An Extremely Awkward Problem pt.6
Both bodies remained on the ground, unconscious after blasting each other with intense mental chakra. Minutes passed, until Ino was the first to open her eyes. She blinked; Once. Twice. Then shot up into a sitting position, glancing down at her body. Still no female curves. No soft porcelain skin, no purple skirt and top, no dainty hands. Only firm muscles covered in a netting shirt.
Tears began to well up in her eyes, but she fought them with all her might.
“Sh-Shikamaru?” She sniffled, looking across the field at her still-unconscious body. She crawled over just in time to see her blue eyes flutter open. They didn’t look quite as surprised to see dark eyes staring back at them….
“It didn’t work.” Shikamaru said stoiticly, sitting up.
“No.” She wpied her nose, wet from sniffling.
“Oh well. We’ll just try again when our chakra is high enough again, maybe two days should do it.” Shikamaru sat up, rubbing his head, which obviously hit the ground pretty hard after the impact.
“How can you be so calm! What if we’re stuck like this forever? Aren’t you angry that you’ll have to spend another two days as a girl!” Ino yelled, tears beginning to stream down Shikamaru’s face again, this time uncontrolled, washing the thin layer of dirt it had collected from lying on the ground.
“Hey! Wait a minute! Guy! Guy, remember? No crying in my body!” Shikamaru raised his hands to stop the tears, brushing them from his face.
Ino stood, drying the few remaining tears from her face, her expression unreadable, but Shikamaru could tell she was trying to mask intense anger. (It was HIS face after all.)
“Fine. Tomorrow…we’re going to go see my dad again. I want to hear everything about this technique for myself. And I don’t think you’ll want to be in my body anymore starting then…you’ll get to really see what it’s like to be a woman.” She turned and began stomping towards town again, not bothering to wait for Shikamaru to regain his balance and follow.
OXOXOXOXOXOX
The next morning, Shikamaru awoke to the greatest pain he’d ever felt. His stomach cramped and seemed to want to explode. He rolled over, only to find the Ino was already up, no longer occupying the space opposite him.
He held his stomach in pain, not wanting to get up, until he felt a warm, wet sensation from between his legs. Eyes wide, he reached down and brought up some of the strange liquid.
Blood.
“Yahhhh!”
Ino walked, nonchalantly, into the room, a small bag in hand, her expression one of slight amusement. “Good morning.” She said cheerfully, sitting down at the foot of the bed, dropping a small bag between them. “Welcome to your crash-course in female menstruation. You should get out of the bed, before it gets on the sheets, blood stains are a b***h to get out.”
Shikamaru winced, but stood, looking down and seeing his night shorts slightly wet with the blood.
“You’ve got to be kidding me….this is…”
“My period. I was hoping we could change back before I got it, but after yesterday…”
“What do I do? I can’t go outside like this, bleeding everywhere…We can’t go to your dad’s today.”
“Oh no you don’t. We’re still going. I packed some pads before I left the house, you can wear them, since I don’t want you trying to put tampons in….” She handed him one of the small, plastic-wrapped items.Shikamaru was internally grateful, that was an experience he did not want to go through...
“But, this pain. How do you expect me to walk around?”
“You just have to deal with it, Shikamaru. I do every month. Missions don’t wait. Remember that one with those bandits from rock?”
Shikamaru nodded. “You mean…you were….”
“The entire trip.” She nodded.
Shikamaru sighed, remembering the intense battles of that perticular, not able to conceive fighting in his situation.
“Alright. What do I have to do?”
Nearly an hour later, Shikamaru and Ino headed out the door of the apartment, making their way across town at a slightly slower than usual pace.
“I have a whole new respect for women…” Shikamaru groaned, placing a hand on his stomach.
“Good.” Ino snapped, secretly liking that Shikamaru was able to sample the pain women bore every month.
Eventually, they reached the Yamanaka household. Shikamaru stopped, only to be pushed from behind by Ino, pressuring him to go inside.
‘That’s right, this is her house…duh.’
“D-Daddy?” He called, trying to sound sweet.
“That you baby?” They heard Inoshi call from inside. He soon emerged from one of the back rooms, carrying a book. “I missed you, pumpkin-nose!” He enveloped her in a hug, Shikamaru winced, feeling his insides cramp again. ‘I’m going to die…’
After setting his daughter down, he turned to Shikamaru. “Nara’s boy? I haven’t seen you around here in a while…what are you doing with my little girl?” He glared at him.
