Summary: Princesses were never supposed to fall in love with people beneath their social status. Not in traditional fairytales, it just didn't happen.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Note: Fifty one hour parties, extreme dress shopping, orange fighting and somehow I still manage to fit in some time for writing some of my good old favourite pairing of Shikamaru and Ino. I surprise myself sometimes with this series, but it is probably due to the deadline and not wanting to miss it.

Now, Theme Nine: Dash.


Honey


The Writer


Dot. Dash. Dot. Dot. Dot.

Ino stared down at the paper in front of her. A string of punctuation marks covered the first line oddly, her small and neat handwriting sloping up and down inside the ruled bar. She did not know what to write. She had a million and one, no, a million and six, even more things to write to him but not one of the things she could write could sum up what she wanted to say. Something was always there that she wasn't sure she wanted to be inked on paper, or something was always left out. It was never quite right, never quite perfect, never quite the way she really wanted it to be. So instead of attempting to write the letter any longer, she had resorted to dabbing an unremarkable line of punctuation across the top line on the sheet.

How had it come to this? This wasn't supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to end up with a lazy slob, and said lazy slob wasn't supposed to end up with anyone who would be seen as too good for him. Especially not a Princess. Princesses were never supposed to fall in love with people beneath their social status. Not in traditional fairytales, it just didn't happen. She was a Princess, although she had no title. She was supposed to end up with her Prince, and live her fairytale life where everything was absolutely perfect.

Nobody ever mentioned that her plans would be ruined if she became a ninja and somehow still clung vainly to the hope that her Prince would come. Sasuke Uchiha was once the boy she championed; who she was sure anyone in earshot knew was going to be hers. Yet now she was older, and he was still a boy but not yet a man. She was a girl, but not yet a woman. Usually by now, people were married in their fairy tales. But she couldn't, no; she wouldn't allow Sasuke to be her Prince anymore. Not even if he came back to Konoha and begged her, she simply would not. Sai would make a pretty good Prince, she supposed, but she had to face the fact that although he called her beautiful something felt wrong with that.

Ino had an idea. A brilliant, wonderful, stupendous idea. Ripping the piece of paper to shreds, she ransacked her room to find her notepad. Tearing one purple sheet of paper out, she began to make a web of ideas across the page. It all fit too well. Reaching for the pad again, she began to write, and sometime under two hours later it was finished. She read it over a couple of times and checked it, scribbling out certain things that she didn't like and editing some parts to make it funnier or sadder. Anything she could think of, really. The amount of effort going into it was large, and when she finally emerged from her room in the early hours of the next morning she was certain that what she had in the notebook in her hands was the final product of what she had wanted to do.

Throwing the notebook into a brown envelope with a biro from her desk in an instant, she wrote his name on it in purple ink and sealed it. Before she could regret it, she forced herself out of the house and down the road to reach the forest his family owned. She passed the deer munching the grass without a sound, and by the time she reached his front door she was still certain that nobody knew that she was there. Hastily shoving the envelope through his door, she turned around ready to face an empty field with a sigh of relief upon completing her self-assigned mission.

She nearly screamed when she saw him right in front of her. He had clearly been behind her the entire time, and she hadn't been as discreet as she thought she had. He looked down at her, one hand playing with the end of his permanently stuck up ponytail with an amused look on his face. Probably because he had seen the alarm she had shown for a few seconds before composing herself when she saw him there, she knew that much. Fighting the desire to smack him around the face as hard as she could (either that or run) she strained a smile at the shadow manipulating genius.

"Sneaking around on the property of my family with no entering our home to nag me about missing training the other week? Is that envelope you just posted into my house that important, Ino?" He mused. She glared at him fiercely, her ferocious look being able to send any lesser man running in fear. But he had grown used to it after so many years, the steely ice glare becoming ineffective. It no longer served as a warning, because he no longer needed them. He knew what annoyed her, what she liked, what made her tick. She was a puzzle, she was his friend, and because of this he knew to expect the unexpected from her. But running around his property so early in the morning, the time he began to feed the animals to be exact, was just a little odder than normal. He was interested in what she was doing, and had a feeling if she told him the truth the answer wouldn't be disappointing.

