Chapter 37- Candlelight Dinner…

"Wake up, Ino, wake up. It's seven in the evening, you've been sleeping for nine hours straight! You haven't even had your lunch yet…"

"What? Lunch? OH MY GOSH!!! It is seven o' clock! I'm so sorry, Shikamaru! I overslept!"

"Hell, yeah, you did. Hey, I ordered a pizza delivery for lunch this afternoon and since you wouldn't wake up, I saved the whole box for the two of us to eat tonight. I wasn't that hungry anyway."

"You did? Wow, that's so sweet of you!"

Shikamaru blushed a little, "Uh, yeah. Come downstairs so we can eat, okay? Man, I'm starving!"

Shikamaru went out of the room and went downstairs. Ino followed him and was surprised to see nothing on the dinner table! No plates, no glasses, no spoons and no forks… The table had absolutely nothing on it.

"Where is everything?"

"Psst, out here, stupid."

"What? Oh…"

Ino followed Shikamaru out to the garden. As soon as she got out, she found Shikamaru sitting on a chair, with all the stuff on the table in front of him. And what's more, there was a lighted candle on the table. Ino blushed very hard as she saw this.

"Shi… Shikamaru!" she gasped, "A candle light dinner? You shouldn't have…"

"Aww, c'mon." Shikamaru smirked, "Dinner inside the house was starting to get boring, so I prepared this instead. And a candlelight dinner saves electricity in the house, so… Ino?"

Ino was blushing, looking at him lovingly. Shikamaru tried to avoid eye contact, but still kept on blushing as well. "Yeah, yeah…" he said, "Get all mushy with me all you want… But I'm tellin' ya, it's not going to work!"

Ino laughed and replied, "Okay, okay, I'll stop!" Then she sat down. The two of them started eating freshly-heated-from-the-microwave-pizza and enjoyed steaming hot cups of coffee.

"Coffee at night?" Ino asked, "I've never heard of such thing."

Shikamaru looked at her, smiled and said, "Remember the feeling you get when you drink coffee?"

"Yeah," Ino replied, "It made me feel like I was in heaven."

"Exactly," Shikamaru answered, "Coffee for dinner! 'Cause tonight, I wanna make you feel like you're in heaven with me, Ino."

Ino blushed even more and asked him, "Really?"

"Yes, really…" Shikamaru said, gazing at her. Then, he suddenly snapped out of it. "Oh, damn! What the hell am I saying!? Urgh… Keep eating!"

"Heheh… Okay."

Shikamaru suddenly became serious, but still blushing, and stopped looking at the girl sitting in front of him. Ino, on the other hand, felt like she was in a romantic movie, and kept on glancing at Shikamaru and blushing at him. She felt a feeling of excitement and felt her heart beating faster as the minutes passed. She felt like she was in paradise with the man she loved the most.

"Shikamaru," Ino said shyly.

"Hmm? What is it?" Shikamaru replied, still chewing his food.

"I, uh… I really like you, Shikamaru." She said.

"Yes, I know that already." Shikamaru answered, "It's quite obvious by the way you're blushing right now and by the way you won't stop looking at me."

"You saw me?" she asked.

"Well, duh." Shikamaru answered, "You're sitting right in front of me. Of course I'd see you."

"Oh… Okay…" Ino sighed, "I just wanted you to know that."

Ino started playing with her fingers again, wondering what to say to him next. "Um… Um… Uh…"

"Okay, I'm full. I'm going upstairs now. My boss just sent me some work online, so I have to get busy. Could 'ya wash the plates for me tonight? I hope you don't mind,"

"It's okay. I don't mind."

"Thanks, Ino."

Slowly, as he rose from his seat, Ino watched him walking back into the house. She had mixed emotions of passion and sadness in her heart at that time. Shikamaru walked away, trying to hide his feelings for her. He felt a bit sad as he left her, sitting there all alone. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to go on dates with her. He wanted to hold her in his arms. He wanted to propose to her and marry her. All of those things, he wanted. But he just couldn't. He believed he just wasn't the type of guy who could take care of someone like her. He felt useless to her.

"Sigh. Ino… I know it hurts you now that I have just walked away and left you there. I'm sorry… Truly, I am…"