By: Sasha
Rating: PG13 for innuendo and some cursing.
Pairings: ShikaIno, SasuSakuNaru
Chapter 3 - Oh The Tangled Web of Lies We Weave…
Summary: Naruto refuses to confess and someone throws a wrench into Ino and Shikamaru's genius plan.
"Feh, this sucks," Naruto said, kicking a rock as he, Kiba and Shino walked down the road. The sun was at its highest, creating heat lines that emanated from the dry and dusty path under their feet. Naruto swiped a hand across his forehead.
Kiba frowned. He wasn't really listening to Naruto's woes. He bet that Shino felt the same, except that the boy was fairly quiet and hardly ever had much to say. In any case, Kiba didn't really care about listening to his blonde friend bitch and moan about not getting any. All he wanted to do was find Neji and kill the bastard once and for all. The Hyuga boy had a grudge against him for no reason! Shino… well, he just stayed quiet throughout the walk. So neither Kiba nor Shino bothered to ask Naruto why he sounded so frustrated.
It had been a pleasant morning. Or so the blonde thought.
Sakura grabbed her towel and bath products and caught a glimpse of Sasuke lounging in the living room, looking utterly bored by what was on the television. She snickered softly and walked into the room; nay, sauntered into the room and stepped in front of the monotonous newscaster. She bent forwards and firmly planted her hands on the coffee table before her.
"Wanna join me for a shower?" Sakura asked seductively. The boy just smirked at her, like he always did. Only, he added a sly "is that all?" to it before he grabbed her. She
giggled and he picked her up and headed towards their bathroom.
Somewhere else in the house slept a certain blonde boy. Naruto's eyelids twitched. He snored loudly then stopped. It was morning and his lovers were going at it…without
him! AGAIN!
Before the blonde could even get out of bed to join them, Sasuke's voice came floating down the hall.
"You can't join us. Confess first, then we'll see," the Uchiha boy said. Naruto frowned and flung his gopher cap across the room.
"DAMMIT!" Naruto yelled, as he got up and pounded a fist into the wall closest to him. The plaster cracked a little.
"And if you break anymore of our stuff, we'll freeze you out for a month and do it right in front of you," Sakura called. Naruto moaned, torn between wanting to confess just to
get it the hell out of the way, but his pride was certainly something much stronger. He'd apologize when he was damn good and ready. Now when would that be?
Today looked like another one of those bad days.
"Why don't you just tell Ino or Shikamaru that you blabbed their secret to the town? You won't be so miserable anymore and neither would we," Kiba said, breaking Naruto's reverie.
Naruto shook his head. He had his pride and he didn't do anything wrong…well not completely. The way he saw it, he was helping the town become accustomed to his friend's new found relationship. Really, he was helping them. That's what he kept telling himself anyway.
"Shikamaru! Telephone!" Mrs. Nara called. Shikamaru grumbled. He pulled himself up and picked up the extension in his room, rubbing a hand over his sleepy face.
"...oh?" he asked. It was supposed to be 'hello,' but he couldn't stop the yawn.
"Jeez, could you be more polite on the phone?" came a sarcastic reply. It was Ino. Again.
"What do you want, Ino?" he asked, tired of her calling at least twice a day. Having given on sleep (one really had to once Ino called), he stretched and flung one curtain open. It was another hot but beautiful summer day.
"Are we going out today?" she asked, twirling her finger in the phone cord. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Why did I agree to this? he thought.
He hesitated. They had to get to work eventually. Might as well help me with some of my work, he tried to justify.
"I don't know. I have some errands to do. You can come with me if you really want to," he offered. He was so whipped. He blamed it on the Nara curse.
Ino smiled. "Sure! You can take me shopping afterwards. I want to buy some new clothes for the summer festival. It'll look more realistic if you come with me," she said.
Shikamaru groaned and she narrowed her eyes. "Hey, we have parts to play. I promise I'll try to make it as bearable as possible," she said, playing around with her hair and
looking into the mirror suddenly wondering if Shikamaru would like her hair this way or that way. She stopped herself about a second after the thought crossed her mind. It
was just Shikamaru and they were only doing this for appearance sake.
"If you ask me whether or not I think you look fat in something, I'll leave," he said. He could hear Ino swearing on the phone. He chuckled.
"Fine. Now or after lunch?" she asked. Shikamaru shrugged. Sleep having escaped him -for once- he figured that may as well get an early start on his errands to give him
more time for cloud watching and a nap later on.
"Now. I'll be over in ten minutes," he said. Ino shrieked.
"It takes a girl a lot longer than ten minutes!" she yelled into the phone.
