Affliction
Summary: He makes her too happy that she's almost forgotten he needs to be happy too. ShikaIno, implied SasuIno. AU.
Shikamaru is never the one to ask something in return. He's got ego – right amount of it, to be precised. When he's given something away, never he's waited to be paid back. Because to Shikamaru, that's how life goes as a giver. And he's never complained until he's had the realization that he wants his heart back.
He's given it away. Not generously, of course. It's taken whole eight years for Shikamaru to give it to someone...special. But then again, is it considered given when she doesn't seem to want it?
It is given to his really close friend – not best friend, cause Nara Shikamaru refuses to have one and he thinks that it is awfully cliché if the person he's in love with is his best friend – Yamanaka Ino.
"Shikamaru!" Ino waves her hand for him to see where she's sitting at, and who's she's sitting with. Uchiha Sasuke. Of all the people in this university, it has to be that douchebag who hurts her more often than not. Her on and off boyfriend. The person Shikamaru despises. "Come sit here with me and Sasuke-kun!"
Shikamaru abides because this is Ino. He knows that if he refuses...well, that's never gonna happen. It never does. Always has been like this, but Shikamaru is not the type who just follows people's order. He's only like this to her. Because he's determined to make her so happy.
Shikamaru sits next to Ino before he asks, "What do you want now?"
"What's up with you?" Ino questions, annoys that Shikamaru is not in the good mood. "Nothing, I just wanna tell you that I'm back together with Sasuke-kun." Ino snakes her arm on Sasuke's as Shikamaru rolls his eyes. "And I'm seriously happy!"
"This again," Shikamaru comments, not bothering to hide his annoyance. "What's new, Ino? This is just a cycle anyway. He cheats, you cry, he apologizes, and you forgive," Shikamaru recites effortlessly. He's gotten tired of this routine but for some reason, whenever she cries to him, he still comforts her. "Whatever, I'm leaving."
Standing up from his seat, Shikamaru leaves. The blonde can only sigh, quite sad that Shikamaru is disappointed in her. Forcing a smile, she looks up to Sasuke and says, "You're not gonna cheat on me again, are you?"
Sasuke kisses her. "Of course not, baby."
About two months later, his phone rings at two in the morning on a Tuesday. Shikamaru half-sleepily looks at his mobile to see Ino's face on the screen. An incoming phone call from her at this hour can only mean one thing. "Ino?"
Shikamaru, I wanna die, he hears on the other side of the line between sobs.
"Alright, I'll be there." Shikamaru hangs up the phone as he rushes to her house. This isn't the first or second time he's received this kind of phone call from her. Everytime Sasuke cheats on her, she gives him a call to tell him that she wants her life to be over. And Shikamaru isn't exaggerating if he says that this is probably the tenth time this has happened in seven months.
When he gets into the front of her house, Ino's at their porch, hugging her knees while her chin is on them. Shikamaru guesses that she probably has been crying for at least six hours straight because her eyes are redder than the last time.
"With who this time?" Shikamaru asks as he takes the side of her head to his chest. He likes it better this way because at least, he can hardly see her crying when her face is on his chest.
"T-Tenten," she stutters. Tenten – the girl Hyuuga Neji broke up with because he wanted to ask Ino out almost a year ago but Ino turned Neji down for that jerk Sasuke, Shikamaru realizes.
"There's nothing I hate more than seeing you waste your tears over that asshole," he points out what she already knows. "I really, really hate that troublesome guy." He really does and that's no secret to anyone. "Breakup with him."
He knows that she will. But he also knows that she will go back to him again once he apologizes. And that's what he exactly hates – she doesn't see that even though Uchiha does love her like he claims, she's never gonna be the only one for him.
"Okay," Ino answers in a low-tone voice as he tightens his grip on her.
Three days later, Shikamaru sees Ino talking to Sasuke at back of the tennis court after the bell rings for lunch hour. Shikamaru knows what comes next after this; her forgiveness. Despite her stupidity over this guy, Shikamaru can't seem to yell or be extremely mad at her. Because this is Ino, and he loves her so much it's almost illegal.
