Lust Addiction: Chapter 4
"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!" Ino's alarm rang annoyingly. She turned groggily in disdain in her sheets before slamming her fist on the soon-to-be-broken quacking, moaning alarm clock that her father bought for her for the 3rd time this morning.
Ino was never a morning person, even if she did go to bed earlier the night before. And she wasn't a pleasant sleeper either. Not only was she a heavy sleeper, but if you sleep with her, expect to be barricaded by her hugs and the leg that she throws over at some point at night to lock you in.
Just as she stretched out and began to settle back into her sheets, she heard an annoying tapping sound. Grunting irritably, Ino grabbed a book from her nightstand and flung it at the doorway and with a surprised "meow" from her cat, Yuki, she scampered away.
Suddenly the door shut and right when she was about to fall back into sleep, the aggravating tapping sound started again, louder this time, and growing louder and more impatient.
"Yuki!" Ino yelled portentously, but the tapping failed to cease.
"Ehem." a clear, deep voice grunted before a bright yellow light flooded the interior of the room.
Ino growled viciously and thrust the covers off her body and sprung upright on her wobbly, tingling feet to see the culprit, who she didn't exactly expect to see.
Ino widened her eyes and stared at a haughty yet questioningly disturbed Shikamaru, a deriding grin across his face and realized that she was wearing only underwear and a flimsy violet night gown and her hair was pleasantly mussed, the sunlight making the long wisps of hair shine like gold.
Without a word, Ino leapt back into the bed and caved deep into the sheets, feeling exposed and self-conscious.
Finally the tapping stopped and she heard Shikamaru emit a deep sigh. Ino slowly peeked out at him from under the covers and stared at him, unsure of what to do or say.
Impatient, Shikamaru abruptly left his place near the window and tugged the sheets swiftly, but Ino jerked them back and posed, "What are you doing?!", a dislocated and alarmed look on her face.
Arching an eyebrow mysteriously, he grinned at her and remained silent standing amused at her bedside.
"Why are you here? How-How did you get in? Talk, dammit!" Ino interrogated anxiously.
Chuckling, Shikamaru smiled and said turning halfway, "Heh, your dad let me in. And I shouldn't have to talk. There are many things in the world that can be expressed without words."
"Don't be a smartass with me, Shikamaru. Why are you here?" Ino said, her intensified glare aflame.
Turning and leaning closer, Shikamaru said, "Don't you already know? No? Allow me to refresh your memory." He paused and then continued, "Otou-san seemed pretty quick to let me in his sleeping daughter's room once he found out that she was smoking."
"Smoking? I don't smoke." Ino said, touching her lips, a hint of perplexity in her crystalline sky blue eyes.
Shikamaru looked dumbfounded; his face seemed to exclaim, "Oh my God. What a stupid girl."
"Oh!" she exclaimed enthusiastically as the revelation came over her and she lowered her gaze embarrassedly and became silent.
"He became worried when he saw a pack of menthols on your dresser. So, I wonder… I know you don't smoke. And you would never smoke. Why would you have a box of cigarettes?" Shikamaru asked with blatant sarcasm.
Ino said nothing, shrugged uninterestedly and caved back under the sheets.
"Why did you take it, Ino?"
"I didn't take anything."
"Don't lie to me. It's obvious. You stole my cigarettes. My scrolls were ruined and my unique arrangement of belongings was undeniably tampered with."
Ino laughed incredulously but said nothing and looked at him as if he was crazy.
Clearing his throat, Shikamaru continued, "Your dad wanted to know why you'd just start smoking. For the life of him, he couldn't think of a reason. So that's why he decided to ask me when I came over here."
"Did you tell him?" Ino asked anxiously.
"Of course not. I told him you were a stripper." Shikamaru said and laughed.
"Oh, ok." She said and hugged her arms around her fragile frame.
"That still doesn't answer the question. Why'd you take it?
"I knew you wouldn't stay true to your promise." She said innocently.
