A/N: Much appreciated reviews! Yay! And thanks for telling me about the name mistakes, guys! Without further ado, here goes.

Disclaimer: Ahg, I forgot disclaimer in previous chapter. This speaks for both chapters, and the whole story for that matter. This is I don't own anything except the idea and my story. I don't own the characters, the handcuffs, the butterflies, anything.

Dedication: Mary, Nancy, Celia, and to each and everyone of my reviewers so far. moonlightpath, mlcxo, Orinos, aki-child, Tench-Sama, Mandalen, Shika-Kun, rikkufx, Miss Ino. All of you kick-ass ;P bows down

Handcuffed

'Chapter 2. A month and a little more...'

Light from the setting sun filtered into the room. Kids outside laughing and screaming broke the shocked silence.

"Top..Top..T..T..Top secret?" Ino managed weakly. Her knuckles donned a glaring white color as she clenched the edge of her seat tightly.

"Yes, top secret." Inoshi nodded.

Shikamaru blinked. 'What..the'

"What..?" Shikamaru questioned repeating his own thoughts, his voice strangely high. Shikato gave him a knowing smile.

"You two will be, as I said before, 'guinea pigs' for this particular mission. It's the first of it's kind, this mission. That's why you two are so important. Tonight, rest up and enjoy things you normally can't enjoy as well when restrained. Tomorrow, both of you will need to speak with the Fifth. She wanted to explain more about this mission for you two." Inoshi said as he headed for the door. Ino slowly got up and walked out after her father, a look of shock frozen on her face.

Shikamaru stood there. He looked at his father. He sat down at the table still staring at his father.

"Shikamaru. I know that once you came back you wanted a good rest, but things can't always go your way. Yes, it may be awkward since both of you are soon going to be adults. I understand to be chained like that together is bothersome but take it as a form of training. Just another obstacle you have to overcome. Think of it as..as..playing a game of Shôgi, always required to think of something creative to get yourself out of a sticky situation, doesn't necessarily have to be strategic. You'll have to overcome every obstacle before you can..ah..checkmate the other." Shikato said as he walked over and sat down across from Shikamaru.

"Alright, alright. Not as if I had a choice, since it's another one of those missions the 5th assigned." Shikamaru sighed. 'Shôgi? Sticky situation? Creative? Strategic? Checkmate? This is getting more complicated..trust the 5th to assign such weird missions.' he rolled his eyes, his eyebrows dipped in frustration.

"Well! Seem's like your mother is home. Let's go greet her. You don't know how worried your mother was about you." he chuckled, his voice renewed with vigor.

Ino shielded her eyes from the bright glare from the sun as she walked towards the Hokage's office, near all the Hokage's monument. People waved to her as she walked by, she automatically smiled at them. Birds were chirping, kids were laughing, everything was practically singing with joy, and she couldn't feel worse. She sighed and quickened her pace. These few years, not hearing even once, about Sasuke really tore her apart. Sure he's been gone for at least four, five years now, but for some reason, she still couldn't let go. He's been politely nice to her a few times before he disappeared and really kind towards her when they first entered the Academy, and she has had unrequited love for him ever since then, but somehow no matter how many guys ask her out she couldn't shake off that image of Sasuke she got. He was after all her first love, or so she thought.

Before she knew it, she was only about 30 feet from the monument. It towered over everything else. She could see someone standing near there idly staring skyward. As she neared she saw it was Shikamaru. He was back to his usual attire, deep green Jounin vest, black bodysuit underneath, a bit of the fishnet creeping out beneath the wrists and ankles. His earrings had changed from small hoops to studs. His hair was still in his trademark ponytail but a bit of hair poked out from the back. He had grown to be physically stronger, anyone could see that by just looking at him. Taller, stronger, sturdier yet his laziness had grown too. As she walked towards him she thought of the Shikamaru now, compared to the Shikamaru she used to know and gave a small giggle. She walked over to him and he looked at her as some unexplainable expression crossed his face. She blinked wondering what she just saw and waved at him while smiling, genuinely.

