I do not own Naruto. I can prove it because I'm not stinking rich... I can dream, can't I?

Beneath the Surface

I could already feel the excitement fading. The anxiousness that had built up over a series of months continued to leak from my body as water from a balloon.

I'd been on this cruise ship for three whole days now, and still they wouldn't let us dive. We'd been over the reef now for days and they still... nothing!

A group of my friends and I are spending a week on this cruise ship so that we could dive. All we came for was to see the famous reef, maybe catalog some fish for a few classes. After all, it was spring break.

I huff angrily.

"Relax, Pig." Sakura said from the seat next to me, "We still have four days."

"Forehead," I growled back at her, glaring from behind my Prada sunglasses. "diving takes time. Time that we won't have if we don't get down there soon."

"It's a vacation, Ino. You need to relax and try not to kill yourself. If we don't get down there, the trip will still be fun. Well, it would be if you would just lighten up."

"If I don't get the extra credit, Forehead, the school will drop me out on my ass. You don't know what that's like because you're effing perfect."

Sakura slipped her sunglasses down slightly, "Ino, we have four days. Relax."

I rolled my eyes and ignored her.

Sasuke came by sometime later—with a small smile that he gave only to his girlfriend—to get Sakura. They went off somewhere to have lunch. They made me ill.

My friends made me sick. They were all paired off. Every last one of them. The worst part of it was, all of them would one day get married. It was fact. There was no way that these perfect couples would ever break up. Save me, the lone one. The seventh wheel.

The alarm on my phone brought me out of my angered musing, signaling that it was time to turn over.

"All licensed scuba divers please make your way to the main deck. All licensed scuba divers please make your way to the main deck. Diving will begin in 20 minutes."

I tore out of my bathroom to hurriedly throw on my bikini. Grabbing a towel, I sprinted toward the main deck, bumping into people and knocking over anything that got in my way.

I ended up being the first person there besides the officials. There was a rather large projector screen set up beside a small podium. Behind said podium, was a very bored looking man. He had a dejected look in his black eyes, which said he'd much rather be somewhere else. He had spiky black hair that was standing almost straight up. His head was tilted back and he had his dark eyes trained on the sky. In my curiosity, I glanced up also, hoping to find the same beauty in the sky that I found beneath the surface of the water.

I could definitely see the appeal of the sky, but my gaze immediately traveled down toward the water. Looking out I could see small reefs sitting a little below the surface, just waiting for me. They each called my name. The water was a beautiful, inviting blue. It promised amazing finds, and mysteries that pulled me to its depths. I could feel my burning excitement ignite within me once again, and I began to buzz with the beautiful passion.

My friends each presented themselves in pairs, trickling in with the small crowd. All in all, about 30 people would be diving.

Ten minutes later, when no one else came to sit in any more chairs, the presentation began.

"Good afternoon, I'm Shikamaru Nara. I will be the main supervisor of this group." His voice is a deep monotone, but I find myself mesmerized nonetheless, "We'll be showing you a video here shortly, all of the rules and boundaries will be shown."

The video is short and sweet. It shows us what we can and cannot do, where we can and cannot go, and the landmarks that are set up to let us know when we are approaching the out of bounds areas.

Eventually everyone begins to pair off. I can see Shikamaru Nara looking around. All of my friends have decided to go with each other, deciding to leave me all alone. As the deck slowly empties, I'm still standing there, looking around like a fool.

Finally, I am so humiliated that I'm ready to run off of that deck and straight to my bedroom where I can begin crying, someone speaks to me from behind.

"Looks like we're all that's left, huh?"

I turn around quickly, ready to kick some perv's ass, when I come face to face with a bored looking Shikamaru.

I gulp quietly, and insert my winning personality.

"I suppose so. My friends ditched me."

He nods curtly, and gestures for me to follow him. He's silent as we walk at a very slow pace. It's almost unnerving to travel this slowly, but I've become accustomed to moving slowly thanks to diving. Unfortunately, my impatience has not lessened. We reach the scuba deck a few minutes later, where most of the people have cleared off.

"My team's right over here." He told me as we walked slowly across the deck.

"Right." The air is very awkward between us, but I don't let it bother me because I'm about to get what I came here for.

There's a five man team at the end, each getting our equipment ready. After 20 minutes of prep and planning, Shikamaru and I enter the water.

