This is old, I know. But I still want to hear you people out.

From which person would you choose to live the rest of your living days to?

From the one you love...?

Or from the one who loves you?

Part Five:

Wrong way

"I'm not sending any flowers to you—neither to anyone..."

What does he mean by that? He's not joking, isn't he? Well... to think that the one who sent those flowers is a very quite person—as stated in the note.

And I think that there's nobody in the face of the living earth that couldn't be any more silent than Uchiha Sasuke.

"S-So, you're saying it wasn't you?" I asked in a croaked voice.

"And why else would I ever give you or any other girl a bouquet of peach blossoms?" He asked sarcastically. I could only blink my eyes in embarrassment.

I feel so stupid. So stupid because I believed my crazy, fancy, little dream.

Well, he's right. Why else would a guy like him give flowers to a girl?

Then the question is, if it isn't Sasuke-kun, the WHO?

"Ino, don't be stupid. I'm not the only guy you know with an initial of 'S'... Come to think of it, it might be a guy who loves you more than you could ever imagine." I heard him say as he began to clean off his kunai.

Now isn't that surprising? Uchiha Sasuke saying the word 'love'?

But he has a point there. Now, all I have to do is think of a guy I know with a name that starts with the letter 'S'. Except for Sasuke-kun of course.

Too bad. I almost fell into that one. Now think.

Sakura—definitely not.

Shino—we're not close and there are no dead bugs inside the bouquet.

S....

Sh...

Hey! Wait a minute!

Someone that loves me...

Doesn't talk quite much these days...

..And starts with an 'S'...

This could only sum up with ONE particular person.

"It couldn't be Nara Shikamaru, right? He won't give that kind of stuffs to a girl—most especially to me."

After I said that, the unexpected of the unexpected happened.

Sasuke-kun laughed.

"W-What so funny?" I asked curiously and quite surprised at the same time.

Sasuke-kun continued to chuckle and didn't even bother to answer my pending question. Was my statement that much of a humor to him that made him laugh like that?

I folded my arms and stared at him. Since when had he learned to laugh—not to mention laugh at ME?

"I...haha...I just think you're so... haha... so dumb for not noticing, Ino...hahahahaha..." he managed to say in between his laughs.

"You think I'm WHAT?!!!"

He laughed and shook off his head. "I think you're so dumb for not noticing."

I'm dumb for not noticing? What's there to notice? Or—if by some chance—who's there to notice?

He pierced his kunai onto the tree stomp and faced me. "Ino, you're not dumb. You're just playing dumb. You know how much that guy loves you. You know how far he would go just to win your heart. You know that he is willing to do anything for you and you know that he would accept you just the way you are. You just don't want to give him a chance, Ino. You just don't want to be loved."

Now look who's talking... Isn't he just doing the same thing to me?

Placing my index finger on his chest I exclaimed, "Now don't give me those craps Uchiha Sasuke! What do you know about my feelings? What do you know about how I feel when you ignore me every time I try my best to get your attention? What do you know about the extremes I would go through just to be seen as the female kunoichi enclosed in the arms of the great Uchiha Sasuke? What do you know, huh? What do you know about the things that are inside my mind?!!!!"

"I know nothing but the truth, Ino."

I held my breath, froze my thoughts and petrified my whole self. It was as if by his tone, he is somewhat confident that everything he says is right.

Well... is it?

"You're afraid, Ino. You're afraid of that great amount of love you've seen in him. And to think that you're the only woman in his life... It's kinda hard to believe... that all those love is for you. Only for you."

He then set aside my finger that was poking his chest and shoved a white envelope in front of my face.

And if I'm not mistaken, it could be a letter—from him.

Clearing off my throat, I asked, "Is that for me?"

"Actually..." He took out the paper from the envelope. "It's technically for you."

Techinically?

Jeez... I'm beginning to think that he's enjoying this!

"You're not making any sense, Sasuke-kun. Would you please stop talking in riddles?!" I nearly blurted out.

