Ok, in response to zhengman777, I know Sasuke is kinda OOC in this but I think I like him better that way... :P How about we say that Sasuke has made the awesome decision not to go Itachi-hunting, so everyone's happy! Yay! Mainly focusing on ShikaIno here, but yeah, the other pairings will get their turns!

Previous Chapter:

--"Shikamaru?" came a voice. Oh no, he thought. Now I'm hallucinating. Of course he was hallucinating. There was no way that Ino, out of all people, would come to his favorite spot at the time when Sasuke was eating at Ichiraku, but there was no mistaking her voice. He had never mistaken it ever since the day he fell in love with her.

That day...--

Flashback:

"Shikamaru!" seven year old Ino called. "We're playing ninjas again, you're going to be late!"

"Yeah, yeah, how troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered, strolling along with his hands in his pockets and eyes closed. That made Ino mad. She ran up to him and dragged him along by his hand. Shikamaru gave a start and opened his eyes. A faint blush crossed his face.

"Wow, she's strong...," he thought as Ino's "smell" wafted towards him. "Mmm...flowers," he thought, before catching himself. "Wait a minute. What am I thinking? Ino's just my friend! I can't like her..." Even as he tried to convince himself, Ino let go of his hand.

"Hey guys, I got Shikamaru! We can start now!" she called to the others. Shikamaru sighed. How very troublesome.

"I don't want Choji on my team! He'll ruin everything! The team with him on it always loses."

"Yeah, Choji, you can't play! You'll never be a ninja!" Shikamaru frowned. They were being "plain mean". As everyone else left, he watched as seven year old Choji stopped by to help a poor little butterfly caught in a spider web.

"He's nice..." Shikamaru thought. "I'll go follow him!"

And the rest, as they say, is history, except that no one noticed a pair of bright blue eyes watching the two of them...

"Shikamaru? Earth to Shikamaru!" Ino waved a hand in front of the lazy genius's face.

"Hmm? What? How..." Shikamaru started.

"DON'T EVEN SAY TROUBLESOME!"

"...bothersome."

"SHIKAMARU!"

"Yes?" Ino sighed and raked her hand through her hair. "I want to tell you something..." she started shyly, a light blush creeping up on her cheeks.

"Hmm? What is it?" Shikamaru turned and looked at her straight in the face. "She looks really cute when she blushes," he thought, not noticing his own blush creeping up on his face.

"I...I think I don't love Sasuke anymore. I mean, sure, he was hot and all, but he wasn't a friend, he was just someone I went after because Sakura liked him and I didn't want to lose to her, but I realized that I really like someone else who has always been there for me and is nice and kind even though he says troublesome too much, and I want to say that I love him and I--" Her eyes widened as Shikamaru cut off the rest of what she was saying by leaning over and kissing her. Feeling no reaction, Shikamaru pulled back and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Troublesome. But I think he loves you too, and I think he has for a long while." Ino squeaked. It was too much for her to handle in one day, and she was tired. As Shikamaru stood up, she snuck up behind him and hugged him with all her strength (which is a lot, because she's a ninja).

"Thank you...Shika..."

She collapsed from exhaustion, not seeing the tender and caring look pass over Shikamaru's face as he gently picked her up and carried her home.

And there's the end of the awesome ShikaIno chapter! Yes, its lots of fluff, but its so cute! haha I love fluff! Next up, SASUTEM!