"Oh my God. Ino, you're impossible. There was never seriously a deal so I didn't promise to anything."
"Um, hello. Yeah, you did. And you don't want to do it because you know you can't. You're too lazy and not enough of a man to do it. You're just a tiny rascal of a boy about the size of my thumb." Ino said with a mocking smirk as she folded her arms, aware that she was ridiculing him and shrinking his ego.
"Oh really?" he asked more curiously than incredulously.
"Really." She replied, pursing her lips.
"Fine. I'll do this stupid thing. Just for you. What do you wanna bet?" he said sarcastically and grudgingly.
Laughing, Ino said, "Don't kid yourself."
"I'll do it before you can make Sasuke your despairing lover." He challenged in an assertive voice, arching an eyebrow, feeling both a twinge of jealously and also satisfaction in belittling them.
"Then it's official." Ino said with a note of accomplishment on her face and a surprised smile on her watermelon-colored lips.
"That's if you can handle your end of the deal." He snickered.
"What do you mean? Well, kissing you isn't exactly heavenly, but I can bear the burden."
He coughed comically and said vaguely, "We'll see about that."
Consequently, like sharp icicles, her eyes bore questions in his skull but he deflected them, primarily because he was excited about what he was planning on putting her through.
Diverting from the deal, he said playfully, "Hey Sleepyhead! Didn't you tell Chouji that you'd meet him at 7? You're a little behind, princess."
Ino glanced at the wheezing clock and it read, 10:34 A.M.
"Shit." Ino said, thrusting the sheets off and forgetting to tell Shikamaru to close his eyes. Her hair brushed against her creamy alabaster skin and her night gown did little to mask her sensuous curves. She was surprisingly dainty yet tantalizingly sultry. She slinked groggily into the bathroom and the sound of her brushing her teeth echoed through the bathroom walls.
"Go, I'll meet you outside." She ordered in a muffled voice.
Shikamaru replied, "What?" and ignored her and sat on her bed, looking the picture of team Ino-Shika-Cho. Kid Ino was giggling with an arm swung around the neck of slightly annoyed yet cheerful Shikamaru and Chouji was in the middle, timidly smiling, his chubby cheeks warming up his childish face. 'Ah, good times.' He thought.
Ino came out of the room in her daily kunoichi attire, her long hair slinging from side to side in a high ponytail and her hips swaying without help.
"Well, let's go." She said, as they exited the room.
"Oh, yeah, sorry about the scrolls." Ino said.
"It's nothing. Just an extra 3 hours of unnecessary work. But yeah, no big deal." He said, shrugging.
Averting her gaze, she mumbled a soft "Sorry…" and bit down on her lip.
"Morning, Daddy." Ino greeted her father and beamed her gleaming white smile full of sunshine at him.
"Hey, baby. Woke up pretty late today, don't you think?" he said as she took her seat alongside Shikamaru and Inoichi passed each of them a hot cup of green tea.
"I was tired. Still am." She replied, shrugging and sipping her tea.
"Anything you wanna tell me, Ino?" he asked, peering at her beneath lowered brows.
"Like what?" she asked back, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. She didn't want to address the whole cigarette issue. Life was choosing to make a much bigger deal out of it than it was.
"Oh… I don't know. Like the cigarettes I saw in your room this morning. My musume is better than that. She don't make dumb mistakes like that, am I right?"
"Of course." She replied incredulously.
"Really? Then explain yourself," he questioned dubiously.
"Dad, I don't smoke. I hate the habit of smoking. You know that. Those cigarettes are Shikamaru's. We… we made a deal so that he would consider quitting. If he lost the game I talked to you about, I would take his cigarettes away from him. He was being pompous and was full of himself and I won, he lost… so I took them. That's all."
"Oh. Well, if that's the case, then I'm sorry I doubted you. So you're not lying to me?"
"Papa… when have I ever lied to you?"
