Troublesome huh?

"Shikamaruuuuuuuu!" A voice hollered.

The person addressed by said voice groaned. The day had started at such a good pace, and now she had to show up.

Shikamaru had woken up that morning, for once without his mother having to kick-start him. He had eaten breakfast in an unusually good mood, fed the deer without mistake, and then after hearing that the examiners' meeting had been canceled made his way to his most favorable place in Konoha to watch the clouds. He should have known. If the day started so good, it would end in exhaustion. And now, the person who was usually the cause of such exhaustions was making her way over to him. God, he felt like it took the girl forever to just make her way over from the stairs and under the small shelter to finally flop down on the bench on which he was currently lying, when it in fact only took her a few seconds since she was walking with a rather determined stride.

The moment she sat down, he knew what was coming.

"Life's just so unfair." Yup, she was using that tone. The tone that clearly showed her displeasure. "I mean, is going with me for one date really too much to ask for?" She was, of course, talking about her failed attempt to persuade Uchiha Sasuke to take her out. Shikamaru had never been able to understand why that guy was so popular. Heck, he didn't even make an effort to be popular either. In the past, Shikamaru might have felt just the teensy bit of jealousy for the Uchiha prodigy and his popularity, but not today. Oh, no, definitely not in this present time. See, ever since he made it to chuunin rank (without even wanting too), his former sensei, the walking chimney, Asuma, had blabbered to each and every one he knew about his student's superior intelligence. Shikamaru couldn't really understand what was so great about him being smart, really, but apparently, others could. After the Hokage found out what the young chuunin actually was capable of, she had sent him out on special 'missions' that would help him put his intelligence to good use. Heck, she even had him memorize numerous amounts of files and maps that could be of use in many situations. He had been spending so much time in the fifth's office that he considered asking for his own desk but, alas, it was too troublesome.

In any case, Shikamaru was now considered one ofthe best battle strategist in the whole village. This sort of fame brought popularity, popularity brought crowds, crowds brought girls who in turn brought troublesome situations.
So, instead of feeling jealousy for Sasuke, Shikamaru now felt great sympathy for the guy who had been cursed by popularity so much earlier than himself.

"Shikamaru, are you listening to me?" Oh yes, he forgot; she was still there.

"Yes." He lied. Troublesome as it was, he liked to be alive, and going against this girl in particular was the same as signing your own death sentence.

"Really?" She asked skeptically. "Then what did I just say?"

Shikamaru sighed. "You asked if one date was too much to ask for." His gaze danced over to her, just in time to see her eyes turn into small slits as she glared at him.

"I asked you that, five minutes ago." She stated.

Boy, was he in trouble now.

He shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Gah! I don't know why I even bother!" She exclaimed, standing up so she could glare at him from a greater height. "I come here looking for sympathy, but you're not even listening to me!"

He let out another sigh as he sat up. "Ino," that was her name, Yamanaka Ino, "I just spaced out, okay?"

His blond teammate let out a sigh of her own before reclaiming her seat next to him. "It's just…I feel so hopeless." She said. "No matter what I do, he never seems to care."

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head; slightly annoyed. This was another reason why he hated the fame of his IQ; people always came to him with their problems. Money problems, training problems, strategic problems, and of course his favorite; love problems. God, how he hated love problems. Guys would come to him asking for counsel of how to get the attention of a 'special' girl, and for tips of how to act during dates. Girls however, they came to him dropping hints of how 'cute' he was while expertly disguising it as a description of their 'special' someone.

Now, while Ino never directly came to him asking for advice, it often ended with him helping her with this or that or humor her when she went into one of her tirades.

"Maybe you should just…give up on him," Shikamaru told her, "you know, find someone else."

Ino shook her head. "I've tried, but sometimes I even doubt that anyone likes me." She said sadly. "I mean, no one seem to really like me for being, you know, me."

Shikamaru snorted. "And I thought Hinata had low self-esteem." Ino didn't exactly have a lack of confidence. On the contrary, she sometimes had too much of it.

