If you are Catholic, you'll understand what I refer to by the 'candle count down' also know as a Advent Wreath. Ring a bell? Well, anyways, basically there will be four oneshots linked slightly at the end, combined in this fanfic. Enjoy, and please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, at all.

Snow drifted down gently from the darkening sky. The blond girl watched it fall outside the window of the shop she was managing at the moment. The small room was filled with flowers and their scents mixed to form a strong aroma of rose, dairy, and iris. With a sigh, she flipped through the order book in front of her. A couple arrangements, a few pickups of bouquets, nothing exciting, after all, it was only the first week of December. When Christmas drew closer, more orders would pour in a business would boom. The girl knew this from past experience, but also for past experience, she knew that the few weeks at the beginning of the month would be the slowest and the most boring. She heaved a delicate sigh and doodled a few hearts on the corner of the order booklet.

"Why must there never be any interesting people coming through?" She groaned and jumped off the stool she had been sitting on. She walked over to the radio and flicked it on. Quiet Christmas music mixed with the smell of the flowers, and she slumped back onto the stool and sung along to Mariah Carey.

"I don't want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need
I don't care about presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you...
You baby"

While she sung, the flower shop door opened and a person walked in, shaking snow off his jacket and boots. He stopped by the door and listened to her singing.

"Hey, you sing well, Ino." The girl, Ino, spun on her stool and nearly fell off. She flushed red and preoccupied herself by straightening the already organized papers and pens on the counter.

"Aa, y-you, you heard that, Shika?" She stuttered and glanced up at the boy. He had his nonchalant face on, per usual.

"No, I just guessed that you were singing on a whim and said you were good, with and without actually considering that you might not actually have been singing." He said sarcastically as he stretched like a cat.

"Urgh, whatever. Are you here for any particular reason?" Ino growled, feeling irritated. She crumpled a scrap piece of paper in her hand and then chucked it into the garbage bin by her feet.

Shikamaru groaned and pulled a piece of pink paper out of the pocket on his black sports jacket, and flipped it onto Ino's desk.

"Yeah, my mom wants to order some flowers for Christmas, and she wanted her order in early. And as usually, I was beaten into submission." He groaned, pointing to a bruise on the side of his face.

"Uh, ouch. Sorry about that."

"Why?"

"Because it's polite." Ino explained, unfolding the paper gracefully and writing the order down in the order book in a flowing script.

"Since when do you care about being polite to me?" Shikamaru muttered, receiving an icy glare from Ino as a reward. Ino set down her pen with a smart click and grinned widely.

"Yes! The first order of December! In your face Mom, I can so do something other that cutting and beating people up!" She cheered. She noticed Shikamaru had a 'what the hell' face on.

"What 'cha staring at Pineapple? You want me to take over your body and prance through the streets singing Barney songs? I've done it before, I can do it again." She narrowed her eyes and shook her fist at him. To her surprise Shikamaru started laughing.

"Hey! What's so funny?" Ino pouted and threw her pen at him. He dodged, as she knew he would.

"You!" He blurted out, grabbing onto one of the display cabinets to keep from falling over. Ino tilted her head to the side and gave him a look that made her resemble a kicked puppy. He stopped shaking and glanced back up at her, promptly breaking into chuckles again.

"I am really not getting what is so funny, so stop laughing or I'll kick you out."

"Your threats don't work on me, Ino. Except maybe the Barney one. I don't think I'll ever live that down."

"Good." Ino stuck her tongue out at him and stuck her thumbs in ears, wiggling her fingers.

"Eh, anyways, I'm staying here for now, because if I go home, my mom will make me do chores until my arms fall off, then I'll have to do them with my legs until I die." Shikamaru grunted, stretching again.

"Do I get any say in you taking over my shop?" Ino huffed angrily.

"Nope, and it's not your store, genius." Shikamaru grinned and paced around to behind the counter and grabbed the extra stool and pushed it into a position beside Ino. He slid onto it and flopped over onto the counter, stealing the order book and using it as a pillow.

