A/N: A Shikamaru x Ino one-shot that I started almost a year ago... But finished just now :D ("finishing" meaning adding the ending and correcting some grammar mistakes). It's my first fanfic ever, so I'm really excited to finally be able to publish it here, and I hope someone will read and like it. And if they do, I really hope they'll review, because reviews always make my day. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Let's Watch Clouds Together

"Well, I'll leave now. There's a mission I've got to take care of as soon as I'm back," the blonde said. She kept her giant fan tied up to her back, her posture as relaxed as always.

"Yeah…" said Shikamaru as he gazed up to the slightly overcast sky. It was the very same dome as the one above Konohagakure; the same one as that above the whole ninja world. Then why the hell did it seem so different outside the walls of his village? Why did it seem so… bleak? Nonsense, he sighed as he turned to see Temari off. As soon as his gaze lowered to his eye-level, he, however, just… gasped.

A few inches away from his own eyes were two dark blue orbs, looking at him from behind the lightly lowered lids. A chuunin of Konoha could feel his cheeks turning pink as he spotted some strange, unfamiliar, unusual feeling glittering in those eyes. Of course, he could play dense and pretend he had not identified it, but… having seen the emotion flashing in his parents', his sensei's, his troublesome bossy teammate's (every time she had spotted some hot guy) eyes for so many times left no doubt about it. Desire. Yes, that's how it's called. Nevertheless, it was the very first time he had seen such a look addressed to himself. As much as it was somewhat exiting, it also made Shikamaru feel utterly embarrassed, and he couldn't stare back anymore. Desperately searching for something to land his gaze onto, he ended up fiercely peering at a nearby tree, not conscious of a deep scowl and annoyed expression forming on his face.

"Geez… Won't you even kiss a girl before saying goodbye?" Temari pouted and closed her eyes in an irritated manner, inhaling as she readied herself for a good rant. "You know, you already aren't walking me home, although you could and you certainly should--" the girl fell silent as soon as she lifted her eyelids and noticed Shikamaru's expression turning from cluelessly annoyed to absolutely dumbfounded. Moreover, he stared at her alarmed, his gaze even fiercer than the one he had directed towards the tree. "What is it, lazy ass?! Is even that… too troublesome?" she hissed, strongly emphasizing the last two words – his signature phrase, which, by the way, had been always driving her mad. No, she didn't want to kiss him anymore; instead, her fists just itched to give him a good punch in the face.

The subject of Temari's anger, meanwhile, was deep in his own thoughts. "This is just crazy… to have two girls confessing to you in just two days…"

The previous day

'So troublesome… Why the hell am I doing this?!' thought Shikamaru, the bored expression never leaving his face as he strolled down the lively Konohagakure street. 'Oh yeah… because only I can help her right now," he winced inwardly. These words of his best friend, Choji, hadn't left his mind ever since yesterday evening. Sure, their usually hyper-active teammate had been acting kind of strange lately, but was it really as serious as Choji presumed it was? Of course not. She had probably just put on some weight and now was desperately trying to dispose of it. Yeah, that's probably it. "Figures I'll just got to tell her that those additional pounds aren't visible at all and leave. As if she'd believe me, anyway…" thought the Nara boy and noticed that he was already in front of the Yamanaka residence. Sighing – no, painfully groaning – he launched forward and knocked on the door. Before long, Missis Yamanaka showed up.

"Aw, if it isn't Shikamaru! What a pleasant surprise! Do you have a mission today and came to pick Ino up?" said an over-cheerful woman and flashed the boy a genuine smile.

"Good afternoon, Missis" politely uttered Shikamaru. "Uhm, not really. There aren't any missions today, but yesterday there was. I mean, there hadto be one, but Ino didn't show up and so we couldn't leave…" he lied. And then mentally kicked himself. Should've sounded more convincing, he thought. "I came to see if she was all right" finally finished Shikamaru and was happy that at least the last sentence was true. Of course, there weren't any missions neither today, nor yesterday, nor any other day that week. But he just couldn't tell Ino's mother that he only came because he had been worried about her daughter's well-being. Missis Yamanaka getting the wrong idea is one thing; but when "the news" would reach his mother's ear… No, he didn't even want to ponder on it.