She frowned at him and asked "What do you mean?"

Shikamaru sighed; explaining stuff to Ino was so troublesome. "Sure, there may be a lot of reasons to dislike you," he said, when he saw Ino glare at him out of the corner of his eyes he quickly continued, "but there are more reasons to actually like you. I mean, the good far out strikes the bad right?" At Ino's quizzical stare he sighed. "Look, I know a fair amount of guys who likes you, heck even I like you, I even know a couple of girls who likes you that way."

Ino frowned. "What do you mean when you say that you like me?" She asked.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Even though you can be loud, bossy and annoying most of the time, you're still kind of fun, pretty, talented…" He let out another sigh. "You're far from being the average girl I thought I'd find someday, and still I find myself liking you. Mendoukuse."

Ino blinked when she heard those words. Did Shikamaru mean what he actually said he meant? Did he really like her that way? Wait a minute, was this supposed to be some sort of confession? He had said it so casually. It made her angry. "What do you mean by saying something like that as if it didn't matter?" She demanded.

He shrugged, lying down once again. "How was I supposed to say it?" He asked casually, not at all bothered by her loud voice, as long as she didn't start hitting him. "Did you expect me to be hesitant and stutter about it like Hinata does whenever she's close to Naruto?"

"Well you could have been more romantic about it!" Ino yelled.

"Too troublesome." Was the response.

"You're unbelievable!" She exclaimed and threw her arms in the air.

Another shrug. "I try." A smirk was placed snugly on his frowning face.

"You…why…I outta…AGH!" And with those words, Ino got up made her way down the stairs of the small building.

Shikamaru had to admit, he was slightly surprised by her reaction. He had imagined many different scenarios about how she would react when he told her how he felt. Those scenarios included her laughing her ass off, her telling him he was an idiot, her being apologetic and saying it would never work (which was most preferable), and even a scenario in which she would blush and look flattered.

For some reason, however, he had overlooked the possibility of her getting angry. Angry because of how he told her, no less. He always thought telling people stuff in passing or while they were on the topic was the easiest way of showing one's opinion.

He sighed. Keeping stuff bottled up was so troublesome. Well, at least he told her. Hopefully, she wouldn't expect him to ask her out on dates, which would be troublesome.

He yawned, got up, and stretched. He had to fill out a report about the last chuunin exam before tomorrow. How very troublesome.

To say that Ino was distressed would be the understatement of the year; she was down-right ballistic.

'Damn that Shikamaru!' She thought as she made her way home with thundering steps. The frown on her face and her pouting lips reminded onlookers of Shikamaru, the very reason for her grumpy behavior. Of course, the image was ruined by the fact that Ino was using twice as much effort walking right now than Shikamaru ever used during those few occasions when he was running.

'I can't believe how calm he acts about emotional stuff!' The girl continued her mental rant about her lazy teammate. 'He drops such a bomb at me, saying that he likes me, and then acts as if it was the most casual thing anyone could do!' A single white beautiful flower was growing in the middle of the road; showing the world that beauty can be found in the most unthinkable places. The beauty of this flower, however, was literally torn into shreds since it was unfortunate to be located in the exact same place where Ino's foot landed. Poor flower.

Ino began to calm down. She didn't even know why she had been angry in the first place. She was shocked by Shikamaru's words, yes. He had said it so out of the blue. Well, not really, but it was still shocking, he even said it together with the statement that girls were interested in her to make it less noticeable. Ino began to regret leaving so abruptly, she hadn't even been able to tell him how she felt. How did she feel, by the way? Did she like Shikamaru? He had grown pretty neatly over the years, definitely boyfriend material by Ino's standards. He wasn't exactly Sasuke though.

For a moment, she imagined Sasuke with a Shikamaru attitude. She shook her head at the mental picture she got. How about Shikamaru with a Sasuke attitude? She shuddered and immediately threw that thought away. She thought about the Shikamaru she knew, and then realized that she didn't exactly know anything about Sasuke's personality at all, but she knew Shikamaru's better than any girl in Konoha, except his mother, but that was beside the point.

