Day 30 continued

"I dare you, Ino Yamanaka, to kiss Shikamaru fully on the lips for one minute."

Ino was at a loss for words. It shouldn't be hard to do, right? They'd kissed before… well, he had kissed her. And when she had kissed him the second time, it was only on the cheek. Still, he was asleep. It really shouldn't be a big deal.

Except Temari and Sai were here, which made it a thousand times more awkward.

"Well?" Sakura folded her arms and grinned, "We're waiting."

"No way!" Temari slammed a fist into the coffee table, "I'm against this! Shikamaru's mine!"

Ino glared at Temari, rage building up. "He doesn't belong to anybody. He's not a dog!"

"What? What's this?" Temari leaned over the table and gritted her teeth, "Are you trying to start something with me?"

"No."

"It sure sounds like it, bitch!"

Ino narrowed her eyes, "You know what? I'm just going to do my dare, how does that sound?" Ino pushed herself away from the table and crawled around it to Shikamaru.

Temari snatched her arm, keeping her from going too far, "Don't you dare."

"Temari! Its part of the game, leave her alone!" Sakura demanded.

Ino smiled sweetly at Temari, "That's right; it's part of the game. Why don't you let us finish it? Except, we all know whose going to win."

"You mean me?"

"I mean me." Ino used her free arm to point her thumb at herself, "I don't care what's going on between you and Shikamaru, but I do know that I don't like it, and I'm sure he doesn't either. You're just full of crap, Temari."

Growling, the Suna student let go and crossed her arms. Ino finally looked away from her, knowing that the next day at school this would come back to haunt her. But for now, that would stay in the back of her mind, because she had more pressing matters to deal with now.

She inhaled deeply, and gradually leaned over to kiss him. Sakura roared behind her "Hurry up, damnit!" Ino ignored her, though she wanted to just go over there and smack her in the face. Instead, she leaned over all the way and kissed Shikamaru fully on the lips, just like she was dared to do.

The kiss seemed to last an eternity. She couldn't tell if he had awoken and registered what was going on, because he still lay perfectly still beneath her as she kissed him. Ino tried not to let this bother her, he was lazy, after all… but this was a little much.

"All right," Temari growled, "I think it's been a minute!" Ino ignored her, not lifting her lips away from Shikamaru's. She was determined to get a response of some sort from him, and possibly piss Temari off enough to get her to leave. She lifted her hands and rested one on his shoulder, the other further up his neck, and deepened the kiss. Sakura and Naruto smirked, slapping hands underneath the table. They'd done well. But a moment too long had passed, and Ino now had her doubts. Giving up, she began to pull away from the boy she had grown so close to in merely a month.

However, as she pulled away, he sat up with her.

"Don't stop." He muttered, reaching both arms around her slim waist and kissing her again. A chill ran Ino's spine in surprise. He had been awake! She smiled and hung her arms around his neck, kissing him back. She knew Temari was fuming behind them.

She was right. Temari grew so mad, that she finally just marched up to them and tore them apart. Ino blinked; surprised that he had been pulled away from her so quickly. She felt the heat in her face rise as it changed color to match it. Her lips tingled with a longing to taste his once more. Shikamaru, across from her, blinked lazily but was also steadily growing red. The realization that they had nearly been making out in front of two of their closest friends, plus two others that weren't even supposed to be there, let along know where this house was, was sinking in.

"Shikamaru!" Temari growled, ignoring Ino and looking straight into the Nara's eyes, "You're supposed to be mine!"

"Since when, Temari!?" He roared back, standing up so that his height would challenge hers.

"Since… well, you know!"

"You picked me; I didn't want anything to with you. I was trying to save myself for Ino, even. And I didn't want her to find out!"

"About you and me? It's not like it's embarrassing."

"Wait. What about you and him?" Ino asked as calmly as she could, trying not to jump to conclusions.

"I told you, we're lo-"

"Project partners," Shikamaru interrupted, "The day you missed chemistry, Ino, Iruka assigned a chemistry project. I was lumped in a pair with Temari."

She sighed in relief, Thank the lord it's not what I thought! "So that's all! I didn't even know there was a group project, Iruka just said to do it by myself!"

"We were going to work on it tonight," Shikamaru crossed his arms in contemplation, while Temari crossed hers in anger, "But when you and Sakura forced this upon me, I had to cancel." He shot a glance at Temari, "But not reluctantly."

"And I pissed off!" Temari threw her hands in the air, and then moved to grab her bag, "I'm not speaking to you anymore, Nara. I'm leaving!" She stormed out the door.

When the door slammed behind her, and it clicked to note that it was securely shut, Naruto clenched both fists and quietly cheered, "Yes! The wicked witch is gone!"

"Hallelujah, thank the lord!" Sakura cheered along.

