oztan: hehe! glad you figured out their age yourself! anyways! thank you for your review! love this chapter too, please?
Iyakon Sobek: I will certainly read your narutofic! haha, cuz im a naruto fan afterall! anyways, sorry for the screwy grammar and lack of flow! but omg, im just this bad at grammar and structures! lolx. i will try to improve! try, that is! lols. enjoy this chappie!
Hlomondodeli Majoribanks: glad to hear that you'll be starting to create some great stories too! i will be cheering you on! anyways, you were right! i am going to make them do chores together but it wouldn't take a huge part of the story though! i have wink an idea in mind! lolx. enjoy this chappie!
Matt and T.K: lolx. chouji didn't disappear! but i was just too lazy to explain that he was too busy eating his chips! lolx. anyways! an update! and be prepare for it! this chappie is even sweeter! keke! lolx.
LilthoughiePunkie: aw man! you read my mind! ughhh..must destroY! lolx. thanks for your reivew!
Akino Matoumiken: thank you thank you! and haha! im glad the pacing isn't going too fast! im afraid that im thinking too ahead of time and making the story looks awkward! hehe! anyways, thanks for your review! and hope you'll find this chappie even sweeeter! hehe!
PopeYodaI: i know. TOO FEW! thanks for your review!
-Kristine x3-: i finished your story! and hey! you read the review yet? XD. anyways, actions? haha...i am not those action writer type...im lacking the "violent" skill! lolx. im the romance type! lolx. anyways, i will try not to stuff too much strange stuff into my chappie! thanks!
Dyeh: haha...nah! i didn't type the whole thing up in one night! i divided it into sections! lolx. well, should really say that i will read whenever inpsiration comes! lolx. but yes, this chappie is realli done in one day! lolx. enjoy this chappie!
iA-yOh aka Fuyu Kuro: thank you thank you! and hope you'll like this chapter better! lolx.
cutiepie777: chapter 6 delivery! who wants it? -everyone looks and ignores- XD!
gonrie: thank you thank you!
Michiyo-Chan: thank you for your review! And I shall grant your wish XD!
Shika-kun: woohoo! haha, now im using the word too! anyways )! yea, she will be coming! but that will probably be few chappie laters? just needa focus on these two sweeties at this moment! haha. anyhow, bet this chappie will be super fluffy for ya! ) enjoy! and omg...dun get caught by your mom!
Chapter 6: Massive Chaos!
The clock alarm rang. Beep, beep, beep...
Ino shifted under her blanket and grunted at the disturbance. The alarm clock! She swung her hand to where the clock was suppose to be, but only found that she was touching something spiky and hairy. She let her fingers wandered within that unfamiliar object as she mumbled, "What in the world is this?"
Then, she heard a mumble.
She let her eyes to slowly open and focus at the object she was touching. Shikamaru! Why is he still here? Ino gasped at the sight and rose up from the soft bed immediately. Was he sleeping beside the bed for the entire night! Then, she shook away the thought. There was something more important to worry about at the moment!
She searched for the clock and it read 9:33am. Oh my god! Ino shook the boy's body violently as she called out, "Shikamaru, you are late! It's almost 10 o'clock now!"
Ino moved the warm blanket away and her toes touched the cold floor. She tapped Shikamaru on the shoulder and yelled out, "Shikamaru! Wake up!" When she saw he had no reaction on her voice at all, she kicked the chair he was sitting on, "Shikamaru!"
"Ino..." The boy grabbed a pillow from the bed and covered his ears with it, "I don't have work today!"
The girl slowed down and squatted next to him, whispered, "Why?" No answer. He is planning to skip work today! She pulled his arm and grunted, "Get your bum out of the stupid chair, Shikamaru!"
Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked at her lazily. What a troublesome woman... He stood up from the chair and stretched his tensed muscles, "Sakura asked Hokaga-sama to give me a few days off..." He yawned and rubbed his half opened eyes, "I will be staying at home today." With that, he walked into the washroom and Ino tagged behind him.
"Why though?" Ino looked at him curiously. He brushed his teeth and mumbled something that she could not catch, "what did you say?"
