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Growing Pains by Archaic Aphorism

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Chapter notes: A few warnings: while many of them won't appear in Growing Pains these pairings will occur later or in sequels; Shino x Kiba, Neji x Shikamaru, Lee x Sakura, Lee x Tenten, Kakashi x Iruka, Shino x OC, Neji x Hinata, Hana x OC, and Naruto x Sasuke.

Also, this stoy will be mostly Asuma x Kurenai and Chouji x Ino centric in terms of relationships for the most part.

Let's hope and pray to god that I actually go through and finish what I've started.

Growing Pains

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kishimoto-sama! No intentions of infringing upon copyrights and stuff here.

Arc 1: Getting Along
Chapter 1: I

"Asuma-sensei's pretty late," Chouji muttered darkly, scanning the noisy restaurant again. Shikamaru sighed, reclining in his chair lazily and folding his arms behind his head.

"It's troublesome to bother getting here on time only to have him be late," the shadow-nin agreed. They fumed in silence.

Ino had left not long ago, unwilling to wait more than twenty minutes for a late sensei. Chouji, however, had insisted on staying on account of Asuma's promise of free barbeque which he was determined to get, no matter what. Shikamaru, being lazy and having nothing else to do, had chosen to keep his friend company. Besides, he enjoyed the relaxing silence he and Chouji shared, despite the din of the restaurant.

"Sorry I'm late, kids," Asuma apologized, appearing. Shikamaru and Chouji watched in mild fascination as their sensei pulled out a chair and a pretty young lady took it.

"Thankyou," she said graciously, flashing a dazzling smile despite the fact that she didn't reveal the teeth behind it. Shikamaru grimaced.

"Who's that, Asuma?" he grumbled. Asuma was his mentor, his Shogi partner. He was not sharing him with some woman just because she was pretty and had a dazzling smile. Asuma laughed heartily, clapping his Nara on the shoulder before taking a seat across from the boy and beside the new kunoichi.

"Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, this is Yuuhi Kurenai," he introduced them. The boys gave Kurenai curt nods and she returned the gesture with another smile. Asuma looked around, "Where's Ino?"

"She left," Chouji told him.

"Because you were late," Shikamaru added, not liking the vibes he was getting from the pair of adults now accompanying them or the way they sat so close. He had a vague notion of what was coming.

"That would be my fault," Kurenai interjected. "Asuma-kun wanted to invite me to your meeting as a surprise for all of us but my cell's mission was running late and he waited for us."

"Your cell?" Chouji asked.

"Yes; Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba," Kurenai answered.

"Oh, I remember now," Chouji mused. "We don't work with your cell often and I haven't really seen any of them since the Academy..."

Kurenai smiled. "Not often enough at all. It'd be nice to have a tactical genius such as yourself, Shikamaru-kun, to work with Shino on missions, though." Chouji elbowed Shikamaru and the Nara rolled his eyes. This woman was obviously trying to win them over with charm and that boded no good for him. She turned to Chouji now, unaware that she had failed to spellbind the Nara. "And I know you and Kiba would get along really well, Chouji-kun."

"Yeah, we all used to be friends back at the Academy," Shikamaru stated, "'cept for Shino, I guess. He was always a bit of a loner."

Kurenai politely hid her grin with a hand; "I know."

"So were you, once," Asuma said, diverting the conversation and slipping an arm around Kurenai's shoulders, grinning. Kurenai closed her eyes, appearing annoyed and a little nervous.

"And not so long ago, either," she agreed. Shikamaru and Chouji exchanged glances, already forming generic speculations on what this was all leading up to. Neither believed it could be anything they'd like.

"Too bad Ino's not here, she'd love to heart his," Asuma sighed. Shikamaru and Chouji bristled, sure now that they would not like this. Asuma took a big breath and said, squeezing Kurenai closer, "We're getting married." Kurenai was trying to look stern, serious, and miserably failing at hiding a blush. The two teens froze in shock and, surprisingly, Chouji was the first to recover.

"You're what!?" he exclaimed, alerting half the restaurant, "You're kidding, right?"

Asuma faltered, scratching a sideburn awkwardly. "Nope, no kiddin'."

Kurenai held up her hand with the engagement ring to punctuate this claim and Chouji gawked at it. "It's true," she confirmed.

"The wedding is in two months," Asuma said, taking Kurenai's hand and kissing the stone. Kurenai's eyebrow ticked, but he continued to kiss her hand.

