Hey. This is Raptor. This was written for a buddy of mine, and hopefully you'll enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, or anything else Naruto, except for Raptor, Iris and Nik, who only get passing mentions. If I did, Temari would be interested in poor Kiba.

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Ino Yamanaka landed softly beside Sakura. She looked around at the mayhem before her. Rock Lee was unconscious. Tenten was already beside Neji, berating him for being stupid and insisting on a guys-only mission. Sakura was switching between Lee and Naruto, the latter of which was complaining relentlessly. Hinata was walking between Kiba, Akamaru and Shino, trying to apply some salve to all three of their open injuries. Ino sat down beside Choji, checking him. He had a nasty blow to the gut, but other than that, seemed fine. The perpetually hungry ninja already had a bag of chips in one hand, munching away.

"Where's Shikamaru?" Ino asked, her voice laced with worry. Choji began looking around.

"I don't know. He was pretty beat up... I figured he'd be here getting checked out." Ino took another long glance around. Still no Shikamaru. Asuma-Sensei, and Kakashi-Sensei had shown up, with Gai-Sensei and Kurehni-Sensei right behind them, but no Shikamaru.

"Where is he?" Ino asked, her voice slightly shrill. Naruto looked up at her.

"Shikamaru? He said that-"

"Naruto!" Kiba said, glaring at him. "You can't just betray Shikamaru!" Naruto returned the glare.

"I wasn't going to!!" Ino smiled sweetly at Naruto, and Kiba gulped.

"Naruto, what did Shikamaru say?" Naruto, not understanding what she was doing, shook his head.

"Sorry, Ino. Shikamaru said not to tell you." Ino dropped the smile, replacing it with a scowl.

"Naruto! Tell me what Shikamaru said!" Ino leaned down, and grabbed Naruto's ear. The blond boy began to squirm under Ino's pull.

"He said not to tell you about his wounds! He said it was too troublesome to see you upset, and that he would take care of them himself! Now let go of my ear!" Ino began to shake.

"Too troublesome? It's too troublesome to have me help him?"

"AUGH! LET GO OF MY EAR!!!!" Naruto yelled. Ino released his now red ear, then took off. There was only one place he could be.

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Shikamaru sat under his favorite tree, on his favorite hill. But, instead of watching the clouds, he was tending to his right arm, trying desperately to mend it before Ino could find him. If she found out that he wasn't there... and then found out that had run off to tend to himself...

"The last thing I need is that troublesome woman shouting at me." Shikamaru sighed. He never heard Ino coming up behind him.

"Why does she care anyway? I'm not her precious Sasuke." Shikamaru hissed in pain as he dabbed at his arm with a clean rag. Ino was about to come behind the tree, when Shikamaru began to talk to himself again.

"What a drag. She only cares about the Uchiha. Troublesome. Maybe I should take Choji's advice... tell her how I feel..." Shikamaru sighed. He could think of over three hundred different outcomes of doing so. Only one of them ended well. Three of them ended with him dead. Ino froze. What was Shikamaru saying? Did he...

"She probably wouldn't believe me. I can already see her laughing." Shikamaru shook his head.

"What would I say? 'Hey, Ino. I love you. I have for a while now. So, forget Sasuke and fall for me.' Oh yeah, great plan Shikamaru." Ino was shocked.

Shikamaru loves... me? Why? All I ever do is yell at him...

Shikamaru laid on his back, and looked up at the clouds.

"She doesn't even fit in my plans. She's too pretty."

Too pretty?!? I'm too pretty for him? Wait... why do I care...?

"She hates Shogi and Go."

That's true...

"And Inoichi hates me."

Again, true...

"She just too troublesome."

TROUBLESOME?!? I'll show him troublesome!

"Even with all those flaws...I still love her."

Ino took in a hitched breath. That was just so... sweet? Romantic? Heartfelt?

He loves me... how do I feel about him? He's always been there for me. In battle, in life. When Sasuke turned me down the first time, he was the shoulder I cried on. Did he love me, even then? He's always been there... I may not love him, but... Shikamaru is so nice... and... Oh! I just don't know what to do!

