Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Blushing

Shikamaru almost never blushed.

By definition he knows what it means. He knows that blushing refers to the involuntary reddening of a person's face due to embarrassment or being love-struck in some kind of romantic situation. So to avoid blushing: He doesn't get into any embarrassing situations. He is a genius after all, so he has a plan to avoid any uncomfortable situations. And he has never been love-struck and has definitely not been in any romantic situations, or so he thinks, brushing away the image of a platinum blonde away from his thoughts.

He pretty much prides himself to be above all those things. So when he sees his other comrades in being in those situations, he smirks and points to them as being troublesome.

For instance today, he sees Hinata talking to Naruto, across the street from where he is lazily lounging under a tree. They are talking, or to correct him Naruto is talking and Hinata looks like she is listening. He can't really hear their words but he can see that Hinata's face is suffering from a severe blushing that her face is in a deep shade of red. And when Naruto tries to hold her right hand, her face went into one level deeper of redness, which Shikamaru definitely thinks that she will eventually pass out.

Shikamaru rather like Hinata, because he thinks of her as a great person with a feisty spirit inside. He deeply respects her after she stood up against Pein during the attack in Konoha, when he himself has done almost next to nothing being injured and all. But Hinata is one great example why he thinks blushing is troublesome.

He turns his head to the right and saw Neji and Tenten walking side by side together. He is assuming they just came from a training session, seeing how battered and dirty their clothes were. Then it surprises him, while he is watching them walk, Neji's and Tenten's hands brushed with each other and Neji's face turns immediately red. He notices the signs of blushing from the silky black haired man.

He smirks; he never thought that he will ever see Neji blush as he always thought of him as serious and solemn man.

And he is surprised again with the Hyuuga man. Neji and Tenten stops and Neji reaches for Tenten's hand and holds it on his own hands. They look at each other for a while not minding the other people walking along the street. Neji then brushes a hair from Tenten's face and holds her right cheek. Suddenly, they kiss.

He looks away but his attention is caught by the cute couple again, Naurto and Hinata.

Naruto noticing Hinata's blush, let goes of her hand, and embraces her instead. He must have whispered something in her right ear, because Hinata's face cools down and returns to its normal color. They continued hugging until they let go and Naruto places a small kiss in Hinata's nose.

Somehow, Shikamaru notices the love and bond that is forming right now. He glances back at the two couples and all of a sudden feeling happy for the both of them.

"Well, will you look at that?" The platinum blonde said while suddenly appearing and blocking his view of the two couples. "Finally, huh?" Ino grinned at him.

"Hn." He smirked.

"It's so romantic!" Ino swooned as she sat down beside him. "They do make great couples."

Shikamaru looked at her and she could see that she was smitten. Her face was in a great big smile and it shows obvious happiness for their friends. Her eyes were sparkling which are the color blue as same as the sky, which he thought he could definitely lost himself just staring into them.

"I guess." He sheepishly replied, lifting his left hand and rubbing the side of his neck.

"Don't tell me the genius is also a romantic." Ino teased while nudging him, bumping her right side to his side.

Shikamaru could only look at her and give her a small smile.

"Yosh!"Ino cried and quickly stood up.

She bowed down, meeting her face to him, she gazed deeply into his eyes. She then placed a small gentle kiss on his left cheek.

"There's hope for you yet." She softly whispered in his ear, sending shivers all over his body.

Then she hopped back and floatingly walked away from him.

For Shikamaru, it all happened so quickly but he can still feel her lips on his cheek. As he watched her walking away, he placed his left hand on his cheek and rubbed them together still feeling the touch of her soft lips.

He didn't even noticed Chouji sitting beside him.

"Oi, Shikamaru, you are blushing!"

I tried to write something funny or romantic for the first time. I hope this is ok. Sorry for the grammar mistakes, wrote this just an hour ago.

Also, do tell me if this is OOC, I tried. J It's ShikaIno month still.

Please read and review.