-We Will Never Part-
Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable content.
-Chapter Thirty Five-
-Talk over Lunch-
Ino fished through her large purse, trying to find her key ring. Normally, she'd tie the lanyard around the strap of her purse so that she could easily find them at a moments notice. However, that afternoon her math teacher had gone way over his time limit, despite the fact that the students had begun packing up five minutes before the end of class. The teacher did not get the hint and instead kept on lecturing
She would have gotten up and just left, but several factors kept Ino firmly rooted in place. First, no one else moved to leave; she didn't want to be the first, or only, person to leave. Second, she was only just passing the class and found the homework difficult enough when she actually paid attention to the entire lecture. If she left while the teacher was talking, she could potentially miss something important. Then she wouldn't be able to do her homework and, by extension, not be prepared for the test.
So, despite the fact that her shift at work started an hour after class normally ended, and it would take her at least fifteen to twenty minutes to walk there, Ino stayed in class. Everyone did and, after the teacher droned on for an additional thirty minutes, they didn't even receive an apology or mea culpa. He simply dismissed them and didn't say another word.
Ino had then been forced to flee from the class in a mad dash. She'd simply shoved all her belongings into her bag and bolted out of the classroom, only pausing momentarily to ensure that Shikamaru was following behind. As a result of her hurried actions, her lanyard with her keys had become dislodged from their convenient location and settled at the bottom of her bag beneath textbooks, notebooks, and other detritus.
"Seriously!" Ino shouted, lifting her head to the sky. She was standing outside of the flower shop, but unable to get in. It was supposed to open in ten minutes and, at the rate she was going, having spent nearly five minutes just looking for her keys, Ino wasn't going to open on time.
Finally, with a slightly dramatic frustrated sigh, Ino upturned her purse and sent the contents spilling onto the sidewalk. Books, papers, make up products, and even some spare change, went tumbling over the pavement. Ino didn't care. She honed in on the last object to fall from her bag, landing atop the pile.
Her keys!
Ino snatched them up and then quickly turned to place them in the lock. A hand gently placed on hers momentarily stopped her. Turning and following the hand up an arm to its owner with her eyes, Ino realised that it was Shikamaru. For the briefest of seconds, Ino felt her face flushing red at the potential intimacy of the action. However, she quickly beat the colour down and gave Shikamaru a questioning look instead of a lovesick embarrassed one.
"Let me open the store for you. You need to focus on your," he paused and turned toward the sizable pile on the sidewalk, "things." Ino wanted to protest, state that she was perfectly capable of managing all the current spinning plates, but as she stood outside the flower shop she could feel the wind begin to pick up. She really should get her things before they were blown down the street.
Relenting, Ino loosened her grip on the keys and let them fall into Shikamaru's awaiting hands. She then turned to retrieve her belongings. As she walked, a light airy feeling came over her. In her mind, she'd just been saved from her frenzy and a potential string of unfortunate events by Shikamaru's intervention. He could have chosen to stand by and watch Ino run around like a chicken with her head cut off, but instead he'd stepped up and stepped in. He was like her prince charming!
Again, Ino's face began to flush red, but this time she allowed the schoolgirl crush feelings to overtake her. It had been a while since she'd been this excited about a boy, to the point where the mere thought of him in even the smallest of romantic fashions sent her hormones wild. Normally, Ino induced these feelings in others. It was nice to have the tables turned.
Ino quickly picked up everything and headed into the shop. She'd spent much of her early childhood with Shikamaru, and considered him a friend. However, their lapse in a relationship as they'd grown meant that Ino hadn't given him much thought in recent years. Their rekindled time together now had her re-evaluating everything.
She now found an appeal to Shikamaru that had never been there previously, especially when he was concentrating. His brow would furrow and his lips would purse and this intense look would take over his features. Ino found it absolutely intoxicating. He was lean, and not particular muscular, which was the opposite of her usual type, but his deep brown eyes were like melted chocolate, and his prince-charming tendencies were reeling Ino in. All of it was sending attraction signals to Ino's brain.
Maybe she should test thing out and see if there really could be something more than childhood friendship between two of them.
"Hey, Shikamaru!" Ino called as she walked into the shop. She deposited her once again full bag on the cashier counter and headed into the back. Shikamaru was moving around some inventory and looked up when she entered.
"Get everything? If you need a few minutes to just sit or something I can handle the work. It was a pretty shitty thing that the prof did, way over-lecturing." Ino felt her flushing again.
"Yeah. It's all good. I was just thinking that I should take you out for lunch tomorrow. You know, to thank you for everything." Ino waited on baited breath for Shikamaru's response, uncharacteristically anxious that he may turn her down and reject her. Ino never got rejected when it came to dating.
"Lunch would be nice," Shikamaru quickly responded before turning back to his work. Ino didn't really notice the peculiar behaviour; she was too busy dancing around in her head and then dancing through the empty store.
From: Cherry Blossom (xxvery_cherryxx)
To: Fashionable piggy (littlemisspiggy)
Cc: Hyuuga Hinata (lil_miss_sunshine); Bear-chan (10.10i-score-every-time10.10)
Sent: Monday, July 31; 7:12 am
Subject: You sly fox (pig)
Hey Inie,
I've been up for hours already, so my mind may be a little crazy conspiracy-theory filled. But I still thought I'd write to you to clarify. Feel free to ignore if I'm out of my mind.
