Wow~! Sorry for the long wait...i think. Well thank you to the people who left a review~^^ I'm waiting for more but the reason I haven't updated in a while is because of school. I have so much homework DX So please be patient with me~

Anyways, Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

The next morning Ino felt more refreshed. It was a normal morning besides there was no breakfast. It was a weekday so Sakura had school today. Sakura had some time to spare with Ino. The blonde fell on the coach while Sakura sat.

"What am I going to do without you?!" she whined like a child. She hated being alone and bored in the apartment. No one was there to keep her company.

"I'm sure you'll find something to do without me. You're always like this." Sakura sighed. For some reason, Ino always made her feel older than she was. She noticed a scratch on Ino's face.

"How did that happen?"

"Oh this?" the blonde pointed to the scratch on her cheek. "It's nothing, just had a little accident at home." Ino sweat dropped. She didn't even believe her own lie. Sakura looked at her suspiciously.

"O…Kay. By the way, where did you go yesterday at the party? I didn't see you anywhere."

"Oh, I was in the backyard. I met a guy there. His name was….ah, Shikamaru. We just talked."

"Ouuu, so what do you think of him?" Ino just rolled her eyes.

"I just met him, Forehead. Plus I wasn't thinking like that."

"Sure you were." Sakura wasn't completely convinced. She looked up at the clock hanging in their living room and was time to leave for school. But before she did, she got up to get a paper and pencil and wrote something down. Sakura handed the paper to Ino, who was still on the coach.

"What's this?" she asked Sakura while looking at the numbers on the paper.

"His number. You two don't do anything all day. Do something with him. You might need to convince him but it's better than stay inside all day." She looked at the clock again. "I really have to go now. Don't get into trouble." Her last words before she closed the door behind her. Ino, of course, just ignored her. The lone blonde just sat there on the couch before she decided to take action. She took a look at the paper again.

"I haven't eaten anything yet…maybe he would want to come…" she thought for a few seconds before going to her bedroom to get her cellphone. She went back on the couch and dialed the number. The first try failed. Ino figured he didn't answer because he didn't know the number so tried again. Again, it went to voicemail. Three more tries and three more fails. Now she was getting irritated.

"You can't just pick up once!?" She looked like an idiot yelling at her cellphone. A sigh came out her mouth. "What should I do...one more try?" she re-dialed and hoped that someone would answer.

"…Hello?" she was surprised that someone actually answered. He sounded as if he just woke up.

"Hello? Shikamaru?"

"Who is this?"

"It's me, Ino, remember me? Sakura gave me your number."

"Oh, I see. Do you need something?"

Suddenly she got a little nervous and she started to wonder why, "Umm…I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat. I mean, if you are free…" She felt the conversation get a little awkward. It was quiet on the other side and she wondered if he hung up until he answered.

"Sure. You want to meet up somewhere?" he figured he might as well go. It was better than working.

"Hmmm, what about at the Aikawa* park? I want to go this this new café that just opened."

"Okay, so I'll meet you there."

"Is thirty minutes enough for you?"

"Yeah. That's fine."

"Good. See you there." she hung up and place her cell phone on the coffee table.

"….I gotta get ready!" she jumped off the couch and ran to her closet. Thirty minutes wasn't exactly enough for her.

The young blonde sat on a bench, facing the river that ran beside the park. She hoped he would come. It was already fifteen minutes and no Shikamaru. It wasn't till a few more minutes later that he finally arrived.

"Yo." He greeted her plainly from behind.

She rose from her seat to greet him, "I see you took your time getting here."

"I wasn't gonna run here." Ino glared at him. There was something about him that made her want to punch him, but she fought the urge.

"Anyways…Let's go now that you're here." She started to walk and he followed behind.

"Welcome to the Bara café, I'll be your waitress today. Please, when you are ready to order, push this button." The waitress towards an orange button on the table and excused herself. Ino felt uncomfortable once their waitress left. She didn't really know what to say since she didn't really know him. She thought of different ways to start a conversation.

"So…." Ino started. Shikamaru looked away from the window to her.

"Yeah?"

"Um, what do you do on your days off?" it was a kind of weird question she thought but he answered anyways.

"Sleep."

"Sleep? Is there anything else better to do?"

"Nah. What's better than taking a nap?"