He shrugged off and hand me the envelope. "Who says I want to make sense? If I do make sense, then it would be easier for you, don't you think?"

So he's saying that he's ACTUALLY torturing me?

How gruesome.

"Sasuke-kun, I don't see the reason why you—for crying out loud—do this to me. You're just like the others."

Again, he flashed me an 'I-know-something-that-you-don't' grin and replied coolly, "I'm a very common person, Ino. I get jealous when a person gets ahead of me, I interfere when two people are getting along, I get irritated when things go slow and it all makes me a very typical ninja. And sometimes..."

"...I just have to use my hidden wicked tricks in order to make things go MY way. And I bet you wouldn't like that when it DOES go MY way—take this as an example."

Uchiha,

I know we're not really that close. We barely talk to each other and we barely understand each other. Before you read this, be sure that NOBODY is reading this, also—except you of course.

It's a serious matter involving 'her'. You know who she is.

She likes you, you know. Yeah, I guess it's pretty obvious even to an idiot. She says nothing but "Sasuke-kun is this, Sasuke-kun is that, Sasuke-kun is like this, Sasuke-kun is like that and blah, blah, blah, blah..."

Well, considering the fact that I'm a very hopeless romantic, I just want to tell you that I've never accepted defeat on a fight in my entire life. But I guess I lost this one. You know why?

Because I could never stand up a chance against you in her heart.

This made me realize that there are things which a person would never get such as opportunities and time.

And it appears that I never got the opportunity to let her feel how much I care for her and never got enough time to show her the things I would go through just to make her happy.

And it looks like she would be happy if she's with you...

So, with this I bid you farewell. Tell her to take care of herself and I wish her the happiness that I haven't been able to give her. Just please give her the peach blossoms and DON'T YOU EVEN DARE to tell her all about this or else...

Till then, please do take care of her and best wishes to you.

Signed,

Nara Shikamaru

Again, I looked up at him in an astonishing way and said, "He told you NOT to tell me about any of these."

He scratched his head and sighed. "But he didn't tell me that it's forbidden not to let you read the whole thing. I was just not allowed to tell you but I'm not prohibited not to let you read it."

Impossible. This guy is very impossible.

"Why do you have to do this? Are you THAT desperate to get rid of me?" I can't help but ask.

"Look, Ino." He sat on the ground and began to sharpen his nearly-blunt kunai. "Don't you see my point? I just want you to give him the chance and enough time. Yes, I know you're annoying, irritating and bothersome but it's not an enough procedure to get rid of you. You're harder to get rid off and this is not enough to deprive you."

I don't get it. I REALLY don't get it. Why—of all people—would he do this kind of thing?

He's not the kind of person that would meddle with other people's business.

And this only makes me conclude:

He's been hanging around Sakura too much lately.

"Think about it, Ino. The contract says that the marriage would last for one whole month. There are still 3 weeks to go. You just have to go through with it."

Now, the only question that remained in my head is... WHAT WILL I DO????!!!

"Hello there, my sweet princess! Where have you been?" My dad—Inoshi asked as I stepped inside our house.

I let out a sigh and gave him a hug. "I talked to Sasuke-kun to clarify some things up—or should I say 'to mess' things up?"

Dad led me to the kitchen table and placed a platter of gyoza on the table. "It does look serious, does it? I'd bet it's about the marriage-thing again."

I let out a forced smile and nibbled. "You betcha..."

Dad grabbed a piece of gyoza also and began to chew it. "I think you should go back to him and apologize, princess. It's kind of rude just to dump off a guy and leave him alone for the rest of his life. What's so worse about being married to a guy for only a month? It wouldn't do any harm—to say the least."

Did I just hear it right?

Glaring at my father, I exclaimed, "Dad! You know that I don't love him! You know that it's bloody stupid to be married for a limited time and it's nothing better compared to a puppet show. It's useless! It's stupid! It's ironic! And I hate it!"

