It was a wonderful summer night and a soft breeze was blowing gently around her, softly caressing her face and making her hair flow around her round face smoothly. She had her eyes closed.
Ino was at the top of the Hokage monument, her favorite place in all Konoha, and was waiting.
For what? She didn't know exactly.
Earlier that day she got an anonymous note asking her, in a very polite way, to wait at the Hokage monument around midnight. Normally Ino would ignore that kind of note and just go to bed and read a good book. But there was something about this note, something about this night... that just made it right!
She sighed and opened her eyes. It was almost midnight. She had gone there early because she wanted some time to think and to reflect upon things that needed to be thought of.
Ino looked at the sky and caught a glimpse of a very bright light.
"A shooting star?" she whispered, her voice as soft as the wind, her eyes as sparkly as the stars.
"So it has begun." A familiar voice whispered back making Ino's heart beat faster. She turned around slowly and met a pair of dark brown lazy eyes staring back at her.
"What has, Shikamaru?"
He approached her gently and sat next to her, staring up at the night sky as Ino stared back at him.
"The night of the shooting stars."
Ino's eyes glimmered in the dark.
"Oh." She paused, "That's pretty." She looked back up.
Shikamaru laid back and placed his arms behind his head, keeping is eyes focused on the sky.
"Look, another one."
Ino nodded gently watching as the small star fell into oblivion. So pretty yet so sad. A silence fell between both friends.
"I haven't heard from you in a while..." Ino broke the comfortable silence.
"Hn... I've been away on a mission." He answered lazily.
"Oh." She replied.
When had everything become so cold and distant between them? When had they grown apart? It didn't make any sense... not to her anyway. They had grown together and had been great friends throughout their childhood, but now...
Now they were teenagers and everything seemed so hard...
"It's the hormones..." He said.
"Hn?" She stared at him. She was so lost in thought that she didn't know if she had said anything out loud.
Shikamaru closed his eyes. "You asked why, I answered you."
She frowned at him. At least he hadn't lost the ability to read trough her like a book. Ino sighed and looked back up. If there was one thing she had learned with Shikamaru was that if he thought words were unnecessary, then they were.
So she didn't let the words leave her mouth and continued to stare at the falling stars.
"Why am I here?" She asked after a while.
Shikamaru smiled a very small smile. She sure had changed a lot since their childhood days. She was much calmer... but still so stunningly attractive.
"You're here because you came here..." He was testing her. Provoking her until the moment she would give up and start choking him until she gets some straight answers.
"Well that is obvious, baka!" She frowned. "What I meant was... why did you send the note to me?"
Shikamaru fell silent. Ino didn't pressure him. After a while he finally answered.
"I want you to make a wish, Ino."
"What?" Why did he always have to be so puzzling? Was it all mind games with him? "A wish?"
Shikamaru nodded. "Yes, a wish. With so many stars falling from the sky, I am sure that one of them will make your wish come true."
Ino giggled. "You believe in that?" she was surprised.
He smiled. "No. But you believe. That's enough..."
Ino was so amazed. Was this the same Shikamaru she knew years ago?
"Well... ok." Ino sat straight and stared at the sky for awhile. She spotted a falling star.
"Oh!" She closed her eyes for one moment and then smiled. "Done!" she giggled. "Now you ask one, Shikamaru!"
He sighed.
"I don't think so Ino... that would be very troublesome... and you said so yourself, I don't believe in it."
She frowned.
"Oh come on! I know you don't believe, but I do! And I believe it strongly enough for both of us! Come on, get up." She grabbed him by the arm and made him sit up. "Now, let's wait for one... oh! There! Close your eyes!"
Shikamaru sighed and closed his eyes. Ino grabbed his hand. "Think of a wish!"
He did.
Ino stared at him and for the first time, with the moon and the falling stars illuminating both of them, she saw how beautiful and wise Shikamaru was. He definitely was a genius! And he had grown a lot over the years...
She leaned in, pulled by some strange, but appealing force, and kissed him very gently on the lips.
Shikamaru leaned in too, surprised at first but kissed her back. When they parted, they were both blushing.
"Oh... I'm sorry... I just... it was..."
"Thank you." He finished for her. "Now I believe in shooting stars."
Ino eyed him quizzically. "Hn?"
He stared at her lovingly. "My wish came true." She blushed. "What about yours?"
Ino leaned in and Shikamaru placed one arm around her waist. She rested her head on his broad chest.
"I wished that this moment, here, in the monument with you and the shooting stars, would last forever..."
Shikamaru kissed her head.
"It will..."
From that day on, once, every year, Ino and Shikamaru go into the top of the Hokage monument to watch The Night of the Shooting Stars...
... together.