Thanks for the reviews, faves, follows! I hope you guys enjoy part 2!

"You idiot!" Sakura hissed when Ino had finally left. Shikamaru winced as Sakura smacked his arm, rather roughly for that matter. "Why did you say that?!" The girl had a panicked look on her face which was completely red. Shikamaru rubbed his abused arm with a frown.

"What do you mean, 'why'?" He asked, furrowing his brows. "Weren't you the one that suggested it?" At his accusation, she blushed, embarrassed at his words that were completely true. She rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I didn't think you would actually say yes!" She cried, making Shikamaru give her an incredulous look. "You didn't have to take me so seriously." She muttered under her breath. Sakura regretted thinking of such an absurd idea in the first place.

Shikamaru merely rolled his eyes at her. Why were women so confusing? "What's done is done." He said simply, hoping she'd finally stop hitting him. The tired looking ninja sighed inwardly. And here he thought that she was one of the more rational, less exasperating females.

She huffed a breath at him, irritation clear on her face at his calm demeanor. "The whole village will be talking about it by tomorrow." Knowing Ino, she'd probably have told someone by now. Ugh. And then team 7 will be all over her about it too. She frowned. She would never hear the end of it.

Shikamaru sighed audibly this time, realizing that what Sakura said was true. His teammate wasn't one to hold on to such a scandalous secret as this one and he could only imagine the rumors that were being created at the moment.

Shikamaru looked at her with hooded, expressionless eyes, before responding,"Guess we'll just have to make it believable then."

She shot him a glare, a weak one, but relented nonetheless. His composed attitude made her feel less anxious of what would come tomorrow.


Sakura was having a much better day than she could have predicted.

Noone had come up to her today about Shikamaru. Noone had even mentioned it. She was rather surprised about the outcome after last night, though she wasn't complaining.

Maybe it was too big of a shock for Ino to comprehend and that's why she hadn't gotten to spreading the news around. Looking back on it, when Shikamaru had announced their "relationship", she hadn't really said anything of it. There had been surprise on her face but not much else except a raised eyebrow at them both.

A pang of guilt rose within Sakura. She really disliked lying to her best friend. But if Ino would just mind her own business, she wouldn't have been stuck in this situation in the first place. A groan escaped her lips, her head bashing against her wooden desk.

Her and Shikamaru...it was far-fetched. The whole idea was just so unlikely. They hadn't even become good friends until a little over a year ago when she had been grouped together with him for a mission. The idea of him as anything more than a friend had never crossed her mind before.

How were they going make this work?! He didn't look as if he had a romantic bone in his body. Shikamaru was probably too lazy to even have an interest in someone.

Plus, she wasn't even a very good liar. She remembered the last reconnaissance mission she had been on with Naruto and Sasuke. It had required her to pretend to be a merchant's daughter who was traveling with her brother and her fiance. The number of times she nearly blew their cover was almost pitiful. Even then, she was sure that her acting was mediocre at best.

She laid her pink haired head on top of the pile of files on her desk.

What was she supposed to do now?

The gurgling sound that came from her stomach told her that the answer was probably to eat.


Sakura took a seat at the small eatery. It wasn't too far away from the hospital so she would have a good amount of time to just eat and not mull over the predicament that she had gotten herself into. Looking at the list of available items on the menu, she could feel her mouth watering. It had been too long since she had eaten anything but ramen, thanks to Naruto of course. Tempura, sukiyaki, tonkatsu...her stomach growled even louder.

When she had finally ordered her food, she took long sip of her water, feeling the cool liquid travel down her throat. She savored these little breaks in between her shifts. It was always calm and peaceful.

"Forehead!" Green eyes snapped open at the sound of the voice. That name was reserved for her and she frowned because she knew exactly who was calling it. So much for calm and peaceful.

Sakura forced herself to remain calm and act normal as the blonde strutted her way towards her,one hand on her hip and a determined look on her face. She could already tell what she wanted to talk about. She really should have known better than to expect nothing to happen after what had gone on last night. Ino already had that look, the look that she had on that made everyone remember why she was one of the most feared in Konoha's Interrogation force.

