While every other dunce and damsel in class stared at the clock, awaiting the final seconds of the school year, Shikamaru Nara was attempting to get as much sleep as possible.

"Your summer assignment is to write a two-page report on everything you did over the summer." said Iruka-sensei. In response to the groans of the class, Iruka backed off. "Okay, fine. One and a half pages. Remember, it's not due 'till the second day of school. Class…"

The bell rang before Iruka could say 'dismissed', and the students stormed out, all of them but two.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Choji shook Shikamaru awake. "C'mon, class is over. Its summertime dude!"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah… whatever…" Shikamaru grumbled as he groggily stumbled out of class with Choji. They walked out the school doors, to promptly be greeted by Ino, cheery as ever.

"Heya Shikamaru! Hiya Choji! How're you guys doin' today?" said Ino, in her normal sing-songy voice.

"Hey Ino…" said Shikamaru, but was eclipsed by Choji's more booming voice.

"Hey Ino, you gonna hang out with Me and Shikamaru today?" said Choji.

Ino thought for a moment before suddenly clutching her stomach in mock pain. "Ah, no, Choji, I'm sorry, I think I ate some bad food today." Ino stumbled over to Shikamaru and whispered something in his ear, before lurching away from Choji. "I think I gotta go home…"

As Ino wandered off in the direction of her house, Choji muttered, "Well, that was weird… so where are we gonna go Shikamaru? … Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru was completely missing.

"Well that's strange…"

What She whispered:

"My house. Twenty minutes, k?"

Shikamaru had Ino pressed against the wall of her bedroom, a passionate kiss and intertwined hands connecting them. Driven by pure primal instinct, Ino arched her torso into Shikamaru's chest. Shikamaru groaned before pulling away, a line of saliva bridging the gap between their gasping tongues.

"We need to stop this…" Shikamaru said into Ino's ear. "This can't be healty for either of us, you know?"

Ino guided Shikamaru backwards, pushing him onto the bed before resting her chin on his chest.

"I've no idea what your talking about… and I don't wanna know…" Ino smiled as her lips went to work on her lover's neck. "I'm having too much fun to care, Shika-kuuuuuun…" she continued, in a voice that was a strange mixture of whining and completely sexy, extending the last syllable to sound as convincing as possible.

"Damn woman…" Shikamaru complained even as Ino viewed the intense effect her actions had on her boy-toy.

'Why am I doing this? Damn it all, this is my first date ever, she's probably had hundreds, she's gonna know exactly what to do, what do I-'

"Hiya Shika!" said Ino, interrupting his thoughts.

"Oh… H-hey, Ino…"

For their first date, Shikamaru and Ino had gone incognito, each attempting to look as different as possible in case someone from school happened upon them. Shikamaru's usual pinapple-ponytail was gone, his hair cascading down past his ears and eclipsed by a green bucket hat, while Ino's hair was fashioned into a braid and hidden under a baseball cap.

"Well…" Ino grabbed Shikamaru's hand and tugged on it. "Are we gonna go in?"

"Uh… y-yeah, sure…" Shikamaru said as Ino forcefully pulled him through the theatre doors.

Shikamaru was completely and totally lost. He and Ino sat in a darkened theatre, near the top row and away from prying eyes. The movie wasn't half bad, but Shikamaru wouldn't have noticed if it was the best movie ever made, he was that nervous and preoccupied with his thoughts.

'What do I do what do I do what do I do? Should I put my arm around her? Grab her hand? Jump off a cliff and hope no one sees me die? Oh… my… God…'

Ino had decided to lift the armrest separating them and was now trying her best to snuggle into Shikamaru. His thoughts quiet for once, Shikamaru shifter Ino gently around and lay his arm over her shoulder, pulling her in close.

Here they were again, making out on Ino's front porch. Ino fisted her hands in the front of Shikamaru's shirt while his hands drifted up and down her back. Ino suddenly drew away, slightly out of breath.

"I think I should be going now…" she said, the blush fading from her face.

"Alright.." Shikamaru quietly responded.

Ino opened her door and Shikamaru started down Ino's porch stairs.

"I love you Shikamaru."

Shikamaru stopped dead in his tracks and turned back around, completely and totally astonished by the three simple words Ino had said.

"You what?"

"You heard me… I… Can't say in again…"

Shikmaru stared directly at Ino, mouth agape, while Ino kept her head down, seemingly endlessly interested in the pavement all of a sudden.

"A-aren't ya gonna say it back?" Ino was so nervous she thought her legs would give out any second.

"No." Shikamaru turned away from Ino. "I can't."

"But… why? T-that's not fair… you have to say it back, you just have to…"

"I'm not going to say it and I don't have to do anything!"

Ino moved to wrap her arms around Shikamaru's chest from behind, only to have her arms quickly moved away.

"But… That's not fair…"

Shikamaru walked down the steps, choosing not to answer. Back on the porch, Ino's legs finally gave, sitting her in a slump on the floor. Shikamaru stopped at the end of the path leading to her house and said a sentence that would make even the stoutest of hearts break.

What He said-

"Life isn't fair, so I don't have to be, either."

In the movies, whenever a character cries, its small tears and they always come very slowly. But this time, Ino's tears came hard and quick, a flash flood of despair.

"So what do I do, man?"

Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto sat at the bar in Ichiraku Ramen, enjoying a bowl of beef and noodle stew, except for Shikamaru, who was busy stewing in his own confusion.

"About what?" said Choji, in between swallows.

"The Ino thing, man…"

"Who cares? You guys are already, like, friends with benefits, so just keep it that way! Much more fun…" said Naruto, finishing his second bowl.

"I'd like to, but… well… she said 'I love you' last night, and shit never goes back to normal after that, does it?"

"Oh… that sucks bigtime, man…"

"Shut up, Naruto, not helping…" said Choji. "Well, ya said it back, right?"

"Well…"

"Right?"

"Not exactly..."

"Dude, don't tell me you didn't say it back!"

"Alright! Goddamn it, I ran, okay? I just freaken' ran the hell away…"

"Bad, dude, bad…" interrupted Naruto, who simply returned to his bowl

"So what do I do?"

Naruto finished another bowl of ramen with a load belch, before turning once again to Shikamaru.

"Talk to her, man. I know it sounds old, but trust me on this. In my experience, girls don't usually say the three words first, but when they get the courage to say it first, they need to have it said back, otherwise it'll really mess 'em up… If ya can't communicate in a relationship, it'll never work." Naruto nodded sagely. "Explain everything to her, alright? Well, I'm gonna go buy condoms and sneak Hinata out of her house. See ya!" said Naruto, wisdom done for the night.

"I guess I'll go talk to her now..." said Shikamaru, leaving a moment after Naruto was gone.

"Alright, see ya dude… tell me how it goes later." said Choji. After a minute of thinking, Choji slammed his palm down on the bar. "What the hell! They left me with the check!"

"I just don't get it, you know? I can't stand being just friends with him anymore… its just too painful, every second feels like a year…" Ino said in between sobs. Sakura had come to the Yamanaka household in an attempt to cheer up her friend, but to no avail, as Ino had just leaned into Sakura and babbled, half of it completely incoherent.

"Just… wait it out a little okay, Piggy?" said Sakura, using her affectionate pet name for her friend. "If he's got any sense in that genius brain of his, he'll have his ass over here to apologize to you. Just, feel better, okay?"

Before Ino could respond, the doorbell rang through the house.

"Hey, wait here okay? I'll be back in a sec, I'm just gonna go see who it is…"

From upstairs, Ino could hear Sakura give an annoyed grunt.

"The hell you want, Nara?" said Sakura.

Ino's cry of surprise could be heard by those downstairs, especially by Shikamaru, standing at the front door.

"Please, Sakura let me in. I… need to see Ino…" Shikamaru said as he vainly tried to push past Sakura's strong arms. "C'mon, I need to talk to her!"

Sakura shoved Shikamaru back onto the porch with ease. "Why? You really hurt her, you know…"

"Because I'm the only one who can fix this!"

Sakura was momentarily stunned by this comment. Shikamaru took advantage of this and quickly pushed past the girl. Sakura watched in awe as Shikamaru ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Sighing, Sakura poked her head into the Yamanaka's TV room.

"Hey, Mrs. Yamanaka? I'm gonna leave now. Shikamaru finally came…"

Shikamaru stood in front of Ino's bathroom door for a moment, before raising his hand and knocking.

"Ino… you in there?"

There was silence for a moment before a choked voice responded.

"Yeah…"

"Can we talk? Face to face?"

Another silence.

Shikamaru heard the lock click open and he walked into the bathroom slowly. Ino was sitting against the wall across from the toilet, her head down. Silent, Shikamaru walked over and sat next to Ino.

A few minutes later, Ino had her head in Shikamaru's lap and was listening to him talk.

"During the last couple of years, I've said 'I love you' to more than a few girls, and I've said it to you a few times. And last night… that was the first time a girl ever said it to me…"

"I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault… but…" Shikamaru kissed Ino on the forehead. "If we do this, I want it to work. I don't want some meaningless fling because we said we loved each other."

"Neither do I…"

There was a silence between them for another moment before Ino sat up and looked Shikamaru in the eyes.

"Shikamaru, will you go out on a date with me?"

"Sure… when?"
"How about now?"

"But its ten at night, where are we gonna go?"

"Dunno… but please, I just want to be with you… and they say that you can tell if a relationship will work on the second date."

It was ten thirty before Shikamaru and Ino got anywhere worth going, but by then everything was closed. So The pair just say on a hilltop park bench, staring at the high moon.

"It sure is pretty, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" said Ino contendedly.

"I was talking about you, you know."

"Your such a dork, Shika… but you're the cutest dork on the planet."

Once more, Shikamaru and Ino stood on Ino's front porch. Ino looked disappointed that nothing had happened that night.

"G'night, Shika…" she sighed.

Ino was halfway through her door when Shikamaru responded..

"I love you, Ino Yamanaka. Always have, always will."

Ino stopped, turned around, and stared at the blushing Nara.

"Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Ino."

Shikamaru

Walked down the steps and this time, it was Ino's turn for an unexpected comment.

"Hey, uh… Shikamaru?"

"Yeah?"

"It sounds like my parents aren't home for whatever reason… so d'you wanna come inside? I don't wanna be lonely, and it's kinda scary in my house at night…"

'Damn…' Shikamary thought as he nodded and sauntered back up the steps. "This woman's full of surprises… but I love her now, don't I?"