He rinsed the bubble with water and sighed deeply, "She said you should stay home and rest for a few days," he cleaned his face with the towel, "and Sakura told me to take care of you for these couple of days," he combed through his spiky ponytail and added, "but since you are more energized than me now, I am not going to do anything for you."
Ino had her eyes widened. So he skipped work just for me! An evil thought came to her head and she smirked.
Almost suddenly and unpredictably, she let her body to fall backwards and pretended she was fainting. Shikamaru quickly caught her in his arms and raised an eyebrow, "are you doing this on purpose or something?" He stared at her evil smile. He didn't even have to wait for her answer; he knew the answer already.
"I am still feeling a bit -ahem- ill," Ino smirked and put her hand onto her forehead, "I think I might have to stay in bed today."
Shikamaru cracked out a sarcastic chuckled and mumbled, "how troublesome..." He led the 'fainting' Ino to the bed and pulled the blanket over her chin. He turned and walked around from the bed but was called back from her pretending-to-have-a-sore-throat voice. Unwillingly, he turned and looked at her, "what is it now?"
Ino held the edge of the blanket and giggled, "Shikamaru, I am hungry."
He slapped his forehead with his hand and sighed. How troublesome... and yes, today was going to be a troublesome day for him.
Shikamaru searched for the frying pan. Where did my mom put this troublesome thing! He looked through the shelves and drawers. It had been years that he hadn't touched anything that was kitchen related. He was a guy after all. "Found you!" He roughly pulled the metal pan out of the shelf and sighed, "now where's the pot?"
Meanwhile, he could faintly hear showering going on upstairs. She is obviously not sick! But he had no complain at all. It was time that he should contribute into her daily routine. I will start by cooking her breakfast. Again, he was searching for the pot. But he gave up after few minutes of getting nothing in return. He looked at the toaster and sighed, "she can just have a toasted bread this morning."
He sliced few pieces of bread for her. As soon as the buzzer beeped, he took out the toasted bread and coloured in a layer of strawberry jam on them.
At the same time, he heard Ino's half dying, but sexy, voice, "Shikamaru, is breakfast ready?"
The boy sighed and yelled back, "It's ready, ma'am!" Then, he placed the plates and glasses of orange juice onto a tray and carried in upstairs. How troublesome...
Shikamaru kicked the door opened which resulted in Ino yelling at him, "Oh my god! Can't you knock the door first?"
He rolled his eyes and sat onto the edge of the bed. He stared at her, or at her pajamas. She looks cute in that pink thing. He handed her the tray and stared at her, "here you go! It's not the best thing on earth but I am sure you don't want anything other than these."
But she showed no reaction to the toasts and juice. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at her, "Now, what do you want?" She smiled and kept her hands under the blanket. Oh no, please no! He backed away from a centimeter and took a deep breath before he said, "open wide, Ino."
And she did.
Then, the clock struck ten.
Ino licked her lips and smiled as the orange juice slid down her throat. This is getting interesting. She stared at Shikamaru as he was putting the empty plate onto the tray. He looked at her smiling form and sighed deeply. She then put the empty glass onto the tray with a tiny smile on her face.
"You done?" Shikamaru stated the fact and stood up, "Call me whenever you need me then."
Before he could walk away, another demand was order, "Shikamaru!" Ino smiled at him and hugged the blanket tightly, "do the laundry. The dirty clothes stinks!"
Oh my god! He nodded his head and headed towards to washroom. He noticed a dozen of shirts and garments inside a medium size basket. He squatted down beside the basket and narrowed his eyes. Some of these clothes are clean and fresh... He sighed and wondered how long she wanted to play and order him around. He was tired already.
Holding both the tray and basket with his strong arms, he proceeded out of the bedroom. Barely, he could hear her sweet giggles behind the wooden door. He sighed again and mumbled, "troublesome..."
Ino tidied the bed and smiled. Walking over to his bookshelf, she randomly chose a book to read. "The missions notebook". She smiled and flipped to the first page. The papers inside was crumbled and old. Some of the pages were soaked with water and some of the pages were painted with blood.
