A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read this story up to this point! This chapter gets a little bit heated so I needed to change the rating to Mature. It's nothing too serious, but I think it is enough to warrant the change. A day in the life of ShikaIno. Shikamaru is wrestling with the feelings he is having for Ino and a dream that he had the night prior doesn't make it any better. Ino is none the wiser as she goes about her daily routine, unknowingly being cute and tempting to our poor hormonal Shikamaru.

Chapter 3

"MOM! Where's my purple scrunchie?!" Ino shouted as she riffled through her hair tie drawer in the bathroom.

Her lucky scrunchie wasn't there and she needed it for the quiz they would be having that day after lunch! If she didn't find it soon she would be late and then Shikamaru would get mad at her for making him late too! The fact he waited for her so they could walk to school together was something that made Ino very happy. It had just been a silently established rule that he would always wait for her, that he would always be there for her.

"MOM!"

"I have it here, Ino honey," Mai answered calmly with her usual soft motherly expression, "now go on or you'll be late. Poor Shikamaru is always waiting for you and he refuses to ever come inside," she chastised lightly as while peering out the window at Shikamaru.

"It ain't gonna kill him to wait for a little while, mom," Ino grumbled, making her way downstairs with her book case.

"It's not ladylike to make a man wait, Ino," Her mother insisted as she handed the scrunchie over to her daughter on her way out the door.

"Alright, mom," Ino sighed out exasperatedly, "love you; see you later," she smiled, kissing her mother on the cheek before running over to her best friend.

"Kami, Ino, get a move on!" Shikamaru shouted.

"Sorry!" she apologized loudly with a large grin on her face, "You are so sweet to wait for me!" she batted her eyelashes at him cutely and relished in the blush that came to the dark haired boy's cheeks.

"Whatever," he grumbled back, looking to the side to hide his blush as they began the short trek to school.

"Did you sleep well?" Ino asked and Shikamaru found himself flushing darker.

He had, in fact, slept very well. He had woken up that morning with a little surprise in his boxers and the visions of a heated dream burned into the back of his eye lids, but he sure as hell wasn't going to tell Ino that!

Ino looked at him curiously as she noticed his ears beginning to turn red along with his cheeks. She had no idea what she could have possibly said to receive that kind of reaction from him, but it sure was cute!

"I slept fine, I guess," Shikamaru answered noncommittally, the blush finally fading.

"Me too!" Ino cheered happily, "I actually had a dream about you," she grinned, noticing the curious red color returning to Shikamaru's cheeks, 'What is he so frazzled about this morning?' she wondered.

'What kind of dream could Ino possibly have had about me?!' Shikamaru thought, swallowing thickly at the idea as he felt a wonderful tingling sensation go through his body.

It actually made him happy that Ino would have a dream about him, no matter what it was about. It meant that, even subconsciously, she thought about him. Shikamaru was always thinking about Ino at some time or another. It didn't help that they had been glued at the hip since they were babies. He often wondered what she was thinking about as he fell asleep at night, hoping that she may have even been thinking about him at that very same moment.

Ino found herself grinning, wondering at what Shikamaru would possibly think about the dream that she had last night. After all, it really had been an odd one.

"I dreamt that you handed me a pineapple," she began, watching as he looked over at her with an expression of shock and disbelief, "then I ate it! And it was the most delicious pineapple I had ever had! But then, when I looked back up at you, you were headless!" she laughed at the weirdness of her dream while Shikamaru just looked sick and self-conscious.

"You know how I feel about you calling me Pineapple-Head, Ino," Shikamaru grumbled dejectedly.

Ino just laughed heartily, walking up against Shikamaru's side jovially as they neared the front gate of their junior high school.

"Well, well, well, look at the love birds, Naruto!"

Ino glanced over her shoulder while Shikamaru blushed for the third time that morning. What was the matter with him?! Could it possibly have been the dream that he had last night? He brushed the assumption aside and continued on, willing the most recent redness away as Naruto and Sakura came to flank the pair of them on either side.

