Author's Note: Hello, everyone! This is my second Naruto fanfic and this time, I'm featuring another one of my favourite pairings; Shikamaru and Ino! I don't really know why but I just love these two together. It's rather fun seeing two very different people together, I guess. Anyways, I just like them a whole lot. So I hope everyone likes this story too!

Oh, and this story is based on modern Japan. So the characters do not have ninjutsu and all that.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Childhood Friends

Shikamaru's POV

"Shikamaru! Get your lazy ass out of your bed!"

"What the hell? Why is she so loud early in the morning?" I thought, feeling irritated, as always.

"Shikamaru Nara! You heard me! Get up!"

"Why can't she just shut up?" I don't understand why she bothers coming over to my house every morning to wake me up for school.

"You lazy bastard! You'll be late if you don't get put now!"

I felt a strong push on my side and before I could do anything, I was already on the floor.

I got up slowly, feeling slight pain on my back and bottom. I glared at the blonde girl in front of me, who was grinning so happily as if she just won some competition.

"You're so troublesome, Ino."

I said that before dragging myself to the bathroom to get ready.

Ino's POV

"That Shikamaru is such a lazy ass!" I think to myself as I sat down on Shikamaru's bed.

I've known Shikamaru my whole life, literally. Our fathers were best friends even before Shikamaru and I were born. Our families were neighbors as well. That was also why I'm always around Shikamaru.

A lot of people in school thought it was weird that I could get along with Shikamaru, with our clashing personality and all that. I guess I got comfortable being around Shikamaru, although I'm often annoyed at him.

"I mean, how could someone be so lazy!"

While Shikamaru was taking his own sweet time in the bathroom, I looked around his huge room. His bed was king sized and was soft. There weren't much in his room actually. There was a desk with not much on it, a big plasma TV and a walk in closet. Yes, Shikamaru Nara had a walk in closet.

It was actually his mother's idea but it was still funny to think that he has a walk in closet.

Shikamaru came from a rich family so it was not a surprise to find so many expensive looking stuffs around his room. At the corner, I saw some golf equipment and laughed a little.

"Shikamaru mentioned that his father is forcing him to learn how to play golf. He expressed his hatred towards it rather clearly too." I thought as I stood up to look around.

I've been to this room lot, countless times actually. But it was still fun to walk around since I get to find some interesting things sometimes. There was once when I found a rather inappropriate magazine on his bookshelf. Shikamaru insisted that it belonged to Kiba and he left it there when he came over.

I wasn't sure whether that was the truth or not, though.

I didn't bother much about it. It's rather normal actually. After all, Shikamaru was a growing teenager.

The two of us had been attending the same school, which is Konoha Academy, together since we were three years old. Right now, at the age of sixteen, we were already in the first year of senior high school.

Just then, the bathroom door opened and Shikamaru came out, still looking sleepy and pissed off.

I ignored that, as usual, and gave him a bright smile, "Let's go!"

Shikamaru's POV

Ino was in front of me when we were walking down the spiral staircase in my house. She looked energetic, which was the complete opposite of what I looked like.

We were at the door when one of the butlers approached us, "Shikamaru-sama, Ino-sama, since there is still time before school starts, Shikaku-sama is asking whether the two of you wants to have breakfast?"

I looked at a nearby clock on the wall and realized there was still plenty of time left. I glared at Ino and said, "Why in the world did you wake me up so damn early?"

She completely ignored me and followed the butler to the dining hall.

"Thanks, Ino. If it weren't for you, my lazy ass son will be late to school everyday."

I rolled my eyes when I heard my father said that and just continued eating breakfast.

"No problem at all, Shikaku-san! I guess you can say it became a habit. After all, I've been waking him up for school everyday since third grade." Ino said while grinning happily, as if being able to wake me up was a huge achievement.

To be honest, it is quite an achievement I guess.

