Title: The Books, The Shougi, and The Girl
Summary: AU: High School Fic. Ino's the popular girl. Shikamaru's the unpopular boy. Can love blossom between the two or will it end as a one-sided love?
Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters of the anime. This fan fiction was created for fun. Do not sue for any reasons.
Chapter: 1: Misunderstanding
Comments: Thank you to those who reviewed! I appreciate it, really I do ;-; Sorry if this chapter is short. -.-' And… it lacks part of the storyline. Kinda. O.o''

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Normal POV

"Man, where'd you go, Chouji…" Shikamaru mumbled to himself as the students of KHS were shuffling around.

It was routine that the two go through the front doors, and get separated in the flow of the people chatting and gossiping in the halls. Eventually Shikamaru found Chouji at his locker and waited for him to get his books and they left for their first periods. Shikamaru had Pre Algebra while Chouji had Japanese Government.

"You know if you keep looking bored and depressed, your face might stay that way." Chouji advises. "Is there something bothering you?"

"Nah… It's just the morning, that's all. I hate getting up for school. You should know that of all people." The shadow user says.

The Akimichi stopped in his tracks. "It's Ino, isn't it." He grinned.

"Well… I guess. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"If you love her so much, just ask her out. I'm sure she'll accept. I mean… come on, you're a great guy to hang around with!"

"Chouji, you know nothing about love. And besides, there's a ton of obstacles to evenbe near her."

"You've been calculating? Geez, Shikamaru, you're love sick."

"Shut it."

The two parted down a hallway and Shikamaru walked into his class in small strides, abruptly stopped by a slightly taller figure than him.

"Well if it isn't the class nerd. Heh… Are you sure you should be here? The librarian might be out looking for you." The black-haired teen sneered. It was the popular jerk, Sasuke.

Shikamaru closed his eyes and opened them up again, eyebrows furrowing. "Same goes for you. The principle was looking for you on my way here."

Sasuke's groupies suddenly glared at Shikamaru and looked as though it was a court trial. The Nara shrugged the whole thing off as the groupies continued their snickering behind him. He sat down near the back and beside the window where he always sat. The encounter with Sasuke and his lackeys was routine as well, only on Mondays though.

'Man, Mondays are so troublesome…' The lazy genius thought.

The teacher walked in as the bell rang and began talking in a monotonous voice about the bulletin.

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Shikamaru's POV

I find it strange that the math teacher seems to drawl on about useless math skills yet doesn't find the time to check that the students are in no question not attentive. I don't listen either, since I spend my time sleeping in class. Instead today I decide to shift my head to rest on my arm, and scribble nonsense on my notebook. Let's see what I have so far:

Many things in life are troublesome.
I'm very lazy.
Sasuke's a first-class snob.
Ino's very pretty.
Chouji thi

Wait just a darn minute! I read over what I have. No, never mind. Chouji thinks asparagus is disgusting too.

I glance up to see a few people throwing paper airplanes and other objects. There's Sasuke and those people talking about their business. A pen bounces off my head. Ow. I don't notice my hand is in motion with my pencil still in full grip. I look back at my notebook and see two lines of the same thing:

I love Ino I love Ino I love Ino I love Ino I love Ino I love Ino I love Ino
I love Ino I love Ino I love Ino I love Ino I love Ino I love Ino I love Ino

I need to talk to Chouji about this…

…Or not.

I did this back in middle school once, and he sat there howling at me. I didn't find it funny though.

I went back to scribbling on my paper, unfazed by the second piece of something that was thrown my way. I wish Ino were in this class. I could've been staring at her the whole time in secrecy. But unfortunately, her IQ doesn't have what it takes to be in this class.

If she were with me I would've made up for that in a future life. I don't want to sound selfish, but if I weren't so lazy I could do something about it. That's it though. I'm Nara Shikamaru, the lazy, laid-back genius with an IQ of 200. A man with no drive. Feh.

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It's break time right now, and I'm in the library with Chouji. We're playing a game of Shougi. I move a piece and Chouji crosses his arms in dissatisfaction.

"Oh great. Now what move can I make…" Chouji says scratching his head and looking over the board.

I look around the library to see a few people looking on the shelves for books. It's a typical day for my best friend and me. Then there's a tap on my shoulder. I wonder who would want to talk to 'the nerd'…

No way in the Kyuubi's grasp-

"Ino?" I must say; she surprised me. She was smiling her cute smile and waving a hand in front of us.