"Everyday to be exact," he said, opening his eyes wide and pursing his lips sardonically.
"Dad, be serious. I promise you I'm not lying. Ask Shikamaru."
He looked over to an indifferent Shikamaru quietly sipping his tea. With a nod, Shikamaru confirmed that she was telling the truth, although she wasn't exactly telling the whole truth.
Ino's dad smiled assuredly at them both and turned around to prepare his own cup of tea, singing whimsically.
Ino turned to Shikamaru and peered at him gratefully. Shikamaru nodded then smirked and continued to sip his tea.
"You know, I think I'm craving nicotine." Shikamaru whispered, stealing a glance and smirking.
"Shikamaru, no… not here."
"But I have a craving," he said with faux innocence and leaning closer teasingly.
"So? It can wait." she said with blunt indifference and shrugged dismissively.
"Wait? No it can't. I guess… I'll go and take a puff," he said contemptuously and rising from his chair. At this, Ino gripped his shirt fiercely and pulled him down back on the chair.
"No. There's no need for that. Why don't you just hang on a bit?"
"My craving is getting more urgent…" Shikamaru teased and smirked, leaning in closer as she slowly backed up on her chair away from him.
"Shikamaru! What are you doing? Wait, wait. Stop. Stop!" she said desperately and he arched an eyebrow intriguingly, the smirk never leaving his lips.
"Shikamaru! This is blackmail. Stop!" she pleaded, but she found that she could back up no longer.
"So… do you have any new missions?" Inoichi asked as he turned around slowly, stirring his tea contemplatively until he lifted his head to face them, and at that moment, Shikamaru gripped Ino's shoulders and pulled her into him, clasping down on her lips and kissing her hungrily. His laughter echoed deep in his throat as he heard Ino's frantic, muffled, "No!"
Inoichi's eyes slapped open wide with shock and he dropped his piping hot cup of tea, the hot liquid burning his unaware fingers and the delicate china shattering into tiny pieces among the steaming tea that trailed along the floor.
With the sound of the crash, Shikamaru broke the kiss and grinned impudently at Ino, who glared at him, flames of fury singeing his tan skin.
Ino looked at her helplessly catatonic father in dismay and bounded out of her seat to help him.
"Daddy!" she exclaimed, pulling him by the arm and washing his hot fingers under the kitchen faucet's cool water.
"Ino?" he asked, seeming to be lost in a trance.
"My God. What a mess," she remarked, scanning the shattered china and hot tea crawling abundantly across the previously immaculate floor. "Sit down, Daddy," she ordered, her eyes elsewhere as she pushed him into a chair.
She rinsed a cloth to soak up and clean up the tea and picked up the fragments with her bare hands, all the while Shikamaru sat in placid solitude, eyes sweeping from left to right as he observed her with interest with the smirk that she burned with desire to rip off his face. After a few minutes of silence and the sounds of broken china and rushing water, Yuki leapt on the counter beside Ino, gazing methodically at Ino and shooting her sparkling emerald orbs at Shikamaru. She meowed in disapproval and Ino smiled at her, caressing her downy, snow-white hair.
Inoichi stared down at the counter in front of him, his brows knitted with misunderstanding. Sighing, Ino took her seat in front of her father, making sure to scoot as far away from Shikamaru as she could, who still had the dumb smirk plastered on his face.
"Dad, you ok?" she asked, tenderly holding on to her father's stinging fingers.
Wincing slightly, her father looked up at his and asked, "So… you and Shikamaru?"
"Um, it's nothing really." Ino said immediately.
"He's––" she began, but was cut off when Shikamaru scooted up next to her and swung his arm to hug her shoulders and said, "––her boyfriend. I'm her boyfriend."
Ino swung her head around to stare at Shikamaru in utter disbelief and clenched her jaw.
"Ino, are you really his girlfriend?" Inoichi asked her hesitantly.
