Wow. You know, the whole Shino/Chouji thing got more support than I thought it would. I was expecting to have to pull my half-dead corpse to the computer to write this after everyone had finished beating me to a pulp for that. That being said, now that this chapter is up, I'm fairly certain at least someone is going to be upset with me. Hopefully, though, you'll still give me a fair shake over it.

Now, this chapter is big. Seriously big. I mean it, the climax is in here. After all, if you pay attention to any novel, you'll realize that the last chapter is hardly the big one, but rather the aftermath. And this chapter is second-to-last, so yeah, it's pretty much THE chapter. Kind of nervous about it. Hope that it's everything that it should be. I won't waste any more of your time now, so enjoy it.

Running Is Troublesome…So Let's Stop

Shikamaru had never felt like this before. He felt like laughing at his own foolishness and crying over it at the same time. Vaguely, he wondered if this is what dying felt like. This feeling of the entire world slowly fading away, until all that he could feel was his own presence.

"I just figured out that I'm in love with my best friend," the boy repeated through his tears, more for himself than the girl looking on. "I just finally fucking figured it out." He was pounding the ground now with his fist, as anger mixed in with the sorrow. "Kami, how could I have been so fucking stupid?"

Heh, some genius he was. Not only had he not known how his best friend had felt about him for over three years, he hadn't known how he himself had felt until he finally lost him. It was too late now, though. Chouji had found someone else. Someone who had known how he felt, and wasn't afraid to do something about it. Shikamaru had had his chance, and now it was gone.

"…Then you better go tell him." Shikamaru's head shot up. Hinata was smiling sweetly, trying to convey a sense of support. "Tell him, while there's still time."

Shikamaru scoffed. "It's not like it matters now. He's already with Shino. As long as he's happy, I don't want to mess it up for him. Telling him now would just confuse him."

"Uh, yeah…about that…" Now Hinata was blushing and pushing her pointer fingers together like she always did when she was nervous. Even as distraught as he was, Shikamaru could sense something troublesome coming. "I might have kind of, sort of…made that up…heh, heh."

Shikamaru's jaw dropped, his eyes wider than they had ever been. "You WHAT?!"

"S-sorry Shikamaru, it's just that, um, I figured that if you were ever going to figure this out, you'd need, well, a sort of shock."

Shikamaru finally relocated his jaw and eyed the girl suspiciously. "You mean you cooked up the story about Shino and Chouji just to see how I'd react?"

Hinata nodded. "I used Shino because he's, well, my teammate. He's more likely to forgive me for this than the other guys. I, I'm really sorry that I deceived you Shikamaru, but I really felt that you only needed a push, so I gave you one."

"But, how did you even know about this?"

Hinata blushed again. "W-well, you see, after what happened with Kiba and Naruto, I was a bit of a…a mess. I thought that maybe I should talk to Ino, since she understands these kinds of things better than most people do. But, when I went to look for her, I saw her walking with Chouji, and then I saw you following them…

"I know that it wasn't any of my business, but I was curious as to what was going on. B-besides, I still wanted to talk to Ino. So, I followed them too, and hid on one of the rooftops near the alley. I heard everything that you did, Shikamaru, I just didn't get caught like you did."

Shikamaru was blushing now. Clearly, he hadn't been a very good ninja lately. He had been completely oblivious to Chouji's feelings, let Ino manipulate him twice, and now he had allowed himself be tailed. True, Hinata had over a decade of experience from following Naruto around like the lovesick schoolgirl that she really had been. Still, Shikamaru couldn't keep back the groan as he felt how much he had acted like a newly graduated gennin.

"But this isn't the time for talking about this. Now, you need to find Chouji."

Shikamaru, however, didn't move. He didn't even make a sound. "Eh, I don't know. I mean, don't you think it's kind of fast. I just figured this out, after all, and Chouji still won't come near me right now, so—"

"NO!" Hinata seemed just as surprised at her outburst as Shikamaru was. "I-I mean, you can't put this off, Shikamaru. I know how feel, believe me. I know it's scary to admit how you feel to someone. But if you don't, then you'll just keep putting it off until it's too late…" Hinata looked at her feet as she trailed off. Clearly, she was speaking from her own current experiences.

