Relaxation Maybe?

[Yamanaka Ino]

As Ino rushed at Sasuke, she found herself tackling him. However, before she hit the ground, she found herself holding onto a log. Well, Sasuke was one of the best. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to her that she found herself with the log. Still, it made the landing a little more painful; hitting a log was not the best way to get a soft landing after all. Throwing her weight around though, she rolled onto her back with the log in front of her. If this was turning into a battle, the log would serve as a good shield should he attack her from above. Also gave her a chance to catch her breath after the tackle.

Just as expected, she heard two kunais land right next to her head. It was a warning shot that was for sure. Since she no longer had a need for the log, she pushed it off of her and stood up. Dusting off the dirt that had gotten off of her on the ground, and then looked up at where Sasuke was. His face was still sour; probably didn’t like her and her tackling him. Well, he wanted to call her weak, and that was just something that she couldn’t take. Not Sakura, not Naruto, not even Sasuke was safe when she was insulted that like. Besides, maybe a good fight would get his mood adjusting to a better one. More importantly, she did have some pride and didn’t like getting a warning shot like that.

”What, you think a couple of kunais thrown at me is going to scare me off. I might not have gotten the highest scores in combat like you did, but I was still up there, and I’ve got more of a spine than Sakura does. If you think I’m weak, then I’m going to have to correct you.” she yelled out. Seeing as he already gave her two kunai, she grabbed them to use for herself.

She was picking a fight with Sasuke; she had to be crazy to do this. He was the best, she just admitted that. But her pride was getting in the way, and admittedly, no matter how much she liked him, he needed a little bit of deflation in that ego of his. If that meant that she had to beat him up a little bit, that would be what she would do. It was the easiest way to do it since words were obviously not getting anywhere. She had better hope she could at least get some respect though. Loosing badly would mean he’d hate his guts, she has the blow to loosing, and Sakura would win…sort of. Finally, his ego would probably go up and he’d be even more bitter. With this in mind, she was going to do the best she could to win. At least as Genin jutsu wouldn’t make up most of the battle.

Since she was more of a ranged fighter than a hand-to-hand, she started up by taking off with Sasuke’s approach and throwing the kunais he had thrown at her back at him. Pulling out her own, she pulled it out to use as a defensive knife in case he came towards her. Planting her feet on the ground, she kept her attention on the area in case he came running towards her.

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[Uchiha Sasuke]

Sasuke felt like he was falling right where Ino wanted him too. He didn’t understand why she was trying to pick a fight with him. He believed that Ino stood no chance against him in a fight especially if the fight went into hand to hand combat. He knew his team work skills were low, but there was no one that he felt that was up to his standards of being able to catch him in a fight. He was in the top of the class for a reason. He had something driving him to be the best and he was not about to let anyone tear that from him.

What did the girl in front of him know about losing everyone you cared about? What did the girl know about seeing the one that did it and hearing an unforgiving answer from that person? He felt different from his class mates for these reasons and more. He knew there was hate deep inside of him, but knew that he would have to control it until he had the power his brother had. He had to become stronger and there was no doubt in his mind that Ino would slow him down. She couldn’t even realize a replacement jutsu if it smacked her in the face.

His lips curved into a grin of disgust when she started to talk about how she was going to show him that he was wrong about her. Nothing he was saying was getting through to the blonde and he doubt any words would now. The only thing he could do was beat the hell out of her and prove to her that she was out of his fighting league. He was an Uchiha and there was no way he was going to lose to some flower picking blonde girl. ”You talk big like that idiot Naruto only proving my previous statement about you two. Go pick him some flowers, perhaps your words wont be so wasted on him.”

He watched as she threw his own kunai back at him and he bent down and moved back and heard them hit the tree behind him. He wouldn’t go for the just now. He wanted to see what she was planning on doing next. They were fresh out of the academy and there was not much jutsu that they had under their belts in the long run of things. ”Perhaps I can scar her a bit with that jutsu…something a genin like me shouldn’t know at this stage of training….it would probably be a nice surprise for her might make her think better about getting into this fight with me.”

