intraspective | Konohagakure no Sato, Saturday (Reply)

Ino	The funeral passed in a hazy blur of grief, of tears, of struggling to keep her composure while other people cried. She almost, almost, would have rathered still be running back to Konoha, but not there yet. Running had given her something to focus on. Something to distract her and wear out her body. Ino was all in black; Chouji was huge warm presence at her side as Ino watched Kurenai-sensei laid flowers at the marker for Asuma-sensei. Her lips trembled ever so slightly. Kurenai-sensei's unborn child would never know their father. Her nails dug into her hands, the sharp pain as skin broke focusing her. Giving her something else to think about. Chouji silently passed her a handkerchief. Ino stared down at it helplessly for a moment before pressing it between her hands. She glanced around, trying not to look at Kurenai-sensei. At Konohamaru-kun who cried openly. Shino and Kiba looked unusually solemnly and looking at them the only thing Ino thought was that Hinata should have been there. Complete the team. She wondered now how Sakura had stood it with her team shattered and broken for years. "Where's Shikamaru?" Ino murmured to Chouji, her voice making it no further than him. Her alarm was hidden under the layers of sorrow. Shikamaru should be here.
Chouji	Chouji watched Ino. Watched the funeral. He was all cried out. His grief a hard, tight ball of slowly building rage at the ones who'd done this to them all. "He had something he had to do," he said, resting his large hands on her small shoulders. "He was here." That she hadn't noticed worried him.
Ino	Ino's thoughts lurched like molasses as she leaned into the touch. She liked touch. It kept the world solid. She didn't like that he wasn't here. Shikamaru should have been here. "We'll find him after?" That would help. Her voice sounded empty, distracted. If he wasn't around then they were down to half a team and panic fluttered in her stomach at the thought.
Chouji	"We'll go find him," Chouji assured her, squeezing her shoulders. It would not be much of a search. He knew where Shikamaru was. Making preparations for their next step. That would help Ino, he was sure. Give her something other than grief to latch onto. Shikamaru would have a plan to turn sorrow into rage and unleash it on the ones who'd hurt them. His temper wasn't as easily roused as Ino's, never. But this time, yes, Chouji was angry.

Shikamaru	Shikamaru stared down at the Shougi board, not that he needed to see the pieces to know the dilemma he was facing. Whichever move he made, he'd end up sacrificing his piece or he'd lose. Protect the king at all cost. It didn't matter how long he tried to come up with a different strategy, it was the only way out. And so he sat outside the house as light started fading, Asuma's chakra knives beside him on the ground.
Ino	Ino was quiet, muted, as she followed Chouji after the funeral. They didn’t speak, preferring the silence of their thoughts. Halfway there, she realized where they were going. Not really a surprise, all things considered, but... She eyed the Shougi board with a lump in her throat. How often had Asuma-sensei played against Shikamaru here? “Yo,” she said softly, to get his attention.
Shikamaru	He didn't respond instantly, his eyes remaining on the board. He should ask how it'd been, but he already knew how. It meant very little when he still carried Asuma-sensei's cigarettes and lighter. "It's over then." Chouji shifted nervously beside Ino, then moved forward to sit on the edge of the porch, waiting.
Ino	She hitched one shoulder up in a vague shrug. "Formally, anyway," she said, clasping her arms around her waist. Ino didn't sit, not yet. But mourning, grieving, hating... none of that was over.
Shikamaru	Shikamaru reached across the board and picked up the kei piece, placing it to the side before he turned towards Ino and Chouji. He took his time, pulling Asuma's cigarettes from his pocket and he pulled one out of the packet. "I have a plan," he said, rolling the cigarette between his fingers. It was a clumsy gesture, as if it still didn't quite belong there.
Ino	Ino finally folded herself up on the porch of the house, leaning against one of the support beams. She pulled her knees up to her chest and let her hair fall in front of her face. It made her look small, she knew. More importantly it hide the way her eyes widened, thoughts stutter-stopping through the fog of misery she'd been stuck in, as she swallowed hard. "A plan." It wasn't a question, or a denial. Just a statement of fact. Of course he had a plan.
Shikamaru	"The orders still stand," Shikamaru pointed out. "The other teams are still out searching for Akatuski." He halted briefly and there was a flicker of light as he lit the cigarette. He didn't cough anymore when he slowly inhaled. This was right. "Team Ten can take them." Chouji was frowning, but if Shikamaru believed that to be true, then he would believe it too. He glanced over towards Ino as if he was expecting her to protest.
Ino	"How?" Ino asked, voice low. Keeping the fear and worry out of her voice. "They already killed one of us. Team Ten ain't whole any more." She... She didn't want more of them to die. Take care of them, Asuma-sensei had said. That was right, too.
Shikamaru	Shikamaru glanced down at the cigarette and he closed his eyes briefly. "He's still with us," he said quietly. It sounded childish, but it felt truer than anything that'd happened since then. "I feel like he's near as long as I keep smoking these. He'll be here until we finish his battle for him."
Ino	She forced herself to... think. To try not to leap to conclusions. "How?" Ino asked again. "We're--Chuunin. They're Akatsuki." And she wasn't even technically a real Chuunin. In skill, yes. But not in official rank. "I don't think he'd be--too happy if we got ourselves killed tryin' to avenge him," she said, mostly to her feet. "Revenge is only good if we're alive to celebrate it afterwards. 'Less you want to make more people sad."
Shikamaru	"I'll tell you the strategy," he assured her, taking a slow drag from the cigarette. "But you need to be with us, Ino. Team Ten needs you, we can't do it without you. This isn't just about revenge. Asuma-sensei wanted to protect what's dear to him. We should protect what was dear to him." Chouji looked between them, not refuting the assumption Shikamaru had made. "If Shikamaru says we can do it..."
Ino	She pressed her lips together. He was lying. Revenge had everything to do with it or he'd be content to know that some other shinobi would bring Asuma-sensei's killers to the same fate they'd given him. "You really think we can do it?" she asked, voice small.
Shikamaru	"Yes," Shikamaru nodded and some of the ashes fell to the ground at the movement, "but not without you, Ino."
Ino	She glanced at him. At Chouji. Take care of them, Asuma-sensei had said. "I'm in." Ino didn't know, yet, if that was a lie. It was somewhere in-between, really, because she wanted to be in. Wanted to get revenge.
Shikamaru	Chouji looked relieved, but Shikamaru's expression was harder to read. He nodded once and motioned them both closer. "Okay, here's my plan..."

