Disclaimer:Don't own, don't sue!
Author's Notes:
As always, thanks for reading and double thanks (plus all my appreciation) for reviewing!
Clarification points (Or at least an attempt to be articulate):
Despite his genius, Shikamaru is completely inexperienced when it comes to love. He feels bad when he sees Ino cut up about him, but on the other hand, he's seen her as only a troublesome friend for so long, he doesn't think he can reciprocate her feelings. Whereas with Temari, he has no such problem since the attraction has been there since they met and they've never been tagged as "just friends".
In short, Shikamaru's confused. So if you're also confused as to how he's feeling, I consider my job done. Sunigirl flashes a big big grin and a peace sign as she ducks the pointy objects thrown in her direction Please bear with me, everything will work out (somewhat). It's just, in my opinion, love stories rarely flow smoothly and more frequently than not, people have no clue as to what's going on or how to deal with it.
Lots of love!
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Everyone should be the star of their own lives. If you couldn't even make the world revolve around yourself in your own life, what chance is there in making someone else's life revolve around you?
Ino never had a problem making friends. Keeping them however, was an entirely different matter. Although she and Sakura had now dropped their petty rivalry over Sasuke and were now best friends again, the whole affair had left a bitter taste in Ino's mouth.
It was such a foreign feeling. For as long as she could remember, Ino had always been the star, the centre of everyone's attention. She was the one who people clamored to be friends with, the pretty, confident one that attracted and dazzled wherever she went. She was the one who befriended shy little girls like Sakura and yet, she was the one that was ultimately abandoned when the shy little girls crept out of their shell and wanted the same things she did.
It had hurt immeasurably when Sakura had initiated the end of their friendship, and salt had been further rubbed into the wound with supposed "friends" siding with Sakura. Although she had slung her fair share of cruel and unforgiving comments at Sakura, the worst thing about their being enemies was that at the bottom of it all, deep down, Ino had still cared. Watching Sakura grow without her and eventually being placed on Team 7 with Sasuke and Naruto had filled Ino with a contradictory mix of emotions. Regardless of what came out of her mouth, Ino had fought back worry and overprotective instincts whenever Sakura had been down or in trouble, and had been equally envious and proud of her successes. She silently supported Sakura because her pride would not allow her to beg for Sakura's friendship but her heart would not allow her to let the friendship go.
It had been the first time Ino had been pushed out of the spotlight and into the wings. The first time she was shaken out of her self-assuredness to wonder what had gone wrong. Was it her? Had she been so self-absorbed that she had completely not noticed Sakura's increasing unhappiness? Had her protectiveness only suffocated Sakura? Had she led everyone to believe she would abandon them all for Sasuke?
It had been in this period filled with self-doubt, loneliness and unhappiness that Ino had grown close to Shikamaru. Shikamaru had quietly and unobtrusively filled the vacuum Sakura had left, slowly helping Ino regain her confidence. He had seen through her bravado and false indifference, he had understood the true meanings of her words. He had let her yell at him and cry on his shoulder, he had made her smile with occasional stupid jokes and he had lifted her spirits with gentle words of encouragement. Most importantly, he had led Ino to believe he would never leave her.
When Ino and Sakura had finally made up and resumed their friendship, Ino had finally understood that even friends sometimes needed distance from one another to grow into the people that they were meant to be. But she had never expected that she and Shikamaru would ever need that kind of distance. They would always grow together wouldn't they?
Yet here they were. Shikamaru was moving away from her. And this time it was even worse than being enemies with Sakura. Because Shikamaru wasn't only her best friend, he was also her secret love. And they weren't being distanced by fighting over the same thing; they were growing apart because he wanted something that she couldn't be. Temari.
Feeling as though her heart was being stabbed with a thousand kunai, Ino watched Shikamaru and Temari walk by. To anyone else, the pair looked completely unremarkable. Walking separately, Shikamaru and Temari didn't even look like a couple. They just looked like two ninjas who had been sparring. Temari would be saying something in that cocky breezy way of hers as she observed the people and stores they walked past and Shikamaru would seem to mumble something grumpily back. He would always look bored and disinterested when Temari looked at him, but Ino could see that Shikamaru was constantly sneaking glances at Temari and sometimes the smallest of smiles would fleetingly grace his face. Ino's heart would clench every time she saw that smile. She desperately wished Temari wasn't the reason for it, but Ino was far too aware of the fact that it was. Certainly, Shikamaru had never smiled like that because of Ino.