Sakura cringed. She knew that Ino would never use her mind transfer jutsu on her just to figure out what was really going on, but she also knew that Ino knew her well enough not to have to. It really wasn't hard to know what was going on inside her head. A lot of people told her she was easy to read, much to her displeasure.

"Ino." The pink haired young woman chirped, a forced smile on her face. "What's up? Wasn't expecting you to be here." Sakura hoped that she was convincing enough. It didn't seem that way as she watched the blonde glare at her, arms crossed, and hip cocked to the side. Ino was towering over the table , staring her in the eyes, making Sakura more anxious by the second.

"Cut the crap." She shot back, swiftly seating herself across from Sakura with an unamused expression on her face. Her arms were still crossed. "What was that all about last night?"

Sakura's face fell. Her friend really didn't beat around the bush, did she. Luckily, Sakura had already rehearsed the night prior as to what she would say when Ino asked her this. "I don't know what you mean by that."

Unfortunately, Sakura's mind didn't process very well after 1 a.m. and so she was stuck with horrible, half-assed answers like that.

"You and Shikamaru!?" Ino scoffed, a snort passing through her lips. "I'd have a better time believing that you and Lee got together!"

Sakura nearly choked on her water at the thought. Lee was her friend. He was nice and loyal, and really,really motivated, not to mention talented, but just the thought of being with someone who looked up to Gai-Sensei so fiercely made her cringe.

After she composed herself, Sakura tried to look offended at her friend's words."What's so strange about me and Shikamaru being together?"

Ino rolled her eyes at the statement, much to Sakura's annoyance."Please Sakura, do you really think that I'm so stupid as to believe in this nonsense?Shikamaru's too lazy to even think about getting a girlfriend. And you, on the other hand, are too much of a workaholic to even think about getting a boyfriend."

Okay, now Sakura was actually offended at her words. She was not a workaholic."I am not a workaholic."

Ino laughed at her reply, making her even more irritated."Yeah right. All you do is work. It also explains why you're such a prude." Ino pointed out bluntly.

Sakura's jaw dropped at the accusation."Am not!"

Her face was now red and her eyebrows were twitching, from indignation and embarrassment, she wasn't sure anymore.

Her friend rolled her eyes again, dismissing her arguments."You punched a guy last week for kissing you." Ino reminded her.

"It was the first date!" Sakura cried out loudly, her cheeks flushing. Of course she would punch the guy! It was common knowledge that you shouldn't kiss on the first date.

"It was on the cheek, Forehead." Ino deadpanned."And most women our age do more than just kiss on first dates."

The pink haired kunoichi turned red at the implications."Well, I'm sure you probably know a lot about that don't you?!" Sakura retorted. Ino gave her a threatening look.

Originally, the blonde had planned on making Sakura tell her the truth, but that comment had gotten her riled up. It was on. She would make her regret saying that.

"You know, I really feel bad for Shikamaru," Ino started, just to push the rosette's buttons even further."Getting stuck with a prude like you."

Sakura almost blew up at her friend's words, ready to get some training done in the quaint, little restaurant.

"Oh look, here he comes." Ino said with a smirk, waving to someone behind her. She could only guess who it was. Of course. Of course he would be here, of all the places to eat at Konoha.

Sakura would have cared more if she wasn't still hung up on Ino's insults. She had kissed guys before and she had been in relationships before. Just because she didn't put out with every guy she met did not make her a prude!

"Hey Chouji. Shika." Ino called, with a mischievous smile on her face.

The two boys nodded in her direction. "Hey Ino, Sakura." Chouji greeted. Ino smiled at him but Sakura didn't give any response.

Shikamaru frowned. The girl had called them down here before training to eat. He hadn't expected to see Sakura there. From the look of things, Ino had been torturing the poor girl.

