Woah, I found this waiting on my computer and finally decided to upload it. Cool.

I'm not sure this actually had a point. Feel free to read anyways.

Disclaimer: What are you talking about? I am Naruto!

Enjoy. :)

Long, slender fingers placed a rose inside one of the delicate vases in the colorful store, Yamanaka Flowers.

Ino quickly walked out of the store after finishing her work. Her shift was over, and she wanted some lunch.

As she was walking, her eyes drifted over to a small but cozy restaurant where a stoic Uchiha sat. She made her way to his table inside.

"Um...hi!" She plastered her fake-not-meeting-her-eyes smile before going into one of her long rants.

"What're you doing here? It's kinda rare to see you in a restaurant and did you know that you look really pathetic to come here alone? You're supposed to have lunch with a friend, or with a date, or something, and..."

Sasuke watched her ramble on and on about how she was helping his public image by sitting across from him, since she thought it was weird for other people to see the ever popular Sasuke eat at a restaurant alone. However, Sasuke saw a glint of sadness in Ino's eyes and her ranting sounded more and more like a desperate attempt to shield herself from the miserable pangs of misery. Suddenly he felt an urge to nauseate at the amount of sympathy he was feeling for the girl, his former fangirl.

"So, even though it looks like I'm trying to get you to pay for my bill or something, I'm really helping your image around people."

Sasuke said nothing but instead let her sit down across from him.

The waitress came over and asked what they wanted. Sasuke, being the simple person he was, ordered miso soup and some Japanese tea. Ino just sat there and blinked.

"Oh, I'll have some salad with low-fat dressing," said Ino as she tried to hide her eyes from Sasuke and the waitress as they became wet and blurry.

"I have some problems that you are going to listen too," Ino declared, albeit with some sort of sad streak in her voice.

The Uchiha said nothing.

"It's horrible! My life is falling apart," she sobbed. "Shikamaru keeps ignoring me, 'cause he's going out with that whore Temari. I try to talk to him more, and guess what? He ignores me and gives a pathetic excuse to go spend more time with that sand bitch. She must really be powerful person if she can get Shikamaru to give out excuses that make no sense. I mean, look at the clothes she wears! Everything she does screams 'attention-whore'!"

Sasuke took a drink of his water. His face looked like nothing out of the ordinary happened, as it was the usual thing for girls to have lunch with him while yelling out their problems to him. He paused, seeing the look of murderous intent on Ino's face. He really didn't know how to help her, since whenever he had problems, he had no one but himself to bitch to.

"So... do you like Shikamaru?" he said in his quiet monotone. His face portrayed no interest nor emotion. It was almost ironic, seeing that the most aloof and non-social person in Konoha was helping to calm down one of the most social people in Konoha.

Ino's face lost its murderous intent as pink tints appeared on her cheeks.

"Well, you know, it would be nice for him to show a little affection for his teammate..." she faded off.

"Just as a teammate?" Sasuke quizzically asked.

The blond haired Chuunin stared at Sasuke. Back at her academy days and the many days she was a genin, she had liked Sasuke. Now she actually stopped to wonder why she actually liked him. She knew it wasn't because of his personality, because she didn't even know him properly. Then she figured it had to be because of his looks and his strength. He never messed up, and those days when he did mess up he didn't look bad at all. He was fairly good -no- really good at anything he did, and who wouldn't like him when a bouncing blond bundle of joy called Naruto was always comparing himself to Sasuke? Now Ino didn't know what to think, and what was worse was that she really couldn't believe that she really liked him. She decided to quit thinking about it altogether since her head started to hurt.

"Okay, yes, you got me there, you little sneaky prodigy you, yes, I do like him and no, I don't like him just as a teammate."

Sasuke showered Ino with his I-win smirk that he was all too famous for.

"Tell me what you like about him," Sasuke drawled, again in a bored tone.

"Well, I don't know, but he always puts his life on the line for others, he's super smart, and he's fun to be around with, aside from all those shitty comments about things being too troublesome. Oh yeah, and he cares even though he doesn't show it."

"How does he act around Temari?"

"Hmm... now that I think about it, he really doesn't say anything around her. Temari just bosses him around and he does what she says."

"Who lives in Suna who is Shikamaru's friend's friend aside from Chouji?" Sasuke asked, as if he were a teacher for third graders.

"Huh? Aside from Chouji... I'd have to say Naruto, since he's about the only other guy that really hangs around Shikamaru. And Naruto's friend who lives in Suna? I dunno... Oh! Gaara! Then...what?" Ino's face was confused and excited at the same time.

"Shikamaru just got a mission to go to Suna. Remember?"

Ino's face lit up. "Does that mean that Shikamaru is only dating Temari-san because she wants him to? And if he angered Temari, she would tell Gaara and then, yeah, I get it. Woah, he's the sacrificial piece again."

Sasuke paid the bill.

Ino stood up.

Suddenly not knowing to do with the awkward silence between the two, Ino hugged Sasuke, and this time, with a real smile.

"Thanks! If I had known you had a knack for cheering other people up with your sexy, badass interrogations, I would've gone for you ages ago! Not that I didn't anyway..."

Sasuke drew back.

"You're welcome."

And he walked out of the restaurant.

Ino frowned. Someday she would teach him to become more social. He was terrific helping people anyway. Even if she was doing all the thinking. But he inspired it and that was important.

Ino walked home, happy to know Shikamaru was hers to keep.

If you thought Ino or Sasuke was OOC, feel free to talk about it in a review. I know this story was pointless, so flamers, flame me all you can. But if you can't come up with supporting evidence, then I'll have to flame you back.

Sorry to all Temari or ShikaTema fans, I didn't mean to portray Temari like that. Actually, that's Ino's interpretation of her (in this fanfic), so...

I am a big ShikaTema fan myself, too.

Signing off,

Lina