Hey! I'm really sorry I deleted 'A Summer Worth Remembering' to all you people who loved it. I just wasn't going anywhere with it…I wasn't getting reviews, and I didn't know what to put…

I WILL NOT DELETE THIS ONE!

Anyway, yay for new fics! This is ShikaIno, SasuSaku and a bunch of other pairings. Can't be bothered to list them right now…

So, yeah, enjoy!

-x-

Prologue

"Ino," his voice fills my ears. "I love you."

I look up at him; his face is the only thing I can see. The rest of the world is a multicolor blur. Tears spring to my eyes at his words. I can't believe…did he…is this really happening?

"Ino…" another voice calls my name. A familiar voice; a female voice. "Ino!"

-x-

Ino's eyes snapped open. She groaned. It was all a dream. But who was –

"Are you going to spend all lunch sleeping?"

Ino looked up. Her best friend, Haruno Sakura, was stood in front of her with her hands on her slim hips. Sakura sighed, irritated. She was wondering why she hung around with Ino.

"Mph…go away, Sakura, I'm sleeping…" Ino murmured, closing her eyes again. The face from her dream came to mind. She giggled, bringing her shoulders up to her ears. Sakura flicked Ino's forehead.

"No, I won't. You have five minutes to finish that homework that's due this afternoon." Sakura scolded in a motherly fashion. She tapped the textbook that poked out from underneath Ino's arm. The said blonde sat up, a frantic expression on her face.

"Shit! Oh, god, I wasn't meant to fall asleep doing the homework! I was planning on a nap when I'd finished!" Ino squealed, scrambling around for her pen. Sakura sighed again.

"Wanna copy mine?"

"Please."

-x-

Nara Shikamaru opened his brown-black eyes as the bell sounded, signifying the end of lunch. He sat up, regaining posture and acting like he wasn't just asleep. He wasn't sure why he tried to cover up his laziness and all-round carelessness; he was school renowned for it. It just didn't seem right, especially when the teacher was Miss. Kimiko Fujiwara, the hottest teacher to ever grace the halls of Konoha high. Every boy wanted to impress her. Every girl wanted to be her best friend. No wonder; she was an ex-model and actress.

Shikamaru stretched and yawned. He looked around him and sighed wistfully. It was almost the end of the school year, and he'd hardly made any new friends. He'd been moved classes at the start of the year, away from Sasuke and Naruto and Chouji, Sakura, Ino, Hinata…everyone he'd grown up with. He didn't know what to say about his classmates – except that they were loud, annoying twerps.

He suddenly missed his old school days like crazy.

'Dumbass brain.'

-x-

Sakura heaved a sigh of relief as the bell went. "Thank god for the school bell."

Ino nodded in agreement and gathered up her books. She shoved them all in her bag carelessly, bending one of them, but she hardly noticed. She waited for Sakura and the two of them walked down the hall to their lockers.

"Damn…why is math so boring?" Ino muttered, retrieving her textbooks for the night's homework. Sakura bought her head out of her locker and shrugged.

"It involves numbers and thinking." Sakura said. "That's why."

Ino laughed and closed the door to her locker. She twisted the dial so it was set to '0000' and waved over her shoulder to her friend.

"See you, Sakura." She turned her head. "Keep your cell on, tonight. I might SOS you, considering I don't pay attention in English."

Sakura laughed, waving back. "Okay, Ino!"

Ino's long, platinum ponytail tickled the back of her arms as it swayed from side to side in the breeze. She smiled as the sun illuminated her face. A tall figure appeared next to her.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Ino said cheerfully. "Long time no speak."

"Yeah, sorry. I've been kinda caught up with…stuff." Shikamaru said, closing his eyes and putting his hands in his pockets. "How've you been? And the others?"

"I've been good. Ditto them… " Ino said, her shoulders just brushing against the bottoms of her ears once again. She hooked her thumbs around her belt and looked directly at him. "Okay, since when do you ask after people?"

