An: Not quite what I was aiming for but good enough. I like Shikamaru as a character but I hate writing him. Oh, yes - thank you for the reivews till now!
He knows
Shikamaru is smart, he knows, even smarter then Haruno Sakura. And although he finds his smartness as a really troublesome thing, in the deepest corners of his mind he allows himself to be patted on the back and praised because of that.
Then again, as smart as he is Shikamaru sometimes feels the dumbest person ever when in presence of his female teammate, Ino.
She has the ability to smile just right, in the corners of her mouth there's a little twitch upwards just for him and he's speechless and his mind goes blank. She can frown and get very angry at him and say things he would never imagine to come out of her mouth and still, although he should of have predicted them, he doesn't and it leaves him stunned.
She can kick him down and drag him around like he's a ragged doll and she's the one holding the strings and in the same time it's enough to get one look from her and he'll be going up and up and up and up.
With no stopping.
Shikamaru as a person who finds most of things troublesome and very, very tiring finds himself at odds of cruel Fate when in the company of Ino.
Ino with her blue, almost white hair that flows softly on the wind and sometimes grazes his cheeks like the softest silk, Ino with her dark eyes that hide and reveal all in the same time, Ino with her strength and with her weakness that makes him hide from her and then protect her until he can stand no more.
It's funny for him when sometimes as he watches the clouds he can find her image in almost every one of the fluffy things floating in the wide sky and while he scorns himself for that he knows very well there's a smirk on his lips.
And when he finally kisses her, slowly and lazily - just like he is - he knows, oh he knows, that..
If your heart is empty, your mind doesn't matter.