Shikamaru slouched over and leaned against the wall staring at the sky. 'Seems like Ino still takes forever to get ready..' he thought, his mind wandering. Sure he knew once he got back he would get another mission, but he never knew it was going to be so fast. Sure he knew he was going to have a hard time being a jounin, but that was a given anyway. Sure he knew she was only Ino, just three years older than the one he was used to, but he couldn't get that weird feeling off his chest. Of course they had said 'Hi' and seen each other every once in a while after they each became chuunins and went their 'separate ways' even though Team 10 technically still exists. Then again, saying 'Hi' once in a while didn't really keep them as close friends, not like when they were teammates. After they went their separate ways, one out of three of those years, he barely saw her. After all, his latest mission took up the majority of that same year.

"A few months." he muttered. "Some few months those were. It was almost a year." he sighed and stared at a cloud that looked suspiciously like his father's face, that surely brought him back to the task at hand.

Before he knew it, a girl was walking towards him. He studied her profile. Tall, lean, bright-blue-eyed, light-haired, but despite all the light seeming to radiate off her, she looked a bit hollow, deflated in a way. But besides that, her physique up to par, if not above par. He smiled at the thought of the much younger Ino he used to know. Her loudness, her scolds, and the way she had obsessed over Sasuke. 'Sasuke..wonder what happened to him.' he pondered. Then suddenly out of nowhere, as she neared, Ino caught his eyes and gave him a bright warm smile. He looked at the expression on her face. It changed so quickly from looking spaced out and empty to warm and bright. He caught himself studying her a little too long and quickly looked away and gave her a small offhandedly waving gesture.

"Shika! Sorry it took me a while, I had to..." Ino said, a little breathless.

"Don't worry about it. It gave me time to look at clouds." he said nonchalantly a ghost of a smirk crossed his lips and he started to head up the stone steps. Ino looked at him, feeling something odd stir inside her chest. She quickly walked up the steps, the whole time behind Shikamaru and staring at his broad back.

They stood side by side and Shikamaru rapped his knuckled against the hard wooden door. A muffled 'Come in' was heard from the other side. Shikamaru turned the knob and stepped aside to let Ino enter. Ino swallowed and entered the brightly lit room to see the 5th Hokage, Tsunade, sitting at her desk, staring at them with a strange smile on her face. She gestured for them to sit down. They sat down.

"Shikamaru. Glad you're back from your mission. Congratulations on it's completion."

"Thank you."

"As you both know, I have assigned a mission that is highly important and top-secret. You need to be kept together by these manacles twenty-four-seven. You are allowed to try and break free, as it is part of the testing. We want to see if this new product is capable of restraining high-class criminals who are very dangerous. In this future, if the product succeeds, on the left side, the criminal would have his left wrist locked to it, and on the right side, the Konoha ninja would have his or her right wrist locked to it. It's infinitely charged with chakra, and there is no way for them to unlock unless by my command. The main goal of this mission is to spend a month and a little more, to see how much the manacles can endure. To see if they can successfully restrain a pair of people together." Tsunade said, her arms crossed at her chest. She looked at Shikamaru and Ino intently.

"So, we're to test out if the manacles can endure different levels and types of pressure within a month and a little more. What happens if anyone asks why we are linked together, we can't tell them about this since its supposedly top secret." Shikamaru asked, skeptical.

"Just say make up something. Pretend that it's some silly dare that went too far. As your fathers had probably told you both, you guys are the first to try this out. The first of this kind of mission." Tsunade said, shifting her hands from it's crossed position to acting as a support for her chin. She looked briefly at Shizune, who was standing to the side, every bit worried for Shikamaru and Ino. Shizune nodded curtly and left the room.

"And..how are we supposed to...do everything else?" Ino asked, hesitant.

"Well, for living conditions we will supply both of you with an apartment in one of the buildings. It'll be near this area, so you won't have to travel far if you need to contact me. Also, if the manacles break or fracture in any way, come contact me immediately. If you can't find me, go find Shizune. If both of us are unavailable, keep the manacles safe and report to your Team 10's Asuma sensei what had happened and how it broke, this will be very valuable information. He will know about this. Take this as training. Also you'll need to train while you're still cuffed together. And as for anything else, both of you are very resourceful so find a way to solve it. Oh, two more thing before I bound you guys together. One, when either of you say 'expand', the chain between the two cuffs with expand to about 10 feet, but it will be extremely heavy, so you two will be 10 feet further apart, but immobile. After about 20 minutes or so it will automatically contract back to it's normal length, whether you want it to or not. The second thing is that, I know both of you wont do such things, but it's required to tell you this. You have to stay reasonable. Both of you are friends and teammates still, and so don't disrespect the other. When one of you feel uncomfortable or offended then talk it out before you come to report it. If so then I will need to replace one of you in the mission, but I know for one that you two are above that." she said looking at them sternly for a brief moment, Shikmaru sat still and Ino shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Shizune came and brought back the same glittering silver manacle, but now it was shimmering slightly with an electric blue hue.

