OH SNAP!! Two updates in less the a week! I'm on a roll!
It's completely onesided! Onesided Ino/Sakura and onesided Shikamaru/Chouji. Kinda sad, but it shows more Shikamaru/Ino friendship stuff and Shikamaru/Chouji friendship stuff.
I don't own Naruto! But if I did, ALL THE CHARACTERS WOULD BE GAY! MAWHAHAHA! lol
All I Can Give
Ino sighed as she gently rested her head against the soil covered counter.
"Ino! Ino, are you in here?" A husky voice called from the front of the flower shop, his face hidden from view by the many flowers covering the shop. Although she couldn't see him, she knew who it was immediately.
"Yeah Shika, I'm at the front counter." She called back, any other emotion masked by the annoyance in her voice.
"Troublesome women…" She heard as brown hair came into view over the lilies.
"Oh shut up, you lazy bum. What do you want?" She spat as she lifted her head up enough for his face to finally come into view.
"Well I was just passing by and thought a flower would be nice for my mom. Plus I need to talk to you." He mumbled. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"About what?" She glared, clearly feigning ignorance.
"You sure as hell know what. You barely come out of the shop anymore. Chouji and I are lucky to see you twice a week when you actually bother showing up to practice! Ever since Sasuke came back…" Ino tossed a handful of dirt at the brunette and crossed her arms angrily.
"Don't even mention that traitor!" She spat and leaned back on her stool. Shikamaru sighed.
"Like I was saying, ever since Sasuke came back and started going out with Sakura, you barely show your face in public anymore. Screw a flower for my mom; I just want to know why." He said as he pulled up another stool and stared at her. The blonde girl's eyes glazed over at the mention of the pink haired girl's name, but her face was so full of rage by the end of Shikamaru's rant.
"It's none of your damn busy." She whined, a hurt look now apparent to him.
"This isn't about Sasuke, is it?" He asked, a puzzle slowly fitting together in his mind. Ino was silent for a moment before sighing heavily in defeat.
"She deserves better." She whispered and Shikamaru barely heard her, but he understood.
"Did you ever like him to begin with?" Again, she hesitated before shaking her head 'no'. "Oh Ino…"
"It kills me to see them together." Shikamaru could see her eyes welling up and saw how hard she tried to fight them.
"Why did you let her end your friendship all those years ago then? I mean, since you never liked Sasuke then the two of you didn't really have anything to fight about." Ino nodded.
"I know, but I just couldn't bring myself to stop her that day she walked away from me. It has taken me so long to figure out way, but when Sasuke came back and I became jealous of Sakura all over again I figured out why. I wasn't every jealous of her… I was jealous of him. And I've been hiding this away from Sakura the whole time." Shikamaru stood from his stool and walked around the counter to embrace his blonde haired teammate as she let the floodgates open.
"Shhhh it's okay, Ino. It's okay." He said soothing, but she didn't stop.
"I love her, Shika. I'm in love with the girl I hate!" She cried as he sighed.
"I know, I know. And as much as you love her… it may never be enough." Shikamaru regretted his words as her tears turned to sobs.
"B-But I love her! I love her more then that jerk Sasuke ever will or any boy ever could! I just want to be the one to love her and make her happy!" She cried.
"Sometimes things don't always work out the way we want them to, Ino."
Many hours later, Shikamaru walked out of the Yamanaka Flower Shop with a bitter look on his face and a flower in his hand. Chouji bounded up the street where his teammate stood, a bag of chips pressed firmly to his chest.
"Hey… Shikamaru… where's… Ino?" He asked as he struggled to control his breathing.
"She's still inside the shop moping around." He muttered as he began up the street.
"Oh. What's the flower for? I thought you were going to talk to her about her behavior." Shikamaru sighed.
"I did, but for some reason I made up a stupid excuse about getting a flower for my mom and Ino wouldn't let me leave until I got her one. What a drag…" Chouji nodded as he began to dig into his chip bag.
"So did you talk to her then?" He asked through a mouthful of chips.
"Yeah, I did. Remember a while back when you said you got the feeling Ino might be gay? Well she is. And she claims she's in love with Sakura." Chouji choked on his chips.
"Seriously? Man, I was only kidding too. Still… Ino and Sakura… didn't see that one coming." Shikamaru nodded.
"Yeah well, Sakura is going out with Sasuke and appears to be very straight. Still, Ino won't let it go. She said something about loving Sakura and only Sakura until the day she dies." Shikamaru stated in a bored tone as they turned down another street towards Shikamaru's house.
"That seems kind of pointless to me." Chouji mumbled as he finished off his chips and pulled out another bag.
"Women are so troublesome. Ino isn't going to even tell Sakura about her feelings, so she won't ever know or be able to return them." Chouji munched away as Shikamaru tossed his head back and closed his eyes.
"Maybe that's not what's important to her. If Ino's love for Sakura is completely unwavering until the day she dies, then that's giving more to Sakura then any person ever could. It may not be returned, but its better then a meaningless existence." Chouji explained, but Shikamaru merely shook his head.
"What a bother. What makes you an expert on love anyway?" Chouji glanced at Shikamaru out of the corner of his eyes as they glazed over with a look similar to Ino's earlier at the mention of Sakura's name.
"I'm not an expert, it was just a guess." He mumbled half-heartedly, but Shikamaru ignored it and walked up to his house.
"Whatever."
The End
Good? Nice? Bad? Horrible? Reviews would be great!!