"Shika!" Ino exclaimed, trying to grab the book back from under his head. All she got in response was a sleepily muttered curse and a boy whom was now endangering the life of her order forms through strangulation. She sighed, a regular occurrence that that evening it seemed. She poked him, hard, in the ribs. Shikamaru shot up with a cry of protest.

"What the heck was that for you troublesome woman?!" He gasped and clutched his ribs.

"For killing my book!" Ino cried, waving the crumpled book in front of his face. Shikamaru grumbled and moved to sleep again. Ino beat him in the fast movement contest and grabbed his ear. She pulled his head up with a jerk and began to yell in his ear.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, MISTER! YOU ARE. NOT. SLEEPING WHEN YOU WANT TO SATY HERE TO ESCAPE FROM YOUR PARENTS! DO SOMETHING YOU PINEAPPLE!" She screeched in his ear, "YOU WANT TO REST? NEXT TIME DON"T WRECK MY… MPPFH??" Ino had been cut off by something pressing down hard over her mouth. She opened her eyes wide and saw a pair of dark eyes and what looked to be the bridge of a nose. Then whatever was pressing against her mouth moved and,

"Thank God, peace and quiet." Came Shikamaru's muffled exclamation against Ino's lips. Ino took a step backwards and found herself tripping over her stool.

Stupid stool, I knew it would betray me one day. Wait, I'm falling, going to probably break my skull, just got kissed by my childhood friend, and I'm thinking about a stupid STOOL?! A random conversation with her mind flashed through her mind as she fell backwards in what appeared to be slow motion. She braced herself for the hit.

She hit something, but not what she though she was going to hit. She groggily opened her eyes and found herself kissing Shikamaru, again.

"Ah! Sorry, Shika!" She cried in a high pitched voice as she rolled off him. The lazy boy grinned and propped himself up on his elbows. Ino held out a hand and blushed as her grabbed it. She hauled him to his feet and looked at the floor.

"Hey, Ino, I know a way you can repay me." He smirked, though she couldn't see because, as we know, she was staring at the floor.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I think you'll like it." He said, and Ino looked up with a confused look on her face. She saw Shikamaru's smirk and tried to take a step backwards, but found herself pinned against the wall. He smiled and leaned down a bit. Ino's mind entered chaos mode when her kissed her.

He's just a friend…

You retard, you've liked him forever!

No, I like Sasuke!

You are a complete idiot.

You are me! My inner! You're insulting yourself!

No, I'm insulting my outer self!

Darn you.

You like him.

No I… actually… I guess I do.

Shikamaru broke off the kiss, and grinned when he saw Ino's shocked, but not necessarily unhappy face.

"I take it I'm accepted?"

"You idiot! You just stole my first kiss three times!"

"How do you take something for the first time more than once?" He raised an eyebrow and then sighed, "So it's a no then?" He turned around and began to walk away.

"See you at training, Ino-san."

"Ah! No, Shika, wait!" The boy turned his head only to look over his shoulder at Ino. Only she wasn't there. He turned back in surprise and found the blond Nin standing in front of him.

"I never said it was a no." She huffed indignantly before reaching up on her toes and giving him a peck on the lips. Shikamaru grinned like he was on drugs.

"That's a scary face you're making." Ino pointed out, and the boy scowled down at her. He bonked her on the head. Then he tried to kiss her again.

"Hey, no way, I have a job I have to do." Ino teased before picking up her stool and placing it back upright. She sat down and began to sort the papers that had been messed up by the sleeping episode.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru sat down beside her and leaned his head against her shoulder.

"I'm sleeping then, Ino-Chan."

"Lazy butt." She giggled and straightened the papers.

Preview:

He opened the door apprehensively, gazing into the flower shop expectantly. He was there for flowers…

It seems that I liked writing kisses in this oneshot... uh... quess the next couple. I didn't give many hints this time... sorry. I'll do better in the future.

Out, Kugi-chan