Shikamaru stared at it. 'Just what have I gotten myself into..' he thought as he fixed his eyes on it.

Even though both of them were prepared for this mission, they still weren't comfortable with the idea that the other would be closer to them than anyone else had ever been. After all there would literally be no privacy. That thought alone was already a bit over the line.

Tsunade walked over with the glittering item and stepped back a second to analyze them. She closed one eye and used the other to look at them from a different angle. She walked over to Shikamaru and positioned him on the left instead of the right.

"You're more dominant on your right hand right?" she asked. He nodded, half of his face scrunched up to in dubious expression. She smiled at him, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "You will play the role of the dangerous outlawed nin."

Then she walked over to Ino. She tensed up a bit, but the Hokage patted her on the shoulder encouragingly.

"And you, Ino. You are a right handed person also right?" Ino nodded. "You will play the role of the Konoha guard."

Then without a moment's hesitation, she firmly, but carefully, grabbed Shikamaru's left wrist, and Ino's right wrist and snapped on the chakra infused handcuffs.

-Click-

"Awww, you guys are so cute! Thanks for agreeing to the mission." Tsunade laughed happily as she briefly hugged both of them, abandoning her previously stern expression. "These kids..." she laughed again as she gave Shizune a knowing smile.

"Alright, you two are free to go wherever you please. You apartment fees and housing will all be paid already each month, but still take good care of the place. Also here are the keys." she said as she handed it to them. She walked over to the window and leaned against it. "Well, good luck guys..and..have fun."

"So..what should we do now?" Ino asked at she awkwardly walked down the stone steps outside the Main Building.

"Hm. Do you have something important to do now?" Shikamaru asked as he examined the manacles.

"No..not really." She replied glancing at the manacles that secured them tightly together.

"I want to go see something. The sun is setting soon and it takes a while to get there."

"Oh, let's go then. What are you looking for?" she asked, curious.

"It's a surprise." he laughed and they hurried their pace southward.

They walked on quickly, the sky getting redder and redder, darker and darker. Shikamaru stopped abruptly at a lush green hill, it was not so far from the outskirts of the village. A small calm river was near the bottom of the hill. He walked down halfway a bit and helped her down. Then he sat down and lied down on his back. Ino looked skeptical at first. 'He comes here to watch clouds?'. Ino, still a bit doubtful, followed suit.

They sat there for a while, the skies getting richer red still. A soft cool breeze was blowing at them. She couldn't relax though. She tried staring at the clouds, but her mind began to wander. 'Don't tell me we're doing this every single day.' she thought a bit dismayed. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sound of the swishing grass, the small trickling noise from the stream below, and the small space separating her from Shikamaru. She stole a quick glance at him, he was staring at the clouds, lost in thought. She decided to not interrupt him and looked at the clouds instead. But..that didn't last long. Faces..she could see the clouds moving, almost as if they were forming faces. 'That one looks like Sakura. I think I see Chouji, that one a little bit like Naruto..and that one over there looks like Lee.' she smiled at the familiar faces staring back at her. 'That one..it looks like...Sasuke-kun.' She looked away quickly, her heart pounding. But it was still no use. All these clouds, everyone of them, suddenly, every single one of them looked like Sasuke. She searched the vast sky for some relief, some relief from the painful ache in her chest. She tried to look for Shikamaru, but she couldn't seem to move, as if she was frozen to the spot at Sasuke's taunting face. She closed her eyes in desperation, but, if anything, it made the situation worse. Once she had closed her eyes, in the darkness, his face was clearly more visible. It was everywhere. She couldn't think of anything but him. His deep dark eyes, his dark hair, his stoic face, his calm posture, his voice..his voice...Before she knew it, she was screaming; trying to block out his voice, crying, sobbing into her knees, her fists were balled up at her side. In an instant, Shikamaru sat up and stared at her.