"Morning, Sakura, Naruto!" Ino greeted with a smile, thinking nothing about Sakura's ribbing.

"You two are always together!" Naruto continued, nudging Shikamaru in the side, "What's up with that?!"

Shikamaru glowered over at the boisterous blond and moved closer to Ino to avoid any further contact with the boy. So what if he was always with Ino? They lived next door to each other and were in the same classes. He couldn't help any of that! But deep down he knew if he didn't want to hang around Ino he didn't have to. Deep down, he knew he enjoyed Ino's company a little more than was probably considered normal for a boy his age. What did she think about these comments? Did being close to him mean as much to her as it meant to him?

"Yeah, Ino!" Sakura leered suspiciously at her blond counterpart, "What is up with that?"

"He's my friend, Sakura!" Ino shouted in exasperation, "I've been over this with you before! He's my best friend. I would like him the same even if he were a girl!"

Shikamaru fought back against his look of disappointment unsuccessfully. Luckily, no one seemed to really be paying attention to him at that very moment.

'Come on Ino!' he thought dejectedly, 'Is that really all I am to you?'

But what else could he possibly be but a friend? What were the other options? Shikamaru really didn't feel like dwelling on his thoughts right then though. They were just too troublesome.

Class had begun thirty minutes ago and Ino was already out like a light. The current textbook that they were going over was propped up in front of her head, shielding her sleeping form from Iruka-Sensei. Shikamaru shook his head at the girl, wishing for a moment that he had something long enough to poke her with to wake her up.

'You've got something long enough,' his thoughts supplied and he forced back another flush as he scowled at anyone that dared to notice him.

His mind had been thinking naughty thoughts all morning and he blamed it completely on the dirty dream he had last night. It was frustrating to think about it, because he hadn't remembered the face of the woman, but he somehow just knew that it had been Ino. And what he had been doing to her!

Shikamaru placed his head in his hands in an attempt to regain control of his errant thoughts. A second later, he glanced over at Ino again, smiling as she drooled onto her desk. She was so cute and pretty.

Pretty?! Yeah, Shikamaru supposed that she was pretty. She was lean and her body had filled out nicely with soft womanly curves. Her long blond hair was simply gorgeous and she would often ask him to play with it while she slacked off during their afterschool study sessions at his house. Nine times out of ten he denied her, but during that remaining ten percent he enjoyed every second of winding his fingers around the platinum blond tresses while she sighed and cooed her enjoyment. And her eyes! They were as blue as a cloudless sky! He often found himself thinking about them as he cloud gazed, falling into a trance as he imagined them closing slowly as she leaned in for a kiss…

'Stop it!' he shouted at his brain, tearing his eyes away from her to glare at his desk hatefully, 'I need a distraction!'

'How 'bout paying attention to the teacher?' he thought snidely to himself and did just that.

The class was drawing to an end and Shikamaru had managed to write three pages of notes in a desperate attempt to distract himself from his sexually charged thoughts. Satisfied with the outcome of his effort, he glanced over at Ino again.

'Still fast asleep,' he thought with a smirk.

She was going to need to study a lot tonight, 'Yeah and she always studies at your place because you keep her in line,' his brain supplied sarcastically, 'and you love the idea of her being in your room, don't you?'

He rolled his eyes at the wayward thoughts. He never believed for once in his life that he would be relieved for Naruto of all people to start talking to him!

"Hey, hey!" the blond boy waved over to him secretly from Shikamaru's right, "Can I borrow your notes, Shikamaru?" he asked with a pleading look on his face, his hands held up as if in prayer.

Shikamaru raised a petulant eyebrow at him and leaned away, "I don't think so, man," he grumbled out, "maybe you should stop making goo-goo eyes at Sakura and pay attention."

Naruto bristled irritably at the dark haired boy. He knew that he wasn't the only one making goo-goo eyes, but he was the one that couldn't multi task very well and he needed those notes!

Shikamaru yawned dismissively at the surly looking blond before glancing over at Ino again as she began to wake from her nap.

Ino blinked her eyes sleepily while rubbing the back of her hand against her mouth.