"Nice to see you too, Shikamaru. No, it isn't, actually. I was just wondering if you'd take a look at the files because Godaime-sama recommended that I ask you, but it doesn't matter. So if you don't mind, can I have them back now?" She grinned as she babbled. All charm, no sense. He sighed because it was so obvious. She was lying. Lying through her teeth, to be exact. She was a good liar usually, but now she was flustered. Worried. Trying to hide something from him, and he wasn't quite sure what it was. But he was pretty certain that whatever it happened to be, the answer would be in the envelope.

"I'll look over them anyway; you don't want to annoy her. You know what she's like." He said, ignoring the fact it was a lie. If she didn't want to be caught out, she'd play along with it. Either that, or try to persuade him not to read them. He saw her eyes flash, the usual sign of danger. She knew what he was trying to do, and it wasn't going to work. She was too quick to figure him out now, and she didn't like it when he tried to win. She always won, whether he liked it or not. Unless she knew that it was pointless to argue her case, usually on mission, as they were the few times when she knew he was always correct. Not that he wasn't every other time, of course. It was just that it was a waste of time to argue with somebody as pigheaded as her, because she would not give up. But he didn't care this time. He was intrigued, and he wanted to figure out just what was so special that she wanted to hide it from him.

"Fine, you win. I lied. Now give it back." She demanded, her hands immediately going to her hips, elbows jaunting out as her arms bent. Her glare was back, and her anger evident. She did not like to be messed about with, and he knew that all too well from the bruises he had earned in the past. But this time, just like all the others, another injury would be worth it.

"No. You came here with it for a reason." He said. Upon hearing those words, she immediately grabbed the front of his mesh shirt and pulled him forward so that they were face to face. Blue eyes locked with his dark brown ones, and he felt his heart race. She was terrifying, but even so she was still the most beautiful girl he knew. If she wasn't so hostile, maybe that sort of situation would have been better. Damn, no. She was his team mate, his friend, and sometimes even the person he confided in. A little flutter of attraction towards her was nothing to act on, she'd never forgive him. Scratch that, he'd never forgive himself.

"Shikamaru, don't you dare try to mess with me." Ino hissed, heated breath tickling his lips. Why was she so seductive? She must have known that he was becoming more attracted to her with each passing second, but even so she acted insanely oblivious. He was sure it would pass though, it always had. It was just that she was so pretty, so utterly amazing that nobody would have been able to help it. Not even him, who had known her since she was a five year old with a blue tongue from a bubblegum flavoured popsicle. She was simply too Ino, it was impossible not to be attracted to her. Unless you were insane, or you were asexual. Infact, he was pretty even some of those nutcases in interrogation where she worked most of time now liked her a little bit. Crazy, really, bearing in mind they had seen her tear other men apart.

"I'm not messing with you, I just want to know what's in the envelope." He replied as calmly as he could manage. She released his shirt, and he stumbled back slightly. He needed to stay away from her. Being attracted to women was natural, but becoming attracted to her like he was would be suicidal. He could easily have been attracted to a different girl, someone who wasn't a kunoichi and someone average like he had always said he wanted. But he wasn't. He was attracted to the daring, mad, beautiful Yamanaka Ino.

"Fine, go ahead. Open it, but you'll just think it's stupid." She breathed before storming off, clearly still full of rage. Whoever she came across next he had to feel sorry for, because they would probably get their head torn off. Unless it was Sakura, in which case he felt sorry for all those nearby. There would be a storm if that happened. But that didn't matter right then. Was she being serious? Opening his front door, he stared at the envelope on the floor almost as though it would explode if he touched it. Picking it up carefully, he ripped the top of the envelope off and tipped the small item he could feel inside it onto his hand. A notebook and a pen? That was all she hadn't wanted him to see? She had changed her mind about him reading a notebook she posted though his door, and perhaps accidently giving him a pen? She really was driving herself insane like Chouji said, with all the extra work entering the heads of others in the interrogation department.

