Author's Note: This fic is dedicated to my sister sesshiefanatic101. She loves this pairing and she's been wanting me to write this pairing for awhile.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

What I Always Wanted

You never really know how difficult dating actually is until you actually start. Trust me, I thought it was going to be a piece of cake if you'd just sit there and pretend to listen to there yammering, give them what they want, and when they tried on clothes say that they look great even though you may be lying. I thought that was the perfect equation to a relationship. I completely miscalculated.

Ino was my first girlfriend and with that came pain. My dad gave me the sex talk and gave me advice about how to make a woman happy. I known Ino for a long time, so I knew what to expect. She was the same Ino I always knew, but she seemed to get worse the longer we dated. She was even more annoying than I thought would've happened. That relationship I ended, decided that it was best for my sanity to just be friends with her. Now, she's dating Choji and their relationship is going much better than ours went.

My next girlfirend was Temari and with that came fear. We started dating a couple weeks after Ino and I broke up. Apparently, the woman had always had a thing for me since the chunnin exams and as soon as she found out that I broke up with Ino she came to Konoha and claimed me in a kiss. When I brought her home to meet my parents after my mom yelled at me to bring home my new girlfriend. As soon as my mom began talking to Temari I knew it was dangerous because when Temari left my mom said she liked her and my dad said that she was like mom. A couple days later, I dumped her because she was too much like my mom. She's now dating Lee.

The next girlfriend that came along was Hinata and with that came frustration. She didn't change too much, even when we were dating. She was still timid and was still fascinated with Naruto. Why I dated her, I don't know. I guess I just decided to date her to see if Naruto would get jealous. The poor girl was in love with the dolt, so I guess I wanted to help her. I did think she was cute, but then the whole Naruto fascination thing got so damn annoying that I dumped her and told Naruto that he should take her out to eat. Hinata's now dating Naruto.

Tenten was my next girlfriend a couple months after Hinata and with that came a deal. She talked to me about how she wanted to date Neji and how that she wanted to date me to make him jealous. I agreed because I was bored and had nothing else better to do. She's an attractive girl, so I never had any complaints. It just got annoying when she would complain about Neji not getting riled up and not coming after her like she wanted him to. Honestly, I understood why. Finally, after a month of torture, I dumped her and never turned back. She's now dating Kankuro.

My last girlfirend was Sakura and with that came nothing. She decided to date me to fill in her void of loneliness because missed Sasuke so much. She's a great looking girl, don't get me wrong. She's absolutely beautiful and more so in the night, but there was nothing between us. I was just there for her, a replacement for the Uchiha that she cared for so much. I hated it after a few weeks of dating, so I dumped her. She's now dating Sasuke.

I was annoyed with the whole dating scene and as I watched the clouds in the sky I searched for the logic in it. Then a head of red stood over my view and stayed there in silence. I gulped and sat up, "Gaara."

"What are you scowling about?" he asked, his voice even and eyes boring into mine. His eyes drew me into him and I couldn't help but find myself thinking about how beautiful they were, telling a story only to those that were willing to listen. Hurt, despair, blood, and ever searching for one to love him or make him feel alive, was all there talking to me. Oddly, I wasn't annoyed or frustrated anymore, all I wanted was to bring him into my arms and make him mine. Is this what people call infatuation? No, love?

Since that day a year ago I've had the best relationship I could possibly have. My parents were taken aback by it and handled it well after they adjusted to it (well, mom anyways). Now here I lay in the bed that Gaara and I have shared on multiple occasions, staring at the ceiling and thinking about the past year. The door opened to the room and footsteps come towards the bed. Then the voice that I've fallen in love with speaks, "Shikamaru, get dressed, Choji's here."

I looked over at the man that used to frighten me, smiled a little, and said, "I love you, Gaara."