"Um…yes. He's––" she paused again unsurely, sighed deeply and continued, "––my boyfriend," a pained expression on her face.
"Alright!" her father exclaimed enthusiastically, avoiding clapping his hands together as he normally would. "My baby is growing up! Oh how will I live without you when you leave me?" he said with a sentimental look glazed over his eyes.
Ino rolled her eyes, mortified and embarrassed, trying to hide her sweet smile and said, "Dad, it's gonna be ok. Really, not a big deal."
"It is a big deal, honey."
"As for you, mister–––" he continued, turning and pointing a stern finger at Shikamaru, who remained as nonchalant as he was in the first place.
"This is my daughter you're dealing with. I've known you and your dad for years, but you're no exception. Hurt my baby, and you're dead. I'm sure your dad won't mind this punishment either, so watch your back. I've got my eyes on you. Remember that."
"Yes, sir!" Shikamaru grinned, confirming her father's order with a salute.
"Besides, my Ino is pretty feisty and tends to be a little temperamental, so watch out."
"Dad!" she shrieked at her father in reprimand.
"See?" he turned back to Shikamaru with an innocent expression.
"Oh, I know." Shikamaru replied in sarcastic agreement and Ino tried to shake free of Shikamaru's strong grip with a disgruntled look on her face.
"O––K. It's getting kinda late. Poor Chouji will be wondering why I abandoned him… so Shikamaru and I will be leaving now, ok, Father?"
"Sure, baby. Bye bye, now, you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't!" he father said and waved goodbye as the pair walked out the door, Shikamaru's arm wrapped around Ino's waist. They waved him off and exited the house to meet the blazing yellow sun spreading blinding light on the earth and residing safely in the clear, blue cloudless sky, where Ino wouldn't be able to get at it.
Ino shirked out of Shikamaru's grasp, shoving his arm off. She balled her fists angrily, seething through a clenched jaw and warned him in a vexed voice, "I could so punch you right now, but you know what? I'm choosing to spare you. Next time you piss me off, I'm going to make sure you burn. I'm going to cut off your balls and watch them shrivel in the sun like raisins until they turn as black as coal. Test me." Ino glared pretentiously at him without even flinching once despite the blinding sunlight.
"Oh, really?" Shikamaru asked in amused incredulity.
Ino scoffed and challenged, "Heh! I'd like to see you try and stop me."
Shikamaru snickered and grabbed her arm, folded it behind her back soon followed by the other and he whipped her around, pressing her into the red brick wall behind them. She lifted her leg quickly to kick him, but he just as quickly looped his legs to lock hers in place. She furrowed her brows in frustration as she struggled and failed to break his grip. She clamped down her teeth brutally several times in a futile attempt to bite him. He stared at her intensely and ordered her, "Kiss me."
Ino glared at him, outraged, and her mouth dropped in astonishment. Shikamaru arched an eyebrow and pressed her deeper, the heat from the brick wall baking in the plentiful sun seeping through her hands and back. She could already feel the unpleasant heat and the beads of sweat forming abundantly along her skin.
"Shikamaru!" she demanded, fumbling her fingers in vain against the hot brick.
"Don't make me force you, Ino." Shikamaru came closer to her face, mocking excitement conveyed in his grin.
Feeling trapped, Ino abruptly crushed her lips to his, taking his mouth by surprise. She kissed him with eager ferocity and Shikamaru's laughter deep in his throat tickled her. Shikamaru kept her hands handcuffed behind her but Ino pulled fervently towards him, intensifying her kiss. Shikamaru finally released her hands and slid his hands down to hug her hips.
Ino suddenly laughed as she kissed him. She cunningly grasped his arms, looping her leg around his and swung around, breaking the kiss and handcuffing him, slamming his back against the scorching brick wall.
Ino lifted her other leg, bent it and pressed down on Shikamaru's other thigh. She had him trapped.
"Ha!" Ino said in breathless exuberance with her chest pumping profoundly. "How does it feel to be the one who's trapped, damsel in distress?"
