This is a Ino and Shikamaru fic. Read at your own risk. Don't like. Don't read, don't complain. Thankyou!

Disclaimer: Not. Mine.

---------------------------------------------------

Cat eyes. . . staring . . .at him. Shikamaru sighed what was he goin' to do with that girl? It wasn't his fault Temari had taken to permanently stalking him! She just kinda. . .did it. And now Ino was on his back! Geez . . . as if things weren't bad enough. He didn't even know that Ino liked him! Much less cared or acknowledged his existence. Well, you learn new things everyday, huh?

But now there were other problems. As if the girls weren't enough.

Asuma-sensei . . . .he was gone now . . .and there were other matters he needed to take care of. Asuma's responsibilities . . . . .he missed the man so much . . .they were right when they said that you don't know how much someone means to you until they're gone. Ino had, he swore, had been sobbing uncontrollably about 2 seconds ago . . . . .girls. He couldn't say that she was ugly . . .and she was . . .very pretty in some sort of way . . . a special way. . .

What was he thinking about!! He had to get on his stuff! Naruto and Sakura had gone off to go drag Sasuke by the ear back to Konoha. And their teacher, Kakashi was going to tear down the hospital if they put him in there again. Shikamaru had images of rubble pop suddenly into his mind. How could one man hate hospital attention and medics so much . . . and cause so much destruction. Tsunade had told him, before that Kakashi had the capability to wreck a hospital without a second thought. She said that if she didn't know him better, she would have thought that he killed armies as a hobby.

Oh, well. In other events, they wanted to make him. Stop. Repeat. Him. Instant replay. Him. A teacher. It was bad enough that his had just died, and now they were basically replacing Asuma with his own student, as if nothing had happened. . . .inconsiderate, arrogant, replacing, disrespectful, annoying, dirty, filthy, evil, out ranking him, People!!! You can't just replace a guy! You can't!!

"Hey. . .stupid. . . whaddya doin'?" He jumped and felt the hate in those eyes increase as Temari looked down on him. "Sorry 'bout your teach. . . . it must be awful. I felt the same, and probably looked the same after my mother died."

He could have swore he heard Ino growl. "Nah, that's okay, he died a great man. Besides, he told us that he would either die from smoking or on the battlefield. Dying in bed didn't suit him."

"Still, losing someone important to you hurts. . .a lot. Oh! And you too. . .Miss. . . .miss. . . .miss. . .?"

"Ino." Oh, look! Hatred in the form of words, hmm she was so talented wasn't she?

"Ino! Yes, I remember! You're the one who cut your hair!! Yes, yes! I see it's grown back! It's so pretty! I wish I had long hair! But it's just so hot at home, and Gaara doesn't like it when things change quickly. He'd probably cut it back all jaggedly and slanted. But it is so pretty. . ." Wow. Temari had one heck of a smile, huh? Wait. No. Stop, no girls. Work. No girls.

"Thanks, I think yours looks just fine. It really suits you." Don't hurt yourself, Ino was all that he could think.

"Oh, thank you!! What a nice compliment!!!" Yeah, one heck of a smile. . . .

"Oi! Temari! Do you enjoy death-on-a-stick or are you coming back to Suna anytime soon? Gaara's waiting, and I don't like death-on-a-stick, so I'm headin' that way. When you decide to stop flirting, come join us." Kankuro must have known better to keep walking, seeing as he took off in a fast jog.

Looking back to Temari, he found himself staring at a suddenly very red, almost scarlet girl.

"He's dead." She hissed under her breath, and Shikamaru immediately felt somewhere in between two Inos. They'd be better if they didn't have a 5 second fuse that lasted 3 seconds Both of them. . .

"He's dead, huh? Well, at least I'm not so violent. Right, Shikamaru?" Did he wanna answer that? "Right, Shikamaru?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"You like her, don't you?"

"Wahh?!" After picking himself up off the floor, he proceeded to study her for about 10, 15 minutes. "Like her?! What makes you think that?"

"What else!? The way you look at her! The way you act around her! The way you talk to her! What's NOT noticeable?!"

"And why do you care?!" He had a feeling that this would not be earning him points in Ino-land.

"I DON"T CARE!!! IT JUST BOTHERS ME ALRIGHT!!! SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!! I HATE YOU GET LOST!!!!"

Well, that's Ino for you.

-------------------------------

this isn't a one-shot. I will continue! Review and tell me whacha think!