I remembered when I was in third grade, I was late to school for five days in a row. I became lazier, I guess. It became very difficult for the maids and butlers to wake me up. It was then when Ino decided to give it a try and see if she can wake me up on time.

Not surprisingly, she managed to do so. She's so loud after all.

Since that day, she just became used to waking me up for school.

After bidding goodbye to my parents, Ino and I got into the black Audi limo that was parked in front of the mansion's main door.

Ino talked about random stuffs throughout the whole car ride. I didn't respond much, as usual.

As for her, she was rather used to me being unresponsive.

At least I think she was used to it.

The car stopped in front of our school and we got out, just in time for class. Ino was greeting almost everyone along the way while I just didn't care.

Ino kept on telling me that I should interact more but, like I said, I didn't care.

It's not like I didn't have friends. I just didn't enjoy small talks like how Ino very much enjoyed it.

Our class was rather far so I had to endure fifteen minutes of hearing Ino talking to random people about random unimportant things.

Our school was really huge, which was a problem for someone as lazy as me. It took a lot of time getting to places and it was just too troublesome. Ino didn't mind, of course, because it meant she had more chances of talking to people.

"I don't understand this troublesome woman." I thoughts as I continued walking to our class.

Ino's POV

"I've been telling Shikamaru to be more talkative but he doesn't listen!" I thought as I continued saying hi to everyone I knew along the way.

There was something that bothered me more than the fact that Shikamaru didn't enjoy social interactions.

Annoying fan girls.

Shikamaru had these annoying fan girls that kept on staring at him and all that. They enjoy bothering him whenever they had the chance, whether it was during class or lunch hour. They kept on asking Shikamaru out on dates and all those annoying stuffs.

"Shikamaru ignores them all the time, though." I smirked and then glared at Shikamaru's 'precious' fan girls who couldn't stop staring at him.

They glared back at me and it became some kind of staring competition.

They hated me. Why? For obvious reasons.

They hate me because I'm the best friend of their beloved 'Shikamaru-sama'.

I rolled my eyes at them and entered my class for Homeroom.

In the classroom, desks were divided into pairs. Since we were allowed to choose our own seats, I chose to sit with Shikamaru. He didn't care much so there weren't any complain from him at least.

Our homeroom teacher was Kakashi Hatake, who, by the way, was always late. He would then give some lame excuses which none of us believed in. There was once he said he was late because a meteor fell on his front door and he couldn't get out.

That was obviously a lie.

After I sat down, Sakura came to me and gave me her usual morning greeting.

"Good morning, pig."

I smiled while rolling my eyes. I'm too used to the insult that I no longer feel insulted anymore.

"Good morning, forehead."

Sakura just rolled her eyes and laughed.

Sakura Haruno was a really close friend of mine. We've known each other since grade school. We often argued but let's just say it made us closer.

I looked to my left and saw Shikamaru who was dozing off. I hit him hard on the arm but it didn't manage to wake him up. I glared at him in annoyance.

I heard Sakura laughed, "You know, Ino, the two of you look like a couple."

I blushed a little at what Sakura said and stood up in reflex, "S-Shut up, stupid forehead!"

Sakura ignored the glare I was giving her and was laughing as she walked back to her seat, which was beside Sasuke Uchiha, by the way.

The two of them had been getting closer since last year, but had yet to start dating. I didn't understand what Sakura saw in Sasuke.

I sat down and looked to my left.

"I guess people would say the same about me. I know how people are wondering why I can stand having Shikamaru as my best friend." I thought.

The door opened and Kakashi-sensei entered the class. I looked at the clock on the wall and realized he was ten minutes late.

"Good morning, everyone. Sorry for being late. You see, when I was on my way here…"

Here we go again. I rolled my eyes as I stared at Kakashi-sensei giving another lame excuse for himself.

Shikamaru's POV

"Can't this day just pass by already?" I thought as I start dozing off again.

It was lunch time and I was sitting with Ino and the rest of my friends.

