I know, it's been such a long time since I posted anything. And this is just a short little oneshot. I promise that I'll be updating my Zelda fanfic soon and I'll be posting a few more short oneshots here and there. I'm also in the middle of writing a Star Trek fanfic with my bestest buddy Raxsah003. You should check her stuff out. :)

I don't own Naruto.

Warning: Femslash. You expected something else?

Oh, Shikamaru and Hinata might be slightly OOC. Sorry about that. I haven't watched the shows in awhile.

The Truth Doesn't Pay the Bills

"Good evening, Hinata." Shikamaru said welcomingly as he held the curtain to Ichiraku Ramen Bar open to the blue haired girl. Hinata gave him a nod of thanks as she took a seat.

"Good evening to you as well, Shikamaru." She replied as he joined her at the bar.

"I'm not one for wasting time, so I'll get right to the reason why I asked you here tonight." He told her as two bowls of ramen were brought to their table. Since they were both friends with Naruto, they were here a lot more than other people in the village.

"I would appreciate it. Ino and I are going out to-" Hinata started, but Shikamaru cut her off.

"That was kind of the reason I asked you here. Ino." Silence fell over the two of them as their bowls of ramen filled the dry air with steam and the sweet smell of well prepared ramen.

"W-What about her?" Hinata stuttered, swallowing the lump in her throat that had now formed. Shikamaru and her had never spent a lot of time together before and the invitation out had startled her. Ino had convinced her that it was fine and Shikamaru was probably just going to give her the 'if you hurt her, I'll hurt you' speech.

"You two need to break up." He stated, grabbing a pair of chopsticks and breaking them apart with ease. He never even looked over at Hinata's shocked face as he began eating his ramen.

"Excuse me? Break up with her? Why?" Hinata asked, suddenly getting very red in the face. She wasn't sure if it was because she was embarrassed that Shikamaru and her were discussing her relationship with Ino or angry that he demand such a thing. Shikamaru wiped his mouth and turned to stare at Hinata in the eyes. His brown eyes seemed to stare right through her pale purple eyes, which was ironic considering that she had the Byakugan.

"She doesn't care about you like you might think that she does." Shikamaru explained. There was no hint of a smile on his face or a joke in his voice.

"We're very happy together, thank you very much. Ino is the first person who actually cares about me the way I care about them." Hinata explained, reaching for her own set of chopsticks. There was no reason to let perfectly good ramen go to waste.

"Women are so troublesome…" Shikamaru mumbled under his breath as he turned back to his own ramen. They ate in silence until Hinata decided to speak up.

"You're just jealous because Ino spends all of her free time with me now." Hinata stated, proud of herself for finding the 'real' reason behind Shikamaru's words.

"Not in the least. It gets her off my back. It's not fair to you though because you're under the impression that Ino is in love with you. But she's not." Shikamaru tried to explain, but Hinata refused to hear a word he said.

"She does to care about me. We've been happily going out now for four months. I think if Ino was hiding something like that from me, I would know." Shikamaru snorted as he pushed his finished bowl of ramen away.

"Ino is one of the greatest liars in Konoha. Her specialty is deceiving people. You'd be surprised." Hinata was close to covering her ears and running out of the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. Shikamaru was one of Ino's best friends after all.

"Why are you telling me this?" Hinata asked sadly. Shikamaru sighed in defeat when he realized how much Hinata cared about Ino.

"She's in love with Sakura. She always has been and always will be. She's using you to get over her feelings for her, but it's not working. And I don't think it's very far to you either." Shikamaru explained. Hinata's eyes began to well at the thought of her girlfriend using her.

"N-no… s-she wouldn't…" Hinata whispered to herself as tears began to fall down her face.

"I'm afraid so, Hinata. I just had to say something. It's better if you know now than later." Shikamaru said, trying to soothe the crying blue haired girl. He rubbed her on the back in a comforting manner. He used to do this all the time when Ino came running into his house. Most of the time, she was crying about Sakura.

"T-thanks, Shikamaru. I-Ino and I h-have a few things t-to talk about." Hinata stuttered through her tears as she rose from her seat and exited the ramen bar. Shikamaru sighed as Teuchi, the owner of the bar, walked up to him.

"I hope you know that you're paying for her meal as well." He told Shikamaru was he picked up the empty bowls. Shikamaru placed his head in his hands.

"Ugh, what a drag…"

The End

Review? Please? :)