He was even more surprised once he began to read the contents. It was the start of a story about a beautiful Princess named Kana, a fantasy she had begun to create. It wasn't half bad, especially seeing as there was a character he began to rather like. A lazy wanderer, who was both intelligent and cunning but didn't seem to be evil. His name was Ogano, and he was close friends with an apparently rather portly man named Yasahiro. Ogano and company went under the group name of Tobikuma. In this group they did good deeds, and Shikamaru found most of the story amusing. He had stopped reading books without factual information a long time ago, but this story was enjoyable. However, it cut off about halfway through when Ogano met Haruka in an abandoned stable where she kept some horses without anybody else knowing. He was pretty sure why he had the pen then. He had never been creative, and she knew that. But even so, that was ok.

He smiled as he began to write.


Kozakura struck the Princess, and Masago said not a word about her actions.

Shikamaru stared at what Ino had put down this time. It had been the fifth time he had the notebook, and by now the story they had been writing was coming along quite nicely. A dozen new characters had been added in, and each of them had an idea behind them. One he had invented was Masago, a wind nymph who was close friends with the Princess until they had both fallen in love with the same man (well, according to Ino anyway) who had yet to be indentified. He had a feeling it would end in the same sort of relationship the Princess Kana had with Kozakura, who had ended her friendship with the Princess after finding out the Prince Raiden planned to court her. Strangely, their fantasy story was apparently wonderful. Well, according to Chouji anyway. He had stumbled upon the book at Ino's, thinking it was just something she had started writing long ago. He tactfully didn't mention a fair amount of it being in Shikamaru's writing, as he felt rather embarrassed about it. It was then he thanked God that he was on the same team as someone who was so careful not to hurt the feelings of anybody else and was so kind.

But there was something else he began to notice about the characters. They seemed to fairly mimic people they actually knew. Ogano, the character he had originally taken to (the lazy wanderer) was like him. Only when Chouji pointed this out he realised, although he never mentioned it to Ino. Like he never mentioned Ogano literally meant 'little deer' or 'field', and that the group both he and Yasahiro belonged to (Tobikuma) was 'little cloud'. Ino had probably intended it to be that way, even if she said nothing about it.

That was ok, because he never said anything about how he was letting his own feelings slip into the character of Ogano whenever it was his turn to write. Princess Kana had never been described before he had control of the notebook, and so he had said she had long pale blonde hair that shone more lusciously than any moon and glassy blue eyes that shimmered like the gorgeous cerulean water of the sea. Whenever Kana was in danger (although she was able to defend herself well) he always tried to have Ogano aid her. Deep down, he was sure of why.

Just as Ino had (probably) intentionally made Ogano like him, he had made Princess Kana like her. He had even made Ogano have some hints of feelings towards Kana. Ino acted oblivious however, simply penning whatever came to mind during the desperate situations that they put the heroes of their work through. But that was ok, for now. This was the first time they had began to write together though, and even though he was the one doing the writing and Ino was leaning on his shoulder to see the notebook better and acting lazy he didn't mind for once. Their ideas were flowing brilliantly now that they were writing together for once, and Ino wasn't arguing against everything he had an idea about. She actually agreed with most of them. The new peace was sort of comforting, really.

Ogano was angered deeply, and stood in front of the Princess to shield her. A second blow hit his chest, but he ignored the sharp pain created by the small fists of Kozakura.

"Shikamaru, why does Ogano always defend Kana? She's so cruel to him." Ino muttered as she looked down at his scrawled writing. It looked terrible in comparison to her neat print, but she didn't seem to mind that. He looked at the girl leaning on his shoulder, a small smile on his face. She asked some of the strangest questions.

"Because he loves her, Ino. Regardless of the fact she loved the Prince Raiden on first sight." He replied, and she stared up at him with her blue eyes. His heart began to race again, just as it had when she had grabbed him all those months ago and demanded that he didn't need the envelope and that he had to give it back to her. He swallowed the lump he could feel beginning to build in his throat, then looked quickly away.