When she took a stance and watched him, he knew she was not going to try something stupid at first and allow him to make the next move. He felt like he was in a game of cat and mouse with her and he was the cat right now that wanted his prey dead. His eyes narrowed on her and his hands short up doing the handsigns: snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse, and tiger in a fast movement, but knew there was time to see what he was doing. He brought one hand up to his mouth and inhaled a quick breath before shooting the air out of his mouth and within seconds of his breath hitting the air flames sparked and created a giant fireball moving towards Ino.

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[Yamanaka Ino]

Ino growled a little to herself as Sasuke once again believed that she was a perfect match for Naruto cause she talked big and that she should go pick flowers or something for him. She wasn’t talking big; she was the top of the class after all. Admittedly she didn’t have teamwork dragging her down like Sasuke did, but she was still one of the highest ranking unlike Naruto was down in the same league as Shikamaru and them in grades and such. So yeah, admittedly she was talking big, but at the same time it wasn’t like it wasn’t backed up by anything. Even if she lost, she hoped to at least show Sasuke that not everyone was ‘inferior’, and hopefully get him to reevaluate his view on life some. Tough love, her she comes!

”I might talk big, but I got the ability to back it up. Even if you win, I won’t make it easy on you.” she sniped back. Admittedly by this point she was starting to have some fun with this. Yes, she was still upset about Sasuke being a jerk, and it was pretty obvious by now he wasn’t doing this for fun, but it was kind of nice to being able to snipe back at Sasuke for once. Sure, this was still part of a grand scheme to win him over, but maybe a tough girl who stands her ground would be enough to get Sasuke to finally show some interest. Besides, it was what she did best, as her teammates could probably attest to.

Still, admittedly right now she was playing defensively, since she wasn’t an aggressive fighter in actual combat. Throwing her kunai at him was, for the moment, the only thing she really could do. It missed, but she was kind of hoping to scare him a bit. That, and if had hit, it looked as if it might have hit him in the face. Next up, however, she found herself watching as Sasuke started up a series of hand signs. Was he pulling off a jutsu? It obviously wasn’t an Academy jutsu, and as he brought his hand up to his mouth, she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be nice. The incoming fireball that was coming at her was enough to get her moving into her own plan. She didn’t know many jutsu, but she still knew some. Right now, a substitute jutsu would be the best plan, but she had a few other tricks up her sleeve.

As the fireball came closer, Ino pulled off the substitution jutsu to avoid the damage, leaving a log in her place. Seeing as that was going to burn off, the next part of her plan would hopefully run off successfully. Hoping to distract Sasuke with a double, from her spot in the bushes near the field that she had transferred herself too, she used the dirt, dust, and flames from the fireball as a cover as she made a clone. In all the chaos the clone laid itself on the ground where Ino had been standing before. It was to take advantage of the burning log nearby to appear like she had been hit, and overall make Sasuke think he had injured her. Hopefully this would do one of two things. Either it would snap him into a bit of a shock of actually hurting her badly, or he’d be distracted by it and she could launch a sneak attack. Either way worked for her.

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[Uchiha Sasuke]

Sasuke’s dark eyes narrowed on Ino as she shouted about how she had the ability to talk big and back it up. He was not ever scared of her threat that she was going to take it easy on her. He knew right now that he was playing into her hands, but this was something that he was not going to back down towards. If the girl that wanted to be surrounded by flowers wanted to pick a fight with him who had the ability to use taijutsu and be a more than just close range fighter so be it. He twisted his neck slightly and cracked some of his bones to loosen up.

”You will soon regret those words.” He watched her closely when he made the fire ball jutsu and the look on her face he knew he had caught her off guard by knowing something like this. He was showing off an Elemental jutsu and he doubt that she knew anything of the kind at the moment. ”After seeing this there might be a part of her that would want to run…I wont give her that chance.”

