‘ you don’t need to worry about that. ’
The warmth of the fire that Shikamaru had started was filing away the wintry chill that had settled in her bones. Ino edged closer, warming her hands, as well as the portion of rice she had spooned out. The flames gained more life and danced higher and faster, throwing red and amber patterns across Shikamaru’s face. He could have been Sasuke sitting across from her, a cursed seal parading across his face over sad, weary eyes.
She chewed on her rice, trying not to frown at his evasiveness and deliberated on how best to persuade him to do what- well, what only he could. But how could she make him see? Shikamaru was convinced that the death of all of their friends (at those memories, a lump formed in her throat and eating or swallowing anything became very hard after that point) was his fault. He just did not seem to understand their feelings.
Or perhaps she was not very good at persuading. Ino was bossy and her teammates usually offered zero resistance to her demands. Persuasion was an art Chouji was good at, wheedling extra food on missions, getting Shikamaru motivated for tasks…
However, he was in Kumogakure; therefore the responsibility of making sure Shikamaru achieved his full potential, fell to her.
“I think you would make a good Hokage, you know. You should accept the promotion.” It was best to just get it out there. Hedging around the topic would only tire the pair out further and they would get no closer to solving this issue.
Even if he wanted to run and avoid this topic, the piercing look she fixed him with, made it nigh impossible to just brush it off. She was serious about this conversation and wanted a satisfactory answer. The village was in a terribly fragile state, Tsunade was looking for a replacement and there was no ideal candidate left. Naruto- Poor Naruto - would give up his dreams in shame if Sasuke asked him to – was not ready to become Hokage. He wanted the job… but that was the dream of a young boy. Not a war hero. He needed time to heal (they all did) but Konoha did not have the same luxury as the Kyuubi host. Konoha needed someone with cool logic and the might of his family behind him. Shikamaru… was here.
It was a desperate situation, but Ino didn’t want Shikamaru to agree out of guilt. Shikamaru already knew the facts, now it was just time to think of the obvious conclusion.
The kunoichi knew why this decision was hard for him. Shikamaru may act like he didn’t care most of the time, like everything was too troublesome, but the truth was, he did care. He cared very much. Enough to feel like he was dropping to bits.
She placed her hand over his, trying to comfort and reassure him:
“It’s why I was born after you, Shikamaru… I was born to worry about you. I can’t stop worrying about you or Chouji. I promised Asuma-Sensei. I won’t stop. And you can’t ask me to stop.”