Yes, contrary to popular beliefs, I do have friends.

Most of the people here are my classmates since grade school while some are since way before that.

Ino and I had been attending Konoha Academy since we were three years old, along with Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Hinata, and Chouji. Sakura, Tenten, Kiba, Shino and Lee enrolled during grade school. All of us get along in a way, I guess.

My eyes were closed as I listened to the bickering around me. Naruto and Kiba were arguing about ramen, which was completely useless in my opinion. Sasuke and Neji were debating regarding some current political issues. I'm surprised they cared so much actually. I could also clearly hear Ino and Sakura arguing something about the result of the latest season of America's Next Top Model.

"Why are all of them so noisy?" I thought and sighed a little.

The noise continued until the end of lunch time. Since we aren't all in the same class, we went our separate ways after lunch was over. For this school year, I'm in the same class as Ino, Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba and Shino.

Our principal, Tsunade-san, made sure that Naruto and Kiba were never in the same class. The two of them caused a lot of troubles before and she didn't want to deal with any of those again.

As for me, I've always been in the same class as Ino. I found it rather suspicious actually, being in the same class as her every year. Something tells me there was someone behind it.

But I didn't really care. I didn't hate having her around anyway.

"Can't this day just pass already? I'm bored." I went back to sleeping right after Kurenai-sensei entered the class for our Chemistry class.

I woke up with the feeling of someone punching me on the side. I knew it what Ino without having to open my eyes.

"Why are you such a troublesome woman?" I muttered as I slowly opened my eyes.

"What did you say?!" Ino whispered angrily. We were in the middle of a Mathematics class taught by Asuma-sensei.

"You're a troublesome woman." I repeated, slightly louder since I was rather frustrated.

"Shikamaru."

I rolled my eyes when I heard Asuma-sensei called my name out. I looked at him and he was grinning a little.

"You hadn't been listening to me at all so I assume you already know how to do the topic. Why don't you come up here and solve this question?"

I glared at Asuma-sensei as I got up. He knew how I hated troublesome stuffs like these.

I went up to the whiteboard and easily solved the problem on the board. To be honest, it was an easy question.

I could hear people sounding amazed and all that as I walked back to my seat. Ino simply rolled her eyes at me, rather used to seeing me being a genius. I smirked at her and went back to sleep.

Asuma-sensei was one of the few teachers I respected a lot. He was even my homeroom teacher for several times. We knew each other pretty well. That was why he enjoys annoying me by making me do questions on the board. He knew exactly how I hated it.

The next time I woke up, it was Biology class which was taught by Kakashi-sensei. He said something about a project which was due next Monday.

"You'll pair up with your seatmate. Make sure to submit it on time." Kakashi announced. "Alright, that's it for today. You guys can go home now. I have nothing much to say for homeroom."

People started getting up but I was too lazy to move an inch. Ino pushed me from my chair though.

"Let's get going, Shikamaru! We can start working on the project tonight!" Ino was packing her stuffs as she spoke.

"It's still Tuesday, Ino."

"But I want to get it over with! I have plans for the weekends!"

"Troublesome woman."

"What did you say?!" Ino put her hands on her hips and glared at me. "Whatever, Shikamaru. Oh, come over to my house tonight. I'm planning to cook dinner! We can start the project afterwards."

"You? Cook dinner? Are you serious?" I'm honestly surprised at what I just heard.

Ino Yamanaka was known to be a spoiled princess. She came from a rich family and her father spoiled her a lot. Her personality wasn't bad though, just pushy and annoying at times. Probably because she was used to having things going her way all the time.

"Why do you sound so surprised?!" Ino was starting to sound upset.

"Well, you never cook in your entire life. Are you trying to poison me, Ino?"

"Shut up, Shikamaru! I just want to give cooking a try! It could be fun."

"Whatever. Just don't kill me."

I ignored Ino who was shouting at me, saying I was being mean and all those things she always said.

