A/N: Shikamaru's powers were in part inspired by two sources—a character of Zoe's and Peter Pan. Fic was partially inspired by Drip Dry's "Melt Me". Go read it! It's awesome. ♥

ooooo

Shikamaru would never get used to the new Konoha Academy's height. He hated looking up at it because it made him dizzy and affirmed a batophobia he had and never really knew existed. Normally he just stalked straight into the building without looking up, but he was tired and stunned and possibly a little bit in shock. So he stood there with his head tilted up and his hands in his pockets, wondering what it would be like to fall from something so fucking high.

One of the ANBU's nudged his back impatiently. "Come on. The Hokage is expecting a report."

"Shhh." Shikamaru continued to stare up at the building, feigning deep thought. A perk of being a genius was that people always assumed your mind was constantly going. In reality, Shikamaru was trying to get his bearings back from an uncomfortable vertigo.

"Your injuries, Shikamaru..." This ANBU was being particularly annoying.

"Yeah, yeah." Shikamaru let out a breath and slowly stalked into the building. He was favoring his left side and trickling a trail of blood after him.

How troublesome.

Thankfully, Tsunade-sama didn't take her sweet time in calling him in. Perhaps it was because she knew that he had returned right when he stepped into the building. In his exhaustion, he neglected to keep his powers in check. All shadows stretched towards him. He was like the anti-sun.

"Shikamaru!" she boomed, catching his arm. He closed his eyes and relished in her chakra flow, the smaller of his wounds closing up. He even let himself be dragged into her office without complaint. Besides, it would have been too much of a hassle to fight back. Tsunade would more than happily kick his ass if he even tried.

She pushed him unceremoniously onto an overstuffed, uncomfortable arm chair and sat back down behind her desk, glaring at him expectantly. He stared unyieldingly at her. She stared back.

He was the one who eventually gave. "Your 'B ranked mission' turned out to be an A." His tone was grumpy.

Tsunade looked at the ceiling and Shikamaru frowned. She had known it was all along. He leaned forward, hands on his knees and eyes narrowed. "Why did you accept it? B rank pays less." As if she didn't already know.

"Konoha's late start in the industrialized world threw us back a step. We don't really have a choice. Despite the...fame Sasuke and Naruto brought us from their..." she coughed and looked for a good word, "...'excursions', we're still behind in the race."

"So you toss us out on harder missions that pay less." Smart thinking. He didn't say the last bit out-loud, but Tsunade easily read it in his look.

"For now, you're just going to have to deal with it. I don't like it as much as you don't, Shikamaru. So."

Shikamaru stood up. "The mission was successful. If I may?"

Tsunade looked up at him for an apologetic moment, and then sighed and waved her hand. "I'll send Sakura up for your wounds. Send up a full, written report when you get the chance." As in, tonight. Or tomorrow.

Shikamaru grunted and walked out.

Catch
Chapter One: To Be a Ninja
by Clara

Shikamaru liked his room dim because it gave his shadows free roam. It was comforting. He liked to think the shadows were protecting him, but could never be fully certain. They tended to do what they wanted, and usually they wanted to help him, but sometimes they were cranky. But they still made him feel better, regardless of their (un)willingness to help.

Which is why he was just a bit annoyed when a ray of sunshine burst into his room uninvited and threw his windows open, causing the shadows to retreat immediately.

"Shikamaru!" a warm voice bubbled.

"Ino," was Shikamaru's much more subdued response. "I hate you."

"Good to see you too, Shikamaru! I'm doing well, thank you. And yourself?" She flopped down gracelessly next to him, folding her hands behind her back. He resolutely did not lift his face from the pillow. He did peek a little, though, to see one of his shadows slide onto her hand. She tried to hold it, but it remained intangible. It always surprised him the way his shadows seemed to prefer her over anyone else.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why, visiting my bestest friend in the entire world," she cooed sarcastically, holding up a hand to the ceiling as the shadow danced around on her wrist and wisped between her fingers. "I heard you came back from a dangerous mission and wanted to see how you were doing."