"Ewww!" she cringed, whipping her drool covered hand against her shirt and eyeing the puddle that she had left on her desk with a sense of disgust and embarrassment.

"Nice," she heard Shikamaru tease to her right and stuck her tongue out at him.

'What you wouldn't do with that tongue of hers, right Shikamaru?' his brain thought, and he grit his jaw determinedly.

"How long was I out?" Ino asked groggily, cracking her neck to remove the kinks.

"The entire class," Shikamaru supplied, watching with a sense of amusement as Ino gawked at him disbelievingly.

"Are you serious?!" she panicked, "I didn't even take any note! What am I gonna do if there's a quiz on this, Shika?! My dad'll kill me if I flunk another–!" but she was cut off as Shikamaru shoved his own personal notes in front of her face.

"There, now you can stop freaking out," Shikamaru said teasingly as he smirked cockily at her, not taking any notice of the irate glare that Naruto sent his way.

"Yay! Lunchtime!" Ino cheered as the bell chimed.

She rose from her desk and stretched languidly, the bottom of her uniform shirt riding up high over her stomach. She didn't notice the fascinated expression on Shikamaru's face as he stared intently at her belly button. Recovering from her stretch, she reached for her book case and took out two handkerchief wrapped bento boxes.

"Come on, Shika; let's go eat up on the roof!" she said with an excited smile, walking down her aisle to the front of the class room, wholly expecting Shikamaru to follow her.

Shikamaru followed her obediently, overhearing Naruto grumble out the word 'whipped'. He glared resentfully at the other boy but continued nonetheless. He enjoyed spending time with Ino and there was nothing anyone could say to make that change!

Upon reaching the roof, Ino plopped down on the ground, barley managing to hide the color of her panties from Shikamaru's gaze as she tucked her legs up underneath her.

"These skirts are so short!" she commented while handing the second bento box over to Shikamaru, "I made you lunch!" she cheered, reveling in the surprised expression on Shikamaru's face.

Even around him as much as she was, he still didn't make too many expressions aside from his normal bored one or a defensive scowl. Ino cherished every unique expression that she could elicit from Shikamaru.

Before his brain could think up a dirty remark about Ino's skirt comment, he found himself doing a double take as she handed him the handkerchief wrapped bento box. The covering fabric was obnoxiously cutesy, but that was just Ino's style. What fascinated him was the contents of the boxed lunch.

"Is that supposed to be a pig or a cat?" his lunch had eyes and it was staring back at him…

"It's a panda!" Ino shouted indignantly, making to snatch back the offered lunch with an indignant blush

Shikamaru held it just out of her reach and found himself flushing darkly again as the beautiful blond entered his personal space, pressing her chest up against his left arm as she attempted to grab back her offering.

'Oh, you've done it now!' his brain thought, 'more ammo for the dream I'm gonna give you tonight!'

With considerable effort, Shikamaru calmed his raging hormones. He laughed disarmingly and pressed a hand to Ino's shoulder as he pushed her back gently.

"I was only kidding!" he admitted and felt a sense of relief wash over him as she plopped back down, her short skirt riding up high due to the struggle and suddenly assumed positon.

With considerable difficulty, he tore his eyes away from her creamy thighs.

'Oh Kami, get a hold of yourself man!' he thought desperately.

Ino just folded her legs underneath her again and adjusted her skirt before digging into her meal with a perky, "Itadakimasu!"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Shikamaru began to eat his meal as well, willing his heart rate to slow. Ino had never cooked for him before. The thought sent a warm sensation to the pit of his stomach. This just affirmed that she did think of him when he wasn't around and Shikamaru couldn't possibly have been happier. He was simply unable to keep his usual bored expression as he smiled softly down at the pig/panda staring back up at him. She must have put a lot of effort into this ridiculous looking meal.

"Thanks, Ino," he mumbled quietly and Ino just gave him a large smile as she continued to munch happily.

