Fanfic: The Office, Part 7
Title: The Office, Part 7/?
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 | Part 5 | Part 6
Tenten sighed as Ino told her what she'd missed when she was away at her conference. "So this semi-formal formal thing…means I'll have to wear a dress? And put on makeup?" Ino giggled at the look of disgust Tenten made at the words dress and makeup. "Trust those two to come up with something troublesome like that! Didn't we just have a major party?" Tenten continued to mutter viciously about Lee and Gai and their obsession with "youth" events that required her to wear silly dresses that restricted movement.
"Dress shopping tomorrow?" Ino asked, with a hopeful look.
"Do I have to? Tomorrow is my day to relax, Ino."
"Okay, okay. I'll see if Sakura is free to come with instead."
…
She wasn't, and so Ino found herself dress shopping alone at the mall. Which wouldn't bother her, normally, given that she could browse at her own leisure and sneak into the gardening and flower shops without boring anyone, but shopping for dresses had the unfortunate side effect of leaving one helpless with zippers. After the fourth frustrating incident with an unobliging zipper and the very unpleasant attendant who helped her out of the cloth trap, Ino headed to the food court. She knew she should probably be thinking along the lines of Too fat to fit into dresses! Go on a diet! But Daddy always said high stress levels are worse for the body, and when it came to relieving stress, food did the job.
As Ino walked to the food court, she could swear she saw someone with a Shikamaru-esque pineapple hair bobbing in the crowd ahead of her. She almost called out to it, too, except it disappeared into a Forever 21. Nope. Not Shikamaru. Ino giggled at the mental image of Shikamaru browsing through Forever 21, where hordes of women were sure to be at their nastiest.
…
Shikamaru was aghast. He did not really understand how he came to be at a mall. In a Forever 21. This hadn't happened since his last girlfriend in college dragged him here to compare two suspiciously similar-looking coats. The girl had been his favorite type, kind, docile, wonderfully normal and obliging in every way, except for the alarming inability to choose between two nearly identical pieces of clothing.
"Why couldn't you just send me a picture of your dress, and let me find a tie that matched?" Shikamaru was woefully miserable, an armful of clothing coming dangerously close to interfering with his walking. Temari only laughed.
"You're here already, aren't you?" Temari sifted through yet another rack of dresses. To Shikamaru's amusement and horror, Temari was just as painfully observant and critical with dresses as she had been in the office. She would shuffle through an excessive array of dresses, then discard each one after meticulously examining ever little detail, from the collar to the stitches to the zipper.
Shikamaru sighed, glancing idly in the direction of the food court. Oh, what he would do to escape and go to that wonderful restaurant with the barbecue in the middle of the table with Chouji and Ino...
…
To Ino's pleasure, she ran into Chouji at the food court. He was, unsurprisingly, just about to go into that restaurant with the barbecue in the middle of the table where--when Shikamaru was still around--the three would sneak off to eat lunch occasionally. Most interestingly, there was a cute little thing next to him, holding on to his arm in a shy, but adoring way.
"Chouji!" she called out. He turned, and the girl by his side turned, too. She gave a quiet, uncertain smile. Absolutely adorable. Chouji was going to hear it for hiding this girl from her.
"Not surprised to see you here," Chouji grinned. "Amy, this is Ino. She's the one I told you about, our parents are good friends. Ino, this is Amy -- she's the new confectioner our family hired!"
"Nice to meet you!" Ino smiled brightly at the Amy. The three spent the next few minutes chatting pleasantly, and when Chouji invited Ino to eat with them, she accepted eagerly. Throughout lunch, Ino cajoled Amy out of her shyness, sharing stories of childhood Shika-Ino-Cho (the ones that involved Chouji as the hero, of course). Amy was the perfect audience, gasping, laughing, and even clapping in excitement in all the right places. Ino was charmed by her, and as she glanced at Chouji, it appeared so was he. After lunch, they walked together for a while, only to have Chouji distracted by a bakery. Taking the chance to excuse herself and let the two enjoy each other's company, Ino slinked off, satisfied that Chouji finally found himself a wonderful date to take to the company party, and maybe even more parties afterwards.
