Author's Note: Well, it suddenly occured to me that I've had this account for about 9 months and hadn't actually written anything. 9 months! You could have a baby in that time! So, think of this as my baby fic. It was intended as a one shot, and then it started to get really, really long, so I split it up. It will probably be about 3 or 4 chapters long, and hopefully it will be finished before the Christmas season is over. Please review and be nice, as this is my first fic. Enjoy!

What I Didn't Want For Christmas

Ino stared out of the exiguous window, steamed up with her own warm breath, with a look of utter boredom on her face. One hand was propping up her chin, and the other's fingers were drumming on the window sill. She let out another long, overdramatic sigh, despite the knowledge that it wouldn't achieve anything. It was Christmas Eve, and instead of being curled up in the safety of her satin duvet covers, images of sugarplums dancing in her head, she was stuck in a rather desolate bungalow, waiting impatiently for the snowstorm outside to cease.

Why was Ino in this far from enjoyable situation? She had asked herself that too, and then reminded herself, almost scolding herself, that when Tsunade asked for someone to do a mission, it wasn't a question; it was an order, and Ino and Shikamaru had been the two so unfortunate as to be selected for this particular mission. The mission itself had been fairly simple on paper; travel to the Land of Snow, fetch a newly discovered antidote, return to Konoha so it could be tested; after all, Tsunade was an expert on medicine. The mission was supposed to take no more than a month, and it had been guaranteed that the two chuunin would arrive back home for Christmas. However, when Shikamaru and Ino arrived at the laboratory in the Land of Snow, the antidote appeared to have gone missing, and took four days to locate it. After being located, it took a further four days for Shikamaru and Ino to head out due to the heinous blizzards. As if that wasn't enough, the pair had finally set off, only to be greeted by yet another blizzard, and were forced to break into the nearest unoccupied residence they could find until the said blizzard settled down. And it was taking its bloody time.

"What's the weather like," a slow drawl came from the other side of the room, "Still snowing?"

Ino rolled her eyes before answering, rather sharply, "What do you think genius? Of course it's still bloody snowing. We're in the Land of bloody Snow, what did you expect, fucking sunshine?"

"Woah," Shikamaru said, raising both eyebrows, "Who pissed in your coffee?"

"No one actually, because I haven't got a coffee for anyone to piss in," Ino sighed and let a few seconds of silence pass before speaking again, this time in a slightly softer tone, "Look, I'm sorry okay? Believe me, the moment it stops snowing I'll let you know."

"No, don't worry about it," Shikamaru replied, characteristically monotone, "I don't think either of us pictured spending Christmas Eve like this."

Ino smiled, "Yeah, it wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

"Want me to take over the window for a bit?"

"Nah, it's alright," Ino replied, declining his offer, "Don't think me completely mad for saying this, but I actually quite like the snow. Watching it, I mean," her eyes traced the frantic movement of the snowflakes outside, "I wish we got it in Konoha in winter. I've never had a white Christmas."

Ino remembered reading in a book somewhere, snowflakes described as "dancing in the wind". Well, she thought, if these snowflakes were dancing, it certainly wasn't a dainty waltz; more like some kind of erratic tango. The shards of snow thrashed about violently, although not quite as violently as they had been a few minutes ago. Maybe Ino was imagining things, but the blizzard seemed to be calming down.

"Hey, Shika," Ino called, "I think it's stopping."

She heard the scraping on a chair on the hardwood floors, and hurried footsteps behind her, and soon enough a head was above her right shoulder, peering through the vapour covered window. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes for a second, before opening them widely in surprise.

"Finally!" he exclaimed, with the most enthusiasm Ino had heard him emit in the past year, "Right, come on, let's get out of here before another one starts up."

Ino didn't need to be told twice; without hesitation the two jumped to their feet and headed to the old wooden door of the bungalow. Ino turned to look back at the interior of their shelter and blew on her hands furiously, trying to warm them up, thanking God that she didn't have to stay in the building any longer.

Soon, she would be on her way home; home, where there were plenty of blankets; home, where coffee was only a few minutes away; home, where a pair of brand new boots were waiting patiently for her to unwrap them, sitting amongst many other gifts under a glistening tree.

"Err, Ino," Ino turned around to see Shikamaru looking more than a little uneasy, and talking rather slowly, as if selecting his words carefully, "I don't mean to alarm you, but I think the lock might be, sort of...frozen."

A moment of silence passed whilst Ino pondered her choice of words for the response she was about to give. Eventually, she settled on two that she felt summed up the situation quite well;
"Oh, fuck."

Thud.

Thud.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "Ino, I don't think that's going to help."

Ino, who had been repeatedly throwing herself at the bungalow's door in a vain attempt to smash it open, took no notice of his remark, stepping back and ramming the door once more.

Thud!

"Ino!"

"No!," she exclaimed, glaring at the door, "I'm a Shinobi! I'm not going to be beaten by a door!"

With that, she delivered a swift kick to the door, which unsurprisingly had no effect. Ino clutched her right foot with both hands, "Oww."

"Look, Ino," Shikamaru said, watching Ino collapse dramatically to the floor, "It's no use, we're just going to have to wait."

Ino whimpered, sliding off her boot and massaging her injured foot, "Don't you have a plan?"

"What?"

"You know, a plan. You're the strategist, you always have a plan," Ino informed him, "Like climbing out the window, or busting open the door with exploding notes."

"Firstly," Shikamaru told her, "Even you couldn't fit through that mouse hole of a window. And secondly, this bungalow isn't exactly spacious. If we were to "bust open the door with exploding notes", we'd get scalded in the process."

Ino held up her hands, looking offended, "Hey, they were only suggestions! Like I said, you're the strategist. You think of something."

There was a pause, and then Shikamaru sat up in his chair, closing his eyes, and adopting a thinking pose, fingers pressed in a circle. He didn't speak for about a minute, before opening his eyes.

"Well?" Ino asked expectantly, "What's your plan?"

"My plan," Shikamaru said simply, "Is that we stay here."

Ino groaned loudly.

"Look," Shikamaru said, sounding slightly agitated, "It's dark, we're tired and your foot is injured. Even if we could get out of here, which we can't," Ino rolled her eyes, but Shikamaru continued, "We wouldn't get anywhere. It makes a lot more sense to wait 'till morning."

"I hate you when you're right," Ino grumbled.

Shikamaru's mouth curled into a smile, "You must hate me all the time then."

"Oh ha ha," Ino laughed sarcastically, before shivering, "God it's freezing. Go find some blankets."

After being in the same team as Ino for four years, Shikamaru was used to being ordered about, "How about you go and find some blankets, and I'll raid the kitchen."

Ino chewed her lip, weighing up the options, before dragging herself to her feet, "Deal."

Shikamaru yawned, and made his way to the door on the left of the room he was currently in. After turning the knob, the door swung open, revealing an incredibly derelict kitchen. The white marble counters were covered in a thin layer of dust he observed, as was the cooker. He walked over to the tiny fridge in the corner, opening it to find nothing inside but a rather mouldy looking cauliflower; he was hungry, but he wasn't that hungry, he told himself before moving onto the cupboards. He opened up the first cupboard; Bare. And the second; also bare. He got to the third cupboard and was almost about to give up when he saw a large Tupperware box at the back of one of the shelves. He lifted it out and pulled off the lid. Inside were various brightly coloured plastic wrappers containing a variety of chocolate and biscuits. He had never had much of a sweet tooth but decided that they would have to do. He heard the sounds of things being thrown about violently in the background, and smiled when they stopped. It sounded like Ino had found the blankets.