Green Tea: This came to me... one day, in the middle of US History class... Oh well Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in it.

Just for Tonight

Ino bit her lip and hugged her pillow tightly against her chest, as if she could somehow muffle the pain in her chest.

It's not fair! It's not fair! NOT FAIR AT ALL!

Leaning over her the edge of her bed, she retrieved a little green diary from under the mattress and shook it until a photograph fell out from between the pages.

It's not fair...

She picked up the photo and gazed at it, pretending that the subject of the photo was actually right in front of her, staring at her with his dark onyx eyes.

But the fantasy didn't last long, for it was shattered by a sharp pang in her heart and once more she was reduced to a sobbing heap on her bed, clutching the photo as if it was her lifeline.

Sasuke... Sakura... Why?...

-FLASHBACK-

Ino headed towards her team's usual training field, running while brushing invisible specks of dirt off her stylish purple outfit.

When she got to the field, she noticed two figures, one skinny, and one plump, standing on the far side of the forest, holding a tense conversation.

"Ohayo, Chouji-kunnn, Shikamaru!" She waved at them to get their attention.

But today, she felt something was wrong. When Chouji smiled in return, it seemed forced and hesistant, while Shikamaru on the other hand, didn't smile at all.

She walked over to them, hands on her hips.
"Well? Spill. What is it?"

Shikamaru looked a-taken back.
"W-what do you mean?"

"YOU know what I'm talking about, what's with the whole Let's-Not-Smile-At-Ino-Today-Because-We're-Too-Busy-Thinking-About-Something-Else?"

Chouji groaned.
"Guess we blew it."

Ino was confused.
"What's wrong with me knowing? You guys shouldn't keep secrets from me, you know! Tell me!"

The plumper boy shook his head.
"Shikamaru?"

"We have to tell her anyways, Chouji, as troublesome as it is..."

The blonde was slowly becoming pissed off.
"What are you TALKING about? TELL ME! NOW!"

"Mendokuse... Well..."

"Just tell her Shikamaru, she's going to find out, if not by us, then by THEM, and you know how THAT would be worse?"

"GODDAMMIT! TELL ME ALREADY!"

Shikamaru sighed and looked away.
"Fine. Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke are officially... well..."

He raised his pinky finger. (AN: This is a hand gesture to indicate a couple, or a significant other. It's commonly used by the characters in Naruto.)

Ino's jaw dropped.
"No. Way."

Chouji looked pained.
"I'm sorry Ino... We both know about... well, you know, but..."

Ino didn't seem to hear him, and continued to repeat the phrase over and over again, like a person with a serious case of OCD.
"No way. No way. No way. No way. No way..."

Shikamaru was becoming slowly disturbed. This was scary, no, frightening. Through all of Ino's ups and downs, he never, ever saw her this upset before.

She... was she going insane?

He grabbed Ino's shoulders and shook her.
"Ino, snap out of it!"

She replied to him with a sharp backhand slap.

There was a pregnant pause of silence as the sound seemed to echo in the clearing. Shikamaru didn't speak. His eyes were closed and his face was still tilted from the impact of the slap. A large red-handprint was forming on his left cheek.

Ino jerked herself out of his grip and ran home, tears streaming down her cheeks.

-END FLASHBACK-

Ino looked at the picture once more and in one jerk, she tore it in half... and then into fourths, and eighths, and over and over again, until she could tear no more. She opened her hand and watched as the little pieces of paper fell to the ground like snowflakes.

She was contemplating this, when her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp rapping at her door.

The girl quickly stowed away her diary and brushed the pieces of the photo under her bed. After wiping away her tears, she sat up.
"Come in."

The door opened to reveal a lanky, green-vest clad figure. Nara Shikamaru. The last person she wanted to see.
"S-s-shika.. maru..."

She blinked away her tears and steeled herself. She stood up and plastered a mask of boredom on her face.
"What do you want?"