"Fine," he grumbled, ducking back down. She rudely poked his side and he jumped a little in pain and surprise.

Ino rolled her eyes and turned to face him. "Is Sakura coming up?"

Shikamaru shrugged, not willing to answer verbally.

"Jeez, I come all this way to make sure you're still whole," that brought unwanted images of Shikamaru broken apart to both their minds, "and this is the thanks I get? You're so ungrateful."

"I'm tired," he grumped. "I've been gone for three weeks and haven't seen a bed for two and a half, and I just want to sleep."

Ino ignored his pleas. Another shadow had joined the first, and Ino couldn't decide if they were playing or doing something inappropriate. She decided she didn't want to know.

"You're shadows are friendly."

"Not usually." His voice was even more grumpy. With all the smarts he had, he couldn't figure out for the life of him why his shadows adored Ino.

"Sometimes at night..." She paused uncertainly, lifting her other hand up to pet one of the shadows. Shikamaru could feel it hum in his bones and shifted.

"Sometimes what?"

She shook her head and didn't answer. Shikamaru scowled and flipped over on his back. "Sometimes what, Ino."

She lay there silently for a moment, trying to pinch the shadow. It went intangible with every attempt. "Sometimes at night I'll wake up and—"

But she was interrupted as another burst of sunlight exploded into his room and threw himself on the other side of Shikamaru. He was followed by his own moody shadow. Shikamaru groaned and draped an arm across his eyes, even as Naruto sprawled himself across both him and Ino.

"I'm so sorry!" Naruto chirped unapologetically. "Did I interrupt something?" He deadweighted on them and Ino pounded on his head with her pillow uselessly.

"Naruto, you dumbass! Shikamaru's injured!"

Shikamaru glanced up at the ceiling in resignation, then to Sasuke, who had assumed the aloof Uchiha position in the corner of the room. The aristocratic Sasuke was not suited for the change in the world—the old ways Sasuke practiced were unwelcome and could not survive in the industrial boom. And though he possibly could have adapted, he was unable to defeat Naruto, who had accepted and embraced the change. It was impossible for Sasuke to be immune to Naruto's determination. He fought like hell at first, but Naruto wore him down. And though Naruto was assigned by Tsunade to watch over Sasuke in her own determination not to lose someone who reminded her so strongly of Orochimaru (penance for failing so miserably with her teammate), Sasuke's own dark eyes never ceased to follow Naruto. There was something sinister in his look, but Shikamaru was not sure it was entirely malevolent.

Naruto was oblivious to Shikamaru's thoughts as he used Ino's stomach as a pillow and Shikamaru's chest as a leg rest. "Hey, hey!" It surprised Shikamaru that Naruto somehow retained his cheer and innocence despite all the changes. But the new world suited Naruto, and he suited this new world. "How went your mission? Hey, Ino, your stomach makes a great pillow. It's so soft!"

Shikamaru was saved from having to respond to Naruto as Ino cheerfully began smacking Naruto's face with her pillow. Shikamaru glanced at Sasuke, who seemed enthralled in a kunai. Shikamaru could see the tenseness in his shoulders.

"You know," Shikamaru interrupted, "If I wasn't hurt before—" He pushed at one of Naruto's flailing legs, which was repeatedly crushing his ribs, "I'm sure something's broken now."

Sasuke started forward to grab Naruto, but he was interrupted by someone once again barging into Shikamaru's room.

"Naruto! Sasuke. Ino?" It was amusing how the tone of Sakura's voice changed with each name. 'Naruto' was accusing, 'Sasuke' was confused and tinged with sadness, and 'Ino' was scandalized. Sai looked out of place at Sakura's side and Chouji peeked over Sai's shoulder in confusion.

Shikamaru's single bedroom was becoming a regular zoo.

"I was kind of hoping for some sleep, you know," Shikamaru told his ceiling as Naruto allowed himself to be pushed off the bed by an irate and bemused Sakura. She kept throwing surreptitious glances at Ino, who ignored her in favor of examining the shadow that snaked itself around her wrist like a bracelet.

