Happy Birthday, Shika to Ino

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a Naruto fanfiction

by

mkh2

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Disclaimer: Sheesh, not even for my birthday am I granted the rights to Naruto so, no, I don't own Naruto. That tasty privilege belongs to Kishimoto-sensei, whom is obviously not I, seeing as I'm not a man nor am I a resident of Japan.

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Happy Birthday, Shika to Ino

Part 2: Happy Birthday, Ino!

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It was a good day by Ino's standards.

Considering he doesn't require much to meet his standards, that isn't saying much.

Okay, so things didn't go exactly as she planned, which usually goes against her standards, but being the forgiving woman that she is, and the small fact that her standards are ever-changing, she didn't press the subject

Still, it was a good day.

It wasn't a very exciting day, in her opinion, since to make it so would require at least five minutes of ogling Sasuke but… Ahem. Moving on.

-

Ino, being the lovely, graceful lady that she was, woke up an hour before she had to meet with the rest of her team, as per her usual routine. She showered – only fifteen minutes, since she had the thing down to a science. She brushed her hair to a fine shine and tied it in the bun she tended to sport since she had chopped off her hair. She brushed her teeth till they glistened and washed and pampered her face so that she looked awake and fresh-faced and put on her cherry lip gloss since it tasted so nice. She put on her outfit and ran her fingers through her bangs to give herself a carefree look and went downstairs to eat breakfast with her mom and dad. Her dad was sighing over his tea about something that Shikamaru's dad had done or said or something in yesterday's mission but she was more interested in the sweet rolls piled high in the basket in the center of the table. She peeked at her dad. He looked tired. Maybe he should try coffee…

Okay, coffee is gross… but the caffeine more than make up for its lousy taste.

She met up with her team and when it turned out that their sensei had bailed (it seemed he had forgotten to mention that his short mention would span over more than one day), they went their separate ways. She went and did a little training (There was no way she would lose to Sakura! Grr!) then went home and cleaned up. She did some chores her mom asked, straightened the scrolls in her room, wrote in her journal (regular girls have diaries – ninja girls have journals), then went downstairs to eat. Her mom whipped up some extra tasty food (Ino, of course, could only watch from the dining area since nobody but nobody was allowed inside her mom's 'precious kitchen') and she had a hearty lunch. She went upstairs and read some magazines and then an hour later brushed her teeth (since she read somewhere that you should wait an hour after eating to brush your teeth since the enamel could get damaged if you brush right after) so that they glistened once more. That done, she went downstairs, picked up the picnic basket her mom made her, and left.

She wondered if maybe she should look for Shikamaru, same as she had yesterday, but decided that since today was her birthday, she should try to find Sasuke and see if he'd like to go on a date with her. Boys are a mystery. Some day she'll figure them out and then, her eyes sparkled in delight, and then Sasuke will be hers. She will not lose to Sakura!

With that last thought, she wandered through the village, intent on getting in some quality boy-watching time. (Read: Sasuke-watching.) With a moment's inspiration she headed over to the usual training grounds of Team 7, curious to see if they might be doing drills or something else. Entering the large clearing she looked up to see a fairly common sight: Sasuke and Naruto sparring. The others were not present so it could only be assumed that Sasuke came there to train and since only Naruto was around he decided he might as well spar with him.

She sat on a nearby rock and watched them fight. It was like a dance. Sasuke coming forcefully at Naruto with furious kicks, punches and kunai, Naruto responding in kind with his equally forceful lunges, slices and shuriken, neither intent on pummeling each other but instead seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the fun of the fight. Ino absently thought that she had never seen Sasuke smile so much at one time. Naruto grinned back just as often. He seemed to be one hundred percent aware of every single one of Naruto's moves.

There was a moment when Sasuke's pant leg, when he dropped to do a drop kick, snagged on a kunai and he landed flat on his back. Naruto, having jumped backward, saw his chance and did the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and the five blondes pounced on the boy. A moment later four disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving one rather dazed looking blonde boy sprawled across the lap of an equally dazed looking black-haired boy. Sasuke blinked back into reality at the sound of a rumbling tummy and grinned with amusement at the head of blonde resting on his stomach.

"Hungry, baka?" Sasuke asked the small lump on top of him.

"Aa… and I got squished," Naruto mumbled.

"So? I got 'squished' more," smirked Sasuke.

Naruto sat up, yawned and then grinned at Sasuke, who tried to rub his chest without Naruto noticing. His grin grew wider.

"Knocked the wind out of you too, huh? Ah, that was a good spar!" Naruto smiled slightly and flopped back into the grass.

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed, ignoring the first sentence, and mimicked the smaller boy. "We should do this more often."

"Well, duh."

The boys started laughing.

Ino made a face. Then again, she thought as she worriedly clutched her basket to her and eyed the "crazily" laughing boys, maybe she didn't want to figure boys out. Boys are weird.

-

She had just been there the other day and the grass was just as green, the sky just as blue, clouds just as white, and the air just as sweet smelling today as yesterday but the boy who had been lying there then was absent. Frowning slightly she sat in the shade of the tree, wondering where that lazy boy could be. She rifled through her basket and pulled out a box of pocky and shoved one stick after another in her mouth – five sticks of strawberry pocky. She paused and looked for the chocolate pocky, thinking she could put five sticks of those in her mouth as well. She froze when she heard a low voice wash over her.

"Oh, there you are, Ino."

Blinking, she turned around to face the boy from yesterday. His eyes trailed down her face to land on her mouth and he raised an eyebrow. She felt her face begin to heat up when he spoke again.