…
Shikamaru was sitting in the designated men's area of the store, sharing the seats with other bone-weary men beleaguered with shopping bags of various colors and sizes, waiting for their female to emerge. He sighed and yawned at the same time, cursing the damn ceilings for blocking his view of the clouds. When Temari finally emerged, however, the small glow of satisfaction on her normally composed face somehow soothed everything. She looked so pleased with herself that when she lightly put her hand on his arm, he didn't have the heart to shake her off, instead took her bags and followed her to the next store.
...
So it's an understatement to say that after parting ways from Chouji and Amy only to see Shikamaru coming of out some high-class chic store with Temari hanging on to his arm, Ino felt like the sky fell out of her world. Actually, it was more like the sky decided to chuck the sun and the moon at her face so that she couldn't see anything but white, then splintered into a trillion pieces that rained around her haphazardly, with the earth trying its best to center all its gravitational pull upon her heart so that it sank deeper than the leviathan from the dark dregs of the ocean. Ino's mind flipped through a million pages of those cheesy romance novels that she spend rainy afternoons reading, trying to find the appropriate reaction to the scene she was seeing before her, but instead of bursting into tears like those useless heroines, Ino couldn't even muster up her feelings to cry. Instead, she just felt empty. The initially loud, adrenaline-charged thumping of that little monster in her chest slowed to a dull, throbbing ache.
Ino stalked away, not quite ignoring but also not quite hearing Chouji call out to her in the background.
It's not so bad, Ino told herself. Objectively speaking, Temari wasn't clinging to Shikamaru's arm. That would have been disgusting. But for someone as reserved as her, that simple guiding hand on the crook of Shikamaru's arm spoke volumes.
That Shikamaru! To come to the mall of all places. Ino felt the dull emptiness growing into anger, and she found herself absolutely furious with him. To ruin her day at the mall. Malls were her sanctuary. What was he thinking, accompanying a girl here?! And with Temari! Ino glumly acknowledged to herself that all evidence pointed to Shikamaru taking Temari to the hare-brained company party. Why else would he come shopping. The little sneak! With some dismay, Ino realized that she was full-blown jealous. Shikamaru with Temari, going to a company party together.
Ino wondered if she had asked him, or if it was the other way around.
...
It was with some surprise that Sakura opened her door late Sunday afternoon to find an extremely sullen Ino on her doorstep.
"That Shikamaru!" cried Ino, almost stomping into Sakura's door.
"Hello to you, too, Ino-dear," replied Sakura drily. She followed Ino into the living room, whereupon Ino promptly plopped down on the couch and began listing a number of Shikamaru's horrid traits. Lazy, procrastinator, unambitious, irresponsible. "If it wasn't for me, he's still be choking on those cancer sticks and be dying a much sooner, more grisly death." Slouched too much, horribly moody, always sullen and a cloud of gloom. "You know how in all of our childhood pictures, he never smiled? Once?! His dad has the happiest grin in the world, his mom the sweetest. He would always look bored. Or grim. Would it kill him to just smile?!" No taste in clothes, unambitious, wouldn't commit to a thing unless his life depended on it. "That huge party we had a while back that he escorted me to...wearing a blatantly unmatching tie, then disappearing when I turn my back for two seconds to sleep on the roof!"
Sakura finally couldn't hold it. She burst out laughing. "Sorry, sorry. Can you please tell me what happened?"
Ino glared at Sakura. "I saw him. At the mall. With Temari." Sakura's mouth formed an understanding "o."
"Ino, I'm so--"
"I was going to ask him to escort me to the formal. Now I'm all without a date and it's next week!" Ino sighed. "I guess it's us single girls out again, eh?"
"Urrm…" Sakura turned away, looking embarrassed. "Actually, I'm going with Sasuke…"
"WHAT?!"
"I was going to tell you today if you hadn't come over first!" Sakura said hurriedly. "We were having lunch and it sorta kinda just happened."
"Oh." Ino was sitting very, very still. "Good for you. I'm glad it finally worked out for you." The two sat for a moment in silence.