After finishing his meal with a satisfied burp, Shikamaru took to laying on the rough surface of the roof. His eyes took in the clouds slowly meandering across the sky. He cushioned his head on his folded arms and had one ankle crossed over the other as he relaxed into the ground.

It had been a really good day so far and he was content to just stay there until the bell for class rang. He was satisfied to just be in Ino's presence as she leaned back against her palms and tilted her chin up to gaze at the clouds along with him. There was nothing more in the world that he wanted than to just be with Ino…

Shikamaru closed his eyes and breathed out a relaxed sigh as he dozed lightly. A moment later, he became aware of Ino tugging gently at the spiked tips of his black hair. He made no move to stop her, but frowned slightly with his eyes still closed as she giggled softly. After another minute, he could feel her pulling at the elastic that held his hair up and he did grumble out at that.

"What are you doing, Ino?" he asked grumpily, opening up a single eye to take in her sweet smile.

"I just wanna play with your hair," she answered simply as she finished letting down his shoulder length locks.

Shikamaru wasn't sure how he felt about that at first, but decided that he didn't care as he felt Ino's little fingers combing through his hair and scratching up lightly against his scalp.

'Oh, that feels so good…' he thought listlessly, closing his open eye a moment later to enjoy the sensation.

'It makes you want to think about that dream you had, doesn't it, Shika?' asked the needling voice of what he had decided to call his hormones.

And it did make him think of his dream…

The woman that he had been pleasing in his dream had, in fact, been Ino. He remembered now, as plain as day. He recalled being occupied, licking lazily between her soft thighs, as she squirmed and panted out above him. He had opened his eyes half way to gaze up at her face, contorted as it was in utter ecstasy as she began to grind herself against his mouth in askance.

"I'm almost–!" she had panted out excitedly, her hands burying themselves in his loose hair to press him against her more closely as she exploded at his next languid lick…

'Fuck!' he thought, his entire face and neck being consumed with his blush as his eyes shot open to look up at Ino.

Her expression was endearing as her hair hung loose around her in a soft blond halo. She was peering down at him with the most gentle smile on her lips and all Shikamaru could think about was how those very lips had allowed such incredible sounds to escape in his dream…

'You want her…' his hormones insisted.

'I know that!' Shikamaru mentally shouted back his response.

"It's almost–," but all Shikamaru thought about as Ino began to speak was when she had moaned out, 'I'm almost there'.

"What?" he asked sharply, his heart hammering so loudly in his ears that he thought he would go deaf.

"It's almost time for class," Ino repeated with a puzzled look on her face, "Why are you all red, Shika?"

With a start, Shikamaru sat up quickly. His back was to Ino as he breathed out heavily, his heart continuing to hammer away in his chest and his expression was alarmed. The next thing that he took notice of was that he was excited, he was very excited. If he faced Ino then he wasn't sure that he would have been able to hide it for the world!

'Why did I have to remember that right now?!' he thought desperately, his mind switching between fleeting images of the dream and the fact that he was near the very same woman he had been fantasizing about.

He needed to retreat! He had to get some distance between them and he had to do it quickly!

"I'm going back down to the classroom!" he found himself shouting a little too loudly as he scrambled to regain his footing and make his way down the stairs.

Ino just blinked after him curiously and shrugged, gathering up the empty bento boxes and handkerchiefs before she too headed down to the classroom.

Shikamaru leaned back up against the cool metal of the front gate with a weak, tired sigh. The rest of the day had thankfully continued on without any further incident.

'It was boring,' his hormones whined, 'you didn't even let me think up any more dirty thoughts.'

He rolled up his eyes to the sky, waiting again patiently for Ino as she lingered in the classroom, begging Iruka-Sensei for a reprieve on her quiz score. Lucky scrunchie or not, she was a bit of a dunce.

'She would be hopeless without you, right?' his hormones teased.

That may have been a true assumption. Shikamaru was fairly certain that if she didn't come over after school for their study sessions she would be much worse off. It wasn't that she was dumb or anything; she just didn't focus her attention where it needed to be. She was like a little kitten chasing after a bug, then getting distracted by a laser pointer and then the bug again. Personally, Shikamaru found it charming, but he could see why the teachers wouldn't.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" said boy glanced over at an unruly group of boys as they called out to him, "Wanna walk home with us?"

