Afterthoughts

Summary: Even though he knew it wasn't a date, that didn't mean he liked the fact that they had went out together when the blond had promised to spend time with him with he got out. Before the time skip; Just a smidge after the Sasuke retrieval arc.

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Shikamaru couldn't help but narrow his eyes and scowl ever so slightly as Ino's hand rested a little too long of Chouji's forehead for the genius's liking or when her eyes gazed a little too long at his bare stomach as they trained in the large dirt patch a few meters away from where he sat in the shade against the tree he always sat under when he wasn't participating. He did thank the gods when Chouji put his shirt back on, not that he hadn't appreciated the view…

Okay, so Chouji had put on about thirty pounds when he left the hospital, muscle forming over what had once been skin and bones, but that didn't mean Ino had to cozy on up to him like he was the new fucking Sasuke!

The chuunin kept himself from growling and continued to scowl darkly at Ino like she was a bug that needed to squashed, immediately ( no offense to bug-users everywhere…), only to dart away, stealing more and more crumbs from his refrigerator.

Ino's eyes raked over Chouji's form with an inward squeal of delight before glancing over at Shikamaru…who didn't look too happy in the least. She arched a brow at the male only for him to look away, still not looking happy. Giving an inward shrug, she wondered what had crawled up his butt only for a moment before turning her attention back to Chouji and try to tackled him to the ground only to be forced down her own self.

She landed with an "oof!" and Chouji stood over her, grinning a bit and offered her a hand up.

Ino was about to accept the offered help only to miss when something seemed to drag the hand--and Chouji, from her view. Sitting it, she blinked when she realized it was Shikamaru and he was leading the blond away from the training grounds (pulling Chouji's right hand all the while) without a second look back.

Chouji glanced back and shrugged a little, grinning apologetically, soon out of sight.

Ino pouted and soon sat up, dusting herself off before folding her arms.

Shikamaru always ruined her fun…

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Shikamaru ignored Chouji calling his name and he also ignored the teen's words, angry and ready to do only the gods knew what when he and the blonde were alone.

When the pair stopped at Shikamaru's favorite cloud spot, the genius sat down stiffly on the wooden bench and didn't say a word, only scowling at the view ahead of him.

Chouji frowned, sitting down as well and didn't speak for a moment, only glancing at the taller male out of the corner of his eyes.

Should he say something? Shikamaru seemed to be really angry…

"Um…Shikamaru?" he started, only getting a huff in response.

Swallowing, Chouji tried again with the same result, and it went on like that for about ten minutes flat until the blond gave up to try something else.

Scooting close until he was in the genius's personal space, he moved only a little and his lips had contacted softly with a tanned cheek.

"If…If I did something, I'm sorry…"

The teen then looked away, blushing brightly with embarrassment at his actions.

"You went out with her, didn't you?"

Chouji blinked. Went out?

"It wasn't a d--"

"Don't do it anymore… Please." It hurt more than it should have…

Turning to look down at his best friend of thirteen years, he took the blond's chin in one of his hands as they brushed against too thin cheeks and leaned downwards, kissing him mouth a tad clumsily. The second kiss, however, was a bit more forceful, but captured the shorter boy's lips fully.

"Just don't go out with her again, alright?"

Shikamaru had looked away when he spoke again, obviously hurting.

Chouji nodded, leaning against the other male with a sigh, wrapping his arms around him.

They were soon both resting back on the old wood, staring up at the clouds with nothing more than a few short words passing between them.

xFinx