Shikamaru lowered his head, leaning it against the wall and laughed heartily. "To tell you the truth, it feels amazing."
Ino looked at him, perplexed, but drove her knee into him harder and laughed tempestuously, a conniving smirk on her lips. "Oh really, princess? Feels amazing, does it? Ha!" she jeered and continued, "I'd like to see you get out of this one. I dare you to try." she challenged and laughed again, positive that he couldn't escape. 'Pure ingenuity…' she thought superciliously.
Sighing deeply with recognition of defeat, Shikamaru said, "You got me, Ino. Well… I guess I give up."
Ino looked at him haughtily and laughed, saying, "Well. Good. You're officially my bitch! Haha!"
Suddenly Shikamaru grinned widely, breaking Ino's grip on his hand. He locked her looped leg in his and grabbed the other leg on his thigh and lunged forward, flipping her both onto his shoulder and strapping his arm around the small of her back. Ino, caught off guard, and feeling an unusual mix of angst, anger, and disbelief, growled at him.
"Your bitch, am I?" Shikamaru asked amusedly, ignoring the endless, exasperated pounding he felt on his back and the grunts of indignation that the strikingly beautiful and derisorily daunting bull he held to his shoulder emitted as he strolled down the road.
"Shikamaru! Put me down, or else! Now!" she yelled, kicking her legs futilely in the slightly humid air.
"Or else what?" Shikamaru asked facetiously.
The blond scowled irately and with a chuckle, Shikamaru conceded and said, "Alright, alright. Hang on." as he released the flustered and flushed girl on her feet.
Ino cleared her throat and her skin was red-toned. She was quickly becoming suspiciously docile.
"Thank you." She said in a dignified voice as she smoothed the roughed up wisps of blond hair back. She grasped his hands gently and leaned forward, saying, "Oh… one other thing." She came closer to his face and slid past his lips to whisper low in his ear, "I'm inherently evil."
Before Shikamaru could piece the puzzle together, Ino rammed her knee harshly in the tenderly throbbing region between his legs. Shikamaru's eyes widened with the blazing, dizzying pain he felt on his unwarned genitals. He grunted and struggled to maintain his balance and staggered to slink against the burning brick wall which made his skin fry. The pain of his broiling skin was nothing compared to the excruciating pain that Ino delightfully bequeathed to him. He instinctually swung his hand downward to hold his throbbing member and moaned in pain.
Ino's eyes smacked open wide with comical elation and she gasped before she giggled contemptibly and ran away, yelling back to him, "That's right, Shikamaru. You are my bitch––and don't you ever forget it!" She laughed again and ran out into the distance.
"Ino!" Shikamaru called out wrathfully and snickered in pain and muttered, "Oh…she's going to pay for this," ignoring the immature six-year-olds across the road, guffawing and pointing ridiculing fingers at him. One girl, looking overly ripe for her age even said, "Girl's got the loser whipped," and laughed the same evil laugh that rung infuriatingly in his ears.
"Ino…" he muttered scornfully, failing tragically to alleviate his pain.
3
Ino stopped running, because of course after a daring blow like that, it's not very likely that he'd be coming after her anytime soon. She strolled down the road, her heart rate gradually falling. She came to a stop and turned into a street where she saw the familiarly friendly face of one of her most trusted companions.
"Hey, bubs." Ino crooned affectionately as Chouji turned around to her meet her jovial face.
She nudged him gently with her elbow in his soft belly. Chouji stopped eating from the bag of potato chips he'd been munching somewhat worriedly on.
"Ino-chan," he said, surprised.
"Sorry I'm late. I had some… business to take care of." She said shadily, but although he noticed this, he thought it best not to pry further.
"Anyways… I'm bored. Actually ready for a new mission." She said as they walked to their training grounds.
"Nah. I'd rather just kick back and relax unless Lady Tsunade assigns us one." Chouji replied.
