Stars

Shikamaru didn't just like the clouds. He liked the stars, too.

Of course, I didn't know this until the summertime. It was when we were…thirteen, I think.

It was a clear night, a good thing if you wanted to go stargazing. I picked that night to go to a field and just lay there, looking at the different constellations that passed over Konoha in the summer.

What I found was more than I bargained for; Shikamaru.

"What're you doing here?" I asked tartly.

He sighed and replied languidly, "I should be asking you the same thing. Since when do you have any interest in looking at stars?"

I laid down beside him and said, "I didn't know you had any interest in looking at stars either."

"That's the only thing we have in common, I guess."

"Yeah, I guess so."

We talked about a lot of different things. He didn't seem to think that my presence was troublesome. We talked about life, about other people, about our own lives. All the while, it seemed like nobody else was there in Konoha…except us.

A night like this was something a hopeless romantic would ask for. Yeah, it would've been perfect for Sakura and Sasuke…well, let's not go there, for the sake of peace.

"I better go now. My mom's gonna kill me if I stay out for much longer…" Shikamaru said, sitting up. I did the same, my gaze still fixed on the sky.

"Um…thanks for not shooing me off," I said cautiously.

"Ah, don't mention it…(women…so difficult)."

"I heard that!"

"Do you think I care?"

"No."

"Good answer."

We walked until we reached our houses. Before we left, I shuffled my feet and asked, "Hey…if the sky's nice, same time tomorrow?"

He raised an eyebrow and hesitated for a minute before smiling. "Yeah, sure."

You never know what the stars can do, right?

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This wasn't a ShikaIno. It just demonstrated their friendship. I like ShikaIno, though. I just felt like writing something that would appeal even to ShikaTema fans. This was written in Ino's POV, by the way.