I'm smiling hugely behind my bulky equipment. I can't help it. Not 30 feet below us, I see a very large and beautiful reef. I cannot contain my excitement. However, we're swimming at least a foot a second (a long and grueling task, my least favorite part of diving).

Not very much time later, after what I assume is fifteen feet, I rap on my tank with a metal pen I always keep on me. When I see his head swivel in my direction, I give the hand signal for him to stay where he is. I watch as he slowly nods.

While we sit there to wait for our bodies to adjust to the pressure, Shikamaru pulls out his small writing board, and scribbles a quick message to me.

Shame we can't make out down here, huh?

I shake my head and make an obscene hand gesture that shows him exactly what I think of that idea.

I watch as his diaphragm shakes with laughter that I can't hear.

Almost an hour later, we make it to the coral reef. My breath catches slightly as I look out over all of the beautiful and vibrant colors. Fish of every kind swim around. I love it when fish just continue on like I'm not there. Like I'm nothing to be afraid of. And I'm not. I just come to marvel at their beauty.

I begin to snap picture after picture. I take pictures of blue, green, red, spotted, and even tie dyed coral, and hundreds of fish. Any fish I don't recognize I attempt to get a good shot of it.

I swim around the top of the reef, avoiding anything I know to be poisonous, and glance over my shoulder every so often to check on Shikamaru.

I reach the edge of this reef, and look over the edge. I see many more reefs, each tinted blue because of their distance, and immediately I want to explore them as well.

I see a school of brightly colored angel fish cross in front of me, and snap a few quick pictures of them.

I'm so mesmerized by this reef that I nearly don't hear Shikamaru rap on his tank.

He gives me the hand signal that we should go up. I feel an immediate disappointment that always sets in when it's time to go up. But I comfort myself with the fact that I'll be here again tomorrow.

We made our way slowly back to the surface. As the pressure lessened, I began to feel the exhaustion set into my muscles.

After a quick shower and a short nap, I'm ready for dinner with my friends.

I make my way down to the restaurant, my heels clicking as I walked gracefully. My hair was unusually down and I had it curled near the edges. My dress fitted all of my curves nicely, and I felt like I would turn heads. It's a feeling I had to work very hard to achieve, and I'm very proud of myself for being independent.

"Oi, woman!"

I jumped slightly as I heard the person down the hall yell at me. I turn to see Shikamaru striking his supermodel pose: hands in his pockets, leaning lazily against a wall.

"Oh, hey." I say as my eyes rake over him greedily.

He's wearing a green button down shirt, sleeves pushed up to his elbows. I can see a black wife beater peeking out from where the top two buttons are undone. He had on nice, dark jeans that made him look absolutely delicious.

He fell into step beside me, "Troublesome woman, you never told me your name."

My heart dropped into my stomach, but I made sure that it didn't show, "It's Ino."

"Well, Ino, you're a really good diver. I was impressed with your knowledge. It almost seemed like you didn't need me."

I blushed, pleased with his compliment, "That's good to hear. You're the first person to tell me so."

"Really?" He seemed surprised, "It seemed pretty obvious. You were so confident in every move you made."

I laughed quietly, "You think that because you don't know me. I do everything confidently."

"Ah," He said.

We walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence. It almost seemed intimate. The back of his hand kept brushing against mine as we walked at his leisurely pace. After a few minutes, we reached the restaurant doors and stopped.

He turned to look at me, and I smiled sweetly at him, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then? Be my partner again?"

I nodded, blushing like a school girl.

He turned slowly and began to walk down the hallway. My heart hurt a little watching him go, so I called out after him, "Hey, Shikamaru," he turned to look at me, "Do you wanna have dinner with my friends and I?"

My heart thumped loudly as I waited for his answer. He cocked his head and then shrugged, "If it's not a problem, sure."

I smiled at him brightly and took him into the restaurant. I felt a bit faint, but I'm sure that it didn't show on my face.

My friends were all seated at a large table, each just sitting there talking. Some were group discussions and others had broken off to talk amongst themselves.

"Hey guys!" I smiled, then gave Sakura a pointed look, "You remember Shikamaru Nara, right?" I took a little pride at Sakura's jaw hitting the floor.

Everyone made different moves and sounds of confirmations. I introduced him to everyone, and the two of us took our seats.

Shikamaru turned to me, "So where do you live?"

I smiled shyly, "Konoha, a small town near Tokyo. What about you?"

