Summary: ShikaIno fic. about how they should get together, in my mind anyway ()

A/N: OK ok, gonna try my hand at a Shika/Ino fic. They are the best couple. But anyway, after reading a lot of em I gotta admit, SharinganK is the best ShikaIno writer around. I just had a good idea about doing one of them, and I thought, YOU PEOPLE ARE MISSING THE MOST OBVIOUS THING ABOUT SHIKAMARU (you'll see ()!!…now that that's outta the way, let's begin.

Thoughts

"dialogue"

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Shadow Loving Lovers

The rain was pouring down. Hard. Lightning was flashing and thunder was crashing. Trees were swaying violently in the winds. Leaves were flying everywhere. Not that you could really tell unless you looked the exact second that the lightning flashed, virtually turning night time into day. So troublesome Shikamaru thought as he walked through the front door, a small blonde standing closely behind him. Both soaked.

"Shut the door!!" Shikamaru's mother angrily yelled as she rounded the corner to the living room, "Oh? Hello Ino." she said as she smiled warmly at her son's teammate. She didn't really question Ino's presence, teammates visiting each other was quite common after all.

Of course Shikamaru was irritated as hell by the sudden change in his mother's attitude at the sight of the girl who was accompanying him. Why isn't she ever nice to me like that? Oh well. Shikamaru quickly dismissed the thought as he thought that further investigation into the matter would be a waste of his time. Too troublesome. He repeated to himself as he headed towards the stairs.

"Oi, Ino, let's go." They gradually ascended the stairs towards Shikamaru's room, leaving small footprints of water as they walked across the warm floor.

Secretly, Ino loved Shikamaru's house. Something was always happening there, a lot of excitement, unlike her house. All her parents ever really did was talk about her father's latest mission, at least the ones he could talk about, or her mother would ramble on about what new flower she was trying to grow. Shikamaru's house was different. Something was always happening. Usually his mother yelling about something. Ino didn't mind it though. It wasn't like his mother was ever really mad, she just liked being assertive, making sure her point of view was heard. She was strong in that way. Ino was strong the same way too. Her mother was nothing like Shikamaru's, always quiet and polite. She giggled on the inside.

Ino always loved walking to Shikamaru's room. She was sure to look at the pictures of a young Shikamaru that were hung ever so delicately on the hallway walls, even though Choji was in most of the pictures too.

"Kawaii!" - Ino

"Nani?" - Shikamaru

"It's nothing.." -Ino said as she looked away, hoping Shikamaru wouldn't catch her vivid blush.

They entered Shikamaru's door and his room. Ino always thought it strange how much she enjoyed Shikamaru's room. It was nothing like she expected of Shikamaru, it was completely different from his personality. It was warm and inviting unlike Shikamaru's dry personality. Either way, she loved being in his room.

He briefly left the room to fetch two towels. He handed one to Ino and then began looking in his drawers to find something. He finally pulled out a large t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. He handed those to Ino. She left his room to go to the bathroom to change.

A few minutes later she returned and sat on the floor in front of his bed. Handing him her wet clothes as he headed down the stairs to the dryer to dry their clothes for them. A short while later, he returned, somewhat embarrassed to see Ino looking at the pictures that he kept on his desk and walls.

"Shikamaru…arigatou." - Ino

"Nani?" - Shikamaru

"you are always there to rescue me. I mean, not just tonight, don't you remember?" - Ino said, pointing at a picture on Shikamaru's wall. "Remember?"

He looked at the picture and then nonchalantly looked to his bookshelf, searching for something. He removed a Shougi board and said.

"Ino, let's play Shougi while we wait for the rain to stop, or slow down a little at least." - Shikamaru

"I-I…I don't know how to play." - Ino explained, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Fine, I'll teach you." - Shikamaru

Ino consented as Shikamaru set up the board and pieces. They played their first game. Shikamaru finished her off in under 10moves. Puzzled, Shikamaru set up the board again and started to explain the rules to her again, this time, slower.

