Chapter Text
They arrived at the Akimichi’s fifteen minutes late. She’s carrying one medium pink box with an apple pie inside, and Sai’s got his hands full with the two big boxes where the still warm cakes are.
“Remember, don’t mention anything about… my condition,” she says in a barely audible voice, when they are a few maters away from the house, “nothing. I’ll tell them after dessert, alright? And whatever happens, keep your cool. I’ll handle them. Got it?”
“Why are you being so secretive? These are your friends, Ino. I was happy when Sakura told us about - ” Ino shots him an angry look and he raises an eyebrow, suspicious.
“We’ve already talked about this. We have a plan. Stick with it.”
Sai sighs. He’s not used to arguing with his wife, and he doesn’t like to anyways. He never wins even when he does. It’s just not worth the hassle, so he will let her have her way more often than not.
They’re at the front door and Ino knocks twice. The door is opened almost immediately, and Choji’s face lits up the moment he sees the boxes.
“Ino! Sai!”
For a minute the blonde thinks her childhood friend is going to hug her and greet her properly, so she smiles and looks for a way to hold the box with one hand so she can hug him back, but that doesn’t happen. Choji takes the pink box out of her grasp instead and gloats at it as if there were the Daïmyo’s jewels inside. That bad, eh? Ino thinks to herself. Hold in there, Choji. It’s about to get worse.
Choji finally reacts and remembers to act like a welcoming host, inviting them in, helping Sai and leading them on to the dining room. They can feel a tense vibe, and it doesn’t surprise Ino when they walk in to see Shikamaru with his arms crossed over his chest, looking bored out of his mind. Temari is not even bothering with a smile anymore and is drinking her tea in silence, and Karui is looking plain uninterested.
“Sorry we’re late,” Sai’s the one who apologizes and greets everyone. Karui and Shikamaru barely pay them any attention, but Temari lifts up her gaze and stands up to help Sai with the boxes and shows Ino a little smile.
Thank God that you’re here.
-
Temari and Ino volunteer to cut and serve the cake. Chouji suggests Karui to help them out, but the Kumo kunoichi growls and refuses, saying something along the lines of I am sure they can do it by themselves, Cho. Ino’s head veins are about to explode and she wishes Karui would come with them, so she could silently murder her without Choji noticing.
You hold her, I blow up her brain. You in?
Temari merely blinks when she hears the new voice inside her head.
You want me to do the hard work? Oh, you’re the same as Shikamaru. Lazy bums.
Ino is dismayed by the thought but Temari smirks and leads the way into the kitchen.
Was it bad before we arrived?
No one was talking before you came. Poor Choji is miserable, Shikamaru just isn’t making any effort… not that she is either. But Choji loves her, and you are his friends, so maybe you are the ones who should try harder.
I brought cake. And I try, I was nice with you, wasn’t I? It’s her. She makes it impossible for us.
Well, she didn’t get the memo about this InoShikaCho thing before she fell for him. Give her more time to get used to this. It’s a big change, Ino. She left her village to be with the man she loves, and it’s understandable that it makes her bitter and grumpy, especially when Shikamaru and you are around. If it weren’t for you, she’d probably convince him to move to Kumo. I know you think she doesn’t care about the InoShikaCho tradition, and maybe you’re right, but she respects it. That’s why she understands that he has to stay here.
Ino can’t find anything to say, so she gazes at Temari while the older woman removes the cakes from their boxes. It’s at times like these that she can understand why Shikamaru fell for her, and why even she likes her so much. She’s wise, caring, not too emotional but sympathetic enough.
She’s overwhelmed by Temari’s words, and is even feeling guilty for being so harsh on Karui. Sure, Choji’s girlfriend is sometimes rude – well, most of the time – but at least she isn’t taking him away. Karui mocks their friendship, but admires their bond. It must be the reason why she keeps accepting those little reunions even when it’s clear she despises the tea and the company.
-
Temari points out that two cakes and an apple pie are too much, but by the end of the evening, everything is gone. Not a single piece remains, and even Karui, when she thought no one was looking, helped herself to three extra slices.
“Ino! You’re the best friend I could ever ask for!” Choji ate at least eight slices and a quarter of the pie by himself. Shikamaru almost lost a finger to his fork, trying to get the last piece of chocolate cake for Temari. “Sai! How come you haven’t gained any weight?! You can’t be that thin when you’re married to her! It’s an insult!”
Sai lets out a laugh, and Shikamaru a sigh. Chouji loves food too much, but he shouldn’t be saying those remarks when his girlfriend lacks any cooking skill. But Choji is in a sugar-induced high at the moment, and his filter is malfunctioning. The only hope is that Karui won’t take such statements too personal.
“She’s a wonderful chef, but she’s mad at me half of the time, so she usually doesn’t make this kind of delicious food for me.”
Shikamaru wants to bang his head against the table now because Sai plainly lacks a filter. Now Ino is going to go ballistic on them, and he’s too full to fight for his life. He’s about to turn to Temari and ask for protection, when he realizes there was no battle cry, and Ino is too suspiciously quiet. That can’t be any good.