"Oh, that slacker! She hasn't mentioned any mission," pouted the woman. "In fact, I've hardly even talked to her lately – she spends everyday in the garden reading some romance book and then goes and locks herself in her room. Ino even skips the dinner, saying she's already fat enough and no one likes her! I tell you, that gal is crazy!" screeched Missis Yamanaka, reacting as passionate as her daughter would.

Shikamaru nodded. How typical of Ino, being obsessed over love and nutrition. He wasn't expert in neither of those fields, so maybe he could leave now?..

Seeing the boy hesitate, the woman quickly interrupted his thoughts. "She's in the garden now. Go and see her, okay? Even if it doesn't look so, I'm really worried," said Ino's mother, grim tone of voice replacing the shrieking one. After a moment of silence, her face lit up again. "Oh, and would you be so kind as to bring the lunch to her? I'm very busy right now and Inoichi is starving, too."

Not waiting for an answer, Missis Yamanaka vanished into the kitchen and soon reappeared with a bowl of soup. At the sight, a vein popped up on Shikamaru's temple. As if having to come here on damn Sunday only to see if she was all right wasn't enough, he now had to serve Ino around in her own house. That troublesome girl… But in spite of his thoughts, he nodded and took the bowl. He wasn't a total ass, yet.

"Thank you, dear. I'm sure she'll find the soup even tastier if it's you who gives it to her." And with a wink, the woman walked back to the kichen.

Though still a little baffled by this statement, Shikamaru turned to the back door and proceeded. It seemed that women were just destined to make troubles. Or, more accurately, he was destined to be surrounded by troublesome women. Firstly, he had to live with his loud and bossy mother. Then he got teamed up with the most hyper-active, loud and bossy girl in his class. And finally, he was assigned to guide Temari, again, one loud and bossy gal, in Konoha for a week. Thank God it was already the sixth day, and after her departure the next one he would have the whole 5 days off. His lips curved into a relaxed smile as he already imagined what would feel to just lie on the grass and watch clouds for a whole day. Sadly, the reality wasn't nearly as pleasant. Here he was walking down the huge alley of Yamanaka garden, a hot soup bowl in his hands, searching for a romance-reading Ino. Perfect.Just perfect.

It hadn't been long before he spotted a silvery blond ponytail sticking out from behind a rosebush. Shikamaru sighed, and though a tad slower, went forward.

"Hey-- Ino?" a hoarse greeting escaped his lips. Here, on a pallet, lay his teammate, her legs folded, eyes swollen, and sobbing quietly. Now he got what her mother and Choji had said about her being completely other self. She had always looked so self-confident, so strong-willed and strong in general, that seeing her prostrated like this didn't fully registered on Shikamaru's mind at first.

Ino lifted her head in the direction of his voice and gasped in surprise. "Shi-- Shikamaru? What are you doing here?" Her gaze then lowered to the bowl of soup in his hands and she stared at it with even bigger astonishment, lips still slightly trembling from sobbing.

Now it was Shikamaru's turn to be amazed. What in the world was that? Ino didn't laugh at him. Ino didn't call him a freaking lackey. She didn't even stand to give him one of those extremelyfriendly hugs she had delivered to him and Choji every time they had met. Instead, she stared at him with those bloodshot eyes. With silence growing uneasy, Shikamaru breathed some air in and spoke.

"Oh, if you wonder about this soup, it's your mom who gave it to me. She asked if I could bring it to ya… So here you go."

Ino still seemed not to register any words. Dumbfounded look on her face, though, made Shikamaru heave a good sigh. Supposing she'd cried only because of that stupid romance book that was now lying by her side, he decided to act as he would normally do.

"Geez, Ino, just take the bowl already. My palms are burning, dammit!"

The dark-haired boy felt his heart sink as Ino's lower lip began to twitch again and her eyes refilled with tears. Perfect. He made her cry, although he had come here to console her. Well, at least to find out what exactly had been troubling her; why she had been so rare to see around; and, his newest goal – why the hell had she been reading those stupid romances. Ino hated books, as far as he knew. And here she was, lying in her garden completely alone, exchanging communication with her friends to sobbing over some lame fictional characters. "There's no helping it," thought Shikamaru and opened his mouth to apologize. However, no words escaped his parted lips, as the last thing he saw… was tightly clutched fist, menacingly flying towards his face.

