Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...Or 'Romeo and Juliet' (even if all I did was just mention it).

Chapter 9: Alert: Don't tell!!

"Ino? Why are you blocking my view of the clouds?" Shikamaru asked lazily, staring up at the blond girl above him.

"To catch your attention. Why do you care about the clouds? Don't you want to see me?" Ino answered playfully. She backed up as Shikamaru stood up.

"Well, of course I do. Otherwise I wouldn't have come, would I?" Shikamaru grumbled, crossing his arms and looking at Ino with a bored expression. "Now, why'd you send me that note?"

Ino started blushing and looked down with a shy smile on her face. "Well…I hoped that…That you were done with all that prank stuff…And maybe…Maybe you had…other feelings?"

Shikamaru's heart jumpstarted. She…She does feel like that! Shikamaru smiled slyly and said, "That depends; what 'other feelings' are you talking about?"

Ino looked up at the boy in front of her with a shocked expression and stuttered, "Um…I…well…I…I like you, Shikamaru…"

A grin broke out on Shikamaru's face as he said, "Well, that's a relief. I was afraid you wouldn't feel like I do." They stood in blissful silence for a minute before Shikamaru said, "So I guess I should do something about my brothers, huh?"

"What do you mean?" Ino asked, tilting her head a little in confusion and curiosity

Shikamaru sighed. "Well, I'm not going to let them continue to torture your sisters. That would be just cruel. You want me to do something about them, right?"

Ino smiled brightly and whispered, "You'd really try?!"

"Only if you go out with me sometime." Shikamaru's cleverly placed statement caught Ino off guard.

"Well, duh!" Ino cried happily, grinning with Shikamaru. "What are you going to do?"

Shikamaru paused, thinking that through. "Not sure yet. But I'm smart. I'll think of something by tomorrow."

"Alright." Ino sighed and looked at the street with a wistful expression. Shikamaru looked at her, tipping his head to one side, wondering silently what she was thinking. Ino turned back and said softly, "I should go. Sakura, Ten-Ten and Hinata will be wondering what I'm doing. I didn't come up with anything creative when I told them I'd see them later." She grinned sheepishly.

"Oh. Yeah. That reminds me…I wasn't very creative either. My brothers will start freaking soon," Shikamaru said, almost sadly. "A secret couple within two rival groups…Like Romeo and Juliet only better. Let's not tell our siblings. They may get mad. Especially my brothers. We aren't supposed to date really."

Ino opened her mouth, wondering what he was talking about. But then closed it and nodded. She smiled and jumped over to Shikamaru, wrapping her arms around his neck. He returned the embrace willingly by snaking his arms around her waist.

They broke slowly and practically sadly. As Ino skipped off, she cried over her shoulder, "Bye, Shika! I'll see you tomorrow!!"

Shikamaru waved timidly and nodded weakly. "Yep. I will."

"What the hell were you doing?!" Neji cried when Shikamaru got home. "It took you forever to get here!"

Shikamaru stared at his brother emotionlessly. "Extra credit," He answered simply, not thinking properly.

Sasuke and Naruto stared at him incredulously. "You're doing extra credit?!" They chorused.

Shikamaru stared at his brothers blankly before sighing and dropping his head. "Yeah. Sad thing is, I'm letting my grades slip. The work is just so boring; I don't see why I should have to do it."

Neji paused, his face wearing a shocked expression. "You…your grades mean everything to you…and you…you love homework…What's going on?!"

Shikamaru shrugged lazily and said, "I'm bored. Screw the work when I know it all already."

His brothers gaped at him and tried to form words, instead coming out with a, "Hum…nahuh?"

"Well, if you're done interrogating me, I think I'll go up to my room now," Shikamaru said, starting to loose his calm, caring façade. He turned and ran up the stairs to his room.

"What the hell!" Naruto shouted when he remembered he had a brain.

Neji sank to the floor in shock. "Since when does Shikamaru not care about his grades?" He asked himself quietly.

"That's so out of character for him," Sasuke confirmed. "But I think it has less to do with boredom and more to do with something more interesting." Sasuke stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a note addressed to their genius brother. "He left it in his locker, the dumb-ass."

Neji stood up and walked over to his brother, snatching the note from his hand. "A girl?" He asked after reading the paper. "He's…The jerk!"

"Ino!!!" Sakura tackled her sister as soon as she was through the door.

"AH! What'd I do?!" Ino cried, being pinned down.

"We were waiting for, like, ever! What happened?!" Sakura demanded.

Ino was quiet before grinning. "Oh. Simple. I got in trouble; the teacher wanted me to stay after class so he could talk to me."

Sakura gave her a blank look before crawling off her sister. "You got in trouble? For what? Was it your clothes? The dumb-asses."

"No. I was writing notes to someone in my class. His name was Lee. The teacher caught me and got mad at me. Sorry," Sakura explained quickly.

Ten-Ten and Hinata walked out at that point. "Hey, you're back. What took you so long?" Ten-Ten asked.

"Got in trouble for passing notes. Teacher wanted me to stay after so he could rip me a new one," Ino explained again quickly. "I'm going upstairs now. Bye-bye!"

Ino stood up, brushed herself off and flew upstairs. Hinata, Ten-Ten and Sakura sat there, dumbfounded.

"I'm confused," Hinata said quietly.

The next day at school, the boys – with the exception of Shikamaru and Neji – both stormed through the halls, looking for the girls. Kids pressed themselves up against lockers and back stepped to get out of the way of their wrath. Sasuke found Sakura at her locker and slammed the locker door shut.