Ino suddenly realized that Shikamaru was right; she should find someone else instead of Sasuke. Leave the cold-hearted egoist to forehead-girl and move on. Let Sakura dream on about a guy who will never be hers, while she, Ino, got someone else worthy enough of her attention. She grinned when she thought about this someone. Well, he said he liked her, so he might as well face the consequences.

That which started in a grumpy march, ended in gleeful skipping as Ino made her way home for dinner.

As he was walking home, Shikamaru began to miss his spot on the bench under the clouds. He stared at the sky in envy. Clouds didn't have reports to fill, or meeting to attend to, or irritating crushes to worry about, or-

"A-ano…Sh-Shikamaru-kun?"

-or stuttering girls to bother them.

He turned around and found Hyuuga Hinata standing there, looking hesitant. Her hands brought together to perform her little habit of twiddling with her fingers.

"Nani?" He asked, though he had a hunch about what she was going to say…or rather, what she was going to try to say.

"Ano…I…I need your h-help with s-something." She said.

Wow, it only took her six seconds to say that. Shikamaru thought it'd take her twice as much.

"Th-there is…" Hinata continued, but hesitated.

Shikamaru sighed tiredly, before saying in a dull voice "There's someone you like?"

Hinata looked a bit surprised, but nodded all the same.

Shikamaru sighed again. He sure was doing a lot of sighing today. Nonetheless, he knew that this shy girl would come to him with her problems; it surprised him she didn't come earlier though. "It's Naruto, right?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

Hinata looked absolutely stricken; her eyes were wide and her cheeks were pink. Obviously, she thought she had been discreet about her crush. "H-how d-did you know?" She asked.

Shikamaru shrugged. "I'm observant, also, I heard Kiba talking to Shino, he said 'if Hinata doesn't tell Naruto that she likes him and stops acting like an idiot around him, I might actually tell him myself'."

Hinata blushed, if possibly, even more.

After sighing some more to assure the world that he was very annoyed, Shikamaru said "Well, the only way for him to realize how you feel about him, is to either tell him yourself, or have someone else tell him for you, since he's so dense that he wouldn't recognize affection unless it was literally thrown at him."

Hinata felt that she should defend Naruto. "Na-Naruto-kun isn't-"

"He's dense." Shikamaru said firmly. As he noticed Hinata's rather upset eyes, he let out another one of his infamous sighs and said "Look, Naruto's pretty sharp about how others feel for each other, but since he's never really experienced that kind of affection himself…" He shrugged, hoping he made a point. Hinata nodded, satisfied with Shikamaru's explanation. He continued "He knows when people like Iruka-sensei likes him as a son, or when people like Sakura like him as a friend, but he has no idea when people likes him in a manner as boyfriend-girlfriend."

Hinata nodded again, but suddenly started to play with her fingers again. "I…I wanted t-to find out i-if he liked me b-b-back."

Shikamaru inwardly groaned. These kinds of situations were troublesome. It was so much easier to give people advice on how to express their affections. "Well, has he ever given you any hints, or done anything out of place or something?"

Hinata blushed again. She seemed to be doing that as much as Shikamaru sighs. "W-well…when we w-were on a m-mission to find a bi-bikouchuu, h-he actually…-h-hugged me."

Shikamaru shrugged. "That's pretty normal, friends hug all the time."

Hinata looked crest-fallen.

Shikamaru sighed….again. "Look, I'll talk to him; I'll make up some story and see what I can find out." This was usually something he'd never do but, he thought, Hinata was a good girl, and she was a part of the old rookie-nine, he could make an exception for her.

The young Hyuuga visibly perked up. "R-really?" She asked hopefully.

Shikamaru nodded. "Sure."

Hinata clasped her hands in front of her and bowed deeply. "A-arigatou, Shikamaru-kun."

Shikamaru nodded, and turned back to what he was doing; complain to himself about how troublesome life was, while walking home, staring at the clouds.

Oh, how he wished to be a cloud.