"I actually live in Tokyo. This is a gig I do for my best friend, Chouji, every spring break. I'm the only guy he knows that can organize and teach without him having to confirm and interview and such."

"Oh, Chouji is the owner of the cruise ship line, right?"

"Right. And I'm a marine biologist that he can abuse for next to nothing."

I laughed, "I know exactly how that feels. My best friend is pinky over there. She's the most demanding person you'll probably ever meet in your life."

He smiled lazily, "Shame they're both taken, they'd probably be a good match."

I wrinkled my nose, "I don't know. Those two are sickeningly perfect for each other."

"Chouji, too. I can't stand the sight of them. Fortunately, it's not because she's my ex."

I was slightly stunned, "You're best friend is dating your ex? Isn't there some kind of guy code against that, or something?"

He laughed and shook his head, "I actually had to force him to finally ask her out. In my opinion, she was insane, but Chouji seemed to really like her. And they aren't dating anymore, they got married last year."

"Aww, how sweet. What about you? Any wife or girlfriend?"

He chuckled lightly, "Nope. Women are too troublesome."
My eyes widened, "You're gay?"

He looked at me quickly, "No! No. I'm just looking for a woman who isn't completely nuts. What about you? You're way too attractive to be by yourself."

"Well, guess again, because I'm single." I felt a little pathetic admitting it, but also relieved. I was glad I didn't have to pass up an opportunity to get his attention.

He whistled, "You must have a lot of admirers, then."

"Well, only one has caught my eye." I batted my eyes at him flirtatiously.

"Is that so?" He seemed pretty pleased by my statement.

I changed the subject, "So why'd you become a marine biologist?"

"I've always been fascinated by the ocean. I love to watch clouds, so the opposite of them has always been a sort of mystery to me."

I smiled, "Cloud watching, huh? That's a really cute hobby."

He smiled too, "I take it very seriously."

Sakura cleared her throat, "So, Shikamaru, how did you meet our Ino here?"

He answered her confidently, not even noticing that everyone around the table was listening and watching him with rapt attention, "We were scuba diving partners."

"Yeah, after all of you all ditched me." I shot in, glaring at all of them in turn, "But that's okay because somebody wanted to be with me."

All of the girls opened their mouths, explaining themselves, while their boyfriends looked on in silent agreement, nodding every so often.

Finally, Naruto cut in loudly, "Well, we all saw you drooling over pineapple head here, and decided that you needed to be alone with him!"

My face turned a very dark shade of burgundy, and I glared daggers at Naruto.

Note to self: kill Naruto later.

I slowly turned to look at Shikamaru, who had picked up a spoon and was now frowning at his reflection. I couldn't help but giggle like a fool at him.

The rest of the night went without a hitch. I had two martinis, and Shikamaru had three beers. Everyone was happy and in a really great mood. My friends all seemed to like him quite well, but his attention seemed mostly on me. He seemed to have an interest in everything I said, and I couldn't help but admit my attraction toward him. He was smart, undeniably good looking, funny, and unbelievably lazy. I couldn't help but feel captivated by him. His presence had me star-eyed and weak-kneed.

All too soon, it was late, and time for everyone to get to bed so that we could get an early start on diving in the morning.

Shikamaru walked me to my room. Sometime during the night, I had opted for bare feet instead of my spiky heels. He was opening doors for me like a gentleman, and I couldn't help feeling like a love struck teenager again when he treated me as such.

He took me all the way up to my door, and we just stood there for a few seconds, just smiling at each other.

Finally, he cleared his throat, "I don't usually do this, but would you like to get breakfast with me tomorrow?"

I cocked my head, "Why breakfast?"

He sighed, "Because I don't want to wait until dinner. Or even lunch for that matter."

I grinned so widely that I thought my face would break, "Of course."

"I'll see you tomorrow morning then?" He asked.

I nodded.

He waited until I was inside my room to walk away. I listened for his footsteps to fade before I tossed my shoes onto my bed and began to dance around my room.

I reached for my phone in my pocket and pressed the speed dial button, waiting until she answered, "Forehead, get the girls and bring your ass to my room now! I have news!" I began to squeal happily.

"Be right there!"

END

Hey guys!

So I decided to write an InoShika oneshot. Please R&R. Tell me what you think. I think it turned out pretty well. They're a little OOC but I tried. :)