A/N: It bums me out, sort of, that people think that the last chapter was filler. It's my own fault, though,for including filler earlier so that people thought this was the same thing. Last chapter's events are actually part of my grand scheme, although it's a bit more subtle than I meant it to be, I guess. Not that it's actually very subtle at all, but hopefully you'll see what I mean in a couple more chapters. Turnabout is fair play, and that's all I'll say. I hope people aren't disappointed in Ino's reaction, but I figure that she's not as crazy as everybody thinks she is, and she's not about to fight against what she wants, too.

I've been getting MORE complaints that the chapters are short. This fic is finished, but I'm still only posting it three times a weeks so I have time to give each piece a final edit before I post it. Plus, I've noticed that people give better feedback when the story's broken into easily-digestible pieces. That said, please enjoy this short chapter and leave feedback if you have the time.

The C-rank mission had gone smoothly, of course, and with four jounin working on it, it hadn't taken long at all. Shikamaru parted ways with his disgruntled team, went home, showered, and was contemplating tucking in for the night with a good book when he remembered Tsunade's stipulation to getting Ino reassigned. Sighing, he dressed and locked up his apartment, wandering over to the Yamanaka house. He knocked on the door and tried to smile when Inoshi answered. "Oh, it's you," Inoshi said. "I'll get her. Hold on just a moment."

Shikamaru waited on the stoop, looking up at the sky. The sun would be setting soon. "Hey," he heard Ino say, and he glanced down at her, nearly falling off the stoop as he did so. She wasn't wearing anything but a towel, a very short towel. Her hair was wet, rivulets of water traveling down her slender neck and into her cleavage. He suddenly found it too difficult to talk, and he felt his face becoming pink. "Are you okay? Are you choking?" she asked, reaching out to him.

He thought he was going to pass out. Didn't she realize what effect she was having on him? "Ah, no," he coughed, clearing his throat. "I mean, do you want to go for a walk? Maybe get some ice cream?"

Her head cocked to the side. "Yeah, okay. Give me a few minutes. You might as well come in."

"Ah, thanks," he muttered, taking off his shoes and stepping inside. He loved and hated the Yamanaka house; it was large, tasteful, and clean, which his parents' house was not, despite his mother's best efforts. He liked the fact that it was those three things, but he hated it because it wasn't a particularly comfortable home. He was always worried he was going to accidentallymakeeven the most tiny ofmesses and be banished forever. Wandering into the living room, he was ambushed by Ino's mother.

"Hello, dear," she said, grinning. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you," he replied. "Ino said she'd only take a minute." Ino's mother laughed, which Shikamaru understood to be a bad sign.

"Sure she will," she murmured, patting his shoulder, and disappeared into the depths of the house.

Sitting down on the couch, Shikamaru jumped when Inoshi suddenly appeared beside him. "We need to talk," Inoshi said, fixing his eyes on Shikamaru's face.

"Talk?"

"Yes. You see, I understand what it's like to be a young man, and Ino's a beautiful young woman. Certain urges are perfectly natural."

"Okaaay," Shikamaru mumbled to himself. He didn't like where this was going.

"However, unless you plan to wed her, certain things are definitely off limits," Inoshi growled, his blue eyes snapping and his teeth bared. Shikamaru started to get nervous about how the older man's hands were flexing. "I can't stop you two from doing anything, of course, but I can kill you for it afterwards."

Shikamaru decided then that he had never met anyone scarier than Mr. Yamanaka. Not even his own mother was this terrifying. "Yes, sir," he said, trying to appear attentive.

"But, if you're really set on dying, at least make sure you don't get her into trouble," Inoshi snarled, grabbing Shikamaru's hand and forcing something into it. Shikamaru paled when he saw what it was and quickly stuffed the item in question in his pocket..

"Oh, sir, we haven't, I mean, I'm not even her-"

"You're not her what?" he growled.

Shikamaru growled. "I mean, I'm not going to take advantage of her. Ino's very precious to me."

"Oh," a soft voice said, and Shikamaru looked up to see Ino standing in the doorway. Her cheeks were stained pink, and she glanced away shyly when he tried to meet her eyes. "Were you being mean to him, Daddy?"

Inoshi was suddenly all smiles, giving Shikamaru the chills. "Of course not, sweetie! I love him like my own son, which he will be forced to become if he does anything bad to you!"

Shikamaru was shuddering. "Ready to go?" he asked quickly.

"Yeah," she murmured, and lead him out of the house, Inoshi still spouting affection after Ino and veiled threats after him.

Shikamaru looked over his shoulder, skin covered in goosebumps. "You have the scariest family ever," he mumbled.

"Oh, shut up. You didn't grow up with them," Ino said with a sigh. The air between them grew silent and heavy as they walked down the streets, the sky slowly turning orange as the sun set. "Did you mean what you said, Shikamaru?"

"About what?" he asked absently, trying to come up with a scheme to get Ino to request a transfer.

"About me being precious to you!" she growled, slapping him on the shoulder.

The sting of her slap got his attention and he stopped, looking down at her. He put a hand behind his head and scratched, suddenly unable to meet her gaze. "Well, uh, yeah, why not."

"I see," she said quietly. He blinked at her. He had been expecting some sort of eruption, but instead she just looked bruised.