"Go tell him, Shikamaru," she continued. "Go and tell him how you feel. Do it while you're still certain. You looked so lost when you heard Chouji was dating someone else, so go find him before it becomes true."

Shikamaru thought about it. Hinata was right. He knew how he felt now, and Chouji felt the same way. Really, there really wasn't anything to think about on this one. So with a quick nod to Hinata, he ran off to the village. Chouji usually spent his days off in town, sampling various foods.

Hinata watched him leave, smiling. She had meant what she said to Kiba earlier that day. Hinata was happiest when she could help her friends be happy. Her thoughts went out to Shikamaru and Chouji, hoping that everything would go smoothly. Now, though, she needed to find and apologize to Shino. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too upset that she had said he was gay.

Chouji couldn't help but laugh to himself as he walked along the street. He knew it was somewhat disrespectful to Shino to be acting like this, but he couldn't help himself. Silently, he wondered if Gaara's siblings ever had to put up with this from the young Kazekage too.

To his credit, Chouji had kept his humor hidden while Shino was actually asking him. It wasn't just the fact that Aburame Shino was asking him to recommend a good restaurant to take his family to that made Chouji chuckle. It was how he asked. Shino had been so ridiculously awkward about asking him. He had first been completely silent, and then had stuttered when he finally asked. Chouji even thought that he had seen a blush on that heavily covered face of his.

Chouji stopped laughing and sighed contentedly. Today really hadn't been a bad day at all. The sun was shinning, the village was calm, and no foreign kunoichi had attacked him today. Today had definitely been a good day.

Then he saw him. Shikamaru had suddenly appeared from around a corner, panting. Wherever he had just come from, he must have done so in a hurry, seeing how out of breath the boy was. Currently, he was scanning the streets. He seemed to be looking for something, although Chouji couldn't imagine what. Maybe he was checking to see if any of his stalkers were around.

Then, Shikamaru's gaze met Chouji's. Both boys stood completely still for what seemed like forever. Then, Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, his gaze more intense than Chouji had ever seen before, even during the most dangerous of missions. As he began to walk towards the mass ninja, Chouji panicked. Every bone in his body was telling him the exact same thing.

RUN!

Shikamaru had only picked up speed as he ran through the village. He thanked whoever was up there for allowing him to move around the village without a bunch of girls coming after him. Still, despite being clad in that unusual armor and being larger than almost everyone else, Chouji had been next to impossible to find. He had already checked his friend's usual eating spots, but had no luck. It was only by chance that he had happened to finally find Chouji. Only to see him run in the opposite direction as soon as began to approach him.

Shikamaru gave a low growl. He was not in the mood for a chase right now. Still, there wasn't even a question as to what he would do. After that scare Hinata gave him, he was not taking any chances. So, he ran after him. Hopefully, he could do this a little better than his groupies had done.

Chouji had passed the Hokage's office just before Temari stepped out of it. The blond sighed, thankful that her meeting had finally ended. The girl just wasn't good at these sort of diplomatic missions. Ever since she was born, Temari had had two big obstacles to overcome: the pressure and expectations of being the Kazekage's eldest child, and the stone age way of thinking that she was weaker just because she was a girl. So, she had grown up fighting tooth and nail to gather her own respect and clout in her rather strict and traditional village. Temari had spent her whole life molding herself into the woman of action that she was today.

Because of that, however, she had missed a lot of the more feminine and cunning skills that kunoichi were expected to learn. Shikamaru once described her as being as subtle as a rhino, and even though she had whacked him over the head for saying it, she had to agree with him. Peacekeeping missions, although they were usually seen more as ninja vacations than actual work, had always been difficult for her. Sitting still and being pleasant without giving her usual retorts simply didn't work out for her.

