him. So she just continued to head over to him wordlessly fuming, unsure what she was angry about.

She kicked his foot gently with hers. Though earlier Ino desperately needed to talk to Shikamaru, now that she was here, the grieving girl was at a loss for words.

"You look good in a suit." Ino knew that he also did not want or need apologies and condolences from her. And honestly, call it selfish or whatever, but she was not in the mood to care for anyone except herself at the moment.

"…Troublesome… " Shikamaru sighed as if to make a point; about his mom or herself Ino was unsure, "you know my mom."

"Aw so you held your moms hand while you got your first proper suit made?"

"God Ino, I got up early today. Can't we wait like another hour before we do whatever it is you're doing?"

The blonde pursed her lips. She did feel like she was being a little too extra, but the kunoichi was not about to concede. This put her in an odd situation because she knew Shikamaru would take her silence as a sign of defeat.

It was frustrating, troublesome, as her male friend was inclined to say.

This was not going the way she wanted it to go. She did not know how to act or what to say. Uncharted territory between the two of them was always an odd feeling considering she was probably his longest and closest running friend, next to Chouji of course. Nothing she knew about him and none of their past history was making this an easier situation.

But then again, what do you say to someone that just lost their father when you've also just lost your father?

"I feel numb." She said bluntly.

"Join the club." At his words, relief washed over her. Good, Ino thought, we're on the same page.

Ino was not sure where to go from here, but then in an odd turn of events, Shikamaru took the lead.

"Are you just going to stand there? It's kind of weird," he muttered.

Ino huffed. Reluctantly, she sat down next to him.

"Wow Shikamaru, I'm surprised you've said more words than I have." Ino retorted, attempting to get the last word in. Ino absentmindedly began picking at the grass around her.

"Yea that'll happen when pigs fly."

Ino was so taken aback that she accidentally pulled out a clump of grass; dirt, roots and all. For the smallest amount of time possible she thought maybe it was a coincidence but the look on his face indicated otherwise.

"What?" She was a little disappointed in her lack of a witty comeback and sensed Shikamaru was too.

"Ino I saw your body." She saw the corners of his mouth curl up ever so slightly.

"Yea?" She arched an eyebrow, daring him to make an easy joke.

"You take so much time primping yourself I'm surprised you just left it out in the open like that, it's unlike you."

"It was just out in the open Shikamaru. I had a tent and this is private property." This time she purposefully ripped out a clump of grass and threw it at the know-it-all's face, giggling as he braced for impact and spat some loose blades out of his mouth.

"Yea of the Nara family." Shikamaru rolled over on his side to look at her. She remembered this look he gave her. The only other time she saw that look on him was when Asuma..."S'not like your last name is Nara."

"Let's be honest, it might as well be." Shikamaru's expression changed again to something she'd never seen before, at least not directed toward her. New territory with Shikamaru… it made her confused. "And you! What, did you memorize the flight patterns of all the birds in Konoha too?"

Shikamaru didn't need to say anything. He resumed his cloud gazing position and the look of loss she recognized on him earlier crept back. She could tell it was eating at him despite how hard he tried to fight it.

This was familiar. This was comfortable. Hopefully it didn't make her a bad person for finding solace in her best friend's pain. People often said the Naras were a tough bunch to crack and it rightfully so made her feel privileged to be able to read Shikamaru. The Shika-Ino-Cho trio always felt natural to the three of them. She wore her closeness to him and Chouji with pride.

Earlier that look on his face sure made her feel something and what that something was she did not want to admit. Ino did not want to risk feeling too much on this day, at least not more than she already had. So, the Yamanaka decided to take a break from attempting conversation with the Nara. It was a shame though for she had somehow against all odds caught the typically sulky Shikamaru in a talkative mood.

Ino had busied herself with picking tiny white wildflowers that grew in patches of the grass that were within reach and poked them into Shikamaru's tidy ponytail. He protested at first but was easily subdued with a promise to take them all out before any other guests arrived. The cloud-gazer also seemed to enjoy the feeling of her fingers poking around in his hair. Ino imagined it would feel like a scalp massage.

"I think I see Chouji over there," Ino said after a good deal of time passed. She waved at him and smiled, it was going to be a long day but at least she had her old team with her.

To everyone's delight, Chouji had brought barbeque chips. Usually Ino stayed away from them but she had been eating worms and berries in animal bodies and flavorless rations in her own for the past few days. She welcomed the flavor.

It did not take long for Chouji to lay down in solidarity with Shikamaru much to Ino's chagrin. This prompted Ino to comment on their attire being ruined by the dirt. Chouji coaxed her to lay down with them while she insisted she had more dignity than to lay down in the grass and dirt in her nice black dress. Shikamaru shot back with a comment about how she hadn't showered in a few days and had no right to judge.

Out of excuses she laid down next to Chouji, refusing to admit that it felt good to do so.

"So wait you actually used your mind transfer jutsu on birds?" Chouji asked, impressed.

"It's too bad I didn't run into any wild boars, or that I wasn't named after a bird or something."

"You're feeling… poetic." Shikamaru cut in.

Before Ino could tell him to shut up Chouji cut in, "wait so did you eat worms? I can't imagine you doing any of that stuff like willingly. Ino how much money would I need to give you if you were to eat a worm as a human?" Shikamaru and Chouji both broke into laughter.

As the boys continued to laugh and tease Ino about her activities from the past few days, Ino was surprised at how much Shikamaru smiled. She kept catching herself looking over to him and catching him looking over to her. Both knowing, watching.

"I'm so happy you're here Chouji." Ino said after a lull in the teasing, squeezing his forearm. Again she caught Shikamaru's eye.

"I figured you two might be out here. It's kind of neat having the three of us out here it's almost like when we were kids."

"And genin I guess." Ino remarked. "You know just without…"

"Asuma." Shikamaru and Chouji said in union.

Ino looked away from Shikamaru, but she could feel his persistent stare. She was glad he was also watching her; it made her feel less like a creep.

"It feels like we've all lost three fathers." Chouji said softly. Ino could barely hear him.

Silence fell over the team once again. They looked up at the sky together. For Ino, she felt so small to look up to the sky rather than down from it. Flying was so nice; it made her feel invincible, like a god. She glanced over at Shikamaru again and caught him mesmerized by the sky. He was not affected and intimidated by the sky like she was. I wish I could stare into the infinite and not be phased. Of course he doesn't feel insecure; he's always been looking up. I might temporarily have a view from the heavens but he's always had a mind like a god.

"Do you guys want to just continue playing eye tag? I can leave and give you some time to talk you know."

"Oh no, it's fine! We talked a bit earlier." Ino responded. Shikamaru grunted in agreement.

"No but- how do I say this…"

"Just say it." Shikamaru insisted.

"They were your actual fathers you know? Our families are close but they were your fathers. " Chouji said hesitantly.

"I've already done my regretting and crying." Ino responded with finality. "Yea it sucks. I wish I could explain to you how it is I feel but 'it sucks' just does the trick. I don't know what I could say that isn't news. I'm in pain and unsure and at this point I'm ready to say goodbye and move on." Ino could feel Shikamaru staring and met his gaze head on. "As long as Shikamaru is okay, I'm going to be okay."

"Ditto."