Ino took a deep breath and smiled at Shikamaru bashfully, her hear t fluttering in her chest. This was it, this moment meant everything.
"Shikamaru," she began, effectively drawing his attention.
"Yeah, Ino? What is it?"
"I… I…" her cheeks colored with her inability to speak.
He smiled at her. And his patience, his clearly unannoyed expression warmed her heart.
"I like you." She whispered, her voice so low it was as if the wind had spoken, instead of her girlish voice.
Shikamaru's answering smile gave her so many butterflies. "Thanks." Then they all combusted.
Her face dropped and her eyes grew wide. "W-what?" She stammered, cheeks still pink.
"I said thanks." He answered steadily, cool as a cucumber.
All at once, Ino felt her temper rise and her control slip. "There's kind of an expected response, you know!" Despite her ferocity, she hadn't meant for her voice to sound so sharp.
His eyes narrowed; she knew he didn't like being talked down to. "Despite what you may believe, I'm not a dimwit, only lazy. I know the expected response, Ino."
This momentary pause in his words gave her hope.
"But I'm not going to lie to you. I like someone else."
Ino felt tears coming on. She nodded bravely none the less, all her anger melting away to by replaced by heart-breaking sadness and disappointment.
Shikamaru noticed. His arrogance fell, too, and he reached out a hand vainly to attempt to comfort her, murmuring her name unsurely. "Ino," But his voice only faded into the background.
Ino took a step back and brought her arms to her chest, hands clasped together as she furiously fought the tears. "No, don't." She whispered, offering him one last smile before fleeing into the shadows.
Shikamaru could not make himself follow her.
---
Ino felt terrible. Not only had the fluttery hope that had been flitting about in her chest just moments ago been incinerated, but there was this odd feeling about her that she knew was decidedly emotional, yet it caused her physical pain. She may not have been the top of her class when it came to intellectual pursuits, but she wasn't dumb. It took her only a moment to realize it. This was heartbreak.
This epiphany caused a fresh wave of cascading tears to fall from her baby blue eyes.
It was not a particularly nice day in Konoha, at least not according to her standards. She preferred the sun and the blue sky, the beach and the cool water. But today was nearly the opposite. It was overcast and windy. Previously, she had thought the weather nothing special. But that was when visions of Shikamaru holding her against his chest and romantically protecting her from the wind had been swimming her mind. Now the rainy and positively gloomy conditions filled her with hate and misery.
She walked along the side walk with shaky steps, holding her head high despite the new, heavy weight on her shoulders. Her heels click-clacked on the concrete, exhibiting dazzling sparkles whenever the light of sparse street lights would hit them, bravely putting one foot in front of the other. Consciously, Ino knew that was the only thing keeping her from breaking down. The steady, click-clack, click-clack of her stilettos was calming in its regularity. It was unchanging; it was predictable. She knew they would always keep walking forward and making the click-clack sound as long as she willed them to do so. She knew her heels, just as she thought she had known Shikamaru.
She had planned this day out. Every aspect and every detail had gone according to her plan up until the point of her confession. Not only in her mind had her words come out flawlessly and without imperfections, but Shikamaru had professed his feelings to her, as well. By this time, she had imagined they were be in one another's arms, engaged in an impassioned kiss, despite the late hour and the fading warmth in the air.
Bitterly, she noted it was quite the opposite.
Ino was not especially of the analytical sort, but she thought about the future often. She had expectations of how things would go. Usually she was right, but tonight was the exception, the only exception she could remember, in fact. She'd had so many plans for her and Shikamaru. She knew they were in high school and she knew it wasn't likely that they would last. But she had thought that maybe, just maybe they could break the mold. She had imagined that Shikamaru would be her first love and her first kiss; that they would go through all the remaining drama of high school together. Of course they would fight sometimes, but they would always come out stronger, always a couple.
As it would turn out, they wouldn't even get together to begin with.
She thought they would grow old together; that they would beat all the odds and remain high school sweet hearts. She had pictured him proposing to her on the steps of their high school, the last day of their senior year. She had imagined their wedding. The whole country would be invited; it would be the most extravagant event in a decade, aside from the coronation of the sixth Hokage, one Naruto Uzamaki, of course. It would be traditional in a church. Her father would give her away, and her dress would be stunning. When she walked down the aisle, all eyes would be on her. But her own would be on Shikamaru, looking attractively handsome. They would recite their own original vows, and then he would dramatically sweep her off her feet and kiss her soundly on the mouth in front of the entire population of Konoha, showing everyone the love he felt for her that would be visible in his eyes.
It was supposed to be just like a fairy tale.
Ino found quite abruptly that she could not take all the would-have-beens. It started to rain, but she did not notice. Stumbling into an alley, she found the brick wall that marked the end and dropped to her knees. Next, slowly, mechanically, she laid down on the slowly-becoming-muddy ground. Finally, she kicked off her heels and curled into a tight ball, attempting to desperately protect herself from the cruel and uncaring world.
---
Shikamaru frowned and stuck his hands in his pockets, heading the opposite direction Ino had gone. He certainly had not expected her to confess more-than-platonic feelings for him. Sure, it had been mentioned to him by another female friend whom he'd told her behavior to, concerned that she liked him. But he didn't believe her. Ino didn't like him. She couldn't have. She was still head over heels for Sasuke. Apparently… not.
