A/N: I can't tell you all how pleased I am that you thought the break-up scene went okay. I really do like Temari, but think she could find someone better-suited to what I imagine her goals are. Anyway, now that this fic is traveling down the Shikamaru/Ino path, I really hope I don't lose readers. It's true that there aren't tons of people reviewing this story, but the ones that do review are awesome. Thanks so much for taking the time to do that, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

"Damn it," Shikamaru muttered as he ambled down the street, realizing how empty his wallet was. He considered stopping by his parents' house to borrow money, then realized how troublesome that would be. His mother would never let him out of the house, nor would he live it down. Chouji was another option, but his house was too far away. If he went there and back he'd be late meeting Ino. That, too, was more trouble than it was worth. However, he only had enough to take her out for ramen, which wouldn't help patch things up any. Ino deserved a nice dinner, and begging for money was going to be less hassle than upsetting her.

Out of options, he sighed and continued walking down the street. His brain wandered through his options and came up empty. He was going to be in trouble, end of story. Just as he was about to give up, he saw Lee's shiny black head of hair bobbing down the street in front of him. Shikamaru glanced about for Sakura, but the jounin seemed to be alone. Increasing his pace, he trotted up to Lee's side.

"Hi," he said, catching Lee's round eyes. The young man was still strange-looking, although his appearance had improved since Sakura had convinced him to grow out his hair a little and pull it back into a short ponytail. At least a person could finally tell the guy had ears.

"Oh, hello, Shikamaru!" Lee replied, grinning.

He winced at the brightness of the smile but had to give the guy credit for his energy. If he had that kind of energy for himself, he probably would have taken over the world by the time he was eighteen. It was a good thing his brainpower was tempered by his laziness. "I need a favor."

Lee scowled slightly, slowing his pace. "Are you in trouble?"

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, then remembered that he needed to be nice if he was going to get any money out of Lee. "Sort of," he replied, an idea popping into his head. "You see, I'm about to try to make up with my very best friend after years of tension between us. Yet, I haven't worked because of my recent heartbreak."

"Oh! Heartbreak!" Lee wailed, fists clenching. "I am so sorry that your tender, youthful feelings have been abused!"

Shikamaru blinked. "Ah, yes. Anyhow, I offered to take my friend to dinner so we could patch things up, but because I haven't been working, broken heart and whatnot, I don't have money to actually take her out."

Lee pursed his lips. "That's terrible!"

"Yeah. So can I borrow some money?"

Lee's expression snapped back to normal. "Nope."

"What? Why not?"

Lee grinned and fixed him with a burning stare. "Because you must push through your grief and continue to work! Even heartbreak is not a good excuse to cease training and serving your country!"

"Oh, come on. Give me a break," Shikamaru groaned. "Please?"

"Ah, and now you sacrifice your pride," Lee replied, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "I am sorry that your sorrow has brought you this low."

"I'm always this low," he muttered. "Come on, Lee. Help me out. I'm going to be late."

Lee looked around carefully, then motioned Shikamaru to follow him to a shadowed doorway. He raised an eyebrow, then followed the taijutsu specialist. "Okay," Lee breathed. "I know this isn't something that Gai-sensei would do, but here you go."

Shikamaru's eyes opened wide as Lee dropped a fat roll of bills into his hands. "Wow. This is a bit more than I need."

Lee shook his head. "Nonsense. You need to show Ino a fine evening of dinner and dancing."

"You know I'm taking Ino out?" he groaned.

Lee scowled at him. "Of course. What do you take me for? A simpleton? Well, I'm not surprised. Many people mistake my enthusiasm for intellectual simplicity."

"Sorry about that."

"No worries. My darling Sakura, at least, was able to see the truth, and that's all that matters." Lee peered up at the sky. "You had better hurry. Ino's going to be upset if you're late."

Shikamaru pocketed the bills, still impressed by Lee's generosity. "I really appreciate this. I'll bring you the change and pay you back soon."

Lee shrugged, smiling. "Sakura would kill me if she found out I didn't help you make her best friend happy. Just don't tell anyone I lent you the money."

"I won't," Shikamaru replied, moving on with a wave. "Thanks again."

"My pleasure! Enjoy the passion of youth!" he cried, departing in the other direction.

Shikamaru walked toward the flower shop, making a mental note to reevaluate his opinion of Lee. He already respected the fellow as a great ninja, but it seemed that he had fallen into the same trap that everyone else had and judged the young man by his looks. So much for genius.

He didn't have much longer to think about it, for he arrived at Ino's right at seven. Ringing the bell, he heard the echo of the chimes deep inside the house and was startled when her father, Inoshi, opened the door. "Oh, Shikamaru," he said. "What are you doing here? Can your dad not make the poker night?"

"Poker night?"

Inoshi's face relaxed. "I guess everything's fine. Don't tell your mom I said anything, okay?"

Shikamaru blinked. "Ah, okay."

"So, what brings you here?"

Shikamaru fidgeted a bit, squinting at the blonde-haired man. "Uh, I'm here to pick up Ino."

Inoshi took a step back, forgetting the door, which opened wide. His jaw dropped and he raised his hands slightly, as if he was either trying to shield himself from Shikamaru or was going to attack him. "My precious baby? You're taking out my jewel?"

"Yes?" Shikamaru asked, face scrunched up in confusion.

Suddenly Inoshi filled the door frame, handsome face scowling at the young man. "If you so much as lay a hand on her," he growled, eyes blazing.

"I'm just taking her out to dinner, I swear," Shikamaru protested, raising his own arms in defense. Although he was roughly the same size as the elder Yamanaka, he suddenly felt very, very small and very, very weak.