Shikamaru locked his gaze onto the floor and spoke monotonously.
"Asuma-sensei wanted me to tell you that we won't be having training tomorrow."

"Oh. Is that it?"

"Yeah. I'll leave now."

"Ok."

Shikamaru's hand barely touched the doorknob before he heard a faint sniffle from behind him. He withdrew his hand and turned around.

Ino stood there, by the bed, looking composed as ever, except for the fact tiny trails of tears were making their way down her face.

He waited.

Like a rickety dam holding back a raging river, her composture broke after a few seconds, causing her to slump over and sob openly.
"It's... not... fair..."

The dark-haired chuunin ran over and caught her just before she hit the ground.

She seemed unaware of this and buried her face in his vest, crying and speaking in broken phrases.
"It's not... fair... I liked him... too, it's not fair... that she should... that SHE should... I mean, I liked him too... WHY?"

With this she began to cry even louder.

Shikamaru felt a sharp pain stab into his chest as he held the sobbing girl in his arms. It wasn't troublesome; it was horrible. He slowly lifted her up and carried her back to her bed. Her crying reduced to soft whimpering when her body touched the soft flannel.

He drew her lilac blankets over her body and walked to the door, determined to leave.

She didn't need him. She didn't want him. It didn't matter. He never mattered. Never. Not to her. It was always Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. She didn't want him. She wanted Sasuke.

"Shikamaru..."

He almost groaned. Once again, he was forced to turn around.
"Yes?"

"Can you..."

The blonde girl clutched at her pillow.
"Can you... stay with me?"

She raised her head and implored him with her tear-filled eyes.

In that instant, he knew he was finished. He was whipped. He was owned, pwned, whatever the word was. In that instant, he knew that he belonged to her and her brillant blue eyes. In that instant, he knew he would kill himself a thousand times just to see her smile. How troublesome.

He had no choice but to say yes.

She gestured to the spot on the bed beside her and his eyes widened. No. He couldn't. He...

He feared he would be unable to control himself if he did.

But once again, the eyes implored him once more, and he found himself lying next to her, heart beating erratically. He couldn't even bring himself to say 'troublesome'.

She turned off the light and the two lay there, basked in darkness.

Ino looked over at Shikamaru, who was fast asleep. Then, slowly, she wrapped one arm around him, and buried her head into his shoulder.

She didn't know why, but it felt... right.

She blinked back a tear. Perhaps she was pretending again. But she didn't care. Whatever. Perhaps she was trying to trick herself into believing the person she had her arm around was Sasuke. She didn't care.

Just for tonight, she was going to pretend. Just for tonight, it didn't matter to her. She would fool herself and she didn't care. At all.

With that, she fell asleep.

Unfortunately for Shikamaru, he was VERY much awake when he felt her arm wrap around him. He stiffened. She was probably just dreaming. Yes, that was right. She probably was dreaming about Sasuke. How troublesome. But then again...

He felt her relax and fall asleep. And then he was overcome by a most absurd idea. But he did it anyways.

Slowly, very slowly, he lifted his arm, and draped it across her, moving at a snail's pace, for fear that she would wake.

Finally, he relaxed and listened to her even, steady breaths.

He closed his eyes.

Who was he kidding? The instant she woke up tomorrow, she'd probably slap him again. But it didn't matter, come what may. He didn't care.

Just for tonight, he would pretend that she wasn't dreaming of a stupid, egotistical, black-haired Uchiha. Just for tonight, she was dreaming of him. Even if it all just was a game of make-believe, it really didn't matter. Just for tonight, at least.

He fell asleep listening to her heartbeat.

But he was wrong, for that night, she didn't dream of Sasuke.

Instead, she dreamt of a lazy, but clever boy, who used the word 'troublesome' way too much.

OWARI

Green Tea: Cheesy, eh? Well, I don't think there's enough Shika/Ino fluff out there, so oh well! Review please!