I am still working on ages. It's kinda hard when Ino and Shikamaru don't know each other. I'm debating between Shikamaru being older, or them being all the same age but never having met.

Ino, as she had decided last week, came to the grocery store again the next week on the same day.

She wandered through, trying to look as though she was finding things to make it seem as though she wasn't looking for that boy and Akane.

Completely absorbed in a shampoo that she hadn't seen before, Ino failed to notice after spending all that time searching that the boy walked right by her.

"Hey, you. How troublesome," he said and gave her a weird look. "Did you... meet a guy named Chouji at a bus stop, perhaps?"

Ino jumped, and finally realized it was him. "Hi... Yeah, I did. Don't you have Akane with you today?"

He shrugged. "Last week her mom needed some time off. Today she wanted her kid. I'm fine with it either way."

"Thanks," said Ino. He looked surprised.

"Huh?" he asked.

"You paid for my groceries. I'm so grateful," she said, embarrassed. "I never asked you to."

He shrugged again, embarrassed too. "You changed Akane's diaper. I figured it was a fair trade."

Ino shook her head. "Whatever it was, I'm really grateful to you... I think you did more than I deserved. If you ever need a favor, I'll repay you. Or I could just pay you back for them."

The boy frowned, which she assumed meant he was thinking. It was an adorable expression.

"I can't think of anything at the moment... And I didn't expect anything from you. So no, don't pay me back for the groceries. Lemme have my good deed of the day..." His stomach growled. He blushed, another adorable expression. Ino found herself liking him more and more the more he talked. "Although I suppose if you really want to pay me back, we could go out to lunch..." He grinned. "I've currently only got enough money with me for the stuff on this list. And I'm really hungry. I didn't eat breakfast today."

"Come to think of it, I'm hungry too..." said Ino. "Tell you what. You pick the place, I'll pay, and we'll consider it all repaid." Thanks to his good deed last week, Ino had a little extra money which could be used for this purpose.

He nodded. "Sounds good to me. Let's finish grocery shopping first, though." YES! I get to have lunch with him! Oh, yes. I rule.

They wandered through the store for a while, studying prices... or rather, Ino studied prices. Ino was the type of person to search for the absolute best price she could get, whereas he was more likely to just buy something.

Ino learned that he did not care about anything other than Akane, his job, and his games. She told him about her part-time job as a flower store clerk, along with ninja work. He seemed to appreciate it.

"What flower shop do you work at?" he asked.

"Yamanaka Flowers. It's my dad's old place, actually, but they kept the name when he gave it up." She shrugged. "If the people who own it now give it up, I'm buying it from them. I'm saving up."

"That's cool. Along with being ninja, my family business is taking care of deer."

Ino looked at him in disbelief. "No. Way."

"Way."

"That's awesome!" She was shocked. That was just too weird. In a cool way.

It then occurred to her that his family business might be the reason that guy at the bus stop called him "Shika".

He scratched his head. "Glad ya think so. Kinda troublesome at times, though."

"Still, that's pretty cool."

"Flower shops are nice places, too."

They chattered randomly throughout the rest of the time and bought their stuff. He suggested Ichiraku's Ramen as a good place to go out for lunch.

"You can actually walk there from here," he said. "It'll be easier than to try and guide you there, and then we can walk back here."

She turned to him in the middle of their walk. Actually, in the middle of a sentence. Hers, anyway, at least she wasn't interrupting him.

"I just realized-" she began. "I don't know your name." Well, nicknames don't count.

"My name is Nara Shikamaru," he offered. Oh. Of course. Shikamaru, Shika, deer... Cute.

She nodded. "I'm Yamanaka Ino. You said your family business is deer, right?"

He grinned. "That's where I got my name from."

"Nice to meet you, Shikamaru," said Ino.

"Nice to meet you too."

Within a few minutes, they reached Ichiraku's and Ino took in her surroundings.

