She Always Told Me To
Middi: Hewwoo! K I know I've uploaded other fanfics on the site before but this is my actual FIRST one. Its Ino and Shika. Don't be mean and say you hate it pwease?
Shikamaru: What a drag… will you just get to the point all ready you troublesome woman?
Ino: Shika! How dare you...I thought I was your troublesome woman.
Middi: So read and review. LOTS OF REVIEWS PLZ! I need them!
~Oo0oO~
As I, Shikamaru Nara, sit here on my favorite cloud-watching hill I wonder to myself WHY I love that troublesome Ino Yamanaka. Even as those clouds I envy float by I can't seem to clear my head of her.
She always was an annoying troublesome girl. I don't even know how I even remotely liked her… no it's deeper than liking. I know that. I actually think I'm in love with her. She is the most troublesome, annoying, banshee resembling, screeching, honest… kind (in a way), beautiful… trustworthy… Ino-like… and those EYES…
"AWWW DAMMIT! I CAN'T EVEN RANT ABOUT HER WITHOUT COMPLIMENTING HER!"
"Face it dude… .. Fehh and they call us a genius."
"Hey! Inner Me is NOT allowed to insult…Outer…Me…"
"Okay then… this is so stupid but… Outer Me is being a wonderfully and tragically in love puppy who is annoying Inner Me to no depths. Happy?"
"I HAD to have an overactive imagination with this giant brain of mine DIDN'T I?"
"HEY! IF YOU DON'T LISTEN WE'LL BOTH BE WISHING WE WERE DEAD!"
-are you even listening Shika-kun?" As I open my eyes to see her I almost deadpanned at the sight.
I looked up to see her eyes
Those eyes… he always knew her eyes would be that death of him. The eyes that could show undying affection one minute, and be cursing someone to the far reaches of a thirteenth dimension to the hundredth level of hell the next. But for the life of him he couldn't get them out of his head. Her eyes were the truest of blues; they had a kindness and warmth that just drew him into their swirling depths. But they also held pain of that which he knew no bounds.
Even when his sensei Sarutobi Asuma died Ino still had on a genuine smile on her blood encrusted features. She still told him, with a smile on her face,
"You're going to keep being the lazy, smartest, Rookie 9 member we all cherish and look up to for advice, and you better listen to me or there'll be hell to pay! Ya got that?"
Her eyes were blazing blue flames. Pain and determination were written in her eyes. He knew she was right. He told her he would listen, not just because of the threat to his life, but because of her eyes that day. And she said this with one of her 'kind' Ino smiles. He couldn't NOT look into her azure eyes and trust her.
And when his best friend Chouji died… he nearly died himself. He didn't know how to live on. He continued everyday life as a strategist, but… he was empty. Shikamaru didn't speak to people regularly but he… he didn't even say a word.
She, however still smiled a genuine "Ino" smile. Even if her eyes were sad the smile was real. And she had told him then, like when Asuma died told him the same thing,
"Shika… you have to continue being that lazy, feminist jerk of the Rookie 9 we all look up to for advice… You also need to continue being the one to share barbeque chips with Team 10. Heavens know if I eat them myself, I'll lose my girlish figure and then I'll have to start dieting again." She laughed at her little joke.
He thought about that for a minute…he knew she was right. And once again he told her he would listen. Even though she was perfect even if she didn't diet. The Ino-Shika-Chou trio, past and present, had an intervention on Ino's weight, hiding fat and calories in her food really did the trick.
Ino and Shikamaru are on completely different ends of the ninja scale. So they rarely, if ever nowadays saw each other due to the upcoming war with the Sound Village. Her on spying and assassination and seduction missions, him on coming up with flawless strategies to make sure everyone came back alive.
When he found out Ino had been injured on one of her "special" assassination missions, it just nearly killed him. The Hokage had called him to ANBU headquarters; he had no idea what it was about but Shizune barreled into the room saying that Sakura couldn't keep the young Yamanaka alive by herself…she needed Tsunade. The most talented medic Nin in history. He almost grabbed her by the throat and demanded that she tell him what happened.
About 4 of her ribs were broken; she had kunai, shuriken, and senbon, all throughout her back, her left leg was broken in 3 different places, and she had deep cuts and black and deep purple bruises everywhere he looked. She also had internal bleeding, Sakura had said it was unlikely but…she may have been raped in the process. Shikamaru nearly used his Shadows to destroy the operating room Ino was in. He HAD to make sure she was okay. If she wasn't… he couldn't bear to stay alive one more second. Even if he didn't admit it, Shikamaru needed all his friends with him. They had kept him on the earth; they were his anchor, including Ino.