"Gah. You don't ever want to do anything."
"And you always want to do something!"
"Oh well, regardless, we should train."
"So, um, where's Shikamaru?"
Ino grinned deceptively as she gazed off and said, "Mm… He won't be coming in a while, so we should just start–––"
"Actually, I'm right here." Shikamaru's deep voice spoke vaguely with a hint of unnaturally composed rage behind her. Ino turned around and Chouji glanced at him apprehensively.
Shikamaru glared at Ino and grunted as he walked awkwardly in a slinking fashion behind Ino's side.
Chouji asked him in concern, "Shika, um… what's wrong with you?"
"What wrong with me, you ask?" he asked incredulously, raising his voice before adding, "Well, what could possibly be wrong with me? I just got my freakin' balls sledge hammered by none other than our precious, beloved little Blondie over here." he complained mordantly.
Chouji's eyes grew wide with unease and he started to back away.
"And do you know why she committed such an obscene, ostentatious crime in the world of men? Hmm?" He paused and then continued, "No? Ok, I'll tell you. One, I know the color of her panties. Purple of course, with the small exception of the lacy red, black and pink lingerie Sakura bought for her at "Sin's Finest". How do I know this? Simple… Observation."
"Um…" Chouji mumbled but could find nothing to say.
Shikamaru continued brazenly, "–– and simply because I did this." He seized Ino's arm and swung her small frame against him and kissed her aggressively, thrusting their bodies to the earth beneath them so that she was trapped underneath him.
At first, Ino indignantly ignored him, her arms folded and refused to move her lips, but Shikamaru forced them open with his tongue. He slid his hand along the creamy skin that belonged to her upper thigh and instinctually Ino hummed with pleasure from the sensation of his touch, allowing Shikamaru to move his lips in sync with his. Ino's brows knitted and she tried to rip apart their lips but failed as Shikamaru secured his lips on hers.
Ino grunted in frustration and unfolded her arms with much effort. She grabbed his hips after knocking his supporting arms down and shoved him, throwing his body to her side and quickly escaping from his barricade. Not wasting time, Ino leapt over him and plopped her body down on his stomach to sit on him.
"Hehe. Piece of cake," she remarked and clapped her hands together as if she was ridding her palms of dirt.
Shikamaru snickered and grasped her long cornsilk ponytail and tugged on it lightly to pull her slightly back. Ino clenched her teeth and swung her fist at Shikamaru's face but Shikamaru turned his head just in time to avoid the blow. Ino collapsed on top of him and with her hand she snatched the hand that tugged her hair and strung it about her nape, keeping her hold on it so as to throw his body off balance. Shikamaru clamped his free hand of her leg and held it tightly against him so she wouldn't be able to get up. They were both trapped, in the midst of trying to ambush one another.
As they were both unstable and unable to get up since they were both unwilling to release their hold on one another, as to them it was collateral, they just lay on each other, rather uncomfortably and panting.
Chouji's eyes scrambled about hesitantly from Ino and Shikamaru's indifferent, monotonous glare, uncertain of what to do. He had that queasy feeling bubbling madly inside. Ino look at him, managing to raise her head and ask, "Chouji, you ok?"
Chouji's face went blank and his knees buckled, collapsing to the ground beside them.
"Chouji!" she gasped in concern. Exhausted, Ino threw her head back into the warm, strong arm which she held. Ino sighed deeply and turned her head to Shikamaru, who kept his grip on her thigh. His breathing was slow and his eyes were closed. Ino felt her own eyelids drooping with the weight of fatigue. She inhaled deeply and let her eyelids feather down and succumbed to the comforting darkness of sleep. The three lay on the accommodating, accepting earth, sleep taking them over.