It felt hold at the moment because he wanted to toy with her some more before finishing her off. He wanted to teach her a lesson in dealing with him of all people. He knew she wouldn’t back down and leave him alone after this, but there was no way he was going to show that he was enjoying this. He didn’t want to give her the satisfaction that he was. It made his stomach turn thinking that he was really considering that he was enjoying himself. It might have been because no one not even his older brother fought back like this.

He watched has he shot the fireball to her and when it died down he saw the body on the ground. He grew a smirk on his face and went to step forward, but something in his mind smacked him inside and telling him that it was a foolish idea that she allowed herself to be caught by that. The muscles that he used to step forward remain still as he listened around him. The easiest way out of that was using the replacement jutsu and clone jutsu at the same time. If she pulled that off than it meant that she was lurking nearby and waiting for his moment. Every minute he wasted was a minute that she gained in realizing that he knew what she was playing at. He knew he would have to play it off as such now. ”If she watching my movements closely…she might already can tell that I am moving towards the clone….damnit…can’t believe I nearly fell for this…where the hell is she at?”

It was only seconds between him stopping and thinking that he reached for another one of his kunai and brought it quickly out of its pouch. He twirled it in his fingers before he allowed his pace towards the body to continue. His ears were trying hard to listen for any sound made in the area. The only problem was that he was surrounded by trees at the moment.

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[Yamanaka Ino]

Successfully pulling it off, Ino soon found herself hidden in the bushes and trees surrounding the battle area. Sasuke's fireball was avoided, and she was now watching as clone of herself lay on the ground as if it had been hit. Crouching low, Ino simply watched, waiting for a chance to strike or do something. That, and just to watch how Sasuke reacted to everything that was going on. If he didn't know what she did, she had the element of surprise. If he did know, well, he might be impressed by the action. Either way, it works in her favor. The former in battle, the latter in getting his attention.

As she concentrated on him, Ino saw some slight hesitation on his part as he started to walk towards her 'body.' She also noticed that he had pulled out a kunai knife. Chances were he either knew she was out here somewhere or was expecting an attack from the body. That meant he was tense, ready for a visible, physical attack. Ino knew she couldn't get him with that; he was better than she was at taijutsu. If she was going to get him, then she was going to have to do something he couldn't notice till it was too late....and she had the perfect jutsu for that.

The only problem? It was the Mind Transfer Jutsu, and it would be risky to use without having him held down by something. Still, he was tensed up and looking for a physical attack. The jutsu was perfectly silent, and as long she was quiet and didn't alert him to her presence she might be able to pull it off on simple surprise alone. But if she failed in it, then this battle was over. It would take several minutes before she returned to herself afterward, and Sasuke would just win right then and there. Though if she did succeed, then she could claim victory, or at least she could show Sasuke that she could get the drop on him. It was worth the risk.

Keeping as quiet as possible in the bush, Ino put her hands up in a square shape, taking aim at Sasuke through the bushes. Taking a deep breath, she began to focus her chakra on Sasuke. It took a few seconds, but she soon began to feel herself 'leaving her body,' so to speak. This was always the weirdest part of the jutsu, but she kept her focus on Sasuke anyway. Within seconds, her gamble was in place as her body quietly slumpt to the ground. It was up to luck now whether or not she hit Sasuke.

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[Uchiha Sasuke]

Sasuke wasn’t sure what was going to happen now. He had never faced someone like this that didn’t deal with taijutsu that well. This was like a new game he and Itachi would come up to play and Itachi would normally win it. This was something that he didn’t want looming over his head that he got beat by the flower girl of his class. It made his stomach turn some just thinking about getting his butt kicked by her. He took a deep breath and tried to think of somewhere she might be. It didn’t seem like her to be lurking about in the trees. He had always figured that Ino was loud for a reason, but now she was keeping quiet. He grinned some.

”What is the matter flower girl? Not enough flowers so you went to get some more? Going to throw them next at me?”