We were walking towards the front door when I noticed guys checking Ino out. Not a surprise though. She was pretty and had a cheerful personality. Not to mention her well grown body.

"What the hell, Shikamaru? Get that idea out of your head." I scolded myself and glared at the guys staring at Ino. They quickly looked away and went back to doing whatever they were doing.

"Troublesome people."

Ino and I got into our respective cars and left the school.

Ino's POV

"Ahh!"

"Ino-sama! Are you okay?!"

My butler and two maids entered the kitchen when I screamed. I saw that one of the chefs was behind them too, looking rather worried.

"I'm okay. I just scalded my hand a little." I said, trying to not make them worry.

Despite what everyone said, I am not a spoiled brat. I want to prove to people that I can do things by myself!

The first step was to learn how to cook. I didn't expect to be as good as the chefs in the Yamanaka compound, of course.

I got this idea when Sakura told me she prepared lunch for Sasuke few days ago. I wanted to be able to cook as well!

"Ino-sama, do you need any help?"

I turned to the chef who offered to help me.

I politely turned down the offer though, "No, it's alright, Ryuu-san. I can manage on my own."

Everyone seemed unsure as to what to do and was looking rather confused. It was then when my father entered the kitchen as well.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

I turned to look at my father, who looked surprised to see me in the kitchen doing some cooking.

"Daddy!" I ran to him, gave him a kiss on the cheek and went straight back to cooking. "As you can see, I'm cooking dinner."

My father still looked confused and blinked a few times, "Why are you preparing dinner, Ino?"

"Because I want to learn how to cook. Oh, by the way, Shikamaru is coming over for dinner too. We will be doing our project afterwards."

I saw my father looking horrified.

It was my turn to look confused as I faced my father, "What's wrong, Daddy?"

"A-Are you training yourself to become Shikamaru's wife?! Are you leaving your mother and I?!"

What.

"Daddy! What are you saying?!" I shouted as I feel heat radiating from my cheeks.

I pushed my father out, along with the others too, "Come on guys, I can manage on my own. Go on now!"

I tried not to think too much on what my father said and went back to cooking.

Shikamaru's POV

I was laying down on the sofa of the living room while randomly opening channels on the TV. I wasn't really watching since there wasn't anything good. I looked at the time and noticed that it was 6.30 PM.

"Ino said dinner is at 7 PM. I still don't understand why she decided to cook." I thought as I heard my father approach me.

"Shikamaru, I heard from the chef that you won't be having dinner at home tonight. Where are you going?"

My father asked and sat down on the sofa with some documents in his hands.

"I'm going to Ino's place for dinner. She said she wants to cook dinner. We'll be doing our project afterwards too."

I was still opening random channels as I spoke, not noticing the look my father had on his face.

"Ino? Cooking?" My father sounded surprised. That was expected though. My father knew Ino well enough to find it weird that she wanted to be the one cooking.

"Weird, isn't it?" I answered and noticed that there was America's Next Top Model on air. It reminded me of Ino and Sakura's argument during lunch earlier.

My father suddenly stood up, startling me a little.

"What's wrong, Dad?"

"Do you think Ino is trying to prepare herself to become your wife?" My father had a rather happy expression on, which kind of bothered me.

"W-What? What gave you that idea?" My own father was starting to freak me out.

My father left the living room while grinning, which was a weird thing to witness.

I tried to ignore what he just said and went back to my room to get changed. I'm very close to Ino's family so I didn't need to wear something formal or anything like that. But I was in my boxers and it would be rather inappropriate to go there in them.

I walked to Ino's house, like I usually do. It takes about three minutes actually. Even though we live right next to each other, both our houses were rather big. Hence, it took time for us to get to each other's house. Do I find it troublesome? A bit. Used to it already though.

"I just realized I'm used to a lot of troublesome things around me." I thought to myself as I approached the front door of the Yamanaka compound.

