A/N: Hey well this is my first fanfic so i hope you like it! Its gonna be multiple chapters long, the odd chapters(1,3,5...) are gonna be the story of Shika/Ino and the even chapters(2,4,6...) are gonna be the story of Kanku/Saku! Enjoy and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE R+R! it would just really make my day if you did!!!

I'll try to write a new chapter every week or so. If i get behind please don't hate me, it probably just means im having some bad days - it actually happens a lot...haha!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, as much as i wish i did :(


Chapter 1

Together By Sand

*Sob, sob* Ino couldn't stop herself from crying. She had just seen Shikamaru and Temari having ramen at Ichiraku's, and this feeling just welled up inside her. She didn't know what it was or why she had this strong of a feeling. All she knew was that this feeling overwhelmed her so much that she knew she had to get out of there, and quickly, or she was going to do something reckless.

She ran to her and Shika's favorite spot, tears streaming down her face. She pulled off her sandals and stuck her feet in the river that ran through the best cloud-watching field in Konoha.

She wiggled her toes in the water as she cried her eyes out, wondering why she was so upset. Its not like it had been Sasuke and Sakura in Ichiraku's, it had been Shika, her best friend since they were little, the person she spent almost all of her time with, but she never thought of him as more then a friend before. So why was she suddenly so upset for seeing him with another girl?

Do I like him? She asked herself. I mean he's lazy, and ignorant, and selfish, and he basically doesn't have any emotions what-so-ever, but…he is cute and now that I think about it, he's always there for me as a shoulder to cry on, and he knows me better than I know myself….

While Ino was daydreaming about Shika (with tears still dripping off the end of her nose), guess who walked out of the forest and onto his favorite cloud-watching field.

Shikamaru was too busy looking up at the clouds that he didn't notice Ino at first. When he sat down on the grass, he looked around and finally noticed her sitting on the edge of the river. He stood back up, and walking over to her, realized she was crying. Troublesome woman.

"Ino?" he asked in a caring tone of voice.

"What? Oh. Hi," she said back, not in a mean, but definitely not in a kind way.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Oh come on. I'm your best friend; I can tell when something is wrong, so just tell me."

"Yeah, some friend," she murmured, just barely audibly. Where did that come from? It wasn't his fault; as far as we're both concerned, he didn't do anything wrong.

"Sorry, what?"

"Nothing."

Ino took her feet out of the water, put her sandals back on, and stood up. She started to walk away, but Shikamaru caught he hand. It sent a zing up her arm, and she could feel her face heating up.

"Please tell me. I don't like seeing you like this."

"Really, just forget it. There's nothing you can do about it now."

And just like that, she shook her hand free and took off into the tree tops, leaving Shikamaru confused, – and hurt that she hadn't confided in him – standing on the grass with his hand still stretched out as if he was holding hers before she had pulled away.

So Troublesome Shikamaru thought to himself. How am I supposed to help when she wont even tell me what's wrong? And what did she mean by 'there's nothing you can do about it now?' Had it been my fault or something? No, I didn't do anything wrong. Or did I? All I did yesterday was work on the Chuunin Exams with Temari. Then we grabbed a bite to eat afterwards. Had Ino seen that and thought we were on a date or something? Was she jealous? No, Ino doesn't get jealous, unless she sees Sasuke with Sakura or another girl, and she didn't think of him like that. They were best friends. He was just being silly, that's all; so troublesome….


Shikamaru was wrapped up in thoughts about Ino as he walked onto his cloud-watching field. He lay down in the grass and quickly fell asleep from his tiredness of putting nonstop work into the Chuunin Exams.

As he was sleeping, Gaara wandered up, as he too was in the village to help judge the Chuunin Exams, he was Kazekage after all. Gaara was bored with what was going on in the village, so he decided to go exploring in the surrounding forest. He sat down at the edge of the trees as he gazed quizzically at the dozing Shikamaru.

Gaara watched with a little smile playing at his lips as sand surrounded Shikamaru's sleeping body and lifted him up, forming a hammock. The sand-made hammock started lightly rocking in the wind when he heard a giggle behind him. It was Ino.

"Well he looks comfortable, doesn't he?"

"Hello Ino."

"Hi Gaara. How've you been?"

"Oh, you know, busy."

"Yeah, that's right, the Chuunin Exams are coming up. Does Suna have any teams entering this time?"

"Yes, two teams: one a rookie team –" but he trailed off, noticing she wasn't really paying attention. "Something on your mind?"

