He was her oldest friend. They'd known each other since they were young; since they were born, even. They were only a day apart, after all. Somehow, it was only natural that they grow so close.

Ino woke up relatively early that morning (a little after nine, as usual), opening her eyes to the sun. She loved waking up with the sunlight streaming through her window with him beside her, holding her close and breathing warmly on her neck. It sent shivers through her every time, even though it was like an old ritual.

She carefully slipped out of his embraced and crawled her way out of bed without disturbing him (it wasn't usually that hard, he was quite the heavy sleeper). It would probably be another hour or two at least before he woke up. Despite the fact that he was lazy, he actually was a morning person. He'd wake up at a reasonable time, eat breakfast, and then quickly fall back asleep again. It was the usual routine. She'd wait until she heard him rustling in the bedroom before she began fixing breakfast and coffee so it wouldn't go cold.

She moved into the living room and through the door onto the balcony, and walked up to the banister to lean on it. She took a deep breath of the fresh Konoha air and closed her eyes, letting the wind blow through her hair, listening to the rustling of the leaves and the hustle and bustle of the village a few roads away.

Ino loved to think back to the times they had spent together as kids. Despite the fact they always seemed to fight, they had been close. They had to be; they were partners. The way her abilities meshed with his was perfect, they were the perfect team. But they still always loved to poke fun at one another: she'd criticize his sleeping habits, and he'd complain about her lack of appetite and obsession with certain boys. They cared about each other, in their own way.

He got the nerve to ask her out when they were sixteen. She thought it was so out of character for him (but then again, he had no choice but to ask her himself. She was too old fashioned to ask a boy out on a date instead of the other way around). It was so cute how he walked up to her on the road when she was on her way home from the market, looking off to the side, cheeks burning red, words mumbled. She couldn't help but giggle and oblige. He then proceeded to blush harder and look in another direction, still not at her, mumbling more audibly about how troublesome she was for forcing him into this position, but that he would pick her up at seven that night.

He took things slowly. In fact, he took things so slowly that it drove her crazy. She appreciated the thought, but it was just too much. After that first date (which had taken him quite a while to take initiative on, for one), he didn't ask her out again for a few weeks. The rarity of that was increased by when either of them would be sent on missions, whether together or separately. She always thought that the guy in the relationship would want to move faster, but he definitely didn't. It sometimes made her want to rip her hair out.

Now, she loved him. And she knew he loved her (he had told her so many times, last night being one of them). But they were in their twenties now… they'd been dating for years. They were very nearly living together. This was her apartment that she lived in by herself, no roommates (Sakura lived with Naruto now, officially. Besides, Inoichi spoiled his daughter too much.) He lived with his best friend, but stayed the night often. She was growing impatient, of course. But at the same time she admired him so much.

She rested her head in her hands and sighed again. He was so… troublesome. Such a thought brought a smirk to her face.

She soon felt a pair of strong arms reach from behind and embrace her tightly. She didn't flinch, just easily melted into them. She knew this touch well.

"G'morning," Shikamaru mumbled, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Good morning," she smiled, opening her eyes and turning her head slightly toward him, "You're up early. Didn't hear you wake."

He merely grunted in reply. She could hear the sleepiness in his voice, heavier than usual. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Eggs," he said simply, "and sausage," he paused, and then added "and coffee."

"Of course," she managed to twist herself around in his arms so she could face him, resting her hands on the sides of his face and stretching up to kiss him lightly. He responded quickly and held her there longer, kissing back passionately.

"Make that coffee a decaf."

"So what are your plans today?"

Ino looked up from her eggs in astonishment. It was a rare occurrence for him to ask what she was doing that day so early in the morning, "Mmm… nothing, I suppose. It's my day off, so I'll probably just do my laundry and lounge around the house." She thought it over and decided that was a good enough plan. She was still tired from her last mission, "Why, you have something to do today?"

"I need to go back to my apartment." He mentioned, "But I'll come back tonight." He raised his coffee mug to his lips and took a long sip, keeping his eyes on her. She raised an eyebrow, curious what was going on through his head; she never could read him that easily. He had such an easy time with it himself, though. He always knew what she was up to, a technique he had perfect a very long time ago.

"I'll be waiting," she smiled. They both finished breakfast momentarily and Shikamaru stood up to put his dishes away and change into some clothes he could walk home in. Ino watched him go down the hall to the bedroom, then reappear five minutes later and head for the door. She set her coffee mug down and followed him.

"See you later dear," she said, kissing him on the cheek quickly before he managed to snake his way out. He nodded and opened the door.

"Hey," he paused, halfway out, and looked back down at her, "Let's go to dinner tonight. The usual place."

"Same old, same old?" She laughed, "All right, sounds great."

He nodded, smiling slightly, "I'll pick you up at seven."

"It's a date."

Ino really didn't need to impress him anymore; she hadn't needed to for a while. She really didn't have to dress up extremely nice, in a flattering, sparkly purple dress, with black pumps and full, berry lips. She didn't need the eyeliner and mascara to bring out her eyes. She didn't need to take down her hair, brush it out and look at herself for ten minutes in the mirror, then change her mind and pull it back again anyway. She really didn't need to put so much effort into her appearance anymore.

But she did anyway. Besides, he usually only saw her in her ninja uniform or casual clothes. A change of scenery had to be nice for him.

So of course she was looking her tip-top best now, but without looking like a total slut (mostly). She glanced at the clock; right on time. She had only about a minute until he got there.

Shikamaru had complained regularly about how long it took her to get ready, and how that every time they had a date she was late because of how long it took her, so she trained herself to be ready earlier and on time. She liked to cut it pretty close; she wouldn't want to sit around just waiting for him.

