thanks to iceheart for beta-reading.
disclaimer: Naruto is not mine and I don't make any money with this!
Like laughing
Love is like laughing. It's hardly ever real. Most times, you just pretend to be happy or actually care for someone. That was what Shikamaru used to believe. And Shikamaru is not stupid.
But then came this day, when Ino cornered him after a mission and didn't even explain why she kissed him. So, she was the first one who managed to make Shikamaru think that some parts of his mind didn't work as it should as everything he was able to think of seemed to be stupid romantic stuff and things he always considered to being not worth the existence. Even before it started.
The kiss was so strong, sweet, passionate and so much more than he had ever imagined a kiss could be. It made him feel like an idiot. But the thing that really made him worry was that he actually liked being an idiot that way.
After this, every minute he spent with Ino, he realized more and more that he was starting to push away his former attitude and to see things different now.
Though there were still times he felt like just watching clouds and even sometimes Ino spoke of Sasuke again. But those became more seldom and less important. Shikamaru just didn't care that much anymore as he knew she did not mean to hurt him and he also knew that deep down inside him, he was simply too happy to care.
What he learnt from Naruto was to keep your promise. What he learnt from Lee was to never give up. What he learnt from Chouji was to believe in yourself.
Then what Ino, finally, taught him was how to believe in others. Because love is like laughing and sometimes it is real.
And the sun was shining as it was summer and Shikamaru smiled for he felt like smiling and Ino laughed because he didn't know why and he believed in her. He believed in her laugh like he had never believed in anything else.
-end-
I'd rather bleed with cuts of love than live without any scars