Day 35

Ino could only smile as she walked into school that day.

It had been more than a month since she moved here, and her father looked to be too buried in work to be transferred any time soon. She'd found some amazingly hysterical friends and even one particularly lazy boy she had just about fallen in love with. Since the incident last Wednesday, news had spread quickly (by Sakura and Naruto's hands, no doubt) throughout the school that Shikamaru and Ino were dating now, that they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

However, Ino didn't agree. She didn't believe things were quite official yet. No words had been spoken between them finalizing such things. Yes, he held an arm around her shoulders when they walked together protectively, showing she was taken and to ward off people like Sai. Yes, they had kissed. Yes, she absolutely adored this boy and wanted nothing more than to be with him the rest of her life, strange as that may seem after only knowing him for a month.

But words had to be spoken. He had to ask her to be his girlfriend, no questions asked. And she wasn't about to ask him about being her boyfriend. No, Ino had traditions to follow. The boy had to ask the girl, it was his job.

The problem, however, was to get him to do it.

Plans were to be formulated.

"I don't know what to do anymore!"

Sakura frowned at the elegant script that had been written so hastily on the torn piece of notebook paper thrown at her by the blonde next to her just then. She could tell, without looking to her side, that Ino was upset (though looking that way only confirmed things. Ino was hunched far over her notes, scribbling hearts in the margin of her worksheets, then shading them in).

"What do you mean?" Sakura scribbled back, then tossed the note back to her after making sure that Kakashi was occupied enough with his book.

"I mean about Shikamaru and me."

"What are you talking about? You two look happy as clam together. You're the perfect couple!"

"Not an official couple! He has yet to ask me to be his girlfriend."

"You could just ask him to be your boyfriend…"

"No! That goes against all my traditions!"

"What traditions? You've never had a boyfriend before!"

"The boy always has to ask the girl."

"That's bullshit."

"Naruto asked you."

"That's only because I rejected him before. I did ask Sasuke, though, remember?"

"And he rejected you."

"Shut up."

"You have to help me! Please?"

"Fine, I'll tell him to 'ask you out.'"

"NO! You can't just tell him! He has to figure it out on his own! You can only guide him there!"

"How is telling him now guiding?"

"It's telling. Not helping. You don't learn things that way."

"I hate your rules." Sakura scribbled, and crumpled the paper up into a ball. She threw it at Ino, nailing her in the head. The ball bounced off that shiny blonde hair and onto Ino's desk, who squeaked when it hit her and glared at Sakura as she de-crumpled the paper.

"Hey!" Kakashi shouted, frowning behind the cloth mask he wore over the lower half of his face, "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing, sensei!" Sakura sweat-dropped, waving a hand. Ino grinned sheepishly and tried to hide behind the kid in front of her, "There's no problem!"

"Then what's that?" Kakashi asked, pointing at Ino, or rather, the note in Ino's hand.

"Well, it's…. uh…" Ino stared down at the crumpled note in her hands, then to Kakashi and back to Sakura, "It's… uh…."

"A note?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, nodding.

"Uh…"

"Is it important?"

"….uh…."

"I'm sure you wouldn't mind sharing it with us, then?"

"…uhhh…." Ino looked to Sakura, scared, and then looked across the room to Shikamaru. He boy sat there, leaning against the wall (as is desk was situated in the far corner, where he could comfortable lean against the wall in his seat). He showed little interest, as always, but was looking straight in her direction, awaiting her to answer.

Brrrrrring!

Ino instantly shoved her books into her bag as the bell rang, bolting out the door without waiting for Kakashi to officially dismiss the class. Sakura followed not far behind, and they both ran off to disappear within the lunch crowd. Ino was sure to tear up the note and dispose of it right away.

"So what do you say, I can try to slip the message to him subtly through some light conversation."

"He doesn't talk much though, so that complicates things."

"Maybe you should just wait…"

"No way! That'll take a thousands years!"

Ino, Sakura, and Hinata huddled in a corner during gym class, observing the lazy boy in question from across the court. Sakura dribbled her basketball impatiently, while Ino pursed her lips and held hers against her hip and Hinata hugged her own to her stomach. Ino tapped her foot impatiently, then shot an annoyed glance at Sakura.

"Would you stop that? You're disrupting my train of thought!"

"I don't know what's got you so wrapped up about this. All we gotta do is get Naruto to annoy him enough to drive him into the point of insanity, where he'll do whatever he wants to get him to shut up. It's that simple. Or, you know, you could ask him!"

