Log; on-going

[heavierthanlife.livejournal.com]

When; Right after TenTen's rescue run
Rating; No rating yet
Characters; Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji... and whatever other Konoha-nin decide to stop by Apartment 5
Summary; Team 10 regroups after the rescue, to heal, talk, and perhaps bring a few secrets to light
Log; 

Chouji had been miserable ever since TenTen and Lee had pulled him out of that dank, dark cell in the Underground. He had been alone in the pitch black nothing for almost a day, with only a talkative boy and his teddy bear to keep him company... not that he was complaining. He kind of enjoyed it.

What he didn't enjoy, however, was how useless he felt. Both of his legs had been broken in the kidnapping, and Shizune-sama only had the time to do a patch job on them, due to the overwhelming amount of incoming wounded. He didn't enjoy having to stay back while all of his friends, his teammates... possibly rushed off to get themselves killed. He didn't enjoy how similar this felt to those old games of ninja that he had always been left out of. And after he was allowed the time to think on it, he hated the way Ino must have felt when Shika and himself were rushed off into the unknown, chasing someone that they didn't even particularly care for: Uchiha Sasuke.

Trash.

But right as that word that an old foe had used all too frequently ran through his mind, he heard the door open, and familiar footsteps walk in...

Comments

[lovelyyamanaka.livejournal.com]

Ino knelt beside Shikamaru, dragging his spindly form over to sit beside their heavier teammate. Sitting Shika up against Chouji's uninjured leg, Ino stood up, running a hand playfully through the bigger boy's ruddy hair.

"You're the one who needs to see Shizune-san, Chou-kun. I'll take care of everything..so you and Shika rest, ok?"

With an angelic smile, she turned from them, a warmth bubbling up from her heart, and radiating through her. Chouji was safe, as well as Shikamaru. The two closest people to her in the world were once again safe, and at home...if you could call this city 'home'.

[heavierthanlife.livejournal.com]

Chouji looked down at his old friend, and then up to the girl who had been with them since almost day one. He smiled to himself... it was almost funny how much they'd grown as a team, grown as friends.

Chouji blushed a little, as his eyes met Ino's smile, and then her own eyes. This wasnt the loud, bossy girl that he had known so long ago. This was the loving, caring, kind girl that had seemed to appear after he had nearly died...

"S-sit, Ino! You've had a long night... Y-you're ok, right? You look a little, um, banged up."

[lovelyyamanaka.livejournal.com]

She just smiled, wreathing an arm under the chubby boy's chin, and giving his cheek a squeeze. Moving her hand back, she slowly traced around the spirals inked into the skin upon his face, with a soft, almost sensuous touch.

I've always found them to be cutely peculiar..

She shook her head at his remark, ruffling his hair once again, before getting her proud voice, the one she always used to draw attention away from the situation. It had always worked in the past, why wouldn't it work now?

"I'm perfectly fine, Chouji! We're Team Asuma, dammit. What's a couple of bruises and scrapes?" She pumped her arm into the air, continuing her shpeel. "We're the unstoppable InoShikaChou! The Second generation trick hand of Konoha. We'll always pull through! Am I right?!" She kept grinning, keeping up the ruse, though her legs were in considerable pain. She had taken a few hits that night, protecting Hinata and Shikamaru, or at least trying to. With a chagrin, she remembered that a lot of the time it was her being protected. But, she wouldn't dwell on that. Chouji was safe, so it didn't really matter at the time she was a worthless shinobi..

[heavierthanlife.livejournal.com]

"Yeah!"

Chouji's voice grew louder as Ino's speech grew more and more intense. She's prolly lying about getting hurt, he told himself, but at least she's here. And in a good mood, too.

"Are you and Shika hungry at all? I-I made some extra food tonight, in case you guys decided you wanted to stay over here..."