He knew that he could not avoid in staying in place at the time. He didn’t know what the Yamanaka was famous for other than flowers and he knew they were some kind of clan in the village. However, he knew they didn’t match up to the Uchiha any day of the week. This made him smile slightly and jumped back onto a tree branch. If she was going to hide then so was he. He would lurk in the trees. He started to move around until he knew he was hidden from few at the moment. His dark eyes were scanning the area around him trying to spot her.

When nothing was moving in the trees he was grinning. The first thing that cross his mind was that Ino had run from battle because she was afraid, but that didn’t sound like the girl he knew. He bit the inside of his lip and didn’t think it was safe to come out hiding just yet. He would lurk just as well as she did for a couple more minutes before leaving. He didn’t want to seem like he was leaving if she was still there and he was not going to wait all day. He started to count in his head. He was going to count to one hundred until he went to see what was going on in the area and if he had to he would burn this whole area out to force her out of hiding.

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[Nara Shikamaru]

Shikamaru couldn’t help being out and about at the moment. His mother was being herself and being overbearing to deal with at home and he had found people in his usually spot where he watched the clouds so now he had nothing to do. He had his hands in his pockets and was walking around. He was looking for a new place to watch the clouds for the day, but was coming up short. The training grounds were too filled with kids throwing dangerous items at each other or older ninja working on their skills. He was already chased out of a clearing by a couple of Jounin that wanted the spot. He had found that completely rude of them, but didn’t make a big fuss over it in general because he didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

The last place he decided to look for a spot to lounge came to be a huge mistake for him. He had witness some of the fight between Ino and Sasuke and found it rather boring considering Ino didn’t really seem to know what she was doing going up against the number one taijutsu user in their class. He decided that it was best for him to go back and find someplace else to take his nap. However, once he saw that Ino had not blown up and was now probably lurking in the woods. It only made sense to him that she was going to try that move. He watched Sasuke jump into the trees as well.

He sighed slightly knowing if Ino had attempted to pull off that move it meant that she was a sitting duck to a guy that really didn’t know how to hold back. He bent down and closed his eyes. He could leave Ino and wander off to find something else to do or he could save his teammate’s neck. He knew if Ino found out that he was there and didn’t help he would never hear the end of it either. The better of two evils would be helping Ino before Sasuke got a wild hair and try and found him herself. ”…How troublesome…” He muttered to himself.

He closed his eyes and pictured a few seconds before on how Sasuke was standing and where he had jumped off into the trees at. He knew that it would have probably be better if Ino was standing behind him trying to pull off that move so he took off quickly towards the general location of where the heavy bushes were from behind Sasuke. It didn’t take him look to find Ino’s body at the moment and he sighed slightly. He closed his eyes and tried to listen to any moments coming from any directions of them. He reached out and touched Ino’s shoulder to see if that would get her mind back to her body faster. He didn’t want to say anything in case Sasuke was now on the move to try and find Ino. He was plotting anyways to make sure he was not seen by his fellow Genin. The faster Ino woke up the better off he would be.

[Yamanaka Ino]

Drifting in a state of unconsciousness, it was rather obvious that her attempts to possess Sasuke had failed. Now she was completely vulnerable to a counter attack from him…if he tracked her down and attacked her. Unable to respond to anything, however, she could not be completely sure if he had located her or not. She really wouldn’t know till her spirit could find its way back to her, which could take a few minutes. It had been a risky move, and she had thought she could pull it off, but apparently she had failed. Right now it was up to fate to save her from this scenario.

Apparently fate was liking her right now, however ,as Sasuke’s more defensive maneuvers had gave her enough time to be found by someone who was a little more friendly to her cause; Shikamaru. Admittedly, maybe not the person she would have asked for, but beggars can’t be choosers. Of course, she didn’t know it was him; by the time her spirit had come back to her Shikamaru had just arrived and was trying to shake her awake a little. In her half-conscious and groggy state, Ino could only assume that the person shaking her was Sasuke. Hah, she had him now. She didn’t even try thinking about why Sasuke was gently trying to wake her; instead she let out a small yell of victory as she smacked her fist….right into Shikamaru’s face

Now while she wasn’t completely nice to him all the time, smacking her teammate in the face like that was a little much for her. Plus, she had done it in the belief it was Sasuke, so she had a little more punch in it than she would normally have for Shikamaru. It didn’t take her long before she was fully awake and trying to apologize for it; even she knew that was the right thing to do.

