Authors Note:

Hello everybody! This is my first fan fiction, hope you like it! I wanted to mention a few things. First off, the reason for the M rating. The main characters in this story are 12, so don't expect them to get busy and have sex. Lol. Sorry. However, despite that they're kids, they are also ninja. They are exposed to violence and will themselves do violent things. There will be death in this story and I may be somewhat graphic. Not too graphic though, I don't want anyone to puke. Lol. And also, kids swear. So there will be occasional cussing. Mainly from Mr.-bad-attitude Shikamaru.

Second, while this is in the category of romance and I'm calling it a ShikaIno fic, the characters aren't gonna be making out and they might not even kiss. I haven't decided. It depends on how long I want to extend this story. I will probably write a sequel in which the characters are older and therefore, free to… have fun.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, it would be called Shikamaru. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto (hope I got his name right!).

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I Didn't Know You Then

Chapter 1

With hair of pale sun-golden blonde, eyes as blue as the warmest, clearest tropical island waters, and lightly tan skinned that seemed to glow with the vibrancy of youth, Ino Yamanaka was both the epitome of a teen magazine beauty queen and the top kunoichi of her graduating class from the academy. She got top marks in all her tests, both practical and written. She could take out a shinobi by means of her skill with weapons or her family's mind manipulating jutsus. She could bring down almost any man, ninja or civilian, with a wink and a flip of her hair. She lacked no confidence, and never hesitated to speak exactly what was on her mind. She dieted constantly to achieve perfection in her looks and trained often, to improve upon her skills, strength, and speed. She was determined to be the best she could be and then some.

With hair of black as dark as a night without stars, eyes as brown as the deepest, richest soils of the earth, and skin as pale as moonlight despite his time spent laying beneath the sun, Shikamaru Nara was both one of the greatest geniuses to ever grace the village of Konoha and one of the bottom two students of his graduating class from the academy. He received abysmal marks on most of his tests because of his lazy idea that test time was synonymous with nap time. He barely scraped by with recommendations from one of his sensei and decent practical test marks. He could easily take down a shinobi with a wicked combination of tactical genius and his family's shadow manipulating jutsus, though he was rarely willing to put in the effort. Fighting was troublesome. And so were women. He avoided both, and met them with sarcasm and apathy when he couldn't. He lacked no confidence, but rather lacked the energy and determination that seemed to thrive in his peers.

If anyone had asked the two ninja how they felt on the day they were assigned their genin team, team 10, they would have told you that fate was cruel. Or at least the Hokage was. They were put on a team together, along with Shikamaru's childhood friend Chouji; a timid boy who shied away from conflict nearly as much as Shikamaru did from… doing anything. They were an odd mix. Shikamaru wanted nothing while Ino wanted everything. Their polar opposite personalities brought them into conflict on a regular basis. They traded insults and sarcasm constantly, with Chouji standing back watching like a spectator at a tennis match. Shikamaru, with his superior intellect, almost always won their verbal sparring matches. But it cannot be said that Ino never gave as good as she got. He tortured her with his wit and she returned fire during training. Shikamaru refused to hit a girl and therefore, made it much harder for him to defend himself against Ino without her getting quite a few hits in on him.

In the beginning, once training had ended each day, team 10 would spilt and go in opposite directions. Shikamaru and Chouji would go to either one of Chouji's favorite restaurants or to one of Shikamaru's favorite cloud watching spots. Ino, on the other hand, would often seek out team 7 for the purpose of glomping her crush, Sasuke, or having a verbal spar (one that she could actually win) with her former best friend Sakura. Team 10 rarely all hung out together. The only times were during training or when they were on missions together.

Missions, for this particular team, would not have been a problem if not for the fact that two out of the three members wanted to attack each other just as often as the enemy. They did a good job of pulling it together during a fight, mainly thanks to Shikamaru's passive tendency to just let Ino have her way and be the boss and Ino's begrudging admittance that Shikamaru's strategies were useful. But as soon as the fight was over, there was something new for the two to fight about; a new excuse to glare daggers at his back, a renewed reason to give her the cold shoulder. Asuma, their jounin sensei, would shake his head and light a cigarette, while Chouji would pull out a fresh bag of chips and have at it. It was just how it was for the first six months or so. Then came the Chuunin Exam. There are some things in this world that people just can't go through together without forming a friendship, and barely surviving a month long exam against terrifying nin from other villages, as well as traps set by their test proctors is one of those things.

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-Preview of Chapter 2!!

Shikamaru woke to the sound of low rumbling laughter. His eyes opened slowly to see his father squatting down beside him, leaning over to get a look at his son. His father smirked. Shikamaru groaned. His father smirking was never a good sign. He pulled himself onto his elbows and suddenly realized something. It was dark outside. But… it didn't get dark outside until-

"You missed dinner," he father said lightly.

Shikamaru flopped back down onto the ground miserably. He was hungry and dirty and still tired, and his fathers voice was nearly putting him to sleep. It wasn't a disrespectful thing. But his father, Shikaku, had a low voice that was always so… calm. It was almost melodic. Shikaku laughed again, his smirk becoming more pronounced.

"So, from what I heard, you had an interesting day with some of the younger kids in the village."

Shikamaru scowled, knowing full well that his father was barely holding in another laugh. Damn his mother and her need to talk about the stupidest shit. He continued scowling up at his father, whose smirk was fading into a somewhat softer smile. Shikaku sighed lightly before speaking.