"Shikamaru, the Prince was a distraction. I think even if she hasn't admitted it, she likes Ogano more than he knows." Ino whispered, turning her head to the side and closing her eyes as she lay on his shoulder. He breathed in sharply, and somehow managed to nod his head. She didn't even know what she was doing to him, did she? He closed his eyes, attempting to dream up a situation in which Ogano could tell Kana he loved her.

A situation where he, Shikamaru, could tell Ino he loved her.


The Princess was to sacrifice herself for her country.

It was the next week that everything went wrong. Ino had reached the age of sixteen, the day after he did. At that age, a kunoichi had an entire new type of mission. Ones that made the old times of first kills and the stench of crimson and the gooey liquid being stuck under fingernails for days easy to forget. It was hard to forget that, of course, but it was even harder to forget the hands of enticed strangers roaming over skin that was covered barely ten minutes ago all for the sake of a country you had sworn loyalty to.

It was ok for those who would never receive those missions, Sakura with her protection because she was the apprentice of the Godaime herself and Hinata as the heir to Hyuga clan. They would never be able to understand, and nor could they ever try to. It would be an insult. But there was someone who could understand what Ino would go through if she took up any missions from then that required a completely different sort of skill to the usual sneaky killing and stealing, and that was Tenten. The bun-haired brunette was one year her senior, and with that one year came more missions than Ino ever wanted to accept. Not even for her country.

"You need not do this, Kana!" Ogano yelled, tears crawling down his cheeks.

"I don't have a choice, Shikamaru." Ino whispered to him as she scribbled in the notebook, her writing becoming even more of a messier scrawl than his had been through the entire thing. He chewed on his lip before grabbing her hand. She had begun to tear holes into the page with the biro where she had been writing. It was only then that she burst into tears, from a mix of so many emotions. Frustration, anger, hurt, everything building up inside her since she had known what her next birthday meant. When you were in the academy at a young, tender age they never told you that you never had to be willing to sacrifice your body. All they mentioned was flower arranging, and other useless things that frittered away time. They were told women rarely trained to become ninja, but never told the reason why. Of course, she had known for years now, but it didn't stop it from disgusting her.

"I know. Don't worry, it'll be ok." He replied, holding her close as she fell into his chest sobbing. He stroked her soft blonde hair. In a matter of days, another man could be stroking her hair instead. She wouldn't be able to tell him no. She wouldn't even be able to tell him no if he cut her skin so much that her arms looked as though they had been painted in red ink, or if so many bruises covered her back that it became a collage of black and blue. But what could he say to her? He could lie; tell her that it'd be ok, that she didn't need to worry. He was worrying for her though, knowing that it wasn't ok, knowing that those who were enticed by the women sent out from their village were usually the worst type of men. She knew it, too. She had seen Tenten come back from those sort of missions with so many injuries she had looked worse than when Team Gai came back from fighting the Akatsuki when they had gone to save Gaara. She even knew that Anko still had scars from ten years before on her back, where she had been caught. Of course she had killed the man who done it to her, but what did that achieve? The marks were still there.

"Please don't lie to me. Please. You know it won't be." Ino breathed between chokes and sobs. He curved his hand under her hair to the nape of her neck, and stroked it softly. He moved his other hand under her chin, tilting it up quickly to look directly into her watering eyes. She sat transfixed, the biro dropping from her hand unto his bedroom floor. Moving away from where he had been leaning on his bed, he whispered in her ear softly.

"Without the union of Lord Takumi and I, there will be no peace."

"I'm not lying. I won't let them have you." He muttered, before taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. She stared at him, her flow of tears lessening but her confusion evident. He was well known for his plans, his brilliantly insane logical strategies, but she doubted that would help the situation at hand. Before she could protest he was pulling her downstairs and out of the door, and although she whined when they reached her house he ignored her protests that he couldn't do anything. He shoved the notebook into her hands before racing off, with only a mumbled apology for leaving her at that time. Normally, she would have wanted to punch him for leaving her when she needed him.