Sakura was red, a blush adorning her cheeks. She looked angry, her chest heaving, a glare directed towards the suspected instigator. She probably hadn't even noticed them.

Chouji sat down next to Ino and Shikamaru had a brief internal struggle before choosing to sit down next to the red faced girl. That was supposed to be normal right? They were in a relationship now.

He sat down next to her awkwardly. Her body was pressed against the wall of the booth and Shikamaru still had his right leg outside of it, leaving a huge space between them. They hardly looked like a couple.

"I was just talking to Sakura about you, Shika." Ino said in a sickly sweet voice that only alerted him that she was up to no good."You know,you guys really dropped a bomb on me last night. I still can't believe it."

Shikamaru could feel the dread in his stomach. Things never ended well when Ino got involved with them. He didn't say anything in response and watched as the waiter placed a glass of water in front of him.

Chouji looked confused, sipping on his glass of water as he looked between them.

"So tell me," She trailed off."Are you guys banging yet?"

"I-Ino!" Sakura cried.

Shikamaru spit out his water, his face holding a tinge of pink. He took a minute to school his face, wiping off the water that had spilled down his chin before shooting a glare at the blonde. Next to him was an even redder Sakura. He didn't even know that it was possible to turn that shade of color.

"Ino." He said warningly. He hated it when she would play these games just for her own amusement.

A determined look crossed her face before the blonde crossed her arms, her expression turning serious."Fine. I'll stop if you guys tell me the truth."

"Truth?" Chouji chirped from besides Ino, a lost look on his face.

Shikamaru had definitely underestimated his teammate. She was much smarter than she looked.

Then again, the idea of him being with Sakura was really improbable. He really shouldn't be that surprised. Shikamaru contemplated on telling the girl what was really going on. He didn't think Sakura could handle any more of Ino's teasing.

He narrowed his eyes at her, caving in. He didn't really expect this plan to work anyways. He supposed he would just have to deal with his mother's intrusiveness until he figured out another plan.

Shikamaru sighed, muttering something under his breath."Last night was just a-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence because the next thing he knew, a pair of lips had pressed against his. His mind blanked as soft lips moved against his own, making his eyes go wide.

When they broke apart, Sakura looked angry, but breathless, her face and neck now entirely scarlet. She was still clutching the collar of his shirt.

The whole table had gone silent and Chouji and even Ino had gone wide eyed at what had just happened.

"Forehead..." A brief feeling of triumph flowed through Sakura as she saw all traces of doubt leave Ino's face.

Without saying anything, Sakura yanked him up by the his shirt collar, walking out of the booth. Shikamaru was still too stunned by what she had just done to object to her and could only follow the rosette out of the small eatery. They left the other two staring at them in disbelief.

When they had gotten out of the shop, Shikamaru could feel the wind being knocked out of him as he felt his back slam against the wall of the building.

Sakura's hands were still gripping his collar and he would be lying if he didn't find it at least a little bit provocative.

He watched as the girl wiped her lips with her forearm, making a face of disgust afterwards. Shikamaru felt slightly offended.

"What-" His eyes narrowed on the pink haired female in front of him, a million questions running through his mind. He was cut off yet again by the girl.

"What happened to "making it believable"?" She asked him with a glare. He couldn't focus on much else except the way that her chest heaved when she was angry, her fiery green eyes, and the enticing shade of red that her face was when she was angry. He found himself staring at her lips as she kept him pushed against the hard, brick wall."You got me into this mess, Nara, so don't you dare back out." She hissed, her breath fanning on his face alluringly.

With that, she released her hold on him, turning her back and walking away from him.

Shikamaru absentmindedly licked his lips, still tasting vanilla on them.

A breath escaped his lips as he ran a hand across his face in aggravation. He could feel his cheeks heat up, to his chagrin, and a strange feeling pool in his stomach.

Why did it feel like things were only going to get more complicated?

It's kinda short. I was hoping to write more stuff in, plotwise. Anyways, please review!