Following them stealthily, Ino felt like such a pathetic masochistic stalker. Why on earth was she following them? It made her absolutely miserable to see them interacting so easily, so happily. And yet, she had some sort of insane compulsion to know more about Shikamaru and Temari's relationship. She hadn't even known they had been more than acquaintances before. When did they have time to fall in love? Ino wondered. More specifically, when did he spend time with Temari when Shikamaru had always been by her side? And what was it that Temari had that she didn't?
Ino would be the first to admit that she wasn't always nice to Shikamaru. They bickered all the time and she was possibly the only non-enemy who had ever made Shikamaru actually lose his temper. But then, Shikamaru could be so infuriating! And Temari, Ino grudgingly conceded, was intelligent and hot, the princess of Suna nonetheless. What would she want with lazy ass Shikamaru?
"Ouch!" Ino was interrupted from her thoughts as she bumped into an equally distraught looking Sakura.
"What's wrong?" They simultaneously asked each other.
"Sasuke and I broke up." Sakura sniffed as the tears in her eyes threatened to overflow.
"Oh sweetie." Ino automatically reached out to hug her friend as Sakura began to weep. Watching Shikamaru and Temari disappear from her view, Ino gave up on trailing them and focused instead on comforting her best friend.
Upon Sasuke's return to Konoha, it had been no surprise to anyone that he had immediately sought out Sakura. What had been surprising was the wariness and coolness with which Sakura had responded. Sasuke's arrogant confidence that Sakura would swoon and fall at his feet at his return had been brutally shattered at her gentle but firm refusal to be his girlfriend.
Then, after Sakura's rejection, Sasuke found, to the entire village's amusement and his annoyance that he no longer had any opportunity to speak to Sakura alone. While Sasuke had been in Sound, the remaining Rookie Nine members, Sai and Team Gai had created unbreakable bonds. Tsunade and Kakashi had also been exceptionally protective of their roseate-haired student. As a result, every time Sasuke tried to win Sakura over, someone would always be on hand to conveniently remind Sakura she was needed somewhere else or have some urgent matter to discuss with her. The absolute worst situations were the sudden appearances of Naruto, Sai and Lee to challenge him to fights which never seemed to end in Sasuke's favor. So not only did Sasuke have to deal with his wounded pride that the girl he had taken for granted no longer wanted him, he also was dealt a devastating blow with the realization that his former comrades had surpassed him.
Finally, in utter desperation and frustration, Sasuke had forgone his pride and announced his affections for Sakura publicly. And not only once either.
The first time had been at the summer fireworks festival. Sasuke had jumped onto the stage right before the fireworks and acted out a melodramatic soliloquy announcing how much he loved Sakura. Unfortunately, the performance had brought roars of laughter to everyone in the crowd. And Sasuke had been rewarded by Sakura with not a kiss, but with her shoe hitting him smack in the nose.
The whole embarrassing ordeal however, did help everyone (except Sakura's closest girl friends) forgive Sasuke for betraying the village. With this newly regained camaraderie, Sasuke tried to win over Sakura's affections a second time. This time, enlisting the boys to form a boy band with him, Sasuke serenaded Sakura as she worked a night shift at the hospital. Unfortunately, Sasuke couldn't sing. Even more unfortunately, what they had not counted on was the incredible number of emergency cases that were rushed into the hospital that night. As the situation at the hospital became increasingly hectic, incredibly irate hospital staff began hurling abuse at the boys for disturbing their concentration as they tried to focus on saving lives.
However, this event was the deciding factor for Sakura's best girl friends – Ino, Hinata and Tenten – that Sasuke was indeed serious about Sakura. And to give substance to their blessings, the girls helped Sasuke set up a truly romantic evening inside the Yamanaka Flower Shop. With everyone's encouragement and support, Sakura finally relented.
With Sakura now sobbing in her arms, Ino vowed that Sasuke would pay for Sakura's tears and began to think of various torture mechanisms at her disposal. After all, she wasn't on the ANBU Interrogation Squad for nothing. Surely one of the perks of her position would be the discretion to use her interrogation methods on bastard ex-boyfriends?
"Ino?" Sakura's muffled voice signaled the end of Sakura's tears.
"Yes?"
"Don't hurt him. We both knew this was coming. And technically, I dumped him. It just feels so bad."
