Day 21

Just as Sakura had said, come Monday Shikamaru was in one piece and feeling fine. However, his mother being the paranoid, overprotecting woman she was, she wouldn't allow him to go back to school just yet, so he was required to stay at home. Shikamaru didn't mind, it meant he didn't have to do any work.

But Ino brought his homework to him anyway.

"Hello Mrs. Nara," She said sweetly when the middle-aged woman opened the door. Yoshino Nara smiled and gestured Ino through the door.

"Thank you for bringing his work home, Ino. He's been enjoying his free time a little too much."

"No problem!" She grinned as she slipped off her shoes and stepped into the living room. Unlike her small, cramped apartment, Shikamaru had a cozy, two-story house; the living room was large, with an oriental rug spread out between the lengthy couch and the big screen TV. A coffee table sat right in front of the couch, as well, with a messy assortment of papers and soda cans, most likely left behind by Shikamaru's equally-lazy father. The far wall that faced their backyard was actually completely built as a window, and she could see deer grazing outside.

"His rooms just upstairs, second door on the left."

"Thanks!" Ino adjusted the books and papers she held in her arms, and climbed up the stairway to the left of the living room. It ended in a long hallway, with two or three doors on each side wall. She counted two on the left and knocked on the door with her foot.

"Shikamaru, guess who!"

A little rustling, then a quiet thump was heard within, until the doorknob clicked and the door was opened. Shikamaru appeared in the door way, shirtless and bearing bandages around his forehead and right shoulder. He blinked and grunted at her presence, but didn't say anything in particular.

"I brought you your homework," she grinned, "A few pages of chemistry problems on limiting reactions, I think. You have to read a chapter or two of Lord of the Flies for English, as well. And there's some weird assignment from Web mastering, but you can probably do that in class tomorrow."

Shikamaru groaned and took the books, stepping behind him back into his room. He tossed his books onto his desk before returning to the doorway, "That all?"

"Well…"

Ino paused, bringing her hands together and twiddling her thumbs now that her arms were free of the former textbook weight. She didn't want to end up staring – the boy was shirtless for heaven's sake. Not only that, but he looked good that way, too.

"What?" He grunted again, eyes only have open, "You woke me up, you know."

"You lazy bastard!" She immediately laughed, raising her gaze to meet his. She wore a sarcastic look of amazement, "You just slept the whole day away, didn't you, not caring that you were missing school!"

"That's the point." He shrugged and bent over his bed to straighten out the blankets.

"Its things like this that surprise me that you've made it to be valedictorian…" she laughed, thinking about the moment when Sakura had announced this to her, and she broke into fits of laughter because of her amazement. Ino invited herself into his room, ignoring Shikamaru's uneasy stare and surveyed his desk. Papers and books were strewn all over it, and after shifting a few out of place, she uncovered a Dell laptop, with one light blinking green to indicate that the battery was charging. A bookcase stood next to it, the comic books and novels mixed in together in no particularly organized fashion.

Shikamaru twitched an eyebrow, "I didn't say you could come in."

"So?" Ino crossed her arms and looked at his bed. The blankets still completely covered his bed, but were wrinkled enough to show that he had been sleeping there moments prior.

Shikamaru reached a hand behind him to scratch the back of his neck, "I'm not even dressed properly, Ino. I'd really like if-"

"I don't care," she looked back over at his desk and picked up a few of the papers, straightening them into a neater pile, "Maybe I'll stick around for a while and clean up after you, Lord knows you need it."

"You're not my mother, or my maid."

"But I'm your friend." She smiled, hesitating on that last word. Ever since he had kissed her that past Friday, she was never sure what to call their relationship. Ino had never had something like this happen to her, thanks to the supreme isolation set onto her thanks to her father's occupation, and he hadn't ever acknowledged it himself. She was scared to bring it up.

"Mmph," he grunted, then collapsed back onto his bed, grabbing a second pillow that had been lying beside him and covering his eyes. "I'm not helping you, I'm sleeping."

Ino pursed her lips, wishing he would have at least put on a shirt so she wouldn't have to worry about staring, but didn't say a word. She turned back to his desk.

All the papers stacked together showed to be at least an inch thick. Ino thumbed through them, wondering what they were for. Some of them were old worksheets from class, all marked with an A+ of 100. Some were pieces of notebook paper that had a few words scribbled across them. She squinted, trying to make out what they said, but could hardly decode his chicken scratch handwriting.

I guess it's true, geniuses really do have bad handwriting, she thought to herself, grinning smugly. She noticed one last piece of paper sitting in his chair and plucked it from its place. He had written plenty big enough on this one, making it easier to read, filling the whole page with one single phone number and a few other words below it. She smirked, recognizing the number and the address below it to be hers. Below both other those items, it read 'Ino Yamanaka – troublesome navy brat, but I like her anyway. Figures.'

Ino laughed, not sure of she wanted to punch or hug him.

She placed the papers in a neat stack beside his laptop and picked up the few books scattered around it as well, turning to his book cased. She bit her lip, not sure where to start.

