Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, the people who draw Temari would draw her better in the anime!
A/N: Yeah…I really have nothing to put her here anymore so I'll just put N/A. lol. It'll be like A/N: N/A lol. That's funny to me…
Published December 1, 2006
Chapter 16 - Time to Think About It
Temari's Point Of View
At Temari's apartment…
"What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?" Temari asked herself over and over again as she looked up at her apartment ceiling, lying down on her couch. "I can't think! I'm too frustrated to think!"
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"Just think about the problem. Find your solution. Work it out. Just like math." Temari compared. "Aww, man! I was horrible at math! Why couldn't it be science or something?!" Temari whined. "This sucks! Now I have to think about my worst subject in school to figure out what to do with Shikamaru. Just great!" Temari continued to complain.
"I'm not enjoying any of this! Not one bit! But I really, really, really want that apartment!" Temari said. "I know I have my own apartment, but to know that Shikamaru would have his own apartment! That just changes everything!" Temari explained to herself.
"There's nothing better than knowing that I would have a boyfriend who lives in his own apartment. It just feels…better!" Temari opinionated to herself. "If Yoshino never told me that Shikamaru would be getting his own apartment, I wouldn't be having this conversation at all."
"Maybe there's a reason why Yoshino told Ino and me this. She probably wanted someone to go out with Shikamaru and be his girlfriend instead of Shikamaru just having a lot of girl friends. She really knows how a girl these days thinks, deviously bribing me and Ino with an apartment. She's one smart woman." Temari laughed a little. "Maybe she can tell Shikamaru that." Temari 'laughed out loud' for a moment.
Temari sighed as she closed her eyes to think. 'Even though Shikamaru is going to have his apartment and all, is he still worth it? I mean, if I think about it, it's not. Yet somehow, I'm still drawn to him…does that mean I do still like him that way and want him to be my boyfriend, even though he's a lazy-ass who will never amount to anything other than a cowardly genius?' Temari almost fell asleep while thinking, but remembered to pinch herself every now and then to wake herself up.
'Do I really want a guy that lazy, that smart, that lazy, that young, and that lazy?' She asked herself, emphasizing his laziness as always. 'Do opposites really attract? Shikamaru and I are complete opposites. How many opposite couples have a long lasting relationship?'
'I shouldn't be stressing about all of this love mumbo jumbo. It's just a little crush, right?' Temari thought. 'Or maybe it's more…' Temari started to shake her head vigorously. '…no, it can't be! We're supposed to be friends and only friends. That's the way it was meant to be!'
'If we were meant to be, why is it so hard to realize it? Shouldn't love come easily? I know if I love him, so shouldn't he know if he loves me?' Temari thought more and more. 'Live and learn, make mistakes. That is the best path to take. I remember that. I'm not sure if it's true, but it didn't come into my head for no reason, right? Maybe it means that I should take a chance…'
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Ino's Point Of View
At the Yamanaka house…
"What to do? What to do? What to do?" Ino asked herself as she paced back and forth in her house with her arms crossed. "I can't do anything!" Ino negatively said. She sighed. "I'm not a thinker! I don't think; I just do!"
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"Maybe…just maybe…if I…no…that wouldn't work. Hey! Maybe if I…no…that wouldn't work anyways. I got it now! If I…wait…oh darn, I almost had it…" Ino said as she tried thinking of ways to work this whole 'Shikamaru' thing out. Her tries were countless but she still could not come up with one idea that didn't involve somebody dying or suing her.
"This isn't working! There has to be an easier way to do this!" Ino stayed positive. "Just think easily." She breathed in and out deeply.
"Okay. Now think. The first thing to do is to think about the problem. What am I looking for?" She asked herself.
"What to do with Shikamaru?" Ino answered herself. "But how?" She asked herself. "There are so many details, too many details, to find the answer before Shikamaru makes his decision."
"Maybe I should let Temari do all of the thinking…" Ino depressingly said. "She's the smart one…not me…I'm just the dumb blonde who everyone stereotypes." She unhelpfully said.
'Don't say that! You're a great girl! You're a strong kunoichi who has a great family, great friends, and, don't forget my favorite part, great hair.' Ino's inner-self helped.
'Thanks, but you're just saying that because you're me.' Ino depressed even more. 'I'll just try to think about this some more.' Ino decided.
"Shikamaru won't go out with me because he feels the same way about Temari as he does to me. Then doesn't that mean that we're all just friends in this weird world of ours? Or maybe it's just me." Ino asked, too confused to think of an answer.
'Maybe it's just you…I think it's just us…maybe you should take a nap or something…I think you're overreacting.' Ino's inner-self butt in.
'I am not overreacting!' Ino thought to her inner-self.
'Are you sure…not even a little bit, a tad, nothing?' Her inner-self said.
'I'm perfectly fine and normal. If anything, I'm not reacting enough!' Ino said.
'Just take my advice and take a nap.' Ino's inner-self suggested.
'I can't take a nap at a time like this! I have to think about Shikamaru, Temari, me, that apartment, everything! Everything is jumbled up into one and is killing me little by little!' Ino exaggerated.
'Okay, Ino. Take a deep breath and calm down.' Ino's inner-self recommended.
Ino breathed in and then out, following her inner-self's orders.
"Now take a nap or something and think about it later. You have plenty of time to think about everything. There is no deadline or anything, so don't worry about it now, especially not all of it at the same time. That's just asking for disaster. So close your eyes and go to sleep. When you wake up, we'll work on this together…one by one…' Ino's inner-self almost hypnotized Ino as her inner-self assured her.
Like hypnosis, Ino slowly nodded off on her couch.
About an hour later…
Ino yawned as she stretched her arms out. 'Now I can think about my problem with Shikamaru.' She quickly started thinking. 'He likes me, I know he does, but not like a girlfriend…he likes me as a friend and only as a friend.
'But I don't like him as just a friend. How am I supposed to go on each day knowing that Shikamaru doesn't love me that way when I still have feelings for him? I won't be able to be happy for him when he does get a girlfriend and goes out on his first date. I want to be happy for him, but I know I won't be! How could I be? If he doesn't love me that way, how could he love some complete stranger that way?'
'I just can't imagine Shikamaru with anyone other than me. Well, Temari, I can imagine, but whom else? No other girl has ever come close to Shikamaru. Sure there's Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten, but they don't like Shikamaru that way and Shikamaru doesn't have that special bond with any of them. No other woman, other than his mother, knows Shikamaru like Temari and I. So how is Shikamaru supposed to choose?'
'It's hard to believe that we are meant to be when he can't choose between me and Temari. But maybe it was, in the words of Neji, 'destiny' that Shikamaru and I sat next to each other in class at the Academy, we were put together in the same team squad, and our parents are good friends with each other? Maybe Sakura's right…maybe Shikamaru can't see that he's supposed to be with me…'
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A/N: I thought this chapter was okay…you know…yeah…