When she found out a week from Tsunade that he had sworn to accept any mission she wished on the condition that Ino was not assigned any missions that involved the exact things she had been terrified of carrying out she cried. Cried because she was so utterly useless, pathetic and unable to protect herself. Unable to ever understand what Tenten went through, and how hurt the older girl was when she heard she would be getting many of the type of mission Ino hadn't wanted at all given to her in place of said blonde. Guilt had Ino unable to contain herself for months, ashamed of herself.

"I will not allow this union. If need be, I will die in order to prevent it."

Their notebook had become filled with a dramatic story, for certain. But although Chouji told Ino to get it published, they would not. It still remained unfinished, and although it was a 'fantasy action-packed drama romantic epic' as Chouji put it, the type of book that sold extraordinarily well in the book market, they both felt (although they never told each other) that there was something wrong with it being a drama.

Their lives were often far more dramatic.


"Ogano, do not leave me for I love you!" Kana screamed.

"Do you not find an ending like this morbid?" Shikamaru muttered, watching Ino as she wrote. A small smile graced her features, and the pen stopped. It hovered just above the paper as she moved to look at him, her blue eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Yes, but the tragedy of it is beautiful. Confessing love on a deathbed, it's something you never want to do. But in this story, it just fits. They hid their true feelings from one another all along, afraid of what the other felt. But their perfect love is confessed too late, leaving the reader in a state of upset." Ino beamed, white teeth flashing in a blinding smile that reminded him of Lee and Gai. He smirked, and let out a short laugh. She looked offended, and glared at him quickly. He waved his hand to signify his apologies.

"Yes, that's all a very good storyline. But perfect love? What is it, if there is any such thing?" His smirk was still present, and she did not look happy about it. She threw the pen at him spitefully before folding her arms in contempt. Men just did not understand these things. Would it kill them to be romantic? Huffing moodily, she stared at the paper in front of her. He was too smart for his own good, and he was right of course. She didn't know herself.

"There has to be such thing, of course. But what is it? You tell me." She replied, closing her eyes and leaning back into the grass of the empty forest. He shifted slightly where he was sitting, leaning on an old oak tree. He was thinking carefully for about five minutes, still deep in concentration as she opened her eyes and he began to answer.

"Perfect love is spending time together with someone you care about, doing things that seem stupid. It could be anything, even something stupid. Training, talking, writing. Anything, as long as you're with them. As long as you know they are safe. Even if they don't know you love them, it's always there. That feeling, that little rush of heart and sensational feeling. Perfect love is-" Shikamaru was cut off before he could continue his little speech on what perfect love was to him.

Even though a sword had cut deeply into his side, he managed to lean forward and kiss her.

A pair of soft, pink lips were pressed against his. Tongues danced passionately as he deepened the kiss, his hands roaming to her soft blonde hair that was tickling his cheeks. Her hands pressed against his flax vest, holding him close. Wanting him never to leave, needing him by her to know that he was safe as her heart rushed sensationally.

"Don't worry. I figured out the answer." Ino whispered as she broke away, and he smirked. She had finally realised. Either that, or she had been planning this all along. The dramatic romantic writing, the characters that were clearly based on all those whom they knew and even the way she had leaned on him as he wrote to make him blush so that he was scarlet.

"I love you too, Kana." Ogano whispered with his last breath.

He kissed her again, until both of their lips were red raw and chapped. She breathed heavily as he pulled away, and then smirked. He froze. Had he done something wrong? The answer was clearly a yes, seeing as she slapped him lightly around the head before he had the chance to ask her. She giggled on seeing his confused expression.

"Even something stupid? Writing? I'll remember that." She laughed, and he growled before kissing her again. A squeak of shock was her own reply before they succumbed to their animalistic desires once more. To think it had all started with some writing, more specifically an odd line of punctuation she had dotted across a page.

Dot. Dash. Dot. Dot. Dot.


Probably not the dash meant in the theme, but hey. It is an update, which the likes of have not been seen for a bit over three weeks. I do not really like this one, but I liked the meanings I used. If you go and check the meanings of the names of the characters Shikamaru and Ino used in their story which I did not mention on google, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Reviews are loved. :)