“Sai and I want to tell you something.”
Four pairs of eyes are fixed on them. Sai’s eyes acquire a new gleam, and his hand search for Ino’s to hold, encouraging her to go on. It was hard on him to pretend nothing was happening, even if he is more anxious to tell his own team about the news, he also is excited to see Ino’s teammates reactions. Positive emotions, bonds, he digs them. If it was up to him, he would share the news to the whole village, maybe draw an announcement on the Hokage’s hill. Ino wouldn’t allow him to, but his happiness in immense. He doesn’t want to hide it anymore.
“What is it?”
It’s Shikamaru the one who speaks up, and Ino can already feel the apprehension beneath his tone. There’s a reason why they call him a genius, and Ino is glad she’s the one with the mind-reading ability and not him. His expression is close to a scowl, as if foreshadowing the announcement about to be made.
“Is everything alright?” Choji, on the other hand, is looking worried. He has the gentlest soul she knows, and she wishes really bad that this won’t cause any trouble for him. He’s so close to have what he’s always wanted, even if his wife can’t cook to save her life.
She’s afraid, and for once, she thinks the whole Golden Bond thing is unfair on them all. It’s supposed to bring them together, but there are so many rules, commandments to follow, and they are bound by their allegiance to their clans to fulfill them all whether they like it or not.
Her hands start shaking and that’s the moment Sai notices there’s that something she didn’t tell him. Must be the real reason why she asked to break the news by herself. He’s starting to get the feeling that Shikamaru and Choji won’t be happy to find out that Ino is pregnant and the thought angers him. Keep your cool. I’ll handle them. I’ll explain everything after, that’s what she said and he obliged.
Sai wonders if he’ll be able to keep his word.
“I’m… Sai and I… me… we’re having a baby.”
There’s an absolute silence for a second or two, and then the sound of Shikamaru standing up and punching the table hard fills the room. Ino closes her eyes, but she also notices Choji’s eyes darken and his clenched hands. He doesn’t say anything though. He will let Shikamaru do all the screaming.
“We made a deal!” Shikamaru’s voice is hoarse and his face is slowly reddening with anger and shame of his sudden violent outburst. He never reacts like this, and he knows he shouldn’t be screaming at a pregnant woman, but this particular woman has just screwed them over knowingly. “We made a deal!” he repeats, so unlike him because he never says anything twice, it’s too troublesome. But this time words fail to describe his fury, his indignation.
Ino opens her eyes only when she feels Sai stiffening up and his dark eyes dangerously narrowed. He has contained himself, but she knows it won’t last for long. He already looks like he is ready to bury his tänto in Shikamaru’s chest multiple times.
“I know we made a deal, Shikamaru! And I wasn’t planning on breaking my promise, I wasn’t planning it but…” she can see Sai from the corner of her eye, and knows he’s looking at her too. Ino can also see in his face how he is battling his emotions. His struggle gives her strength back, because she doesn’t want to see him hurting. She wasn’t planning for this, is true, and it sucks for Shikamaru and Choji, because the three of them did a deal indeed, but things happen, and she’s not sorry they did. She wants this, she finally realizes, she wants a family with her husband, and her voice sounds confident the next time she speaks, “Listen, I am sorry that this may mess up your plans. I don’t mean to cause any trouble for you, you are the people I love the most, after my husband, of course…” Sai starts to calm down and she tightens her grip on his hand, “I know, I know, I know this changes everything for us, and I wish it didn’t affect you, but…” she struggles to find poetic words to plead for forgiveness and show them how this isn’t a disaster but a blessing, she wants to burst out the speech of speeches, and she intends to, but instead, “…please don’t kill me?”
“That’s the worst apology I’ve ever heard. The worst.” Shikamaru is flustered and his face is red still, but his rage is slowly subduing because, even as angry as he is, this is Ino apologizing in her own weird way and asking them to be happy for her. He still wants to smash things, but it is not entirely because of her. She’s the source of his newfound problem, but it’s what the new problem itself entails that he’s so agitated about.
“So,” when Temari speaks, Shikamaru and Choji remember they are not alone with Ino and Sai, and that what has just been revealed strongly implicate their partners as well. Shikamaru’s already certain that his wife will kill him – no, not Ino. Temari would never blame Ino. Somehow, everything Ino does that end up enraging his wife becomes his doing automatically. It’s your fault, she’d told him once when he complained about the issue, You told me she was like your little sister. I’d never blame my younger brothers for anything. “Anyone care to explain why are these wonderful news riling everybody up? Because I refuse to accept you’re just a jerk who screams to an expecting mother for no reason at all, Nara Shikamaru.”
There it is. His fault. He sits back down, his brow twitching because even when he doesn’t do anything, he still gets the blame and possibly the bodily harm.
