A Discount and A Date

Author's Note: A little side story for the Shikamaru and Ino fan fiction I plan on uploading at some point. As previously stated, I have a whole plan for my Naruto stories. I am just not all the way through them yet. The plan is on my quizilla account of the same name.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, there would be so much more romance and not as much of the action.

Shikamaru walked along the path, unsure of how his plan went wrong. All I had to do was go up Sakura and ask her for a stupid perfume that my mom wanted. But no, she just has to be on a mission. How am I going to not get killed now? And why did dad send me to begin with? No guy would be comfortable buying girly perfume for his mother! As the shadow ninja continued to muse, he passed his destination, forgetting that his Plan B was to get Ino to buy his dad the perfume for his mom, no matter that said perfume was sold in her shop.

"Shika!" Shikamaru jumped and tripped over a little kid in front of him, not realizing that it was Asuma-sensei's little monster. It took the loud pitched scream to warn him that he may just end up being killed four times: once by Kurenai-sensei, once by his dad, and twice by Ino (for hurting Juna-chan and for not buying the perfume for his mom). And possibly by his mother once she got word of his father's plan. Oh, I am so dead. Asuma-sensei, please reserve a spot for me at the shougi board!

"I am so sorry, Kurenai-sensei! Honest!" Shikamaru pleaded as he looked into the eyes of the very, very, very angry kunoichi in front of him.

"Shikamaru, please back away before I get a chance to kill you," the young mom said, and Shikamaru did not hesitate in obeying the woman. To be even safer, he ran into the nearest shop, which happened to be Ino's. He sneezed before he realized where he was.

"I was looking for you," Shikamaru said, still nervous about Kurenai coming into the shop to kill him. Why is this always my luck, getting nearly killed?

"Really?" she asked, looking up.

"Yeah. I was going to ask you to buy this perfume for my mom. My dad sent me to buy it for him."

"Shika," she said, giving him a strained smile. "That perfume is in my shop." Shikamaru blinked.

"So?" he asked.

"Why would I buy a perfume that I make when I can just make a batch for myself?"

Shikamaru blinked again. Ino moved over to a shelf and picked up the perfume and wrapped it up. "I could have sworn that statement was the indication that you weren't going to buy it for me."

"I'm not buying it for you. You still have to pay me for it." Ino smiled at Shikamaru's grimace. Pulling the money out of his pocket, he counted out the yen.

"How much?"

"900¥." Shikamaru looked up.

"I know that is not the normal price for that stuff. My dad complains about the cost all the time."

"If he were not sending someone to fetch it for him, he would be paying the regular price, too. However, since he sent someone, I figured you could use some extra cash to take me on a date later," Ino said, causing Shikamaru to blink.

"Ino…"

"What? We haven't been on a date since you got back last week. I want to spend time with my boyfriend." Shikamaru grinned before handing her the 900¥. Leaning in, he gave her a peck on the cheek before leaving.

"Think dango sounds good for dinner?" he asked, and she grinned as he started to leave.

"Sounds great."

"Pick you up at 1700," he said before leaving. Ino grinned, happy.