Gazing and Munching (Team 10; Open)

[Chouji Akimichi]

Chouji Akimichi sat comfortably under a tree, his back resting snuggly against the hard bark of its trunk as the emerald canopy overhead shielded him from the blazing sun hanging high in the sky. A bag of barbequed chips was positioned securely in his lap, laying awkwardly against the inner thigh of one of his legs. One hand gripped the side to keep it steady as the other reached in deep to come back out with a large wad of snackable food which was quickly stuffed into the pudgy ninja's wide mouth. As he loudly munched on his treat, already reaching back in for more, his beady eyes gazed skyward at the clouds overhead.

Cloud watching was a hobby he had only first come to truely enjoy after crossing paths with Nara Shikamaru. The two had quickly become the best of friends and their two individual hobbies, snacking and cloud gazing, had come to compliment each other nicely. It was always an enjoyable experiance, just laying back and watching white puffs stroll by through the sky high above while enjoying your favorite foods and, since there were no missions assigned to him or his team that day, Chouji could lay back and enjoy both activities without a care in the world found in his head.

"Life doesn't get much better than this!" Chouji jovially declared to no one in particular with a deep and heartfelt chuckle, taking a tremendous gulp to swallow his last handful of chips and stuff his mouth full with a newly fetched batch.

[Nara Shikamaru]

"Life doesn't get much better than this!"

"I guess you picked up my habits." A voice came from behind the tree Chouji was resting against. Shikamaru walked around, so he could make himself known, and seen by his fellow friend. A slightly smile crossed the chuunin's features, his hands bunched up in his pockets as well. Shikamaru was wearing his complete outfit that all chuunin wear, he rarely went out unequipped, considering he could get a job from the hokage at any moment. Shikamaru sat down, then laid back as well, hands resting behind his head as he stared up at the clouds.

'Clouds are nice today...' He thought with a soft sigh. Even now, with everything that's been going on, Shikamaru still found time to relax. It was also nice that his friend Chouji Akamichi was back from his trip, as it has been moderately difficult working by himself with Ino. It wasn't the fact that she was a girl, or their full power wasn't at their greatest without the whole group, but because it was always a bit more cheerful with their snack-grubbing friend around. He always made sure their was enough food for all of them, and somehow Chouji would always find a way to liven things up, if not him doing something embarrassing.

Shikamaru glanced over at his friend, then asked. "You heard the rumors? I heard Sasuke showed his face here. I heard him and some other guy sneaked in and confronted the hokage." He told Chouji, curious himself now. Shikamaru was wondering why Sasuke would be here again, or if he already left. But he also knew, considering facts, Sasuke was a nukenin now, and all rules apply...they must be killed on sight. Shikamaru sighed once again, his bored face showing again, his trademark look.

"I can't say I like Sasuke that much, but its going to be troublesome, since he left and all..." He added.

[Mitarashi Anko]

"Sasuke did leave...Went with that foul man Orochimaru" said a voice

Out of the shadows, a figure of a woman appeared. Anko walked forward with her arms crossed. Her shin guards clanked as she walked forward. Her foot steps were as soft not making a sound. She looked at the two chuunins.

"So you must be Chouji Akimichi...I can see that you haven't lost your appetite lately..." Anko said looking at him with a plain face.

She shifted her eyes, and stared at the other chuunin.

"And you are the lazy one...I remember you from complaining before you entered the Forest of Death...All you did was complain. But I must admit. You did pretty well during the third exam..." she said

Anko stood there and then leaned against the wall, placing her left foot up against it. She stared at the two ninjas waiting for a response out of them. She sighed and looked around at the place they were in. She then placed her hands in pockets. She stood there leaning and looking at them both.

[Yamanaka Ino]

Ino's shift at the flower shop had ended and she had promptly gussied up before she could 'casually' go find her teammates. It wasn't like she missed them... but it had been such a long time that they had been together in a while and... oh, what the heck- the leader of her own team didn't need an excuse to find her team and boss them about.

She was sliding a clip in the left side of her head, trying to keep her hair out of her face and tucking the smaller strands behind her ear. She had a smile upon her face, and although she wouldn't term her earlier time without her team mates as lonely, but... the blonde felt incredibly glad that she'd be seeing them two again.

