Disclaimer: No, I never have and never will. That goes for all fairytales in this collection.

I decided to break these away from Bittersweet because it's a set. I could expand on these later, so please stay tuned!

This is the first of the fairy tale set that I'm writing… it's not that great, but it centres around the four main couples of Konoha; ShikaIno being the first. So, please,

Sleeping Beauty

Nara Shikamaru is known by many names- Deer boy, the spiky haired one, pineapple head, the genius, lazy guy, 'troublesome' and (secretly, in some circles) Sleeping Beauty. Ino was, quite predictably, furious with the so-called 'secret' name, and tried – one so very fateful day- to take matters into her own hands.

It began with a little bit of research. Ino made her way to the library. It was one of Sakura's favourite places, Ino remembered, but she'd never really known why. It was just full of dusty old tomes that smelled like… old things like mushrooms.

"Sleeping Beauty… who wrote that anyway?" she muttered to herself.

"Shh!" the librarian scolded.

"Sorry!" The kunoichi whispered back. The staff were apparently very uptight.

Making her way to the children's book section, the kunoichi quickly skimmed all the titles until she came to one which read, 'Mother Goose Tales' by Charles Perrault. The first tale featured was, of course, Sleeping Beauty.

At the christening of a long-wished-for princess, fairies invited as godmothers offered gifts of beauty, wit, grace, and musical talents. However, a wicked fairy who had been overlooked placed the princess under an enchantment as her gift, saying that, on reaching adulthood, she would prick her finger on a spindle and die.

A good fairy, though unable to reverse the spell, altered its effect so that the princess, instead of dying, would fall asleep for a hundred years, until awakened by the kiss of a prince's son.

The king forbade spinning on distaff or spindle, or the possession of one, upon pain of death, throughout the kingdom, but all in vain. When the princess was fifteen or sixteen she chanced to come upon an old woman in a tower of the castle, who was spinning. The Princess asked to try the unfamiliar task and the inevitable happened. The wicked fairy's curse was fulfilled. The good fairy returned and put everyone in the castle to sleep.

Eventually, a prince arrived, and, hearing the story of the enchantment, braved the wood, which parted at his approach, and entered the castle. He trembled upon seeing the princess' beauty and fell on his knees before her. She woke up, then everyone in the castle woke to continue where they had left off.

Secretly wed by the reawakened Royal almoner, the Prince continued to visit the Princess, who bore him two children, L'Aurore and Le Jour, which he kept secret from the Queen his mother, who was of an Ogre lineage. Once he had acceded to the throne, he brought the Princess and the children to his capital, which he then left in the regency of the Queen Mother, while he went to make war on his neighbor the Emperor Contalabutte, ("Count of The Mount").

The Ogre Queen sent the Princess Queen and the children to a house secluded in the woods, and directed her cook there to prepare the boy for her dinner, with a sauce Robert. The humane cook substituted a lamb, which satisfied the Ogre Queen, who demanded the girl, but was satisfied with a young goat prepared in the same excellent sauce. When the Ogre Queen demanded that he serve up the Princess Queen, she offered her throat to be slit, so that she might join the children she imagined were dead. There was a tearful secret reunion in the cook's little house, while the Ogre Queen was satisfied with a hind prepared with sauce Robert. Soon she discovered the trick and prepared a tub in the courtyard filled with vipers and other noxious creatures. The King returned in the nick of time and the Ogress, being discovered, threw herself into the pit she had prepared and was consumed, and everyone else lived happily ever after.

Ino slammed the book shut, trying to erase the vividly drawn pictures from her mind.

"That was incredibly depressing." She sighed. "I should have just stuck to the Disney version."

"Shh!" The librarian snapped.

"Yeah WHATEVER!" Ino snapped back and slid the book back onto the shelf and stormed out of the library, to go and consult a trusted advisor who went by the name of Haruno Sakura.

Shikamaru was playing a game of shogi against himself when the doorbell rang. He answered, and Ino stood in the doorframe, wearing a slinky purple gown and lips that reminded him of roses… and tasted very much like strawberries, Shikamaru realised a moment later as sparks raced through his body. They all originated from his mouth (or Ino's, rather) and spread the warmth down to his fingertips.

Just as she had abruptly begun, Ino broke away after several long, long, long moments, and the both of them were blushing, and a little out of breath.

"So?" Ino said, looking at him expectantly.

Shikamaru looked back at her.

"So, what?"

"How was it?"

"How was what? The kiss?"

"Yes!" Ino said impatiently.

"It was… nice." The youth replied, struggling for words.

Ino pouted.

Shikamaru gulped.

"So… you're not particularly inspired to stop lazing around?"

Shikamaru frowned, still quite puzzled.

"I still don't understand what this is about," he confessed. "But would you like to come inside?"

Shikamaru might not have been inspired to stop lazing around… but he couldn't refuse Ino anything when she used the strawberry lipgloss.

enjoy.

-The End-