"Well! Was your dress shopping successful? If not, I think I might have the perfect one for you!" Sakura hurriedly rushed to her room. "Tsunade gave me this dress. Here, try it on…"
"Tsunade gave you this ?" Ino exclaimed incredulously. Sakura grinned, helping Ino zipper it on.
"I got more than the normal benefits from working directly under her. It didn't fit her anymore."
"I guess not!" Ino examined herself in the dress. It was a gorgeous, and most definitely made for someone a much smaller size than Tsunade. The neckline, however, was definitely Tsunade's style. "You sure you don't want it?"
"Take it. The blue's really not good for me, anyway. You look amazing in it. You would look better if you had more of a chest to hold it up."
"That's rich coming from you, Forehead Girl."
…
Ino wondered if it was very childish of her to be so easily appeased by a very pretty dress, but it did look stunning on her. For a while, her spirits were much higher. She modeled in front of the mirror, trying to get excited about wearing the gown. The rich blue brought out the color in her eyes perfectly, and despite Sakura's teasing, the low neckline was just enough that it was flattering, not slutty.
It was also the perfect match for that tie she bought Shikamaru eons ago, when he got his promotion. He grumbled about the color, he preferred green or black, but Ino told him to shut up and take it, he needed more color in his life.
Now it looks like he got that extra flare of color, with Temari. Shikamaru and Temari. Sakura and Sasuke??? Shikamaru and Temari. Her happiness from gaining The Perfect Dress shrank. Shikamaru and Temari. She wondered why she felt so strongly about this possible budding relationship.
It wasn't as if Shikamaru hadn't dated other girls before. Certainly Ino had been even guilty of setting Shikamaru up with dates who, in her mind, fit his often-rattled list regarding The Ideal Girl. There was the quiet, doey-eyed girl in high school for a few years, only to be separated by the huge distance between their respective colleges. There was that short summer fling with the adorably shy but fantastic cook who worked briefly at Chouji's family bakery. (She left after they broke up.) There were a few other office girls who Ino had met over the years, all quiet, unassuming, with innocent smiles and a range of household skills designed to impress Shikamaru. But the relationships never lasted long, and with unease Ino realized that she could never remember any of their names. They were just all so normal and boring. Exactly Shikamaru's type.
Temari, on the other hand, was a character. Her sharp personality and strong mind, her calm unsmiling demeanor, and her usual ...lack of femininity was a stark contrast to the past girls Shikamaru had ever dated. Her bossiness with Shikamaru almost paralleled the treatment Ino gave him. For the first time, Ino felt threatened.
Did this mean she was jealous? After all, she's certainly dated many guys without giving a single thought to Shikamaru. With a feeling nearing some sort of panic, Ino recalled her past boyfriends and how they fit her idea of the perfect guy. Dashingly handsome, somewhat brooding, with a unique talent in music or other delights, her boyfriends were great dates and wonderful eye candy. But they could never keep up with her moodiness and neediness, in the end Ino would be left heartbroken and crying in Sakura's room or in front of the boys. After the tears and the weeks of crying and resentment, she would cheer up and realize it would be okay because they never seemed to be just right anyway. They always seemed to be missing that element of comfort, with whom she could feel pretty and exciting even without her makeup, and she could comfortably break down and sob in her ugly blotchy way. She never felt judged or ashamed when crying or looking ugly in front of Shikamaru and Chouji.
Ino giggled a little at this line of thought. When they were young and she used to cry over her latest heartbreak, Shikamaru was so bad at the comforting part. It would always be Chouji who sat patiently by her side and let her sob it out, while Shikamaru looked away and pretend she was being annoying. Over the years, though, Shikamaru learned from Chouji to sit and let her cry, a patient and comforting presence when she needed it the most.
With a small sigh, Ino resigned herself to the fact that she had been taking all her friendships very much for granted. With Sakura finally succeeding with Sasuke and Chouji finding the cutest little girl and Temari clearly after Shikamaru, Ino never felt so alone.
***
AN: What a hiatus! When I started this piece, I had just started college. Now I’ve graduated. I’m going to try my best to finish this beast, so thanks to all for being patient!