”Gah, Shikamaru. Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. I had thought you were Sasuke and…what the heck are you doing out here anyways?” she added, getting a little nastier. She hadn’t wanted this battle with Sasuke to get interrupted by a third-party entering into the field. Well, she had said her apologies; now she could just leave him here and get on with the fight…..or would staying here be of help after all? After all, her jutsu worked best with Shikamaru’s help, as much as she hated to admit it, and a partner in this fight might be of help for it all. Getting a grin on her face, she stood up, a little wobbly for a second but fine, and started speaking rather forcefully.

”Know what, forget about it. You’re here now so get up and let’s get moving. We’re going to beat Sasuke at his own game. And once his ego’s been taken down a notch I’ll win his heart over.”

Not even giving Shikamaru much of a chance to argue, Ino grabbed a hold of his jacket and began to drag him away. Her outburst earlier would have probably alerted Sasuke to their position so they needed to move quickly.

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[Nara Shikamaru]

Shikamaru watched Ino come out of the state that she was in. It only proved to him that she had used the mind transfer jutsu against Sasuke, but failed in the long run of things. He was not sure exactly what was going on between the two of them, though it didn’t take him long that Ino was trying to prove that she could right. There was nothing about her attacks that suggested that she could keep up with Sasuke in a hand to hand fight. He was not sure why he even decided to help Ino with all the noise and fuse she did during training or something. All he wanted to do was sleep and watch the clouds today, but it seemed like he was not going to be able to do that now.

He was about to say something, but before he could get it out he found her fist hit the side of his jaw and he was knocked down onto his butt. He reached up and rubbed his check from the punch not knowing exactly what he had done to deserve this from her. He had just saved her from being found out by Sasuke during their fight. ”Urg. Why would I want to be Sasuke? If I was Sasuke don’t you think I would have burned you to crisps by now?” He had seen Sasuke do the fireball and it was not an attack that he wanted to get caught up in. Girls! They aggravated him because they were so bossy like his mother especially the girl dress in purple next to him. He was use to getting smacked around by her now, but he had never been on the receiving end of one of her punches.

Shikamaru watched Ino’s attitude change to him helping to deal with Sasuke so she could win over his love. His face turned sour and he stood up and slipped his hands into his pockets. He had no reason to try and help Ino with her conquest and saw nothing in it for him in the long run of things. No he was going to go about his merry way and find a spot to take a nap in and forget about what had just happened between him and Ino. There was no reason for him get caught up in this mess even if she was a part of his team.

He went to walk away from her as he did something caught him by the jacket. He turned his head just in time to see her pulling at him to follow her going right in the direction where he had seen Sasuke head off into. ”Ino let go of me. There no way I am going to help you in this little quest of yours. I would rather hear my mother nag than to hear you nag about helping you in this.” He had never found much use for words around her yet, but there was always the offset chance that she would finally realize that he was smarter than what he appeared to be and simple listen to him.

Today, he didn’t get that feeling at all though. He knew there was not much fighting Ino about something over Uchiha Sasuke and he didn’t really care that much. He just didn’t want to be drag into a fight as if he carried one way or another. He had never shown interest in caring about love or a normal relationship. The only normal relationship that he carried around with him was with Choji and that was only because they had been friends for the long of time. Ino was just there nagging at him more of the time now. ”Girls are troublesome…”

[Yamanaka Ino]

[color=mediumorchidApparently her fist had more strength to them as she thought as her sucker punch knocked Shikamaru down to the ground. After apologizing and letting him get up, she heard him say why would he want to be Sasuke. Before she could begin to explain why, he mentioned that Sasuke would have burned her to a crisp by now. While she couldn’t necessarily disagree with that statement since Sasuke had already tried that once, at the same time she refused to believe he’d actually try to kill her like now. Overall, her reaction to Shikamaru’s statement was more of annoyance than anger, though she still of course had to get the final word in.