Especially with Konohagakure's council of elders. Temari had been very thankful when the Lady Hokage had pulled her aside after one meeting and told her that she agreed with the expression Temari had been trying to hold in the entire conference. Someone really needed to slap some sense into those hypocritical, self-serving fossils. Suna's elders may not have been the nicest people in the world, but at least they were honest. Temari smirked when she thought of what their reactions will be when that Uzumaki kid finally becomes the Hokage (which he will, seeing as her formally psychopathic brother was able to make it). She would pay money to see that.

Meanwhile, though, it was mid-afternoon and Temari had the rest of the day off. She contemplated tracking down her future husband. On one hand, she was still mad at him for ignoring her before. On the other hand, every minute she spent away from Shikamaru meant another minute that that pigtailed brat Ino could be using to try to steal him away.

It was at that moment that Shikamaru ran past her. Temari blinked as she watched him go. A smirk crept up her face. Trying to get away from me, huh? Well, we'll just have to see about that. And with that thought, she took off after him.

Ino wiped her brow as she looked over her work. It had taken two hours, but she had finally finished her family's store's front display. Not that she hated the work, of course. Flowers had always been her forte, and working with them, be it to bring out their beauty or extract their poison, was always something that she enjoyed. Right now, she was congratulating herself for a job well done as she looked over the plants sitting under the colorful awning.

So of course she panicked when someone ran by and nearly knocked over one of the large urns carrying a bouquet of lilacs in their haste. Ino immediately moved to the urn and steadied it, then turned to yell at the careless runner. "Hey, you! Watch where you're—Shikamaru?"

Ino wondered why her usually lazy teammate was running full speed down the street. She watched him go, as if waiting for the answer to present itself. She didn't have to wait long, though, as Temari soon passed her.

Upon seeing the older blond, Ino went into autopilot. The whole mess with Chouji was one thing, but lose to Temari? Hell no. "Daddy," she called into the shop, "I'm going out for a little while. I'll be back before dinner."

As the oh-so-troublesome chase continued through the streets, more and more girls saw Shikamaru running through the streets, and joined in trying to run him down. Before long, another female mob had formed. Of course, Temari and Ino were far in front of the rest of the girls.

Shikamaru, however, hardly noticed them. He was entirely focused on reaching Chouji. The shadow ninja knew that really, he probably deserved this run for denying his friend what he had wanted for so long, but this was beginning to work on his last nerve. And of course he wasn't deaf; he could hear the women screaming his name behind him. He just didn't care. All that mattered was the boy running in front of him.

Chouji, meanwhile, was running as fast as he could. He knew what he had said to Naruto and Kuromaru. He knew that he couldn't always avoid his best friend. Right now, though, he just couldn't do it. He was, simply put, scared of what would happen.

Chouji took a quick glance behind him, and then whipped his head back in the direction he was moving. Shikamaru looked pissed. He looked like he was ready to butcher the mass ninja for what he had said. Knowing that he probably could crush him, both in body and spirit, Chouji picked up speed, desperately hoping to lose his friend.

Shikamaru groaned when Chouji began to move faster and widen the gap between them. This had gone on more than long enough. Fortunately, after all the chases that he'd been through since Sasuke had left him there with all those troublesome women, Shikamaru knew the town layout fairly well by now. He smirked as Chouji ran down a side street, remembering nearly getting caught at the other end of that street once because it winded around a building that his kunoichi followers had been able to scale easily and cut him off on the other side.

Shikamaru decided to follow their example. He focused his chakra in his feet, and ran up the wall of the structure, immediately leaping down the other side once he had reached the top. Chouji had managed to pass by already, but now he was just a few feet ahead of him. Shikamaru rushed after him. Just a few more steps and…

"Gotcha!" Shikamaru was stopped to a dead halt as Ino glomped onto his arm. Apparently, his other teammate had decided to follow him over the building and had pulled ahead of Temari. Shikamaru watched forlornly as Chouji put kept on running. This could not be happening! "C'mon, Shikamaru, let's—"

"DAMMIT, INO! GET OFF OF ME!"

Ino, stunned, did as asked, and Shikamaru immediately continued running. The girl just watched him, her face in shock. She had never seen that happen before. Whenever she, or Temari, or someone else caught Shikamaru, he complained and asked to be left alone, but he was too lazy to actually try and stop them. Never, never had he raised his voice to any of them. In fact, when she thought about it, he had never raised his voice, period. As she watched him go, she also realized that Shikamaru had never run in his whole life as hard as he was right now. What could have possibly gotten the constant slacker to put so much energy into running away?