Unfortunately, her breath had been heard by the shinobi on the other side of the tree.

"Ino?"

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Shikamaru turned slightly, inclining his head so he could see around the tree.

"Ino?" He laid back down, hiding the surprise and fear in his voice. "How long have you been there?"

"Um..." Ino stammered, trying to think of something to say. "N-n-not l-long..."

Who am I, Hinata? What's wrong with me?

"Ino?" Shikamaru asked, tearing her from her thoughts. "Something wrong?"

Did she hear? If she did... What a drag!

"N-no..." She turned away. "Shikamaru... how was your mission?" Shikamaru laid back, looking up at the clouds.

"It was troublesome." Shikamaru said simply. Ino scowled.

"What happened, and why didn't you take any Medic-Nin?" Shikamaru sighed.

"It was Neji's idea."

"But why?" Ino asked, moving around the tree and sitting down beside him.

"He said that it was too dangerous. He claimed it worked when we went for Sasuke, it should this time as well." Shikamaru said, opening one eye to watch her while he retold the story.

"We were supposed to be guiding a representative from the Land of Lightning to Suna. We encountered a group of Mist Ninja." Ino's breath hitched, and she looked over at Shikamaru, only to see he rubbing his right shoulder. She watched, but didn't say anything.

"I thought that it was going to be easy. I had captured all ten of them with my jutsu. I was wrong."

Ino's eyes widened. Very seldom did Shikamaru say he was wrong. She waited for him to continue, and, when he didn't, she slapped him lightly on the side.

"What?" He asked, opening one eye.

"Finish the story!" She exclaimed, laying down beside him.

"It was an ambush. They used some kind of Jutsu to make it rain, covering the sun and hiding their shadows. The rest is... a blur." Of course it wasn't. Shikamaru could remember everything that happened. But, lying seemed a much better choice than telling her that they all almost died. After his jutsu had failed, the enemy Nin had gone all out. Shikamaru had become the weakest link, so they targeted him. Choji had formed into a massive ball, and one of Naruto's shadow clones had used him like a bowling ball, crashing through a group of the enemy. Neji, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru and Lee had attacked ferociously, but it just wasn't enough. Enemy reinforcements had quickly been surrounded them, and one by one they had fallen.

"How's your shoulder?" Ino asked, turning to him.

"Fine." He muttered, closing his eyes. Ino grabbed his arm roughly, and began trying to find his wound.

"Oi! Ino, let go!" He grumbled, trying to pull his arm away. Ino gripped his arm tighter, but still couldn't find the wound.

"Shikamaru, take your shirt off." He coughed, and looked up at her as if she was crazy.

"Just do it!" He mumbled a "Troublesome", but did as he was told. She winced as she saw the long scars across his body. They were both ninja, but Ino knew she only had three scars. Shikamaru... He had to have had at least thirty. the stark contrast of the red blood to his tanned chest made her freeze. This whole time he had been bleeding, and he hadn't said a thing. Ino gripped a clean rag in her hand and began to dab at his shoulder, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Ino, you don't have to-"

"Yes. I do." She smiled. He smiled slightly in return. An eerie silence followed.

"How are things between you and Temari?" Ino almost hated to ask, but anything was better than this silence. Shikamaru didn't answer.

"Shika?" Ino asked, looking over at him.

"...I don't know what you mean, Ino. There's nothing going on between Temari and me..." Ino felt slightly relieved, though she didn't know why, and gave Shikamaru a quizzed look.

"But Temari said..." Shikamaru sighed.

"She asked me out, but I turned her down." Shikamaru looked away, a faint blush on his face. "I love someone else." Ino's breath hitched again. She knew it was her he loved. But, to act like herself, she giggled.

"Who is it, Sakura?" Shikamaru wrinkled his nose, and laid back down.

"No."

"Tenten? Hinata?" Shikamaru closed his eyes.

"No." Ino rolled over, laying beside him and trying to think of other girls.

"What are Raptor's teammates names? Iris and Nik! Either one of them?" Shikamaru let out a troublesome, and opened one eye.

