Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto—no matter how much I scream and whine about it.

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The Awkward Battlefield - Shikamaru & Ino

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Shikamaru and Ino were teammates and friends with family history together. However, against popular belief, they weren't perfect teammates or friends with family history together. No, definitely not—in fact, they were far from it—just like all the other people in this world.

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The ramen wrapper crunched under his food, but he paid no mind to it. Instead, he was focusing on the extremely angry teammate that was quickly approaching with a mission in hand. What does this mean? Run. At least, that's what it would normally mean, but Shikamaru didn't feel like running—it was much too troublesome. So he opted for backing away slowly as an alternative. It was less likely to scare the wild pig, or so he thought…

What Shikamaru failed to realize, most likely due to the nearly expired Instant Ramen, was that she wasn't just any wild pig. She was Yamanaka Ino and she was very, very angry at Nara Shikamaru—or so she told the whole village of Konoha—and in the end she got revenge; a very easy and very boring mission with just the two of them.

Chouji is lucky he escaped. He thought sulkily as she pulled him through the Konoha main gates. When she finally released her vice-grip on his wrist, it was already purple.

Troublesome.

She took off into the trees and he grudgingly followed along with his sore wrist.

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They found the thief they were supposed to capture after a troublesome three hours and they immediately approached him, Shikamaru stealthily trapping him in his Kagemane no Jutsu.

Wasn't this supposed to be a C-Rank, not a D-Rank? Shikamaru thought irritably.

Shikamaru winced as the situation quickly became even more troublesome. The thief was nither a ninjutsu or genjutsu user—affectionately referred to as a hot-blooded person—but his brute strength was incredible and he was struggling hard against Shikamaru's bind.

"Ino!"

She nodded in understanding and made a few quick seals before yelling, "Shintenshin no jutsu!" allowing her now-limp body to start its decent to the ground. Shikamaru quickly released his shadow bind and caught Ino's body, rearranging himself so that her limp body leaned against his shoulder, before holding his shadow bind again.

He stared intently, watching the internal struggle within the thief's body and waiting for a signal. Soon after, he received Ino's tell-tale triumphant smirk and the thief's hair flopped forward messily as she nodded at him. "Go Shika!"

He got up and walked towards the thief, the thief mimicking his movements, until their toes touched. For extra measures, Shikamaru did a quick Egyptian dance and smiled in relief when the thief did the same thing.

"Shika!"

He furrowed his brows; that didn't sound like a mocking tone. "Ino?" The only response he got was the thief struggling to move his hands. "Ino!" His yell was a bit strangled at the end as the thief broke out of the bind and grabbed a hold of the front of Shikamaru's vest and shirt.

The enraged brute flung Shikamaru upwards and threw him down, ripping the front of his vest and shirt off in the process. Landing carefully, he leapt away from the thief and grabbed Ino's body just as the thief brought his hands together. This isn't in any of my plans! Hokage-sama said that he couldn't use genjutsu or ninjutsu! And lucky for Shikamaru, he really didn't.

Well, some would call it lucky.

Shikamaru blinked in shock as the thief took off his shirt and pants, revealing shorts underneath. His face upgraded from a shocked expression to one of confusion and disgust as the thief began rubbing his chest and lower body.

"What the hell are you doing?! Don't do that here!" Shikamaru yelled angrily at him in confusion. Was this guy crazy?

A husky moan was emitted from his chest and Shikamaru looked down at Ino's body which was twisting in pleasure and making small little noises. He froze. There was nothing else to do, so he just froze; eyes wide and staring.

She made a soft whimpering sound that almost, almost, sounded like his name and that was the last straw for Shikamaru. He put her down before he did something stupid, and quickly turned to the thief again. Stretching his shadow behind him, Shikamaru began conversing with the thief; buying his shadow some time.

"So you think you're…smart?" The thief nodded. "It was pretty smart, and pretty distracting." This time the thief scowled at him; apparently Ino was trying to get through the thief, especially after that…physical 'attack'.

"You're only a taijutsu user, ne? I know someone like that; a hot-blooded person. They can be very powerful." The thief grinned triumphantly. Apparently he was too stupid to notice that Shikamaru was obviously distracting him. Oh well, it worked. "But most of them are a little crazy." He made twirling motions with his fingers on the sides of his head and made a funny face; the thief did the same.

Grinning in satisfaction, Shikamaru quickly formed Ino's releasing seal. "Ino." He watched as another internal battle ensued and felt his nerves grate very low as the seconds turned into minutes. "Ino." He repeated hesitantly.

The thief scowled at him. "She's gone." Shikamaru turned to where the thief pointed with his eyes and sure enough, Ino's previously limp body was sitting up with a partially shocked and partially disgusted expression.

Satisfied with that, Shikamaru walked up to the thief and stretched his long arm out, swiftly punching the thief in the head. The thief's shorter arm stopped in front of Shikamaru's nose and fell slightly limp as the thief fell unconscious. "Troublesome." He snorted, picking up the fallen criminal. "Ino, are you okay?"

When he turned to her, she was still sitting with the same expression, but her legs were squeezed tightly together. She looked up at him with an angry pout. "Shika let me hit him!" He gave her a questioningly glance. "He…he violated my poor body…and mind!"

He shrugged nonchalantly, smirking. "Don't forget your voice; I didn't know you could sound like a puppy." She looked up at him in shock and quickly fell back in a faint. "Ino, I was joking. Ino? Ino! Tch, troublesome."

Stooping low to pick up her body as well, Shikamaru placed her on his other shoulder, her waist bent forwards over his collarbone. After a few off-balanced steps, Shikamaru froze, put down both Ino and the thief, and looked away from the bodies. Taking off his chuunin vest, he gazed at the suddenly wet shoulder pads on either side in horror.

Blushing, Shikamaru covered his face and leaned back against a nearby tree. "This is…much too troublesome."

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And so we conclude that the battlefield is, indeed, a very awkward place where anything goes and everything is fair.

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A/N: This one wasn't as good as the last one in my opinion. – scowl- Oh well, hope you liked it. R&R please!

xoxoxox – RomanceFanFicLover