”Hmph, if you were Sasuke you wouldn’t have gotten sucker punched like that. Anyway, just accept my apology for it and move on.” she responded, arms crossed in annoyance as she gave her demand.

Of course with that done she was quick to begin dragging Shikamaru into her goal to beat Sasuke, never even taking into consideration he probably didn’t want to. She didn’t even see his sour face; she just assumed he was right behind her with his hands in his pockets like his lazy self always did. While she wasn’t sure how he would help her, Ino was sure he would do something. Even serving as a distraction would be a good enough use for him. If he actually caught Sasuke with his jutsu, well, that would be even better. To prove her point, however, she would have to be the one to actually finish him off.
Grabbing him by the jacket, she started on her way, but Shikamaru for once actually voiced disagreement against her. Since he rarely did that and just did what she said with a sigh of weariness. Ino did stop dragging him and listened. Considering all she heard about his mother, saying he would rather be with her was kind of shocking. In fact, Ino wasn’t too sure what to say in response to it. She wanted his help, but she wasn’t going to just quit this battle with Sasuke. There was a point that she had to make, and she was going to make it no matter what. If Shikamaru wasn’t going to tag along, then she had two choices; convince him one way or another or just forget it.

Being Ino, she went for the former first. Though to be fair, she did let go of his jacket before she started talking in her normal manner towards him. She knew calling him a coward or anything like that wouldn’t work so she’d have to be creative about it.

”Look, I know you don’t like Sasuke that much and think that I’m crazy for going after him. But right now I got something more important to deal with, something even you’d have to agree with. As much as I think he’s cool and handsome and…” Ino paused to clear her mind of a rant on why Sasuke was so great,”His ego can be a bit troublesome. I’m just trying to show them he isn’t alone in skill, and hopefully once he sees me as an equal he’ll…..well anyway, the point is I’m trying to bring his ego down a bit is all.”

After her little speech, Ino turned around and began to walk off. She had given her ultimatum, so it was time to let Shikamaru make his choice. Knowing him, he wouldn’t just go and leave her to face certain “doom” against Sasuke. Even if he thought her nuts, he wouldn’t run off and leave her there.

”So if you want to help me out get moving. Want to leave me here, alone, with Sasuke in a fight, then fine, do so. I’m still going to take a chance at it.”

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[Nara Shikamaru]

Shiikamaru was rubbing where he had gotten hit and grinned when Ino said that if he was Sasuke he wouldn’t have gotten punched like that. That did not make him feel any better at all. In fact it sort annoyed him that she was comparing him to that ego bastard in their class. Although, he did not make a comment about it his bored expression on his face told a different story all together or annoyance on her part.

However, when she actually let go of him and heard him out it was a bitter sweet victory for him. It was the first time that he ever really protests against her, but now he was thinking that she was going to start expecting that from him. He grinned slightly when he realized what he was doing now. If he would have just kept his mouth shut and did what she wanted of him then he would not be in the situation that he was in now. Hearing what she wanted to do about Sasuke and his ego. He knew that Sasuke had an ego that he thought he was better than everyone, but he did not think that he was the person to show him up.

He sighed slightly when he listened more to Ino and he looked up at the sky only to find branches blocking his path to look at the sky. Today was not his day of all days. Where was Choji when he wanted to just take a nap as he watched the clouds pass him by? He grinned and slowly turned to look at Ino as if he was really considering in helping her out. He knew this was not a fair fight in the long run and Ino would surely be the one that got the raw end of the fight. Now, he had to choose if he wanted to hear her for the rest of his life blame him for letting her lose this fight against Sasuke becase he knew she would hold this against her.

He also knew that Sasuke would probably have a few things to say to him when the fight was over. Oh well, that he would settle at the end of this little fight that Ino had dug herself into. He grinned and closed his eyes and slipped his hands into his pocket. He had no idea where Sasuke was, but knew he would probably be on the move sooner or later. What idiot would wait this long to do something?