"I'm home!" Ino called out happily as she took off her shoes and skipped gleefully into the kitchen, humming all the way.

"You seem awfully cheerful today." Her father, Inoshi said with a smile. When his daughter was happy, he was happy. "Did something interesting happen today?" He asked, taking a sip from his coffee.

"Shikamaru likes me!" Ino answered, beaming.

Inoshi sprayed out his coffee all over his newspaper.

"Why, that's nice dear!" Her mother, Yuka said with a smile. "Could you help me set the table?"

"Sure!" Ino said, still smiling from ear to ear.

"Shikamaru?" Inoshi asked with wide eyes. "Shikako's kid!"

"Yup!" His daughter confirmed as she put three plates on the table.

"You two would look so cute together!" Yuka told her daughter with a squeal as she put a pan of fried rice on the table. Ino blushed and giggled.

Inoshi stared at his wife and daughter with fearful eyes; very disturbed by their behavior.

"So, how did you find out dear?" Yuka asked. "Did he just tell you?"

Ino nodded. "It wasn't as romantic as I would've like, but he told me." She claimed a posture showing she was deep in thought. "Hmm…now I'll just have to make him take me out on a date."

Inoshi felt great sympathy for his former teammate's son. Ino was just like her mother; a bossy, manipulative girl who always got what she wanted. The mind jutsus he'd taught her only added to the scary picture.

"Oh, this is fantastic!" Yuka said with a dreamy smile. "Oh, I have to start picking out flowers for your wedding!"

"Mom!" Ino exclaimed, looking almost scandalized. "We haven't even started dating yet!"

"Oh, that'll come soon, darling!" Her mother said with a wave of her hand. "Remember; if he doesn't ask you himself, make him." Her smile suddenly turned rather sly. "That's how your father and I got together."

Inoshi suppressed a shudder; he wasn't sure if he should rejoice from the memory, or regret it.

Ino smiled, remembering her motto; if they don't do it willingly, make them.

Shikamaru continued to make his way through the bustling streets of Konoha; grumbling about how troublesome everything was…as usual. He glanced around at the people milling about. They were all totally oblivious to the displeasure of this…obviously displeased chuunin.

"Mendkoukuse..." He muttered. Suddenly, his eyes fell upon an open spot in the park. It looked so inviting. A nice patch of grass that would surely be more comfortable than the bench he usually lay upon. He glanced at his wristwatch; it was only noon, he'd have enough time too write the report later, right? Watching the clouds for another couple of hours wouldn't hurt anyone…right?

Without letting himself change his mind, he quickly made his way over to the patch of grass, and lay down, letting out a sigh of content.

The clouds were so nice.

Clouds were better than humans, Shikamaru decided. Clouds never nagged at you to go on missions and then write reports about them. They never told you to get out of bed and then pull you out themselves because you didn't do what you were told. They didn't yell at you for being lazy. They didn't go PMS-ing on you.

Frankly, clouds weren't troublesome.

He had discovered the wonders of the clouds at an early age. His mother had been screaming at him for not cleaning his room, and as he stared up at her face he had noticed how mesmerizing the clouds in the sky behind her looked. They were somehow…relaxing, and he found himself able to entirely tune out the nagging voice of his mother. She had given him quite the spanking when she noticed he wasn't listening to her.

Ahhh, the clouds. They were so relaxing to watch. There was nothing else in the world. Only the blue sky and the white, fluffy clouds.

"Ne, Ou-chan?" ('Old man') What was that? A bug? Nah, a bug wouldn't call him old.

"Mister?" There it was again. Hmm, for some reason, he couldn't see the clouds anymore. Wait, there were two faces staring down at him! Okay, it was official; he could slack off during a full-blown war simply by watching the clouds.

"Ne, ne! Ou-chan!" Oh, yes; the voices. One of them sounded quite whiny.

He involuntarily focused on the two faces peering down at him.

Kids. Two of them. A boy and a girl. They looked very similar. Probably siblings, maybe even twins, they were both red-heads. The boy had a rather bored look on his face, reminding Shikamaru of himself. The girl however, looked rather annoyed. As in 'Ino-annoyed'.

