Chapter One

Shikamaru was exhausted. With the preliminaries of the chunin exams finally over, and the headache of Ino cheering him on was mentally exhausting. Yes, she was his teammate but she really didn't need to be so loud. But in his own words it was such a drag.

With his hands in his pockets and head up in the clouds while walking with the rest of his team and his sensei, Shikamaru was lost with his own thoughts of clouds and how easy it would be to be a cloud. They were lucky they never had to do anything. No worries whatsoever. Just be there and do nothing to relax and just be at ease.

"SHIKAMARU!" Ino yelled trying to get his attention. "You can at least seem interested in what we are all saying, I mean how rude can you possibly be by not even saying anything while I am talking to you." Ino put her hands on her hips and made a stern face.

"What?" Was all that came out of Shikamaru's mouth as well as a yawn. Ino began to lecture him again about being lazy and how unbelievable he was about passing the preliminaries in the first place. There sensei Asuma had settled Ino down before she went overboard with the lecture.

"Look it's been a long day and I think we all deserve a nice meal and some rest." Asuma gave a warm smile to his young genin Everyone agreed and nodded as the team agreed with Choji being happy to eat anything more then BBQ chips.

"I Know the best! My friend Kumo works at this amazing Korean BBQ place. They have the best food. Kumo should be working today as well we should all say ``hi."

Choji said with a mouth full of chips. "You always do talk about this Kumo, what's so important about them anyway?" Ino asked while moving her hand out of her face.

Shikamaru again ignored the conversation as they all made their way to the place that Choji had mentioned. Shikamaru has heard of this Kumo a lot. Always saying how nice he was. He somehow envied the boy. What he envied was that he was a civilian didn't have to be a ninja had a job and just went through life without a care in the world. Well in Shikamaru's eyes that's what he envied about Kumo. "Lucky Bastard" he had thought to himself then began to think of clouds again.

Soon enough they were seated at the restaurant that Choji had mentioned. Next thing he knew he was looking at a menu and was lazily scanning at it. Hopefully he remembered his wallet.

"So Choji this friend Kumo of yours better be cute, your always talking about them." Ino said while crossing her slender arms. Asuma had made a chuckle. For some reason the name did sound familiar but he could not put a face to the name yet.

"Oh! That's Kumo right there." Choji had pointed out. The direction of his finger was pointing to a boy with handsome features. Ino's jaw dropped as she began to scan over the boys face. He had deep blue eyes she could drown in. His face had sharp cheekbones looked like they were sculpted by kami himself. He had golden locks that was shoulder length and looked like they were pure silk if you touched them. The olive tone of his skin made Ino's mouth water, this guy made Sasuke run for his money.

Choji had begun to laugh. "Kumo is not a guy at all. She's behind the weird guy that Ino is staring at."

Shikamaru began to glance up and saw a five foot girl side step from the guy Ino was staring at. Shikamaru's face became still has he focused on the hair she had. Long blue locks and she had piercing red eyes. His breath was caught in his throat for ounce. Soon he began to cough, for it seemed he forgot how to breath.

"Oh dear, can i get you some water sir?' The small girl had said softly

Shikamaru coughed again at how off guard he was. He wasn't expecting Kumo to be a girl at all or even a girls name. Asuma laughed again on how dumb founded his two students looked and the how the genies couldn't even figure out it was a female the whole time. Especially when how Choji would talk about her. Like a crush in a way it seemed.

The young girl bowed and went to get some water for the boy who was coughing as well as the rest of the table.

Ino was fuming. How could such a nobody be prettier than her. She already had Choji wrapped around her finger. That was her job. But, now this girl had a run for her money or more looks and she did not like it.

The young girl came back with some water and a bowl of raw pork meat. " Here is your waters and your favorite Akimichi-San, it's on the house:" She gave Choji smiled and bowed. Ino began to click her tongue. Annoyed at how cute and polite she was.

"Oh Satomi Kumo, well looks like you have adjusted well." Asuma said with a smile. Finally realizing that Kumo was the adopted daughter of Kurenai.