"Ten minutes. Or I'll go by myself," he warned. Ino fumed but agreed and hung up rather loudly.
"It's going to be a long day," Shikamaru mumbled before getting dressed.
Ino rushed around her room looking for the right thing to wear. Ten minutes was too short. It usually took her between half an hour to forty-five minutes to be presentable,
something that was always the downside for her training to be a kunoichi. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice was telling her to slow down and that it didn't matter.
It was only Shikamaru, right?
Right? The faintest of a dark little whisper prodded her on. Maybe he would appreciate a change from her. Would he start seeing her differently? If she tried hard enough,
maybe he'd loosen up around her and let his instincts take over.
SHYEAH right. This was Shikamaru. The same guy who failed just about as many tests as Naruto because he was too tired to write anything down. At the same time, he was so different from the bumbling blonde. He had an IQ of 200. He was smarter than Sasuke, it was just that he didn't really care.
So he probably wouldn't care if she wore her hair open and decided to put on a skirt.
"Shit!" she cursed, realizing she had wasted a good five minutes wondering how Shikamaru would react to her changing things up a little.
He probably wouldn't notice if I cut all my hair off and walked out naked, she thought glumly.
Again, she flew around in a hurry, pulling outfits out of drawers and the closet, finally settling on the clothes she usually wore. What a waste of time…
"Ino, Shikamaru is here!" her mother called. Ino's mother eyed the boy carefully, noting how he slouched and looked tired.
"Have you been getting enough sleep?" she asked. Shikamaru looked at her, blinked, then nodded.
Hmm… tired, lazy-looking. I'll bet he's on some kind of drugs. I'll have a talk with Ino later on, Mrs. Yamanaka thought.
Ino stepped down from the stairs.
"Bye 'kaasan. I'll be home in a couple of hours," she called cheerily, practically dragging Shikamaru outside into the street.
"Jeez, was your mom a detective before she got married?" Shikamaru asked, smoothing back his ponytail. Ino blinked.
"What?" she asked, laughing.
"She was asking me weird questions like 'have I been sleeping lately'. I'd call that weird," he said.
Ino's eyebrows rose.
"Eh, she's probably just worried since you're my 'boyfriend'," Ino suggested, using air-quotes. She never noticed a certain thick-browed boy behind her.
"Why is he your 'boyfriend', Ino? I thought you guys were really together," Lee asked. Ino and Shikamaru spun around to meet a confused Lee. The boy with the eyebrows
was not alone. Chouji, Neji, Hinata, Sakura and Sasuke were all there with him.
"EH?" Ino asked, grabbing Shikamaru's hand on impulse. The Nara boy sweatdropped as the five shinobis eyed him and his 'girlfriend' oddly.
"Why would you use air-quotes?" Hinata asked innocently.
Silence hung between them for a few unbearable minutes. Kiba coughed. Neji stared off somewhere else. Sakura kept exchanging odd glances with Sasuke.
Before Ino could even answer, Sakura squealed in delight. "They're engaged! That's why he isn't her 'boyfriend'!!! It makes sense now. Isn't that right, Ino?" Sakura asked.
Shikamaru never experienced a time where he wanted to drop dead more than right now.
"Well…" Ino trailed. Sakura cut her off.
"Say no more. If you want to keep your engagement hush-hush, we can do it," the pink-haired girl said, placing a hand over Ino and Shikamaru's still clasped ones.
"You can count on us to help you out. If we can't, we'll all carve sculptures of you two and worship them as the epitome of love!" Lee promised, giving them a thumbs-up and
a wink.
The other four shinobis just about freaked out right there and then and turned on the usually enthusiastic boy.
"Since when did 'I' become 'WE', huh, Lee?!?" they all demanded. The round-eyed boy smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry, sometimes I get a little carried away…" he apologized.
"It's not official so we'd appreciate it if you guys could keep quiet about it. We haven't even told our parents," Ino said. Where did that come from?
Nara Shikamaru. He was a lazy bum, but a genius tactician. That's what he envisioned his gravestone saying. He wanted to drag her out of the conversation and demand an
explanation. A simple 'no' would have been fine. But no... and she shouldn't have even said something that volatile out in public.
Kami-sama, just strike me down, right here. Right now, he silently pleaded. God was busy tending to more important things at that moment.
Their friends started to ask each other questions and everyone looked generally happy and a little surprised.
"So when did he propose?" Sakura asked.
"Was it romantic?" Hinata asked shyly.
"Did you guys have sex yet?" Sasuke asked.