"Ino," Sakura said hesitantly. They had grown closer over the years, but Ino never could fully forgive Sakura, nor completely trust her again. Sakura was well-aware of this. "You'll need to get off the bed."

Ino shrugged and stood up, before primly sitting on Naruto's stomach. Shikamaru looked at Saskue, who apparently decided the threat was gone.

Sakura waited for a moment, as if expecting everyone else to leave the room. Chouji simply settled himself on Shikamaru's armchair to wait patiently, Ino showed off her new bracelet to Naruto who admired it appropriately, and Sai examined a picture of the original Team 10 with their original teacher.

Sakura scrunched her nose, examining Shikamaru. "Take off your shirt."

Shikamaru pulled his shirt off unashamedly and made quick work of the dirty bandages he had used to tie his older wounds. He graciously made no comment at the way Sakura's eyebrows raised and the way her eyes quickly darted admiringly across his torso.

Ino was not quite as tactful.

She leaned on the side of the bed and poked a nasty green bruise on Shikamaru's left side. He pulled a face at her and she just ignored him. "Are you going to continue ogling, forehead-girl, or are you going to do something about these wounds?"

Sakura blushed a bit and the other members of Team 7 glanced towards the two girls, before deciding that it was just their usual antics. Good. Tension between the two powerful teams was better to avoid.

"You really did a number on yourself, Shikamaru," Sakura tutted, deft fingers and chakra manipulating Shikamaru's own chakra flow to pool around his wounds, forcing them to heal with her guidance. The shadows sprung to life, startling most in the room. They didn't show it.

"Ow," Shikamaru grunted. It didn't really hurt, but he wasn't fond of the way the skin pulled around the cuts. Sakura ignored him.

"Broken ribs, several contusions, no internal bleeding, that's good—" Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Her forehead, Shikamaru decided, wasn't that big. People were so vain. "Some of these cuts look a little old, Shikamaru. Why didn't you treat them?"

He shrugged. "Didn't have time."

"So you risked infection?"

"I didn't exactly have many options. It was either stop and clean and get my head cut off or keep running."

Naruto leaned on the bed in an identical imitation of Ino's pose, arms crossed and chin resting on the back of his wrists. He poked the same bruise Ino did, and Shikamaru glared in annoyance.

"That actually hurts, you know."

Maybe it was a Team 7 thing, but Naruto ignored his complaint, too. "So was it really an A rank mission? Lame."

Ino shifted those pale blue eyes to Shikamaru's face lazily, which meant instant death. "I thought it was a B rank."

"So did I," Chouji chimed in, sounding annoyed. "You should have told us it was going to be dangerous."

Shikamaru groaned, pressing his hands against his eyes. All these people crowding in his room was draining his energy. "It was supposed to be a B rank mission. It didn't end up that way." His teammates didn't look impressed.

"You weren't adequately supplied for an A rank mission," Ino protested, voice rising a bit.

"Hey!" Sakura snapped. "Stop it, both of you. You're making Shikamaru's chakra go crazy."

Girls, Shikamaru decided bitterly, were not worth the trouble. He relaxed back against his pillow and closed his eyes, ignoring the prying looks from Chouji and Ino. Finally, Sakura pulled back.

"You're not completely healed, Shikamaru, but you should be fine if you take it easy for a bit. When's your next mission?"

"Not for another week." He sat up and rubbed where the bruise had once been. Sakura was good at what she did. "Thanks. Uh. Good job?"

For some reason, this made Sakura blush again. Maybe because he was topless. Whatever the reason was, Ino did not look very happy.

Even with all those damn smarts, he would never understand the way girls work.

"Well, I'll see you at lunch," Sakura muttered nervously.

"Dinner," Sasuke corrected. He sounded amused, which was not comforting. Sasuke never sounded amused.

"Dinner! Dinner, right."

Ino was looking even more deadly.