"Ino! Ino! Get a hold on yourself!" Shikamaru said as she forced Ino off the grassy grounds. She was a mess, she was crying violently and her body was shaking with sobs. The more he tried to calm her the more she couldn't stop herself. In desperation he grabbed a hold of her and hugged her to muffle her sobs. Suddenly, as if brought back to her senses, the crying had stopped, although she was still faintly shaking. Shikamaru released her.

"Ino! Are you okay!" Shikamaru asked, his face full of concern. She quickly wiped her eyes and took an uncertain step backward.

"Shi...Shi..Shika, sorry." She said quickly, her voice still trembling faintly.

"Are you sure!" he asked, unconvinced. "Why did you suddenly start crying? You looked like you were..."

"I..Nevermind, it's nothing..." she trailed off, looking down. She caught sight of his damp clothes, no doubt caused by her. "S-Sorry." she said looking for something to dry it. He grabbed her shoulder.

"Sasuke..." he said softly. She instantly tensed up at his name. She looked out toward to red setting sun, only half of it above the horizon. Her vision had started to blur and her eyes began to sting. Suddenly she felt a painful twisting on her right wrist. She looked down quickly to see Shikamaru in a handstand. The upside down front of his body was facing the setting sun and it lit his face. She looked at him, surprised.

"The world you're seeing isn't the only world there is. Try it, come and see for yourself." he offered, smiling up at her.

Ino felt something bubbling up inside her. Before she knew what she was doing, she could hear her voice, it wasn't sad and trembling anymore. She couldn't stop herself and laughed loudly, it disrupted the formerly uncomfortable silence and sounded wonderfully right to her ears. She turned around to face the opposite direction of the sun and went on a handstand. At first everything was spinning and dizzy, her handcuffs were biting at her wrist, and she was unstable and wobbly at first, but soon she got used to it. Her vision adjusted and she was in awe. The sun and clouds was her floor, the grass was the sky. She stared at the clouds, and sure enough she couldn't see his face anymore, instead it looked inviting and puffy. She looked at the setting sun and her eyes sparkled. Her face lit up with a smile, and for once, she didn't feel anything but content. Even if it was only for a while, she could forget. The best part was that she wasn't alone in this whole new world. She was with Shikamaru, someone who truly proved he understood her. She took a deep breath of air. They stayed in that position for a while, watching the sun set. Everything became darker and darker, colder and colder. Then slowly, the stars came out and winked down at them. The moon shyly came out and illuminated everything. Ino stared barely able to retain her excitement.

"It's so beautiful!" she cried suddenly, swinging her legs in excitement. 'Uh-oh'. Ino lost balance and fell forward. She could hear Shikamaru cry out in response, and felt the manacles pinch her skin once again. She had dragged him forward too. She felt her leg kicking something. Quickly she sat up and helped him up.

"Oops, sorry sorry. Sorta got excited staring at the moon and stars from that perspective." she said giving him a big smile and flipped her hand a few times and quickly helped him up.

"You've never tried looking at things from a different angle before?" he asked amused, rubbing his cheek where she kicked him.

"Nope. Never occurred to me." she smiled and smoothed down her tousled hair. He rolled his eyes and smirked at her.

"Next time, warn me before you start bawling your eyes out. And when you do remember to stay upside down like before to clear out your head. Troublesome woman." he said stretching.

Ino felt her right hand automatically lift upward and she stretched too. She could feel heat creeping up the back of her neck as she remembered her sudden outburst from before.

"Ehh? What did you just call me, Nara Shikamaru!" she asked, her voice getting louder and louder by the second.

'Here it comes.' he thought automatically. 'She hasn't changed one bit, that Ino.'

"And just what are you smirking about, Mr. Everything-is-too-troublesome-for-me. I can't believe I'm stuck with you for a month and a little more..." she continued.

Shikamaru looked skyward at the stars and strolled on towards the marketplace. 'Yep, this woman hasn't changed at all.' he thought as he shook his head despite the loud irregular blast of noises deafening his left ear. 'Well, this has been quite a day. Time for dinner.' he felt his blood run cold at the thought of dinner.

A/N: Wow, yay another chappie. I think it got a bit OOC in the middle, but I'm managing the best I can. Read and review please! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!