Procrastination
by Yvonne Chung
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: Well.. yet another chapter.. very slowly written I must say… I apologize
for the “slowness”.
~*~
It was nearly 10 when the team decided to leave the
Ichiraku. Shikamaru stood outside the shop as Ino came out, followed by Chouji.
Waving goodbye to them, Chouji huffed a contented “bye” and strolled off
towards his home, leaving the two standing there, bathed in the yellow light of
the shop.
“Well, it’s getting late.” Shikamaru
stated observantly, looking up at the rising moon. He stuffed his hands in his
pockets and turned to look at Ino, the moon once again that night reflecting on
her face and hair, giving her an ethereal look.
“.. Yeah, it is.” Ino replied, too
lost in her thoughts to give a witty insulting remark about his observational
skills. “Well.. Uh..”
“I think I should walk you home.”
Shikamaru interrupted her thoughts, looking at her intently. “It isn’t proper
to leave a girl to walk home alone after dinner, after all..” He scratched his
head, averting his gaze for a moment, seemingly unsure of what else to do in a
situation such as this.
“Oh.. uh, you don’t need to, I can
take care of myself.. “ Ino blushed gently, her fingers pressed against each
other in a shy habit often seen practiced with the other Leaf ninja, Hinata.
“I want to.” Shikamaru stated bluntly
before holding out a hand to her as he turned towards the street.
“Oh.. then.. okay, I guess.” Ino
looked uncertain, she kicked the ground softly as she stared at the offered
hand.
“Don’t worry, I know where you
live.” He smiled. Ino stared at his face for a moment, then turned her
attention onto his hand with another blush as she realized that she was
staring.
Shikamaru’s smile only widened as
she tentatively took his hand, still seemingly unsure of what to do. He tugged
gently on her hand once before leading her down the street towards her house.
A few minutes of walking in silence
was starting to get to Ino. Sure it was nice to have a hand holding hers while
walking, but the silence was deafening, as paradox as that sounded. Shikamaru’s
hand squeezed hers momentarily, bringing her attention from the dirt road to
his face.
“You know, the stars are really
bright tonight. Have you noticed?” Shikamaru subtly entwined his fingers with
hers.
“Wow.. they are. I never noticed
until you mentioned it.” Ino stared up at the sky in awe. “Oh look! A shooting
star! Make a wish.” She stopped momentarily, closing her eyes and smiled
wistfully at the sky.
Shikamaru smiled at the girl, her
belief in a comet granting a wish was adorable. It was sort of a foreign
concept, but his wish was already set in his heart. Ino squeezed his hand as
soon as she was done staring up at the sky, and they were off again, down the
street towards her home.
They walked hand in hand around the
corner and walked past a few closed before stopping in front of the Yamanaka
Flower Shop.
“You know, Ino..” Shikamaru let go
of her hand reluctantly and scratched his head. “This may sound awkward..
but..” He trailed off, in thought of what else he could say.
Ino looked at him intently. She
didn’t want to interrupt his thoughts, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up
either. ‘What is he going to say?’ She bit her lower lip nervously.
“ I... I think.. I think I.. Uh.. I
think I like you.” Shikamaru frowned a bit, it had sounded better in his head,
but apparently, it didn’t sound so cool when he said it. The boy was a genius
when it came to everything else, but when the subject was ‘girls’, he was quite
clueless. “I’d understand if you don’t feel the same way, but.. well.. um..”
Ino stepped closer to him. “You want
to know what I wished for?” She stared him in the eyes. “I wished that I could
figure out my own feelings better, and I think I know them well enough now, to
know what I want.”
Shikamaru stared at her, he wanted
to run away right now and avoid what would happen, he didn’t want to suffer
rejection, especially because he wasn’t so smooth around girls. “What do you want?” He swallowed thickly.
“I know now that I’ve wanted this.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, and hugged him, resting her head on his
shoulder. “I wanted someone to like me, and I wanted to like someone, and have
a relationship. I realized tonight that I was looking down the wrong lane when
it comes to Sasuke.. but I think I’ve found that person tonight.” She lifted
her head and stared into his eyes punctually.
Shikamaru didn’t need to
second-guess who or what she wanted at that moment. He wrapped his arms around
her and smiled. “Then, I hope you don’t mind if I..” He pressed forward and
touched his lips to hers in the most gentle and questioning of kisses. He felt
her lips smile against his before she kissed back tentatively.
Ino pushed away a moment later,
touching her lips gently. Shikamaru felt as if he had done something wrong for
a fleeting moment, but those stray thoughts were whisked out of his mind as Ino
smiled.
“I’m sure it’ll please you to know
that you were my first kiss.” The blond girl blushed prettily. Shikamaru
smiled, elated thoughts ricocheting inside his mind.
“Likewise.” He took her other hand
and kissed her knuckles gently, before backing away slowly. “It really is late
now. I should be leaving. Goodnight, Ino, sweet dreams.” He smiled once more
before waving and walking down the adjacent street.
“Goodnight, Shikamaru.” Ino spoke
softly as she watched him disappear around a shadowy corner, the moonlight
spilling down on the road romantically. Her fingers flew up to touch her lips
again before she disappeared into her home, heart aflutter and butterflies in
her stomach.