"Asuma-kun," she warned, but he continued kissing up her wrist. Shikamaru and Chouji shifted awkwardly in their seats, avoiding the sight of their teacher giving such a public display of affection. Kurenai tried again, more sternly this time; "Asuma, stop." She pulled her arm away from him when he reached the shoulder. He laughed heartily, not seeming to realize the tension in his students' shoulders.

"I... I have to go," Shikamaru muttered, excusing himself. Chouji quickly followed his example and was similarly excused.

"Well, that didn't go too badly," Asuma said jovially to Kurenai. Kurenai sighed, covering her face with her hands.

"They hate me, already," she moaned. Asuma chuckled and shook his head, rubbing her back.

"Naw, they're just in shock right now," he assured her, "They'll get over it and grow to love you." Kurenai sighed, taking a large swig from the drink Asuma offered her.

"Right," she said, massaging her temples, "But we still have to tell my cell..."

- - -

Kurenai looked more than just a little tipsy to Shino when she approached her gennin cell. Kiba chuckled and whispered something to Hinata that sounded suspiciously like "drunk again". The Aburame frowned behind his jacket and watched them from his seat on a log with Kiba and Hinata to his left (in that order). Akamaru bounded back, throwing stick still in his mouth, and leapt at Kurenai, who laughed and caught the large and overjoyed puppy in her arms, presenting him to Asuma with a great display of pomp. Asuma laughed with her and petted the dog before attempting to wrestle the stick from it.

"He only lets me and Hinata-chan throw it for him," Kiba explained, dusting his hands off, "Though I guess he'd probably let Bug Freak over there throw it too."

They all rose Hinata gave a tentative bow in greeting. Asuma nodded at her.

"Akamaru, you can let him have it," Kiba instructed his ninken. Akamaru whined, but released his iron-jaw grip on the branch. Asuma grinned and ruffled the dog's head before throwing the stick a short distance away. Akamaru whined and sprung away from Kurenai, catching the branch mid-air and landing with a graceful flip. Kiba frowned and folded his arms, "You gotta throw it harder than that."

"Oh?" Asuma asked, scratching his head, "Sorry, he looked so small I didn't think he'd be able to get it if I threw it far."

Kiba sneered. "Trust me; Akamaru is the most awesomest ninken ever. He could catch it no matter how far you threw it."

Asuma grinned at the challenge, pulling the stick from Akamaru again. "Really?" he said, winding up. Kiba nodded and Asuma gave the boy a wink before chucking the stick with all his might. Akamaru yapped excitedly and began his chase. Kiba tried to hide his awe at the great distance and height the branch reached. Asuma shaded his eyes and looked up.

"Eh, not too shabby," he commented, shrugging. Kiba frowned when Akamaru returned branch-less and with his tail between his legs. The pup squeezed into Kiba's jacket and whined.

"T's okay, 'Kamaru, I don't know where it went either," Kiba consoled him, though admittedly a little annoyed, himself. The ninken mewled again and settled into the jacket. Hinata giggled.

"Kurenai-sensei," Shino stated, adjusting his glasses, "is there any particular reason you have brought Asuma-sensei with you?"

Kurenai laughed heartily, which unnerved her cell slightly, but nodded. "Yes! We have fantastic news..."

They waited.

"Asuma-kun and I are getting married!" she announced. Kiba's mouth hit the ground and Akamaru gave a small yip of surprise. Hinata blushed and stammered a congratulation. Shino ducked his chin further into his collar, mulling it over.

"When is this wedding?" he inquired. Kurenai looked confused for a moment before remembering.

"Two months!" she chirped.

"And we are invited?" he continued. Kurenai nodded.

"M-may we see the ring?" Hinata asked, still blushing slightly. Kurenai giggled and held out her hand. Hinata admired the ring appreciatively and Kiba fairly glared at it (Hinata worried that it might melt under the intensity of it). Shino busied himself by studying Asuma, sizing the man up and determining whether he was good enough for their sensei. Asuma seemed to realize this and began to fidget. Kurenai was happily chatting with Hinata about her ring and what the wedding would be like- girl stuff, you know?

"All right, Kurenai," Asuma announced at last, pulling her away from the teens, "You need to sleep off that liquor."

"Asuma-kun," she fawned, batting her eyes at him. He flashed an apologetic smile at his soon-to-be-wife's cell members before leading her away.

So Hinata was excited for Kurenai but hadn't seemed to take much stock of the groom, Kiba was positively venomous after the fetch fiasco, and Shino was completely unresponsive, unreadable, and unnerving. Asuma sighed. It didn't seem that his introduction with Kurenai's team had gone any better than Kurenai's with his.

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