"EH?!?!" all six teens asked the Uchiha boy. The dark haired boy just shrugged.
"It's a valid question. If they had sex and Ino got pregnant, then it would make sense that they'd be getting married this early into their relationship," Sasuke deduced.
Chouji's eyebrows knitted.
"I've known these two for a long time. They wouldn't do something as stupid as that. Ino, you're not pregnant, right?" the Akimichi boy asked. Ino paled.
"Of course not! We're in love, nothing more. We're not getting married because I got pregnant, because I can assure you, I'm not! We're getting married because we want
to spend the rest of our lives together!" she yelled. Everyone became deadly quiet. Sakura clapped a hand over her mouth. She was rather surprised that her childhood
friend was so adamant about the relationship with Shikamaru. She never thought that those two would end up together.
Lee was softly weeping, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve. He was such a sucker for romance.
"That's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard!" Lee said before rushing forward to embrace both Ino and Shikamaru in a tight hug.
Why are you denying me? Shikamaru asked, eyes rolling skyward. A bird flew by.
Ino and Shikamaru grimaced a little.
"Alright, cut it out, Lee," Shikamaru said. Having another boy hug him just made him feel all kinds of uncomfortable. Especially a teary-eyed boy.
"We ought to get going. Shikamaru has errands to do and he's taking me shopping," Ino finally said. The teens all bid each other farewell. Ino grinned as she turned away,
satisfied that she got away with yet another lie. Shikamaru stopped her and fixed her with a rather hard gaze.
"I think this is getting too far out of hand. If you were more careful about what you said in public, we wouldn't be in this mess," he accused. Ino's eyes took on a dangerous glint.
"Well I'm the one doing all the talking. If you don't want all of this to happen so suddenly, then why don't you have any input?" she spat. He paused to think about that. Not
even in a real relationship and he was so incredibly whipped.
He shrugged.
"We better break up soon. This is crazy. Your mom thinks I'm weird, my mom has softened up and now our friends think we're engaged. It's insane. We're going to break up
soon. For our dignity," he said resolutely.
Ino wanted to cry. Everything had been going so well. Except this morning when she used air-quotes. She cursed her sarcastic self for being so snarky. Somewhere in the
darkest, deepest recesses of her mind, a voice was telling her that it would be a shame to let him go. And somewhere, in some pocket of rationality, she actually believed the
voice.
Shikamaru watched her. Ino's lower lip started to tremble. Geez, is she going to cry again? he thought. Yeah.
"I can't," she said softly. His forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"What do you mean you can't? You can't break up with me? We aren't even going out, Ino," he reminded her. A tear fell and hit the dirt between them. She looked away.
She always thought of herself as strong. Breaking down in front of a friend, a boy, was as low as she would go.
For what? something asked her. She didn't know how to answer the voice. It shouldn't have made a difference. She wasn't that proud. She just didn't like being seen as
weak. Yet, somehow it still hurt that Shikamaru would suggest ending their façade, even if that's all it was.
"Ino…" he said softly, pulling her towards him. The strangest feeling washed over him. Something was telling him that this was right. She felt right in his arms.
What's come over me? He wondered. He'd never been this tender with anyone. Maybe it was because he never had the chance to and it may not have been the right
person, but in this situation, with this girl, he just couldn't help himself.
"If you leave me, they'll all laugh. I've been humiliated enough. Losing to an annoying boy and unworthy girl, you can't know how much it's hurt me," she whispered.
Shikamaru wiped a tear away. He didn't want to be second-best, but he did want to help her get over the pain.
"I won't leave. I promise," he replied softly before pressing his lips to hers. Maybe he was wrong. This was something that could work. He felt determined to make it right.
Ino's eyes widened. She'd never been kissed before, although she'd never willingly admit it. Her eyes fluttered closed and she placed her arms around his neck. He stopped,
wanting to keep things chaste.
"We'll pretend, but I swear, if we're forced into a kunai wedding, I'll kill myself," he threatened. Ino laughed, swiping at the last of her tears.
It can work. If you try hard enough, that same voice told her. The question she had yet to answer was did she really want something with Shikamaru?
"Thank you, Shikamaru-kun," she said before kissing his cheek. She took his hand. "Now take me shopping," she said, dragging him into a store.
I'm cursed, he thought.
A.N. So Shikamaru has a little change of heart, huh? How is the story coming along? I tried to take into account the reviews that people gave me, well the ones that helped me anyway. Is it better? I went on a rampage and I actually wrote chapters 1-3 in one day. I could have written more, believe me, I wanted to, but I had homework to do. Review, okay? Orochimaru loves you all!