Chapter 11: Women are so Troublesome

AT LAST! THE LONG AWAITED, SHIKAMARU X INO CHAPTER. As a short note, it may not be considered funny. I tried to incorporate the romance part of the fic into this chapter. Also, I wish you all a Happy New Year's and hope 2005 will be good for everyone. As a special New Years/ Late Christmas present, I will be submitting my one-shot called Nintendo Mayhem. Look for it in the Naruto anime section of !

Shikamaru was on a mission. He had to escort a young Mrs. Fuko into the woods and stay with her for a week because she had taken a sudden urge to go camping. And she had a very rich father.

"Shikamaru-kun, I'm tired. Why can't we just stop now?" she whined. They were currently on their way back from a week of horror, for Shikamaru at least. Asuma-sensei had gone ahead, leaving Shikamaru behind to guard Fuko for the rest of the trip. "Mrs. Fuko, I'm sure your father is very worried. I also have… someone I'd like to see when I get back."

"AWWW. Shikamaru-kun, do you have a girlfriend?" Fuko giggled.

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND," Shikamaru shouted hurriedly.

Fuko giggled again, "So it is a she. Well, is she pretty?"

"Yes," Shikamaru muttered.

"Is she nice?" Fuko asked.

"…I guess," Shikamaru said.

"Do you love her?" Fuko asked again.

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I'M ANSWERING YOU. LET'S JUST GO HOME ALREADY," Shikamaru yelled.

When they reached Konoha, Shikamaru immediately dropped her off at her house and went to find Chouji. He found Chouji waiting for him at his favorite cloud-watching area with a Go Board. "Hi Shikamaru, Asuma-sensei said that you'd be back today. Will you play a game of Go with me?"

"Yeah Chouji. Hey, have you seen Ino around?" Shikamaru asked as they began the game.

Chouji thought for a second, "Yeah, she was in the hospital one day. Did you know that she fainted seven times in the past four days? Naruto and Lee said she fainted right in front of them. There was also a rumor about medical-nins being sent out to check her status about four times."

"Really?" said Shikamaru.

Ino was currently hiding in the trees behind them. She pouted. Shikamaru didn't seem to care that her health was so terrible. She wondered what he really was thinking. "Shinwanshin no jutsu."

Shikamaru's mind smelled like old books and paper. He was sitting in the center in his classic thinking position.

"Ino. What's wrong with her? Is she all right? When I left, she was perfectly fine. How can her condition get so bad, so quickly? What am I going to do? Is she still in the hospital? Think, Shikamaru, think. Should I visit her? She probably just wants Sasuke to visit her and see how she is. He never will though. That bastard Sasuke, he doesn't know how lucky he is to have Ino like him," Shikamaru muttered.

Ino gasped, "What does this mean? Is Shikamaru so worried about me?"

"She doesn't realize how much other people love her. How much other people worry about her. She's probably on a starvation diet to show her figure off to Sasuke. Oh, I hate him. Is Chouji still talking to me? He wants me to tell him how to close down a restaurant? Umm… I'll get back to you on that Chouji," said Shikamaru.

Ino sat down hard. Shikamaru was right. She did make many people worried about her fainting attacks. She remembered her parents, their worried faces. She remembered her friends, even Sakura, and they're many attempts to help her. She was being selfish, worrying other people just for the sake of some gossip. She left Shikamaru's mind, just in time to here him say, "Ino, I wish I could tell you how much I love you."

Ino woke up in the bushes and ran out to find Shikamaru, only to see that he and Chouji weren't there.

She ran around town, searching for him. Along the way, she found her mom and dad and apologized for worrying them. She told them the real meaning of her fainting attacks.

She met Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten and told them about how she possessed them. She apologized and swore never to tell what she knew.

She saw Shino and Neji and stopped. 'I'll tell them some other time,' she thought and ran off again.

She ran into Naruto and invited him out to lunch some other time that week. That would be apology enough for Naruto.

She told Lee that she wasn't stalking him, but she did admire him a lot. That drove him into bouts of ecstasy and promises of future devotion.

She scheduled a play date with Kiba, promising to help him get Hinata's love.

She saw Sasuke in the distance. She said hello to him and he didn't even acknowledge that she was there. She left, what Sasuke didn't know would never hurt him.

She found the medical-nin with the mask in the hospital and apologized for drawing him out all these times. He forgave her and gave her a sugar-free lollipop.

Finally, she saw Chouji coming out of her house. He looked nervous and was running faster than she had ever seen him go. Seeing her waving at him, he stopped. "INO, Shikamaru and I were so worried. You weren't there, so I went to find the police. Shikamaru's still in there."

Ino explained all that had happened. Chouji waved it off, "Go, Shikamaru wanted to talk to you really badly. I need to go talk to that restaurant manager."

She entered her house. Shikamaru was sitting on her bed, staring out the window. She crept up behind him and said, "I thought you were supposed to be looking for me." Shikamaru jumped and turned around, "INO!"

Ino grinned, "I was just going to get some food, want to come?"

Shikamaru stared, then blushed, "Well, I, umm."

Ino laughed and grabbed his hand. She dragged him out into the sunshine and hugged him. Shikamaru tensed up, then hugged her back. The sun was shining, the birds were calling, and Konoha was completely normal again. Well, not really.

Everyone of Ino's comrades, even Neji and Shino watched the couple from the distance. "Awwwww," they said collectively. Well, the girls did. The boys were too manly for that.

Down at the bottom, Ino and Shikamaru heard. They turned around, looked at each other and nodded. "CHARGEEEEEEE," they yelled. The ten people on the hill ran with Ino and Shikamaru chasing them across the fields, a perfectly happy ending. The screen dissolves, but a small hole opens in the middle. Ino face appears, "Be careful where you step, or be prepared to have all your secrets exposed to me. (Enter diabolical laugh). The screen closes again.

Owari

Next chapter: Overview of Enter Into My Mind and preview of the next story by Poltergeist Mage.

A/N- cringes What a sappy chapter. It even made me wriggle in my seat as I wrote it. Definitely not my favorite. I hope you all enjoyed the story. Review please. I would also like to know which chapter you all liked the best and which ones just stank.