Fanfic: The Office, Part 5
Title: The Office, Part 5/?
Author: meepers369
Summary: AU. Ino can’t help but feel miffed regarding Shikamaru’s duty to escort the Chicago representative around the office.
Read the chapter on Fanfiction.net
Read Previous: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
“Hey.” Ino looked up at the intrusion, then immediately looked back down. It was Shikamaru. She grunted in response. The floor was dark now, except for the lone light in her office. It suited him to be in the shadows, she thought bitterly. She wondered briefly how he was alone.
“Um…I came to say thanks for taking Temari around your department today.”
“Tell Temari that she’s very welcome.” Shikamaru growled angrily at this response, but Ino merely continued to sort through her papers. Silence reigned for a few minutes as Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably in front of Ino’s desk.
“Do you always stay this late?”
Ino debated not answering the question, just to prove to him that she was still Very Annoyed. Shikamaru frowned at her silence. She gave up. After all, Daddy always cautioned never to let anger get in the way of being polite.
“No, only when there’s extra paperwork. I’m supposed to fill out some evaluation forms for Tsunade regarding Temari.”
Another long silence. Shikamaru looked out the window, noting with a frown the darkening sky.
“Where’s Tenten? Don’t you two usually go home together?”
“She’s in Atlanta, some conference.” Ino paused. “Where’s Temari? Don’t you usually take her home?”
“What?” Where in the world did Ino come up with that idea? “That’s not true. I only took her home on her first day.”
Ino grunted. So it was true…even if it was only on the first day. Looks like the rumor wasn't completely all gossip. She finished filling out her papers with a low sigh, then stacked them together in one neat pile.
“I’m leaving.”
“I’ll take you home.” Shikamaru’s response was fast, almost automatic.
“No…that’s fine. I’m not a child, I can go home alone.” Shikamaru shook his head.
“It’s not safe, you’ll be taking the public transport alone. I’ll take you home.”
Ino opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it. He lived almost forty-five minutes away from her on a good traffic day. If he wanted to waste his oh-so-valuable time giving her a ride home, why not?
“Alright, but only if I get to hook my ipod up to your radio.”
...
“Do you have to listen to this song?” Shikamaru should have known better. Of course the songs Ino likes would give him a headache. “Don’t you get tired of it? It’s on every day, at least ten times!”
“Shush. It’s a good song, that’s why it’s on all the time.” Ino felt her earlier anger quickly melting away. She was getting a ride home, Shikamaru was annoyed, Lady Gaga was being blared from his car…was there any reason that she shouldn’t be dancing? She started dancing. Shikamaru groaned.
“You can’t even tell what she’s saying. What’s the point of a song where you can’t even tell what the words are?”
“What are you, deaf? You can hear perfectly what she says. Je veux ton amour, Et je veux ta revanche…”
Shikamaru groaned. “Yeah, okay. Of course that mumbo-jumbo was English. What is it, Scandinavian?”
“It’s FRENCH, Mr. Genius. Fine then, you can choose the next song.”
“Here. Choose any song you like.”
“Ooo, your iPhone. Are you sure you trust me with this? Ha! You don’t even have it locked? That’s bad, anyone could mess with it you know.”
“Eh, too troublesome.”
“Typical. You would think it’s too troublesome.” Ino began scrolling through the band names, laughing at the selection, making fun of the strangely named ones. “…Aqualung? What kind of name is that? Is that supposed to be clever? A watery lung? Are they mermaids?”
“Will you just choose a song!”
“I’ve never heard of any of these bands! Oh wait, Dashboard Confessional, hold on…”
Shikamaru let out a long sigh as Ino’s chattering ceased into a blissful humming. He relaxed, humming along , too. Until Ino let out a suspicious giggle. “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.” Ino carefully tapped at the screen, changing to another song. “Just looking at your songs.” Shikamaru watched her from the corner of his eye scrolling down the screen. She would scroll, tap, then giggle, scroll, tap, and laugh.
“What is so funny?!”
“Your songs! You have either bands who no one has ever heard of, or oldies that no one listens to anymore!” Shikamaru groaned, resisting the urge to rub his temples while driving.
“Can we not talk about my song choices?” Ino pouted at him. Shikarmaru glared at her the best he could while still keeping an eye on the road. He gave up. It was too hard to do both, especially when Ino doing that cutesy lowered head pout thing. He casually shifted his attention to stare determinedly at the road.
