REALIZE
When Shikamaru finally decided to introduce Temari to his family, an unexpected realization hit him.
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.
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"Are you free tomorrow night?" Nara Shikamaru blurted all of a sudden; his companion, the blond kunoichi from the Hidden Village of the Sand looked at him with bewildered eyes. Unable to utter a response, Temari just nodded her head. Shikamaru put his hands on his pocket and sighed.
"I'll pick you up at seven." he said again and walked away. Temari, who seemed so confused run towards him.
"Where will you take me?" she asked, Shikamaru did not even looked at her direction.
"My parent's house." he replied, the older woman stopped at her tracks as if to digest all of the words Shikamaru just said, but a small smile graced her usually stoic face.
It was almost five in the afternoon, Shikamaru was lazily strolling the training ground where he used to train with his team in their genin days. He was surprised to see his team mate, Yamanaka Ino training all by herself. He slouched at the grassy part of the clearing and just watched, after a while, Ino noticed his presence.
"What don't you just help me train, instead of just watching?" The blond girl demanded, Shikamaru snorted
"You always boss around Ino." he said but stood up anyway, walking towards her. "Why are you training at this time of the day?" he inquired and noticed the changed of expression on his team mate's pretty face.
"I am going to an A-rank mission tomorrow." she said, not meeting his gaze.
"Who are your team?" he asked again, an arms length distance between them. Ino looked at him directly in the eye.
"No one." she replied "Kunoichi-only mission, if you know what I mean" she said and turned her back on him to prepare for her stance. Shikamaru contemplated her words, after a while he finally understood what she meant.
"I thought you already finished going to those kinds of mission!" It wasn't a question, Shikamaru was clearly enraged. Ino was shocked, she never saw Shikamaru lost his cool before.
Within a heart's beat, the genius jounin was in front of her, gripping rather harshly on her shoulder
"Sh-Shika" Ino winced in pain and started squirming her way out of the man's grip, Shikamaru realized his act, loosen his hold on her.
"I'm sorry" he apologized; Ino just looked at him with frightened eyes, Shikamaru did not understand, but his heart suddenly ached with the way Ino looked at him. "Ino, I . . ." he tried, but he didn't know what to say.
"It's okay Shika," Ino answered him, though unaware of what he was about to say. "I better get going." Shikamaru didn't even feel when Ino moved away from him.
"Ino" he called out, Ino turned back on him, waiting. "Why did they chose you again"
Ino shrugged as she thought about it. "No one was available." she studied the man's feature for a while; what she got, however, was a confused stare. She sighed and added "The only way for a kunoichi to get away with these missions is when she got married, or got pregnant." Shikamaru's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets, Ino did not know if she will laughed or what. "Shika," Shikamaru schooled his expression again, he looked at Ino who was looking back at him with pained eyes. "I may not be able to be there when you propose to her, but you know I will always support you." she stated and walked away from him, a lone tear escaped from her blue orbs.
Shikamaru sprinted towards the Hokage tower; there were so many other kunoichi that can do the mission, Ino was not the only one, He thought. When he arrived in front of the Hokage's office, he took deep breaths to calm his blood.
"What are you doing here Shikamaru?" Tsunade asked the jounin, Shikamaru looked at him with resentment.
"Give Ino's mission to other available kunoichi." Tsunade arched an eyebrow and looked sternly at him
"I can't." she replied; Shikamaru was angrier now, the Hokage sensed it as she continued. "She was the one who volunteered for it." the looked at the man in front of her quickly change. From enflamed to surprise, she almost laughed when Shikamaru almost gaped at her. Oh how entertaining to watch the usual bored looking guy display such emotions because of love.
"Why did she volunteer for it?" Shikamaru inquired after regaining his composure. He silently cursed himself for making himself fool in front of his superior.
"I cannot give you her reason. If you want to know, ask her personally." she said and dismissed the man.
He was now walking out of the Hokage tower, the stars were now twinkling above. He lost track of time after his encounter with Ino. He was pulled out of his reverie when he bumped into someone.
"Are you okay Shikamaru?" Sakura asked worriedly, he just stared at her for a while and nodded.
"Sakura, do you have a moment?" he asked back, the pink-haired woman though confused, nodded back.
They were now at the sweet shop Ino and Sakura loved to visit. They were seated at the usual spot where the best friends used to seat.
"Is it about Ino?" Sakura inquired while stirring her tea. Shikamaru looked at the plate of dango on the table and nodded.
"Tsunade told me that Ino volunteered on a seduction mission" he said, unable to look at his team mate's best friend "Do you know why she did that?"
Sakura sighed and looked at the passersby outside. "I think, it's best if you ask her"
"I don't think she'll answer me truthfully. She told me that there was no available kunoichi to do that mission." Shikamaru continued to stare at the dango on his plate "She hated those kinds of mission."
