'How troublesome' I thought as my teammate and best friend, Akimichi Chouji, handed me his birthday gift to me.

"Happy Birthday, Shikamaru!" He yelled happily to me.

"Ah…Arigatou." I said dryly, as I unwrapped the gift. Guess what it was ,just guess?...Chips!! YAY!!!! My voice is dripping with sarcasm.

I already opened the rest of my presents.

Here's a list: (Note: Anything nice is probably sarcasm?)

Chouji – chips! Yay!

Kiba - nothing (Thank you!)

Shino – A really weird bug (ew…)

Hinata – the cake (no comment)

Sakura – Hair ties (ha! funny!)

Naruto – He says it was the party (Yeah…riiiight)

Sasuke – a glare (awesome!)

TenTen – a custom made kunai (thanks…a lot)

Neji – a book (great)

Lee – a green spandex suit (……)

… And Ino. Well, I haven't seen her yet. So hopefully she's just late and NOT getting me anything. I'll be happy if she doesn't, but sadly, Ino's not the type of person to NOT get a person something, for their birthday. How troublesome. I sighed.

"Shika-kun, Daijoubu desu ka?" I looked up and saw vibrant, ocean colored eyes and luscious blonde hair. I know what you're thinking and no. It is not Naruto and I am NOT, I repeat, NOT gay.

"Hai" I answered. I looked past Ino to see everyone eating Hinata's strawberry cake.

Ino's voice brought me back to look at her.

"Sorry, I'm late. I got caught up with getting your gift." Ino apologized, smiling. That beautiful smile, that lights up a room. She also had a blush on her cheeks.

She took my hand and put a box in it.

"That's only half of you present. You get the rest later." She smiled again.

I sighed, "Troublesome woman."

She hit my arm.

"I'm not that troublesome." She crossed her arms and pouted. She peeked open one of her eyes, as a sign that she was playing around. I chuckled and started untying the purple and white ribbon that covered the green and brown box. I opened the box and saw… a golden watch.

"Ino…This must have cost a fortune. Arigatou."

"Iie. It's okay. I'd get anything for my best friend. Plus, you always ask me what time it is." She replied happily. Her smile never leaving her face.

"Sit down. We never talk like we use to, since we became jounin." I lied.

"Okay." She agreed.

We talked for, who knows how long. When the rookie nine came up as a topic, we looked behind us and saw:

1: Hinata holding Akamaru and leaning her head on Kiba's shoulder (A/N: I can't believe I wrote that!!!!!!TT!! You better be happy, Fukyuu no Tenshi!!!!)

2: Sakura trying to flirt with Sasuke and, Naruto trying to get Sakura's attention.

3: Neji and TenTen Taking down decorations.

4: Lee and Gai 'interacting'

5: Chouji eating Korean BBQ

6: Shino playing with his bugs.

I saw Ino look a little frustrated when she saw Sakura and Sasuke.

"Daijoubu, Ino?" I asked concerned.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go help Neji-kun and TenTen-chan take down decorations, ne, Shika-kun." She said happily, though reluctantly.

I felt a pang of jealousy come over me. "Hai." I answered, none the less.

She stood up and offered her hand to me.

I looked at her and for the first time today, noticed what she was wearing. She was wearing a white tank top, covered by and off the shoulders sweater. She also had on tight, dark denim jeans with dark purple, knee-high boots, covering them. I thought the heel to be around 2 inches. Her long blonde hair was half way up, held by a white clip. Her attire was for winter. Well it's to be expected since it was December.

"Shika-kun?" She snapped me back to reality.

"Hai!" I yelled, a little too loudly to my liking.

"You wanna go help them?" She asked again.

"Yeah, sure." I replied.

We cleaned up and ,surprisingly, it only took about an hour. By that time, everyone was already gone besides Ino.

"Ja!" I yelled to Neji and TenTen as they left, hand in hand. I turned around and saw Ino, sitting on the steps. She sighed, looking depressed.

"Daijoubu?" I asked concerned, again.

"I'm alright." She smiled at me, to assure me. I wasn't assured.

"Are you sure? Is it because Sasuke and Sakura left together?" I pushed further.

"Iie. I'm over Sasuke. It was just me being me and fighting with Sakura. What's bugging me is… ano…I know this is kinda random…demo…How do you fell about Temari-san?" she stammered.

"She's just a friend, why?" I asked, trying not to sound surprised by the sudden question.

"Just a friend or more than just a friend?" She asked in reply.

"She's just a friend and nothing more" I answered, putting an emphasis on 'just', like she did.

"Okay, then I think it's time you got the other half of your gift." She stood up and walked over to me.

"Okay, but what does th-" I was interrupted by her putting her arms around my neck and crashing her lips onto mine.

My eyes were as wide as dinner plates, but they slowly closed. I snaked my arms around her waist, bringing her closer to me. We finally separated.

Ino pulled me close again and whispered into my ear, "Happy birthday, Shika-kun."

"Troublesome, lovable woman."

Maybe…just maybe, this birthday turned out to be not-so-troublesome, after all.