"Oh." Sakura couldn't help but smile weakly at the obvious disappointment in Ino's voice. She felt a sudden surge of warmth for her best friend and not for the first time, regretfully remembered her rejection of their friendship.
"Let's go get some tea?"
"Sure."
Sakura wiped her tears and they stopped at a water fountain to wash the streaks away.
"Heading somewhere without us?" A cheery voice greeted the girls as they turned away from the water fountain.
Sakura and Ino grinned at the newcomers. "Just the people we wanted to see. Tea?"
Tenten grinned in acceptance as Hinata nodded her head and the four girls headed into the tea café.
Sliding into a cushy booth at the back of the café, Ino groaned silently as she realized her current position gave her a perfect, unobstructed view of Shikamaru and Temari seated at a table directly in front of them.
"So you broke up with him?" Hinata's soft voice broke Ino out of her reverie.
Sakura nodded, her features clouded over. "It was the right thing to do. I mean, it's been great, it really has. It's just, the last few months, it's been hard. We both tried to make things work, but it felt like the more we tried, the more we'd fight and the distance between us just kept getting bigger. I think we still love each other, we're just not in love with each other anymore."
The girls nodded sympathetically, understanding the difficult situation Sakura and Sasuke had been in. To experience a love fading and to have to admit its natural death, free of any unforgivable acts, there was a certain strength required to bring such a relationship to a close.
"At least you can still be friends this way right?" Tenten asked as she tried to cheer up her friend.
"Che. Being friends is overrated." Ino's voice was bitter as she spoke without thinking, her eyes still fixed on the one couple she loathed.
"Ino?" Hinata's slightly shocked voice unknowingly set Ino off on a rant.
"I mean, at least Sasuke had the balls to start a relationship with his closest female friend and teammate. Unlike some lazy asses who can't even begin to see that their best friend is desperately in love with them and nonchalantly announces he's in love with some conceited blond tart."
Ino's gaze drifted back to her own table as she realized the girls were gaping at her.
With a slender eyebrow raised and a decidedly amused tone to her voice, Tenten ventured a sly question. "And which conceited blond tart would you be referring to Ino-chan?"
Yabai. "Er, I just meant, you know, hypothetically. Sasuke deserves some credit right? I mean, at least he tried. And you shouldn't have any regrets Forehead-girl, at least you know he loved you and you guys were happy for a while. Four years right? I mean, not counting the time before he left. That's a pretty long time for a first love." Ino could feel a bead of sweat forming at her temple as she tried to babble her way out of the sticky situation she had fallen into.
"So, Shikamaru hey?" Cheering up substantially since there was something new to distract her, Sakura joined the interrogation.
"What? Shikamaru? That lazy ass? Why would I be in love with him?" Ino squeaked as her face flushed in a decidedly Hinata manner.
"So you're in love with him?" Ino had put Hinata in the same situation countless times about Naruto and now that the opportunity had presented itself, Hinata was in no mood to resist returning the favor.
"You're in love with Shikamaru? I knew it!" A husky, sultry voice entered their conversation.
"Temari!" Ino was mortified beyond belief.
"Well, what are you going to do about it? He's such a little boy he probably doesn't have a clue you know." Temari continued on, seemingly oblivious to Ino's horrified expression.
"Aren't you with him?" Ino blurted out, now frantically hoping Temari hadn't heard her "conceited blond tart" comment.
"What? With that lazyass? We just hang out together sometimes. Anyway, good luck!" With a wink and a wave, Temari departed for the bathroom she had initially been heading towards.
A shocked silence had descended over Ino's table.
"Somehow, "conceited blond tart" doesn't seem quite a fair description does it?" Hinata finally broke the silence with a whisper and the girls burst into nervous laughter.
"He told me he loves her though."
"Doesn't look like he's told her." Tenten pointed out.
"So isn't that even worse? I've lost to a girl who doesn't even know she's won." Ino cringed in despair.
"Well Ino-pig, looks like they're not together yet so she hasn't won yet. All's fair in love and war right? Go get him!" Sakura broke the tension with an enthusiastic raising of her teacup.
"Ganbatte!" The girls followed suit and lifted their teacups in a toast. For the first time since hearing Shikamaru's announcement, Ino gave out a genuine grin as a new feeling began to bloom alongside the gratitude she felt for her best friends – hope, mingled with confidence that she hadn't lost yet.