”Fine what is your master plan?” There was a small hint of irritation in his voice as he declared that he would help Ino out. He also wanted her to come up with the plan without him thinking one up. The less he had to use his brain the better.

[Yamanaka Ino]

As Ino talked she kept on eye on Shikamaru’s facial expressions to gauge his reactions to what she said. After all, he found simply talking to be a waste of time and energy so he didn’t do it that much. Therefore, she had gotten rather good at being able to tell his real feelings by the look on his face, and right now it looked like annoyance. Hmph, well, looking at her face would show him a mix of annoyance, indignity, and some slight fury. Not really at him though; more of at Sasuke right now as well as her own slight arrogance. She wasn’t going to let him win; she needed to prove to him that she could be his equal. Of course bring Shikamaru into the fight might not count, but she really didn’t care.

When she actually let him speak out against her for once, she noticed that he was smiling a little. Actually, she had to as well since this about the first time Shikamaru actually stood up for himself and said something; in short, actually showing some motivation. If he did this more often she’d….well she probably wouldn’t lighten up on him but she’d probably actually listen more often. He was almost like Sakura when she was small, although in this case the issue was more of lacking motivation then self-confidence. Of course, as her current situation with Sakura showed she couldn’t put up with it for too long. Hmph, she would love to see the look on Sakura’s face if she told her she had gone up against Sasuke and held her own.

Eventually her own rant and guilt trip was done; now it was time to see if Shikamaru would take the bait and join up with her. She started walking away, and for a small amount of time it seemed as if he hadn’t. She gave it more time, however, since Shikamaru always took a while to think about something. He needed to be more spontaneous and stop thinking so much, but then again he was the person to usually make up the plans for a training battle or mission. So much brain but so little motivation; it was a saddening combination. Maybe a little fight like this would perk him up some?

Soon, however, she heard the words she sort of wanted. While Shikamaru was wanting her to make up a plan, the fact he said it meant he was going to be joining up. Wonderful! With that Ino raced back over to him.

”Well, considering that Sasuke doesn’t know about you yet and probably thinks you’re a complete lazy, useless person like Naruto, he isn’t expecting you. All you have to do is wait around till I can lure him nearby and then, while hidden, you catch him with your jutsu. Using the Mind-Body technique probably wouldn’t get my point across so, uhm, we’ll see how I feel when that comes. Point is, you’re the trap and I’m the bait. Unless you got some kind of better plan?” Ino replied, crossing her arms and staring him down. She was actually being serious about seeing if he had a better one; it was just more of a natural pose for her when dealing with him.

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[Nara Shikamaru]

Shikamaru knew that he was risking something by standing up to her at the point in time. He could see it now if they were on a mission together that she would depend that he would be more active in the solution of the problem and he did not think that he could stand it. However, he did not feel like really walking into a fight between Sasuke and Ino any day of the week. He vague remember what it was like in the academy between Sakura and Ino and it had never really affected him until now. He did not understand why Ino liked the boy in the words that she wanted to defeat.

He blinked slightly when she told him the plan about how he was to hide in the forest and she would be the bait that would drag the boy out and he would use his shadows to capture and then she would get into his mind. He sighed slightly and bent down to think of something for a moment. The plan itself he had to admit was pretty good, but he did not see why she would have to go into Sasuke’s mind in the long run since she could rant and rave while he was capture.

Inside his mind he pictured himself holding Sasuke with his shadow and Ino in front of him. Ino’s annoying voice was already in his ear about something or another. He wondered if he could get away with smacking Ino through Sasuke telling her that he was stretching his muscle. That would be better for him because it was long overdue for the girl. However, he knew in his mind that it would never work out and hitting Ino was something that he would never do unless he was force into fighting her. Shikamaru would have rather team up with two Ino if it meant avoiding a fight with her.

