Why am I back…? Shikamaru asked himself, dumbfound, as he walked the streets of Konoha. I haven't found Ino yet, much less know where she is. She's probably still stuck in the story! Or did the Story Master just get bored?

Shikamaru soon found himself on top of his favorite cloud-watching hill. He lay down, his arms reaching behind his head to prop, and stared into the sky. However, the sun had just recently set, and stars were beginning to appear in the sky. The clouds weren't there; they had turned in for their sleep. The clouds may not be here, but the stars are just as good. He yawned, tired. He still hadn't regained all of his energy. Ino can wait till morning, I can't search right now.

He drifted off to sleep.

Ino walked down the street angrily, her arms rigid and swinging at her sides. Each step she took seemed to rattle the earth a little. Whenever someone tried to say hello to her, she just ignored them and kept walking. Whenever someone yelled her name, she just kept walking. Whenever someone mentioned… him, she scowled and just kept walking.

She reached the gates, stopping in the middle of the square and observing her surroundings. The stage sat ominously across from the gates. She stared at it blankly, unsure of what to think.

I guess I missed the story today, didn't I? She imagined everyone sitting in front of the stage, laughing, crying, or yelling at the Story Master's tale at noontime that day, while she and Shikamaru were trapped inside. Could they really go on with their daily lives while a whole new world lay beside them, created from the Story Master's hand and built right out of Konoha? How did these things work?

She walked to the stage and sat there, unsure of what to think. Ever since she got back to Konoha, everyone had been acting strangely. Choji wouldn't eat for heaven's sake! If that didn't shout "weird!" to the world, Ino didn't know what did.

And not only that, but everyone was pestering her about Shikamaru. How's Shikamaru, Ino? Are you dating? You two are such a cute couple! Sometimes she just wanted to gag. However, it wasn't getting to her as much as she thought. The whole idea was sinking in… her and Shikamaru. Shikamaru Nara. Ino Yamanaka. Or rather, Ino Nara. She smiled. It had a nice ring to it.

Ino lay back onto the stage. Where was he, anyway? He must still be trapped in the tale… She sighed. She hoped that he'd be back with her soon. She had hated just sitting around and waiting for him back in her prison. She didn't like being the damsel in distress. If she's in trouble, she should save herself! Not wait around for some guy to save her, because where's the fun in that? Really, just sitting around, doing nothing, waiting for someone to come along is Shikamaru's job. She should have been the one fighting her way through that mess. Shikamaru was more suited to sitting, she was suited to working

Ino sighed, but I guess that was the whole point, right? The Story Master was pretty pissed off at his laziness… but who wouldn't be, in their right mind? He's pretty annoying when he won't do anything… which is most of the time.

"Hey, Ino!"

Ino sat up and grinned, "Hey, Asuma-sensei!"

Asuma waved and walked up to the stage where Ino sat, "What are you doing out so late?"

"Sitting, I guess."

"Don't you normally hang out with the other nin at the restaurant at this time?"

"Yeah, I guess. But they're all being so strange today." Ino sighed, hugging her knees to her chest. "You're probably the first person today who didn't ask me about Shikamaru right when you saw me."

"Why do they ask you about him?"

"Everyone thinks I like him." Which I can't really argue with…

"You and Shikamaru, eh?" Asuma laughed, "That could be a problem."

Ino raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"Members of the same team shouldn't fall in love, you know," Asuma gave her an all-knowing look; "It could throw them off on missions. When you're on a mission, you can't afford to worry about someone. If you're both on the same mission, you'll both worry about each other."

"You're saying that if Shikamaru and I love each other, it'd be a threat to our lives?"

"Exactly," Asuma patted her shoulder, "So don't do it, you hear? You two definitely can't handle that pressure."

But I do love him… Ino thought as Asuma walked away, how can I not?

She cried.

"Ino, are you okay?"

Ino shoved her way through Sakura's door and collapsed onto her couch, her face sorrowful. Sakura sat down on the floor next to her and looked at her worriedly.

"It's late, Ino, you never come over late."

"What are you talking about? I come over late all the time."

"…But you never come so sad."

