Ino got to her knees, coughed, and brought her hand to her forehead. She cringed, waiting for the terrible pain of her headache to subside. When it had, she brought herself to her feet and dusted herself off. What just happened? She looked around, until her eyes finally lay on Shikamaru fighting some woman… wait, she knew that face! What was its name again?

The Story Master.

What's going on? She stared at the woman, confused, until a wave of realization swept over her and the memories rushed in.

"I'm sorry I ever gave you a simple thought!"

The fight.

"And they won't shut up about you! You're a big celebrity here, Shikamaru, especially when it comes down to me. They all think we're dating!"

The reunion.

"You're so cute together!"

"It'll only bring pain."

"Don't listen to him; you two are destined for each other!"

The insanity.

"You can't die here! I love you, Damnit!"

The cure.

The Story Master's Tale has come to its end… Ino slowly smirked as she saw Shikamaru catch the Story Master with his Kage Mane. Finally, it's time for me to stop being the damsel in distress.

With a look of triumph, she walked over to Shikamaru, tapping his shoulder. When he looked behind himself at her, he looked startled and surprised. However, he quickly smirked. One thing seemed to pass wordlessly between them. The classic plan!

With a quick hand sign, Inu's body went limp, and Shikamaru quickly caught it. The Story Master, on the other side of the shadow bind, looked at Shikamaru warily, then in the next instant dropped her shoulders, and then looked up with that classic all-knowing smile.

But it wasn't her smile, it was Ino's.

Ino, in her role as the Story Master, closed her eyes and sighed, "Ah, it feels good to be in the fight again."

Shikamaru lightly chuckled, "So what's her plan?"

"Her writer's block still hasn't ended, it's undecided." She furrowed her brow, searching deeper into the Story Master's mind, "But two plans have been considered."

"And they are?"

"Plan one, the comedic ending. The princess wakes from her slumber at the hand of the knight, and they live happily ever after. A classic, fairy tale ending."

"And the other?"

"The tragic ending," Ino frowned, "The princess dies, and the knight goes crazy from the loss."

Shikamaru laughed, "With you awake again, she can't choose the second ending."

"That's what I want to think, but she could do something to kill me off anyway, couldn't she? She's the author, after all."

"Check her mind for one more thing," He narrowed his eyes, "See what she thinks about couples."

Ino nodded and closed her eyes, racking the Story Master's mind for the answer. She soon opened her eyes and said solemnly, "She hates to see a good relationship end."

"That's all we need, then."

Ino smiled, "Thanks, Shika. For everything."

Shikamaru grunted in reply, "Release that jutsu. I have a plan."

Shikamaru panted. She was a tough opponent, but he and Ino had definitely dealt a few blows to her. The Story Master's shoulders rose with every staggering breath, her breathing tempo matching that of her opponents. The final blow would have to be made soon, and it would have to work perfectly.

The Story Master took a deep breath, preparing an attack, "Alchemic no Jutsu, Monster summoning!" Instantly, two large monsters rose from the ground, forming from rock, and growled deeply. Ino did her best not to seem like she was shrinking in fear, but felt somewhat intimidated. When she moved to defend herself, Shikamaru ran in front of her, his arms crossed in an 'x' as a shield.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you Ino!"

Ino froze, surprised, and then chuckled, "Stopped being a lazy ass, Shika?"

"We've come this far, right? I don't want to lose you after all that! Leave this… bitch to me; I'll get her for everything she did for you."

Ino grinned, then shot a fist in the air, though somewhat weakly, "Go get 'em, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru smirked as he drew his shuriken, I wonder what will come of all this? The Story Master was running out of ideas, writer's block had definitely taken its toll, and she had repeatedly summoned these monsters already. It just required one good shot and…

Perfect.

The shuriken hit directly into the chests of the monsters, splitting them each in two and making them fall to the ground, sinking back into the earth. Shikamaru smirked and turned back to Ino, about to take her hand and get her away from here, but she had disappeared.

Shikamaru spun back around to look at the Story Master, and found her to be gone as well. Where had they both gone? Don't tell me… he scowled, Damnit! She got her again, didn't she? Some knight I am…!

"Over here!"

Shikamaru turned again, glaring deeply at the villain before him. The Story Master was smiling there, as she always had been, but with Ino trapped at her side. Ino's stood there, her legs and arms incased in earth, along with being gagged by the same material. She wore a look of shock. He growled, ready to finally punch in that annoying smile of hers, "What do you want with her!?"

The Story Master's smile grew into beaming, and she laid a hand on Ino's shoulders. Ino seemed to flinch at the contact. "What will you do to save her?"

"I'll tear you to pieces, that's what." He clenched his fists, but didn't move.

She touched a hand to her chin, deep in thought, always smiling that same, all-knowing smile, "I'll just about believe you about that. You know, so many ideas have gone through my head just now, during our fight, all about how to end this story. I believe I've finally decided on one… but I need one more piece of information." Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow as she shifted her hand behind her, then in a quick nanosecond, drew a kunai to Ino's throat, "What will you do?"