'Especially Ino', Shikamaru thought.
Sakura came out of the operating room a few hours later. She looked at him with a gleam of fear in her eyes. He must've looked liked he was about to tear her throat out.
"Shikamaru… she's alive. Calm down… I wouldn't let Ino die like that." Sakura and Ino had been best friends for years, and then they broke it off because of Sasuke. The little bastard had chosen a psychotic maniac, with a freaky long tongue over his VILLAGE! His own family. Chouji had been in critical condition because of him… and it was also Shikamaru's planning, he didn't think about his team splitting up.
"MY FIRST MISSION AS TEAM LEADER AND I FAILED" Temari helped me through the crybaby part of that mission. Ino later told me that she was around the corner from the operating room, and heard me crying. She knew I was strong, but I let everyone down. I barely heard what she said after she heard me crying.
So Team 10 got stronger, we practiced together and apart. I wasn't there when Ino became a chunin. I wasn't there when Ino had her first spy mission; I wasn't there for either of my best friends' birthdays for two years. They both attended my birthday party; (mostly because Ino planned it, but it's the thought that counts) they both gave me birthday presents which consisted of a new Shougi board (Chouji), and the most beautiful bouquet I had ever seen from Ino.
It had 2 lilacs, one purple the other white, a white lily, a yellow acacia, a white agrimony and amaranth, and in the middle was 2 roses encircling each other, red and white.* She told me I knew what the flowers meant when I asked her. Then she gave me a quick peck on the cheeks and ran away, saying she had a mission to go on and that she would see me later.
"But she didn't see me later… it was the only piece of information regarding Ino I'd heard about since early last year…I wouldn't know at all if she were dead or what…"
"Come on man… Ino is strong; she can take care of herself in tight situations…right? We both know the brunt of her attacks. We both know how much she can keep herself alive. "
"But… You and I BOTH saw how…defenseless…shattered…quiet…and hurt she looked! Sakura told us she asked her to tell Shika not to worry…even as she was DYING! SHE GOT OUT OF THE OPERATING ROOM JUST TO TELL US THAT!... Sakura hasn't looked that deadly since the battle with Itachi I heard."
"Still… Sakura said she was alive, and who else but Sakura and Tsunade could save her?"
"She wouldn't NEED saving if I was stronger. If I wasn't such a crybaby and if I started acting like a man, if I was stronger…" his thoughts trailed off.
"Shikamaru? Sweetie? Is that you all bundled up and angry?" a kind, caring, extremely familiar and sometimes troublesome voice called out.
"Hey…mom. What are you doing here?"
"Honestly Shikamaru! How can you be so insensitive? I'm here for Ino. You know she's like a daughter to me."
My mother and Ino were the most troublesome women in my life. I must've done something really bad in a past life to have them nag at me all the time. Well I've done lots of 'bad' things in this life but still! They were like wolves, clawing away at my sanity till they could chew it up and stuff it in they're mouths. They were too alike; sometimes I had to run away from her to get the images of my mother and Ino hitting me with a frying pan out of my face. My thoughts were cut off once again by that troublesome woman.
"I just can't believe what happened… Your father is going to be crushed… And I bet Ino doesn't even know yet…the poor thing"
"What happened? I just got back into the village a few hours ago when I was called into ANBU Headquarters, after I heard about Ino I ran straight here."
"Oh you don't know either?"
"Just tell me already!" My voice rising in pitch.
"…Its Ino's dad. Inoichi… he's… he's…dead…"
I froze. Ino's dad was a well respected shinobi, a very powerful one at that. He served in ANBU in the spying Nin field of expertise. He quit when Ino was born so he could stay alive longer for her to live and know him, to teach his heir about shitenshin no jutsu, the mind transfer jutsu.
I clench my teeth in anger as I looked down to the ground with my eyes shut tight. Who? I thought. He wouldn't die so easily, he would fight for Ino, his precious daughter. He would want to see her fall in love, get married, have kids, grow old with me…
"WOAH THERE! I'M THINKING ABOUT MARRIAGE WHEN SHE'S IN THE HOSPITAL!"
"Damn buddy…you work fast! Marriage, kids, I know you're a strategist and you have to think ahead, but holy crap! So how ya gonna work that out?" Shikamaru's brain knew if he could see his face that went with "Inner Shikamaru" it would be a cocky, arrogant, slap in the face for him.