"Nani?" He raised an eyebrow at the little rascals who dared disturb his enthusiastic slacking.

The little girl suddenly switched from annoyed to overly-cheerful in a way that would have Ino make a run for her money.

"Our big-sister needs a boyfriend!" She declared brightly.

"……that's nice." Go away, I wanna watch the clouds.

"She says she doesn't care about boys, but I know, because I've heard her talk about someone with her friends!" The little hell-spawn continued.

"My, you're observant." Now, observe the expression on my face; it says 'leave me alone!'

"And, 'cause that boy doesn't care about her, we thought we'd find her another one!" If the girl's smile could get any bigger, Shikamaru would recommend her parents to take her to a medic-nin.

"What does this have to do with me?" Shikamaru really didn't like the way this conversation was heading.

The girl continued to smile. "Would you like to be her boyfriend?" She asked.

Hmm…maybe if he talked in a complicated manner, they would get bored and leave him alone. It's worth a shot. "I'm terribly sorry, but at the moment, I do not accept any more applications on that subject."

"Huh?" The girl blinked and turned to her brother with a puzzled face.

The boy sighed tiredly. "He said 'no'." Hmm…the kid was sharp.

The girl looked shocked. "Whaaaaaaa…? Why?"

Shikamaru sighed. Why wouldn't she just go away? "Because being a boyfriend would be troublesome."

"But…but…but…" The girl spluttered. "You're a boy!" She declared, as if it was the best argument the world had to offer in this situation.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow lazily. "So?"

The girl crossed her arms to make herself look as smart as possible. "When someone offers a boy a girlfriend, the boy should be flattered, then blush and say yes!" The stance obviously wasn't working.

Shikamaru sighed. He was a bit confused by her argument, because most boys around the girl's age would be more like 'ewww, cooties" instead of accepting. Girls were always so troublesome, and the worst thing was that they came in all sizes. Unfortunately, just because the girl was small, didn't mean she was less troublesome. Nope, if a girl lacked in size, she would definitely compensate it by being even more troublesome. "What about that other guy? Didn't he say no?" Shikamaru questioned. "Then why can't I say no?"

The girl pouted and glared at him. Hmm…dye her hair blonde, and she'd make a perfect chibi-Ino. "He didn't say no, 'cause nee-chan never asked, we'd ask him but we don't know how he looks."

Shikamaru was silent for a moment, then "You're so troublesome."

The little monster girl gasped. "That's rude!" She stomped her foot like the little spoiled child Shikamaru was convinced she was.

The boy shrugged. "He's right."

The girl pouted and glared at her brother before yelling out "I'm gonna tell nee-chan!" And then she ran off.

There was a short silence before the boy broke it. "So what're you doing here anyway?"

Shikamaru returned to what he was doing; "Cloud-watching."

The boy looked up at the sky and let out an "Oh."

There was another silence before the kid spoke, once again. "You're in big trouble, you know."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, but didn't avert his gaze from the glorious clouds. "Really?"

The boy nodded. "Yup, when Izumi comes back with nee-chan, you'll be in for a rough ride."

"Is your big sister that scary?" Shikamaru asked.

The boy shrugged. A habit that that Shikamaru was proud to claim he had mastered even before he could walk. "Nee-chan's always worrying about people bullying us," he smirked slightly, "but all the other kids are afraid of Izumi, so they never pick on her."

Shikamaru chuckled, just in time to hear both his and the kid's stomach grumble loudly.

Hmm…a quick snack sounded good, too bad Chouji wasn't there. Dinner wasn't until a couple of hours either…he sighed. He was so hungry, and it seemed his young companion (not really) was too.

Shikamaru sighed. "Wanna grab some ramen?" He asked. "My treat."

The kid shrugged and smiled. "Sure."