He frowned more as he reflected on what he'd told her. Admittedly, when she had confessed he'd panicked. 'Thanks,' was the first thing that had come to his mind that he figured was not absolutely mortifying. Then, when she'd lost her temper, he had grown angry too. At first he had not understood why, but it became clear to him momentarily. He never had liked being told what to do. Ino was no different in that respect. So he had told her that he had feelings for someone else. Though it was, again, the first thing that had come to mind, as his real reason was that Chouji had feelings for her - but he could scarcely tell his best friend's biggest secret, could he! –, it was not entirely a lie.
He did have feelings for someone else. And his slightly extemporaneous confession to Ino had prompted him to think about it. It had opened doors he had been keeping firmly shut as to avoid troublesome talks with himself. This was why he tried not to like anyone, liking someone was troublesome. However, he could not deny. The way he thought of her… Or the way his eyes didn't land on her face right away when he saw her. Or when she didn't have the patience to walk at his steady pace so she walked ahead of him, he could not deny his eyes strayed down ward. Or even when they argued, he could not deny he found the teal fire that came alight in her eyes to be downright… sexy.
He sighed exasperatedly. He liked Temari.
He lifted his eyes, a smirk spreading over his lips. "Speak of the devil."
As usual, she didn't miss a beat. "Aw, Shika, you were talking about me with yourself again? I'm flattered." Another smirk spread over her lips that matched his own.
He rolled his eyes. "I don't talk to myself."
"Uh huh, sure you don't."
He glared at her, now that both of them had stopped walking and stood about two feet from the other.
"No, really, I believe you. You don't talk to yourself just the same as Kankuro doesn't steal my eye liner."
"I knew there was something homosexual about him."
"I'm still not sure, but I have my suspicions."
This was how conversations went between them. There was never a dull moment and they always discussed something interesting. They switched tracks effortlessly, as if they were made to talk to one another. Shikamaru very much doubted if Temari forced him to talk to her forever that eventually he would get bored.
"Explains the puppets." He commented.
"And Sasori. I knew the way he looked at Deidara was just too fond to be straight."
Then there settled a comfortable, companionable silence between them.
"Are you hungry?" She asked.
He nodded his assent. "Ichiraku's?"
"Why not? First time this month."
Shikamaru had previously never allowed his mind to contemplate things this deeply. He and Temari had had this easy, flowing conversation thing between them for a few months now, but it was only in the past month that they had been meeting up randomly, they rarely even planned it, and going out to dinner together. Anyone else would call that dating. From the outside, it was dating. But from the inside, he didn't even know. For now, at least, they were just friends eating dinner together.
With a sigh, he realized it wanted it to be more.
Another silence settled between them. As they usually did, their strides matched each other almost as if they had minds of their own. Maybe they did. He mused idly. It would sure make his life a hell of a lot easier if things on his body had a mind of their own. Such as his eyes… There they went again. Had her dress always been that… filled out?
With effort, he cleared his mind of such thoughts and sat down at Ichiraku's, apparently having arrived their during the course of his thoughts, ordering after Temari. When their food arrived, they ate in silence, especially since the chewing did not allow for much conversation.
The rain drummed outside, making pitter-patter noises on the roof that sounded oddly like feet.
---
Ino did not know how long she had been lying there. All she knew was that the rain, the hunger, and the pain were doing a fabulous job of making her numb. And she welcomed the nothingness with open arms. It was better than the pain. Anything was better than the pain.
She had almost just about passed out, had almost downgraded her mind to that kind of peace, when a voice sounded out of the darkness.
It was incredulous. The clear caring tone the voice used stung. "Ino?"
She shivered and tried to shrink into herself. She was going to get raped.
---
The dinner had passed uneventfully. Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. They'd eaten, they'd split the bill. Now he was walking her home. Just like every other night. As they walked in time with each other, this time at a slower, more leisurely pace, for they both knew the end of the night was nearing, Shikamaru realized just how much he had grown in the past few months. Temari had always been taller than him, more recently, she had only just been. But now, he realized, he could see clearly over the top of her head. Even her spiky pig tails. He grinned at this thought.
Now, he did not care for change. The height adjustment was enough for a night; it would take time for him to get used to even that. But now… they'd arrived at her apartment, and Temari wasn't going in right away. She had turned around, presumably to make some snide comment, only it appeared that whatever she was going to say had died on her lips. Yet her mouth remained slightly open. He found it attractive, to his mortification.
His eyes flickered to her own, who then met his gaze. If the darker shade of her teal optical indicated anything, she was not the only one with conflicting interests. This was definitely not ordinary. She took a step toward him then, and for a minute he was terribly confused. She hesitated, about to turn back around and flee into the house, away from this heavy situation. Something inside Shikamaru snapped. He closed the remaining distance between them, seized her face with his hands, and then they were kissing.
Yes, this was most definitely out of the ordinary.
Greetings all! I have risen from the dead! I hope you enjoyed this story. I know I enjoyed writing it. I particularly liked writing the first and last parts. I think my writing style has changed in my year or two of absence. I hope you all enjoy it, none the less. To anyone that has stuck with me, I admire your loyalty. Read and review, loves. ; D