“Nothing, ...sir.” Ino studdered. “We’re just going out training this afternoon, I’m tagging along with her until then.”
‘Is this how he’s always treated Shikamaru?’ She sweat dropped. ‘No wonder he and Chouji never wanted to come over.’
They all filed into the living room, sitting on the couches around the room.
“How was the mission, baby?” He asked, settling into the couch deeper, obviously trying to get comfortable.
“Fine…um…Daddy? You remember that technique I was talking to you about the other day? The mind-switch? I want to know more about it.”
“Why? You can’t perform that one, sweetie, it’s not in use anymore.”
“I know that, daddy, I just want to know why it took Grandfather so long to switch back with his friend. Why were they stuck for six whole months?” He looked at Ino, who nodded, saying he asked the right thing.
“Well, it took a while for them to figure out the actual WAY to switch back. But then, your grandfather’s friend didn’t perform the technique when they tried a few times, he didn’t concentrate.”
“Why not?”
“It was complicated. You see, he liked being your grandfather…we Yamanakas used to be a lot more influential...and wealthier back then. Not to mention that he had a bit of a crush on your grandmother, if you know what I mean. They both needed to WANT to be back in their own bodies for the technique to switch them back.”
Ino looked at Shikamaru, glaring.
“Well, what happened? How did they switch back?”
“Your grandpa convinced him that it wasn’t his life he was living, that he needed to go back and make his own life the way he wanted, not just take somebody else’s.”
“Oh..” Shikamaru pondered.
“Why the sudden interest in this technique, baby?” Inoshi asked, resting his head in his hands.
Shikamaru panicked.
“Um…uh….”
“We’re supposed to research older techniques for a get-together we’re having with Asuma-sensei. His new genin team is learning about them and he wanted to use these for examples. We’re just helping out.” Ino interrupted, standing to leave.
“We’re supposed to meet him soon, we should go, Ino.”
Shikamaru stood and followed his body out the door, leaving a puzzled Inoshi still sitting on the couch.
“I thought they said they were going training?” He asked himself, scratching his head, puzzled.
Shikamaru followed Ino through the crowded streets, not knowing what to say. She probably knew by now that it was him who wasn’t concentrating yesterday, she was blonde, but not dumb... How was he supposed to explain that he didn’t want to switch back because he liked being with her everyday? He didn’t want them to go back to just seeing each other every few days for training. He wanted to keep seeing her whenever he got home…even if he had to be in a girls body to do it.
He could never tell her that though…
It wasn’t until then that he noticed that they had passed the turnoff to go to their/his apartment and were now heading outside the town limits, into the training grounds.
“Oi! Ino!” He tried to call, but either she was too far ahead to hear, or she ignored him and kept on walking.
She didn’t stop until they had reached the training grounds from yesterday and turned to face him, her eyes cold.
“Why don’t you want to switch back, Shikamaru?”
Shikamaru stood, eyes wide at Ino, trying to think of some excuse.
“I’m waiting, Shika-kun…” She sounded like she was about to explode….
‘Not yet…you can’t tell her yet…just say something!’
“I…I just…I thought it was much easier being a girl…missions and stuff are less troublesome.” He sputtered.
Wrong.
Ino’s head sank, it looked like she was going to attack him, or cry…he couldn’t decide which.
Instead, she just turned and walked to the other side of the field, only facing him once she was far enough to perform the transfer technique.
Yep, attack it was, all right.
“And so, you thought that you could just stay in my body and enjoy being a girl for as long as you’d like? Just let me handle you‘re Jounin missions and kick back, maybe take a spy mission every so often….let some pig crawl all over my body…is that what you thought?” She asked, crossing her arms.
“No! That’s not it! I just…I liked…”
‘s**t! NO!’ He thought, curbing his answer.
“I mean….yeah….Until this whole menstruation-thing started…not fun.” He winced again, slightly from the cramps, but mostly because he knew he was only making her more angry.
“Form the seals, Shikamaru. And concentrate this time, okay? That way you won’t have to deal with the cramps and such anymore.” She said, still not raising her head.
