A/N: Really, could I ever thank you enough for being there Wiljoo? And to Sunfreak, who never fails to inspire me.

What is said and what is heard

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"I think I love you," he hears this and knows they are, lies, (more lies), feelings here today, gone tomorrow. He is old enough to see through spur of the moment proclamations and is old enough to say no thank you; I don't feel the same ways.

But she is old too, old enough to be his sister, is already an older sister (the oldest in her family), and she knows just as much, if not more about what she's talking about because she does (and damnit, Temari is just always right, a privilege for being the oldest sibling.)

But he's felt the same way before (supposedly) but it wasn't the way it was supposed to work out. Ino was not supposed to do that and say that, and especially not feel that way for him. So Chouji is heartbroken and Shikamaru is heartbroken because to him, Chouji is everything in the world next to cloud gazing and shoji. And for everything else he could have given him, he couldn't have given a heart that didn't belong to him in the first place. He'll still be waiting though, waiting for when Chouji's calmed down, waiting for Ino to stop being stupid long enough to realize who's really always been there for her all along.

So he says no, no thank you again. Not interested, too troublesome, I hate girls, and everything and anything else that pops into mind because he can't really stand to chance another heartbreak. He's just a little smarter and a little bit too paranoid about the consequences of what would happen if he tried, if he fooled himself to believe that anything could last forever because they can't. So no, no thank you.

But she shoves him against the wall and politely commands him to shut up anyway while she promptly takes advantage of that opened mouth. I don't care if you don't love me back, but at least take me seriously, because she is still a girl and this is still her first time falling headfirst into something scary and totally unknown. She knows that she is setting herself up later for buckets of ice cream and red eyes, and will hate herself for that, but this moment won't come again. Right now will pass away and I'll never be the same me I was yesterday, so let me pretend while I still feel this way.

And for all the things he could say, he doesn't (because he can't anyway), but he'll let himself be stupid for a little bit and believe that there just might be a tomorrow after today.

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Let this be the dream I never wake from