Ino smirked. She returned to playing with his iPhone. She exited to the main menu, finger hovering over the email app. After a moment's hesitation, she clicked on it. "Locked?!" Ino burst out. She blushed as Shikamaru raised a lazy eyebrow at her.
"I'm not that lazy to let people have access to sensitive information." Inner Shikamaru cheered, pumped his fists, and patted himself on the back. It felt so good to beat Ino. "My messages are locked, too, if you were wondering," he offered. Ino merely huffed. She continued scrolling through his iPhone nevertheless.
"No games?! Don't tell me you're too lazy to even download games!" Shikamaru's stubborn and sullen silence answered the question for her. "Well, hope you don't mind me downloading Tap Tap, at least…" Shikamaru thought to protest, but thought better of it, and sighed. Arguing with Ino was much too troublesome. It was much easier just to go along with her ridiculous actions. Shikamaru grimly prepared himself for the end result of his iPhone overloaded with three pages of apps.
Soon, the car's silence was filled with music and the constant in-rhythm tapping noises of Ino's carefully manicured nails on the iPhone touchscreen. Among Ino's happy humming and random outbursts, Shikamaru somehow felt right at home.
...
“Alright, we’re here. Leave my poor iPhone alone and get out.” Ino held onto it, pouting, then stuck her tongue out at him and carefully leaned it in his cup holder. Shikamaru had the sudden urge to offer her the iPhone, to say--something, were they really alright again? Just like that, a whole day's untold-reason-angry-silent-treatment, gone in one car ride? He looked for signs of her anger, her annoyance, something he'd memorized unconsciously over the years.
Ino slipped out of the car, humming the remnants of the last song she was listening to, aware that Shikamaru was watching her, looking for signs of something. "I'm not annoyed or angry, you know. You don't have to be so wary." She said it with her hands on her hips, the image of annoyance. Her eyes were soft, though. Shikamaru relaxed and let a lazy grin take over his face.
“Be careful on your way up,” Shikamaru said gruffly. He left, careful not to give into the urge to turn back and wave while leaving.
...
Ino watched him drive away, wondering at how easily her anger of the day dissipated in one car ride home without any real words. Really, she couldn't remember why she was angry anymore.
…
…
…
Notes: This chapter, when I began writing it, occurred with Lady GaGa playing in the background. Thus her kind musical influence. (I figured Ino would be the type to enjoy her interesting style, too.)
Read next: Part 6
Author: meepers369
Summary: AU. Ino can’t help but feel miffed regarding Shikamaru’s duty to escort the Chicago representative around the office.
Read the chapter on Fanfiction.net
Read Previous: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
“Hey.” Ino looked up at the intrusion, then immediately looked back down. It was Shikamaru. She grunted in response. The floor was dark now, except for the lone light in her office. It suited him to be in the shadows, she thought bitterly. She wondered briefly how he was alone.
“Um…I came to say thanks for taking Temari around your department today.”
“Tell Temari that she’s very welcome.” Shikamaru growled angrily at this response, but Ino merely continued to sort through her papers. Silence reigned for a few minutes as Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably in front of Ino’s desk.
“Do you always stay this late?”
Ino debated not answering the question, just to prove to him that she was still Very Annoyed. Shikamaru frowned at her silence. She gave up. After all, Daddy always cautioned never to let anger get in the way of being polite.
“No, only when there’s extra paperwork. I’m supposed to fill out some evaluation forms for Tsunade regarding Temari.”
Another long silence. Shikamaru looked out the window, noting with a frown the darkening sky.
“Where’s Tenten? Don’t you two usually go home together?”
“She’s in Atlanta, some conference.” Ino paused. “Where’s Temari? Don’t you usually take her home?”
“What?” Where in the world did Ino come up with that idea? “That’s not true. I only took her home on her first day.”
Ino grunted. So it was true…even if it was only on the first day. Looks like the rumor wasn't completely all gossip. She finished filling out her papers with a low sigh, then stacked them together in one neat pile.
“I’m leaving.”
“I’ll take you home.” Shikamaru’s response was fast, almost automatic.
“No…that’s fine. I’m not a child, I can go home alone.” Shikamaru shook his head.
“It’s not safe, you’ll be taking the public transport alone. I’ll take you home.”
Ino opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it. He lived almost forty-five minutes away from her on a good traffic day. If he wanted to waste his oh-so-valuable time giving her a ride home, why not?
“Alright, but only if I get to hook my ipod up to your radio.”
...
“Do you have to listen to this song?” Shikamaru should have known better. Of course the songs Ino likes would give him a headache. “Don’t you get tired of it? It’s on every day, at least ten times!”