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 | Part 5 | Part 6
Tenten sighed as Ino told her what she'd missed when she was away at her conference. "So this semi-formal formal thing…means I'll have to wear a dress? And put on makeup?" Ino giggled at the look of disgust Tenten made at the words dress and makeup. "Trust those two to come up with something troublesome like that! Didn't we just have a major party?" Tenten continued to mutter viciously about Lee and Gai and their obsession with "youth" events that required her to wear silly dresses that restricted movement.
"Dress shopping tomorrow?" Ino asked, with a hopeful look.
"Do I have to? Tomorrow is my day to relax, Ino."
"Okay, okay. I'll see if Sakura is free to come with instead."
…
She wasn't, and so Ino found herself dress shopping alone at the mall. Which wouldn't bother her, normally, given that she could browse at her own leisure and sneak into the gardening and flower shops without boring anyone, but shopping for dresses had the unfortunate side effect of leaving one helpless with zippers. After the fourth frustrating incident with an unobliging zipper and the very unpleasant attendant who helped her out of the cloth trap, Ino headed to the food court. She knew she should probably be thinking along the lines of Too fat to fit into dresses! Go on a diet! But Daddy always said high stress levels are worse for the body, and when it came to relieving stress, food did the job.
As Ino walked to the food court, she could swear she saw someone with a Shikamaru-esque pineapple hair bobbing in the crowd ahead of her. She almost called out to it, too, except it disappeared into a Forever 21. Nope. Not Shikamaru. Ino giggled at the mental image of Shikamaru browsing through Forever 21, where hordes of women were sure to be at their nastiest.
…
Shikamaru was aghast. He did not really understand how he came to be at a mall. In a Forever 21. This hadn't happened since his last girlfriend in college dragged him here to compare two suspiciously similar-looking coats. The girl had been his favorite type, kind, docile, wonderfully normal and obliging in every way, except for the alarming inability to choose between two nearly identical pieces of clothing.
"Why couldn't you just send me a picture of your dress, and let me find a tie that matched?" Shikamaru was woefully miserable, an armful of clothing coming dangerously close to interfering with his walking. Temari only laughed.
"You're here already, aren't you?" Temari sifted through yet another rack of dresses. To Shikamaru's amusement and horror, Temari was just as painfully observant and critical with dresses as she had been in the office. She would shuffle through an excessive array of dresses, then discard each one after meticulously examining ever little detail, from the collar to the stitches to the zipper.
Shikamaru sighed, glancing idly in the direction of the food court. Oh, what he would do to escape and go to that wonderful restaurant with the barbecue in the middle of the table with Chouji and Ino...
…
To Ino's pleasure, she ran into Chouji at the food court. He was, unsurprisingly, just about to go into that restaurant with the barbecue in the middle of the table where--when Shikamaru was still around--the three would sneak off to eat lunch occasionally. Most interestingly, there was a cute little thing next to him, holding on to his arm in a shy, but adoring way.
"Chouji!" she called out. He turned, and the girl by his side turned, too. She gave a quiet, uncertain smile. Absolutely adorable. Chouji was going to hear it for hiding this girl from her.
"Not surprised to see you here," Chouji grinned. "Amy, this is Ino. She's the one I told you about, our parents are good friends. Ino, this is Amy -- she's the new confectioner our family hired!"
"Nice to meet you!" Ino smiled brightly at the Amy. The three spent the next few minutes chatting pleasantly, and when Chouji invited Ino to eat with them, she accepted eagerly. Throughout lunch, Ino cajoled Amy out of her shyness, sharing stories of childhood Shika-Ino-Cho (the ones that involved Chouji as the hero, of course). Amy was the perfect audience, gasping, laughing, and even clapping in excitement in all the right places. Ino was charmed by her, and as she glanced at Chouji, it appeared so was he. After lunch, they walked together for a while, only to have Chouji distracted by a bakery. Taking the chance to excuse herself and let the two enjoy each other's company, Ino slinked off, satisfied that Chouji finally found himself a wonderful date to take to the company party, and maybe even more parties afterwards.
