Hey everyone! This is my first ShikaIno story so please R&R and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but if I did, (insert brilliant ideas here).
Take My AdviceShikamaru had just become a chuunin a few days ago, as ordered by the Fifth Hokage herself, and now felt as though he could do anything. Well, almost anything. He still could not bring up the courage to tell his obnoxious, loud-mouthed teammate that he had a crush on her.
"What a drag… I hate Ino for making me go through this torment." Shikamaru said from his favorite cloud watching spot.
"Hey Shikamaru! What's up?" a familiar voice said. Entering Shikamaru's spot was none other than Naruto.
"Naruto? What are you doing here? Were you eavesdropping on me?" Shikamaru asked all in one breath.
"Whoa calm down! I just stopped by to see if you wanted to come training with me, but than I heard you complaining about Ino so I decided to do some listening."
"You mean eavesdropping."
"Well if you want to get technical about it… so tell me Shikamaru, what is this 'torment' Ino's putting you through?" Shikamaru blushed a bright red, embarrassed by his feelings for Ino."Okay I'll tell you. Can you keep a secret?"
"Of course! How could you even ask me something like that." Naruto grinned evilly.
"Naruto!"
"Okay, okay! Now come on, what is it?"
"Okay… well you see… I sort of have a crush on Ino…" Naruto could not believe what he was hearing. If he didn't hear it from Shikamaru, he would have never guessed it.
"You have a mmph pmph mmphph?!" Shikamaru was able to cover Naruto's mouth before he blabbed it out to the whole world.
"Keep it down! Do you want the whole village to hear you?"
"Sorry but it's just so weird. You two are complete opposites."
"Yeah well it doesn't even matter… I can't ask her out."
"Why not?"
"I'm just not brave enough. I'm afraid she'll reject my feelings."
"Well Shikamaru, you came to the right guy for advice! I'm-"
"I didn't come to you for advice." Shikamaru cut Naruto off mid sentence.
"As I was saying, I'm a dating expert!"
"You can't even get Sakura to go out with you. Plus, you're still completely clueless that Hinata has a crush on you too."
"Wait, she does?! I'll have to remember that… anyway, we're not here to talk about me. This is about you, my dateless friend. Just follow my lead and you'll have Ino begging to go out with you in no time!"
"Yeah, yeah whatever… Let's just get this over with." Naruto dragged Shikamaru out of his cloud watching spot and into the village.
"Where were you?! You told me to wait here for five minutes an hour ago!" Shikamaru exclaimed angrily. He was waiting on a rooftop just around the corner from Ino's house.
"Well it took me awhile to find these." Naruto opened his bag to reveal binoculars and hearing devices.
"What do we need these for?"
"To see and hear Ino open the box of chocolates you left at her doorstep of course."
"Wait, I didn't leave any box at her doorstep."
"I know, so I took the liberty and bought a box and left them at her door just for you my friend."
"Super." Shikamaru said sarcastically.
"Oh wait, there she is!" As Naruto exclaimed, Ino walked out of her house and, to her surprise, found a box of chocolates in front of her.
"What's this, chocolate?" She inspected the box. "That's odd, there's no name. Oh well, I can't say no to free chocolates." She took the box and went back inside her house.
"You didn't put my name on the box?!"
"Well, I guess I just sort of forgot. But don't worry, the next plan won't fail!"
"Sure it won't." Shikamaru said with sarcasm in his voice.
Shikamaru waited impatiently for Naruto's return outside of a local supermarket. Just as soon as Shikamaru was getting ready to bash his head against a wall, Naruto came out of the store.
"Great, now what did you buy?"
"This!" Naruto bought out perfume from a plastic bag.
"Perfume, is that the best you can do?"
"Hey, all girls love perfume. So come on, let's go find Ino and give it to her."
"Alright." And right on cue, Ino came from around the corner.
"Quick, get ready!"
"What do I say?"
"Just give it to her!"
"Oh hey Shikamaru, what's up?" Ino asked cheerfully.
"You know, same old same old." Naruto coughed from an alley he was hiding in and motioned for Shikamaru to cut the small talk.
"Uh, here Ino… I uh bought this for you. It's perfume." He said nervously.
"Oh thanks Shikamaru, but I'm allergic to strawberries. Even the scent of it will have me throwing up." Ino glanced at her watch. "Oh sorry but I have to go help my parents at the shop. Thanks anyway, I'll see you later!" And with that, she walked happily on her way back to the flower shop.
"Naruto!"
"How was I supposed to know she's allergic to strawberries?! Okay, I have one final plan that's guaranteed to work! Come on, follow me!"
"Like I have a choice."
Naruto walked out of Yamanaka Flower Shop with a bouquet of roses.
"Here give these to Ino. According to my calculations or whatever, she should be on her break. She always comes out for fresh air at this time."
"Naruto, flowers are so clichéd!"
"Too late now, here she comes!" Ino walked out of the shop.
"Oh hey Shikamaru, what are you doing here?"
"Here, I uh bought you flowers…"
"Oh thanks, but uh… these look like the roses I just sold Naruto." Shikamaru face-palmed himself. How could Naruto be that stupid?
"Okay look, the truth is that Naruto was trying, and failing, to help me ask you out because I really like you and I-" Shikamaru was cut off by Ino pressing her lips onto his. Shikamaru felt like he was in heaven, he never wanted to stop. But all good things must come to an end.
"Shikamaru, that's so sweet, but I don't need any flowers or fancy perfume. The truth is that… I really like you too."
"W-what, you do?!" Shikamaru was bewildered by her statement. Never in his wildest dreams would he have ever pictured Ino saying these words to him.
"Yeah, that's why I asked Naruto to tell you because… well… I was embarrassed to tell you myself. He did tell you didn't he?"
"Wait… you asked Naruto to what?!" As you can probably imagine, Shikamaru had his hands balled into fists, fire in his eyes, and an everlasting urge to kill Naruto.
"C-c-calm down Shikamaru! I was only trying to help you build confidence!" Naruto gulped. "Well, here's some more advice for you: never take my advice!" By the time he had said 'advice,' Naruto was already running half way across the Hidden Leaf Village.
"Oh no you don't! Get back here Naruto!" Shikamaru started to run but than stopped as though he had forgotten something. He ran back to Ino.
"Uh sorry… how about we go to the movies later? I'll pick you up at six okay?"
"O-okay."
"Great, I'll pick you up at six. Bye." He planted a small kiss on her cheek before running off again, chasing after Naruto. "I'll get you Naruto, just you wait!"
"C'mon Shikamaru, give me a break here! Aw man, this is the last time I help anyone out again!" Naruto yelled, running away from Shikamaru.