His head was starting to hurt. "Okay," he said, and tried to will everyone from his room with his mind. Unfortunately, his brain power wasn't quite like Ino's. Ino, who was acting jealous, which didn't make a damn bit of sense and made his head hurt even more. Maybe his chest had powers. Beware of the Nuclear Nipples!

His mind, he decided, worked in very strange ways.

"Okay," Sakura repeated, then threw a jerky wave and darted out of the room. Sai glanced up from the dusty book he had found on Go.

"I guess that's our cue to go. You okay, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru shrugged. He wasn't in the mood to talk anymore.

"Right. Well, don't go trying to lift automobiles or anything like that." He waved and strolled out of the room.

And then there were five.

Shikamaru didn't mind Naruto that much. When they were growing up, the teachers often paired them together in order to keep them out of everyone else's way. He remembered those incidents with something akin to fondness. The two of them were always given a simple assignment, but in the end neither of them cared (or, in Naruto's case, understood) enough to get anything done. What usually resulted when they were supposed to present their assignment in front of the class was total anarchy, in the form of a hyperactive blond kid with unknown skill and way too much imagination.

It was Sasuke who made him uncomfortable, with good reason. But wherever Naruto went, Sasuke was there. It wasn't always Sasuke's fault, though. Naruto was just as much a stalker as Sasuke was. But who could blame them? They were both social outcasts, shunned from society for events that spun so out of their control that they responded the only ways they knew how. In the end, they needed each other to balance out.

It was depressing.

Naruto poked Shikamaru on the side again and puckered his lips. "I'll," we'll, "go too, so you can get your aloooone time with Inooo." He made obnoxious kissing sounds at Shikamaru, and both Shikamaru and Ino snorted and rolled their eyes at the same time. This had to have been a habit he picked up from Ino. How troublesome. "Come on, Sasuke! Before they start making out in front of us. Ewww."

He bounded out of the room with Sasuke in tow, the only one able to manhandle the stoic Uchiha without getting his face ripped off. That said a lot.

Back to Team 10. Shikamaru finally allowed himself to relax completely, letting out a long breath. The three sat in companionable silence for a long moment, Shikamaru sprawling out on his bed—too lazy to pull the blankets up around him, Ino distractedly playing with the shadow on her wrist, and Chouji frowning at his hands.

"Did you have to kill, Shikamaru?" Chouji finally asked, quietly. Shikamaru started violently, then lifted his hands to cover his face. A moment later, he felt a small hand on his arm, and a moment after, a larger one joined it. He didn't cry, because ninjas didn't cry, but his breath was ragged.

"It doesn't get any easier," he grit out. Ino's hand squeezed his bicep.

"If it did, you'd be a monster."

His breath hitched and he barked out a quick, sharp laugh. "So, what the hell am I now? A hero?"

Ino hushed him soothingly, gentle fingers smoothing his hair. She had nothing to say to that.

That night brought little reprieve.

ooooo

The next morning, Shikamaru was late for breakfast. This was nothing new, and Ino figured he also needed sometime for himself. She dished up a plate for him, anyway, and took her seat across from Chouji. She caught his chopsticks with her own before he could steal any of Shikamaru's food.

"Shikamaru still not up?" He asked around a mouthful of food, lifting a hand to hide his mouth in respect for Ino. She nodded and started on her grapes.

"I got a message from Tsunade," Ino said casually, concentrating on peeling the skin from her grape. Chouji's eyebrows shot up.

"Tsunade? She didn't go through Sasuke? Or Naruto?" Though Naruto had the official title of leader of the ANBU, Sasuke practically held joint rank with the blond. No one complained. Though Naruto calmed when behind his mask, he lacked strategy. Naruto and Sasuke, even as ANBUs, worked best together.

"No. It was directly from Tsunade." She popped the grape in her mouth, reaching for another.

"What did it say?"

"She wants to see me after Meditation."

"You think it's a mission?"

"I'm nearly positive." And an important one. The message was urgent.

"Maybe you shouldn't tell Shikamaru."

"Tell me what?"

Ino and Chouji jumped guiltily and Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, taking his seat next to Ino. "Or rather, not tell me what?"

