Is it okay if I love you?

By Phishy Chan

Saying three words really shouldn't be this hard.

To make it as un-troublesome as possible, you go the object of your affection, say the words, and wait for a reaction. Or in this particular case, you run. Something like that.

It didn't take a genius to figure it out. Shikamaru knew—he was one.

But ah… Always the complexities of the human soul. The one thing that even he, chess grandmaster beyond his years and beyond-brilliant tactician could not figure out.

So his excuse for standing in front of a certain Yamanaka door for a certain amount of X, Y, and Z hours (or rather, 45 minutes… it wasn't too long, now, was it?) was that he couldn't figure out the answer to his rather perplexing problem.

Thank goodness for woman intuition?

"Shikamaru? What are you doing here?"

While lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice the door open to the hand of that particularly troublesome woman to whom he was supposed to "confess." No, he did not want dramatic cherry-blossom petals swirling around him (some peddler with a strange hat and a severe-looking woman had offered to take care of his…special effects), and no, he did not want passionate tears or glomps or hugs or intimate kisses.

Because Shikamaru was slightly selfish. All of those would end up being too much trouble for him, and he really didn't want that at all.

"Shikamaru? Hello?"

Ino's blue eyes gave him a perplexed look. Shikamaru didn't move.

"Shikamaru?"

…

"Shikamaaaru"

…

"Dad, I think something's wrong with Shikamaru!"

…

"SHIKAMARU"

Fortunately, his senses came back just before whirling palms of fury were about to slap into his poor, genius face. They were stopped by his own palms raised up rather austerely in front of him. Was it feigned sincerity? Who knew? He didn't spend his time reading silly body-language books.

"Uh…"

"Well, thank goodness you decided to say something! I was wondering if it was possible for a person to go into a coma while standing up."

"Uh…"

"Anyway, what is it, Shikamaru? I'm kinda busy. I've gotta go somewhere soon."

"…"

"…Uh…"

"Shikamaru? Are you going to zone out on me again?"

And the words flew out in a chaotic, verbal flurry. Not at all what he was planning. And it was far longer than those three stupid words.

"Is it okay if I love you?"

And now, Ino was speechless.

"Y-you…what?"

Too late. He was already tearing down the road, a whirlwind of dust behind him. Something between a perplexed frown and a gleeful smile smothered Ino's lips.

A/N: more ShikaIno fluffy stuff. This was uberly rushed and was written on improve since I've got to go somewhere soon…but… I needed to express my ShikaIno-love somehow.

Oh, and guess who that weird peddler and the severe-looking woman were? If you guessed someone from Bleach, you were right! IF you explicitly guessed a certain Shunshui and Nanao from a certain 8th Shinigami division, you were even MORE right! Wow! Cool! They've been on my mind for a while. I love those two. X'D