When I knocked, one of the butlers opened the door for me. I politely greeted him and proceeded to the dining hall. Ino's parents were already there.

I greeted both of them and Ino's mother asked me to take a seat.

"Good evening, Shikamaru. Take a seat." Ino's mother had always looked elegant and intelligent, which was different from her daughter.

I noticed that Ino's father looked rather annoyed at me. I didn't know what I did so I wasn't so sure.

I was just chatting with Ino's mother when Ino entered the dining hall carrying plates on both hands.

"I'm done!" Ino declared. She looked rather worn out and less tidy than usual.

There were maids behind Ino who were also carrying plates on their hands and placed them onto the long dining table in front of me.

"I wonder what happened to my daughter. She actually prepared dinner for us." Ino's mother sounded proud from what I saw.

Ino looked proud as well and had been grinning since she entered.

Ino's father sat at the end of the table with Ino and his wife at his sides. I sat beside Ino, who looked really happy.

The food looked great actually. Really great for a first timer like Ino.

"Surprising indeed." I thought as I watched Ino urge us to start eating.

After dinner, we were just chatting when Ino's mother spoke, "Dinner tasteed rather good, Ino. What a surprise. What made you want to learn how to cook? That isn't very like you."

"No reasons in particular." Ino said, looking very pleased with her cooking.

"She is preparing herself to be a wife. She is leaving us." Ino's father said that while glaring at me, which made me very confused.

"What did I do?" I thought as I concluded that Inoichi's glare was very intimidating.

"Daddy! Why do you keep on saying that?!" Ino shouted and I noticed the blush on her cheeks.

"You began to learn cooking because you want to marry Shikamaru and become a good wife. You're growing up way too fast, Ino." Inoichi had a rather sad expression on as he said that.

"Daddy, stop saying weird stuffs!" The blush on Ino's cheeks deepened and I tried not to look too intimidated. "Anyway, Shikamaru and I need to do our project. Bye now!"

Ino pulled me from my seat and it was clear she didn't want to hear more from her father.

When I was leaving the dining hall, I saw Inoichi giving me deadly glares, as if silently telling me, "I'll kill you if you do anything to my daughter."

I gulped and looked away from Ino's scary father.

Ino's father was definitely one of the very few people I'm afraid of.

Inoichi's POV

"That lazy ass brat Shikamaru is trying to take my daughter away from me." That was my thought as I walked towards the Nara compound.

I knocked on the door and a butler opened it for me. He led me to the garden, where Shikaku was sitting on a bench while drinking tea.

"What brings you here, Inoichi?" Shikaku asked when I sat beside him.

Another butler came to bring a cup of tea for me and I thanked him before he left us.

"Your son is trying to take my daughter away from me." I said, glaring at Shikaku while sipping on my cup of tea.

Shikaku simply laughed, "Come on, Inoichi. Why can't you just let the young ones fall in love?"

"L-Love?! I just can't accept this!"

"You're just not accepting the fact that Ino is growing up and will one day leave to live with her husband."

I just stared at Shikaku because what he said was right. I was indeed afraid of the day Ino will leave the Yamanaka compound and live with her husband.

"You know,Inoichi. If Shikamaru and Ino really get married, Ino will just be living beside you. Isn't that better than having her living somewhere far away?"

I blinked a few times, taking in the idea that never crossed my mind.

Shikaku was right.

Shikaku laughed, "That's why you should just let the two of them be, Inoichi. I assure you.." There was seriousness in Shikaku's eyes as he continued, "My son will definitely cherish your daughter."

I calmed down a little and sipped on my cup of tea again.

"Well, he better be." I muttered, which earned a soft laugh from my best friend.

Author's Note: That's the end of chapter 1! Hope everyone likes it! Please leave a review on the way out. I will really appreciate it if you would tell me what you think of the story! Suggestions are welcomed so feel free to leave reviews, guys! Thank you for reading!