A.N. - for those who were wondering about the detail that I leave out: I'm saving for them for side stories. This entire fic is finished, I just haven't uploaded the rest of the chapters. The side stories are in the process so have no fear. I'm going to try and cover all the characters or most of them.
Part of Tuesday morning was spent in Tsunade-sama's office.
"Ino, I'd like you and Chouji to stake out a possible rebel ninja hideout in the forest*. We'd just like confirmation so you don't need to worry about fighting unless they initiate it. If they do, I'm sure you and Akimichi can handle it just fine," Tsunade-sama said. Ino nodded. Chouji kept looking at the clock to see when lunch time would be.
"If you have no questions, then I'll adjourn our meeting," Tsunade said. Nobody made a move to raise their hand. "Fine, see you tomorrow with the report," the Fifth said, having someone usher them out of her office.
Ino let her shoulders drop a little. So maybe Shikamaru was rubbing off on her a tad… She and Chouji rounded a corner and he stopped before one of the vending machines.
"If you want to do this mission with Shikamaru, I'll understand," Chouji offered, placing a coin into the slot and pressing a button. Ino shook her head. Poor guy, he was always like this.
"No. I'd rather take you along. We haven't fought side-by-side for a long time. Besides, Shikamaru is so lazy. We'll be going out at night. No matter how smart he is, he'd probably leave me to keep sentry while he gets his precious sleep. We wouldn't get work done because I'd probably be yelling at him and he'd just ignore me. It would be a messy situation," she explained.
Chouji nodded slowly, then smiled.
Shikamaru stared up at the sky. Today was a clear day which meant no clouds which also meant no cloud-dreaming. He frowned. Closing his eyes, he drifted off and started to dream.
----------------------------------------------
"Hey Shikamaru, come here. I've got something to show you," Ino said, trying to hide something behind her back. He eyed her warily but gave in. Whoopah! Even in his dreams he was whipped.
Ino smiled, pulling him close.
"Daisuke," she said softly before crushing her lips to his. He mmphed but found he could not push her away. He didn't want to push her away. Instead, his arms of their own volition, slid around her waist and drew Ino impossibly closer.
Somewhere in the breath-taking kiss, one of their tongues decided to venture into a mouth. He didn't know if it was him or her, all he could feel was this emanating warmth seeping into every part of his being. As though she was pouring her chakra into him, making them one.
Warm darkness spread around them, circling the two and pushing them flush against each other. He was afraid Ino could feel how much she was affecting him. She broke the kiss to stare up at him dreamily.
"Well I can see how well that worked. Maybe we should take this elsewhere," she suggested. He gulped. It was now or never and he definitely wanted this. Not just the act of it, but he wanted all the feelings and emotions with Ino.
She led him into a large room that seemed to come from nowhere. Across the large double doors was a bed bigger than his room at home. He gulped again but she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head lower.
"Make love to me, Shikamaru. Make me a woman," she whispered before hungrily pressing her kiss-swollen lips to his.
A rough hand shook him awake. Shikamaru never felt a greater loss. He stared up, half wondering who on earth would wake him up and if there was any sort of evidence of his dream. He looked down.
All good, he thought, suddenly embarrassed by the dream.
"What do you want, Kiba?" Shikamaru asked in a clipped tone.
"Sorry to wake you, but I need to ask you something," Kiba said, taking a seat next to the chuunin.
"Yeah?" Shikamaru asked, slouching. Kiba toyed with one of Akamaru's paws.
A gentle breeze blew across the field, bobbing Shikamaru's ponytail and sending loose flowers petals tumbling through the air.
"How did you ask Ino out?" he asked softly. Shikamaru's eyes widened. What could he possibly say to that?
"I didn't," he said. It was the truth after all. Kiba tilted his head sideways.
"Oh, so you mean she asked you out?" the dog-lover asked. Shikamaru shook his head. "Then I don't get it," Kiba said, slumping.
"Neither of us asked each other out. It just kind of happened one day," he said. It was a terrible lie, but he hoped that Kiba was desperate enough to believe him.
"You're lucky. I've been trying to get Hinata to notice me, you know? But she doesn't see me that way. She thinks of me as a friend only and I really like her," he said, distressed. Shikamaru wanted to laugh at his friend. He wanted to say that Kiba was wrong. From what he overheard Hinata tell Neji in confidentiality one day, she was hoping that Kiba would ask her out.
"Why are you so afraid? She knows you're a nice guy. Just ask her, there's no harm," Shikamaru innocently suggested. Snerk.
"That's the thing. See, I'm not afraid of asking. It's that damn Neji. I know he's just her cousin, but he's so damn overprotective of her. He'll murder me. Bad enough, Neji hates me," Kiba said softly. Shikamaru wondered why Kiba would come to him for this kind of advice. Oh yeah…suddenly I'm a romantic guy in a relationship, he reminded himself.
"I don't think Neji hates you. If you don't want any trouble, go through Neji first. He knows you wouldn't hurt Hinata. Everyone knows that. And everyone knows that you like her," Shikamaru added. Kiba's eyes widened.