One page after one page, she flipped it without looking into the content. Looking at the colours of the pages disgusted her enough already. There must be a lot of killing and fighting required in highly ranked missions... She started to worry.
What if one day he was called on one of those missions and was killed by his enemies? What if one day he never returns home?
Ino shook the thoughts away. There's no way that's happening. Shikamaru's strong. Then, one of the pages caught her eyes. A clean page filled with nothing but letters written with human blood. Before she could read the letters, she heard a horrifying scream from downstairs.
She dropped the book and her heart pounded. Shikamaru!
The girl rushed downstairs quickly, afraid that he was in danger, afraid that he was assassinated by other ninja, afraid that she wasn't able to see him again. When she reached the laundry room, she realized that all her thoughts and fears were all just her imagination.
The laundry room was bubbled up!
"What in the world is going to in here?" Ino exclaimed. Doesn't he know how to work the washing machine?
Shikamaru took notice but her voice and turned around, "Ino! Don't come in! The floor is slipper-" before he could finish his warning, he fell down onto the floor and into the still-bubbling place.
Ino gasped and carefully walked towards him. That was what she was trying to do at least. But no matter how cautious she was, she slid through the slippery floor and fell down into the bubble as well. Or to be precise, she fell onto his thighs. "Shikamaru, you are stupid!"
"I thought I told you not to come in!" Shikamaru winced at the sudden rush of pain. He looked at her and teased, "I thought you are a ninja, Ino. Why didn't you concentrate your chakra!"
Ino narrowed her eyes at him and teased back, "and you didn't use your chakra either!" She stared at him for another second before she sighed womanly, "Shikamaru, you are hopeless."
"And you are too!" Shikamaru sighed and pushed her away, "get off of me now!"
"As if I don't want to!" Ino yelled at him with her face flushed red. She carefully stood up from her spot, realizing that her clothes was already soaked with the mixture of bubble and water. Shikamaru pushed himself up from the floor and his clothes was soaked with the same type of liquid too! Ino whined and pouted, "now I feel soapy!"
"And I do too!" Shikamaru sniffed himself and grunted out loud, "this is so troublesome!"
"I am glad that you figure it out," Ino poked his chest with her index finger, and reminded him, "I had to work this washing clothes thing everyday in the morning!" She placed her hands onto her hips and added, "and you are whinning already when this is like the first-"
She tripped and she grabbed the closest object to gain her balance. That happened to be Shikamaru, who was unprepared with the sudden grasp, and he fell down too!
"Oh my heaven!" Ino yelped as her back slammed onto the floor. It hurt, but she rather paid her full attention to the boy, who was lying on top of her, "and you are heavy!"
Shikamaru grunted and supported himself with his elbow, "and you think you are not? You dragged me into this!" He sighed and shook his head, "now let go of me, Ino."
"You get up first!" she blushed in bright red at their distance. Every time he talks, she felt his breath hitting her nose.
"Not when your arm is around me!"
If he didn't tell her, she wouldn't notice that her arm was wrapped around his neck and her nails dug into the collar of his shirt. Oh my god! She withdrawn her arm from him and blushed harder, "I didn't even know! You-you can't-hmph!" she covered her blushing face and grunted, "I am so embarrassed!"
"Yes you are..." He pushed himself up from the floor and offered a hand to her as well. This time, they got up successfully because they used their ninja ability and they didn't want any more physical contact to happen ever again. At least not in the bubbling laundry room.
Then he shyly looked at her and asked quietly, "up to a shower, Ino?" He tried. He tried to not look at her body but just her face. I tried not to! The pink pajamas was getting a little bit too transparent and revealing a little too much of her curves. Shikamaru turned away and blushed slightly, "We're both going to get sick in these wet clothes..."
The girl looked at his form. Because of the water, his muscles under the white shirt almost seemed visible with bare eyes. He was tall and he was muscular. And he is starting to look and turn into a real man now. She blushed at the thought and nodded her head dumbly, "Yes, a shower would be nice..."
"Shikamaru, can you pass me the shampoo?" Ino called for him when she was showering behind the curtain, "this one is all used up!"
