HIIIII KIDDIES. I'm back, and better than ever. I've had a bout of writer's block..and this story just kinda popped out! It's my first Naruto story that I'm putting on the site and it's ShikaIno..my second favorite pairing. Ino is having a bad day and Shika brightens it up. Hope you enjoy it! I am not Masashi Kishimoto or asian, so I do not own Naruto.

-Millie

Growl. Snarl. Glare. The blonde bombshell scared off passersby as soon as they caught a glimpse of her. Yamanaka Ino was having a bad day--make that horrible--and was not happy.

It all started when she woke up this morning. Her alarm didn't go off on time, which made her late--very late—to a very important meeting with the Hokage. It then continued on to when she looked in the mirror.

Ino had been up late the night before, writing up a mission report, therefore producing many bags and dark circles under her eyes. She then observed the numerous bruises she had on her face, arms, and stomach from training with Sakura the other day. And damn, she was sore. She had then noticed the pimple that had squeezed it's way onto to her usually flawless face.

Ino snarled as she realized she had absolutely no time to even attempt to cover any of these monstrosities, let alone shower. With a twitch and a sigh, the blonde rushed through her morning routine, which did not help her already bad mood.

This mood had escalated when she burnt herself on he frying pan while trying to make eggs, and drinking some overly expired milk. Not to mention, she didn't even get to drink her damn coffee.

Ino then became angrier as she tripped over her neighbor's skateboard and developed another nasty bruise. She even got into a short little bicker with her neighbor after she yelled at the kid to 'keep his damn crap away from and out of her way.' Let's just say that neither the neighbor nor Ino was happy after this little exchange. Great, now she'll have to move.

The mind possessor's day became inreasingly worse as she learned that she got the wrong day for her meeting with the Hokage and could have slept in longer. She rushed so much that she couldn't get her damn coffee and she finds out now that she could have gotten more sleep. Life was unfair.

Things got even more rotten as more incidents occurred. Things like Naruto shouting in her ear, some bratty kid throwing a water balloon at her, and getting into yet another fight with Sakura made Ino more irritated. It was just not her day today.

The blonde sighed as she laid down in a familiar spot on a familiar hill. She was finally getting some peace when not moments later, a pineapple shaped shawdow blocked out her sun. "Oi, Ino! Whatcha doing here?" Shikamaru Nara lazily asked as he towered over his teammate.

The blonde was in his favorite cloud watching spot—which was normal as she enjoyed bothering and harassing him for being a lazy ass. But what was unusual was that she was laying down, looking tired and half-asleep. The girl was usually sitting up and talking very animatedly, unlike her current position. Shikamaru noted she was out of it—and it wasn't just PMS.

"Shut. Up." Ino said as the brunette sat down next to her irate form. He cocked an eyebrow. Normally, he was telling her that.

"Something wrong?" Shikamaru asked as he laid back on the soft green. "Che. Every thing's wrong. But what do you care? I'm just another annoyance in your useless life." "Troublesome woman. I care 'cause I'm your friend. But if you don't want to talk..." Ino grumbled.

"Fine. I'm having a bad day. I haven't been getting sleep, I'm overworked, and stressing out. And on top of that, I look like hell. The one thing I can pride myself in is my looks and I couldn't even manage to do that right. Everything is falling apart—including me." Shikamaru scoffed. At this, Ino cocked an eyebrow in a questioning manner.

"You always try to be perfect," Shikamaru explained, "You're always trying to hold it together. But even you, perfect little Ino, needs to take a break once in a while. You can't be perfect. No one is. So stop trying. Just be comfortable with who you are. As you girls say, strut your stuff. Stop being so uptight. Pull that stick out of your butt and get your nose out of the air. You just need to chill out sometimes. Slow down and enjoy life as it comes."

Ino shook her head, amazed. Somehow, Shikamaru had brightened her entire day with a reality check.

"I don't know how you did it, but I feel better. Who knew you could be useful for something?" Despite the insult, Shikamaru gave Ino a lazy smile. "I guess I am good for something after all, then." He joked, with a chuckle.

In spite of her previous irritable mood, Ino gave a laugh. "Yeah. Who knew?"

Hope you liked it. REVIEW!