Chapter 3! Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, I'm finally diving into Shikamaru and Ino actually interacting with one another. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!
Inochi was walking a steady speed down the dirt roads of Konoha. The afternoon sun shined brightly from above, making the temperature fairly warm. He held the little legs of his daughter tightly as she sat on his shoulders not so quietly.
Ino was no longer the little baby he and his wife had brought home from the hospital 5 years ago. She was now a walking, talking little girl that liked to ask a million questions about every little thing. Inochi didn't mind though, he enjoyed his talks with his precious little girl.
"Daddy?" the little girl questioned as she brought her head down towards her father's head.
"What is it Ino?" Inochi smiled as he turned towards his daughters small voice.
"Are we almost there?" She asked impatiently
Inochi laughed throwing his head back causing Ino to hold tightly to her father's long pony tail, "We're almost there Ino, don't worry" he answered.
Ino sighed as she slumped her body over her father's head, her hands dangling in front of his eyes, he smiled at his daughter's impatience.
He and Ino were heading over to the Nara household, since being born a few minutes apart, it seemed as if Ino and Shikamaru were inseparable. They were best friends and couldn't get enough of each other. Any spare moment they had, the two would be begging to see one another, it was almost like they would die if they were apart for more than a day.
As Inochi continued walking a large forest came into view, bringing Ino to lift her head excitedly, knowing exactly where they were.
"It's Shika's house!" Ino shouted pointing over to her friend's house with glee.
Inochi laughed at Ino's excitement. They approached the large log house, Ino growing more impatient than ever.
"Come on daddy hurry!" Ino shouted as she just about leapt over Inochi's head.
Inochi grabbed his daughter in shock as she tumbled forward over his head, he stopped in his tracks "Are you okay Ino?" he asked worriedly holding his daughter.
The event didn't even phase Ino, as she jumped from his arms and sprinted towards the house shouting "Shika!"
Inochi only sighed as he followed his eager daughter to the front door.
In the backyard of the Nara's residence, a young boy stood in the overgrown backyard picking up a small dandelion. He examined the fuzzy flower with interest, his dark brown eyes taking in every feature of the flower. His father had once told him that if someone could blow all the seeds off of a dandelion in one blow and made a wish while doing so, it would come true.
Shikamaru took in a deep breath, closed his eyes and made a wish, "I wish Ino would get here faster," he wished in his head, he then blew hard, releasing his stored air. He watched as the seeds from the flower took flight, slowly dancing in the air. Shikamaru then took in a deep breath to regain air.
He turned his attention to the flying seeds, he smiled watching them, to him they looked like little clouds. "Maybe that's what Ino and I could do today" Shikamaru thought in his head.
Suddenly a large bang disrupted his attention, he turned his head towards where the noise had come from. Looking at his house he saw that the back door had been thrown open, and there was a blonde hair figure running towards him, he smiled acknowledging the figure.
"Shika!" Ino screamed with a smile plastered to her face as she went charging towards Shikamaru.
He braced himself, for he knew what was coming next, he held his arms out wide as the blonde blur tackled him to the ground.
The young children fell to the ground laughing. Ino picked herself up from Shikamaru and stared down at him with her beautiful ocean blue eyes, "Hey Shika, I couldn't wait to come over and play with you!" she said with a brilliant smile plastered on her face.
Shikamaru picked himself off the ground and smiled back to his friend, "I know, it feels like forever since I last saw you" he responded.
Ino stood and held her hand out towards Shikamaru, who gladly excepted it as she pulled him up.
"So what do you want to do?" Ino asked eagerly.
Shikamaru stared at her with a smile "I thought that maybe we could watch clouds?" he suggested.
Ino gave him a curious look, and slowly nodded, "Okay, that could be fun."
Shikamaru gave a wide grin as he took Ino's hand and lead her to his favorite hill, she gave out a laugh as she ran with Shikamaru.
Both children ran as quickly as their little legs would carry them, both were laughing with joy.
Ino's pink dress that she was wearing that day was dancing in the wind as she ran through the woods with Shikamaru, who's small spiky pony tail bounced up and down as he ran.
Finally the young children reached a tall hill, and since it was late summer, the hill was covered in beautiful flowers in every color imaginable.
Ino stopped running suddenly letting go of Shikamaru's hand, who kept on running.
Once the warmth of Ino's hand had disappeared, Shikamaru turned to look at the girl in question.
"What's wrong?" he asked
Ino only stared in awe at the field, "It's beautiful!" She exclaimed, a smile plastering her small face.
Shikamaru blinked slowly, but soon smiled in return seeing his best friend so happy.
"Come on, I'll race you to the top!" Shikamaru challenged as he sprinted up the hill, Ino gladly following.
Coming to the top of the hill, Shikamaru stopped and put his hands to his knees, panting trying to catch his breath. Ino quickly caught up and too stopped to catch her breath.
Shikamaru opened one of his eyes to look at Ino "I..won" he declared breathing heavily.
Ino frowned, "It's...not fair...though...you left...early" she breathed.
Shikamaru just laughed as he spread out his arms and fell gently to the ground, landing in a pile of flowers. He folded his arms behind his head and let out a sigh of relaxation, he slowly closed his eyes.
Ino watched Shikamaru get comfortable on the ground, she smiled at him, and then brought her attention to the field of flowers before her.