Shikamaru was not happy with his counterpart's reply. Well yes he did think Ino was beautiful, she was also the only member other than him left on Team 10, and she always smelled like lilies, roses, and other flowers he had no name to put to but…marriage? He was in love with her but, so fast? Would she even want to? I didn't want to think about anything but Ino's health right now.
"Shikamaru I know this is going to sound like an odd request but…we need your help to take care of Ino. She has no where else to go because she HAS no one else, poor thing lost her mother when she was very young, and I doubt she would want to stay in that big empty flower shop. So after she gets out of the hospital Ino will be staying with us, alright?"
Was my mother asking me permission…for Ino to stay at my house? For anything? I need to document this day forever.
"Yeah mom, don't worry about it. Ino's tough, she'll pull through."
I realized I was having a pleasant conversation with my mother. No yelling, no screaming, nothing resembling my mother's usual behavior. I also realized what I had just agreed to. Ino, the girl I was in love with, staying at my house, sad, and needed a shoulder to cry on. I mean COME ON! I am a young adult and my hormones are still running wild, 18 years old and still can't stop my pulse from racing every time I see a beautiful girl clad in things that barely cover herself.
A small blush creped onto my cheeks. My mother, ever so observant, noticed this and quickly turned "mother" again.
"Oh Shikamaru! Are you getting a fever? Maybe I should send you home…" with those words Sakura came out of Ino's room with a clipboard in her hand, jotting down notes about Ino's condition.
"No need Mrs. Nara. I will personally take care of him myself." She looked over him and showed a small smile meaning he was fine, and turned to leave. "Shikamaru?...You can go in and see her now. She's disoriented and weak so don't push her too much."
Those words lifted a great burden off Shikamaru's shoulders and he let go of a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. He almost barged into the room after that sentence, but his mother stopped him.
"Shikamaru, sweetie? Now don't tell Ino just yet about her father… let her rest and heal. If she knew right off the bat it would probably kill her. Oh right! Here is some money to buy Ino some food, and for the love of Kami will you just tell Ino your feelings before someone else gets her you lazy bum." Yoshino Nara nonchalantly said, walking off.
As I just stare at my mother walking off I remember my beautiful blonde in the other room. I walked in and the instant I saw her, it almost broke my heart.
She was dressed in the grimy hospital gown. She had pale face; her normally beautiful rosy cheeks were nowhere to be seen. Her beautiful platinum blonde hair looking a disgusting, (me being bias) grimy, white and blonde color, and her normal, waist length hair was replaced with being chopped off to her shoulders. Ino was a small woman, but now she looked like a young child, her height and lonely expression evident. She was gentle (when need be) and beautiful, like a flower, yet still tough and obnoxious to the core, yet she had her head down, just staring at her hands.
"Shikamaru…? Is…is that you?" her voice sounded raspy, and too quiet. Where was his loud and boisterous Ino? Still to Shikamaru, it was the most elegant and graceful sound that ever reached his ears.
"Yeah. It's me…" he didn't know what to say, especially to a broken girl in this situation.
She was still looking at her hands when he came up to her, she turned to him and fear gripped his very being.
Her beautiful electric azure blue eyes, filled with so much happiness, the ones who were confident and could seduce any man, were now alone, sad, broken, and scared. He couldn't take it anymore; he rushed up to her and put his arms securely around her. The people who did this to her, if he ever met them, would die a slow, agonizingly painful death. Shikamaru would see to that.
He started to cry, well cry isn't the right word. More like sobbed into Ino, he would make sure she was safe. No one would ever hurt her ever again. He let all his frustrations into her, all she did was wrap small hands around his waist as he cried into her shoulder. If Ino ever died, or got hurt again, he would kill himself.
"Shika… why are you crying? Talk to me, you lazy arrogant bum." She smiled at their little joke. Still not a genuine smile, it was fake, forced.
"Ino don't give me that crap!" she flinched at his harsh tone, "Ino you scared the SHIT out of me. Do you know how troublesome it would have been for me if you died? Do you have ANY idea how much I would crushed if this ever happened to you again? DO YOU?"
"Shikamaru…" she really had NO idea how much he cared.
"Ino I don't know what would happen if you died. I wouldn't be able to live with myself with that on my conscious, that if I stopped you from taking that mission…you would be alive…I truly care about you."
