Author's note: Firstly, I want to thank those who gave me encouraging reviews for my first fan fiction. I really, really appreciate it. This is, therefore, my second and it's going to be (I hope) 5 chapters long. If this story isn't good, please tell me and I'll write something else. Again, any criticism is welcomed. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: As always, I don't own Naruto and Shikamaru is mine only in my dreams.

The weather today was perfect. It wasn't too sunny till it hurt one's eyes, neither was it too dark to cast one in a gloomy mood. The birds were dancing in the sky, enjoying their exclusive gift of flight, performing aerial acrobatics as they sang sweet melodies of summer. They added color to the limitless expanse of the blue sky, dotting the heavens with their plumage of red, white, yellow and green. In short, it was just the perfect time to watch the clouds as they drifted aimlessly in the pale, azure sky. And there was a tall young man lying on the cool, green grass, doing just that. Watching the clouds.

Taking advantage of the warm weather, Shikamaru had come to the field just behind his parents' deer farm to enjoy the clouds and their endless journeys across the atmosphere. Normally, he wouldn't have any free time to indulge in such a pointless pastime, but today was different. Yes, today was different from the rest, for he had absolutely nothing to do. There were no chores at home waiting to be done, no missions he had to prepare for, no training sessions with his teammates or his father and no meetings with the Hokage on strategic matters. For in the past year, his days had been filled with endless tasks and missions that he had to carry out for Konohagakure. Shikamaru had been appointed into the newly created Strategic Task Force, which was under the direct control of the Hokage – Tsunade. She had decided that in order to deal with the combined threats of the Akatsuki and Orochimaru, sheer military power would not be enough. After all, brains are better than brawn. Therefore, she came up with the idea of putting together a team of highly intelligent individuals who would be put in charge of creating suitable strategies to conduct missions and to handle political problems. The Hokage was convinced that this would increase the success rates of missions and help to minimize any injury or death to Konoha shinobis. The moment Shikamaru had been promoted to the rank of jounin at the age of 18, he was appointed to this task force. Its members included Neji – the silver-eyed Hyuuga prodigy, Sakura – one of the best medics in the village, Shino – the quiet yet highly observant bug expert as well as a few other of Konoha's brightest and most intelligent ninjas.

Even though the task force had only been in existence for a year prior to Shikamaru's joining, it and its members had already garnered quite a reputation. The task force had come to be known for it effectiveness in getting missions done regardless of the difficulties or dangers that it may pose. Such was their success rate in accomplishing whatever task was given to them, that their fame spread to other villages who could only wistfully wish that they had something close to such an excellent team. Other countries who had requested missions, often specifically asked for the task force, though they had hidden villages of their own. After Shikamaru's addition, the reputation of the force came to be held in higher esteem and the young man himself was revered as a master strategist by everyone in the village. Tsunade was understandably pleased with their performance and assigned the team tough missions almost every other day, both dealing within and without the Fire country. Thus, Shikamaru became busier with each passing day. He could count the number of days he had spent at home this past year on one hand and he relished the idea of having just one day of peace to himself.

A day such as today.

He was determined that nothing would spoil today for him, that nothing would get in his way of cloud watching. Nothing. Until he heard her voice.

"Shikamaru!"

'Sigh… Mendokusai…" Shikamaru lamented his luck silently.

He propped himself up on one elbow just in time to see the owner of the shrill voice running towards him, her white-blonde hair billowing in the wind. She had a big smile on her soft, pink lips and her cerulean eyes sparkled with joy. The girl was obviously delighted to see him. He smiled back lazily but the smile quickly disappeared as she drew closer and closer to him without any intention of slowing down. And said female landed right on top of him, knocking the wind out of his lungs as she wrapped her creamy slender arms around his neck in a tight hug.

"Shikamaru! You're back!"

"Ino." He gasped, unable to breathe properly.

