Mess © inogirl13

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

I got inspiration from two deviations and the links don't want to work, so here's the deviation info: Mess by MiMa93 and ShikaIno kiss lineart by MiMa93, but mostly the former.

But hey, it's not a songfic! I think I should get brownie points just for that!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…blah blah blah…Masashi…blah…(insert witty remark) blah…

The indolent ninja heaved a sigh as he watched the clear blue sky fill with morning clouds. If he turned back, he could just make out his favorite knoll, lush with green grass just waiting to cradle him as he spent the day gazing at swirls of white intertwining with the cerulean skies. It was a beautiful day…so why was Nara Shikamaru making his way to the Yamanaka household when all he wanted to do was savor the sunlit hours? The answer came back—as it did for too many questions—invariably. Each and every time Shikamaru found himself executing some menial relentless task, the reason behind it came in a maddeningly annoying blonde ponytail: Yamanaka Ino. He hated the control she had over him. No matter what it was, no matter how many times he'd try to get out of it, all she had to do was call his name, bat her eyes, and smile, and he was like putty in her hands. She could ask him to severe all relationships he had and live in a cave for the next 50 years, and he'd probably end up doing it. He thought she was aware of the power she held over him, and used it to her advantage. He would try to stand up to her, but that proved, time and time again, to be much too troublesome. It was much easier to put up with her nagging and remain silent. It's too bad his poor friend, Chouji, hadn't picked up on that yet…

He nonchalantly turned the corner up to the Yamanaka's front door and knocked on it softly. He heard some shuffling before looking at up at the house to find his lifelong blonde friend pop out of the window, her hair (free from it's tie) swinging slightly behind her. Her eyes sparkled at discovering it was him; she called, "I'll be right down, Shika-kun," and disappeared back inside the house. Shikamaru subconsciously fingered the identical hair band that Ino had holding his hair back. Knowing Ino, it would be more than a few minutes before she got down, so he placed himself against the stair banister outside the extremely well-kept home.

It was a good 10 minutes before Ino actually opened the door to find Shikamaru laying on his back on her porch, staring up at the sky.

"Honestly, Shikamaru, if all you do with your time is gaze at clouds, you'll never amount to anything!" She huffed and placed her hands on her hips. Let the nagging begin, Shikamaru thought. He'd debated not even meeting her, but decided that would only cause her to yell at him even more, maybe even throw in some injuries, and that would just be too troublesome.

He stood up to find Ino standing in her usual risqué uniform: a purple cropped tank top, short gray shorts, and a mixture of white bandages and fishnet covering arms and legs her randomly. She'd worn this—and every other variation of it—ever since Shikamaru met her, but he hadn't remembered her filling it out so well. The last time he looked, she was all knees and elbows. Her tank top stretched at her chest, appearing to be quite tight around her swollen breasts poking out of the top, and her hips—she actually had hips to put her hands on…Her body curved, dipped, and nipped in at all the perfect places…Where have I been, thought Shikamaru.

Walking to the training site was practically silent besides a few general conversation questions. Shikamaru couldn't get over how much she'd grown, and how oblivious he'd been to it happening! It couldn't have happened overnight—he wasn't that stupid, but how could he have missed this transformation? He was pretty sure he was doing a well enough job of covering up the utter shock his mind and body were experiencing at this point.

Finally they reached their training grounds and he could focus on what he knew best: strategy. He settled down on a tree stump and began removing his various shuriken and kunai. He'd only glanced up at Ino staring around as the wind gently blew her hair, a small kunai resting in her hand, when she started talking.

"I thought we were meeting Asuma-sensai and Chouji…" She spoke tenderly, much unlike her usual demanding tone. Shikamaru was almost surprised by her manner, but showed nothing on his face, "They didn't tell you? They both caught a bad cold in the Rain Village. They'll be in bed all this week." Shikamaru stood up with shuriken armed in both hands. Ino still had her back to him.

"I don't understand why I couldn't go with them on that mission." Shikamaru yielded a small smile, but Ino didn't see it.

"And if you did, you'd be sick in bed, too." Ino stiffened her limbs and softly rubbed the kunai with her thumb.