“But…our chakra level won’t be back up to full yet, Ino.”
“I don’t care, I want my body back…now.”
Shikamaru opened his mouth in protest, but thought against it and started forming the seals determinedly.
‘Things will just have to go back to the way they were…if even, after how bad I’ve made things’ he sighed, completing the final seal and extending his arms out.
Ino also had finished and nodded at him.
“Body-mind switch technique!” They said simultaneously.
Blue chakra passed between them, knocking both bodies to the ground.
‘Wahhh! Shika-kun! It hurts!’ A little blonde wailed, holding her leg dramatically.
The little spiky-haired boy next to her, fussed about, not really knowing what to do.
‘Ino! I’m sorry! I won’t ever try it on you again!’ The boy took her leg to look at it, examining the small scrape it had, bleeding slightly.
Poor little Ino continued to cry and Shikamaru looked around, trying to find something to sooth the cut.
He darted off, picking up a small weed with little white flowers on it and bringing it back, holding it out to the girl, who stopped crying to examine the plant.
‘It’s a weed.’ She said, annoyed.
‘No. It’s a present. I’m sorry I tried to use the shadow jitsu on you…I guess I’m not ready yet.’
Ino wiped her eyes and took the weed, plucking the white flowers from it and tossing the prickly vine to the ground. ‘That’s why your daddy said to wait, you just didn’t listen, and look what happened.’ She snapped at him, crossing her legs under her, her hurt leg slightly forgotten.
‘If you hadn’t tried to dodge it and let it catch you, you wouldn’t have tripped and fell, Ino. Troublesome girl.’
‘Fine then. Someday, when I try new stuff out on you, you can’t complain or dodge them, I’ll get really mad.’ The girl stood, still holding the small bouquet of weedy flowers.
‘Fine.’
Shikamaru’s eyes opened, slowly at first, then snapping to attention, remembering the situation. He sat up, his body hurt slightly and his head was throbbing. Yet, when he looked down, he no longer saw Ino’s purple outfit…they had been replaced by his own, signature clothes. His previously white, soft, feminine skin was now tanner and firmer. He touched his stomach, the pain was gone.
He was back.
Realization dawned on him and he looked to the other side of the grounds, scanning for Ino, but she was nowhere to be found.
Gone….
‘Of course, she’s used to this…she probably got right up, no telling how long I’ve been here.’ He stood, brushing off his dusty clothes and headed back home.
‘Not to mention the fact that I probably pissed her off…’
His walk felt strange now, after days of walking like Ino. Even the feeling of his hands, shoved deep into his pockets felt foreign to him.
“Again….” He muttered, completing his last thought and fumbling for his keys.
He entered the apartment, noticing that Ino must’ve already been and gone, her belongings missing.
It felt…empty.
Shikamaru flopped onto the couch, shifting his weight, trying to get comfortable.
‘Even the air is different now…’ he thought, his head sinking to his hands. ‘Ahh, stop it…she was only here for a few days, it’s not that different…’ He tried to re-assure himself.
The phone rang, Shikamaru groaned and moved to answer it.
‘What the hell…my phone hasn’t rang in almost three weeks.’
“Moshi, Moshi?”
“Shikamaru? Or is this Ino?” He heard Chouji on the other line.
“It’s me, man. Everything’s back to normal now.”
“I see. Well, that’s good. Asuma wants to get together tomorrow, he didn’t say what for. Back at the training grounds around 10:00. Can you make it?”
“If no last-minute missions come up.”
“Good, he said he’d leave a message with Ino, I just needed to call you.”
“Thanks.”
“See you then.”
“Yeah, bye.”
“Bye.”
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
“Ino, sweetie, is that you?”
“Yeah, mom, I’m home. Sakura got backthis morning.” Ino closed the door behind her and headed up the stairs to her room, passing her dad on the ay up.
“You’re old sensei called, he needs you to go to the training grounds tomorrow, wouldn’t say why.”
“Oh. I’ll see if I can make it.” She entered her room and closed the door behind her.
‘I’m home…why do I feel so sad?’
She thought, flopping onto her bed, her bag landing on the floor besid eher, uncared for.
‘Back to normal...' The two thought simultaneously, closing their eyes and drifting off into a energy-depleted sleep.
Waterbender Khyna Community Member 
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