Ino	Some decisions were made easier than others. Some were difficult and yet so right that they the idea of doing anything else was—impossible. Her decision was made. Her choices lined out in front of her. Ino could guess at the reactions this would get. Thinking was like forcing herself through quicksand. It still seemed like the best of choices she had to choose from. Limited time, limited options. Fear knotting her stomach, choking her thoughts, and all she could focus on was Asuma-sensei rasping out that she had to take care of Shikamaru and Chouji. His last order to her. She could only obey it. Ino slipped out of her house, making for the administrative offices of the Hokage. It wasn't that late, Tsunade-sama would still be there. She didn't have an appointment. Solemn-eyed, exhausted, grieving—her head was stuffy, her eyes red, her hands shook—Ino presented herself to the Chuunin on duty and waited to see if Tsunade-sama would see her. Slim shoulders squared. If she wouldn't, if she was too busy to see a Genin who masqueraded as a Chuunin, Ino didn't know what she'd do. Not going with Shikamaru and Chouji seemed almost a worse decision than going with them if it came to that. Stop. She could worry about that later. Right now, all Ino could do was hope. It was fifteen minutes of nerve-wracked hope and despair before the Chuunin came back: Hokage-sama would see her. Ino nearly cried right then and there.
Tsunade	It was late enough that it was a wonder she was sober. Tsunade's lips quirked with weary amusement. Shizune's fault. She was a bad influence and possibly the only reason why everything got done as regularly as it did. Her shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly as the Yamanaka girl was escorted in. The ANBU at her door keeping a wary eye on her. She looked wrecked. Like the fragile doll that so many shinobi mistook all kunoichi to be. To all reports, that wasn't what she was like at all. Tsunade waited while the girl bowed, long blonde hair, falling past her shoulders, spilling down, almost brushing the floor. "Yamanaka Ino," Tsunade said, studying the girl. "What can I do for you?"
Ino	"Stop them." The words slipped out and Ino looked horrified at how utterly beseeching she'd sounded to her own ears. How disconnected those words were—it made no sense. But she'd had to say it. Now there was no going back. Something in her eased. The only way up was through. "My team," she said, fingers aching as they clenched. Nails biting into her skin. "They—They want to go after the Akatsuki." Blue blue eyes watched, intently, for any sign of what Tsunade-sama, Hokage-sama, was thinking.
Tsunade	"Go on," she prompted, her face giving nothing away. The Yamanaka girl's gave everything away as she went on with her disjointed story of what her team was planning. Why she was here. What she wanted. Grief, rage, determination, and desperation. Not a plea for revenge, though. She had half expected that. But a plea to stop what was left of a team from seeking revenge. That was unusual. Not unwanted, not bad, but unusual. The will of fire enflamed as well as purified. Tsunade mentally revised her initial reaction to the girl's appearance. Fragile, yes, the girl would never be much taller, or much more physically imposing. But there was a mind behind those baby blues and a will that kept going even while her voice betrayed the agony of having to give up her team in this way. Underhanded, backstabbing. Tattletale. It was a betrayal. Her voice said she knew it. Tsunade found herself agreeing with the reasons. She hadn't made her life easier, but the Yamanaka girl, even in her grief, was trying her best for her team. "Enough," she said, finally, when the girl started to repeat herself.
Ino	Enough? Her voice came to a stuttering halt as she started wide-eyed at Hokage-sama and utterly not sure what to make of that. There was nothing that could be read from the brown eyes and shuttered face in front of her. Ino waited silently. Shivers working their way down her shoulders.
Tsunade	She sighed. "It is currently 19:37," Tsunade said. "They are to leave at 03:30?"
Ino	Ino bobbed her head. Exhaustion crawled in her bones, her muscles, her mind. Dragging her down. Only the fact that she'd never live it down if she fell over in front of Tsunade-sama had her standing and conscious. It was only seven o'clock at night. She was so tired.
Tsunade	"Get some rest," Tsunade ordered. "Meet me here at 03:00. We'll put a stop to this."
Ino	Stop it. The words echoed in her head, igniting some tiny bit of relief. Ino's shoulders slumped. "I—Me--?" She had to come along?
Tsunade	"It's best that they see you there," Tsunade said, modulating her voice to something approaching gentleness. "It might not seem it, but they'd react worse if you hide." If she ran back to Fandom. It was writ large in the girl's eyes that that was what she wanted to do.
Ino	Ino just bowed her head. Tears burned at her eyes. She blamed the exhaustion. Not the bridges she'd just burnt. Betrayal. It would keep them safe. It had to. Her lips trembled, though. It still felt like the world had gone topsy-turvy on her without warning.