Note : I don't know if it's really any good or not. Please review so I can know! I like my other ShikaIno story a lot better. If you read this one, please read that one too! Thanks!


Shikamaru stared down at the picture in his hands. He smiled slightly to himself as he recalled the day it was taken.

Asuma-sensei had insisted on a picture, after having one taken with the reluctant Kurenai-sensei. Temari thought the picture was a good idea, and argued with him until he agreed to get it taken. He figured it was troublesome, but he stood next to her anyway, with a slightly grumpy look on his face.

"Get ready now" Asuma-sensei had said "3...2...1!"

At the last second, Temari swung her arm around his shoulders, surprising him. When the picture came out, he had a strange expression on, like someone who had just gotten a fright, but happy at the same time. Temari was grinning, a little evilly.

Shikamaru gave his head a sharp shake and put the picture on the table next to his bed. Then he sighed and turned it face down.

Nothing ever works out right, does it?

In order to take his mind off things, he decided to go watch some clouds and maybe take a nap. He could rest up today, since he didn't have any missions. That was usually a good thing, but today it was unfortunate because his mind wasn't being distracted very well. There wasn't even anyone to play shogi with.

Sighing again, he slid open the door and stepped outside, heading for one of his favorite spots to watch the clouds go by. It was a good day for watching clouds; sunny but not so bright that it was blinding to look up at the sky.

Finding a good spot under a tree, Shikamaru stretched, yawned, and settled down with his hands underneath his head, shifting around a little until he was totally comfortable.

He wasn't there two minutes before he heard the noise.

It was a sob. A girl's sob. Someone was in the forest nearby, crying. Shikamaru frowned. What a way to ruin the peace and quiet of the forest. He tried to ignore it, and wait for it to leave, but whoever was crying was only walking deeper into the forest, closer to him, instead of leaving.

Shikamaru lid there, frowning at the clouds, wondering if he should investigate the noise. It was probably some lost little girl or something. He knew he should probably bring her back home, but it was so troublesome...

Giving in to his conscious, Shikamaru let out a very annoyed sigh and stood up. Listening carefully to the sounds of the sobbing, he followed it until he was nearly right beside whoever it was crying in the trees.

"Hey" he said, a little awkwardly "Whoever's crying, do you need some help or something?" He poked his head around a tree, trying to see the person, and jumped when he saw who it was.

Ino stood there, her cheeks wet with tears.

"Ino?!" Shikamaru exclaimed "What's wrong?"

Her eyes widened when she saw him, and she vigorously wiped at the tears on her cheeks.

"N-Nothing" she said "I'm fine" Shikamaru frowned.

"Am I even supposed to believe that lie?" he said "Geez, Ino" She remained silent, sniffing and wiping at her cheeks. Shikamaru let out another annoyed sigh and then said, more gently, "You can talk to me...if you want to"

She probably has a zit or something stupid like that. But whatever takes my mind off my own problems is fine by me, really.

"Thanks, Shikamaru" Ino said "I guess I could talk to you..."

"Well, go for it" he said, sitting down, leaning against a tree and closing his eyes. Ino sniffed again and sat down beside him.

"Well, it's about a boy" she said, a little shyly.

"Is it about Sai?" Shikamaru asked, interrupting without thinking.

"How'd you know?" Ino asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

Shikamaru opened one eye and looked at Ino, who was looking at him expectantly. The guy looks like another Sasuke, after all...

"Lucky guess" he said instead, closing his eyes again.

"Oh...well, yeah, it's about him." Ino said "I used to like him. He's good looking, you know...and....he...he called me beautiful..."

Shikamaru opened one eye again "He called you beautiful?" he asked "Hey, why are you crying again? Isn't that a good thing?"

"No" Ino sniffed, wiping at her eyes with her wrist "Not if it's a lie"

"Oh" Shikamaru said "Why would he lie about something like that? How'd you find out?"

"Sakura told me. She couldn't wait to rub it in my face." Ino answered, anger seeping into her voice "He's not used to expressing emotion. He wanted to make up nicknames for the new people he met, in order to become closer to them, you know?"

"Mmhmm" Shikamaru said, recalling something Choji said about Sai nearly calling him fat.

"Well, he called Sakura ugly and she freaked out" Ino continued "And he called me beautiful and Sakura freaked out again"

"Yeah" Shikamaru said, remembering Choji saying something about that too.

"Well, turns out he only said that because he thought people didn't like being called what they actually are" Ino went on "So when he called me beautiful, what he really meant was ugly" Her eyes filled again with fresh tears.

Shikamaru was silent for a moment, and then he let out a soft laugh.

"You're laughing at me?!" Ino demanded "Shikamaru, you're so mean!"

"No, don't take it the wrong way!" he said, sitting up and opening his eyes "I didn't mean it. I just couldn't help but laugh. I mean, you always like the worst guys."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first Sasuke, who didn't pay any attention to you." he explained, ignoring Ino glaring at him. "And now Sai, who's acting like an even bigger jerk than Sasuke was."

"So you're saying I should like a nicer guy?" Ino said after a moment.

"Well...Exactly" Shikamaru said "These other jerks aren't even worth your time. I don't know why you let him upset you like that."

"You're right!" Ino exclaimed, her normal mood restored "I need a guy who's nice to me, and understanding. His looks shouldn't be so important, he needs to be caring and-" Ino broke off mid sentence, her face looking suddenly surprised.

"What?" Shikamaru asked, frowning at the look on her face. Ino shook her head sharply and composed her features again.

"It's nothing" she said. They were both silent for a minute.

"So, why are you out in the forest?" Ino said suddenly, changing the subject "I didn't want anyone to see me like that, and I didn't think anyone would be here..."

How very like Ino. Putting on a brave face in front of Sakura and then going and crying in the forest somewhere.