"Normally I come over because I'm sad."

"That's not the point," Sakura waved a hand and shook her head, "What's wrong?"

"I can't be with Shikamaru."

"What? Why? You two are perfect together!"

"Because it'll only put us in danger." Ino grabbed a pillow and hugged it.

"Forget that, be together anyway!"

"But…" Ino frowned, "I don't want him to get hurt."

"Ino, please," Sakura half-laughed, "This is Shikamaru we're talking about! You really think he'll worry about you when his life is in danger?"

"Well if he really loved me he'd put my life before his!" Ino threw her pillow to the ground."

"That's not what I meant, you know that."

"Forget it, Sakura!" Ino ran outside, crying. She didn't know where she'd go. She wasn't sure of anything anymore. She just knew to run as far as she could. Unrecognizable scenery whizzed by as she dashed for something… safety, she guessed. She needed safety from these people, the contradictory ideas about her and Shikamaru, these ambiguous feelings locked away inside. Before she knew it, she stood at the base of a hill, out of breath.

Isn't this…? Ino climbed the hill and looked to the sky. Sure, it was different at night, but she knew this was his hill. This was Shikamaru's favorite cloud watching hill. She laughed when she thought of the first time she'd been here.

"Shikamaru!"

The Nara boy opened one eye lazily and growled, but didn't say anything to the angry girl approaching. He opened the other eye and stared at the clouds.

"What the hell, Shikamaru!? You missed all of training today!"

"So what?" He groaned, "It's so troublesome."

Ino crossed her arms and scowled at him, "You lazy chuunin! I still can't believe you, a lazy bastard, made it to chuunin level before me, even Choji! You only sit and watch clouds all day, you don't even show interest in being a ninja! So why do it!?"

Shikamaru shrugged, but didn't bother to glance at Ino. He knew her angry look all too well, "Sometimes there are days when you just have to drop everything and stare at the clouds."

"What's so great about clouds?"

He did bother to look at her this time and smirked, "Why don't you see for yourself?" Ino was too angry and stubborn to even consider lying down by him. Shikamaru sighed, "Suit yourself."

Ino had planned to just stand there and wait for her presence to become so annoying that Shikamaru would give up and leave with her, but he didn't budge. At a loss of what to do, Ino sighed, "Fine!" and lied down on the ground next to Shikamaru.

"Now what?"

"Just watch."

Ino did, confused and impatient, and stared at the clouds. She tapped her fingers against her arm impatiently.

"Don't be so impatient, drop everything. Seriously, you're being a drag."

Ino settled down and continued staring at the clouds, until everything in her mind seemed to disappear. The clouds were so peaceful, just floating around, without a care in the world… everything troublesome in the world seemed to disappear.

"This is nice."

"I know."

Ino sighed and stared at the sky. The stars seemed just as great as the clouds, even better, actually, because they were so romantic, bright, and mysterious. It was too bad there was no one to share it with.

Shikamaru came to mind. Ino shuddered, thinking of every problem that arose with his existence. She returned to walking, mind wandering far, but always on the topic of Shikamaru. It was as if her mind was a computer desktop, and his face was its wallpaper, not to mention she couldn't freaking change the wallpaper as much as she'd like to! But she went on for a short while until she ran into a figure asleep against the cold ground.

The figure shuddered just a bit, until his eyes flickered open. Black met blue for an instant. Ino gasped. Her heartbeat raced, she felt like it was burst at any moment, and her face felt ready to burn off from her bright blush (Thankfully its night time! She almost sighed with relief). The boy on the ground simply yawned and blinked.

"Ino?"

"Shikamaru?"

All right, that wasn't really insane, so… get over it XD. This chapter feels short :(. And badly written:( :( Oh well, I thought it was a nice point to stop at, so I decided to go ahead and stop. :)

BTW, super sorry about yesterday when I 'updated'. Yeah, FFN was being screwy, and every time I posted this chapter it was screwy and I had to delete it, and eventually I ended up having to sign off without posting it because I really had to go (school night and all), so… uh… here it is! Today! Instead! XD

REVIEW PLEASE :3 I'll love you lots if you do :D