In an instant, the twinge spread all over his cheek.

In the next instant, Shikamaru could feel the hot noodles slithering all over his shirt. Some even found their way to his bare skin and caused it to twinge even more than his face already did.

That's it. The soup was spoiled. His shirt was spoiled. His mood was spoiled.

"Ino, what the--"

"Shikamaru, you big jerk!!! What do you think you're doing, barging in my private area, shouting at me and on top of this, spilling my soup out??!"

"But it was you who made me spill--"

"Shut up! Don't you see I'm crying, for God's sake?! You're supposed to comfort me, not shout at me!"

"It's you who shouts at me!"

"I have a complete right to do this!"

"Is that so?" uttered Shikamaru, red shade of anger covering his still aching face. Ino had always been annoying to some extent, but this was just too much. At the very first days of them being a team, he had had to put all of his efforts just not to shut her up; later, he had started to grow used to her daily sallies and hadn't minded them much; eventually, he had even begun to find them kind of amusing and an essential part of team Asuma's character. But for some reason, at the time still unclear to him, at that certain day he only wanted for her to be clever and appeasable.

"I guess it was a mistake of me to come here after all," he said finally. "I see what you're doing here now. You're acting strangely, pretending to be unwell, making us all think there really is something bothering you... when actually you've just decided to play a little game due to the lack of attention. Am I wrong, Ino? Isn't it because of the lack of attention?"

Ino stood there, slowly registering those harsh words, which suddenly even seemed to make sense. But no, this time she wasn't playing any games. On the contrary, it could have been exactly those silly games she had been playing all her life that had caused the current state of hers.

"Shikamaru…" her voice cracked, yet she stepped forward. Ino intended to reach out and touch Shikamaru's hand, but she didn't find enough strength within her to do so. "I'm… not playing any games." The girl then eyed Shikamaru silently, praying that this pronouncement would be enough; that he would understand what she implied without her saying that out loud.

But apparently, it wasn't enough, as Shikamaru continued to stare at Ino with silent reproach, ever so slightly raising an eyebrow at her words.

"Then what is it that you're playing?"

"I said, I'm not playing anything!" desperate, but at the same time cross, Ino rapidly moved towards Shikamaru, only half a dozen inches now between them. Hurt and anger distorted her face, and together with still present tear streaks, resulted in really miserable sight.

Having Ino in such a close proximity was totally devastating for Shikamaru. An immense feeling of compassion flooded him, and he momentarily forgot the reason why was he angry with her. She acted as she always did, she was impulsive and even kind of aggressive… that he could bear, he was used to bear; he quite liked, to be honest. And she was damn close.

"Then… why do you do it… Ino?.." he trailed off, the last of the words almost completely inaudible. The space between them seemed to acquire a magnetic feel to it, both vehement attraction and modest repulsion being too strong to resist.

Ino couldn't help noticing the change in Shikamaru's expression and tone of voice. In any other case, she would have most certainly been triumphant, as once again her approximate womanly presence proved to be effective. This time, though, the only thing she felt was either fearful resolution, or burning need, or maybe both… As she had to tell him, now or never, she had to.

"I just… I just can'tstandseeingyouwithher!" the words came spilling out, not really the way Ino had intended to pronounce them. They should have sounded steadfast and harsh, they had to expose her feelings to Shikamaru—Oh. Giving it a small thought, she felt a wave of fear overwhelming her, a feeling of childish apprehension, which was really ridiculous, as Ino was always bold in such cases and she never tended to have any problems telling some boy she liked him. But Shikamaru was entirely different from all of her previous crushes. Firstly, he was her childhood friend, with whom she had established a rather strong bond of amiability. Secondly, he was her teammate, and any sort of relationship could have been adverse in their missions. Thirdly, there was that extremely annoying sand-bitch pestering Shikamaru on every occasion possible. Finally, finally – he was just too smart to not get what she had meant, wasn't he?

