A lazy love letter: Shika X Ino

Too big of a tension,too small of a bed

Ino woke on Saturday morning feeling as if her stomach were about to combust. The week flew by in a blink, which was typical, of course, because she wanted the weekend to stay far, far away. During the week, she'd done everything under the sun to avoid seeing Shikamaru, going so far as to fake sick on Wednesday, the day she was to meet with Asuma for more weapons practice. Her former sensei bought the act, much to her relief.

From her phone conversations with Sakura, she discovered that her suspicions were true, and that Shikamaru would indeed be at the mountain house. The pink-haired girl had the air of a person who knows something she shouldn't, and Ino could not help but become quite wary of her best friend.

She had something up her sleeve, of that Ino was certain.

The weight of impending doom settled on her shoulders, and she could do nothing to be rid of it.

By the time Saturday rolled around, her sanity came close to jumping straight over the edge.

"Oh lord...how am I going to do this? How am I going to be able to live in a house with him for a week?" She asked her open suitcase. Articles of clothing managed to find their way in, though exactly how, one can only guess. "And I still don't know where that letter went! How am I going to face him if I know that I took something I wasn't supposed to, and then I lost it?"

The suitcase appeared forlorn as it stared up at her, clothing shoved pell-mell in every spare inch of space.

Ino heaved a sigh that would have made Shikamaru proud.

"I'm going to die. That's all there is to it."

Shikamaru paced.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

His packed bags sat before him on his bed, but they provided him with absolutely no consolation.

After some heated discussion with Naruto, he learned that Ino would be gracing the mountain house with her presence.

Fantastic.

The blonde girl had not shown up on Wednesday for weapons practice, which Shikamaru found to be a very good thing, as he would not only have made a complete fool of himself, but also dropped dead in the process.

And then, of course, the issue with the letter had not yet been resolved.

It was still just as missing as it had been a few days ago, and Shikamaru was still just as distressed as he had been when he realized that the letter was missing.

"This vacation is going to be the end of me."

The bags voiced no disagreement.

Gaara did not know how to pack bags. He never had a reason to pack them before, seeing as that he never went on extended trips save those his rank required him to, but even then, he took very little along with him.

"Look, this is a suitcase," Naruto said, motioning to the piece of luggage he'd brought over to Gaara's apartment Friday afternoon. "See all the little compartments and stuff? You put things in them, like socks and underwear and all that, and then you put clothes here," he pointed to the biggest compartment in the suitcase. "It's easy, trust me. I mean, if I can do it, I know you can."

"Easy?" Gaara muttered. No matter what he did, he could not seem to make anything fit, and he was becoming quite frustrated, to say the least. Naruto also told him to take along plenty of warm clothes, because it could get very cold in the mountains.