I absolutely adore the Ino/Shikamaru pairing. I've been dying to write something about them. Of course I couldn't just give them a happy ending. :P
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any world, universe or galaxy.
One.
In her fourteen-year-old life, it seemed there were very few things she could count on.
She lay awake at night, cuddled under her silk sheets, clutching Mr. Polka to her chest, and listened to her treasured parent's scream. They thought she couldn't hear them. They thought the stifling shadows concealed their malicious voices.
They were wrong.
Ino heard it all. She heard the name-calling, the accusations, the tears … especially the tears. She had always hated listening to her mommy cry.
She had always hated feeling like her mommy deserved every tear she shed.
Coz Mommy
Loved a man
Who was not?
Ino's daddy.
No one would say it. Everyone knew it.
Ino
Knew it.
Ino knew Mommy broke Daddy's heart into itty-bitty teeny-weeny pieces.
Ino knew she could not count on her parents.
Two.
Ino was fifteen when she began distancing herself from her friends.
She wouldn't go over to Sakura's house after school. She would find excuses to avoid sleeping over at Karin's on the weekend. She lashed out anyone who asked her 'what's wrong?'
Eventually, they stopped asking.
Eventually, they stopped caring.
She wouldn't stand up for Hinata. Ami and her lackey's picked on the raven-haired girl, and she ignored the pleading pale blue gaze.
She ignored
Each daily humiliation,
Each insult,
Each pushshovekickpunch.
She ignored until Hinata was forced to give up.
Little Hinata just couldn't take it any more.
Her
Funeral
Was
A
Gray
Haze.
Ino knew she could not count on herself.
Three.
Ino was seventeen and a dirty mess.
Ino was seventeen when she met
Him.
A pretty eyed boy with spiky hair and a devilish grin. He always seemed to have a cigarette stuck between those stupid chapped lips (stupid chapped lips she spent way to much time fantasizing about). He enjoyed calling her "troublesome."
Ino knew he didn't mean it.
And maybe, she thought,
Just maybe,
He knew she knew.
"Shikamaru?"
Grunt. Go ahead.
"Can I count on you?
"…The hell? Troublesome."
Pause. Ino glared. Smack.
"OW! What the hell was that for?"
"You didn't answer my question!"
"Of course you can count on me! …Stupid woman."
Grin.
grinGrinGRIN.
"What are you smiling for?
"Oh…nothing."
"Jesus. I need a cigarette."
Four.
Ino was nineteen when she watched him
Slowly
Slip
Away.
"I love you, you know," she told him casually. She leaned against the hospital bed.
He smirked. Those stupid chapped lips. "I know."
"I count on you, you know."
"I know that to."
"Stupid genius."
He laughed.
"Stop crying, troublesome woman."
"I'm not crying."
Silence. Broken only by her sobs. She was reminded of the lonely nights spent huddled under her blankets. They were silk, weren't they? She can't remember the last time she slept in such a nice bed. Her clients usually aren't very wealthy.
Her hand clutched Shikamaru's. She wasn't lonely any more.
Not
Any
More.
"I have a friend in Heaven, you know."
"Do you?"
Hiccup. "Yup. Her name is Hinata…. When you see her, can you tell her I'm sorry?"
Grin. "Sure. Of course."
"I count on you."
"…I count on you, to."
Those words meant more to her then any pointless I love you.
Her angel counted on her.
That would be enough.