Shikamaru knew something was wrong with her, when she didn't pick up on the insult.

"Ino, you OK??" -Shikamaru said with an uncharacteristic warmth and concern in his voice.

Almost surprised by his perception, and even more so surprised by the fact that Shikamaru had shown an interest in her instead of just shrugging her off as being, Too troublesome, like he did most women, she began to speak.

"I-It's nothing really, just thinking about when we first met. You know, you saved me back then too." -Ino pointing towards the picture again. The picture was a picture of the academy. The main gates and Shikamaru posing in front of it. He didn't really have a smile on his face, more a look of disgust and irritation.

FLASHBACK (cue Naruto flashback music)

It was a nice day, the sun was high in the sky, the birds were singing, and the first day at the academy had arrived for everyone. It was a nice day, though it had rained for the last five days straight. Muddy puddles of water were everywhere.

A little blonde girl was hiding behind her mother's skirt. Her mother tenderly pulled her around and kneeled down in front of her. After a few loving words she pointed her daughter in the direction of the school and wished her luck on her first day.

Determined not to cry, the little girl started her walk towards the front doors. She was scared and lonely but she was determined none the less. She was a few steps away from the main doors when she heard…

"Anou sa, anou sa!!" - little boy

She turned around to see a small boy with dark hair pulled back and up into a wild bush on top of his head. A black fishnet shirt and gray shorts, and on top of the shirt, a lighter shade of gray jacket.

He stopped in front of her to catch his breathe before he started to explain.

Extending his shaky hand, he presented Ino with a rose…

"You dropped this.." - little boy

Ino quickly felt in her hair and noticed that her rose was indeed missing.

"T-th-thank you…what is your name?" -Ino, fighting back a blush, because even though they were both young, she still thought he was cute.

"No problem, I am Nara clan's ---" - little boy

"SHIKAMARU!!"

Both heads turned to see the source of the voice.

" DON'T YOU RUN AWAY FROM YOUR MOTHER LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!! GET OVER HERE AND GIVE YOUR MOM A GOOD-BYE KISS…NOW!!!"

Gulping and sweat dropping, Shikamaru quickly ran to his mother's side. Scared of getting embarrassed in front of his future classmates. Much to his surprise, she just bent down and gently kissed his on the forehead, telling him to have a great time at school. Even then Shikamaru thought his mother's instant mood swings were nothing less than troublesome.

--Later that Week--

Ino was sitting on the ground, crying her eyes out while holding her knees. Four girls were surrounding her, calling her Ino-pig and throwing rocks at her.

"Hey!! Leave Ino-san alone!!" - a little boy with a familiar voice.

"Shut up Shikamaru!" the little girls screamed back as they went back to torturing Ino.

The little girls picked up more stones to continue their assault. They were in the process of throwing more stones when they realized that their bodies couldn't move.

KAGE MANE NO JUTSU success. Shikamaru said as a smug smile came across his lips.

Shikamaru's shadow had stretched out to the little girls and attached to theirs. Shikamaru gave Ino a reassuring wink as he started to "teach" these girls a lesson. Since it had rained the day before, there were still fresh puddles on the ground.

He walked over towards the puddles. He decided to explain to the girls everything that was going to happen before he did it, just to increase their suffering.

"Even though we move the same, there are things that are different about the landscape, mainly there are no puddles over here. Ooi! Ino, wanna watch the clouds?" he asked as he stretched out in the grass to watch the cloud. Unfortunately for the girls, they landed in a puddle and were flat on their backs.

"Ino, you know, I can't decide if I like laying on my back or on my side…." - Shikamaru

"H-how about on your stomach?" - Ino joined in wiping her eyes on her sleeve and fighting back the laughter from the joy that she felt watching Shikamaru torturing those girls.