"Everyone?" he asked. Shikamaru nodded. Boy, this guy was dense sometimes.
"Oh. Thanks for the advice Shikamaru. You're a good guy. Ino's lucky to have someone that's so smart," he said before taking off. Akamaru yipped a farewell and the chuunin watched his friend veritably skip down the road towards town. He only hoped that Neji wouldn't kick Kiba's ass.
Ino waited for Chouji outside his house. Mrs. Akimichi had invited her in for some snacks but she refused. She had a mission and she wouldn't be able to do it properly if she had some of Chouji's mom's cooking. It was said that once you ate her food, you wouldn't be able to stop.
"Be careful!" Chouji's mom called, waving to them as they left. Chouji offered her a snack.
"Your mom just offered me some. No thanks," she said. They walked in silence until they reached the woods.
"Keep on guard. I'll lead, you take the back. I don't expect that we'll need to be on guard so much, but you know, just to be on the safe side," Ino said. Chouji nodded.
Nightfall came slowly and they sat behind a large tree, watching some unknown coordinate that had been given to them by Tsunade. Ino was itching for a fight, but she told herself that this was just an ordinary scouting mission.
Sure enough, as darkness fell, she and Chouji could sense four, no, five chakras moving towards a dark spot from where they were sitting. They could hear quiet voices. Ino wanted to laugh. These weren't shinobi; they were fools waiting to get caught. A familiar voice caught her attention.
"Be quiet. Remember, tomorrow we'll be launching an attack against Naruto. I've been planning this for so long. We'll finally outsmart him," came a voice.
Damn D-rank mission.
"Ne, Chouji, isn't that Konohomaru and his little gang of hooligans?" Ino asked softly. Chouji nodded. What a waste of time… she thought. Tsunade-sama would probably just shrug and say that it was better to know now than never.
"Come on. They're harmless," Ino said. Chouji followed quietly. They walked slowly back towards town.
"Ino?" Chouji asked. She stopped to look at him, wondering what he would say.
"I don't know if it's just me, but you and Shikamaru. Is it really true? There was that day that you guys came into town and it was quiet. You didn't seem like you guys were together," he said. Ino looked down. This was Chouji. She could trust him. No, she and Shikamaru could trust him.
"It's not true. You're right. How many people know?" she asked. Chouji held up one finger and pointed to himself.
"Wow, the others must really be deluded, huh?" she asked softly, laughing. Chouji grinned. So he was right.
"Don't worry, I won't say anything. But if I could ask, why pretend?" he asked.
Ino shoved her hands into her pockets and shrugged.
"At the time it seemed like a good idea. We wanted to find out who spread the rumor and so we decided to play along and then stage this huge breakup in front of everyone, but there came that day when I foolishly referred to Shikamaru as my 'boyfriend'," she air-quoted "then after that, all hell broke loose. Everyone started to come to their own conclusions," she explained softly. Chouji nodded slowly, then let out a breath of relief.
Ino looked at him quizzically.
"You guys look so odd together," he said. Ino laughed, nodding her head. "Yeah... we do."
Shikamaru lay on his bed, waiting for Ino to call. Normally they'd be on their second phone call of the day at this time, but she had only called once, and that was in the morning. He frowned.
"Shikamaru! Ino's here to see you!" Mrs. Nara called. He sat up straight. What the?
Before he could even get out of bed, Ino had flung the door open.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Chouji knows about us," she said. Shikamaru stared wide-eyed at her. "How?" he asked.
She fiddled with a loose string on her shirt.
"I kind of told him. But he said he'd keep it a secret!" she said. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
"What the hell? What are we supposed to do now? We may as well call it quits. This won't work. We're deceiving all our friends," he said. Ino frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Sissy," she said. "Don't you trust Chouji?" she asked.
What do you mean 'do I trust him?' Of course I do, he thought.
He nodded.
"Then we can still keep this up," Ino concluded. Shikamaru wondered which way his sense of rationality had left. Exit stage right…
"What were you doing before I came over?" she asked, taking a seat at the foot of his bed. Shikamaru nearly fainted. He just realized that he had a girl in his room alone, and his mother was fine with this. What was the world coming to?
"Bumming around. Same as always, I guess," he said, lying back amongst the pillows. He dared not look at her.
Ino yawned.
"I'm tired," she said. Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably.
"Do you want me to walk you home?" he offered. The whip came outta nowhere this time.
"Iie. I'll just take a nap. Wake me up in an hour," she said, climbing towards him and resting against his side. She must have been really tired since she had fallen asleep within moments. Shikamaru let out a mental scream. What if his mother or father walked in on them like this? Sure, they weren't doing anything indecent, but it still looked rather compromising. So he did the one thing he could do. He rolled her off of him and bolted from the room via his window. He'd come back to wake her up.