"Oh Shikamaru…" she said, as if tasting the words before speaking. He could sense that she was smiling and further wondered what was up with her.

She started to turn around while saying, "Do you really have an answer for everything?" She carelessly threw her kunai, almost as if she didn't expect it to be dangerous, but it flew at top speed toward Shikamaru. He quickly dodged it and flung a shuriken. Ino must have been trying to catch him off guard, because she stood with her mouth slightly open and eyes wide when she saw that he reacted so accurately. She knew she wouldn't have time to avoid it so she turned to shield her face from the weapon. It just grazed her ponytail, snapping the small black band. Shikamaru smiled at the precision of his hit…until he saw tears well up in Ino's eyes, followed by a vicious scowl.

"Shikamaru! I spent all morning on my hair!" Tears dashed from her eyes as she gritted her teeth and hurled another kunai towards him. Because of her emotional disposition, her aim was ridiculously off and it hit the tree stump Shikamaru had previously been sitting on. Ino had turned around and plopped down on the ground, crossing her arms and sniffling. Shikamaru yanked the weapon out of the tree and watched Ino as her hair hung down, swiveling every once in a while as she cried and huffed in anger.

Shikamaru got down on his knees to meet her on the ground. He dare not say anything. He couldn't form thoughts even if he wanted to; he was in prime presence of her delicious cleavage. He didn't think natural breasts could be so perfectly round and supple and proudly perched. She sniffed and said, "You're such an insensitive lazy ass. You never mess up a girl's hair!" Shikamaru winced at the sheer venom she was slipping into her words. She hadn't look back at him, but she did reach around her head and pull her hair around one of her shoulders. There was so much of it, so soft looking. Shikamaru almost reached out to touch it, but thought better of it, considering her current mood. When she moved her hair, she gave him a wonderful view of her perfectly tan skin. He watched as a single drop of sweat slid down her perfect back. What a drag, he thought. He was shaking, he wanted to touch her so bad. After a couple minutes he couldn't take it anymore. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an extra hair band. His reached around and grabbed her blonde locks in both his hands. When his hands lightly grazed the back of her neck, he felt her tense and straighten her back. Was he actually making her…nervous? The bubbly, confident Ino filled with anxiety? He didn't want to admit it, but it gave him a sense of pride when he saw the emotion he could pull out of her. He was so uneasy, he started to breathe deeper, and she probably thought he was a mental patient, but he didn't care at that moment. He had her luscious golden hair in his hands, running between his fingers. He conjectured how long he could play with it before she stopped him. He decided to play it safe and quickly finished putting it up. It was a bit lopsided, but not bad, he thought. He laid down on his back and stared up at the sky before she could look him in the eye and make him do something that would ruin them forever, something he'd regret... She turned around and lay on her stomach. Their heads were aligned, but he wouldn't look at her. "I bet it looks a mess…" she giggled softly. He couldn't answer her. What with her instant emotion change and the way her hair felt on his skin and the perfect view of her cleavage he knew he'd get, he couldn't look over. So he remained as he was. After what felt like half an hour of silence, he felt her lean over to his ear and coo, "Shikamaru…" He had to close his eyes at that expression. How could such a troublesome woman get such a reaction from him? How could any woman pour that much feeling into a single name? Before he could stop himself, he was turning his head to greet her eyes. And before he could protest, she was wrapping her manicured nails around his head and pushing her sweet lips against him.

He wanted to stop her, to yell how this would ruin their friendship. The friendship he'd busted his ass to make last as long as it had. But she was swirling her tongue, and brushing their lips, and he didn't want to do anything, but stay in this moment. She tasted like sweet candy; he couldn't stop tasting her. As he let go even more, he moved his hand up to the side of her face and played with her hair. She closed her lips and finished the kiss, making Shikamaru immediately want more with the absence of her taste. She smiled meekly, a word he never thought he'd associate with Ino. It took him a few minutes to find himself, but then he softly caressed her cheek and whispered,

"I like it better down…"

Meh, ending…I didn't like it, but you know…

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