Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This fan fiction is not true to the main storyline. The idea of the story is mine, yet the characters an their original plot is not, as this is just a spin-off due to sudden inspiration.
Author’s Note: Hee! First of all I have to apologize, for forgetting about this fic for a while.. Finals you know? Kind of time consuming. (Sighs) Second, hoo writers block is a pain in the ass, isn’t it? Well, trying to kick it off by writing a second chapter.. I may redo it later due to suckiness or something like that. And finally, thank you reviewers! It’s definitely your reviews keeping me going ^^, or at least convincing me that I am capable of writing something worthwhile!
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The entire day went by, and after much effort, it was discovered that the child was just stuck in a tree. But somehow there was more to it. Coincidentally, the child was stuck in the tree that Chouji was sitting on. It just so happened that the kid had fallen asleep and was so silent that none of the Chuunins noticed his presence in the tree, above the fat boy’s head. Perhaps Chouji was too busy eating, but when he noticed a strand of drool hang down in front of his face that obviously did not belong to him, the mission was completed, though, not with much action from the other team members. By the late afternoon just before the kid was discovered, Shikamaru had already fallen asleep against a tree, and Ino was screaming profanity at the sleeping boy
“Good job, team. You guys are dismissed, I’ll take the little tyke to the Hokage.” Asuma grabbed the child around the middle as if he was a stuffed animal, and with a hand seal, disappeared in a poof a smoke
“Right. Well. I’m off to Ichiraku. Seeya.” Ino watched as Chouji leap off the tree and walk away in the distance, disappearing towards the ramen shop as fast as potato chips do in his snack bag
“Useless. Just, useless! That’s how we are! We could have found that kid so easy! Yet we didn’t think to look in the trees. Sarutobi sensei knew! But why didn’t he tell us?! We spent all friggin day snooping through bushes, for what?! Me getting split ends! That’s what! And MORE! Look at what all those thorns did to my hands! I just had a manicure too!” Ino sat down next to Shikamaru, knees drawn up and arms wrapped around them as she huffed with anger and silently berated the surrounding landscape with her thoughts
“Stop complaining, it’s gonna give you wrinkles.” Shikamaru opened an eye lazily as he lounged against the tree, watching the girl as her eyes darted around the clearing as she growled menacingly.
“Huh? What?! Really?! Oh my god! I have to go buy some wrinkle cre-“
“I WAS JUST KIDDING!”
“What?! How could you be so cruel?! Don’t joke about things like that!” By that time, tears of panic had already started sliding down her cheeks as she worried more about her hair and nails and other vain things. She breathed erratically as she looked at Shikamaru with a betrayed, lost, fearful gaze, arms drawn up to her chest in a hope to comfort herself.
“Well.. Um.. I’m sure that wrinkle cream is pretty che-“ Shikamaru scratched the back of his head as he tried to come up with a good comforting comment before he was rudely interrupted by a girl latching onto him and sobbing into his fishnet shirt.
“That’s not the point!” Ino buried her face in his chest as she started sobbing about how hard she would have to look for a good barber who could snip off the split ends without harming her other strands of hair, and how wrinkle cream wasn’t cheap.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes and clunked his head back against the solid wood of the tree. “Then what is the point?” He sighed at the worried girl and looked back down at the golden blond head.
“H-how will I ever catch.” She sobbed and took in a shuddering breath before continuing. “Catch S-Sasuke’s eye if I..” Ino seemed to take in what she had just said as a reality, and sobbed more as she started to really believe that Sasuke was the only man for her and how if she had messed up hair or even a single wrinkle on her face that he would never look her way again. Not that he ever really did to begin with.
“You don’t need Sasuke.. You really should go for someone who cares.. About you.” Shikamaru waved a hand nonchalantly in the air as he tried to formulate more words of comfort in his head as a slight pink tint began to frost his cheeks. “Like. Well. There are plenty of fish in the sea.. I guess that makes sense. But that doesn’t matter. What I’m trying to say is.. is.. Uh.” He gazed up helplessly at the sky as he pondered on his next words, completely at a loss as of what to say.
“..Really?” Ino looked up innocently; more unshed tears glittering in her eyes as her damp cheeks glistened softly with her tears.
“.. Yeah.” Shikamaru stared into her eyes as she stared back into his. He just started to notice how nice the now setting sun looked on her face, the golden light shining off her smooth hair and tear damp cheeks. ‘I wonder what she would look like under moonlight.’ He mused silently to himself, not entirely realizing how close they were at this moment.
Ino continually gazed into those twin pools of dark brown. She had never noticed that his eyes weren’t black, but she couldn’t help but stare into his eyes and wonder what that genius mind that lied behind them thought of sometimes. ‘I wonder what he meant by those words.’ She tilted her head just slightly, though not breaking eye contact. ‘What’s he staring at anyway? Do I have a pimple?’ Her eyebrows knitted together momentarily as she tried to make out his thoughts by boring straight into his eyes, but to no avail.
Only now, did Shikamaru notice how intimately close they were, and how she was sprawled on him in a sobbing manner was not exactly unprovocative either. He took in a ragged breath and he could feel his heart start to beat faster. ‘Is this? Maybe. It feels right. Should I? Maybe later.’ Shikamaru shook his head. ‘No, now is good, when am I going to get another chance like this with a girl sobbing in my arms? Probably 1/27th of a chance, but now’s not the time for calculating anything.’ He zoned out staring past Ino’s head as more of his confused thoughts swirled about his mind.
“Shikamaru.. Are you okay?” She sniffed as she gazed at him. His face had suddenly flushed and he was breathing kind of funny. She could even feel a slight speeding up of his heart. Ino gasped softly as she suddenly felt his hand on her cheek, a calloused, yet gentle thumb wiping the tears off of her cheek.
“Ino. Let me ask you something.” He turned and gazed into her eyes again, hand softly caressing her cheek as she gazed at him in wonder and surprise.
“What?”
“Um.. What’s it like to be a girl? You know.. Moody monthlies? PMS?”
“WHAT?!”
“Well. You know, I was just curious..”
“You insensitive bastard!” Ino stood up and with a resounding slap, threw Shikamaru across the clearing with a red handprint across his face. She bit her bottom lip in frustration as she shook a fist in his general direction. ‘I thought he was trying to be romantic! Damn it!’ With a scream of anger, she stomped away towards Ichiraku to join Chouji, and hopefully forget the whole thing over a nice bowl of ramen.