She sat down in front of the board and flipped her hair back. Chouji was still trying to make his move.

"Sooo… What's been going on with you two?" Ino asked awkwardly.

For some odd reason beyond my complex mind and further out into space, I wasn't all that happy to have Ino talk to us. All this time she has tried avoiding both of us and she comes out of who knows where and talks to us.

"Nothing in particular. We've just been our old selves." Chouji replied. I wouldn't have said that though. I haven't been the same since she became popular. Not one bit. Am I starting to sound angry? Nah, it's too troublesome to be angry...

I glance behind her and I see Sasuke, Sakura, and the rest of the popular crowd looking at our table oddly. Ino turns to where I look and she suddenly stands up.

"I see. I just wanted to see how you two were doing. I'll just take my leave now. Bye!" She says hastily and skips toward them. I focus my hearing on the group and close my eyes. I knew she was too chatty to just leave like that. I wonder what's up?

"What were you doing over there?" I hear Sakura ask Ino.

"I… They asked me something and… I just sat down to explain something to those losers. Nothing big. They're really not worth my time." Ino said.

That hit me like a ton of bricks.

Is that what she really thought of us? Losers? It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. Not after all those years. She must've been lying. But for what reason? I put my elbow on the table and rested my hand on it.

"You think she was lying too, don't you." Chouji says bluntly, obscuring my thoughts. He finally made his move.

"How did you get to the point to know what I'm thinking? But why do you think she said we were losers?"

"Shikamaru, I'm your best friend. And I was Ino's best friend too. Anyway, it's Ino we're talking about! Sometimes there's no reason when it comes to her, right?"

"Yeah. You're right." With Ino, anything she said could've come up as random as the weather in Konoha. I took a piece and moved it.

"Don't feel bad, Shika. It's the same ol' Ino if you squint your eyes hard enough. Haha…" He said.

It was the same old Ino that came by only minutes ago. I knew that as well as Chouji did. Okay so maybe my heart skipped a beat when I saw her there smiling… did I blush? Did I look like one of my dad's deer in the headlights? Then out of nowhere I see Chouji stand up, with a hand out in front of me in a victory sign.

"What's that for?" I question him with one of my eyebrows cocked up.

"I win! I finally beat you in a game of Shougi!! Where's my journal I have to write this down…" He says in merriment. I sit here dumbfounded as I look over the Shougi board and see one of his pieces moved. Indeed he beat me, the first person in fact. I must be losing my touch…

"Oh well… that's 1 to how many other times we've played in my favor." I say grinning.

We stand up and part our separate ways. I fiddle with the lock on my locker to put my math book away. I open it and a lavender piece of paper falls out. I stare at it for a few seconds before grunting and picking it up. Normally I never get notes like this, especially in a different color other than white. I unfold the page and read it over:

I'm so sorry I said that Shikamaru. I know you heard me say it too.
But I hope you understand why. You're still my friend right?

-Ino

It was the same old Ino. When she said something she didn't mean to either one of us, she would always apologize sooner or later.

It was the 'Ino-thing' to do.

I guess that's one reason why I love that bossy girl.

"You got a note too I see?" Chouji says behind me. I close my locker and we're on our way to our next class. We had the next class together—Physical Education. It was the class both of us hated. For me, because I'm lazy. For Chouji, because he hates exercise.

But I like this class only because Ino's in it with us.

We suited up and waited for instructions by the teacher. Today's agenda was cancelled. The gym teacher's wife was in some sort of accident and he had to leave immediately.

So here we sit on the stands, Chouji eating a bag of chips while I read my romance novel. The other students are chatting and the cheerleading team has the mats out for practice. It was weird how the whole team ended up having the same gym period together.

Ino is a cheerleader. One of the things she's always wanted to be to be popular.

"All right girls! Let's get started!" I hear one of them say in an annoying preppy voice. They stand in formation, ready to do their routine. I see Ino near the front and I decide to put my book down and watch.

Music starts playing and they start dancing. A few seconds later, they make a pyramid, with Ino on top. She waves to everyone and stops to look up at me, smiling.

I sit here frozen by her stare, oddly feeling warm inside.

She still cares.

I know she does.