"No, Ino." Ino grinned evilly.

"But, Shika, that only leaves boys. You don't swing that way... do you?" Shikamaru sat up suddenly, coughing violently. Ino began rolling laughing. Shikamaru glared at her, then jumped on her, tickling.

"I'll pay you back for that, troublesome woman." She kicked out, laughing as she did so, and flipping Shikamaru onto his back. Ino then jumped on him, and began tickling. Shikamaru just stared at her.

"You know I'm not ticklish, Ino." Ino stopped, and then realized how close she was to Shikamaru. She blushed intensely, and he did as well.

"U-um, er," She stumbled, trying to find something to say.

It's now or never Shikamaru!

Shikamaru told himself.

"Ino." Shikamaru said, staring her in the eye. She looked down at him, surprised.

"Huh?" Shikamaru's face was devoid of emotion, but his voice shook.

Blasted nerves!

"You wanted to know the name of the girl I loved. Her name is Ino Yamanaka." Ino was shell-shocked. Not only had she secretly heard, but he had just confessed to her!

"I know I'm not Sasuke Uchiha, but..." Shikamaru looked away.

"Would you go to Ichiraku's with me?"

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"Would you go to Ichiraku's with me?"

That question shattered everything.

Shikamaru's a good friend, but.. he's not Sasuke. But, what has Sasuke ever done for me? Push me away? Insult me? Make me cry my eyes out all night? Shikamaru's never done any of that. No, he may call me troublesome, but he means it as a term of endearment, I'm sure. He would never really insult me. And when I need to cry, I wake him up in the middle of the night, and crawl in through his window to cry on his shoulder. Sure, he complains, but he always opens the window. Then there's that feeling after I come back to my body after using my jutsu. That tender, yet firm embrace as he defends my body... He may not be Sasuke, and I'm glad he's not. He's Shikamaru.

"No." Ino said, he closed his eyes.

"You're not Sasuke. You're better, because you're my Shika. And, I'm not a genius, so I don't understand love... but..." Ino smiled at his slightly shocked expression.

"I love having you around, and I never want that to change. This mission you had today, it made me wonder... what if you had died?" Shikamaru was shocked to feel tears falling on his face.

"If you died... I don't know what I would do. I wouldn't be able to push you around, or yell at you, or ever hear you call me troublesome again..."

Ino rocked slightly, and buried her head into his shoulder.

"If you died... so would I. Shika... I don't understand love... but... I think I... no."

Ino looked up, to find tears in Shikamaru's eyes as well.

"I know I love you." Shikamaru let out a shallow breath, and chuckled slightly.

"So you'll go to Ichiraku's with me?" Ino smiled, and Shikamaru reached up and wiped away the tears.

"You just want to show off your new girlfriend." Ino said, laughing slightly. Shikamaru laughed, long and loud, and he didn't care who heard it. For the first time in years, he wasn't bored, upset, or even tired. The girl he loved, loved him back.

"I have a better idea." Ino rolled over beside him, and tilted her head.

"What's that?" Shikamaru looked over into her blue orbs, and then at the sky.

"Why don't we just lay here, and watch the clouds?" Ino giggled, and cuddled up next to Shikamaru, who then raised his hand.

"That one looks like you." She pointed to a different one.

"That one looks like a deer." Shikamaru nodded, and pointed to a third.

"That one looks like your dad..." Shikamaru looked twice.

Since when do clouds have yellow hair? And since when did they cast such big shadows?

"Hey daddy." Ino squeaked out, smiling sheepishly.

"Hello sweetie, Nara." He said, looking at them both in turn. Shikamaru shook, visibly.

1, I'm laying one a hill, alone with his daughter, who's hugged up to my arm. 2, I'm shirtless.

"Hello, Mr. Yamanaka." Shikamaru said, trying to hold back the quiver from his voice. Inoichi towered over them, before sitting down beside his daughter.

"That one looks like a overprotective father."

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Authors Notes: Ah, the drama and the comedy. This finishes my little oneshot. I hope you guys liked it. Don't forget to review.

-Raptor, out.