"Shikamaru" Sakura called out to him and finally looked at her direction only to see her looking at him "What do you think of Ino?" she asked all of a sudden.
"What do you mean? She's my team mate and childhood friend." he answered almost immediately. Sakura studied him for some time, a sigh escaped her lips.
"I meant as a woman." the jounin looked at the woman in front of her, stunned at her sudden question. When Shikamaru failed to answer, Sakura prayed silently that Ino would forgive her to what was about to happen. "She's been inlove with you." Sakura confessed.
Shikamaru was frozen at his seat. A million thoughts run through his mind. Sakura waited for him to comprehend what she had told him, but the man seemed to be too shocked to compose a reply.
"She's been inlove with you ever since we were genins. She realized it the moment you and Chouji came back from your mission to bring back Sasuke-kun." Sakura looked for any emotion from Shikamaru, but the man was just completely surprised to display any other feelings.
"I. . I didn't know" he said after a while. Sakura smiled sadly at him .
"Of course, Ino can hide what she truly feels." Sakura informed him "She wanted to keep you as her friend, she told me she can't take rejection from you."
"Sakura"
"And the reason why Ino volunteered for that mission is because. . ." Sakura looked at him directly in the eye "Because she cannot bear to watch your proposal to Temari" Shikamaru's heart beat uncontrollably fast at the pink-haired woman's last statement. It was beating way too fast that he could actually hear it. He did not noticed that Sakura was standing next to him until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"I . . ." he struggled to speak, but words and thoughts seemed to be out of his mind.
Sakura squeezed his shoulders, he looked up only to see a small sad smile on the woman's face "It's okay. She understands. She accepted it a long time ago." she said softly. "You don't have to feel sorry for her."
With that last statement, Sakura left him alone.
It was a warm summer day. Shikamaru was lounging at the Academy's roof when he felt a presence nearing him. He didn't have to look to recognized who was joining him on his afternoon rest.
"Are you ready for tonight?" his other team mate, Chouji asked.
"Did Ino tell you about it?" Shikamaru asked instead. The big boned Chuunin looked at him as if to asked what he was talking about. "Sakura told me everything last night." he added. Chouji understand what he meant.
"She only told me she cannot go to your proposal due to her mission." Chouji answered, his hand buried on his bag of chips. "but she wished you luck. She said, Temari will certainly agreed to marry you."
"That's not what I meant, and you know it." Shikamaru spat.
"Shikamaru" the Akimichi heir spoke seriously this time, "If this bothers you so much, why don't you thoroughly think about it?" he continued munching on his chips afterwards, Shikamaru was too stunned to speak. "I don't know what you feel about Ino, but if you don't analyze things faster, you may regret it after."
"Chouji, you know her as well as I do." Shikamaru countered.
"Who was the one she asked for help when she was first assigned to that kind of mission? It was you, right?" his best friend retorted.
"I. . .I thought. ." he tried to reply, but Chouji beat him and continued.
"She was dating that guy from the Sand but he instead, asked for you. When she returned from that mission, and just learned that you and Temari were going out, she cried a lot." Chouji started, Shikamaru looked at him astonished, "She said, she thought she conveyed her feelings to you that night, but she was wrong. She said, you'll never love her the way she do" Shikamaru stayed silent, he didn't even acknowledge Chouji's farewell, he just stared at his favorite clouds in the sky.
Just like the color of her eyes.
He was utterly surprised at the events unfolding to him. He was certainly sure that he was the type of man Ino would not waste time with. He was boring to be with, not to mention his laziness infuriated her and mostly because he knew that Ino would only love one man - and that was Uchiha Sasuke. She was really vain and spend most of her time improving her looks, she boss around and flirt around as well, she was loud to the point of being tactless.
On his part though, he just wanted a simple woman who he wished would not nag at him much like what his mother always did to his father. He never considered overly beautiful girls because he knew that pretty girls always get attention from other boys. And he was too lazy to give a damn about it.
He was a genius, but his 200 IQ cannot analyzed all the things, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. That was the reason he settled with an older woman like Temari who was also living in another village. Because he was not fond of all those lovey dovey couple that needs to meet everyday. And he knew Ino loved those romantic things
But even though he thought of all those annoying things about Ino, he could not understand his twisted feelings for her. She was beautiful, that is a no-brainer for him but it's not her looks was what Shikamaru meant, she was really kind to those around her. She commanded them back in the years and even if he did not want to admit, he was thankful she did boss around them or else, he wouldn't be motivated to train. She wouldn't flirt around from male to male, boy to boy without a reason, a twisted trait of her. She flirted with the boys that was courting her friends just to find out the intention of those bastards. She was the loudest woman in all of Konoha, she was not afraid to voiced her opinion, because she reasoned that if no one will point their weakness or fault, they will never correct it.