”No,” he said as he stood up and slipped his hands back into his pockets. Though he did not seem too thriller about carrying out this plan of hers he was willing to do it if it meant that the faster it got done the faster he could go find a spot to take a nap or watch the clouds past him by. He tried to hide his annoyance on his face by looking towards the sky for a moment and wondering if Ino would clearly read his mind about something and that fact that he really did not want to do this. He did not see a way out of doing it that would not cause her to raise her voice to him later. He even knew she would whine to Asuma if that was the case of him ditching his teammate when she was trying to prove a point to someone. He didn’t think that he could handle Ino or Asuma together telling him that he should have helped her out even though it was pointless to him.

[Uchiha Sasuke]

It was too quiet it out there for Sasuke. He had not kept that good of an eye on the girl that was so annoying that he allowed her to escape from his jutsu so easily. He was mentally cursing himself out and trying to find a way out of this before everyone in the world knew that he allowed someone to get to him like this. He hated the fact that this was happening and he had no control over it now. He did have control and he lost it to a second rate ninja like her. When he did find her he was going to give her a piece of his mind and it was not going to be pretty. He was far from annoyed at the moment.

He looked towards his left and search for any movement from that location. He was going to find her and beat the hell of her when he did. He would give her something to talk about to Sakura and that knucklehead if it was the last thing he did today. He knew he couldn’t really kill her and she was not worth the time to do so. He bit his lip slightly and closed his eyes. He had to remain calm and not allow his emotions to control him. That was what she wanted at the moment so he would be caught off guard again. He was not going to give into her. No, he was going to make her work for this win if she got it that was.

He opened his eyes and moved out of the area that he was in and glanced towards the right of him. He hated this feeling of being watched and did not know what to do. He would have to lure her out of hiding without him placing himself into harm’s way before finding out her location. There were only a few options that he could do and he was going to do one of them for now. It was better to be prepared then go blindly into the woods without know what was ahead of him.

He quickly did a few hand signs and a clone appeared in front of him that slowly made its way out to the clearing. While his clone was busy doing that, Sasuke jumped up to one of the other branches and jumped a few feet away from where the clone came out of. If she was watching him then she would know his general location from where the clone appeared in the clearing and he did not want to give that way too fast. No, this was about luring the stupid princess out of her hiding and then attacking her. He was not going to take it easy on her anymore because she had asked for it. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to listen around him for any signs of movements. If his eyes were tricking him the his ears might not right?

[Yamanaka Ino]

”Great, if you don’t have a better plan then, let’s get a move on and try and track down Sasuke then….” Ino responded, a bit more cheerful now that Shikamaru was starting to fall into line. She just hated forcing him into these things, but he was just so lazy he had to be forced. If she wasn’t around, well, he’d probably be stuck at home asleep at this point of day, wasting it all away. Instead, he was now doing something productive; helping take down Sasuke’s ego a notch so he’ll be able to think straight and realize she was the best choice for him!

Since they had no real clues to go on, Ino just started heading in a random direction, or at least towards the direction it at least sounded like there was movement going on. Even if it was just a random animal, it was the best idea she had. She moved a little faster than he was probably moving; after all, his goal was to stay in back and provide back up. Admittedly, she hoped to be able to take down Sasuke on her own and not resort to Shikamaru, but at least he would be nearby if she needed him. And chances were that she really was going to need him for this.

Seeing as the ground was probably not a safe place, Ino eventually jumped up into the branches. From there she could get a better view of the area, and as she scouted around she eventually noticed it. There was Sasuke, standing in a clearing. It was perfect…too perfect.

”Hey, I see him, but he’s just standing in a clearing. Get ready cause I’m sure there’s a trap around here….”

From her position in the tree, she had an advantage point, as well as the advantage of surprise. Pulling out a shuriken, she took aim and threw it right out at towards him. Hoping to distract him, she then moved out towards another tree before jumping out. Running right towards Sasuke, she pulled back her arm ready to give him a well delivered punch to the face. Hopefully this would knock some sense into him and just end this fight. And if not, well, she was ready to go out for an all-or-nothing brawl.

”Hey Sasuke, who’s a simple flower girl now?”

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