"I was watching clouds" he answered "I've got nothing better to do"

"Oh? Where's Temari these days?" she asked, her voice slightly nervous. Shikamaru flinched. Ino had asked the wrong question. He had just been beginning to forget about her.

"The sand village" he answered, straining to keep his voice neutral.

"Shikamaru?" Ino said, after a moment "You can talk to me too, okay?"

"There's nothing to talk about" Shikamaru answered, looking away "I'm fine"

"Am I really supposed to believe that lie?" Ino countered, quoting him.

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows and turned to look at her again.

"Nicely said" he said finally, smiling at her "It's troublesome, but I guess I could talk to you"

Ino nodded, and they both settled back against the tree again.

"I guess you knew about me and Temari?" he started. Ino nodded. "Well, I'm not with her anymore."

"Why not?"

"Simple" he said, shutting his eyes "I live here, and I'm not leaving. I want to protect Kurenai-sensei's baby. And she lives in the sand village, and she's not leaving. Her brother is Kazekage, and she's staying around to protect him."

"Oh...so you're not together anymore?"

"No." Shikamaru said, "She basically told me, it won't work between us...I'm sorry...I wish there was something we could do about it...can we still be friends, kind of stuff."

"Really? Did you say you'd still be friends with her?"

"Well, if I didn't, I'd sound like an ass." he answered. Ino let out a small laugh, but quickly sobered.

"True" she said "But...it's okay, because, even if she was your first love, there will be more. That's why they call it first love. Because there's a second and sometimes a third."

Shikamaru opened his eyes to look at Ino. She was smiling at him and something about it made him feel a lot better. Like it really was okay that Temari left him.

"Thanks, Ino" he said, a little surprised that talking to her had actually made him feel better.

"No problem" she said sweetly "It's like me, you know, the love thing. I'm moving on to my third love already"

"You've got someone in mind already?" Shikamaru asked, smiling while he leaned back and shut his eyes again "That's you all right. Moving right along. This one better not be a jerk."

"He isn't" Ino said "Don't worry."

"So who is he?" Shikamaru said idly, "It's not Neji is it?"

"No" Ino said "Guess again"

"Geez, you're making me guess? How troublesome. Let's see...is it Choji?"

"Nope" she said in a sing song voice.

"Uh...I don't know. Shino? Kiba?"

"No times two" she sang again.

"Er..Naruto?" Shikamaru guessed randomly "...Lee?"

"Of course not" Ino answered, dropping her sing song voice this time.

"Is it Gaara or Kankuro? Because that'll turn out about as well as it did for me and Temari"

"No, don't worry"

"Well, who the heck is it?" he asked, tired of guessing now. But Ino didn't answer. She stayed quiet for so long that he had to open his eyes to make sure she hadn't walked off. But she hadn't. She was staring at him intently. His brow furrowed in confusion. He thought for a moment, and then it hit him.

"Uh...Me?" he said, feeling stupid. Ino smiled.

"Bingo" she said, her cheeks turning a little pink.

Shikamaru thought several things at once. Wasn't expecting that. Wow, I'm nothing like Sasuke or Sai. Geez, why didn't she say something sooner? This is troublesome... What about Temari? Oh...No need to worry about her anymore... I'm going to move on to a second love, like Ino said. Wait a second...Ino...

"...Ino..."he said aloud "I...don't really know what to say"

"Shikamaru" she said "You're the first person I thought of when I was describing what kind of boy I need earlier. Really, I should have noticed long ago. But I was caught up in winning against Sakura..."

"This is troublesome" he said, shaking his head "I mean, you're so..."

"Ugly?" Ino provided, joking around and making a face. Shikamaru chuckled.

"No, you really are beautiful" he said "And what you said before really did make me feel better."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it did. So maybe...we could-"

"Go on a date?" Ino interrupted. "Oh please? I know you think it's troublesome, but we can do whatever you want, and I really think it'd be fun!"

"Slow down" Shikamaru said "I was going to say watch the clouds together"

"Oh, okay" Ino said, a little sheepishly.

Shikamaru lid back against the tree, and Ino settled in beside him.

"Is this awkward?" she asked, cuddling in next to him. He thought for a moment, wanting to answer honestly.

"No" he said "It's not, actually. You know, we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if we had just thought of this sooner." Ino shrugged.

"Maybe we knew all along, and just didn't realize it" she said.

Shikamaru made a soft noise of agreement "Well, it doesn't really matter anymore. In the long run, the thing that matters most it whether or not you're happy in the end"

"That's true" Ino agreed. Shikamaru yawned.

"All this emotion has made me tired" he joked, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the tree.

"Yeah" Ino smiled, closing her eyes and resting her head against his chest. It wasn't five minutes before Shikamaru fell asleep. But Ino stayed awake, listening to his soft breathing and watching the clouds go by.

I finally won a boy she thought and this one is the best one by far. I want to stay with him more that I ever wanted to stay with Sasuke or even Sai.

She lid there for two hours before Shikamaru even stirred, feeling completely contented just lying there with him and looking for shapes in the clouds.

A few days later, Shikamaru took the picture of him and Temari into the woods with him. He stood in a clearing and waited for the wind to come. Then he held the picture high in the air.

And let go.

He stood there watching it sail away, when he felt someone's arm around his waist.

"Hey there, Shika-kun" Ino cooed, snuggling into his shoulder.

"Hello" he answered, putting an arm around her in turn.

"I think..." She said, looking up at him. "...That we should get our picture taken."

Shikamaru looked down at her, surprised at first, and then smiled softly.

"I'd like that" he said.

When the picture came out, the two of them were grinning with their arms around each other, striking peace signs. Shikamaru couldn't ever remember seeing himself so happy before.