"Hanging around Chouji much lately?"

Blushing furiously, she hurriedly chomped off the ends, chewed and swallowed, then as an after thought dropped the ends into a napkin and shoved it into the basket.

"I'm not! I was just – never mind," Ino made a face. "Were you looking for me?"

Shikamaru looked evenly at her for a moment then nodded and went over to sit by her – not as close as they were sitting yesterday but enough so that she noticed. Funny, she didn't remember it being so warm here…

"Today is your birthday, right?" Shikamaru was looking up at the sky and not her but she didn't mind – she knew he was paying close attention to her. She nodded.

"Right, so, this is for you," Shikamaru handed her a bag – green and blue with a white flower print – and a another white flower sticking out of it, a lily. Ino smiled and took the bag, blinking at how the bridge of his nose had turned slightly pink.

"Thanks! May I open it now?" A nod, and now his ears turned pink as well. How odd.

Moving her hand past the white and green paper, her hand encountered a hard square something that she quickly pulled out. A book? No, a journal. Black leather with gold and green trim with her name in scrawling gold calligraphy in the lower left hand corner of its front cover, she opened it up to the first page of the journal to read the short note.

Ino —

I know you like to spend large quantities of your time writing in your journal. Here's a new one for the whole next year of your life. Best wishes on your birthday.

Shikamaru

Ino stared for a moment. Somehow the pathetic note seemed oddly… sweet. Shifting the bag between her knees, she heard something rattle and felt a light weight rest against her kneecap. Glancing at Shikamaru, who nodded once, she reached back inside a pulled out a heavy length of cloth. Curiously, she unrolled it and her eyes lit up. Two engraved pens were inside, along with an inkwell in the shape of a cat and a bottle of ink. Shikamaru coughed.

"I wasn't sure which method you preferred, so the other pen is a ballpoint," Shikamaru glanced at her. "There's one more."

"Eh?"

Rummaging inside the bag once more, she pulled out a folded cloth – the shade matched her eyes exactly when she was at her happiest – and a tie. She raised an eyebrow at it.

"For your hair. Thought you could use another one." Shikamaru leaned back into the grass on his arms, letting his neck arch and head loll back. He made quite a striking sight like that…

Eh? What was she thinking?

Shaking her head slightly she smiled and looked at him carefully. "Thank you."

"Hn."

She sighed. That was as close to a "your welcome" as she could expect. Ino glanced at picnic basket beside.

"Oh, Shika…"

-

The next couple of hours was spent in relative silence, both enjoying the contents of the well packed basket, looking at clouds in the sky, Ino chattering about what cloud looked like what and the last time she had seen Sakura and the like.

The sun was yet again sinking into the misty clouds at the horizon, setting Konoha awash in a glorious gold hue, stripes of vivid reds and yellows interlaced into it and purple clouds hanging low at the other end of the sky.

"It's getting late," Shikamaru murmured, glancing over at Ino.

"Right," sighed Ino, sitting up. She glanced at Shikamaru before standing up. Shikamaru also rose and they both started walking back together. Ino flushed slightly, wondering why exactly he had chosen to walk with her today instead of staying a while after like yesterday.

"You know," Shikamaru drawled. "I'm taller than Sasuke."

"Oh really," Ino asked, sliding her eyes over to him.

"By half a centimeter," Shikamaru continued, looking straight ahead.

"How do you know?" Ino asked, curious.

Shikamaru glanced at her and gave her a rather secretive, rather mischievous smirk. She pouted and tugged at his arm.

"Tell me, Shikamaru, tell me!"

The rest of the way home was filled with laughs and jokes (well, mostly made on her end but, Ino decided, Shikamaru thought they were funny too), the basket hanging off Shikamaru's arm and the gift bag being clutched firmly to her chest.

At her house he walked her to her door and then turned to look at her carefully.

"Happy Birthday, Ino," Shikamaru said, his voice low as he glanced curiously at the door once. Bowing his head slightly, he turned and walked off.

A happy smile on her face, she made her way inside, only to be assaulted by her mother who seemed to have the strangest idea that she was out on a date…

-

There was a heaping mound of food on the table along with a beautiful cake. Everything smelled delicious, of course, and Ino wondered if her mother had ever been in the flower shop today. There were plenty of presents, of course, ranging from the practical – clothes, extra shuriken, a new weapons holster, and vest – to the whimsical – a beaded picture frame, gaudy curtains, a camouflage shirt with the words "Ha! Now you can't see me!" in white letters, a new necklace and a bright green bag. There was even a present from Sakura, whose card featuring a pig made it apparent as to whom it came from (it also came with a flower arrangement and a coin purse with a dandelion on the side.)

The evening continued with lots of laughs and a 'special treat' from her mother – she let her into the kitchen and, under special supervision, was allowed to boil the water for the tea. They had cake and lots of food ranging from the ordinary to the spectacular (when did mom have time to get lobster?) and told more stories. Her Dad mentioned something about Shikamaru's dad, which she didn't pay attention to again, but instead found herself fingering the journal resting in the bag.

A few hours later Ino found herself lying on her bed and hugging the journal Shikamaru had given her to her chest when she decided that, yes, today was a good day after all.

-Owari-


And here is the end of my ficcy. Sheesh, took me a while to get this out. Today is my birthday, September 23rd, same as Ino's. Shikamaru's birthday is the 22nd. Personality wise… I'm probably closer to Shikamaru.

Hope you enjoyed this fic!