Still on top of Shikamaru, Ino released him from her iron grip and looked him over from head to toe several times. She ran her hands across his lean arms and chest, fingers tracing the muscular contours of his face and neck. Slowly inspecting his body as her brows furrowed with worried anticipation.

"Are you injured? Hurt? In pain?" She asked hurriedly as her hands continued with their frenzied inspection, which were quite frankly making Shikamaru very uncomfortable. Shikamaru wasn't used to Ino making physical contact with him even if it was to smack him across the head or to pinch him on the arm, much less her touching him all over his body. He enjoyed it immensely but knew someone who would cause him the most excruciating pain imaginable if he ever caught sight of this.

"I'm fine. The mission went perfectly." He replied while grabbing hold of her hands, staying their progress along his well-muscled body. "We weren't hurt in any way."

"Really?" She asked with a slight hint of disbelief in her voice and eyed him suspiciously. Ino had seen him come home from missions injured too many times to believe that this one had gone off without him getting a single scratch.

"Yes." Shikamaru assured her. "Did you find any injuries while you were groping me?" He teased, a playful smirk forming on his sharp features.

She blushed furiously and wrested one hand from his grip to thwack him hard across the forearm. Shikamaru yelped and released her other hand immediately. Ino placed both hands on her curvy hips and glared at him, her cheeks still hotly crimson.

"I wasn't groping you." She spat venomously and sat down on the grass beside him with a pout on her perfect lips. She turned her face away sharply from his and mumbled something along the lines of "Who would want to grope you anyways?"

'I wish you would.' Shikamaru barely managed to push the thought out of his head before it could make its way out of his mouth.

Shikamaru had to smile at her antics. When they were younger, Ino's pouts always meant trouble and Shikamaru had come to dread it whenever she did. Now, he found it cute. He found her cute. Though he would never admit it to anyone, especially her since…

"Well, all the same, you shouldn't do that. Neji wouldn't like it." He commented half jokingly, half regretfully.

"Hm?" She turned back to look at him, puzzled at his words. Then realization dawned on her and her face immediately fell, sadness seemed to consume her entire being.

"Oh, you weren't around." Ino turned her head to look at the sky, her long flowing hair cascading down her lithe back. Shikamaru just wanted to run his fingers in those silky locks and to breathe in the lavender shampoo he knew she used religiously. But he knew that she was avoiding his gaze. And she knew that if she made eye contact, he would see the pain and sadness reflected in her soulful orbs right away, and she didn't want him to see it.

Shikamaru knew instantly that something was wrong, not because he was a genius but simply because he knew Ino long enough to know when she was unhappy. But before he could put two and two together, and to figure out what was really wrong, Ino had declared:

"We broke up." She said with a bitter smile on her face, her face still turned away from his. Shikamaru's heart somersaulted. 'She broke up with Neji?'. He didn't believe his ears. Was he that absorbed and immersed in his work, that he did not know that the woman he had secretly loved for years was at long last available?

During her preteen years, Ino had an undying obsession for the sole Uchiha survivor – Sasuke. But after he had defected from the village, she slowly grew out of that childish infatuation. Shikamaru thought that he might have a chance to finally express his long hidden feelings, but his promotion to Chuunin ensured that he never got the opportunity. Soon, she had redirected her attentions to another man – Hyuuga Neji. At first, he was cold and aloof to her feelings just as Sasuke had been, and just as before, she was unrelenting and continued her chase. But unlike her unrequited love for Sasuke, Neji slowly began to reciprocate her feelings towards him- much to everyone's shock and surprise. And by her 17th year, they were officially romantically involved. Shikamaru was crestfallen to say the least when he had discovered this, but he kept those feelings hidden under a mask of detachment and indifference. He kept a cool and calm exterior, but in truth he was crying inside. Again, he had lost her to another man. With Sasuke's absence, he thought that he might stand a chance, that Ino would come to see that there was someone who loved her, someone who had always been by her side. But she didn't. Though he was a little elated over the fact that she was no longer with Neji, he still felt her sadness and he didn't like her being this way. He was concerned on how hard this would affect her, for though Ino seemed tough on the outside, in truth she was anything but that on the inside. Shikamaru knew that she hurt easily but would never tell anyone how she really felt.

