Shikamaru laid lazily on the ground, being caressed gently by the sun's strong rays. His eyes were slowly closing on him, the sun making him too tired to stay awake. All he could think about right now was just relaxing. Being carefree was a quality that he would never give up. Without noticing, his blonde comrade was marching angrily at him.

"Shikamaru!" He opened one eye and realized who it was. "Shikamaru, get up! It's time to train. Asuma-sensei, me and Choji have all been waiting for you at the training grounds." She put her hands on her hips. "Don't tell me you purposely skipped out."

"Hello, Ino." He drowsily sat up and scratched the back of his head. "Er...what time is it?"

"It's 3:00 PM, pal! You were supposed to be with us 2 HOURS ago." Ino knelt down on her knees so she was eye level with Shikamaru. "Look, I don't want you to get in any more trouble than you already are in, so just come on." She gave him a pleading look, putting down her more forceful front for a minute.

He looked at her for a second and then slowly stood up. "Alright. I'll go." He held out his hand to help her up and she took it. "I guess Asuma-sensei's going to punish me big time for being late this time, huh?"

"Pft, duh. I overheard him saying he was going to make you run around the village about 100 times under a limited time. That'll teach you to be late again. Now, c'mon!" She stuck out her tongue at him teasingly and ran ahead. Shikamaru grinned and followed quickly after her.

Choji pigged out on his bag of chips as Ino and Shikamaru gasped for air. After all that, Asuma-sensei made them BOTH run around the village 100 times along with some intense training right after that. Ino finally caught her breath.

"A-Asuma-sensei...do you mind my asking...WHY did you make me go through with that too! Shikamaru was the one that was late!" She pointed accusinly at Shikamaru who also caught his breathe.

Asuma grinned while holding his signature cigarette in his mouth. "Ino, I decided to make you train as well, because I've been noticing you've been gaining some weight. You need to eat that pudding LESS and train some more."

Ino looked absolutely mortified and just stayed quiet. "Ch-Choji...I don't feel so good. I-I think I'm going to lie down." Ino laid down next to Choji who just continued eating his chips, who couldn't care less if he was gaining weight. He needed those extra pounds for his ninja technique after all.

Asuma laughed to himself and whispered to Shikamaru, "Heh, she didn't REALLY gain some pounds. I only said that to shush her up." Asuma was after all their sensei, and he knew each one of them very well. He knows their weak points and strong points. (One of Ino's weak points apparently has to do with her weight. ;) ) Team 10 was known as the "weakest" team compared to the others, but they were most definately the closest. While the other teams fued and have rivalries between themselves, Team 10 held a strong friendship that began even when they were young children.

Shikamaru yawned and looked at Asuma. "So, Asuma-sensei, you were mentioning at yesterday's practice that you'd treat us to dinner tonight. You gonna go through with your word?"

Asuma coughed a bit, sort of hit with surprise. "Urm...well, I...I don't know if that's a good idea." ; Ino sat up suddenly and glanced at him. "You're broke, aren't you?" Asuma smiled sheepishly, obviously proving that he was indeed broke.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I got some extra money. Why don't I treat you three? I have some money to pay back each of you, so I guess it's only fair." Choji stood up and cheered. He was obviously very excited with this idea. Shikamaru nodded with agreement, and somewhat of a smile. Asuma got down on his knees and grabbed Ino's hands into his own. "INO! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I love you like my own daughter!"

Inoichi all of a sudden walked up and hit Asuma over the head. "Quit that, Asuma. If you say that loud enough, people will hear you and might ACTUALLY believe you're my beloved daughter's FATHER! UGH!" With that, he hugged Ino tightly. "Ino would be horrified to be known as ASUMA'S daughter." Ino just stayed quiet and inched away from her dad slowly.

"Er...daddy, what are you doing here? I mean, this IS our training grounds." ;

Inoichi laughed and patted her on the head. "Well, I was on my way to the local hot springs when I overheard you mentioning DINNER." Suddenly, a stomach grumble sounded from Inoichi's stomach. "Heh! I believe I will be joining you three." He smiled widely until he noticed Shikamaru standing there. "GAH! It's the Nara boy!" He pointed right at Shikamaru's face, only a few inches away from it.

Shikamaru took a step back because of the closeness of Inoichi's hand. "Er. Yeah. Obviously I'm here. We were training." He had a rather monotone voice on. Shikamaru and Inoichi weren't very fond of each other, even though Shikaku and Inoichi were close friends. Inoichi was threatened by Shikamaru, thinking he'd steal his "baby girl" away from him.

Ino separated them. "Okay, okay. Break it up. Daddy, you can come to dinner with us if you'd like. I'm paying since Asuma-sensei is br--"

"WHAAAT!" Inoichi looked appalled. "Nara is making my baby PAY! I am absolutely appalled!"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Well, if you'd like me to pay, Ino, then I will. Sorry if I uhh...came off as rude."

Ino looked over at Shikamaru. "No, no, Shika. It's alright. I'll pay. Daddy, it's no big deal. I owe each of them some money anyways, so it'll be okay." Inoichi glanced one last time at Shikamaru and crossed his arms. "Ino, darling, I will not make you pay for MY part of the meal, though. As your dear father, I have no right to make you pay for me! So THERE!" Inoichi made a taunting face at Shikamaru.

Asuma cut in. "I'm HUNGRY! Can we PLEASE go? Sheesh, if I knew the hot springs you go to was near our training grounds I would've changed it to someplace FAR, FAR away." Inoichi didn't really realize that Asuma was just insulting him and just smiled cheerfully. "Alright! Let's go then.

To be continued...