"No," he murmured. "Ino, you really are." Tentatively, he reached out for her hand, teasing the tips of her fingers with his own. "You really are precious to me."

His heart fluttered as she firmly took hold of his hand, squeezing. "Let's go to your sky-watching spot," she blurted, dragging him along. Sighing, he followed her, trying not to trip. It was a bit of a jog from her house, but they made it just before the sun completely disappeared below the horizon. They sat in the grass, listening to the crickets and watching the stars come out, when he realized that Ino's face was hidden by her hair and she was trembling.

"Are you cold?" he asked, wanting to put his arm around her but unsure if he should. Things had gone well the last time they were up at his spot, but he wasn't certain if that's what she wanted. Besides, he was afraid of what Inoshi would do if she told him that Shikamaru had touched her when she didn't want him to.

"No," she replied, voice husky.

His brow furrowed. "Hey, are you crying?" he asked, lifting some strands of her hair. Oh, but her hair was silky. He suddenly wanted to bury his hands in it.

"You're precious to me, too," she sobbed, throwing herself against his chest. His arms wrapped around her impulsively, his hands rubbing her back and feeling the sculpted muscle under her clothes. "I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

"Nothing's going to happen to me," he murmured, stroking her head.

"Yes, it will!" she cried. "You almost died on that last mission! You almost didn't make it! You don't know what it's like, seeing someone you care about so beat up. You looked terrible. Sakura told me afterward that she thought you were a goner. Sakura said that, and she'd know!"

He took a deep breath. "Is that why you've been giving my team such low-grade assignments?" he asked softly.

She pushed away from him, hiding her face as she wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry for being such a crybaby. A kunoichi shouldn't have these feelings."

"You're not a crybaby, Ino," he said, refusing to let her avoid him as he wrapped his arm around her. "You're a wonderful kunoichi."

Ino fixed him with her sky blue eyes, which were dark in the fading light. "There's so much unsaid between us, Shikamaru. We have so much history, and not all of it's good. I feel like we have a really hard time being honest with one another, and I don't know why that is. We're both smart people, so why is it so difficult? Why is it so hard to tell you how I feel? Why can't you show me how you feel?"

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand as he jutted out his chin. "Feh. I don't know. Maybe we don't know how we feel?"

She squirmed out from under his arm and turned to face him. "No, I know exactly how I feel. I knew it the moment I saw you on the ground, half-dead. You couldn't even move; you could barely talk. I thought I would die, and I realized that if something happened to you, I couldn't face living the rest of my life."

Shikamaru swallowed hard. He wasn't prepared for the intensity in her eyes, for the passion in her voice. What was she saying? "Fine," he sighed. "I'll tell you the truth. No more games. It's troublesome, but I agree with you. We need to have everything out on the table."

Her face brightened a bit. "And?"

"I went to see Tsunade today."

Her face fell, and he could tell that he hadn't said what she was hoping to hear. "Oh?"

"To see about getting you reassigned."

Sky-blue eyes went wide, and she started to stand. He rose as she did, catching her wrist as she turned to flee. "How could you," she choked, wrath and betrayal fighting for control of her expression. "How could you do something like that to me?"

He blocked the blow she sent his direction, using the momentum to pull her to him, his embrace serving to keep her from lashing out again. "Because you can't do this, Ino. I know you want to, but you can't protect me. It might be troublesome, it might be dangerous, it might even be deadly, but I am a ninja. You're trying to keep me from being a ninja, from doing my job, and its driving me crazy. Not all of the missions we get are noble, but you're keeping me from doing the ones that are."

"So? You won't get hurt this way."

His expression softened. "But Ino, you just told me you cared about me."

"I do," she sniffled.

"Keeping me from what I'm supposed to be doing isn't making me happy. Don't you want me to be happy?"

"Yes," she murmured.

"And I want you to be happy, too," he replied. "I know you hate that job. You try too hard at it. Tsunade doesn't want to let you go."

"Really? I'm that good?"

He chuckled. "Are you kidding? You're good at everything you do. Do you have any idea how annoying that is?"

"No," she giggled, nuzzling against his chest, her fists wrapped in his jacket.

"I'm sorry I went behind your back. I didn't know I could just talk to you about it."

She broke his embrace but kept hold of his hands. "Yeah, that was stupid. But now you know you can."

"And I will, in the future. So, will you do it? Will you ask to be reassigned?"

Her chin tilted upward as she examined the sky, exposing her long, creamy throat. "Okay, I will, but on one condition."

He raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"

She looked him in the eyes and grinned. "You have to admit that you're my boyfriend."

That sounded troublesome. Not being with Ino, however, sounded more troublesome. "Yeah, okay, I'll be your boyfriend."

Squeezing him, she snuggled against him for a moment, making him extremely happy. He didn't know why, but when Ino touched him he felt like he was flying. His whole body buzzed when she was near. "Do you know what boyfriends do for their girlfriends?" she purred, looking up at him.

His body temperature rose a few notches. "Uh, what?" he asked, voice thick.

"They buy them ice cream!" she cried, and his fantasies shattered. She seemed so happy, though, that he couldn't resist.

"Any kind you want," he said with a smile, and they walked down the hill hand-in-hand.