"It wasn't going to work." She knew what he was going to ask, she knew the question already forming in that intelligent mind of his and answered him before he had a chance to speak. She also knew what he would ask next, and decided it was too painful for her to have to listen to questions she had been asked over and over, so she went on with the explanation.

"He's always busy, he's never around. We never had time for each other. So, we slowly grew apart and later decided that it was best to remain as friends."

That was when Shikamaru felt a great wave of dismay rising from inside the hollow of his chest. If Neji didn't have enough time for her, what made Shikamaru think he did? Both men were in the task force, and that had consumed most of their waking hours. If anything, Shikamaru was busier than Neji as Tsunade had sometimes granted the latter leave in order to attend to matters of his clan. On the other hand, it has been such a long time since the former had a break till he wondered if he could remember what a holiday was. Shikamaru just didn't have any time to devote to a relationship, and he knew that as much as he wanted Ino, it wouldn't be fair to her if he wasn't around all the time. Their relationship would never work that way, just like her relationship with Neji didn't. 'Just friends, eh?' The brief feeling of elation that was in his heart was replaced by a painful sensation of disappointment. 'Just when I thought I had another chance, fate steals it away from me again.' He reflected bitterly. He kept silent after she had spoken, thinking it would be better if he just didn't say anything and partly because he didn't know what to say. And she appreciated the silence, she didn't want to speak anymore and risk having tears in her eyes when the pain of those memories flooded her mind.

They were sitting in quietness, just enjoying each other's company and letting the calming peace of Mother Nature still their individual troubled thoughts. One struggling to come to terms with a relationship he so desperately wants but will never have, while the other trying to understand the failed relationship that shattered her idealistic view of love. Both yearning for something that they could have found in each other, but not knowing that they could. And they watched the birds continue their carefree, untroubled flight in the vast breadth of space that is their home.

Suddenly, a figure approached them from behind. He was wearing a large, black jacket that reached to his knees and the hood was resting on his head, setting much of his face in the shadows. He looked at the two from behind tinted lenses and stuffed his hands into his pockets almost too wearily as he cleared his throat.

"Shikamaru."

Shikamaru turned to face him reluctantly.

"Shino." For some reason, he wasn't surprised to see his teammate here and immediately knew why he had come. "What does she want now?"

"There is a slight problem." He replied monotonously. But Shikamaru noticed the slight tinge of nervousness in the other man's voice though it was brief and fleeting. Small details such as these never escaped his attention, for these miniscule bits of information often determined the knife-edge difference between success and failure. If the problem was enough to unnerve the usually composed insect user even slightly, Shikamaru knew it meant trouble. Serious trouble. He got up abruptly and brushed his pants off. He didn't want to leave Ino all alone but he knew that being a shinobi meant putting his duties and responsibilities first. Still, he had to make a herculean effort to tear himself mentally and physically away from her.

"Let's go." He motioned to Shino. The other man nodded wordlessly.

"Wait!"

Shikamaru was just about to leave when Ino had spoken, he spun around to face her. She had stood up from where she was sitting, a concerned look was etched on her angelic face.

"Take care of yourself, Shikamaru." She said worriedly. Her eyes full of dread and fear, for she knew of the nature of the missions that he had to undertake. "I'm not going to your funeral if you die, you know I don't like funerals." She chuckled, trying to hide the anguish in her voice behind a façade of dark humor.

He snorted in laughter. A lopsided grin spread across his face.

"I'll try not to disappoint you." He gave her a small wave of his hand and turned to leave, with Shino walking beside him.

She followed him with her eyes and watched as he made his way down the path in the field that led to town. And at that moment, if he had turned back to look, he would have saw the tears that had spilled from her sapphire blue eyes, leaving wet trails down her cheeks. Tears she shed only for him.

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