A/N: Now for some ShikaIno, one shot! OOC, warning you right now...Oh and Yakiniku = Grilled Meat.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I mean, if I did, Sakura wouldn't be the only main girl, yeesh.
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"Hey, hey, I want to ask you guys something!" Ino announced excitedly.
Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were cloud watching in the afternoon. They had just finished a mission earlier, and they were pretty worn out. The three man team now laid in the soft, green grass, gazing the puffy white clouds slowly inching itself across the pale exquisite blue sky above them.
It had been at least 2 weeks since Asuma had left and they tried to forget about the sad past, concentrate on the present, with their sensei recognized and remembered always in their hearts.
The view was relaxing, and even if today was a sunny day, the heat felt like it wasn't even there. Plus, the calm breeze seemed to lift their thoughts and carry them to a different place, reassuring them.
Sometimes they felt like their sensei was right beside them, with his same cheery and joking attitude, cigarette still in mouth, taking it out every now and then to let out the gray, putrid smoke.
Today seemed like those days.
But Ino had interrupted the great sensation.
"Okay, what would you do if you knew someone liked you?" She smiled, while glancing at her two teammates.
When they didn't respond, the calm and comfortable sensation was there again.
Choji opened a bag of chips, the crinkling of the bag disturbing the silence. He decided to give it a try. "If I knew someone liked me," He stopped to smile to himself. "I would ask her if she liked to eat. If she did, I'd tell her to go eat some Yakiniku with me." He licked his lips.
"Hah? Come on, Choji, girls like to be skinny, not turn into a fa—" Shikamaru briskly lifted his left hand up and covered her mouth, not moving his body from his position.
Choji stared at her and Shikamaru suspiciously. "What were you going to say...?"
Ino grabbed Shikamaru's hand and lifted it off her face. She laughed nervously. "N-Nothing!"
Turning to the lazy Chunin on her right, she repeated the question. "What would you do if you knew that someone liked you, Shikamaru?"
"I don't want to answer such a troublesome question." He replied, not shifting from his spot.
She stared at him with a blank look on her face, before reacting. "Hey, just because you think it's troublesome, answer it anyway! I'm bored!" She shook him, and when he didn't react to her action, she shook him harder. "Shiikaaamaaruuuu...."
Shikamaru yawned, and shuffled a bit. He stole a peek from the pale blond before sighing. "Fine, I'll tell you." He muttered something like 'Troublesome Woman...' that made Ino glare at him. "If I knew, I'd tell them that it's troublesome, and I don't want to be in such a troublesome situation."
"What? That's a stupid answer!" Ino growled.
"At least it wasn't as stupid as yours..." He sighed.
A crinkling noise broke in. "Hey, are you guys hungry?" Choji asked as he rubbed his belly. "I'm hungry..."
Ino eyed the Akimichi in disbelief. "Aren't you eating a bag of chips right now as we talk?"
Choji swallowed his food. "Chips? Are you kidding me, Ino? Chips are not going to make me full! I want some Yakiniku!"
"Hey Choji, I heard that they're giving free Yakiniku today..." Shikamaru started. "But only to the first 30 customers." He finished.
"Shikamaru...Choji already left." Ino informed the surprised boy beside her. "He dashed out right when you said 'Free Yakiniku'."
She gawked over her shoulder to see if Choji was in sight, but not a trace was left.
She turned her attention back at to the boy gazing at the sky. She inhaled a breath of fresh air, and then exhaled it out gently.
That felt good.
She smiled. "Hey! That answer you gave me, I'm not going to accept it. Give me a better one!"
"What are you talking about? That answer was pretty reasonable to me, plus, at least I answered it." He mumbled, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Reasonable, huh? I don't think so, mister 'it's-so-troublesome'." She mocked. He glared at her.
"You're troublesome and an idiot." He answered, turning away from her. "Anyways, I'm going to sleep."
"What? Come on, Shikamaru! I'm bored!" Ino whined.
The slightest sound of heavy breathing was heard. She didn't even need to go over to his side to check if he was asleep. She had known him longer than she could imagine.
"You're no fun." She pouted, before lowering her voice to a whisper. "I was going to confess."
She swore she saw his eyes twitch.
'Maybe I'm just imagining things...' She thought. Then wondered if Choji would be running back here, once he found out that there wasn't freeYakiniku.
Dismissing the unimportant thought, she peered at the sleeping boy, and leaned closer to him.
"Hey." She whispered, trying a few more times to check if he was actually asleep. "I didn't tell you or Choji my answer to my question."
Is he asleep? Or is he actually listening?
"Because I thought you guys would've asked me back, but I guess I was wrong." She paused, grabbing a handful of grass to fidget with. "If you guys did ask me though..."
She glanced down at her hands full of pieces of grass; some of her fingers were already smudged with dirt.
"I probably would have told you that I liked you."
She stayed silent after that, not knowing what to do if he'd suddenly wake up. Or what would be worse if he woke up and told her that he was sorry and he liked Temari.
She waited for his reactions. She wanted him to shift maybe a bit, but then go back to sleep. That would've at least made her feel a bit better, and would've also made her feel like she wasn't an idiot, and did that for nothing.
But he didn't do anything.
Letting go of the torn pieces of grass, she stared at him with doleful appearance on her face. A hint of sadness was shown in her eyes. But she gave him a small smile.
She had nothing more to do. So she did one last thing before she let go.
She let her hands rest on the soft grass below her, and put some weight on it as she slowly leaned her face closer to the sleeping figure. As she closed her eyes, her lips brushed softly against something.
It was his cheek.
She let it linger there for a second, before pulling back.
"Yes!" She silently yelled at her success. She gazed at him one more time, and grinned. Pushing herself up, she was about to walk away when something tugged on her hair.
She stayed frozen in place from shock for a second before she realized she was caught.
She dared not look.
But her body didn't listen.
Shikamaru laid there with his head resting on one arm, his body facing the sky.
She gulped and stared at him with her eyes bulged out in disbelief.
"Did you actually think I would fall asleep so quickly?"
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A/N: Finally done. Ugh. Yeah, and I'm sorry to all the Choji fans. He just ran off. Oh, and sorry for the OOCness. I mean, Ino suddenly did something so unexpected, like, what the, sudden change of chara much?
Anyway, R&R, until next update.