Is It Okay if I Love You? Part II

By Phishy chan

Those damn shoujo-mangas made it seem so easy.

The girl would shyly walk up the guy, eyes a-glitter and tiny hands lightly clasped on her chest. And then...She's say something like this:

"S-sensei... I... I really like you!"

And then the sensei would nod in understanding and things would go all well. Happily ever after.

Ino wondered why she often read such trash. It was probably because of the gorgeous men. Yes. That was it-- Bishounen.

Like...Sasuke.

Wait. But it wasn't Sasuke that came to her front door, when comatose for a few moments, then said:

"Is it okay if I love you?"

Nope. That was Shikamaru. Though her best friend was probably far from bishounen (that ponytail? No. Just. No.) she had to admit...he had his own charm.

Wait. This was Shikamaru we were talking about, wasn't it? Shikamaru. Her teammate. The lazy bum-idiot.

The genius lazy bum-idiot.

She started to wonder if she'd consider intelligence a desireable personality trait in a guy. The smart guys were always really, really hot in all the mangas, weren't they? So why should Shikamaru be an exception?

...Maybe because he didn't have long, flowy hair and exotic-looking eyes. He didn't have a girly figure or delicate hands, either. And he didn't have long legs. Hmph.

Wait...Neither did Sasuke. But Sasuke was dark...mysterious... and still pretty hot.

And Shikamaru? Shikamaru...was not. But she obviously couldn't let his offer just stand unreplied. That would be rude. And it would make her seem like a terrible, terrible person. The least she could do would be to reply.

But...with what? "No, Shikamaru, I'm afraid it is not okay if you love me."

Ino decided that she was a very horrible, very shallow, and very terrible person at that very moment. So she decided that she should go and apologize to Shikamaru for being a terrible, horrible, shallow person.

No, for your information, it made no sense whatsoever. But this is Ino we're talking about, and she is a girl with a dilemma. Nothing makes sense when you are a girl with a dilemma.

She thought about going to his house first, then decided against that. If he was the turmoiled, trouble young man Ino thought he was at this moment, the last place he would be would be at home. Definitely not. Ichiraku ramen stand? Possibly. But one does not eat after a confession of love. It simply does not happen. You know, like in the mangas. It's usually tears, laughter, a kiss, THEN some food. Usually on a date.

His favorite hill? Most likely. So our perceptive little Ino headed off towards Shikamaru's favorite cloud-watching hill to apologize for being a shallow, horrible, terrible girl, even if he didn't know it.

Thank goodness for woman intuition. Shikamaru was indeed sitting on the hill in his normal, slack position, watching the clouds drowsily passing by.

Normally, the lead female in Ino's Wonderful Guide to Dates, Love, and Romance in the World of Shoujo Manga would tell her to carefully creep up on the guy, sit down in a very feminine, delicate manner, start her words with "A-Anou..." and then launch into a sugary speech about how long she's liked him or something to that effect.

Well, too bad. Ino didn't want to follow that dumb guide anyway.

"Shikamaru!"

He jolted and woke up from his daydream with a start. Scrambling up and around, he frantically scanned his surroundings until he rested his eyes on Ino.

"Oh... Uh..."

Ino closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Okay... Um... Yeah, I just came to apologize because after I thought about it, I felt like crap, and I felt really, really bad, so I figured it would be the right thing to do anyway. I mean, it's not like this is some sort of sordid manga affair and it's not like you're Sasuke or anything, which I KNOW is really bad of me to think because he's so hot and everything..."

"...For what?"

"...But that's not the point. ANyway, I still felt like crap because I kept thinking about and thinking about it, and I really didn't know what I was going to come and say to you. I mean, right now I'm just saying whatever comes to mind. It makes this whole thing a lot easier, right? I know I don't make much sense or anything, and I'm still trying to think of what to say..."

"I guess, and you're not."

"...But nothing good will come to mind, so I'm just babbling like an idiot still trying to think of how to reply to your confession. I mean, I don't want to say anything that'll end up hurting you, and whatever I want to say seems like it will end up hurting you, and since you're my best friend and everything, I don't really want that to happen and stuff so..."

"Uh..."

"... I know, this sounds really stupid and I'm not making any point whatsoever. I'm still trying to think of what to say. I'm not the genius here so I can't think of anything good enough because it sounds like it'll just sound stupid to you and everything. It's kinda scary that you're such a genius, but at the same time it's really cool..."

"I'm...flattered?"

"...This is so FRUSTRATING. It almost makes me want to be born a guy because it probably isn't this complex for you guys. I mean, girls are so much more emotional and stuff, and I guess it screws us over in the head..."

"Ino...? The point?"

She stopped abruptly in mid-babble and sighed.

"...All right. Fine. Yeah. Sure you can love me, I don't mind."

Shikamaru looked surprised for a bit then gave her a wry sort of smile.

"Thanks...I think?"

"You think too much anyway. I'm going to ask you not to think about what I'm doing next, mmkay?"

"You...wha...MMF."

And Ino leaned over and gave him a kiss. It wasn't too elaborate, too intimate, or too seducing. It definitely wasn't something to come out in a shoujo-manga, but she didn't mind. To Shikamaru, it was short and sweet... and it tasted just like her. And he really didn't mind that at all.

Fin.

A/N: Yes, due to popular demand (more to my own belief that it seemed far too incomplete) I have decided to write a part 2 and finish the story. I kinda enjoyed doing this one a bit more. Fufu. Thanks for the reviews!