Kiba, Choji, Shino, and Naruto huddled around him, grinning in a friendly manner as they all looked at him expectantly.

"Nah, that's ok," Shikamaru gave by way of answer, "I'm waiting up for Ino."

"Ooooh waiting for your girlfriend!" Naruto teased rudely, making obscene gestures and kissing the air dramatically.

Shikamaru just glowered at him, on the verge of pouting, but he would never do that! He was a man after all!

"I always wait for her," he excused, "it's not like it's anything new."

"You know you don't have to," Choji smiled amicably at the dark haired boy.

"Yes I do," Shikamaru grumbled back, attempting to sound putout, "she'll kill me if I leave without her. It's like I'm her body guard or something."

"Alright, guard dog," Kiba jeered, receiving a glare, "you wait on your woman and we'll be on our way home."

Shikamaru grumbled out a dismissive word as the four boys bid him farewell and went on their way.

'That Kiba kid sure is smart,' his hormones leered, because it apparently had a face now to go with the sarcastic talk. It looked an awful lot like him, 'Ino is your woman.'

'Man, enough already!' he shouted back at it with a frustrated glare at nothing in particular.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Shika!" Ino apologized, noticing Shikamaru's irritated expression, "I didn't mean for you to wait so long!" she came to an abrupt stop by his side and leaned forward, panting softly as she had run all the way from the school entrance.

Having Ino there was a welcome distraction from his errant thoughts as they began their short trek back home. Ino explained that Iruka-Sensei was going to give her a make-up quiz that following morning and she needed to study really hard that night so she could do better.

"Do you mind helping me?" she asked Shikamaru with a desperate expression on her face.

Shikamaru gulped back quietly, knowing that he was going to continue having inappropriate thoughts for the rest of the night at this rate, but he simply couldn't say 'no' to Ino…

"Sure," he answered nonchalantly with a shrug of a shoulder.

"Yay!" Ino cheered excitedly as she jumped up and down, "Study Party at Shika's!"

Shikamaru would have grinned at her antics, if her jumping up and down hadn't revealed the color of her panties to him. Her skirt had lifted up a little too high and he had glanced pink panties with little white polka dots. Now that was all he could think about as he blushed again.

'Finally, a moment to really relax,' Shikamaru sighed in exasperation, expelling all of the stress in his limbs with the exhale as he lay limply against the soft bed of grass in his backyard.

He gazed up at the clouds that moved by leisurely through the leaves of a large red maple tree. Oh, to be a cloud in the sky! He wished many days that he could just be a cloud with no worries or responsibility or hormones!

'If I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't like me,' his hormones mocked with a smug grin.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes even with his lids closed as he fought to push back the snide thoughts.

Ino scrambled about her room quickly, wanting to hurry over to Shikamaru's house as swiftly as she could. They were due for their daily afternoon/evening cloud gazing session and she wanted to enjoy it as long as she could before she had to study.

'I hate studying,' she thought bitterly, 'if it wasn't for Shika, I would probably fail all my subjects…'

She worked a rough braid through her hair before yanking off her uniform top and unzipping her skirt to let it fall limply to the floor. Stepping out of the remains of her clothing in her bra and panties, she riffled through her closet for something to wear.

She was going through a dress phase as her closet was half full of skirts and sundresses. She smiled happily as she pulled out a suitable outfit and pulled it over her head and down around her slim body. She omitted shoes as she was only going next door and she would be walking through the grass anyways. She took a moment to glance at herself in the mirror and her thoughts turned inward for a moment.

She looked at her reflation pensively, studying her curves. At the age of fourteen she had really begun to see a difference in her appearance. Her hips had become round and her breasts full. Her thoughts didn't always seem to be her own and she found herself ignoring them as much as she possibly could. Urges she wasn't willing to acknowledge would take over her body before she fell asleep on a regular basis and it was becoming frustrating.

