Konoha High School: Junior Year (A Naruto Fan Fiction)

Part VI

Part VI

~Shikamaru~

"C'mon, we've gotta get home!" Ino said, bursting out of the school building and running, holding me by my hand and dragging me behind her.

"Why?" I ask, looking back, glad Temari had left school early today because of some family thing so she can't see Ino dragging me along like this.

"Just hurry!" Ino exclaims. "I can't be late this time!"

I chuckle to myself. Ino is trying to be punctual? This must be important.

We arrive at her house, panting red-faced as she quickly unlocks the door and walks inside.

"So are you going to tell me what's going on?" I ask, leaning up against her wall.

Ino turns to me, but her gaze doesn't quite reach mine. "Today is Sai's birthday," she says quietly. "He said he'll call early."

"That's great and all, but why did you need me?" I ask.

She looks down. "To be honest," she mumbles. "I don't think I can take this call alone."

"Huh? Why's that?" I ask.

"Well, it's just that—" the phone rings, making her jump and cutting off her words. "It's him," she announces.

She walks over to her phone and picks it up, putting it on speaker.

"Hello?" She says, almost in a quiet manner. I look at her. Where did all her energy go?

"Ino?" Sai asks, making sure he had the right recipient.

"Hey, Sai!" Ino says. Although he can't see, she forces a large smile, almost as if the wide grin accompanies the artificial energy. "Happy birthday!"

I turn to look at her straight on. What's with her? Why is she forcing this happiness? She normally loves getting calls from Sai. Wait, does she? To be frank, I haven't heard her talk about their phone calls much lately. She doesn't tell him the phone is on speaker or that I can hear, so I assume she wants him to think it's just the two of them.

"Thank you so much, Ino!" He says. Unlike Ino, Sai sounds genuinely chipper to be talking to her.

"So, what did you do today?" Ino asks, proceeding with small talk.

"Oh, you know, the usual. I went to class. Today Konan-sensei taught us how to make paper roses in the last ten minutes of class. I'll have to show you when I get home," Sai explains.

"Yeah, you'll have to show me," Ino's voice cracks.

"So what about you? Anything special?"

"Well, not really," Ino explains. She puts on a fake smile again, saying, "You know me, school is never really exciting to me." She can't preform her pseudo-happiness without a fake smile.

"How is everyone?" Sai asks.

"They're all good," Ino explains. "Naruto and Hinata are in la-la-land with happiness as always. I think Sakura and Sasuke have something weird going on in between them. I don't know, I don't have all the details."

Sai laughs. "You? Not having all the details?"

Ino gives a soft chuckle. "Yeah, well, it's all under wraps it seems." She pauses, looking down. "I hope you're at least having a piece of cake today or something." Her voice is soft.

"I'm sure I'll figure something out," Sai says.

Silence invades the line. Ino doesn't speak and neither does Sai. The silence pierces my eardrums and almost feels suffocating. I can only imagine what it's like for them.