After he sees Sasuke walking away from Ino, he walks up to her. "So you forgave him?"
Shikamaru quietly begs for miracles before Ino answers. Shikmaru abhors it when Ino loses her self-respect when it comes to that Sasuke. Even though almost every guy in this campus would consider killing just to date her, she still can't seem to drop that douchelord.
Ino smiles, and Shikamaru hopes that's not a yes. "What do you think, Shika?"
"You did, didn't you?" He feels it, and it stings. To avoid any further hurt, Shikamaru turns and walks away.
That night, Shikamaru finds Ino in his room. "Your mom let me in and asked me to wait for you here while you were running some errands for her."
Shikamaru keeps quiet because he always wants to avoid her whenever she's decided to go back to that son of a bitch. But that avoiding doesn't last more than two days because he cannot stand not being able to talk to her. He loves her, and it's perhaps not right anymore.
"Shika," Ino calls his name as she sighs. "I'm in love with him, okay?"
He's heard that phrase a hundred times, and it hurts like a bitch each time. However, unlike those other times, he actually plans to say something this time. "I get it, Ino. You're so in love with him that you've forgotten about yourself. No, seriously, where the hell did your dignity go because I haven't seen it ever since you entered into a relationship with that fucking scumbag?"
Ino's not mad, she's furious. "This is coming from you?" Ino questions in disbelief. "You – who's been obviously in love with me and can't grow some balls to confess. The person whom I cry to countless of times because a guy cheats on me – the same person who I hurt continuously because I'm in love with the wrong person but still chooses to be there for me even though there are other girls out there who can make him happier." Ino grabs her purse and stands up from the bed. "Worry about your dignity first; and then you can worry about mine."
This time around, it's her turn to walkaway. Shikamaru can only watch her leave because even though he wants to say something and argue, no words from his mouth can make what she's said less truer. Because what she said is the repulsively repelling truth. He loves her so much that he refuses to love himself too.
And maybe that's the problem. He is so scared that she's lost her self-respect because of Sasuke that he's failed to notice that he's been losing his too. Thinking about it now, he is no different from Ino. He's hated how stupid she is when it comes to love, but the truth is he's even stupider because at least Ino knows what love is doing to her, unlike him who has not realized this until now. Love consumes both of them, and it's devastatingly painful.
Today is the sixteenth day after their heated confrontation, and he still isn't talking to her. Normally, their fights never last more than a week; this is the longest she hasn't talked to him. And Ino misses her best friend more than anything in world.
Yes, best friend. Although he tries so hard to deny this, he is Ino's best friend. And he's frightened as hell that's all he'll ever be to her.
What she said to him might have crossed the line a little bit but she doesn't regret that because she only opened his eyes. Ino believes that he should love himself first before he should love someone else. Ever since they were eleven, he's only taken godly good care of her and her alone. Ino knows that he's spoiled her more than he should have; and whenever she asks him whatever he wants, he only tells her to be happy.
And happy she was but with the person he's never happy about. Sad truth is that, he makes her too happy that along the way, she's almost forgotten that he has to be happy too. Almost, but not completely. That's why she's going to swallow all her pride and talk to him because she doesn't think she'll last a day more of not having him.
Ino misses being with him – in these fifteen days that have passed, she realizes how much life sucks whenever he's not around.
Ino plans to wait until tonight to tell him that but she doesn't want to wait any longer; his last class has just ended and he sees her waiting for him by the door. "Life has been sucking because I miss you badly," she says with a small smile lingering her lips. "Is there anyway I can have my best friend back?"
In response, he walks passed her as if she isn't there.
Ino has experienced hurt many times (all thanks to Sasuke) but those hurtful feelings don't compare to what she's feeling now.
A/N: This is a two-shot story. Just wait for the second chapter, which will probably come out soon. Please give some review because I want to know what you thought of this chapter. Criticisms are very much loved and acceptable. :)