"…Shikamaru…look up." She whispered. He didn't want to but did as he was told. He would always do what he was told if Ino asked him. If she told him jump, he asked how high.
He looked up into her eyes as Ino's soft luscious lips collided with his. In that moment, he felt like an electric current was coursing through hid veins. Her lips were soft and tentative. She tasted like honey and earth, sweet and warm, yet firm and calm. Completely different from the Ino he knew. The kiss was soft and pretty much just a peck and didn't really last long, but to Shikamaru, it was an eternity of pleasure. When she pulled away he would have just about whimpered. Already he missed the warmth of her lips on his.
"Shika, you cut the crap." She said with a light tone in her voice.
"But… I wasn't strong enough-"
"Shut the hell up Shikamaru Nara!" She winced in pain as she tried to throttle him.
"Ino! Stop moving or you'll reopen your wounds!"
"Are you going to stop acting like such an asshole? If you don't stop I will get off this bed right now and throttle you till YOU'RE in here..." she started to scream like her old self, he was relieved until she burst into a coughing fit.
He frowned but still kept his hands securely around her. "Are my hands THAT big?" Shikamaru thought absently. He never really noticed how small Ino really was. With her confident attitude and rash nature, he always thought she was a fairly big woman, not big as in fat but big as in… bigger… than normal? (A/N I had NO idea how to phrase that sry) He always was a fairly medium guy, maybe even big guy, but Ino was so small! She always smelled of roses, she was a small woman, and she was so beautiful, he would curse this later, but he had to say what's on his mind.
"Ino, do you know how damn delicate you look now? You look like a china doll."
"…"
"Ino?"
"…"
"Ino! Please answer me!"
"…He said that too…Chouji I mean."
"What are you talking about?"
"Well…a couple of years ago, I was sent on a mission with a team of 4. We had to kill some people threatening a nearby village, I used my mind transfer jutsu on an enemy, and his friend wised up about the details of my jutsu and started beating him/me. I released the jutsu before he could kill me; though I was still pretty beat up. Couple of broken bones, a torn muscle here and there, nothing I couldn't get in training. My team took me back to the village and Tsunade fixed me up. Chouji told me the exact thing when I was bandaged up in here."
"She was hurt again? Where was I?"
"You're probably thinking where you were in this situation. You were in Lady Tsunade's office planning some strategies. I asked Chouji not to tell you, because you were too busy, and I recovered, so no big deal." She replied nonchalantly.
"No big deal…? Ino! You could have been severely hurt! What the hell! We. Are. A. Team. Don't ever think that it's too big a deal to come see you. Ever!"
"Okay…"
Shikamaru didn't know what to say. If Ino ever told him to train with her, he would say complain, say it's too troublesome, or what a drag, but would always get up and train with her. He remembers one occasion where Ino asked to be reassigned to another squad, Shikamaru was furious; he thought Ino wanted to throw her life away, or that she hated him and didn't want to be even near him but he didn't want to think of that option. Shikamaru would make sure the enemy was dead before coming near her. She actually wanted to stop being a burden on everyone, so she asked to be on another team to make sure everyone was doing their best and not having to worry about her too much. When he heard about that he barged into her house demanding to train with her.
"Ino?...Can I ask you something?...It's about…us…"
"Yeah. What is it Shika?"
Her little nickname for him did him in. The nickname came from the fact that his family owns deer herds in the forest. Shika: means deer in Japanese. When she said that little name from him always made his heart melt. Only her best friends, only her most special and precious people got nicknames. Sakura was Forehead, Shikamaru was Shika, and Chouji, because he was so sweet, was Team 10's butterfly, or he was Ino's Teddy Bear. Her little name drew him over the edge, he had to release it now or else.
So he kissed her.
He was trying to be soft, for her sake, but tried to put the same amount of passion into it. He cupped his right hand delicately on her jaw while the other put a protective hand on her hip. She was caught up in the same electric feeling that she put her left hand around his back and her right on his head. They were so close; they barely counted as two people. Just one entity, clinging, albeit to each other's lips but still clinging, to each other as if they released one another they would die.
Unfortunately, the regular human needs air to breathe, so Shikamaru shifted his attention to her ear. He was breathing just as heavily as she was but couldn't help the rush of emotions that he had been confined to himself and had to tell her or else.