"You bitch!" Shikamaru charged for the woman, then in a blink of an eye he rammed her in the stomach. She fell to the ground, coughing, a bit of blood hanging from her lip. When the coughing finally settled, she smiled again.

"The knight finally defeated his nemesis, and the princess was freed." On cue, the rock that held Ino sunk back into the earth and she collapsed, landing in Shikamaru's arms. She was unconscious, having fainted from the shock of her opponent's death-threat, but was in fine condition. "Though she was injured, the knight was able to heal her wounds and nurse her back to health. The bizarre town returned to normal, and they were released from their villain's illusion."

The Story Master's body then sunk into the ground, just like all of her characters. The buildings and scenery around them sunk too, and Shikamaru soon found himself merely sitting alone in a blank universe with Ino in his arms.

"What's going… on?"

He suddenly felt like he was bashed in the head, and blacked out.

"Hoorah!"

Shikamaru woke up to the loud sound of applause from all around him. He rubbed his head, weary, and looked around him. He was on the stage… and all of Konoha sat before him.

He looked to his side to see Ino waking up with the same confusion. What was going on? Was the story… over?

"Let's hear it for our stars!"

Everyone stood from their seats and cheered even louder. Shikamaru stared at them in disbelief, then exchanged questioning looks with Ino. He stood up, unsure of what to do, until he noticed someone else standing on the stage with them.

It was the Story Master, smiling again, and waving her arms. But this time she was smiling to Konoha, and she didn't seem two-faced as usual… she was actually sincere.

She turned to him and her smile grew to a grin, "Congratulations on a job well done."

"What happened to the story? And why are we back on the stage?"

"And weren't you only supposed to tell one tale to Konoha, then leave?" Ino stood by Shikamaru's side, sharing interest in the subject, "It's been two days, why are you still here?"

"Don't you get it?" She laughed, "You two are the story. I can manipulate time within a tale, you know, so everything you just went through, actually took about an hour here."

"We showed up at the stage before noon though."

"So I froze time for you until noon." She shrugged, "No big, I do it all the time."

"This was all just for your act!?"

"No, no," She beamed, laughing still, "Hopefully more came out of this lesson than just great applause." She winked at them, then turned to the audience and bowed. "Thank you, thank you! Thank you all, and good day!"

The Story Master took her exit from the stage, from Konoha, and from their lesson.

"What just happened?"

Ino sat next to Shikamaru in a booth at the restaurant, where so many people had gathered after the show. She rubbed her thumb against the glass of water sitting before her. She and Shikamaru had never had lunch, after all… and they were awfully hungry.

"I don't know, it seems like such a blur now…" Shikamaru stared down at the table, ashamed, "What utter crap."

"And what about that fight?" Ino turned her head to him, but he didn't meet her gaze, "How did we just… win like that? I never got the plan."

"It was simple, if the Story Master didn't like to see the end to a good relationship, she wouldn't kill you off if she thought I deeply cared for you, right?" He turned his head to give her a bored look, as if everything was supposed to be that obvious, "So I guarded you to the best of my ability. Sure, I screwed up, but-"

"So it was all just an act?"

"What?"

"I don't know," She frowned and looked back at her glass of water, "I just… thought you actually did care about me. I guess what I heard you say 'I love you,' I got that impression. But I must've been imagining things…" She sighed. Shikamaru didn't respond, and looked back at the table. She continued, "You know what she did to drive me insane? She sent contradictory ideas to me about what would come of my being with you. Sakura, Asuma-sensei, Choji, Sasuke, Temari… all of them, and all of Konoha too, they all wouldn't stop talking about us. And I didn't know what to think! So I went crazy." Shikamaru grunted in reply, but didn't look up from the table. "I thought I loved you, Shika, I truly did, and I didn't think any of it would be worth it if you didn't love me back. And then I heard your voice, finally, and thought it was turning out right! But…" She sighed again, but deeply, "I guess I was wrong…" Shikamaru looked up at her again, staring. She sensed his gesture, and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She soon met his gaze, and questioned it, "What?"

"It wasn't an act," He said in a low voice, "And I wasn't lying."

Ino froze, her blue eyes locked onto his black ones. "What-"

He cut her off when his lips met hers, pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss. Ino responded right away and kissed back with equal passion, rapping her arms around his neck as he snaked his around her waist. They leaned into the wall, eventually passing for 'making out.' They didn't even notice when Naruto and Sakura walked by snickering. They could only easily hear the Story Master's words deep in their minds.

"And the knight and princess fell madly in love, and lived happily ever after."

Ooooooh! Pwnage! Now don't run off, there's still an epilogue, so it's not entirely over…

So HEY, I love you guys SO MUCH. I've gotten more than 800 views on this story, and I'm telling you, IT JUST EXCITES ME TO NOW END. Ahhhh, I love my readers, they're so awesome. :D

(hands out cookies to all the reviewers, because they're a thousand times more awesome then all the kids who just read and then RUN OFF WITHOUT A WORD.)

Every time you read without reviewing, a puppy dies by gunshot. SAVE THE PUPPIES.