"What?" Ino tore her gaze from the sleeping Shikamaru, a pale red creeping onto her cheeks. "No, nothing!" she said a little too quickly.

They sat in silence together for a couple of minutes. Ino was wondering if she should tell him, just to get it off her chest. But could she trust him?

"Can you keep a secret?"

Gaara turned his head towards her, "Who am I gonna tell?"

He had a point. "Well, um, yesterday I, um, noticed Shika having lunch with, um, with your sister, and, um, I sorta got, uh, jealous."

"…Well, maybe you should tell him how you feel. I mean, I told Matsuri that I'm in love with her, and now every time she comes into my office, we can't keep our hands off each other."

"Yeah, but you knew she felt the same way about you. I am pretty sure Shika doesn't feel the same way about me."

"You never know; maybe he does."

"Yeah, maybe…"Ino replied as she drifted into sleep.

Gaara applauded himself as his sand encircled her body and carried he over to Shikamaru. It set her down on the hammock, where she snuggled up to Shikamaru, who, still asleep, snuggled back.


Ino woke up just as dusk was falling. It took her a few moments to realize where she was: snuggled up in the nook between Shikamaru's arm and body…on top of a sand hammock?

"GAARA!!!!" Ino screamed as she jumped off of the hammock, waking up Shikamaru from his heavy slumber.

Shikamaru watched his hot-headed teammate sprint into the woods, where he assumed was Gaara.

So troublesome he thought, lying back down in the sand-made hammock. Hey, this is kinda comfy. But just as he was thinking that, Shika fell to the ground as the sand rushed to its master's defense. I guess she got to him…. What did he do that got her so upset, anyways?

Ino was pounding on the hard shell of sand, making her knuckles bleed, as an eye appeared outside, watching her intently.

"How. Dare. You! I. Trusted. You. And. You. Had. To. Go. And. Pull. A. Stunt. Like. That! I'm. Gonna. Kill. You! Show your face! She punched the sand shell each time she spoke a word, but it stayed solid, even as the earth quaked.

Gaara was laughing hysterically inside his bomb shelter. It didn't even sound like him, he had never laughed like this before. And this new sound just made him laugh harder. He knew he shouldn't be laughing, but he couldn't help it; and if Ino ever got through this barrier (not likely) he was toast – good thing she couldn't hear his insane laughter . . ..

After ten minutes of nonstop screaming and pounding, Ino finally gave up and settled herself under a giant tree, a couple of yards from Gaara's hide out, where she put her medic-nin training with Sakura to good work and healed her bleeding knuckles. Soon Gaara emerged (after he saw Ino calm down – with the help of his third eye, invisibly linked to the optic nerve). He slowly walked over to her tree and sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. But if you feel for him like I feel for Matsuri, I had to do something about it, and it was just such perfect timing."

"Yeah, well, I don't think I'm ready for him to know just yet. I mean, I just realized yesterday that I have feelings for him."

The two of them just sat there in silence for a while. Gaara put his hand over Ino's before he stood up, "I have to be getting back, or someone will worry what's happened to the Kazekage. Do you want me to walk you back to your house?"

"No, I think I'm gonna stay here for a while."

"Ok. Don't stay out here all night."

As he quietly walked away, Ino blurted out "Thanks Gaara." He just smiled to himself and kept walking.


Just after Ino had stormed away, Shikamaru had found himself falling to the ground as Gaara's sand rushed to protect him from Ino's wrath. Now he was just lying there, looking up at the clouds that were turning into stars. What was that all about? He asked himself. I guess I better go find them; with their tempers, one could be killing the other by now. Shikamaru stood up and started searching for the Kazekage and his opponent. He expected to find Ino throwing punches, kicks, and kunai at Gaara, with his sand stopping every blow, but no; Shika only found Ino.

"Where's Gaara?" He asked, pulling Ino out of her thoughts.

"Gone."

"WHAT?!"

"I didn't kill him if that's what your thinking." –yes it was – "He just went back to the village after our little spar/talk."

"Really? And what were you sparring over? Wait, no, I mean what were you talking about?"

Ino let out a tinkling laugh. "Oh, nothing…" And with that, she lay down on the ground, put her hands behind her head, and fell into a deep, well-deserved sleep.

Shikamaru sighed and bent down. He picked up his teammate and carried her home, so she wouldn't end up sleeping on the hard ground all night.


A/N: Aw, Gaara's so cute isn't he? Never thought we'd see this side of him, but here it is! The adorable, loving, teddy bear side of the scary sand-nin! Hope you liked and want more! R+R, new chapters coming soon!