…
Shikamaru was sitting in the designated men's area of the store, sharing the seats with other bone-weary men beleaguered with shopping bags of various colors and sizes, waiting for their female to emerge. He sighed and yawned at the same time, cursing the damn ceilings for blocking his view of the clouds. When Temari finally emerged, however, the small glow of satisfaction on her normally composed face somehow soothed everything. She looked so pleased with herself that when she lightly put her hand on his arm, he didn't have the heart to shake her off, instead took her bags and followed her to the next store.
...
So it's an understatement to say that after parting ways from Chouji and Amy only to see Shikamaru coming of out some high-class chic store with Temari hanging on to his arm, Ino felt like the sky fell out of her world. Actually, it was more like the sky decided to chuck the sun and the moon at her face so that she couldn't see anything but white, then splintered into a trillion pieces that rained around her haphazardly, with the earth trying its best to center all its gravitational pull upon her heart so that it sank deeper than the leviathan from the dark dregs of the ocean. Ino's mind flipped through a million pages of those cheesy romance novels that she spend rainy afternoons reading, trying to find the appropriate reaction to the scene she was seeing before her, but instead of bursting into tears like those useless heroines, Ino couldn't even muster up her feelings to cry. Instead, she just felt empty. The initially loud, adrenaline-charged thumping of that little monster in her chest slowed to a dull, throbbing ache.
Ino stalked away, not quite ignoring but also not quite hearing Chouji call out to her in the background.
It's not so bad, Ino told herself. Objectively speaking, Temari wasn't clinging to Shikamaru's arm. That would have been disgusting. But for someone as reserved as her, that simple guiding hand on the crook of Shikamaru's arm spoke volumes.
That Shikamaru! To come to the mall of all places. Ino felt the dull emptiness growing into anger, and she found herself absolutely furious with him. To ruin her day at the mall. Malls were her sanctuary. What was he thinking, accompanying a girl here?! And with Temari! Ino glumly acknowledged to herself that all evidence pointed to Shikamaru taking Temari to the hare-brained company party. Why else would he come shopping. The little sneak! With some dismay, Ino realized that she was full-blown jealous. Shikamaru with Temari, going to a company party together.
Ino wondered if she had asked him, or if it was the other way around.
...
It was with some surprise that Sakura opened her door late Sunday afternoon to find an extremely sullen Ino on her doorstep.
"That Shikamaru!" cried Ino, almost stomping into Sakura's door.
"Hello to you, too, Ino-dear," replied Sakura drily. She followed Ino into the living room, whereupon Ino promptly plopped down on the couch and began listing a number of Shikamaru's horrid traits. Lazy, procrastinator, unambitious, irresponsible. "If it wasn't for me, he's still be choking on those cancer sticks and be dying a much sooner, more grisly death." Slouched too much, horribly moody, always sullen and a cloud of gloom. "You know how in all of our childhood pictures, he never smiled? Once?! His dad has the happiest grin in the world, his mom the sweetest. He would always look bored. Or grim. Would it kill him to just smile?!" No taste in clothes, unambitious, wouldn't commit to a thing unless his life depended on it. "That huge party we had a while back that he escorted me to...wearing a blatantly unmatching tie, then disappearing when I turn my back for two seconds to sleep on the roof!"
Sakura finally couldn't hold it. She burst out laughing. "Sorry, sorry. Can you please tell me what happened?"
Ino glared at Sakura. "I saw him. At the mall. With Temari." Sakura's mouth formed an understanding "o."
"Ino, I'm so--"
"I was going to ask him to escort me to the formal. Now I'm all without a date and it's next week!" Ino sighed. "I guess it's us single girls out again, eh?"
"Urrm…" Sakura turned away, looking embarrassed. "Actually, I'm going with Sasuke…"
"WHAT?!"
"I was going to tell you today if you hadn't come over first!" Sakura said hurriedly. "We were having lunch and it sorta kinda just happened."
"Oh." Ino was sitting very, very still. "Good for you. I'm glad it finally worked out for you." The two sat for a moment in silence.