InoShikaChou was just not complete without all of them together, without her being the glue between them and keeping them from getting too lazy and well... a little more alert. She was bossy, but Ino knew it was for their own good. Yes. She leapt from the ground and thought it'd be faster and a lot more enjoyable to travel on the roofs of Konoha (as well as a few street lamps and trees) than walking like those boring people do. She was a ninja and Ino's dream had been to be the fastest, the best and the Hokage showering her with honour and compliments. She suppressed her chakra when she saw the Nara and Akimichi, who were promptly doing the things they were good at. Eating and sitting. She was about to sneak up on them and tell them off for lazing around on such a good day, when some words... no, a name, caught her ears.

"You heard the rumors? I heard Sasuke showed his face here. I heard him and some other guy sneaked in and confronted the hokage."

Ino's eyes widened, her bright hair almost wilting, but she tried to be strong. She tried to hear more, but Shikamaru wasn't too much to reveal gossip, even though he probably knew a lot, considering he was on the Hokage's good list. Ino's eyebrows arched as she saw who appeared from the shadows. "Anko-Sensei?"

"He still complains," Ino added, materialising from the tree. The bad thing about travelling and hiding in trees was the things that landed in your hair. She pulled a face as she took out a twig.

However, the blonde did offer a rather warm smile to her two comrades. "Eh, it's been quite long, ne, Chouji, Shikamaru?"

Not even the mention of Sasuke could ruin her mood with two of her most trusted friends. Yes, times change, and with that, they changed people.

[Chouji Akimichi]

((Gah, after nearly a month of waiting I thought this board had died, well at least this thread! Forgive me for my forgetfulness! XO))

“Shikamaru!” Chouji proclaimed, turning to see his friend come up from behind and greeting the fellow chunin with a wide, meaty grin, “Its been a while!” He was pleased enough with the unexpected meeting that he actually paused in the consuming of the chips in his lap, if only for a moment.

He hadn’t expected to see his friend that day, but it was a pleasant enough surprise that he surely wasn’t about to complain. The duo hadn’t been together for a fair amount of time, constantly being split up so that all of the incoming missions to the Leaf Village could be swiftly filled and efficiently completed. Frankly the chubby ninja preferred when he and the rest of Team 10 were all still in the genin rank and were kept bundled together as they gained experience about the ninja path. Now that they were promoted to chunin and constantly directed in different directions… well, it just wasn’t the same going on assignments without Shikamaru, or his other teammate Ino for that matter.

At his friend’s news about Sasuke showing his face in Konoha once again, Chouji‘s face became a serious frown. He remembered the mission from long ago in which he and a number of the other rookies were sent to retrieve the deserting Uchiha and bring him back to their village. Though he had tried his hardest on that assignment and even managed to do his part for the team in his success at defeating one of Sasuke’s escorts, a brute of a man called Jiroubou of the Sound Four, the mission as a whole turned up as a failure and they had to return empty handed, or should he say carried back empty handed as most were too beaten down by their respective fights to actually return on their own. If it wasn’t for Konoha’s medical teams arriving when they had, the group could have suffered a lot more than a failed objective. Now it seemed that their objective had returned on his own, if perhaps only temporarily, and the young Akimichi wondered why that could be.

Before he could respond to Shikamaru’s words, the duo were confronted with a new face. He instantly recognized her as the Procter of the past Chunin Exams, the second one that took place in the Forest of Death. She was a strange one, but once you got past that she seemed to be a pretty nice person.

“A man is only as big as his appetite!” Chouji shouted defensively towards her comment shot his way, though it was mostly a good-natured comeback. After all, it wasn’t like she had used the taboo words, for such a thing would truly have sparked his anger.

Before more could be said or done, the slowly growing party was met with its third arrival. Chouji glanced over at the familiar voice, not even having to see her to know who it was. Still, his eyes brightened when they fell upon her, it was almost as pleasant a surprise as Shikamaru’s unexpected arrival.

“Ino!” He called out happily with a wave of one of his meaty hands, “InoShikaChou is reunited once again, this calls for a celebration,” He curled the hand he had been waving with into a fist and threw it high overhead, “Barbeque!”