“Shush. It’s a good song, that’s why it’s on all the time.” Ino felt her earlier anger quickly melting away. She was getting a ride home, Shikamaru was annoyed, Lady Gaga was being blared from his car…was there any reason that she shouldn’t be dancing? She started dancing. Shikamaru groaned.
“You can’t even tell what she’s saying. What’s the point of a song where you can’t even tell what the words are?”
“What are you, deaf? You can hear perfectly what she says. Je veux ton amour, Et je veux ta revanche…”
Shikamaru groaned. “Yeah, okay. Of course that mumbo-jumbo was English. What is it, Scandinavian?”
“It’s FRENCH, Mr. Genius. Fine then, you can choose the next song.”
“Here. Choose any song you like.”
“Ooo, your iPhone. Are you sure you trust me with this? Ha! You don’t even have it locked? That’s bad, anyone could mess with it you know.”
“Eh, too troublesome.”
“Typical. You would think it’s too troublesome.” Ino began scrolling through the band names, laughing at the selection, making fun of the strangely named ones. “…Aqualung? What kind of name is that? Is that supposed to be clever? A watery lung? Are they mermaids?”
“Will you just choose a song!”
“I’ve never heard of any of these bands! Oh wait, Dashboard Confessional, hold on…”
Shikamaru let out a long sigh as Ino’s chattering ceased into a blissful humming. He relaxed, humming along , too. Until Ino let out a suspicious giggle. “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.” Ino carefully tapped at the screen, changing to another song. “Just looking at your songs.” Shikamaru watched her from the corner of his eye scrolling down the screen. She would scroll, tap, then giggle, scroll, tap, and laugh.
“What is so funny?!”
“Your songs! You have either bands who no one has ever heard of, or oldies that no one listens to anymore!” Shikamaru groaned, resisting the urge to rub his temples while driving.
“Can we not talk about my song choices?” Ino pouted at him. Shikarmaru glared at her the best he could while still keeping an eye on the road. He gave up. It was too hard to do both, especially when Ino doing that cutesy lowered head pout thing. He casually shifted his attention to stare determinedly at the road.
Ino smirked. She returned to playing with his iPhone. She exited to the main menu, finger hovering over the email app. After a moment's hesitation, she clicked on it. "Locked?!" Ino burst out. She blushed as Shikamaru raised a lazy eyebrow at her.
"I'm not that lazy to let people have access to sensitive information." Inner Shikamaru cheered, pumped his fists, and patted himself on the back. It felt so good to beat Ino. "My messages are locked, too, if you were wondering," he offered. Ino merely huffed. She continued scrolling through his iPhone nevertheless.
"No games?! Don't tell me you're too lazy to even download games!" Shikamaru's stubborn and sullen silence answered the question for her. "Well, hope you don't mind me downloading Tap Tap, at least…" Shikamaru thought to protest, but thought better of it, and sighed. Arguing with Ino was much too troublesome. It was much easier just to go along with her ridiculous actions. Shikamaru grimly prepared himself for the end result of his iPhone overloaded with three pages of apps.
Soon, the car's silence was filled with music and the constant in-rhythm tapping noises of Ino's carefully manicured nails on the iPhone touchscreen. Among Ino's happy humming and random outbursts, Shikamaru somehow felt right at home.
...
“Alright, we’re here. Leave my poor iPhone alone and get out.” Ino held onto it, pouting, then stuck her tongue out at him and carefully leaned it in his cup holder. Shikamaru had the sudden urge to offer her the iPhone, to say--something, were they really alright again? Just like that, a whole day's untold-reason-angry-silent-treatment, gone in one car ride? He looked for signs of her anger, her annoyance, something he'd memorized unconsciously over the years.
Ino slipped out of the car, humming the remnants of the last song she was listening to, aware that Shikamaru was watching her, looking for signs of something. "I'm not annoyed or angry, you know. You don't have to be so wary." She said it with her hands on her hips, the image of annoyance. Her eyes were soft, though. Shikamaru relaxed and let a lazy grin take over his face.
“Be careful on your way up,” Shikamaru said gruffly. He left, careful not to give into the urge to turn back and wave while leaving.
...
Ino watched him drive away, wondering at how easily her anger of the day dissipated in one car ride home without any real words. Really, she couldn't remember why she was angry anymore.
…
…
…
Notes: This chapter, when I began writing it, occurred with Lady GaGa playing in the background. Thus her kind musical influence. (I figured Ino would be the type to enjoy her interesting style, too.)
Read next: Part 6