He smiled as he remembered all those things that Ino told him, especially the one that made his heart beats fast and his lower region to tight.. Her strange request, he couldn't outright tell that they made love, it was more like sex only. She told him she needed to lose her innocence before going to those kinds of missions; he was uncertain, He was inexperienced to that kind of things, but they did it anyway. And it was the best night of his life, so far.
Temari, on the other hand was fine; as far as he wanted to allow. She was annoying at times, nagging him for being lazy and all - much to what Ino always did. She was away most of the time, because she's living in Suna and only visits for ambassador work. He did not care because he liked their relationship that way. He was unaware of the reason why he asked her out in the first place. He thought it was due to the fact that aside from Ino, Temari was the only girl he frequently meet.
And now, he was planning on proposing - for what reason? He told himself, or more so convinced himself that he loved Temari. That she was the best candidate for him to start his simple life.
But now he realized, that every time he was with her, Ino was the one in his thoughts. Every time he and Temari were intimate, his night with Ino was all he remembered.
Ino was the one who invade his every thought.
But he never considered himself in love with his childhood friend.
The noises from the children coming out of the academy signaled Shikamaru to go back inside and prepare to leave.
As he walked on the busy street of Konoha, he noticed the woman who stirred his peaceful world upside down, she was wearing her ninja outfit and Shikamaru knew then and there that Ino was going to her mission now. He wanted to run towards her but a hand on his forearm prevented his flee. He looked irritated and turned around to see Temari.
"Where are you going?" the older woman asked. He looked back to where he saw Ino, but his team mate was already out of his sight,
"Nowhere." he replied, Temari arched her eyebrow. She saw Ino walked across the street and she had a gut feeling Shikamaru was going after the other blond. "See you later." Shikamaru said without even glancing at her.
The Nara heir heard happy voices as he neared his parent's house; he moved out of their home almost one year ago and coming back to his childhood house always brought him unexplainable feelings.
Maybe because he, Chouji and Ino frequented there just to sleep or play.
The Patriarch of the three respected clans of Konoha turned their attention at the opening door, Shikamaru entered their abode and stopped on the spot when he saw the three men looking at him.
"Why are you looking at me?" he asked, a bit irritated at the sudden attention.
"You're late, idiot son." Shikaku replied grumpily. "You're supposed to be here an hour ago."
"Now, now Shikaku" Chouza interjected "Let him get some rest before his girlfriend arrives."
"Thank you uncle Chouza" Shikamaru said as he jogged towards his room. Once he got inside of his old room, Shikamaru clutched his chest as his heart beats painfully, he dragged his gaze, unintentionally at Yamanaka Inoichi, but for some weird reason, all he saw was Ino.
Stupid brain, playing tricks on me
When Shikamaru returned to the receiving area, the older men were now playing some stupid card game, he peeked at their kitchen and greeted the women who were busy cooking for tonight's feast. An older woman with dark hair who was put on a bun walked towards him and held his hand
"I'm sorry Shikamaru, Ino cannot join tonight, she has a mission today." Ino's mother apologized, her slightly wrinkled hand was warm and her smile was identical to Ino's.
"It's okay. She told me yesterday." he replied and excused himself after announcing that he will pick up Temari.
When he was at their front door again, he heard his father and Inoichi talked about Shikamaru's attire on his wedding. He did not mind it and was about to exit when he heard Chouza said
"I really thought your boy and your girl will end up together." the Nara and Yamanaka patriarch both look at the bigger man, Inoichi smirked at them
"My princess surely grew up to be an attractive lady, poor Shikamaru chose not be with her," he stated mockingly at Shikaku
"I trust my son to make his own decision. I like the thought of he and Ino would eventually marry, but I know my son." Shikaku shook his head "He knows what he wants."
As he strolled his way towards the inn where Temari temporarily resides, his mind wandered towards the time he spent with Ino. It was absurd, he mused. But all these things happening to him now was just overwhelming. Its as if, everyone around wants
him to choose Ino. Why? Just because they grew up together? Spent time always?
Its ridiculous. He shook his head.
But he liked that thought anyway
"You're smiling." Temari greeted him, he didn't realized that he just arrived at her place and that she was waiting for him at the entrance. "Something good happen?"
"Are you ready to meet them?" he did not answer her question, he didn't want to worry her with his thoughts, Temari just looked at him and nodded. She chose not to pry anymore, she knew Shikamaru would tell her if its important.
He looked at Temari and studied her features; and he acknowledge the fact that indeed, she was almost like Ino. But with Ino, his life would be different from what he wanted. And Temari would be the best candidate for his simple life.
And besides, he was the one who never backed out from his decision.
He might like Ino, but for now, as he looked at the blond woman in front of him, he decided that he will not regret this.
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TBC