In Sickness And Health ~Shikamaru~

Chapter 19

Dear Shikamaru,

The plan is still in the prep stage, but is going smoothly and planning rapidly. We suspect that by this time next week we should be ready to start with phase one, 'capture the flag'. We have decided that it would be easiest to have Saiko be the one to infiltrate the governments rank, considering she doesn't exactly stand out. From there we will continue. I will keep you posted on our progress. Please tell Rei I miss her and love her. I'll be home as soon as possible.

-Reeva

"She said yes! Oh I'm happier than on two for one Tuesday at the resturaunt!." Choji was grinning like a fool as we walked side by side down the road to the hospital.

"I'm happy for you Choji. You and Al go good together."

He continued to grin and babble about Alsono and how he proposed to her. Very interesting method, never heard of it before and I'm kind of surprised he came up with it. But at the same time I was happy for my childhood friend. He really does love Alsono. We were on our way to the hospital to pick up Reira before going to the resturaunt to eat with Al. I think it might have been the romantic mood he was in, but suddenly, Choji started asking me questions. I saw them coming, esspecially since I asked him about how he knew he was in love. I had already figured he would come to some conclusions. But never did I think he would be so blunt about it.

"So, Shikamaru. Have you told Reira yet?" He asked with a sly grin.

"Told her what?"

"That you love her."

I stumbled a little and tried to regain my balance, but Choji only laughed. "You're gonna kill me one of these days with that mouth."

"Come on, just spill it already."

Once again I let out a sigh and wondered if my friends were all trying to give me heart attacks. Even Ino earlier was being weird. Damn you Choji, telling that troublesome woman... But I also knew that their teasing and blunt remarks were just their way of saying they care. And that made a small smile spread. "I told her last night."

Choji clapped me on the back, causing me to lose my breath. "Look at you go!" I coughed a few times to get my lungs working again. "So, what are you guys going to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, are you guys just gonna leave it or are you going to ask her to be your girlfriend or something like that."

I scratched the back of my head in thought. "I never really thought of it. After telling her I figured we'd just start dating naturally."

"No man. Ask her to be your girlfriend after a few dates. Girls love it when you ask."

"And how do you know?"

He shrugged. "Lots of girls go to Alsono for advice and she rants to me."

"That makes sense I guess." The hospital came into view and Reira was sitting outside already. She ran up to us all smiles when we got closer and Choji grinned like a fool when she attacked my with a hug. I'm pretty sure my face was turnning red, but at the moment, I was to happy to actually care. I put a hand to her head and gently stroked her hair.

Once we started walking again, the conversations started too. "Where's Ino?" Reira asked.

"She had to work at the flower shop today, but we promised to bring take out." Choji said with a grin.

It was all simple mindless chatter, but listening to Reira and Choji go back and forth, I realized how much faster she was really getting. Her speech is still spaced and she still pauses slight before talking, but something tells me that it's not going to go away. Tomorrow is Monday, the day her doctor said he wanted to do a few tests to see how she was really doing. I still wonder what he's going to find in her mind.

As we walked I noticed something odd. The sky was uncommenly dark. Something smelled like a bonfire but it's to early in to the day for anyone to have one. I looked up and noticed that it wasn't the sky that was dark. A large billowing cloud of dark black smoke filled the sky in front of us. We all stopped to look at it. It's very rare for a fire to happen around here and when it does it's usually quite a sight.

"Where do you think it's at?" Choji asked.

Reira narrowed her eyes at the smoke and looked ahead. Suddenly, her eyes were wide and she started to shake. "Do you think...?"

No... It's can't be. We looked at each other before taking off down the road to the resturaunt again. Don't let it be. No. But it was. The moment we broke over the top of the hill we stopped and Choji began to shake. The resturaunt was engulfed in bright red flames, the smoke filling the area around it. Many people were surrounding the building and the firefighters frantically ran around with a hose and buckets.

Choji scanned the people who were standing around the building and I knew he was searching for Alsono. But the longer he looked the paler he got. Then, someone yelled something that had all of our hearts dropping. I had never seen Choji more afraid than when those words rang out in the air. Reira even had large tears rolling down her face as Choji went running down the hill to the resturaunt.

'She's still inside. Alsono is still inside.'

Quick note:

Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know that I have started planning and designing for Choji and Alsono's book, which at ths point I have decided will be titled 'Love's recipie'. So welcome the newest member to the fifty family, Alsono Ukine. Still have no idea when I'll start posting it, but I promise it won't disappoint :)

-Bay