To say that Ino liked flowers would be an understatement. She loved flowers. Every time her ploys of getting Sasuke's attention failed she would always head over to her mom's shop to make some flower arrangements. As she got older, her mother also made her help out in the shop. Like now. She was sitting behind the counter, chin in her hands, but this time she wasn't arranging flowers or thinking about Sasuke. Oh no. She was scheming. If someone who didn't know her could read her mind, then they would be envious of a certain someone. If someone who did know her could read her mind, however, they would feel great pity for this certain someone.

Suddenly the bell rang, signaling someone entering the store. Ino looked up and saw Sakura standing there, looking dejected. She raised her eyebrows at her old friend, a sweet smile playing at her lips. "Why the long face, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura looked up and stared at Ino in wonder. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed and she asked suspiciously "Okay, what're you up to?" She had just received another indifferent and rejecting reply after asking Sasuke out, again, so she didn't feel like putting up with Ino's taunting.

Ino feigned a look of shock. "What makes you think I'm up to something, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura continued to regard her with a suspicious look. "You stopped calling me Sakura-chan six years ago."

Ino giggled and gazed at some roses standing next to the counter, and with a dreamy smile she said "It's just such a nice day, that's all." She let out another giggle.

Sakura frowned. Something was definitely up. Sure, Ino was a naturally cheerful person, but the only occasion when she was this happy was when something really good happened. Sakura's eyes widened. 'She couldn't…he wouldn't….but it would explain why he rejected me again…oh god.' "Ino…" She spoke in a quiet voice, her wide eyes fixed on the girl in front of her. "…don't tell me…" Ino looked back at Sakura. "…did…did you actually manage to get Sasuke-kun to take you out?" She shrieked the last part.

Ino blinked. It was quiet for a while…until she burst out laughing. "Sa…Sa…Sasuke?" She managed to wheeze out between laughs, giving Sakura a look of disbelief that confused the pink-haired kunoichi. She managed to calm down after two minutes of continuous laughing. "Please, Sakura!" She said waving a hand good-naturally. "That ice-cube is old news; I've completely given up on him!" She grinned impishly.

Sakura wasn't suspicious anymore. Now she was worried. Ino giving up on Sasuke? Ino calling Sasuke and ice-cube? This was unheard of. Her emotion quickly turned to worried suspicion. She grabbed Ino by her shirt and shook her like a rag-doll. "Who are you?" She demanded. "What have you done to Ino-pig!"

The blonde girl quickly went on the offensive. She slapped Sakura's arms away and yelled "Who are you calling pig, you big-forehead-freak?"

Sakura blinked. "You really are Ino!" She declared, pointing.

Ino huffed. "Of course I am!"

They just looked at each other for a couple of moments, Ino glaring and Sakura simply staring. After a while Sakura decided to break the silence. "So what's up with you?"

Ino blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What's up with me?" She asked, slightly miffed. "You're the one who comes in here acting like I was an alien!"

Sakura frowned. "Well, first of all you insulted Sasuke-kun…the Ino I know would never do that."

Ino shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "Well…I just realized what a prick he is," she brushed some stray hair behind her ear, "besides, I've found someone better."

Sakura raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Better than Sasuke-kun?" She crossed her arms and adapted a stubborn expression. "There's no guy better than Sasuke-kun!"

Ino shrugged. "Well, Sasuke might beat him when it comes to good looks," she grinned cheekily, "but even though he's a genius, he'll never be as smart as my Shikamaru!" She giggled obnoxiously with a small blush on her cheeks.

Sakura's eyes widened and she stood stock still. 'Shikamaru?' She thought. 'Good for nothing lazy-ass bum Shikamaru?'

Ino stopped giggling when she noticed the look on Sakura's face. "Sakura?" She questioned, waving a hand in front of her face. The girl didn't even blink. "Are you alright?" She poked her between the eyes. Sakura fell over backwards in a dead faint.

(A/N) This here is my first Naruto-fic! I've been playing around with this idea of an 'InoShika-fic' for a while and decided to post it up. Next chapter might take a while, but if you want to make sure it get's up faster, leave a review! Many reviews makes me more motivated!

/the swed/