AN: This entire story is dedicated to my friend Jade, who died in hospital last night. God speed.


"And then he said to me, 'Look Ino, troublesome as it is, I love you.' Can you believe that?" said one Ino Yamanaka as she pulled on her pointe shoes.

Sakura Haruno looked at Ino incredulously. "Are you sure he really said that?"

"He really said that! I heard him with my own two ears!"

Sakura pulled on her own pointe shoes and asked "But why would Shikamaru, of all people, say that?"

Ino stood up and placed her hands on her hips, "So you think I'm not loveable?" she said with a grin.

Sakura grinned too. "I didn't mean it that way! But, you and Shikamaru have been friends for years! And, no offence Ino, but I didn't think you were Shikamaru's type."

"Neither did I," shrugged Ino.

"So," said Sakura as she too stood up, "what did you do about it?"

Ino opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Kurenai-sensei instructing them all to line up at the barre.


"So dude, did you tell her?" Kiba Inuzuka asked Shikamaru Nara, whose head was resting against his desktop. The reply was muffled.

Kiba sat down next to Shikamaru. "What?"

Shikamaru lifted up his head. "Yes, I did tell her. It was very troublesome."

"Why? What did she do?"

"She—" Shikamaru was interrupted by the teacher, "I'm sure, to you, that your love lives are very interesting. But they have nothing to do with what we're currently working on. So shut up."

Kiba began to protest, this was important information he needed to hear! Then Shikamaru shot him a look, and thankfully he shut up.

After class, Shikamaru left quickly to go to lunch. Kiba caught up to him. "So? What happened when you told her you loved her? Although sometimes I have a hard time believing that, you sure don't act like it."

Shikamaru sighed. "She said she didn't love me."

"And that's it? She just went 'I don't love you.'?

When they reached their table, Shikamaru pulled his bag off and dumped it on the chair beside him. "Well, no. But that's the gist of it. It's too troublesome to tell you any more."

"Oh, come on. You can't just leave me in the dark," Kiba groaned.

"Yes, I can. Now I'm going to get my lunch. Do you want anything?"


"Hey, Sakura," Ino lightly touched her friend's arm, "can we stay here for lunch? I feel kind of guilty about Shikamaru."

Sakura smiled pityingly at her friend, "Sure Ino. I don't mind. But you'll have to face him at some point."

Ino smiled too. "Great. I'll just get our lunches from our lockers," she said, pointedly ignoring the last sentence.


Ino smiled at the picture of her and Shikamaru together in her locker. She really hoped they could still be friends.

She walked back to the dance studio and saw Sasuke talking to Sakura. That was strange enough, he never spoke to anyone, never mind one of his 'fangirls', but what was even stranger was that he was blushing and stammering. What's up with him? Ino wondered. Sakura was grinning manically, but that was the usual when Sasuke was about. He was hot and the star danseur, so people did that lot around him.

Ino walked up to the two, and latched herself onto Sasuke's arm, "Hi Sasuke!"

"Hey! Get your hands off my boyfriend!" said Sakura, grinning.

Ino blinked once, then again. Sasuke slowly detached himself from Ino's grip. He backed away slowly, and then scurried from the room.

"B-b-boyfriend? Sasuke's your boyfriend? Did I hear right?"

Sakura nodded slowly. She would have to tread carefully; she didn't want Ino to blow up. She was scary when she was angry. "Yes, Sasuke's my boyfriend. He asked me to be his girlfriend just there."

Her eyes wide, Ino was silent for a few moments, before bursting out with "Sakura! That's great! You and Sasuke will make such a cute couple."

Surprised and quivering, Sakura asked "You're not mad?"

"Mad? No, of course not! Why would I be mad?"

Sakura scratched her cheek, "Well, y'know, you've had a crush on Sasuke for a long time..."

"Crush? On Sasuke? Of course I haven't! I was pretending so you would get your lazy butt in gear!"

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I have a crush on someone else."

Sakura squealed, "Oh my God! Who?!"

"Well, you know that guy who's really good at art? Sai?" Ino blushed.

Sakura wrinkled her nose. "You have a crush on Sai?"

"Yes, what's wrong with that?"

Sakura shook her head and sighed wearily. "Nothing. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Good. Can we eat our lunch now?"

"Sure."


"Troublesome."

"What's troublesome?" Kiba asked.

"Ino's avoiding me," Shikamaru said, "tch, troublesome woman."

"Huh? You don't see her one lunchtime, and you automatically assume she's avoiding you?" Kiba shook his head.

Shikamaru blushed, "It's not like that. She always has lunch here with me-you didn't notice she was always here? Anyway, that, coupled with the fact that I told her my feelings makes it very likely that she's avoiding me," he groaned and plonked his head on the table.

"Duuude," pulling out the word, Kiba patted him on the back, "that sucks." Then he took a bite of his sandwich.

Shikamaru lifted his head slightly and glared at Kiba. "You should be trying to help me!"

Kiba shrugged and swallowed, "What do you expect me to do?"

"Think of something!"

"You're the smart one! You think of something!"

"Yes, I am the smart one, but I'm at my wit's end-why else do you think I would be asking you for help?"

Kiba looked affronted, and also slightly hurt. "No need to take your anger out on me."

Shikamaru sighed and let his head drop again. "Sorry."

"Yeah, well, anyway. Lucky for you, I do have an idea. A pretty good one, if I say so myself!"

Sitting up, Shikamaru said hopefully, "Yeah? What is it?"


AN: If people are angry that I'm writing this instead of updating my other fics, then GET OVER IT. I'm only writing this 'cause Jade really wanted me to, and I feel obliged. I'm really not in the mood for people's crap.

This should be read while listening to Belle & Sebastian.

And if you're going to review, don't be nice 'cause you feel obliged. If you think it sucks, tell me, okay? Thanks.

This is not going to go on indefinetely, like my other stories, I already have a clear end in sight, and it'll be about 5-10 chapters long.

If anyone's wondering about the title, it's in French 'cause a lot of ballet terms are French. Also, the title sucks, and looks better in French, okay?

Oh, HinataInuzuka, I'm sorry I didn't send it to you first, but I wanted to get the first chap up as soon as possible. You'll definetely get the second chapter first though, so don't worry.

And I just realised people will be confused about the school thing. Right, well, let me explain it. Shikamaru and Ino both go to Konoha High School. But attched to that is the Dance School of Konoha, which Ino goes to as well. Instead of going to some classes (like RMPS and Gym and junk) she does Dance, or Singing. Get what I mean? It's based on my school, Name Secondary School, and the Dance School of Scotland. If you don't get what I mean, just ask, and I'll explain in more detail, if it totally confuses you, and detracts from the story. Also, if any ballet terms confuse you, you can ask about them as well.

As always, please review!

Obviously that's not my school name, but like hell I'm gonna put the real thing up on the Internet.