"...and that's the whole story." Ino finished her retelling of the incident in the cherry grove with a satisfied nod just as the sun slipped below the horizon. The nine genin in their year (well, six of them, as Sasuke was still in the hospital, Shino had left after the first few sentences, and Kiba was asleep) were standing in a loose semicircle in a vacant lot, called there by Ino and Sakura to hear about "something important."
"You forgot the part about them meeting at noon tomorrow in front of the shrine, Ino-pig," said Sakura.
The hackles on the back of Ino's neck rose, and Shikamaru rolled his eyes. That was their "something important?" Whatever. The only reason he was still here was because his go game with Asuma wasn't until eight, and he didn't have anything better to do. He'd rather just hang out with Chouji, but the other boy was also here, fingers dipping constantly into the bag of potato chips he carried, unaware of Shikamaru's plight. Grumbling under his breath, Shikamaru prodded Kiba with his foot. Akamaru shifted as his master rolled onto his side, a thin trickle of drool running down his cheek. Sighing, Shikamaru turned his attention back to the others, specifically to Naruto. He was making a nuisance of himself as usual, now that he'd recovered from whatever shock he'd been in.
"What the hell?" Naruto yelled, causing a young couple passing by the vacant lot to hurry their steps. "Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei? That's not possible!"
"Shut up, Naruto." Sakura put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. "I saw it with my own eyes."
"You didn't see it right, then," Naruto said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes in a fox-like manner. Shikamaru wondered for a moment about the legend of the Kyuubi. Looking at Naruto now, he could almost swear he was... nah, couldn't be. Naruto continued his rant, interrupting Shikamaru's thoughts. "Iruka-sensei would never go for that kind of pervy stuff."
"When a girl says she saw something, she saw something," Ino said, knocking the back of his head with her fist. Naruto yelped, then glared at her, rubbing the sore spot.
"Yeah, unless she's lying!"
"Well, we're not lying, you idiot!" Ino yelled. "We really did see Kakashi and Iruka-sensei looking like they were about to kiss and talking about 'last night!' "
"I bet it was just Kakashi-sensei being a pervert again," Naruto said. "Iruka-sensei doesn't do things like tha--"
"Actually," Hinata interrupted, "I--I think it's kind of... cute." She blushed and twiddled her fingers, looking at the ground. The others fell silent. Shikamaru stared at her, mouth open. Hinata, arguing? Hinata, interrupting? Hinata, talking?
Well, he thought, closing his mouth, today is a day for surprises. After a moment, Chouji's chip bag started rustling again, and Naruto spoke.
"M-Maybe it is a little... cute." He grimaced and turned back to Sakura. "But I still don't think you saw it right!"
"Naruto, I told you to shut up!" Sakura took a swing at him, but Naruto easily dodged. "We saw what we saw, and there's nothing you can do about it. Why can't you just accept it?" She smirked. "Besides, if it's true it means you'll have a father as well as a mother, right?"
"Don't call Iruka-sensei my mother!"
"This is stupid," Shikamaru said, standing up and dusting himself off. It was almost eight, and he needed to get going if he was going to get to Asuma's house on time. "Kakashi probably just borrowed money from Iruka- sensei and was returning it or something. I'm out of here."
Three Ino-smacks and 34 go moves later found Shikamaru in a tight spot. Asuma had him cornered, and even if he made exactly the right moves he'd have three turns, no more. That was, if Asuma also played a perfect game.
"So, Shikamaru-kun, you gonna give up?" The grin on his face said he was going to.
"Give me a minute, I'm still thinking." He sifted through all the possibilities one last time, and swore under his breath when he couldn't find a single winning outcome. What he needed was for Asuma to make a mistake. Be inattentive. Distracted.
And then, he knew how to win.
"Hey, Asuma-sensei," he said, making his move, "Did you hear?"
"Hear about what?" Asuma made the first perfect move. Two left.
"About Hatake Kakashi and Umino Iruka-sensei." Shikamaru moved. He saw a possibility he hadn't seen before; if Asuma made just the right mistake on the last move, he could break through and corner him easily.
"What about them?" The second perfect move. Not distracted enough yet. One move left.
"Sakura and Ino apparently saw them 'having a moment' in the cherry grove today on their way to the Ichiraku." Shikamaru made his move.
Asuma didn't react right away. "What kind of moment?"
"Well, they said they looked like they were about to kiss, and said something about 'last night' and meeting in front of the shrine at noon tomorrow."
"Is that so." Asuma scratched his beard, looking thoughtful. Shikamaru kept his expression carefully neutral.
"It's your move, Asuma-sensei," he said.
"Oh. Right." Shikamaru sighed as Asuma made the perfect mistake. He took his own move quickly, before Asuma could change his mind, and allowed himself a small smirk. Within a few moves, he had won. Asuma sighed.
"You are a sneaky little devil, Shikamaru-kun. You know I would've won if I hadn't been distracted." Shikamaru nodded and began setting up the board for another round. Asuma stopped him, though, and started putting the game away.
"Eh? Asuma-sensei?"
"Sorry, Shikamaru-kun, I don't have time for another game. I have some things I have to do." Shikamaru stared for a moment, then sighed. His only good opponent. He should have expected it. Oh well. Time to head home, then, for another evening of boring reading.
"OK. Bye, Asuma-sensei." He let himself out. Asuma looked down at the scattered go pieces. It was just like Shikamaru to leave him to pick up all the mess. And just like him to distract him to win. Still, Asuma couldn't be frustrated, not when those qualities would keep him alive as a ninja. He quickly put the go set away, then sat down next to his telephone and dialed Kurenai's number. She picked up after four rings.
"This is Kurenai. Who is this?" She sounded a little frazzled. Asuma wondered whether she'd tried to cook again. "Hello?"
"Ah, sorry, I was spacing out. This is Asuma."
"That'll get you killed one day, you know."
"I know." He smirked. There was nothing more satisfying than getting a little revenge on those that annoyed you. "But as long as I'm still alive, I heard the strangest thing today about that Kakashi and Umino Iruka..."