~ 3 ~
Ino felt warm breeze brush softly against her face and blow wisps of her golden hair. She snuggled her head to make herself more comfortable. Beneath her ear, she felt warmth and heard a whirring sound and steady thrumming. She furrowed her brows inquisitively and slowly fluttered her eyes open, like the opening of a flower, awakening from a night's rainshower in the absence of the sun's warmth and light. She saw the hazy vision of her teammate Shikamaru beside her with his eyes closed. She lifted her head sleepily with an indistinct vertigo and looked down on him. Shikamaru sighed, opened his eyes and turned his heat to meet her gaze.
"What?" he asked flatly.
Ino pursed her lips. Her mouth felt dry. She looked at him again and noticed that he was lying alongside her rather than underneath her. Her hand which was now free clutched Shikamaru's shirt collar and she realized that her other hand still grasped Shikamaru's and they were circled behind her neck. She realized that she had been sleeping on him. She released her hold on him and looked around her, feeling disoriented. To her left, she saw Chouji's peaceful face inclined toward Ino. He snored softly, still sleeping. This was strange since he was sleeping on his face initially. She turned back to Shikamaru who was gazing at the clouds; she got up and sat on her tree stump just behind her.
"Hey," she called to Shikamaru. "What happened? What time is it?"
"I don't care…" he said indifferently, then sighted and continued, "It's past noon. I tried to get up, but even in your sleep, you wouldn't let go of my hand. I don't know how Chouji reached over here. He must have woken up and went to sleep beside you."
"He's so cute when he sleeps. When I knew he was gonna be on my team some years ago… I thought otherwise. Hehe," she remarked, smiling sweetly and chuckling softly.
"I'm glad he's so endearing to you." he said in sarcastic monotone.
It was silent for a few moments and the only sounds you could hear were the light rustle of the leaves from the soft whispers of the sun kissed breeze and the clear, gushing sound of cerulean waters from the falls.
"Shika-kun, I'm…sorry."
Shikamaru smirked ignorantly but said nothing in reply.
Ino became annoyed with this and demanded, "Well don't you think you should apologize too?"
"For what? I did nothing wrong."
"Oh really? So all that was perfectly fine?"
"I don't care, so it doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters! If you hadn't forced me to kiss you, this whole thing wouldn't have happened."
"I didn't force you. It was part of the deal, remember?"
"Treating me like a damn sex slave is was NOT PART OF THE DEAL!" she exploded, red-faced.
Shikamaru's eyes widened at the callous bluntness of this exclamation.
"Alright, Ino-chan. I'm sorry. You were right, I was wrong. I was an asshole."
"Damn right you were. Um… I mean, not sex slave…but you know. You abused your power. It wasn't the Shikamaru that I'm used to that I kissed today. You felt like a stranger to me."
"I'm sorry." he apologized again, remorse settling into his onyx eyes.
"I'm sorry too." She said, walking over to him. She looked at him with empathy and lifted his dejected head, holding the sides of his face with her gentle hands.
Unexpectedly, Shikamaru encircled his strong arms to hug her waist, rubbing her back comfortingly and burrowed his head on her shoulder and in the side of her smooth neck.
Ino, pleasantly surprised, embraced him more tightly, the comforting warmth spreading across her skin.
After a moment, they released each other and Ino smiled playfully at him. She tapped the tip of his nose with her index finger and said, "Love you, kiddo."
Shikamaru's lips turned up to one side in a tentative smile.
"Well, today's been pretty eventful as it is, so I don't think I'm going to train today. Besides, I have to go and find a nice present for Sakura's birthday." Ino said, and began to walk away.
Shikamaru smile and said, "K."
"Oh… and wake him for me, will you?" Ino asked as she passed Chouji's restful face.
"Yeah, sure." he replied nonchalantly with a dismissive wave.
"Oh!" Ino said and started to briskly walk towards Shikamaru.
"Almost forgot," she said before laying a soft, chaste kiss on his lips and smiling bashfully before running off.
Shikamaru smiled and waved as Ino turned as said, "See you at Sakura's."
He nodded and smiled as he turned his gaze to the serene falls.