"If I told you, that wouldn't be not telling," Ino said quickly.

"I don't like surprises," Shikamaru grumbled, starting on his scrambled eggs. Ino snorted quietly. No wonder he complained whenever she added something different to his plate.

"It's nothing," Ino said cheerfully. Chouji happily shoveled food into his mouth. Sometimes, Ino thought Chouji was the smart one. Eating like that kept him from having to talk. "How are your wounds?"

Ino knew Shikamaru noticed her quick change in subject. He frowned at her. "Fine."

"Good. Good!" The harder she tried, the more obvious she became. Ino puffed out a breath and pressed her forehead into her hand. Lying was so easy for her, unless she had to lie to Shikamaru. How were you supposed to lie to someone who was a genius?

Luckily, Shikamaru thought it was too troublesome to bother. He most likely figured he would find out sooner than later.

"So, uh, what are you doing this morning?" Ino asked nervously, positive Shikamaru could see right through her.

"Day off. Iruka-sensei's subbing for me and I have leave from my classes for two more days."

"Oh, haha, that's cool!" Good lord, she was awkward. "What about you, Chouji?"

"I have a freee—" Ino kicked his shin. "—agh—I mean, agghfter, er, my third class." Chouji shot a surprised look at Ino. She tried to communicate with her eyes that she would tell him later. He accepted whatever he interpreted from her look and finished off his food. "Well! I better get going!"

Shikamaru blinked. "Only one plate?"

"Yeah. I'm um. Trying a new diet." Chouji winced. That sounded unbelievable to his own ears. "Besides, uh. I have Kakashi-sensei first period! And you know how he feels about students being late."

"He doesn't care," Shikamaru said flatly, frowning. "He's later than the students."

"Exactly! Which is why I have to be there on time. Later, guys!" Before Shikamaru could protest more, Chouji was up and hurrying out. He wiped forehead with the back of his hand with relief.

Shikamaru frowned at Ino. "You're making him weird. Stop it."

"Weird! Me! I'm not weird."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and pushed his half-eaten plate away, before fully turning towards Ino. "Okay, Ino. What's up."

"Nothing's up! Everything's perfectly fine. What makes you think something's up?"

"Because you just chased Chouji away. Somehow." His look was accusing, but not exactly mean. Especially when Ino jumped guiltily.

"Goddamnit, I hate that you're a genius. How'd you know?"

"Chouji doesn't have Kakashi-sensei first period. He has a free. And you have Weaponry first period, which means you're ditching." He frowned. "You shouldn't. Your forte isn't exactly your sword skills."

Ino glared at him. "If you're through insulting me, let's go for a walk."

The gardens at Konoha Academy were maintained by one man, who worked in multiple places at one time through Bunshin. He toiled like a robot, and more often than not scared the hell out of passing students by popping out from behind a fern to reach for a trowel. He had startled Ino on several occasions, that was for sure. Once he had dropped out of a tree straight in her path to get some clippers. She had screamed and reacted accordingly—by kicking the clone in the head and making it disappear in a puff of smoke.

The gardener immediately replaced the clone with another, more irritable looking one.

The result of having such a dedicated gardener, however, was a beautiful garden. And, since it was spring, everything was in full bloom. The gardener in Ino loved it. Most days, someone could find her relaxing near some flowers, pulling weeds despite the agitated clone hanging over her shoulder.

That day was especially beautiful. It wasn't too hot, but it was nice and warm. The sky was blue with a couple of fat fluffy clouds floating by, and the flowers were bright and cheerful. Even Shikamaru seemed to enjoy the fresh air.

"So, what did you drag me out here for?" He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Ino out of the corner of his eye.

"First, well." She frowned at him and held up her wrist. The shadow bracelet was still there, dimmed only by the bright sunlight. "He won't leave."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows. "'He'?"

"Well, I figured since you're a boy and this is your shadow, it's a he. Anyway, the point is he hasn't left my wrist once. Why?"

"My shadows don't always do what I want them to."