It was then that she actually looked ahead of Shikamaru, and realized that he wasn't running away from anything. He was running towards Chouji.

"You're not getting away!" Temari cried out as she opened up her fan. She too was tired of running and decided that stopping Shikamaru would be well worth the potential injuries and property damage. She hardly noticed that Ino was standing completely still as she readied her attack. "Kamat—what the?"

Temari freaked as she felt a familiar sensation travel through her entire body. Her muscles froze up, and suddenly she couldn't move. Had Shikamaru planted some sort of shadow trap to stop her? Was that why Ino wasn't moving either?

Suddenly, her body began moving against her will. Her hands dropped the fan, and she turned to find that Shikamaru had, in fact, not set any sort of trap. In front of her was Ino, her eyes hidden in the shadow of her bangs. Temari's eyes widened when she saw that the pony-tailed girl was forming a square over her chest with her thumbs and pointer fingers. "Ino, what do you think you're doing!?"

"Shut up, Temari," Ino said sullenly. She was desperately trying to hold back her tears because she absolutely refused to cry over this. The rest of the mob was catching up to them, but that no longer mattered. "It's over now. We've already lost…"

Shikamaru knew that he had been somewhat abrupt to Ino, and he guessed that it must have affected her, since he couldn't hear her voice behind him anymore. He also noted that Temari was gone now, too, although he didn't know why. Maybe she had tripped and gotten trampled over by the rest of the girls.

Shikamaru shook his head out of the clouds. Ino and Temari didn't matter right now. Chouji did. He had to focus on catching up to him. It wasn't going to be easy. Shikamaru was a strategist after all. His place was on the back lines, observing and thinking. He wasn't built for speed. Fortunately, neither was Chouji.

He was gaining on him, and Chouji did seem to be slowing down. Still, he couldn't keep this up forever. Eventually, Chouji would reach somewhere like his home or the Hokage's office and Shikamaru wouldn't be able to follow him anymore. He needed to think of a plan, and fast. This wasn't like when he was running from the girls before he had barged in on Naruto and Kiba. Now, he was the pursuer, not the pursued. That meant that now, he had to find an answer while keeping track of his target. Not only that, but now he knew that Chouji could escape his shadow possessing technique. That would make things even more complicated.

Still, maybe he could use his shadow to help. He was close enough now. It was a bit of a gamble, though. If this didn't work, then he'd definitely lose Chouji. Unfortunately, all of the Nara clan's techniques required the user to stand still, so any that he tried now would be a one-shot deal. Still, it was worth that one shot. All he needed was a wall.

Now that Chouji had ducked into another alley, it seemed like Shikamaru was going to get his wall. Following closely behind, he began weaving hand signs. Shadow possession hadn't worked, but maybe shadow sewing would.

Chouji saw the brick wall in front of him. The path split left and right, perpendicular to the one he had been running down. Quickly, he opted to go to the right. Before he could, though, something pierced the wall, barring his path. Chouji identified them as two of Shikamaru's sewing shadows. He turned around, only to see three more pitch black tendrils appear on that side. Then, as if telling him to not even think about it, a sixth spike went over his head.

Chouji slowly turned around to face Shikamaru. The smaller boy was on one knee in his trademark stance as the shadows retracted back to their source. Chouji didn't bother trying to run. His movement was all about momentum. Now that he had been stopped, there was no way he could outrun his friend now.

Shikamaru started walking towards him now, slowly. Chouji tried to plead with him. "Please, Shikamaru, can't we just forget about all this happened? Can't things just be like how they were before? I promise you, I won't bring this up ever, really! I mean, we've been fine all these years so far, right? So, can we just go back to normal? Please?"

"No Chouji, we can't."

That was enough to move the large boy to tears. He tilted his head down as he cried. He couldn't stand to look at his obviously angry friend and his eyes, which were more intense than he had ever seen them before. He also didn't want Shikamaru to see him crying right now. Chouji really felt just so…pathetic.