"Ino, you are the most troublesome woman I've ever met. You bicker and complain at me too much, you always worry too much about the way you look too. You need to stop thinking that you weigh too much, because you don't need to. And whenever I'm watching the clouds you come to tell me to get off my lazy ass. I'm usually calm when I'm alone, then you come and ruin my day with that banshee screeching voice of yours. Whenever we're on a mission I always need to watch over you, and make sure you don't get hurt." He moved his face away from her ear. Ino looked like she was about to cry.
"But that's what I love about you. Your smell intoxicates me, every fucking flower I know I can't even name, you smell like each and every one of them. And your voice is like the most beautiful sound, no one deserves to hear it. You're an angel. But appearance aside, you're like my complete opposite, but you complete me. There are still things we have in common though. Like both of us love to be outside, me just laying there and you picking flowers. We both can't stand the way Naruto always happens to get the glory for some apparent reason, and we both love to annoy the heck out of Lady Tsunade."
'Oh no!'
'What?'
'Flowers…her dad…'
'Aw Shit! Listen man, you CAN'T TELL HER! She'll flip out and she won't get better!'
'Why are you so caring now?' The logical part of Shikamaru's brain asked suspiciously.
'Eh! If you haven't noticed I'm you. And you love Ino sooooo…'
'Alright then. Shut up.'
"Ino…You should have told me. For…awhile now…I've been…" Not sure of how to continue.
"Shikamaru don't you dare finish that sentence! Just don't…You have to realize my position, and yours. You have to look at the facts between us…please don't make me say it…" Ino looked pretty wound up.
"What are you talking about?" He didn't like where this was going.
"You're the Hokage's right hand, her strategist. You're a special Jounin elite ninja. ANBU Black Ops. You're also the heir to your clan. So am I but…there won't be anymore Yamanakas after me." She explained to him, looking down at her hands.
"When I, eventually, get married, my line will be completely wiped out. My husband will be someone whom I will respect and trust, but unfortunately, he will be someone who does not want the Yamanaka line of the mind transfer jutsu to continue. No man would want to have their child born into their wife's maiden name." She reluctantly told him.
Shikamaru growled at that. Whoever had the right and privilege to deserve to marry Ino would let her have an heir, and let her keep her last name. He would. It would work out with his plans pretty accurately actually. He wanted to have two children, one girl and one boy, his clan was fairly large so it wouldn't matter he did have an heir, he wouldn't mind if Ino's son got to keep her name, so she could keep her family line going.
If it was for Ino, he wouldn't mind anything.
He always did things, even troublesome things for Ino if she told him to.
"Am I really that horrible Ino? Am I not good enough for you? What!" Shikamaru nearly yelled at her.
"No Shikamaru I think your too good for me." She said way too calmly.
"What do you mean Ino? Too good? For you? Are you insane?"
She sighed, and then looked at me with those still not electrifying blue eyes of hers.
"C'mon Shika. You're a genius, heir to your clan, hot, Hokage's right hand, and you killed an Akatsuki member on your own. By yourself." She stressed, but all Shikamaru heard at all in that sentence was hot. Ino thought he was hot. And hot was technically a word for attraction or infatuation. Ino maybe, it was possible, to an extent, a little, sorta liked me…
"Yeah…So?" He asked dumbly and Ino smiled.
"No body except the really exceptional can even think to do that. You, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Yamato Taichou*, Lady Tsunade, Kakashi-sensei, and Master Jiraiya can defeat them, and I'm just…me. "
He looked at her, probably confused because Ino giggled a little.
"Shika, you looked so tragic when you walked in." Trying to change the subject. "So what's up?"
Shikamaru looked down.
Then he told her about her dad.
~OoOo0oOoO~
Middi: Didn't think I was gonna upload it as a two shot… Wow.
Shikamaru: …Middi…? Um…you 'MIGHT' wanna run…soon…
Middi: Why, my DEER…hehehe…Shika-kun?
Shikamaru: Because Ino is coming after you with razor sharp kunai and paper bombs… good luck.
*BOOM*
Ino: Muwhahahaha!... Uh…..Shika darling? OH NOES!
*Mortally wounded both of us*
Middi: Here are…the stars…thingies…dies…
Ino:…Crap…I just killed the author…Crap…
Taichou: Captain. All there is to it.
White Lilac: Youthful innocence.
Purple Lilac: First emotion of love.
White Lily: Purity.
Yellow Acacia: Secret love, very pretty also, look it up XD.
White agrimony: Thankfulness.
White Amaranth: Immortal love.
Red and White Rose (I have to have these together): United, being together, being united.