The Nothing Notes
by: ScarletLettersInTheSnow
Ino stood with her face in her hands, her fingers wrapped around her eyes like binoculars, looking up from the hot pavement to the grass where Shikamaru lay looking at the clouds.
"Shikamaru!" She called, her voice loud and boisterous as she waved her tiny arm around in the air. She watched his head turn in her general direction, before it plopped back on the ground and didn't move again. Her eyes slanted dangerously as she skipped over, a hand on her hip as she hovered over him.
"Hey Shika-kun." She purred, looking down at him with a Cheshire grin.
Shikamaru merely grunted "Yo," at her, before his eyes clamped shut again.
"Do you know what today is?" She asked, pressing her fingers into the miniature pocket on her dress.
Shikamaru sighed and held his hand up in the air, shielding his face from the sunlight. "No."
"Well let me remind you, Today you were supposed to come play house with me." She pouted, her hands instantly locking on her hips as he snorted in disgust.
"You know I hate playing house." He mumbled, squinting an eye at her.
"But you promised you would play if I watched clouds with you...and I did watch clouds with you." She murmured, her lips puckering cutely as she looked down at her shoes.
"Hn."
"Please Shika-kun?" She said, dropping down on her knees beside him and wrapping her little fingers around his own dirty ones. "I will be a good play wife." She batted her eyelashes sweetly.
"I don't have to eat mud again..do I?" He asked cautiously, pulling his hand away slowly.
"NO!" She gasped, like it was the worst thing in the world. Which to Shikamaru, it was pretty darn close.
"Fine." He grumbled, putting his hands beside his knees and pushing himself up. "I'll play house with you."
"Yay!" She cheered, throwing her chubby arms around his neck and kissing him sloppily beside the lips.
"Blegh! None of that kissy stuff!" He growled menacingly, bringing the back of his hand to his cheek and wiping off the slobber. Leaving a smudge of dirt where his wrist had been.
"Okay okay..here is your first clue!" She said excitedly.
Shikamaru looked at her blankly, before opening the piece of paper and reading it.
"It is under the big oak tree? What does that mean?" He asked, looking up to see that she was no longer standing in front of him. His brows furrowed slightly, but he shrugged and looked at the big oak tree that stood tall in the middle of the park, just down his hill. He sighed and meandered over to it.
Shikamaru pressed his hand against the tree trunk of the large oak tree, his eyes wandering up the stalky tree to it's branches, where a basket hung low to the ground.
Shikamaru sighed, wondering how Ino climbed the tree in the first place, as he jumped up and tugged it down.
Inside the basket was a little bow tie, which was a dark red color, and a small bud of a rose, the stem a deep green color. Beside these items, lay a small note.
"In the tire swing?" Shikamaru walked around the tree and looked out over the grass, his eyes settling on the tire swing with a heavy sigh.
He slowly walked away from the tree, the bow tie and rose bud clutched carefully between his chubby, tan fingers.
He bent down next to the tire swing, his hand touching a piece of paper, with a small peppermint taped to it.
"Pet the tie on?" Shikamaru sighed and pressed the clip on tie to the collar of his shirt, and clipped it there, then looked back down at the note. "Take the peppermint to the green bench by the Ice cream stand."
Once again, Shikamaru turned and walked with his hands pressed deep inside his pockets, clutching the note, and the peppermint as he drug his feet across the ground.
He came upon the tree shortly, and looked up at the man with his strange hat.
"Are you Shikamaru?" The man asked.
Shikamaru squinted his eyes suspiciously, but nodded.
"Good, a little girl told me to give this to you..then she ran off giggling." The man looked confused, but handed Shikamaru a small shoe box.
--
Ino sat down on the blanket, smoothing out her new dress with a small smile. She wondered if Shikamaru was actually doing the scavenger hunt, or if he had simply gone home. She didn't think so though, because he said he would play. And Shikamaru was not a liar.
She picked up her ribbon and twirled it idly between her fingers, her smile spreading across her lips as she tied it into her hair.
--
Shikamaru walked over to the green bench and sat down, his fingers prying the lid of the Shoe box open with a sigh.
He looked inside and growled, finding a NOTHER piece of paper. When was Ino going to get to the point? He thought gripping the paper tightly as he read it over.
"Eat the peppermint dumbo, your breath stinks." His eyebrows went up, and he reached into his pocket and pried the red and white swirly candy out of the package, popping it into his mouth. "Now look under the green bench."
Shikamaru's eyes widened as he spotted the dollar taped to the bottom of the bench, a note taped beside it. Where did Ino get all this tape?
"Now go to the candy store...and get me a ring pop."
Shikamaru growled and crumpled the paper up, throwing it on the ground and storming down the sidewalk.
-ding ding-
Shikamaru looked up at the man at the counter, his little ponytail the only thing visible as he walked through the isles of candy, when finally he spotted the ring pop. He grabbed it, the cherry kind, because that was her favorite flavor, and brought it to the counter, sliding the dollar to the clerk.
"One ring pop, please."
The man smiled down at him, then a flicker of recognition shown in his eyes.
"Are you..the um...Shika-kun I was supposed to give this too?"
Shikamaru sighed and nodded, as the man handed him a piece of paper. that read 'BACKYARD' in bold letters.
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and crumpled the paper up.
"It was the strangest thing.." The clerk said to himself wistfully.."That blond haired girl just skipped in and shoved it on the counter...telling me that if I didn't give this to her Shika-kun she would make her daddy beat me up."
Shikamaru's eyebrows rose to his hairline, his grimace only growing deeper as the man handed him back the ring pop in a white paper bag.
--
With impatience Shikamaru walked briskly, eager to get whatever this stupid game was over and done with.
He arrived at her home in under five minutes, storming to the backyard gate and slipping through, a small note on it's surface caught his eyes.
"Get out the flower?" Shikamaru looked at the gate puzzled, but pulled the rose bud from his pocket anyway.
He was just rounding the corner when he stopped, eyes wide as he looked at Ino, sitting quietly on a blanket.
--
Ino picket the petals off of a love-me-not, her eyes focused on the last one with a small smile. "Love me?" She asked, looking up at the sound of the gate creaking in protest.
When Shikamaru rounded the corner and slowly walked towards her
--
"W-what are you doing?" He asked, his fingers trembling as she thrust herself against him, knocking him down and showering his face with kisses.
"Silly, we are getting married."
Shikamaru groaned.