She ran a few fingers through her hair and made some last minute adjustments when she heard him knock on the door. She smiled and turned off the light in her bathroom, and ran quickly to the front hall. Standing right before the door, she paused, smoothed out her dress and checked her hair again in the small mirror on the wall, and took a deep breath and opened the door.

Shikamaru was standing there nonchalantly, looking behind him up at the sky. Once he realized that he had heard the door open he turned his head back to her, looked her over, and smirked, "You look nice."

"Don't look half bad yourself," she snickered. He was no Uchiha, but he cleaned up well. He was wearing black trousers and a button-down shirt. His shoes were simply black and he wore no tie, and his sleeves were folded up. He wasn't perfect, but he was surely handsome in his own way.

"Well," he started, snapping out of his stare and doing his best to look away from her outfit, "we better get moving. We have a reservation."

"A reservation, huh?" She laughed, "That's a new one. You never get a reservation. It's not even that crowded of a restaurant."

"Just a tactic for making my slow girlfriend move faster," he smirked again, and held out his hand, "Let's go."

She grinned, her white teeth shining, took it, and stepped through the doorway.

"So, Shikamaru, tell me. What is the hardest strategy you have ever had to come up?"

Shikamaru hesitated in mid-drink, and then slowly lowered his glass as he raised an eyebrow, "You're asking me this now? As opposed to before, all these years we've been together?"

"Well, I feel like I haven't asked you that before," she laughed, "and it sounds like a question that would make a lot of sense to ask. Don't you think?" She laughed at his prolonged questioning stare, "I know. It sounds very first-date-esque. But it came to mind and now it's bothering me."

Shikamaru sighed, "Hmm. I have to think about that." He rolled his eyes up, sorting through his thoughts, "Figuring out war strategies against Sasuke was pretty tough." He rested his head on his right hand and looked her in the eye, "There have been other things that were hard."

"Like?"

"Asking you out, for one," he scoffed. She snickered at this. "There was the time I had to find a way to get Choji to stop making experimental dishes every Wednesday before our landlord evicted us, without hurting his feelings." She laughed harder, and he smirked, "I believe I've even had to find a way to stop a growing franchise of green jumpsuits started by Lee and Gai before Neji found out and blew his top. They were even giving out free hugs to every prospective customer." Ino laughed harder still, clutching her stomach. "And they hugged everyone."

Ino did her best to suppress her laughter. She wiped a tear from her eye and straightened up in her seat, "Okay, okay," she took a deep breath, and tried to look him in the eye with a straight face, but she still giggled between words, "those are all certifiably difficult. I will give you that. But what was the hardest?"

He angled his gaze away from her, still resting his head on one hand, and closed his eyes. He chuckled lightly as he reviewed that question. "I believe…" he paused, long and hard, mumbling to himself. Ino leaned in the try and understand, but whatever he was murmuring to himself was not quite audible enough. She frowned, and began to grow restless.

"Come on Shikamaru; don't tell me you haven't come up with anything yet."

"No, I've got it." He sat up and shifted in his seat; he seemed to be retrieving something from his pocket. She tried to peer over the edge of his side of the table to see what it was, but he held it out of her sight. She looked up at him, expectantly. The suspense was killing her. "I believe that the hardest strategy I have ever had to devise was deciding how exactly I would propose to you."

Ino froze in her seat, still leaning over the table. Somehow, he was holding a small jewelry box in front of her… and it was open. There was a ring inside. She didn't know where it came from. She didn't know how it got there. But there it was, a beautiful, glittering gold band with a sapphire jewel set in the middle between two smaller diamonds. She slowly regained control of movement and raised her hands to cover her open mouth. A tear welled up in the corner of her eye. Before she knew it, she was crying.

"Oh… my…"

Shikamaru continued to hold out the box in one hand, and reached over the table with his other to carefully peel one of hers off and hold it. He smiled, "Ino Yamanaka, will you marry me?"

She wasn't quite sure if she was laughing or crying; it had to be some odd mixture of the two. But she did lower her other hand from her mouth and nodded, "Yes, of course. A thousand times yes. I will."

He continued to smile as he let her hand go and pulled the ring out of the box, and then slipped it onto her left ring finger. A perfect fit. She grinned wider and wider, overcome with happiness, until she finally just stood up in her seat and leaned all the way across the table, nearly knocking off the drink glasses, and kissed him full on the lips. He wasn't even taken aback; he raised his hands to her head and held her there, kissing her back passionately.

The other customers around them applauded instantly, accompanied by a wide variety of "awww"s.

They laughed together as they broke apart. For the rest of the night he held her hand across the table, making sure that her ring was being shown off to the world. She was his, officially, now. And he was hers.

This was something old she would treasure always.

I AM BACK WITH A NEW CHAPTER FIC HA!

Yes, so… I am not really the biggest Naruto fan anymore, but I freaking love fanfiction and fanart and all the couples I support so I'm back to writing.

At least until college starts. And I'm not bored anymore. Which is… a week and a half from now.

This is a four-shot. If you realized that already by the chapter title, good for you. You get a cookie.

I promise to make this as flufftastic as I possibly freaking can.

EVERY TIME YOU READ WITHOUT REVIEWING A ROCKSTAR GETS TOO OVERLY HYPED AT THE END OF A SONG IN A BIG GIG AND SMASHES HIS GUITAR ON THE GROUND SO IT BREAKS IN HALF AND THAT'S REALLY BAD BECAUSE IT WAS A SIGNATURE, EXPENSIVE GUITAR AND IS NOW LOST TO THE UNIVERSE.

Save the guitar, kids.

(that was a long one)