Prologue:
Setting: Takes place four years after the series...
"You will do—WHAT???!!!" Shikamaru shouted slamming the Hokage's desk but barely startling the blonde-haired man.
Naruto stretched out and yawned. "The others agreed upon on this so don't blame me..."
Shikamaru clenched his fist, tremendously tempted to beat the hell out of the stubborn Hokage. "For goodness sake, Uzumaki Naruto! You know that THIS is bloody stupid! You don't have to go through all those extremes!"
Naruto smirked and stood up from his chair. Shikamaru might be a genius but not that smart enough to understand such unexpected, unanticipated and sudden stuffs just as this. Even he, himself was surprised when Sakura and the others came bragging about it inside his office begging on their knees just for him to hear them out. Well, he did hear them out. After all, it only involves the genius Jounin anyway and a loud, obnoxious kunoichi.
"You know you want this, too, Shikamaru... Don't deny the truth..." Naruto replied coolly.
Shikamaru bit his lower lip in irritation and slapped his forehead. "Good grief! This is way too troublesome!!! Why is it that you always make troublesome things turn even MORE troublesome??! And why is that when you say something, anybody is bound to tell the truth that I couldn't even afford to lie???!! Arrggggghhh...."
"Well... if I weren't such a troublesome person then I wouldn't have been the troublesome Hokage you're talking to." Naruto chuckled and approached the bewildered Jounin. "You know Shika, I remembered a story which I overheard quite several years ago from an old man telling this story to his grandsons..."
Shika's flexes became relaxed as he sat back on the chair quite calm already. He listened as Naruto relayed on his story.
"...There was once a firefly with an enticing and illuminating glow that could mesmerize anybody's sight. An ill child saw this firefly one night when he was lying weak on his bed and he had not been an exception just as others had been allured by the firefly. He adored the firefly so much that he wished to see the firefly before he could even breathe his last."
"The firefly became aware of this and so every night, the firefly visits the child and would roam around his room making the child very much delighted. With this the firefly became delighted, too because somehow he knows that he brought happiness to the innocent child's world. And this made the child regain his strength little by little every time he sees the wonderful firefly..."
"Sooner or later, the child recovered much to everyone's delight. He became healthy and conquered the sickness only wishing to see the firefly and thank him. But only to his deepest regrets that he didn't get the chance to thank his inspiration for the stimulating firefly had already died..."
Shikamaru snorted. Stupid, brainless, dum-witted Hokage... It's not like Naruto to be poetic but the way he delivered the story had somehow caused an impact to him—though he might not like to admit it. Being as stubborn as he had always been, he ignored it and asked boredly, "So what does it have to do with whatever-the-heck they asked you to do? Or with her? Or even with me and my situation?"
Naruto let out a smile and looked at him, "She is the firefly and you are the child... You need her and don't you ever deny it Nara Shikamaru for if you do..."
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed impatiently. "For if I do...?"
"It might as well be too late... just as the child never got the chance to thank the firefly..."
"Damn it, Naruto... you got me there..."
Scooping up a spoonful of vanilla ice cream, Ino glanced at her best friend Sakura and blinked for a few times. Really... this is getting weird! A lot of people had been asking her this question ever since this morning. Hinata, Tenten, Kiba, Lee, Asuma-sensei and even Tsunade-sama had asked her this. And now...?
Sakura had asked her THIS, too? Oh for heaven's sake! Why is this getting so weird?!
"Come on, Ino-pig! You haven't answered my question yet!" Sakura exclaimed in excitement and let out a giggle.
Finally placing the spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, she swallowed and gave Sakura a questioning look. "Haruno Sakura!!! What makes you think that me and Shikamaru are getting married?!!! I can't believe this!!!"
Again, Ino scooped another spoonful of ice cream and swallowed it. She then stated in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone, "Okay! This is getting REALLY weird! First, Hinata and Tenten told me that they're happy for Shikamaru and me—which I barely understood when they first told me. Then, Kiba and Lee were whispering something at the ramen shop only to find out that they were calling me, 'Shikamaru's woman'. Asuma-sensei became melodramatic and keeps repeating over and over again that he was so happy for us and had known since the beginning that Shika and I are meant to be!"
Sakura nodded in amusement as she stared at Ino who was currently unaware that she was nearly finishing off 2 large bowls of vanilla ice cream already. And THIS only made her more intrigued.
"Uh-huh... and what about the business with Tsunade-sama? What did she tell you?'
Ino placed the spoon aside the ice cream bowl and wiped the sides of her mouth. "Tsunade-sama summoned me inside her office and told me that she was happy for me and she's giving off her best wishes for our relationship. Good grief! I don't know what you've all eaten making you blab about Nara Shikamaru getting married to me! Sheesh!"
Sakura could only nod and laugh in an I-know-something-that-you-don't way. If only she knows... If only Yamanaka Ino knows....
"But hey, now that you've mentioned it, I haven't heard anything from Shikamaru yet. Did he already come back from his mission?" Ino asked.
With this, a mischievous grin appeared on Sakura's face. "Uh-huh.... And why the worried face, Ino? Can't get him out off your head?"
"Shut up! It's not like that! And actually--yawn Oh boy... I'm suddenly getting sleepy..." Ino let out another yawn.
"Okay, then..." Sakura said in a sing-song voice.
Ino kept on whining, babbling and complaining while she continued to listen and give retorts. After all, it was what she was supposed to do.
'I kind of envy you, Ino. At least Shikamaru is certain that he has feelings for you. But not as the same as Sasuke...'
She lost track on her thoughts as a sound of a spoon falling on the floor was heard and saw her best friend leaning face-flat on the table with her arms hanging on both sides. If it would be a normal situation, Sakura would shout on top of her lungs and call for help in every single corner of Konoha.