"Cut that out! You almost smashed my hands!" Sakura screamed, facing the black-haired boy.

"Shuddup and listen for a minute," Sasuke snapped. Sakura shut her mouth, hoping desperately that she wouldn't get hurt. "Alright, Shikamaru and Ino met last night. Shikamaru said that his grades were slipping. He doesn't do that. Anyway, well, we came to the quick conclusion, that they are dating."

Sakura gaped. "Ino wouldn't do that to us! If this is one of your sick pranks…!!!"

Sasuke shook his head. "No. Why would I joke about my brother doing something like this? I would never. Now. Neji says that we have to change their minds about what they're doing. Will you help us?"

Sakura was quiet for a minute. "Give me one reason why I should? If Ino really likes your brother, than I'm in no position to mess with that."

Sasuke sighed. "You're going to be difficult, aren't you? Fine. I'll give you a good reason. Because if you don't, I'll dye your hair blue when you shower after gym."

Sakura stared blankly at him before glaring at him. "You suck. Did you know that? I hate you, I really do. Fine, but only because I don't want you sneaking into the girl's locker room while I'm showering."

Sasuke made a face and then put his hand out. "We'll be out front by the flagpole after school."

Sakura took his hand and said, "Okay, and we'll be there. Well, Hinata and I will be anyway."

The raven-haired boy smirked and muttered, "Oh right, we got her expelled, didn't we?"

Jade eyes widened and Sakura cried, "It was you?! Oh my god!"

Sasuke realized his mistake and stuttered, "No, I was kidding. I…"

"Humph. I'll still be there, but I'm not forgiving you for what you did to my sister! She's probably dying of boredom right now!" Sakura turned her head in disgust.

Sasuke stared at her, dumbfounded. "Okay…Well, I don't really give a shit. Thanks. See you there." And with that, Sasuke regained his composure and walked away.

Sakura opened her locker for the express purpose of closing it in anger. She started walking the opposite way, then realized that she needed some stuff from her locker, went back and opened it.

Naruto found Hinata second. He bit his lip when he saw her and contemplated ways to tell Sasuke that he couldn't find her. He just didn't want to be cruel to her anymore. But he guessed that if he didn't go, Sasuke would eventually. So he slowly walked up to Hinata and tapped her shoulder.

Hinata spun around with a gasp and then put her hand to her chest when she saw Naruto. "Hi, Naruto," She whispered.

Naruto realized something that he hadn't caught before. Hinata's hair was down. He'd thought it was a haircut, not a hairstyle. Dammit. She looks prettier than before. Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I wanted to tell you what Neji told me to tell you. He said that Sasuke and I are supposed to meet you and Sakura out front after school. Okay?"

Hinata stared at him blankly for a minute before suddenly looking like she was angry. "Why should I, Naruto?"

Naruto sighed. She just had to make this harder than it should be, didn't she? "Look, I don't want to hurt you. That should be a good enough reason, no? So don't flake on us, okay?"

Hinata paled slightly and nodded weakly. "O…Okay, I…I won't."

Naruto gave the shocked girl an apologetic look and walked away.

Itachi sat in a tree, facing a house that didn't belong to him. The two people inside looked like they were arguing. One had red-hair, and the other blond. The poor lovers, Itachi thought with false pity. He was ready to rid the world of these two. After all, they almost hit his beloved brothers; wrecking what he was told to do. Leader would be very upset if Itachi didn't finish what he started; upset if Sasori and Deidara suddenly went missing…Showed up days later – dead. But it wouldn't lead back to him, he'd be very careful about it all. They may not show up anyway.

I never was really into 'Romeo and Juliet', never had the patience…or the capacity to understand it. But what I get was that they were secretly dating until someone – Romeo's cousin, right? – found out and then they were a forbidden couple thing. Am I right? Well, I didn't really think about how close Shikamaru and Ino's situation was to 'Romeo and Juliet' until now. Hope I'm right on that secret couple thing.

Another thing, I decided against writing about Itachi and the school and the shooting. To risky. Anyway, but I will still do something with Itachi and Kisame. I mean, I set it up perfectly. I have some ideas.

The discussion between Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Hinata will be done in the next chapter. I don't know if I rushed on the relationship between Shikamaru and Ino, but if I tried to fix it, the chapter wouldn't turn out right. The others' relationships won't come as fast though.

Now, to my reviewers:

velcroSUNSHINE:Really? It really is good? Thanks!

Apple Bubblegum: Yeah, sort of NaruHina. But more ShikaIno! Thanks for reading my other stories too. That's much appreciated.

NarutoFFF:Spill something? Huh? Oh well. Hope you liked Shikamaru and Ino's conversation. It's so hard to keep all of them semi-in character! –Whines-

Maki-Zushi:…Thanks. I hope I can make this even better. :)

NeonAlchemist:Thanks! Did I do okay on their conversation? Not too rushed, right?

LuckyRika:In order: Oh, I'm so sorry! I don't think I did any better on this one, did I?

Still suspenseful? –Smiles hopefully-

Thanks! I think so, even if they are the normal couples. Ha-ha.

Fantasycrazyperson:Fanfiction kept messing up the italics parts and I was just too lazy to go back, delete and fix them. I do that way to often now. What else did I mess up on? I think my spell check's working! –taps on computer screen above the spell check button- Oh well. Did I do better on this chapter? I even put in a double space when there's italics! -does happy dance-

Hope I remembered to explain everything. Please review!!