I could group up the comic books first, then arrange the novels by… author? Or maybe title? She shook her head, No, author. That's how it works at the library. She placed the books she had just gathered on top of the book shelf, and then pulled out every comic book that was stashed away. There weren't many, only about 10. After placing those aside, she cleared out enough room on the top shelf and placed them in a corner there. Now the novels.

It didn't look like Shikamaru had gotten rid of old books in a long while: there were some there that obviously looked like he had bought them merely for middle school reading class, and others that were dusty or had bent covers, not having been touched in years. She reached for the only A book: Kids Letters to President Bush complied and edited by Bill Adler. She laughed, the most amusing children's letters were published in that book, and she couldn't help but laugh every time she had read it once long before.

After placing that one beside the comic books on the first shelf, she continued to sort through the rest of his books. He had quite a few Stephen King books, which didn't surprise Ino too much. Eragon and Eldest also sat together on one of the shelves. When she reached the R's, however, Ino couldn't help but snicker and wake Shikamaru up.

"You read Harry Potter!?" She asked, grabbing the six books in the series and placing them together on the shelf. Shikamaru grumbled in response, but didn't budge or remove the pillow from his eyes.

"What of it?"

"I don't know, maybe I'm just surprised."

"It's a good series, damnit. And why are you surprised, when I've got the two books from the Inheritance trilogy sitting up there as well?"

Ino smirked; of course he knew that she had already passed over Eragon and Eldest without a glance. Both series were from the same genre, so it was true that she shouldn't have been surprised. But she agreed that Harry Potter was indeed a good series.

"Ten bucks says Harry dies next book." Shikamaru mumbled.

"No way!" She argued, "Not only would the fans be out to get Rowling for the rest of her life, but that'd just completely kill the series."

"Whatever," he grunted, "But someone's going to die."

"As long as it's not one of the three," Ino shrugged, "I'm good."

"The three?" He paused, then added before Ino could explain, "Oh, you mean Harry, Ron, and Hermione."

"Duh."

"Mmph," he said, noting that he was trying to fall back asleep. Ino fell silent once more and finished organizing his books, then got up and straightened out her skirt. She surveyed the room again: clothes littered the ground, and she could tell it really needed a good dusting and vacuuming. But that didn't sound as amusing as going through the crap on his desk and bookshelf.

"If you're done," the lazy boy spoke, lifting the pillow from his eyes to look at Ino, "Why don't you go home?"

"I don't want too," she shook her head; "I like it here."

"Troublesome little…" He groaned, sitting up and rubbing his bandaged shoulder. He suddenly froze, and then looked down at Ino. Ino raised an eyebrow at his shocked expression.

"What is it?"

"I haven't been wearing a shirt this whole time, have I?"

Ino and Shikamaru stared at each other for a few moments, and Ino let a few chuckles escape from her lips. The chuckles quickly grew to be bursts of laughter, and she had to double over and hold her stomach to ease the aching the laughter had caused. She fell and rolled onto her side, still laughing, still clutching her stomach. Shikamaru only continued to stare at her.

He sighed, "Oh well, can't be helped." He reached over to the pile of clothes beneath his feet, rummaging around until he found a nice, seemingly clean shirt. He sniffed it, gave it his approval, and tugged it over his head. Ino's laughter soon settled down, and she crawled over to his bed and sat beside him.

The navy brat leaned her head against his shoulder, and he did nothing to push her away. Shikamaru merely just sat there beside her, back hunched and eyes staring at the wall in front of him. He had a TV in his room, right in front of him, actually, but didn't bother to turn it on.

"Shika-a-a…" Ino cooed sweetly. She was up to something.

"What?"

"Could I stay for dinner?" She asked, with the sweetest voice and face imaginable. He looked down at her, glaring into her puppy-dog eyes and doing his best to resist her. He sighed and looked away.

"You troublesome… it's not my decision, so don't bother."

"Shikamaru!" Yoshino could be heard calling from downstairs, "Does Ino want to stay for dinner!?"

Ino grinned at him deviously, and he sighed in reluctance, but with the obvious hint that he did in fact want her around gleaming in his eyes, "Fine, fine. Stay."

"Thank you!" She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek, before running downstairs to let Mrs. Nara know that she would be staying for dinner. Shikamaru sighed, touching his cheek and trying to rub the blush he could feel burning his face away.

"That troublesome girl…"

FILLER SINCE YOU CHILDREN DON'T REVIEW!

I'm serious, guys, the less reviews I get the less I feel like dishing out more chapters. If you like the story let me know and I'll try to get more done! But if you don't review, you don't get chapters, so PLEASE SEND IN SOME REVIEWS!

ALSO!

Another thing you might want to keep in mind, is that I'd love some suggestions as to what to do. PLEASE check out the pairings I support on my profile first if you're going to suggest some couple stuff, but otherwise go nuts. Just remember that I may or may not use these, so don't get offended if I don't!

So remember…

EVERYTIME YOU READ WITHOUT REVIEWING, POLLUTION GETS REALLY BAD IN THIS ONE TOWN AND IT CONTAMINATES THE AIR, SO IT GETS TURNED TO ACID AND THEN ALL THE FLOWERS AND GRASS AND STUFF DIE!

Save the flowers and grass and stuff, kids.