"Sakura, do you not understand anything? At all?" Ino groaned, "You're as impossible as my father." Sakura rolled her eyes, then tossed her ball at Hinata, who panicked and dropped her own in order to catch it. Hinata fumbled with the ball for a few seconds before voicing her own concerns.

"You could always… just… or I could… I could go talk to him for you. I'll say whatever you want me to."

Ino's face lit up at the idea, "Great! That's perfect!" She turned abruptly to her side, facing Hinata, and took the dark-haired girl by the shoulders, "All right, listen to me and do exactly what I say…"

Sakura's jaw dropped, "Isn't that what I've been saying all day!?"

Ino ignored her and finished up what she was saying to Hinata, who nodded weakly and handed the basketball in her hands to Sakura. She tugged at her gym shirt and crossed the court, over to the basket that Shikamaru and Naruto were standing by.

"Hello Shikamaru," Hinata smiled shyly and she approached the two boys, "Hello Naruto."

"Hey Hinata!" Naruto grinned before launching a basketball into the air, completely missing the hoop. He growled to himself, but shook it off and smiled again to Hinata, "How are things between you and Kiba?"

"Wonderful," Hinata smiled back and looked over to Shikamaru, "How are you?"

"Mmmph," he mumbled, leaning against the wall, his basketball for the day lying at his feet.

"I hear that… ah… things between you and Ino are going quite smoothly."

"Yeah." Shikamaru nodded, while Naruto could be heard snickering a few feet away.

"But I guess you two aren't dating yet, are you?"

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru raised both eyebrows, "Of course we aren't."

Hinata stared back, a little surprised. This wasn't the answer she, or Ino, was expecting, "Well, everyone thinks you are-"

"Everyone can go to hell," he closed both eyes and leaned his head against the wall, "but we're not a couple."

"Pssh, you are too. I won't let you forget last week!"

Shikamaru ignored Naruto, "Look, I've never had a girlfriend before. Tell Ino that if she wants me to be her boyfriend, she'll have to wait."

"What do you mean?"

"I know she sent you over here," Shikamaru looked at her accusingly, "You would never approach Naruto and I unless you were told to. You're too shy, Hinata."

Hinata hung her head in shame, and nodded, "Of course. But you know, she really likes you. I don't see why you have to wait…"

"I have my reasons." Shikamaru looked across the court to the blonde beauty who was trying her hardest not to seem as if she were staring at him. "And you can let her know," he laughed, "I like her too. There's nothing for her to worry about."

"I don't want to wait!" She nearly screamed to her empty home that day at four-twenty. The school day was over, and Ino had hitched a ride home with Shikamaru from school, as always. But the whole ride she stared angrily out the window and didn't say a word. And he didn't say anything to her, either.

She walked away from the door, ignoring the fact that she had a load of homework to do for the next day, sunk into her couch and pressed a pillow hard into her face. She wanted to cry.

It's not fair that he does this to me… she thought sadly, If he likes me that much, and I like him even more, then why wait? Why can't he just ask me out now? What's wrong with him!? She pulled the pillow off her face and stared, disappointed, at the ceiling. After a short moment, she shifted her head to look across the room to the front door, where her backpack laid in the middle of the entrance, her purse just a few feet away from it.

She pulled herself back to her feet, then dragged herself back across the room and swept up her purse. She sat back down onto the couch, opened the bag up and fished around for her cell phone. She found it, switched it on, and opened up her phonebook.

The name Nara Shikamaru stared back at her as soon as she had scrolled down into the N's.

His photo ID was just a simple mug shot she had snapped of him after about an hour of begging. He merely stared back at the camera, uninterested, but with a smug look at the same time. How was that even possible?

She sighed and pressed okay, pressed the phone to her ear and collapsed into the many throw pillows that lined the side of the couch. The phone rang three times before the lazy boy finally picked up.

"Whaaat?" he could immediately be heard groaning, "I just got home!"

"I need to talk to you." Ino frowned.

"And it couldn't be said in the car? The whole time you sat silently. Did you have to let the anger build up first before you decided to instead explode at me via phone?"

Ino paused for a moment, straightening his words out before responding, "Yes. I have an issue to discuss with you."

"If it's about me dating you, save it."