He swore he could actually see flames leaping in Inoshi's eyes. "It had better be, or else your ass is mine, boy," he grated, hands balling up into fists.

"Dad!" a voice shouted, and suddenly Inoshi was all smiles, trotting over to his daughter.

"Yes, sweet pea?"

"Stop bugging him," Ino spat,"Or I won't bother coming home."

"I'm sorry I threatened you," Inoshi said with a grin. The second Ino glanced away, however, he glared at Shikamaru.

"Uh, no problem?" he replied. Ino smiled and pranced over to him.

"Bye!" she said. "I'll be home by midnight!"

"Bye, sweetie," Inoshi chimed, and as soon as her back was turned he sent Shikamaru a final glare and shut the door.

"Er, your dad sure has a lot of energy," he muttered, scratching his head.

Ino latched onto his arm, the top of her head barely past his shoulder. "He goes crazy whenever boys come to take me out. He'll calm down eventually. I forgot how he gets. I haven't been out with anyone in a while."

He glanced down at her, but he decided not to say anything. Her hands on his arm were warm, and a slightly floral fragrance wafted from her hair. It didn't smell like any shampoo he had ever experienced, and he eventually realized the scent came from the flowers she worked with all day. It was absolutely lovely. "Shikamaru?" she asked, startling him out of his musing.

"Yeah?" he replied, blinking down at her, and realized she was wearing the earrings and bracelet he had given her. She had on a tunic to match, with small, light lavender flowers embroidered on it, and a long, black skirt that seemed as if it was easy to move around in.

"Where are we going?"

A blush stained his cheeks. How could he have forgotten? There was a beautiful woman on his arm; that's how he could have forgotten. "Sea Star, I thought."

Her eyes lit up. "That's great! That's my favorite restaurant!"

"It is?"

"Absolutely!"

He smiled in spite of himself. Maybe taking Ino out would be less troublesome than he thought. She chattered on about her day in the flower shop until they reached the restaurant, his entire body feeling relaxed as he listened to the sound of her voice. They managed to get seated without delay, and it wasn't until they sat down at their table that Ino suddenly turned shy. She looked down at her water glass, her cheeks stained pink as the candlelight mellowed the white-gold of her hair. He could think of nothing to say to her, for his tongue had gone numb at her beauty. The waiter came, Shikamaru ordered for both of them, and they settled once more into silence.

"It's been too long," he finally said. There were so many things rolling around in his head that he wanted to say, but he didn't know how to say any of them. He had never been good at connecting his head with his heart.

"I know," she replied, downcast eyes shadowed by her long, thick lashes. "I really missed you."

"I missed you too," he murmured, and he surprised himself by meaning it. "Nobody besides you and Chouji will watch the clouds with me, and you smell better than he does."

"Chouji doesn't smell bad," she protested.

"Of course not. But he doesn't smell wonderful, like you."

She blushed and looked at the table again. "Isn't their baby beautiful?"

He smiled, thinking of the brown-haired bundle Naomi had delivered. "Yeah, he's great. They're really lucky."

The conversation lapsed for a while as they each retreated into their thoughts, and again the silence became awkward. Shikamaru knew there were too many things not being said. "How's Sakura?" he asked. "I ran into Lee."

"She's fine. She thinks Lee is going to ask her to marry him."

"What will she say?"

"Oh, she'll say yes. From what she's told me, he's an incredible lover. Hung like a-."

"Don't need to know that," he grimaced.

She blushed again. "Sorry," she mumbled. "But he's also sweet, and kind, and committed, and never tries to hold her back. He's a one-man encouragement machine, and that's exactly what she needs. I think a part of her will always long for Sasuke, but he's such a mess it'll never happen, and she knows what a good man Lee is."

Their food was served, and as they dug in he figured it was safe to begin to talk about what was on his mind. He kept her occupied with idle conversation until she was half-done with her meal, then took a deep breath. "And how about you? Do you still long for Sasuke?"

She laughed, the sound sparkling in the cozy semi-darkness of the restaurant. "Of course not," she chortled. "I thought he was cute, but it was just a crush. Mostly it was to get back at Sakura for breaking off our friendship for him. It took a long time for me to forgive him for running away like that. After he got him back I could no longer respect him, and I have to respect a man to fall in love with him."

His heart leapt in his chest. It was time to breach the subject that had been bothering him for years. "So, why did you date all those guys, then? Were you really in love with all of them?"

"I've never been in love," she said coldly, an unreadable expression in her eyes. "Unlike you."

"I wasn't in love with Temari."

"That's why you were with her for over a year?"

"We were good friends. We tried to see one another when we could."

Ino's eyes snapped with blue fire. "And of course you had to see her all the time, since you needed to get laid."

His nostrils flared at her biting tone. "You could never understand what she and I had," he said sharply. His wounds were too fresh, he realized. He missed having someone, and their breakup still stung.

"Apparently not. I don't know what it's like to be with a woman who's probably slept with half of Konoha."

"You don't know her," he growled. "Besides, what do you think you did? I think you dated the entire damn village. You were Konoha's biggest tease. Rumor had it that there wasn't anybody you wouldn't date."

Anger twisted her face, and she slammed her napkin down on the table. She glared at him for a moment, then her face sagged as tears sprang to her eyes. "This was a mistake. I don't know why I thought we could be friends again," she choked, and dashed from the restaurant.

Shikamaru stared at her mostly-eaten food for a moment, dumbstruck. He had just rammed his foot so far into his mouth that it was poking out the back of his head. "Damn it ," he muttered, and threw some money down onto the table before setting off after her.