I can't believe that even dad had said this to me!

And to think that I'm a daddy's girl... He's supposed to take my side!

I heard dad chuckling the same way that Sasuke-kun did earlier. I looked up again from my food and gave him a questioning look. "Is chuckling so much of a trend?!"

"I'm sorry, dear. I just... haha... can't help but laugh seeing how you pout whenever you throw tantrums at me. You look exactly like your mother when you do that!" Dad said and drank water.

I raised my eyebrow. Higher.

"I don't believe you." I said bluntly.

Dad gave me a fake sad expression that could almost let a turtle run faster than a cheetah. "Why, my dear daughter? What reasons do you have for such sayings?"

Again, I swallowed the remaining half-eaten gyoza and said, "It's so unreal, dad. Don't ask. And don't push THAT topic further!"

"You mean Shikamaru?"

I gave dad the look of dead that could make Orochimaru turn petrified.

Dad let out again a gentle laugh and disheveled my hair. I can't help but feel like I'm a 6-year old kid again. Dad would usually carry me on his lap with mom sitting beside him doing some cross-stitching. They would usually tell me stories because I am such a pestering kid that even asked why the sun goes down and why is Santa Claus wearing a thick sweater.

Those were the days...

But now, I'm already 16. I'm not the little baby that dad spoils around. Well, maybe I'm still a bit spoiled and a bit of a brat but not THAT annoying way back then.

And it seems that... he could be the one that could give me an answer that would satisfy my mind.

"Dad?" I glanced up at him.

"Yes, princess?"

"Uhmmm... I'm just wondering." Standing up with used plates in hands and walking towards the sink to wash them, I used it as an advantage so that dad won't see my expressions if ever he would ask me a question that is—uh—quite controversial.

"D-Do you think that I should...really go back to him?"

"Well... I don't see the point why you shouldn't."

Letting the used plates be soaped and a bit slippery, I said, "I mean... I don't love him, dad. It's just that... everything would be in vain. Everything would be useless."

"You don't love him or you don't want to love him? Ino, I am a man, too. I can feel it if a girl doesn't like me back and would never like me back. If for you it would be useless and it would be in vain, for him, it would be a memory cherished and a moment treasured."

"W-What's the point, then?"

"He loves you more than each of us would ever know but you don't. Hopefully, you would learn to love him, too. It's not that I'm pushing Shikamaru to you. It's just that... you need to give him a chance. A chance where he could show you how much he cares and how much he worries for your happiness. And maybe, you could at least accept him. Accept him as a part of your life."

Chance.

Opportunity.

Time.

They do have a point. And they did figure me out. Dad and Sasuke-kun.

I don't want to be cold to him just by being afraid to accept his love for me. I don't want to start things out without finishing it until the end.

I agreed and signed the contract.

Said 'yes' and didn't remove our wedding ring up until now.

I'm still bothered by the thoughts of him.

I still don't want to forget...

...Every single moment that we shared when we held arms.

I think that's encouraging me enough.

I'm certainly going to go back there and live up my whole remaining 3 weeks with him—and I'm STILL definitely Nara Shikamaru's wife.

Author's notes:

Again, thank you for the reviews!

Moronicus:

Oi! Kababayan!!! Nyahahaha... Yap! I'm a true-blooded and full-blooded Filipino! Thanks for supporting the story and just where do you exactly live anyway? Send it through e-mail if that's okay with you. XD

Kawaii34girl:

Really? It's getting good! Thank you!!!!!! I promise it would be a lot better since Ino is having a change of heart already!!! Hahaha... XD

Irukapooka:

You've already guessed who it was from the previous chapter? Hahahaha.. Looks like I gotta be more sneaky, huh? Anyways. I do love your pen name!

And maybe I could call myself Shikapooka! XD Hey I like that! Thanks again!

And to the others:

HikaruofArrow and Narutogirl, many thanks to you!!!!!!!

And mind you people, the next chapter would be the last part of Ino's P.O.V... XD