It was a small-town, tiny place that sold mainly ramen. It had a dark alley next to it that you couldn't pay Ino to go into after 5:00, and judging by the state of the counter, it had probably barely passed its last health examination. But the food smelled delicious and the people were nice, and Ino found herself laughing with Shikamaru, the waitress, and the cook (the latter two apparently being father and daughter, along with being the sole owners of Ichiraku's), and thoroughly enjoying herself.

Shikamaru seemed to get along nicely with them, smiling with the younger waittress and challenging her father to a nice round of Shogi at a later date.

Ino ordered chicken ramen. Shikamaru ordered miso.

"So," asked Ino. "What exactly is your relationship to Akane?"

"Er, my jounin-sensei- his name was Asuma, and he was the greatest guy ever. Played shogi with me all the time." Shikamaru took a mouthful of ramen.

"He was really... cool. He was a good teacher. He saved my life more times than I can count, and he taught me a lot about how to be a ninja." Shikamaru contemplated the air in front of him for a moment.

"Last year, he died."

Ino coughed. "I'm so sorry," she said. And she was. It was clear Shikamaru had thought a lot of this person.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Not your fault, was it? Anyway, it was a total random thing. Kinda sad, really. It could have been anyone- could have been me- but it was him."

He paused again. "Troublesome, ne?" And swallowed hard- but he hadn't had any ramen in his mouth. "Anyway, his girlfriend- well, actually it turned out they were married in secret- his wife gave birth a few months later." He smiled a sort of depressed-half-smile. "She gave birth to Akane."

"Is that why she's so precious to you?" Ino asked.

He nodded. "Also, Kurenai had a Genin team of her own. They adore Akane, too."

Ino smiled. "She's lucky to have so many ninja taking care of her."

Shikamaru nodded. It became silent again.

After lunch, he thanked her.

"That was good," he said, smiling. "Thank you. Anyway, I've got to go back home- Kurenai has been known to nap around this time every day, and I'm not sure who's home to take care of Akane."

"So you all just go to her house all the time?" asked Ino. Shikamaru hadn't really explained how all the ninja took care of Akane.

Shikamaru nodded. "If all of us are there, Chouji and Hinata make dinner. Shino and Kiba clean and do general chores. I usually watch Akane, and so does Airi," he said, looking matter-of-fact about it all. "Kurenai, of course, helps do that. But usually, not all of us are there. So whoever's there just fills in for the other person." He shrugged again.

Ino had no idea who any of those people were, but she didn't really bother to ask.

"Can I have your phone number?" asked Ino suddenly. Shikamaru blinked at her.

"Eh?" He gave her a weird look.

"Here," said Ino, pulling out a small pad of paper and a pen. She scribbled some numbers on it, then handed it to Shikamaru. "If you guys are ever absolutely stuck without people- if all of you are on a mission or something and need someone to help her out- call me. I'm usually free. My job as a medic-nin isn't very demanding... I'm a citizen's doctor. Which means I can do work as a pediatrician if you need one."

She handed the pad of paper to him.

"Write your number down, too," she said.

He complied. Score! Inner Ino screamed. I got his number! Go me!

"Thanks," he said, smiling. "See ya 'round."

And he left.

As soon as he was out of sight, Ino did a small victory dance and ran home to put his number in her cell phone.

Please review!

Oh, and Airi is an OC, if you were wondering. I've written only a few in my lifetime- but none of them were major characters. Airi won't be a major character, but you won't be able to forget she exists. I have a personality worked out for her, but I won't give out her entire profile because I'm hoping that you'll get to know the kind of character she is by my writing. Here is some basic info, though, just to help you picture her before Ino sees her:

(name meanings/ comments in parentheses)

Name: Takahashi Airi (love, affection, jasmine/pear) (subject to change)

Parents: Takahashi Ayame (iris) and Akio (bright, hero, manly, husband). Her mother's family is a line of loyal and good shinobi. Her father's family owns grocery stores.

Status: Jounin

Appearance: brown eyes, brown hair, medium height, pale skinned

Don't worry. The story won't turn ShikaOC. :)

That's all for now! See ya next chapter.