"What?.." nevertheless, he elected to ask, initial astonishment on his face being replaced by amused curiosity. Shikamaru succeeded in concealing his fluster, though his cheeks flushed, if ever so lightly.

"Jerk. Don't make me say that again," Ino uttered, inclining her head and gazing at Shikamaru's noodle-covered shirt, absent-mindely brushing some of them away. Thus, she did not really comprehend his hand landing on hers short after, at first.

"You don't have to repeat it. Elaborate, please." He said, mildly squeezing her hand in his, but not being fully conscious as to why was he asking for it, why would it matter to him at all…

Ino tilted her head up. "I believe you're clever enough to figure it out by yourself."

"I want to hear you saying that." A small smile played on his lips as he said the sentence, but he shortly steadied out. "Please, Ino. You can tell me what's bothering you, honestly. I want to help you, you are my very dear friend…"

The girl winced inwardly. Friend… So she was only a friend to him. But what had she been expecting? Of course she was only a friend… On the other hand, it was a great achievement, a great fortune to have such a reliable person by her side, so she wouldn't complain, wouldn't blame him for anything… Friends did deserve to know the truth, and she would simply tell him it.

"Shikamaru… I--" Ino stammered, feeling absolutely incapable of finishing the sentence, her genuine confession. With her cheeks flushed, eyes glassy, she indeed was. Nonetheless, as Ino cast a look at the subject's of her feelings face, at his searching dark eyes, the irresistible urge washed over her, and the next thing both she and Shikamaru knew was her soft lips brushing against his, tentative yet demanding.

"…I like you," was the hushed confession that came out more like an urgent breath as they broke apart. Ino didn't open her eyes, savouring the still present taste of Shikamaru on her lips. I said it, I finally managed! She was scared by the extent of her own joy, though. Had it been Hinata confessing to Naruto, for instance, her unaccountable shyness would have made more sense, Ino thought and couldn't stifle a light chuckle. Feeling the inner strength and courage flooding back to her, the girl then snapped her blue eyes open, only to find a completely amazed Shikamaru, the colour of his face now almost prominently red.

"I like you." She repeated, this time more articulately and with more sureness in the tone of her voice. "And I was afraid to tell you that. I thought you were with Temari… And I still don't know. I've even been reading romance books, imagining us in the place of the main characters… Silly, isn't it? You've made me a complete retard, Shika."

And with a quick hug, she whispered into his ear, "We're friends, and that won't change if you don't want it. Just, if… by any chance… you would want… ask me to watch clouds together with you, and that will be enough."

"Temari's not with me," Shikamaru spilled out, suddenly.

"What?"

"Just… you said it before, that you'd thought we were together, so I tell you we're not…" he trailed off, not really knowing why was he making excuses for his seeming relationship with Temari.

"Thank you," Ino whispered, and Shikamaru wasn't sure if he had seen a forming bright smile on her face or not, as she abruptly turned around and, gathering her books and pallet, ran straight home.

And here Shikamaru stood before exasperated Temari, yet another girl with some kind of feelings towards him. But he had to admit that, despite all the time he had spent with this one, Shikamaru couldn't bring himself to consider her as true a friend as Ino; as dear to him as his teammate was. Temari belonged to Sunagakure, to different world, and adjusting to her would be simply… too troublesome.

"It is, indeed, too troublesome, Temari."

"What is?" she spat out, though knowing what he had meant perfectly well.

"I won't walk you home. Sorry, Temari, have a safe trip!" and with a nonchalant wave of hand, he turned around and paced back to Konohagakure, leaving the female chuunin frustrated and defeated; but by no means hurt. He could see the difference between the ways the two girls talked to him, the manners in which they looked at him. He was only a caprice to Temari, while Ino's feelings were true and genuine, and Shikamaru cherished them more than he knew.

So, when he found her later that day in her garden topping rosebushes, hugged her waist from behind and saw her face brighten at the sight of him, the words just flew out of his mouth automatically, but at the same time carried the commitment of their future, their brand new bond:

"Ino, let's go watch clouds… together."