"A lot!" she was surprised someone would ask a question like that. "You can go out and explore the world!"

"Ha, sure." He then noticed something on her cheek. "What's that?" his thumb brushed against her healing cut. She could feel her blood slightly rushing to her face.

"Ah, nothing. Just got a cut from a piece of glass." She looked away, avoiding eye contact. He could tell that something wasn't right.

"What happened?" he tried a second time.

"What? You don't believe me?" she pouted a little while looking at him.

"It's not that hard to tell that you're lying."

She was surprised since they haven't even known each other for a week. She was lost for words.

"Okay, I got it from work. Happy?" he still looked at her for a few seconds. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but changed his mind. Instead, he looked outside the window again.

"Are you always like this?" she asked, catching his attention.

"….I guess so."

Ino let out a sigh, "We need to get you out the house more." She left out a small laugh. "Let's eat now."

They finished eating and Ino decided that is was still too early to go back home. Plus, it was still the afternoon! She wanted to do more. They both wandered the streets, trying to figure out what to do. Ino spotted a little crepe shop and decided to get one. When they exited the shop she noticed something.

"Look!" she pointed towards a tall building. It had to be at least five stories.

"Yeah, what about it?" he asked as he took a bite out of his crepe.

"Let's go to it!" she linked arms with him and dragged him to the building without taking any refusal from him. They both found out that it was a mall once they entered. Shikamaru knew it was going to be hell from here on out. Ino noticed the look on his face and couldn't help but giggle.

"Hey! Cheer up! This won't be too bad." She smiled and patted his shoulder roughly. Finding nothing interesting on the first two floors, they headed towards the third in the elevator. They were greeted by a fairly large arcade. Both exited the elevator and Ino's eyes roamed all around the room. She was gonna make sure she had fun today.

"I wanna play some games!" she looked up at him with pleading eyes. He didn't notice till now and big and blue her eyes were. It was like looking up at the sky. For some reason, he couldn't say 'no' to her.

He knew he might regret this in the future, "Sure." Sigh.

"Yes~!" she grabbed him by the wrist to exchange some money. Luckily, she didn't notice his slightly flushed face. Surprisingly, he was actually having some fun. Originally, he thought that should would buy everything from each store but…he was wrong.

Walking down an aisle of crane games, she stopped, "Ouu! It's so cute!" her face was slightly pressed against the glass. As she looked at the cute teddy bears, he thought about his next move. Gently, he pushed her to the side, "Huh?" but then she was him put in one hundred yen into the machine. She didn't say anything else but watched him trying to get her one.

"Wow, I didn't think he would do anything like this." She uncontrollably smiled a little as she watched. As a few minutes passed by, she noticed that he was about to run out of money on one bear!

"Hey~ it's fine, it's just a bear." She tapped his shoulder. He looked at her from the corners of his eye and she felt the intense aura. Slowly, she backed away.

"A man's pride…" he almost caught one of the bears but dropped it before he could claim it. It was the last coin and the bear was on the edge. He placed the coin in the machine and carefully placed the crane to where he could finally get it. She heard a soft thud in the machine. He grabbed the bear and silently gave her the bear. He noticed her cheeks her tinted pink a little and so were his. He couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

"…sorry it took so long," he looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. She giggled and thanked him.

"I didn't know you were that determined to get that bear." She laughed again and made him blush more. "I think we spent more than enough money here, let's go home."

The sun was setting behind the tall building while Shikamaru walked Ino home. It was a quite unexpected day for him but he was glad he didn't stay home. Even in the slightest bit, he was interested in her, and he usually found girls troublesome.

"This is it." She stood outside her apartment door. "Thanks for putting up with me. I can be a handful at times."

"It's fine, it was interesting today." He grinned and then suddenly she moved in closer till her lips made contact with his cheek.

"You're lucky, I usually don't kiss on first dates, "she smiled at him, "But you're an exception. Have a good night." She then disappeared behind her apartment door. He stood there for a few seconds as the current events sunk into his brain. Slowly, he walked back home with his hands on his pocket. His lips formed a smile, "How troublesome."

*Aikawa=love river. Just a made up name for the story.

Ah! Sorry if this was too long for some people~ A bit different from the other two chapters, this was more on Shika and Ino. But before you leave, please leave a review telling me about the progress of the story or something haha! Please and thank you!