"Oh Sasuke! Harder!" Sakura yelled from a room in the trio's house. Naruto growled. How many days was it now? Weeks? He had no clue. He wanted to give himself up and confess, but dammit, he had his stupid pride. Plus, he was afraid of what Ino would do to him if he ever let his guard down. Or what Shikamaru would do to him… he shivered.
"Stop faking it!" Naruto yelled from his bed. Yes, his bed. Sasuke, that jackass, pulled Naruto's old bed out and placed it in a separate room. Bastard.
Sakura and Sasuke laughed. They were actually watching television in the living room.
Kiba chewed on his lower lip. He stood right outside of the Hyuga house. He was sure that one of them could probably see him even in the darkness. Damn byakugan.
"What do you want?" Neji asked from the doorway. Kiba inhaled a deep breath.
"Neji, I want to ask Hinata out. Shikamaru told me that I should ask you first since you're very protective of her. I'd like your blessing," he asked nervously. Dammit, he was no coward. Except in front of a certain Hyguga Branch member who could kick his ass four ways from Sunday…and then some.
Neji smiled. He actually smiled.
"I was waiting for you to ask me that. As long as you don't hurt her, I'm fine with it. Take good care of my cousin. I'll kill you if you ever make her cry," Neji said. Kiba looked like a fish at that moment.
Neji sighed. "Well don't just stand there. Come in," he beckoned. Kiba remembered to breathe. He did it! He could finally ask Hinata out without getting any bones broken!
Shikamaru sat up. Looking at the stars just didn't have the same appeal as clouds set in blue sky. He sighed.
Ino shifted. Her arm moved outwards searching for his body but felt cool sheets instead. She woke up.
"Shikamaru?" she asked softly. He was nowhere to be seen. Was he… embarrassed? She smacked her head.
Stupid Ino, she thought. She was driving him away by being so forward. What was coming over her? It wasn't lust. Being with Shikamaru just felt right. She smiled.
Yosh! She thought, pumping one arm. She had to find him.
Instead of sitting around, she got up. The window was wide open and she figured he must have escaped from there. Setting herself on the ledge, she looked down. It was a fair jump down and knowing how lazy he was, he wouldn't risk it.
Going up, I guess, she thought, grasping onto the eaves and hoisting herself up to the roof.
"Heh, so you found me. I swear, I was going to come back and wake you up," Shikamaru said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Ino smiled.
"Don't worry about it," she said, walking over to him. Shikamaru paled a little. Why was she…?
"I've been thinking," Ino started, "maybe this thing is working differently," she said, pausing when she stopped a few inches before him.
"Eh?" he asked. She was getting a bit too close…
"Maybe I'm crazy, but I think I rather like being with you," she said softly, placing a hand on his forearm. Shikamaru opened his mouth to protest.
"No, let me finish," she said, silencing him. "I don't want to break up," she finished. WHAA???
"But, I thought you wanted to break up publicly so we could find the rat who spread the rumors," Shikamaru said. He was starting a nervous sweat.
Ino shook her head. "I had a little change of plans. Or maybe a change of heart," she confessed, moving forwards so that their bodies were flush against each other.
"What?" he asked. Ino did it- she finally made him stupid.
She sighed loudly. Were boys always this stupid? Don't answer that.
"I'm saying," she said while grasping his hand, "that I like you, Nara Shikamaru. You're the one I want to be with, even if what we have started out as a rumor," she finally said. Shikamaru felt like he wanted to bolt. Ack, girl too close, hard to think… he thought.
Ino frowned. She was pouring her heart out and he was making all these weird confused faces. Maybe he didn't want this… She let go of his hand.
"I think I understand by the lack of speech that you don't want this. That's fine. Tomorrow we'll break up in front of everyone. Oyasumi," she said, turning to leave. Before she could go, it finally occurred to Shikamaru that he should say something.
"Don't," he said, moving quickly and placing himself before her and the roof's edge. Without hesitation, he grabbed her by the waist and pressed his lips to hers.
Damn brain. Why are you lazy at a time like this? he questioned. He just about lost the only girl who ever willingly admitted her feelings for him. The only girl he could reciprocate those feelings to.
Ino wound her arms around his neck. She didn't think this would happen. Okay, maybe she did, but just a teeny bit. She knew that Shikamaru had some sort of soft spot for her. Before she could think about anything else, a tongue, his tongue, was seeking entrance to her mouth. Eh, who was she to deny him something she wanted as well?
Something inside of him burst. Years spent being indifferent and lazy and he finally let it all go. He put everything into this kiss. He wouldn't lose her, he couldn't. Ino gasped and he took advantage of it and explored her sweet mouth. A hand on the small of her back and one behind her neck, he tilted her backwards, literally taking her breath away.
Inner Ino was doing the happiest little happy dance. She'd finally found someone who felt something for her and she never had to try and get him to pay attention to her. He liked her the way she was.
That's how it should be, she thought happily.
* - I know that the Hokage's usually have their ultra-cool crystal ball to watch over what's happening in their villages, but I needed a filler for the story.