"Since I don't see you any more." Shikamaru scoffed. "I like to know if my friends are okay."

Ino nodded sarcastically. "Yeah, and Santa Clause lives with the Tooth Fairy and the Queen of England. You're even walking different!"

It was true; instead of his usual slouch, his back was straight and his head was up. Something was on his mind.

Ino sighed, looking away. "Sorry, I'm just…not used to you being like this. I guess you've changed according to your classmates, huh?"

"Oh, please kill me." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "If I have to be in that class next year, I will sue. And jump off a building."

"And I'll bring you back to clear up the mess. They can't be that bad, can they? I mean, how - " Ino squealed as two boys her age burst in between her and Shikamaru. They were pretty short, and had identical expressions. The sort of look five-year-olds give you when you babysit them and their parents have just left. Ino cringed.

"Shikamaru, Shikamaru! Who's your hot friend?" one of the boys said.

"Yeah, I mean she is smokin'!" the other said. They knuckle-touched and looked at Shikamaru expectantly. Ino stood, mouth hanging open.

"Uh, this is Ino. She's a friend of – " Shikamaru sighed as devil child number one interrupted.

"Is she your GIRLfriend?" he asked. Ino's face tightened. Shikamaru flushed.

"Get. Outta. Here." Ino said through clenched teeth, cracking her knuckles. The devil kids pulled genuinely scared faces and scampered off to annoy some other innocent people. Shikamaru breathed out, exasperated.

"Man, just being around them tires me out." He looked at Ino. "Sorry about that."

"Who the – no, what the hell were they?" Ino demanded to know, leaning back on her heels, arms folded.

"Hiro and Hisashi. They may look cute and cuddly, but don't be fooled." Shikamaru explained, glaring after them. "Just stay away and you'll be fine."

"Thanks for the advice." Ino said, rolling her eyes. "Way to state the obvious."

Shikamaru ruffled his childhood friend's hair playfully. "Oh, I gotta go. Mom said I have to help her fix the washing machine or something equally as fun."

Ino laughed, smoothing the top of her hair back into place. "Okay. Have fun fixing stuff."

She put her hand up as he ran off. When he was completely out of sight, Ino whipped out her cell phone to text Sakura: Danger, a couple of perverted twerps are loose on campus! If you meet Hiro and Hisashi from whatever class Shikamaru's in , STAY AWAY.

On pressing SEND, Ino snapped her phone shut and began to run home before the twerps could find her again and say anything weirder.

If that was even possible…

-x-

Ino slammed into her house. "I'm home!"

Silence. Ino shrugged. Maybe mom and dad aren't home.

She glanced at the clock. Her mom should be home, at least. Weird. Ino ran up the stairs to her room, ready for a date with her small TV in her room. She jumped on her bed and pressed the ON button on the remote.

"Why's there never anything decent on at this time of day?" she murmured to herself, skipping through the channels. She sighed. Suddenly, an IM popped up on her computer screen. Ino rolled off the bed and crawled up to her desk.

"An IM from…" her jaw dropped. "Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru had never sent out messages randomly. You could only ever talk to him if you messaged him first, and him replying was a huge rarity.

"Ino," she read out loud. "I take it you got home safely?"

Ino's mouth widened. It wasn't like Shikamaru to do courtesy checks on his friends. It wasn't like Shikamaru to be polite. Something was definitely up.

Her hands hovered above the keyboard. She didn't know why she was hesitating; Shikamaru was one of her best friends.

"Yeah," Ino read what she wrote. "Obviously."

A few moments later, his reply popped up on the screen: 'You want to go to the park with me tomorrow?'

Ino's face flushed red. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Was that…did he…is he…

In a panic, she wrote a simple reply and signed off:

'No thanks.'

-x-

So this is a pretty short prologue, just to start off the story. I promise you, though, the proper chapters will be longer.

Please review!