I couldn't find what Asuma's sons name was, and this was quickly written. So for the sake of the fanfic I named him Jin. Sorry guys, hope you all don't mind. I haven't written in a while and I've been planning to get back to it.

/Tattoo/

"I had a girlfriend once." Shikamaru said, as he tapped the dead ash off his cigar. It was a cold fall day, and a sharp pre-winter breeze slashed his dark hair around in the wind. He sat with Asuma's ten year old son on the roof tops of an old abandoned building that once stood proudly in the village of the Leaf. Their legs dangled off the edge of the roof, and Shikamaru simply stared out into the streets.

"You did?" Jin asked, peering over their dangling legs.

"Yes sir."

Jin giggled and turned to face his sensei. "Girls suck."

Shikamaru laughed. He had grown the past seven years after the great war. His face was angled and sharp, and he had a bit of stumble on his chin. It was probably the war that aged him— that, or his habit for smoking.

"And? How did she look like? Was she ugly?"

Shikamaru laughed. "She was very pretty."

"Well, where is she now?"

Shikamaru looked up into the clouds. "There." He said, exhaling smoke. "Up there with your dad and the rest of them. She died two years ago from poisoning. You might remember her, but she might have been long gone. She left the village with a girl named Sakura, and no one ever saw them since her body was found."

"Oh." Jin replied. "Did you love her a lot?"

Shikamaru just closed his eyes and tried not to think a whole lot about her. He just nodded his head and flicked more dead ash off his cigarette.

"And what was her name? How did she look like?"

"Ino." He said without hesitation. "Her name was Ino, and she had very pretty long hair. She was reckless and some people said she was mean and pushy. She lived on the edge most of the time, and when we went out for drinks she drank too much and swore in every sentence. She was a blonde, and she talked a lot. Just like you."

"I don't talk a lot."

"Huh." He shrugged and sucked out the last breath from his cigar. He tossed it down and watched it fall into the murky depths of their dead village.

"What was her favourite colour?"

"Black."

Jin scrunched his face and looked at his sensei. "That's not a very nice colour."

"She used to like purple a whole lot. But after the war I guess she started to lose touch with the world. She started drinking and smoking, and doing all sorts of bad things. Guess war does that to people."

"But must have loved you a whole lot."

Shikamaru just laughed this time. He looked up into the grey clouds and looked for her face. "I don't think she loved me at all kid."

Jin frowned and looked at his sensei with a sour face. "What do you mean? She must have loved you! You were her girlfriend. That's what it's about, isn't it?"

"Should be."

"So?"

Shikamaru sighed. He admitted that he had a lot to learn about life, and that maybe his relationship talks shouldn't be with a seven year old kid. He simply leaned back and rolled his eyes into the clouds. The colder air was picking up, and he assumed that the evening was beginning to fall.

"She told me she was scared of commitment. She said she couldn't handle being tied down and binding to me."

"Some people are like that."

"She told me she was scared of commitment but she had tattoos on her back and a rose on her left wrist." He breathed. "Maybe her commitment to me wasn't as valuable as her tattoos. Maybe I wasn't a work of art to her. Maybe…"

"Maybe she was afraid?"

"No. Maybe she just didn't think I was worth some pain."