Unfortunately after about 5 minutes of "torture", Kage Mane no Jutsu wore off. The girls were free to move around again and started to come after Shikamaru. Since he had used the move so much, he was a little low on chakra and unable to escape. In the end, they completely forgot about Ino and beat Shikamaru senseless. From that day forward, Shikamaru decided that helping out girls was absolutely too troublesome for him. He was in the middle of vowing never to do it again when he felt smooth soft lips on his cheek. When he looked over, Ino gave him a big grin accompanied by a vivid red blush on her cheeks…

…maybe helping out girls has its perks Shikamaru thought…a matching red blush on his cheeks.

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That wasn't the last time that Shikamaru and Ino talked or played together. Eventually they became good friends. During recess, they would play hide-and-seek, tag (which, thanks to Kage Mane no Jutsu, Shikamaru was always better at) and other games. They would sit on the swings and just enjoy each others company.

"There is a boy I like…want to know who it is?" - Ino, speaking with some girls that she was friends with.

"Sasuke-kun??"

"It's Shikamaru!!" - Ino

"NE?!?!"

Yes, Shikamaru was actually her first crush. Word eventually got back to Shikamaru much to Ino's embarrassment. Ino eventually declared her love for Sasuke and forgot about Shikamaru, ruling that she had outgrown her childish love for her friend.

End FLASHBACK (cut Naruto flashback music)

"You even saved me tonight. My mother isn't home and my father is on another mission. If you hadn't have walked by, I don't know what I would have done." - Ino

"Probably gotten outta the rain." - Shikamaru

"I'm serious. I would have been so upset if it wasn't for you." -Ino

"Yea yea yea, I am great. It's your turn" -Shikamaru said cooly. Half joking.

"Why are you getting so arrogant all of a sudden?" - Ino goaded quickly moving a piece without thinking about any strategy.

Shikamaru just ignored her and paid attention to the Shougi board again.

Ino just stayed quiet and looked out the window.

"Hey! The rain stopped!" - Ino

"… " -Shikamaru was quiet, concentrating on his next brilliant move.

Just then, Shikamaru's father knocked on his door, informing the two that Ino's mother had just called and was ready for Ino to come home. Being that it was dark outside, Shikamaru volunteered to walk her home. They walked to Ino's home in a comfortable mutual silence. He was caught off guard at Ino's way of breaking the silence. It sent chills down his spine to feel her soft touch on him. She wrapped her arms around his chest as she hugged him from behind. He turned around with an eye brow raised, curious about her actions. He had secretly loved Ino, but knew that it would never work out. She loved Sasuke. She made it obviously clear so many times before. As he frantically searched his mind for the right words to say at a moment like this, Ino placed a finger to his lips to quiet him. She then gave him a soft kiss on the lips pulled back and smiled whispering, "You're it, if you want more, gotta catch me!" as she ran ahead of him.

At a loss for words, he just chased after her. It didn't take him long before he cornered Ino. She smiled, admitting defeat as she walked over to him. She leaned over to kiss him hoping that he would let his guard down just long enough for her to jump away. She wasn't ready to give up the game just yet. She was shocked when her feet wouldn't move.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu success." - Shikamaru said, with pride written on his face.

"Nani?" - Ino, eyes wide, surprised he had seen through her plan all along.

"Ino, I know you better than anyone after all. You think I would fall for such an obvious ploy? Ha." - he said, taking a step in Ino's direction. She mirrored him and walked closer to him. He continued this for another 3 steps.

He finally stopped about a two feet away from her. Once again dragging out the torture just because he thought it would be funnier that way. In a very animated way, he leaned over puckering his lips. Ino didn't seem to mind as their lips met for a second time. Taking a few steps backwards now, Shikamaru figured that he had made his point and released the jutsu. He waited for a smack from Ino. He was certain that she would hit him, just to make herself believe that she was in control of the situation. Instead, she walked up to him, and kissed him again. This time passionately. He returned the kiss. They remained that way for a few more minutes.

They finally started towards Ino's house. Hand in hand, as the newest couple of Konoha.