The Perk, Sunday Morning

[intraspective]

She hadn't actually been in here before, but the place was nice enough she supposed. Ino didn't know for sure if her Dad would be here this morning, but the odds of it were high. He liked his coffee after all.

So she sat at a table sipping a tea and waited to see if her hunch was right.

[Thread with Ino and Inoichi locked to them. Otherwise open for all your coffee needs.]

Comments

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

For a Sunday morning, Mac was up and about surprisingly early. Amazing the motivation she can find for getting out and about when she wants to.

She smiled a greeting at the other girl in the shop, and set herself up with a large mug of coffee at a table near the window, settling in to people watch and hope that Cassidy would actually show. There was really only a 50:50 chance that Dick had given him the instructions to the right place, after all.

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

Inoichi had in fact found the coffee shop the day before in his handwavy exploration of the island yesterday. It had been one of the first things he'd found, and so he showed up bright and early to get coffee.

He walked in expecting coffee. He did not expect to find his daughter sitting at one of the tables and looking thoughtful. "Ino!"

[intraspective]

Ino started, nearly losing her grip on her cup, and stared at him. She hadn't even seen him come in! "Dad!"

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

Inoichi made his way across the room quickly. He was going to hug her, and then he was going to yell at her. In that order.

Then he'd sit her down and make her tell him what she'd been getting up to.

[intraspective]

The hug? Was definitely appreciated and Ino returned it with interest. "I was at the welcoming thing!" She said quickly, just incase he wanted to scold her for not, you know, talking to him before now. "I just didn't see you!"

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

He let go of her, ruffled her hair, then sat in the chair across from her with his Dad-face on. "I heard that on the radio," he'd heard a lot of things on the radio, "It doesn't explain why you couldn't talk to me yesterday."

[intraspective]

Ino winced at hair thing, and then again at his expression. She quailed slightly in her seat, "I was talking to Shikamaru and Chouji?"

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

"And Shikamaru and Chouji are more important than your Dad?" Inoichi asked sternly.

[intraspective]

Ino flailed internally, then blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "I wasn't feeling well! They tracked me down to my dorm room!"

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

"Which is why you were up on the roof?" Inoichi asked, both eyebrows raised, "I taught you to lie better than that, Ino."

[intraspective]

"I just needed some fresh air!"

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

Inoichi's Dad-face got sterner, "Ino, tell me the truth."

[intraspective]

Ino quailed back further in her seat, "I told you not to come!"

Which... probably wasn't the best thing to say all things considered.

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

It really wasn't. Inoichi pulled the two letters out of his vest and laid them on the table, "Yes," he said mildly, "I got that. Now tell me why."

[intraspective]

Um. Crap. Ino stared at the letters and said, "Yondaime-sama told me not to!" Blame someone else! She hoped it worked.

... and if he hadn't met the Yondaime yet? Err...

Ino made a mental note to listen to the radio every now and then. Might be helpful sometimes.

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

Luckily for her? Inoichi had met Arashi already.

"He mentioned something about having you promise not to tell me about him." Inoichi stared at his daughter, "But not that you couldn't write at all."

[intraspective]

"I've been busy!" Ino said quickly, "Really busy, and I didn't think you'd be interested or anything! It's just school!"

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

Inoichi really didn't buy that. "I've spent years listening to you talk about your Academy classes why wouldn't I want to know about these ones?"

[intraspective]

There was more flailing, "I just didn't think you'd want to know!" Ino cried, "I didn't know what to write!"

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

"Well, I want to know! So you're going to start talking." Inoichi said, "Or I'm not going home until I know what you've been getting up to."

[intraspective]

...

There was no way she'd be able hide certain things Kabuto from her Dad for very long if he decided to stay here. Ino slumped in her chair and took a sip of her tea.

"What do you want to know?"

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

"That's my girl," Inoichi said fondly, "Tell your Dad everything."

[intraspective]

Ino tried not to wince. That's what she'd been afraid he'd want to know.

She took a deep breath, "Um, everything it is then." Yes, she was planning to lie.

[yamanaka-dad.livejournal.com]

Inoichi leaned back in his chair and waited for her to begin. "Go on," he said when she hesitated, "I'll listen to everything you've got to say."

[intraspective]

Ino didn't doubt that. It was sorta the problem, because she'd always been awful at lying to him.

She smiled, but it felt forced, and probably looked worse. "I'll start with classes then." Ino straightened her shoulders, glad that nothing in her classes was anything she had to hide. "I'm taking Ethics, Sex Ed and Interdisplinary Studies this term. Miss Lulu is fantastic, Master Skywalker doesn't like me much and the feeling is mutual, and Mr. Leonhart makes class..." Ino continued on in great handwavy! detail about what she was doing in school and about the friends she'd made and her job at Wellspring Arms.

She very carefully omitted anything that came close to Kabuto.

Homecoming? Ino'd gone alone. Hadn't she already told him that she was staying away from boys? Her date with him to Luke's became an unnamed female friend that she'd brought to try the milkshakes.