“Well, you see…” but Choji is the one who steps up to explain. He’s not looking at either Shikamaru or Ino, he’s gazing straight into Karui’s eyes and has a hard time swallowing because his throat is suddenly sore. “It’s a costume…”
“It’s a curse,” Shikamaru intervenes.
“It is not a curse, Shikamaru!” Ino defends but Shikamaru’s deadly gaze shuts her up again.
“It’s customary,” Choji resumes, ignoring his teammates, “for the current InoShikaCho members to have, uhm, heirs at the same time.”
Karui looks confused and even Temari’s face shows she’s having trouble processing the information.
“Wait, wait, what does that mean exactly?” Karui asks her fiancé.
“It means that Ino kicked in motion one of the most messed up mandates of the clans’ alliance.” Shikamaru growls, his face even redder than before.
“What?” Temari looks at him now, “That doesn’t say anything, moron!”
“I’m sorry, Temari, Karui-san,” this time is Ino who interrupts, because she knows neither Shikamaru or Choji have the courage to explain this to their partners right now, “but it means that since I am expecting a child, who will carry on the legacy of the Yamanaka Clan, Shikamaru and Choji need to… produce a heir too. You know…”
“We don’t need to. We’re going to. It’s not even up to us anymore.” Shikamaru runs a hand through his hair, and now he’s looking at his wife’s body, wondering if it is already happening, “It’s not a coincidence that Ino and I almost share our birthdays after all. It’s a fucking curse.”
-
Chaos.
That’s what ensued afterwards.
There were screams, and even though none of them were directed at her, she still found herself safely protected by Sai’s body. And she was thankful because the next second, there was a windblast that tore apart the tea table and there was also an almost animal roar followed by some lightning.
Ino swallowed difficultly and silently asked for forgiveness to Shikaku and Chouza because she was the reason their sons were dead. She had just single handedly destroyed the InoShikaCho legacy, even when she wasn’t the one welding a giant fan or electrifying her boyfriend.
She lost track of time until Sai released his hold on her, but he still had one hand on his back ready to use his tantö if needed. She gulped again.
Shikamaru had been thrown against the wall leaving a huge crack on it, and Chouji was lying on the floor drooling with a panda eye. None of them seemed to be conscious.
“Ino! Congratulations!”
That was not expected. Sai had no remedy but to move out of the way when Temari came to hug his wife tightly and with a genuine smile on her face, as if she hadn’t just beat the living soul out of her husband.
“You’ll be a wonderful mom. I’m so happy for you!”
The Konoha kunoichi was not sure of how to respond, so she just merely pat her friend’s back while struggling for words.
“Te… Temari-san?”
“Uhm?” Temari looks perplexed and backs out a little bit so she can look at Ino’s face, “What’s wrong?”
“Are… are you not mad?”
“At you? Never! How could I ever be mad at you? Especially now!” Temari’s smile is true, and she takes Ino’s hands out of Sai’s grasp and squeezes them between hers, “Ino, you were my first friend in Konoha. Honestly, you’re the reason I didn’t go mad and dragged his sorry ass back to Suna like I’ve always wanted. No, I’m not mad… at you,” however, Temari did glanced at her back for a second, now that Shikamaru was finally coming back to consciousness, “but he should have told me this before. This is the kind of stuff you tell your partner when they ask about, you know, kekeii genkai, family traits or possible mutations. You just don’t leave that out and make a deal with your friends instead.”
Shikamaru could be heard growling as he struggled to get on his feet again, rubbing the back of his head.
“Troublesome,” he muttered and Ino and Sai had to stop Temari from hitting him with her fan again.
On the other hand, Ino finally remembers Karui, who was sitting with her feet tucked under. She had somehow rescued a tea cup and was drinking peacefully – even though Ino knew she hated such beverage.
“Karui,” Ino starts again because Temari she could handle – but the new addition to the extended family, she wasn’t sure. And she is praying to whoever will hear her, please, please don’t let her leave Chouji.
“It’s alright.”
The dark-skinned woman response left everyone speechless. Ino’s hands started to shake and even Temari’s face shows worry and doubt. Karui doesn’t seem to be angry but with her one could never know. She surely isn’t thinking about breaking up with Chouji, right? She can’t.
“I don’t care at all,” Karui finally says, crossing her arms across her chest, “but Temari was beating the crap out of Nara so I figured Cho deserved the same.”
This time, the silence lasts longer than before, and Ino can’t find anything to say – until laughter starts to fill up the room. She glances at her side, where her husband is a bit blushed, hand on his abdomen and the other one covering his mouth, laughing freely and without a care. She’s blinking, unsure of what is going on, but then Temari joins Sai, and it does not take long before even Karui gives in to the giggles.
By now, both Shikamaru and Chouji are back on their feet, looking as confused as she’s feeling. Their eyes meet at a certain point, and Ino wishes she could them something – maybe apologize again for all the trouble, for breaking their promise, for getting them beat up – but Shikamaru’s lips are slowly curving upward, and Chouji’s giving her a thumbs up, and although nobody says anything, she gets the message.
They are going to be just fine.