"Oh yes, Sarutobi-San. I am enjoying this village so much, I thank you for asking about me. Mom must be returning home as well, as I see that your team has finished the exams I presume," As the young girl smiled

Shikamaru was in awe. He couldn't keep his eyes off of this girl. She looked different and she acted different. She was just odd. Ino noticed Shikamaru staring and began to pout. Shikamaru never looked at girls and she began to feel more annoyed. This girl wasn't even a ninja she was just normal. " How could you have such a cool mom and not want to be a ninja?" Ino scoffed not realizing she said her thoughts out loud."

"I am so sorry miss if I have offended you in anyway. I support my mother wholeheartedly and all ninja as well. Please let me pay for your meal as an apology." Satomi bowed hoping the gesture would be enough for the group of ninja.

Shikamaru began to become annoyed at his teammate. The way she was acting was not an excuse. He began to open his mouth to say something but stopped. Why would he even say anything. Ino was just being Ino and this girl was just a girl. It would be troublesome to be involved but he still wanted to say something in the back of his mind.

"No need Satomi, i know you didn't mean any harm. Ino is just being rash. We all must be really tired from the exams. I know a way that will be better for all of us. And that would be if you join us and that would be good enough of an apology for me."

Satomi's face lit up and then glanced at the clock to see if her break was coming up. Her face lit up as she began to skip her way to the kitchen to remove her apron and bring more meat to the table. Asuma then gave Ino a stern look telling her to behave herself and then glancing at Choji who was scarfing all the food with in one bite. He shook his head with a smile. Team nine began to enjoy the meal even more when Satomi sat at the table and joined them. Ino began to become more at ease seeing that the girl really did not mean any harm. Still a little jealous that she was prettier than her but she could tone down her attitude a bit. Choji was just happy he had a friend that enjoyed his company and a girl who didn't make fun of him at all. Shikamaru glanced up and down at the bubbly girl. Wondering how could anyone have that much energy at all. Especially while working

Asuma smiled seeing that his team was enjoying themselves. "Satomi obviously you have meet Choji but this is Ino Yamanaka and Shikamaru Nara who is the only one on team nine to make it to the final round of the chunin exams. The Lazy genius. Ino cheered loudly and Choji howled with joy with some food in his mouth as well. Shikamaru just yawned and began to pick up a chopstick. To his luck Satomi did the same with a smile on her face . the two began to reach for the same piece of meat. The two made eye contact . the girl smiled with a light blush. Satomi put the chopsticks down gesturing for Shikamaru to take it instead. Shikamaru was to caught up at staring at her. Satomi began to wave her hand to get his attention but that didn't seem to work. Soon enough Satomi put her hand on Shikamaru's shoulder to get his attention.

A spark of electricity came running through both young ones bodies. Not a painful spark nor an uncomfortable one It was warm and bright the electric current felt addicting.

The two pre-teens glanced at each other. Eyes never leaving each other. Satomi's hand was still on his shoulder. Satomi began to blush a deep red but could not look away. The touch of the rush they had was the best feeling in the world. Soon reality came crashing down as Ino's voice broke the trance they had.

"Choji! That was Shikamaru's!"

"He was taking to long. I'm starving so it's his loss" The boy said with the last piece of meat in his mouth.

Satomi shook her head and got up from her seat. "Thank you for the Lovely company. Please except this meal on the house." She bowed and took one last look at Shikamaru and left to finish her shift for the day.

"Shikamaru, Choji why don't you see what time Satomi gets off work and walk her home, it is getting pretty late and a young sweet girl should not walk alone." Asuma spoke with a grin

Choji smiled and nodded . Shikamaru on the other hand became annoyed. He was tired and just wants to sleep and go home. Even though the girl was to naive in his book. "This girl is already going to be so much trouble" Shikamaru thought to himself. Asuma and Ino began to get up from the table. Asuma laughed a small chuckle. "Funny that her name means beautiful cloud." Asuma then left with an amused Shikamaru. "This girl is really going to be troublesome." He thought with a sigh, putting his hands in his pockets. "Well she isn't a complete drag." he smiled to himself.