The whole story of how this all came around begins really early this morning. I'd been told to stay in the car for most of our errands today because they are of a confidential nature. I was still forced to go along of course, because it's all important. So, there I am, sitting in the car when I decided to use the time productively.
My mom sent me a picture of her fully blooming garden a few days ago, and I thought I'd bring it up and do a quick sketch of it. As I was going through my emails looking for hers I stumbled across your email from a few days ago and read through it again. That's when I noticed something that I hadn't really paid much mind to before.
Near the end of your email you sort of offhandedly mentioned that you find Shikamaru attractive. I call you a sly fox because this was mentioned so nonchalantly that it was really easy for my mind to not register its importance. In fact, I felt quite detective-like when I discovered all of this!
So, with all that, I wanted to speak on this new piece of information! I'm so happy that you are interest in a god guy for once and I think you should definitely pursue this further! The two of you together would be so cute!
That's all I wanted to say
Xox,
Cherry
Ino and Shikamaru walked down the street, a comfortable silence passing between the two. Ino had convinced Kurenai to switch shifts with her, giving the pair several hours after their class to have a nice, leisurely lunch. Ino had decided to take Shikamaru to her favourite spot, a trendy though not exceedingly busy restaurant that had opened earlier that year.
Ino had already dragged her friends to the restaurant several times and was greatly looking forward to showing it to Shikamaru. She was using it as a test to see if they were compatible. If they liked the same things, had the same general interests, or were at least willing to try out the things that the other liked, then in Ino's books they were compatible. So, Shikamaru's reaction to this restaurant, Ino's favourite, would say a lot about him.
Also, a lunch was fairly noncommittal, but it could easily become more than just friends eating out together. There was potential for a casual lunch to turn into a date. If there was something between them, a spark or chemistry, then Ino would take this friendly lunch and turn on her date charm.
"Table for two?" the hostess standing behind the black pedestal at the front of the restaurant asked as they walked in.
"Yes, booth if you have it," Ino responded cheerily before eagerly following the other blonde into the restaurant. As she moved, she shot a quick look over shoulder to see how Shikamaru was reacting to everything. He had a neutral expression, not the joy or excitement Ino was expecting, but at least it wasn't disgust. Ino would take what she could get it.
From: Fashionable piggy (littlemisspiggy)
To: Cherry Blossom (xxvery_cherryxx)
Cc: Hyuuga Hinata (lil_miss_sunshine); Bear-chan (10.10i-score-every-time10.10)
Sent: Monday, July 31; 2:49 pm
Subject: Re: You sly fox (pig)
Oh Cherry!
I hadn't really intended it to be like a detective thing. It was more of a mussing, which may have been why it seemed sly or something. It just sort of hit me that day. We'd been studying for several hours and my mind was slowly starting to go loopy. I looked up and my eyes sort of gravitated towards him. Shikamaru was busy studying my work, and finding very few errors might I add, and just the expression on his face, deep in concentration with his brow furrowed, struck me. I'd never really looked at him before and in that moment I just noticed how attractive he looked.
And, heeding your advice (sort of) we are going out for a super non-committal lunch tomorrow. I've veiled it under the guise of me thanking him for his work and his calming influence (I had a slight crisis yesterday with my keys and he was very supportive through it all). I'll let you know how things go!
You know you love me,
Ino
"So, how has your family been?" Ino asked, making small talk while they waited for their food. For the first time in years, Ino felt a slight awkwardness in the presence of a boy. Normally, she could flirt like a pro with anyone of the masculine persuasion. However, Shikamaru seemed to have a strange affect on her, and her ease with words seemed to vanish.
"They're good. The same as always really. Dad's busy at work and Mom's busy telling Dad what to do. How are your parents? You mom had a baby recently, right?"
"Yeah. Nori. Inori. She's almost three. Everyone at home is good, busy like your family. I can't believe how long it's been since we've all gotten together. I mean, you haven't even met Nori and she's been on this planet for three years! And we all were so close when we were younger. It's strange how people can fall apart like that." Ino knew she was rambling, could feel the words just spilling out, but she couldn't stop herself or the words. Ino never rambled, was never nervous enough to loose control of her words.
Shikamaru chuckled slightly at her antics. Ino instantly raised her hackles, never one to allow anyone to make fun of her. However, before she attacked, Ino took in his expression. He had a soft smile and mirth filled eyes, none of the normal evil Ino associated with teasing and the like.
"What's so funny?" she asked, still wary of what his chuckle meant. She leaned back a little, preparing for whatever came next.
"You rambling. I don't think, in all the years that I've known you, that I've ever seen you ramble. It's like you're never nervous, like you're always in control. It's nice to see that you aren't, in fact, completely perfect." Of all the things that Ino had expected him to say, that was not one of them. Was he- was he flirting with her? There was definitely a flirty twinkle in his eye.
"I am perfect. I just let people think I have flaws, you know, so they don't feel bad," Ino ensured her tone was light and joking so that Shikamaru wouldn't think her conceited.
"Is that why you're failing math? To ensure that we still think you're human? Because you could do that with a low, but still passing grade." Ino chuckled, thoroughly enjoying the flirty banter. She was just about to respond with a comment of her own when a loud, brash voice sounded above the rest of the regular restaurant din.
Ino froze. This could not be happening. Not now!
-To be continued-