"Well, can you at least guess why he's imprinted himself on me?" Ino asked patiently, which meant she was this much closer to hitting him.

"Don't know. Maybe he likes you?"

Ino rubbed her temples. "And my mother wonders why I have such bad luck with men. The good ones aren't interested and the intangible ones get crushes on me."

Shikamaru chuckled in spite of himself. He touched the shadow on Ino's wrist and felt it thrum happily against his fingers. "Huh. Seems like 'he' wants to protect you."

"Protect me! I don't need protection."

Shikamaru shrugged, taking her small wrist in his hand. The shadow was cool against her warm skin.

"Can you get him off? He clashes with my clothing."

This time, Shikamaru was surprised into real laughter, which made Ino proud. "Somehow, I don't think so. You could probably get it to move, though."

Ino sighed dramatically. "How troublesome."

Another flash of a smile. Ino was on a roll today. "What else did you call me out here for?" He released her wrist.

Ino frowned down at her hands, running a finger across the shadow. She couldn't even feel it there, except a brush of cool air next to her skin. "Well. Uh."

"Spit it out, Ino."

"So, what do you think about Sakura?"

Whatever Shikamaru had been expecting, it wasn't that. "Sakura?"

"Yeah, she seemed interested in you," Ino said in a rush. "I mean, hey—"

"Not interested."

Ino looked surprised. Shikamaru was frowning again. "Why not?"

"Not only does she have Sasuke, Naruto, and Sai—"

Ino opened her mouth to say something.

"—but she's not my type."

She closed her mouth again and cleared her throat. "At all?"

"Not in the slightest."

"...because...?"

"I don't know. Would you ever look at Naruto like that?"

Ino thought about it for a second, before shaking her head. "No. God. He's like a little brother. Or a weird cousin. You know, the kind you put up with because they're family."

"Exactly." Shikamaru frowned down at her. "Want to let me know why you're so jealous?"

"I am not jealous. I just want to make sure, I guess."

"Fine, whatever." Shikamaru waved his hand dismissively. They sat down on one of the benches. "Tell me something."

"What?"

"What were you going to tell me last night?" She looked blankly at him and Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "You were saying that you woke up at night and..." He trailed off, waiting for her to finish his sentence.

"Oh! Oh, that's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"You're being really secretive lately."

"I like to think it gives me added mystery. Anyway, seriously, don't worry about it. It's not anything important."

Shikamaru glared at her. "Okay, then what were you not going to tell me at breakfast?"

Ino stared at him for a long, startled moment, and the bell rang. "Oh! Would you look at that! Gotta go, Shikamaru. We'll talk later!" She leapt to her feet and disappeared in a puff of smoke before he could ask her anything else. He scowled and rolled his eyes up to the sky, slouching further down on the bench. Girls were so fucking troublesome.

ooooo

Meditation was a class both Sakura and Ino had trouble with. They were much too distracted to try to empty their minds. Both probably would have been fine if they were separate, but togethery they were a menace to the class.

Sakura had decided to actually try that day, but she knew right when Ino entered the class that it was a lost cause. Ino, who normally wore her emotions on her sleeve, looked calmly pissed. Which meant someone was in a lot of trouble.

"Er. Hi, Ino. How's Shikamaru?" That seemed to spike Ino's anger. Oh, boy.

"He's doing much better, thank you. You seem pretty concerned about him."

Oh. Sakura got it now. Ino was jealous. "Well, he is a friend."

"One you seem extremely interested in."

Iruka walked in before Sakura could answer, greeting the class in his calm, cheerful manner. It bothered some people that a chuunin was teaching upper level ANBU and jounins, but no one was quite as qualified in meditation as Iruka-sensei. Some joked it was because he had to deal with Naruto for so long. Sakura wouldn't be too surprised.

The students crossed their legs and folded their hands on their laps, backs straight. Sakura closed her eyes and tried focusing on her breathing. In, out. In, out.

"I don't like Shikamaru like that," she hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

"Good," Ino hissed back, "because he doesn't like you like that, either."