"Well! Was your dress shopping successful? If not, I think I might have the perfect one for you!" Sakura hurriedly rushed to her room. "Tsunade gave me this dress. Here, try it on…"
"Tsunade gave you this ?" Ino exclaimed incredulously. Sakura grinned, helping Ino zipper it on.
"I got more than the normal benefits from working directly under her. It didn't fit her anymore."
"I guess not!" Ino examined herself in the dress. It was a gorgeous, and most definitely made for someone a much smaller size than Tsunade. The neckline, however, was definitely Tsunade's style. "You sure you don't want it?"
"Take it. The blue's really not good for me, anyway. You look amazing in it. You would look better if you had more of a chest to hold it up."
"That's rich coming from you, Forehead Girl."
…
Ino wondered if it was very childish of her to be so easily appeased by a very pretty dress, but it did look stunning on her. For a while, her spirits were much higher. She modeled in front of the mirror, trying to get excited about wearing the gown. The rich blue brought out the color in her eyes perfectly, and despite Sakura's teasing, the low neckline was just enough that it was flattering, not slutty.
It was also the perfect match for that tie she bought Shikamaru eons ago, when he got his promotion. He grumbled about the color, he preferred green or black, but Ino told him to shut up and take it, he needed more color in his life.
Now it looks like he got that extra flare of color, with Temari. Shikamaru and Temari. Sakura and Sasuke??? Shikamaru and Temari. Her happiness from gaining The Perfect Dress shrank. Shikamaru and Temari. She wondered why she felt so strongly about this possible budding relationship.
It wasn't as if Shikamaru hadn't dated other girls before. Certainly Ino had been even guilty of setting Shikamaru up with dates who, in her mind, fit his often-rattled list regarding The Ideal Girl. There was the quiet, doey-eyed girl in high school for a few years, only to be separated by the huge distance between their respective colleges. There was that short summer fling with the adorably shy but fantastic cook who worked briefly at Chouji's family bakery. (She left after they broke up.) There were a few other office girls who Ino had met over the years, all quiet, unassuming, with innocent smiles and a range of household skills designed to impress Shikamaru. But the relationships never lasted long, and with unease Ino realized that she could never remember any of their names. They were just all so normal and boring. Exactly Shikamaru's type.
Temari, on the other hand, was a character. Her sharp personality and strong mind, her calm unsmiling demeanor, and her usual ...lack of femininity was a stark contrast to the past girls Shikamaru had ever dated. Her bossiness with Shikamaru almost paralleled the treatment Ino gave him. For the first time, Ino felt threatened.
Did this mean she was jealous? After all, she's certainly dated many guys without giving a single thought to Shikamaru. With a feeling nearing some sort of panic, Ino recalled her past boyfriends and how they fit her idea of the perfect guy. Dashingly handsome, somewhat brooding, with a unique talent in music or other delights, her boyfriends were great dates and wonderful eye candy. But they could never keep up with her moodiness and neediness, in the end Ino would be left heartbroken and crying in Sakura's room or in front of the boys. After the tears and the weeks of crying and resentment, she would cheer up and realize it would be okay because they never seemed to be just right anyway. They always seemed to be missing that element of comfort, with whom she could feel pretty and exciting even without her makeup, and she could comfortably break down and sob in her ugly blotchy way. She never felt judged or ashamed when crying or looking ugly in front of Shikamaru and Chouji.
Ino giggled a little at this line of thought. When they were young and she used to cry over her latest heartbreak, Shikamaru was so bad at the comforting part. It would always be Chouji who sat patiently by her side and let her sob it out, while Shikamaru looked away and pretend she was being annoying. Over the years, though, Shikamaru learned from Chouji to sit and let her cry, a patient and comforting presence when she needed it the most.
With a small sigh, Ino resigned herself to the fact that she had been taking all her friendships very much for granted. With Sakura finally succeeding with Sasuke and Chouji finding the cutest little girl and Temari clearly after Shikamaru, Ino never felt so alone.
***
AN: What a hiatus! When I started this piece, I had just started college. Now I’ve graduated. I’m going to try my best to finish this beast, so thanks to all for being patient!