Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Author's Note: This is going to become a place for me to post random one-shots. Enjoy!
Story: ShikaXIno, character death.
Team
He had a way of making her want to slap him and hug him all at once. There was something about his lazy intelligence that she could never get over. Not only that, but he was always a great friend to her and Chouji. He would look out for them, and always have a plan that would help them with anything. That was what lazy, cloud-gazing Shikamaru had always done for them.
This time there was no brilliant solution to their problem; they were, for lack of a better term, screwed.
Chouji wore himself out as he rolled around the enemies, knocking them out. It was not long before he resorted to those pills again, something his team had always told him to avoid. Shikamaru had several trapped in his shadow bind, the darkness helping him greatly. Ino remained doing only minor taijutsu battles, since her technique would be no use here.
And it was no surprise that Ino did what she did when she saw someone with a katana appear behind Shikamaru. As a loyal teammate and friend, she did the only thing anyone with that little window of opportunity would have done.
Ino took the blade for Shikamaru.
Her grunt was all that told him she was even there. He turned around and his dark eyes widened as he saw her. The enemy drew out the sword, but was immediately taken out by some of those under Shikamaru's control. Ino faltered under the lack of support and he caught her quickly.
Gazing up at him with half-lidded eyes she noticed the concern in his eyes and smiled. Maybe they could have been more than just teammates after all.
"Don't make me regret this, lazy bum," Ino said with difficulty.
"Why do you always have to be so bossy?" Shikamaru pressed a hand to her wound, looking like he was about to cry.
"Someone has to keep you motivated," her eyes started to close as she spoke.
"Ino… Ino, stay with me," the panic was obvious in his voice.
"It's okay… I'll always watch your back, always have," her eyes drifted closed at last and her breathed slowed. He never saw her blue eyes again.