Then, something happened. Suddenly, he could feel a finger under his chin tilt his head up, and almost immediately felt something soft press up against his mouth. Chouji was dumbfounded for a few moments before it registered. Shikamaru was kissing him.

Shikamaru moved his head away from Chouji. The poor boy was frozen stiff in shock, watching him with a completely bewildered look that Shikamaru couldn't help but find, well, cute. It amused him how freely he was now able to think of his friend as such. The brunette smirked. "C'mon, Chouji, you're not gonna make me do all the work, are you?" That knocked Chouji back to his senses, and he had to restrain himself from saying sorry as Shikamaru leaned in again for another attempt. This time, Chouji reciprocated. After all, he had wanted this for sooo long, so he might as well go with it.

The kiss was awkward and clumsy. Chouji had no experience whatsoever with this, and Shikamaru only had a little more than that (Ino had used him years ago so that she could claim to Sakura that she had more experience with boys). Their lips kept sliding and their noses bumped into each other more than once. To Chouji, though, it felt like heaven on earth. Without knowing it, he had placed his hands around Shikamaru's torso and on the small of his back. Upon realizing that he had pulled his friend into a close embrace, Chouji blushed in embarrassment and shame until Shikamaru draped an arm around Chouji's neck, pulling him even closer.

Eventually, they separated, and stared at each other. Both of them were blushing. Chouji was the first to speak, or rather, stutter. "You…I…we just…do you?"

Shikamaru blushed even more. Chouji decided that the pink/red tint looked good on the boy. Then, rubbing the back of his neck, Shikamaru spoke. "Chouji, look. I've never dated anyone before, male or female. I don't know how this will turn out. We could be a good couple, or we could be at each other's throats within a week. But…but if you want to, I'm willing to try. Is, is that okay."

Still somewhat shocked from everything that had just happened, Chouji nodded dumbly. He could do that. He wanted to do that. Shikamaru smiled at the nod, and moved in close for another kiss. "Sorry for making you wait so long, Chouji," he said, mere centimeters from his friend's mouth.

"S'okay. Not like I told you." Chouji had finally gotten a bit of his voice back.

Before their lips could meet, though, they heard something coming towards them. Upon hearing his name being called out by several voices, Shikamaru groaned. He had forgotten about his fan girls. Talk about bad timing. Shikamaru pulled away and looked at Chouji apologetically. "To be continued?" he offered.

Something clicked in Chouji. Those damn girls had overshadowed him for far too damn long. For months, he had to compete with them for Shikamaru's attention. And now that they were…something (they'd work on the definition later), there was no way he was going to let them get away with it any longer.

With a growl, Chouji grabbed Shikamaru and held him up against the brick wall. "No," he said flatly, a predatory gleam in his eyes. "I've had enough of them as is. They are NOT taking what's mine." This time, Chouji leaned in for the kiss.

Shikamaru was a little taken aback by his friend's sudden assertiveness, but decided that it wasn't a bad thing. He kind of liked the shiver it sent down his spine. He leaned into the third kiss, this time cupping the back of Chouji's head. Sure, the news would spread like wildfire tomorrow, but at least those troublesome women would stop following him now.

Yep, today was definitely a good day.

A/N: Just so I'm clear, I don't really like Shino. I don't hate him, either, but I'm really not a fan of him. That may be because of the bugs. I really, really don't like bugs. I guess that I just don't like his character, with him being all stoic and a little haughty. I like noisy, active characters like Naruto and Kiba or underdogs like Chouji and Hinata better. Anyways, sorry that I strung you guys along last chapter. I love pulling surprises like this. Kudos to everyone who actually thought that it might be a lie after all.

Now, like I said at the top, I'm kind of nervous about this chapter because it's basically the real end to it, and the last chapter is more of a wrap-up. So let me know how it went, okay? Compliments are loved, but honesty is truly appreciated. I'm going to try and get the last chapter up a little faster, since after next week, my ability to post is going to be a little haphazard for a while. Until next time!