Shikamaru turned away from the group and walked to the door to lock it. Ino crawled back to her original spot by Sai, keeping her eyes off of every other being in the room. Her embarrassment had grown too large now, and she really wished she could leave. Instead, she leaned over on the table and buried her face in her arms, feigning tiredness.

"Ino," Sai said softly beside her, "It's still your turn."

Shikamaru sat back down at the table and instantly lay onto his back and closed his eyes once more. He could sleep more soundly without a certain obnoxious Suna transfer student around. "Fine," Ino mumbled into her arms, "Sai, truth or dare?"

"Hmmm," he pondered, "Truth."

Ino shifted her head to the side so she could look up at him and blinked lazily, "I don't know…" she mumbled, "Tell us your favorite color or something."

"Ino! You're so boring!" Sakura whined, reaching over and shoving her head a little, "Fine. Sai, tell us who you like."

Ino's eyes shot wide open, and she immediately looked at Sakura in warning. No! She though frantically, that'll just bring chaos!

Sakura, however, didn't catch the memo, "Well?"

"Hmmm…" Sai stroked his chin, "She's beautiful, with shining blonde hair and a feisty temper."

"Did she just walk out the door?" Shikamaru laughed from his spot flat on the floor. He was still awake, apparently.

"No, she's still sitting in this room."

"Ahh…" he chuckled lightly. It took a moment for those words to sink into everyone's skin, before Sakura and Naruto exchanged surprised looks and Shikamaru bolted upright, clutching the coffee table's edge and staring at Sai with bloodshot eyes, "You what!?"

"It's true, I like Ino." He turned his head to smile at her. Ino blinked uneasily and buried her face back into her arms. "I took her out on a date the other night, in fact: dinner and a movie."

Shikamaru dropped his jaw, amazed, and pointed from Sai to Ino, "You and her?"

"Yes. Are you jealous? Maybe this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't mysteriously disappeared with Temari."

"I told you, we're project partners." Shikamaru seethed, not wanting to scream and yell like Ino had at her own adversary moments before.

"Pretty close for project partners. I just think Ino needs to be with someone who can offer her all of his time and energy."

Ino banged her head against her arms, wishing more and more that Sai would just shut up. Shikamaru noticed this and reached for his book still open on the table, clenched it tightly in his fist before he threw it at Sai's head. It came in contact with a quick smack! sending Sai falling to the floor.

Luckily for Sai, it wasn't a hardcover. He touched two fingers to his head lightly, before scrambling to his feet and kicking the book aside, "What the hell was that for!?"

Shikamaru calmly stood to his feet, utilizing what half of an inch height advantage he had against the new student, "You're only making things more uncomfortable here for Ino," he seethed, "She doesn't like you, okay? I don't know the whole story about you and her from before, but I do know she doesn't like you. In fact, her borderline hates you. And I suggest you step out of my house immediately."

Sai slit his eyes, "You and what army?"

"You haven't met my mother, have you?"

Sai glared deeper before he stuffed his things haphazardly into his bag and slung it over his shoulder, "This isn't over, Nara."

"I wouldn't expect it to be. Have a nice trip home."

Sai smiled goodbye at Ino, who felt as if she were sinking lower and lower into a pit of embarrassment, before leaving without any parting words for the rest of them. He slammed the door behind him, and moments later they could hear his car revving up outside and speeding away.

A moment of silence passed as Shikamaru glared at the door, Ino tried to shrink as small as she could in her seat and buried her head as far as it would go into her arms, and Naruto and Sakura did their best to withhold the snickers tickling their throats.

"Woah, Shikamaru!" Naruto guffawed, not able to hold his snickering in any more, "I didn't know you had it in you!"

"No, no, he did beat up Gaara the other week," Sakura said, doing a better job at holding it in than Naruto but still letting her laughter escape, "Shikamaru's a fighting machine!"

"Maybe Ino's too good an influence on him!"

"Yeah, Ino's pretty fiery herself. You see those looks she gave Temari? I'm surprised that bitch is still alive!"

Ino removed her arms from underneath her head, using them instead as a barrier. She placed her hands on the top of her head and used her arms to shield her face from everyone. She really didn't want to be here anymore.

"So…" Shikamaru sighed, relaxing back into his usual lazy attitude and taking a seat back at the coffee table, "Chapter one?"

That one was pretty short. But I didn't really see a reason to go on from there!

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to go from here. I'm a little stumped, so any feedback you give will be appreciated. I do want to stay out of all this 'rawr I'm gonna kill you die!' stuff for a while, so I'll try and come up with some fluffy and super fun for chapters to come.

Ino's not moving yet!

EVERY TIME YOU READ WITHOUT REVIEWING RYAN STILES FROM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY MAKES A BAD JOKE AND THE AUDIENCE GOES 'OMGZNOOO!' AND GETS REALLY MAD, THEN DREW CAREY LOSES MONEY AND HIS SHOW GETS CANCELED!

Save the TV show, folks.

(hahahahaha, not an animal!)