"Why do you have to be so smart!?" She whined, kicking her feet against the couch's cushions below her, "I don't understand it, Shika, why?"

"Why what?"

"Why haven't you asked me out yet!?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yes!"

"I want to make sure this isn't a fluke," he sighed, "and be sure that you won't fall just as easily for some guy like Sai again."

Ino paused, considering this, for a moment. "…Shikamaru?"

"Yeah?"

"You are such a girl."

He groaned, "What now?"

"I thought guys were only in it for the sex," she laughed, glad her dad wasn't around to eavesdrop on her conversation right now, "The girls are the ones who worry about making it last."

"I'm… in it for the sex." He laughed back, "But I care about what you want, too."

"Good. But I swear to you that I really do like you Shikamaru, and people like Sai won't even faze me anymore."

A clicking could be heard on the other side of the line, but Ino ignored it, "That's good to hear."

"So…"

"So what?" The clicking ceased. A thud followed it.

"Will you be asking me out any time soon, then?" She asked, giggling. She waited for his witty response, but before he said anything her doorbell suddenly rang. Maybe her mother forgot her keys? "Hold on, Shika. Door."

She hopped to her feet and scrambled to the door, fumbling with the lock until it finally let its grip on the door go (nasty, stubborn thing that is), and tugged the door open. The lazy Nara boy in question stood there, his cell phone still held securely to his ear, smirking down on her.

Ino stared at him, then at her own phone in her hand, and then back at him. Shikamaru let his laughter escape him, clicked his phone off and stashed it away in his pocket. Ino didn't move, she only stared at him in surprise. "But… but you were…"

"You know I don't live that far, Ino. I left when you asked me why we still weren't dating."

"But… but…" She dropped her jaw further, her hands beginning to shake. Shikamaru let himself in and closed the door behind him, then took her hand that was still holding her cell phone and shut it, pulling it away from her and stuffing it into her pocket. He rested his other hand on the top of her head.

"Ahhh, Ino. Calm down, it's not a big deal. You're being troublesome." She nodded to him, closing her gaping mouth and rested her rams at her sides. She still questioned him, however.

"Why are you here?"

"What was it that you asked me last, on the phone?" He asked, rolling his eyes upward to think, "Ahhh… When I would be asking you out, right?"

"Yeah…" she nodded, slowly. He wasn't straightening things out for her at all.

"Well, then, some things are better done in person, right?" He smirked and looked her straight in the eye, brown meeting blue. She blinked at him, waiting. "Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

Ino grinned widely, screaming, and latched her arms around his neck, "Finally, finally, finally! You've asked!"

"Whoa, wait a minute!" He laughed, trying to pry her away but failing, "You sort of need to answer."

"Of course!" She nearly screamed into his hear, making him wince him pain but still smiling all the same. She hugged him even tighter, "You're amazing, Shikamaru."

"Yeah, yeah," instead of prying her away, he hugged her back, "You are too." Shikamaru tugged away by only a couple of inches, just so he could look into her eyes once again, "No matter how troublesome you really are."

"Thanks for coming." She smiled softly.

"Uh huh." He relaxed back into that lazy stare. Neither of them let go from the hug, and stood there for a few moments, simply looking at each other. Eventually, unspoken words made themselves clearer and both simultaneously leaned in, meeting in one sweet kiss that officially sealed the deal.

Which was a wonderful thing, you know, only until the lock of the door clicked and the doorknob started to rattle.

"I'm home!" The hefty voice of Inoichi Yamanaka roared, as the large wooden door swung open and revealed him standing there in full uniform. "Anyone-" his eyes rested on the happy couple standing only a few feet away from him, "…home?"

"Uh…. Hello Daddy…" Ino grinned sheepishly, pushing Shikamaru away. The Nara boy's face glowed a brick red and he did his best to look away from both Yamanakas. Inoichi's eyes darted between the two of them before they finally rested entirely on Shikamaru, glaring strongly.

"WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO MY DAUGHTER!?"

"Shikamaru, I think you better go."

Shikamaru nodded and inched towards the door, watching Inoichi the entire way, then bolted outside to his car once he had reached the doorway.

"THAT'S RIGHT, YOU BETTER RUN!

But still…

EVERY TIME YOU READ WITHOUT REVIEWING, WILL SMITH GROWS AN AFRO SO LARGE THAT IT EATS HIM ALIVE AND HE DISAPPEARS FROM HUMANITY!

Save the actor, kids.