The boy, still blushing really hard, grabbed a shampoo. He allowed his hand, and ONLY his hand to get behind the curtain. His hand could feel the warm water and the heated steam. How... he blushed harder, "Ino, I- how-" he couldn't find the right choice of words. This was the first time that he stood inside a bathroom while someone was showering. And that someone is a girl too! Hello?
"Just bear with me!" Ino called out between the splashes of hot water, "If you stand outside the bathroom, the bedroom will be dipped with water!" She ran a hand from her damp hair and sighed comfortably, which only made the boy blushed brighter. Ino added, "Better have the bathroom wet than the bedroom, right?"
"Yeah, but-" He stumbled out his word and just sighed in retreat.
"Owch!" The girl winced at the pain as she rubbed her back, "That fall onto the floor hurts!"
And now you know... Shikamaru stood in front of the sink and dried himself up with a towel. The detergent is stinking my skin! He rolled up his sleeves and started scratching the itchy spots. Beside those itchy spots, there were scars and bruises. Ino, you just don't know how many more bruises I have on my body.
"Omg, there is a scratch on my arm too!" Ino cried out.
How troublesome... Shikamaru sighed and placed his hands onto his hip, "Come on, Ino! Hurry up, will you?"
"I am almost done!" She replied. She switched off the shower and shyly peeked out from the curtain, "Shikamaru?"
The boy turned around, annoyed, sighed, "What do you want, Ino!" The girl blushed slightly and pointed at the object behind him. He turned around and looked at the white cotton thing. A bathrobe... He raised an eyebrow and sighed, "you didn't even..."
"We were soaked!" Ino blushed and pouted, "We didn't even have time to get our clean clothes and-" He held the bathrobe in front of her face, interrupting her sentence. She grabbed it with a 'thanks' and hid behind thoe curtain once again.
When she slid the curtain opened and stepped out of the shower, she stood in front of the mirror beside Shikamaru. He kept his eyes on her reflection, heart pounding harder and faster by each second. She looks so beautiful when- Her damp hair was matted onto her skin and the white cotton robe matched her milky and smooth skin perfectly. He just couldn't get his eyes off of her.
"Just how long are you planning to look at me like this!" Ino narrowed her blue eyes at him, "Time to get into the shower! Just look at how stinky you-" She grabbed his arm and a realization hit her. She gasped and cried out, "Oh my god!"
Shikamaru pulled his arm around from her hand quickly and retreated. However, Ino grabbed his arm which made him turned around to face her again. When he was about to say something, he noticed her expression. She looks worry... "What's wrong?"
Ino traced the scars and bruises with her finger and the boy would jerk once a while at the pain, "Shikamaru...how did you get them?"
"From missions and battles, of course." He replied her in a soft tone because she was asking him in a gentle tone as well, "But they are recovering, I think."
The girl stared at the injuries, "Being a jounin is hard, isn't it?"
He nodded his head. He couldn't find the right word to say when she was like this, when she was actually caring about his job and condition. This was the very first time that she was and looked so concerned about the pain he was having. Why do you care so much, Ino? You are-
The girl withdrawn her hands from him and remained in the same facial expression, "hopefully I won't have to experience all these things," she chuckled to herself dryly, "or else I don't know how many times I will be whining about all-"
Tears swelled in the corner of her eyes. Yes, she was afraid. What if...one day, you disappear from my life? What if one day… "Shikamaru, promise me that you won't-"
He pulled her into his arms as she fell into his gentle embrace. He softly whispered onto the nape of her neck, "I promise that I will be safe..." ...just for you. He hugged her tightly. It felt so right to have her in his arms. But, he knew everything he was doing was wrong. Control yourself!. He released her from his arms and smiled weakly. "I am sorry..." he apologized in a whisper.
She looked stunned and surprised at his action but gave him a genuine smile anyways, "It's all right." She grinned a little and bowed her head, "I will just have to shower again."
Then, he grinned, too.
End of Chapter 6
A/N: haha! this is what i called a cute chappie! lols...and whoops! did i just compliment myself! haha XD! anyhow! hope you all liked this chapter! oh! happy belated valentine's day too! haha! wanted to update a chappie on that special day! but...ended up not updating anymore at all! boowhoo! lolx.