She had never seen so many different colored flowers in one area before, it took her breath away. She then sat quietly on the ground next to Shikamaru and began to run her hands through the many flowers.
Ino then began to pick the flowers very carefully, examining and smelling each one.
She then got a brilliant idea, she looked over to Shikamaru who looked to be asleep and a grin slowly took over her face.
Shikamaru had just realized he must have fallen asleep, for he had been startled by a soft touch to his face.
His eyes started to flutter, the sun was bright to his sensitive eyes. He was soon able to fully open his eyes only to be greeted by a grinning Ino, "Good morning sleepy pants."
Shikamaru gave her a quizzical look, as he began to sit up, his arms stiff from being under his head for who knows how long.
Suddenly he felt a bunch of little movements all over his small body, his eyes widened in shock, Ino had buried his body in a bunch of multiple colored flowers. Each one delicately arranged on his body, the colors moved in an alluring way, this amazed Shikamaru.
"Heh, sorry Ino for falling asleep" he apologized scratching his head.
Ino only continued to smile "It's fine Shika, I just like being with you, no matter if you're awake or not."
Shikamaru smiled as he began to rise to his feet, stretching his stiff little body. He then turned to Ino and offered her his hand. "We better get going before our parents worry" he suggested.
Ino nodded and excepted his hand, "You're right Shika, we should," she said with a smile as they began walking down the steep hill.
"Hey Shikamaru?" Ino questioned him as they made their way down.
Shikamaru turned to look at her while they walked "What is it Ino?"
She then suddenly grabbed his hand, "Promise me this will be our spot from now on" she said closing her eyes.
Shikamaru only looked at her, confused. She continued "I love the flowers here, their beautiful, and you seem to love the spot too" she smiled. He nodded "Okay" he said briefly.
Knowing that he wasn't too sure as to what she was trying to say, Ino continued, "I mean, if we're ever upset, or just want to hang out and talk, we'll give each other a note" she finished.
Shikamaru gave a small laugh, "But Ino, we don't even know how to spell yet" he spotted a flaw in her plan.
Ino frowned and then looked back to Shikamaru, "Okay until we can spell, we'll give a secret word, that only you and I know" she decided.
Shikamaru thought about this notion for a moment and then nodded in agreement, "Okay, but what's the code word?" he inquired.
Ino thought deeply for a moment, "It's got to be a word that we don't use that often, something that we'll both know what we're talking about" she suggested.
Shikamaru's mind continued to think, he thought about he and Ino, they needed a word that would mean a lot to either of them, suddenly Ino shouted out "Chrysanthemum!"
He could only stare at her in shock, "Chrysanthemum?" he questioned the weird word.
"The flower means friendship, I think..." Ino mumbled holding a hand to her lip, deep in concentration.
Shikamaru smiled at her, of course she would suggest a flower, they were her favorite thing to talk about. But, of course it would be, her parents did own the Yamanaka flower shop in Konoha.
"It sounds perfect Ino, if we ever really need to talk to each other about something Chrysanthemum will be our code word" Shikamaru agreed.
Ino beamed at him with a glorious smile and held out her hand "Friends forever?" she asked.
Shikamaru stared at her hand and then gladly excepted it, grasping it tightly "Forever" he confirmed.
The two friends continued their way back to Shikamaru's house, which was coming into view, along with both their dads.
Shikaku saw them first, both had smile's plastered on their faces as they were talking intently about something, he sighed at the two as they walked towards them.
Ino saw her father come into sight as they walked through the thicket of the forest, she grinned as she ran full speed towards her dad.
"Daddy!" she squealed with delight as she ran into her father's warm embrace. Inochi gave a soft grunt as Ino landed roughly into his arms "Hey there sweetie, what were you and Shikamaru doing?" he inquired as he looked up towards the small boy who continued a slow walk towards the men.
Both Shikaku and Inochi then noticed something lingering on Shikamaru's head, both men suppressed a laugh as he approached, but this did not go unnoticed by Shikamaru.
He gave both men a tight stare, "What?" he questioned.
The men looked at each other with a grin plastered on their faces, "Nice crown Shikamaru, did you make it yourself?" his father asked him.
Shikamaru gave his father a quizzical look "Crown?" he whispered as he reached towards his head only to find something tangled in his spiky pony tail. He pulled the snag out of his hair and examined it in his small hands. It was crown made out of flowers, he frowned at the sight and glared up at Ino, who only smiled at the boy.
"Don't you like it Shika, I made it just for you?" she gave him the deepest puppy dog eyes that he had ever seen, and of course he couldn't be mad at her, he sighed.
"It's pretty Ino, thank you" Shikamaru sighed looking up at his and Ino's father who only continued snickering.
"Well it's time Ino and I head home, it's getting late, nice seeing you two!" Inochi waved at the two Nara men with Ino in his arms.
"Bye, Shika!" Ino yelled over her father's shoulder and remember, and this time she cupped her hands over her mouth and whispered a word that Shikamaru could only read from the motion of her lips, "Chrysanthemum" she had whispered.
Shikamaru smiled and waved back, "I will Ino, don't worry!" he called after her as he watched she and Inochi disappear down the darkening streets. He would never forget their word, or her.
That one took a little while, got a lot more ideas in my head, and I can't wait to put them on paper! Hope you are all enjoying!
Please Review! No Flames though!