Sakura scowled slightly, not turning to face Ino. "Good, because I don't want him to like me. Don't you have someone else to bother?"

She admitted she had been slightly attracted to Shikamaru on a purely physical level when she was checking his injuries the night before, but there was no way Sakura could ever see Shikamaru in a romantic light. He didn't care. About anything. Well, that wasn't necessarily true, but she couldn't stand to be with someone as unmotivated as the lazy jounin.

But he had a really nice body.

"Why are you so jealous, anyway?" Sakura hissed after a moment. "Do you like him?"

"No!"

Iruka frowned towards Ino and Sakura. "Ino, you're disrupting other people's meditation. Please be quiet."

Sakura stuck her tongue out at Ino as the blonde seethed. They both fell silent. Of course, that didn't last. Sakura was way too interested in this sudden flip.

"I don't know, Ino-pig. You seem awfully posessive."

"I just don't want Shikamaru to be hurt. You're notorious for being fickle, you know," Ino sniffed quietly, cracking her eye open to look at Iruka. He was distracted by a large pile of papers, presumably written genin tests.

"Me! Fickle!"

Iruka glanced up from his papers. "Sakura.."

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei!"

"Just be quiet, both of you. If I catch either of you talking again, you'll be welcome to leave my class. Meditation is important. To be able to separate your mind and your body may be an essential out on the field."

Both girls nodded quickly and, once again, fell silent.

"But if I were you, I wouldn't fall for Shikamaru." It was inevitable. Ino jerked slightly at Sakura's warning. "He'd probably never be interested in someone as bossy and annoying as you."

Ino grit her teeth.

"You're too...troublesome for him."

"Shut up, Sakura."

Sakura wasn't so sure why she got so competitive and malicious with Ino. They didn't exactly hate each other anymore, but there was something about Ino that sparked Sakura's mean side.

"Besides, piggy, you're not nearly cute enough."

"That's it." Ino's hands blurred as she hurried through her jutsu. To Sakura's surprise and horror, Ino's body slumped forward and suddenly Sakura's mind was more apart from her body than meditation could ever take her.

Oh, shit.

"My name is Sakura!" Sakura could hear her voice just fine, but she definitely wasn't talking, nor springing to her feet. "And my forehead is even bigger than Iruka-sensei's!"

There was a shock of loud, surprised laughter as the students were startled from their meditation. Ino had shot back to her body in the confusion (and before Sakura got the sense to kick her out via Inner Sakura Express), leaving Sakura standing in the middle of the room with her finger pointed at Iruka and a horrified look on her face.

Iruka rubbed his temples. "Okay, you two. Out. You can come back tomorrow. Hopefully by then you'll stop acting like my kindernins."

Ino shrugged and got up, shouldering her bag. She strolled out of the classroom with an apologetic smile to Iruka. Sakura put her hand to her face for a moment, before quickly gathering all her supplies and hurrying out after Ino. She caught a glance of Iruka taking off his headband to peer discreetly at his forehead in the reflection of the metal.

Sakura slugged Ino on the shoulder. "What the hell was that for?"

"You deserved it," Ino huffed.

"You didn't have to insult Iruka!"

"He's used to it." Ino rolled his eyes. "Look, I've got to go. Summons from the higher-ups and all."

Immediately, Sakura looked interested and slightly concerned. Tsunade rarely sent messages directly to anyone who wasn't in a leader position. "Oh yeah? Weird."

"Yeah. Later, forehead." Ino grinned at Sakura and reached over to tap her forehead lightly, before disappearing.

ooooo

Ino appeared in the waiting room of Tsunade's office, shifting nervously. Tsunade frightened her. She wasn't singled out like the geniuses of Konoha for any special trait of hers. It was flattering to know she was finally being recognized, but she couldn't help but to be a little freaked out. She didn't want to be like the geniuses.

"Ino," Tsunade boomed from her office. "Come in."

Ino stared at the door apprehensively, before drawing in a deep breath and walking in.

end chapter one