Time passed. Ino's neck healed completely, not leaving so much as a scar. At first she was embarrassed about showing her neck, but she grew more comfortable with it, and soon she was ready to hold Shikamaru to his promise to fix her broken heart.

She arrived at his house and knocked on the door. "Shikamaru~! Open up!"

The door wasn't answered by Shikamaru, but by his sister Shikayuki. "Oh! Ino!" Shikayuki gave her a hug. "I'm happy to see you! You're all better, now?"

"Well, that all depends on your big brother. Where is he?"

"He's just putting the finishing touches on your date now. He should be back home soon."

"Back home? Where is he now?"

"Well, I can't tell you that. It wouldn't be a surprise, then, would it?"

"Fair enough."

"Hey, there he is!" Shikayuki pointed behind Ino. Ino turned to look. When she did, Shikayuki put a blindfold on her. She giggled. "Okay, brother, she's ready!"

Ino smiled. "This better be a good surprise, Shikamaru!"

"Oh, don't worry. You'll like it. I know you will."

Shikamaru guided her through the streets for a short time, then paused to sit her down on a bench. "Hold on. I'm going to take your shoes off."

"What for?"

"So you can feel where we're going."

"All right." Ino wiggled her toes as Shikamaru took off her shoes. "How close are we?"

"Close. Can you hear the stream?"

"Yeah, I can hear it."

"That's where we're going."

"Oh really? Can I take the blindfold off, then?"

"Not yet."

"Awh, why not?"

"Just trust me."

"All right..." The two continued on until Ino felt cold water splashing around her ankles.

"Hey there, girl. See, I brought her, just like I said."

Ino was about to ask what he was talking about when she heard a sound that made her heart soar.

A deer whickered.

"You can take your blindfold off now."

Ino took off her blindfold. Tears came to her eyes and quickly abdicated, but she didn't care.

Suddenly, she'd stepped back in time nearly two years.

"The deer...the one from two years ago...and this is the stream..."

"Yeah. It wasn't easy to find her."

"Y-you went to so much trouble...to recreate this memory..."

"It's one of my fondest."

Ino whirled on him and embraced him tightly. "Oh...Sh-Shikamaru..." Almost without thinking, she had drawn within centimeters of his lips. She paused there for a minute. "I...forget all that shit I asked for. This...you've done more than fix my heart, Shikamaru. You've made it anew."

"I'm glad to hear that. But now what about the rest of the plan?"

"This can be your one plan that goes awry." She moved in to kiss him.

"I think I can deal with that." He met her lips with his own.

The kiss seemed to last an eternity, but that was fine with them.

Neither of them wanted it to end.

And if they could help it, it never would.