But for circumstances such as this, Haruno Sakura smiled in delight. "Yatta! The sleeping powder worked!"
With that, Sasuke, Neji, Lee and Naruto-sama appeared with a fluff of smoke surrounding the area as they began to carry the unconscious Ino.
"Nice job, Sakura! Plan A accomplished! Hahahaha!!!" Naruto-sama shouted.
"Would you shut up, Naruto?!!!! With that noise, Ino could wake up any minute by now!" Sasuke snarled as they began to take Ino out of the house.
"There's no need to worry, Sasuke-kun, Neji-san, Lee-kun and Naruto-sama! The poison I added up in her ice cream can even knock an elephant off to sleep!" Sakura boasted making the boys look back at her in horror.
"Gosh... Women truly ARE dreadful creatures..." Neji thought aloud.
"Hey guys..." Lee puffed out another deep breath as they were still carrying the sleeping beauty. Sasuke who was on the other side holding Ino glanced at him with a questioning look, "What is it?"
Lee scratched his head and stretched out his arms. "Well, I'm just wondering... why are we doing this, anyway? What's the purpose of kidnapping Ino and spreading the rumor that she is getting married to the genius guy who says nothing but 'troublesome'?"
Neji retorted with a snort. "Baka... you shouldn't ask us. Ask Naruto-sama or Tsunade-sama, they're behind of all these craps."
Lee looked a bit more confused as Kiba—who had just joined them a while ago became even more confused than anyone could've ever imagined!
"Tsunade-sama??? Are you frantically sure????" Kiba blurted out.
"An idiot like you would never understand....." Sasuke mumbled.
"I heard that Sasuke-loser!!!!!!!"
"Shut up you dog-sniffing human."
"No, I won't!"
"Oh yes, you will."
"Not until I understand what is going on!!!"
"Like heck you would ever understand what is going on."
"Oh yeah?!!! But I do understand things way more far better than you do!"
"Says who???!!"
"Says me!!!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!!!!"
Lee turned to the long-haired guy then, quite sweatdropped. He could almost wave up a white flag in surrender just to get those two freaks calm down. Well, what could they do? Jounins are pretty goddamn too stubborn...
Oh yeah...
Neji noticed the indifference of the tenjutsu specialist so he decided to tell him. It's for the benefit of the doubt anyway... He then relay on the information to Lee and left the three idiots continue their blabbing. Why three? Simple!
Naruto joined them.
Ino regained her consciousness but decided not to open up her eyes. Her head was heavy as well as her eyelids and she couldn't even lift a finger up. Was she paralyzed or something or just too tired to do so? But that's REALLY not the question...
Where in the barren world is she anyway?
The last time she remembered was dropping by her best friend's house, chit-chat with her and complained about the villagers of Konoha talking about her getting married to Shikamaru whom she hadn't seen for quite some time already. But other than that... she can't remember a thing.
Several times she repeated over and over that when she open up her eyes, she would see the ceiling of their house and find herself lying inside her own bedroom. Yes, that should do it. There's nothing weird going on. Maybe the past events were only just a dream—a nightmare, that is. And maybe... everything is just the way it had always been. Yeah! That's it!
She opened her eyes anxiously only to find out that her wish was not granted!
She IS on top of an elegant bed with purple silk covers that could be mistaken as a princess's bed which was inside a gigantic room with a simple yet elegant design and a sparkling crystal chandelier hanging on the ceiling. Heavens help her! She was inside a mansion! A mansion of an unknown owner!
'Ino... come on, breathe. Yeah, that's it. Now calm down... don't panic... Okay... Now site the events and don't think of strange things and dreadful possibilities like you, being kidnapped... Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bad Ino!!! I told you to stop thinking about scary stuffs! Don't panic!!!! I told you to calm down!!!!!!!! B-But...W-What if... I... I... was r-really... k-k-kidnapped???!!! Oh shit! What will I do????!!! Daddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
She got out of the bed and walked towards the huge violet curtain and set it aside to reveal the transparent window. Shocked as she is, she became more astounded as she realized that the mansion where she is right now is 999,999,999 km. above sea level—actually, she was exaggerating! (A/n: so, don't believe the calculation er... the estimation, rather! 'Cause I really hate math! )
Ino looked like she was going to be delirious. She began to mumble, wishing that she has amnesia, "I am Yamanaka Ino... I am a 16-year old Chuunin, a typical teenager with dozens of suitors but never had a boyfriend. I am totally infatuated with Uchiha Sasuke, have a best friend Haruno Sakura, once belonged on team 10 with Akimichi Chouji and I hate a lazy-ass bum living in the world known as the genius Jounin Nara Shikamaru..."
Uh—unfortunately she remembers EVERYTHING...
She cursed out loud and took out her kunai and was about to strike the glass window when a voice suddenly stopped her from such destruction.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
She fought the urge to look back and ignored the familiarity of the voice. "I'm going to escape! Got a problem with that?!!!" She then stroked the kunai towards the glass window hoping to shatter it into pieces. But for some reason, the glass remained untouched.
"W-What the--?!" Her body can't move and right now, she really IS paralyzed already. Her body won't obey her and she was indeed frozen from her tracks. So, that explains it! Whoever the heck is behind her was the one who brought her here in this mansion—or should she say, that the person behind her is her kidnapper?!
Suddenly, she remembered something—or someone rather who can just make her as stiff as this. A certain technique possessed by a certain ninja that could manipulate anybody with the use of...
"This is so troublesome..."
Her eyes could only widen in disbelief.
A/n: Guys! Let me know what you think please! Hope you all enjoyed reading it and I promise to update as often as possible! Peace out!!!!!