'Being a teenager is difficult,' she thought to herself as she frowned.

Glancing out her window, she took notice of Shikamaru as he lounged out on the grass lazily, 'I wonder if he has thoughts like I do?' she contemplated.

Shikamaru had always seemed so stable. He was her rock, her foundation, and she really did not know what she would do without him. It was funny, she used to view him as a brother, but things were different now for some reason.

He was becoming a man. He was tall and lean, his voice had changed and he was more self-assured than he had ever been before. He was smarter than anyone she knew and he only ever wanted to be near her. That reality made her smile widely as she hurried down the stairs to meet him outside.

She stilled her movements as she neared him, attempting to be as quiet as possible so she could sneak up on her prey. Coming to her hands and knees as she was only about a hundred and fifty centimeters away, she crawled over, conscious of her surroundings and every sound that she made.

His feet were pointed away from her and his arms were limp against the grass, fingers twisting lazily though the green foliage. He looked so relaxed, with a soft smile on his stress-free features. Ino settled her face over top of his, her hands positioned to either side of his head as she inhaled quietly in preparation for her attack.

"SURPRISE!"

Shikamaru scrunched up his brow irritably; opening up his eyes slowly to gaze up at Ino's excited face. She was positioned on all fours above his head. Her chest was level with the top of his ponytail and he had to avert his eyes quickly as they began to graze over the swell of her breasts at the neckline of her sundress.

"I'm so scared," he grumbled, another flush staining his cheeks pink.

"Awww!" Ino pouted cutely, "You're no fun!" she shouted, coming to sit on her feet as she continued to lean over him.

Her face was so close that Shikamaru could…'Kiss her!'

"You're in the way," he ignored his hormone's plea as he continued to look off to the side.

"Alright, alright," Ino grinned, settling down beside Shikamaru.

Her hand was so close to his that if he moved his pinkie would touch hers. Shikamaru swallowed thickly against the nervous twisting of his stomach. He wouldn't kiss her. That would be like suicide! But maybe he could hold her hand? That was a chaste enough gesture of affection, wasn't it?

Affection? Yes, he did feel affection for her. Ino was precious to him. She was his light, without her his days would be dark and bleak. She was the sun in his blue sky filled with white clouds. Could he risk losing that? Was what he felt for her worth losing her?

'Just do it and see,' his hormonal tone was gentler now, not nearly as snarky as it had been that entire day, 'she's not the type to just run away or avoid problems like you,' but that didn't last long.

The mental debate continued for what felt like an eternity as his heart hammered in his chest. Shikamaru thought that if she listened hard enough she would be able to hear it. It was beating so loudly! His arm twitched restlessly, stirring and becoming brave as his resolve strengthened.

But the moment was lost, "Doesn't that cloud look like a bunny?" Ino said as she pointed with the hand nearest to him.

Shikamaru held back a sigh of relief as his eyes followed the direction of her hand, "Yeah it does," he concurred.

Maybe it just wasn't the right time yet…

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it. Shikamaru's hormonal voice wasn't an intended feature, but I totally think it works with his personality! I am going for a Japanese school theme and having them live in Japan. Where in Japan, I don't know yet. I have been doing research on it as I go. I am also trying to use their metric system instead of my own (American). So if I get something wrong then please let me know. I think the writing style and story context is very similar to that of a romance manga and I love writing it!

I will try to make the next chapter more from Ino's perspective, but for some reason I think I do better and am more comfortable with Shikamaru's. I'll elaborate more on the initial background of the Prologue where Ino hugs Shikamaru.

Next time on A True Love Story! A year of naughty thoughts and Junior High graduation is just around the corner. Shikamaru has been teasing Ino about it. He had better watch out or Ino won't be too happy with him, and he may just lose her affection for a short spell…

This is something you might find interesting:

Meaning of Dreams:

Pineapple

To eat a pineapple indicates sexual problems and issues of losing control.

Headless

To see a headless body walking around or dream that you are headless means that you are not using your head. You are not thinking clearly. Or the dream suggests that you have literally lost your mind.