Author's Note: So I am back! School finally ended, I got all A's this semester, and I am finished with all of my holiday shopping. I wanted to update this like forever ago, but this month has been completely hectic. Usually I love this time of year, but this has been crazy so far. Anyway, I finally bought my last gift and found time and energy to write. In the three reviews I got from the last chapter, two of the reviewers guess that Shikamaru was the man in the shadow. When I started Chapter 9, I knew what I wanted the story line to be like. However, I had two options in my head for the man at the end, standing in the alley saying "Hey Ino." By the time, I got to that part of the story I had finally decided which one I wanted to use. The answer, to which man it is, is located in this chapter! Thank you to littlemelonatplay, RosieWinterMoon, TheMissMalave for the reviews! All three made me smile =).

P.S.- I don't own Naruto. If I did, you could just watch this in the anime or manga. I am just writing this story. =)

What a Life

"Ino… Ino… Ino Yamanaka!" The shrill voice of my mother entered my ears and pushes its way into my head. I twisted under the sheets and pushed a pillow over my head, trying to block out the noise. My bedroom door opened and kit the doorstop with a 'SLAM'. "Ino Yamanaka, if you are still breathing got you butt out of bed and get dresses, I need you to take over watch of the shop."

I groaned in annoyance and pushed my head farther under the pillow. "Ino you have been sleeping since dinner time, yesterday, it is time to wake up.

After ignoring her again, I felt a hand grab at the section of blanket near my shoulder. My muscles tensed up as the blanket was ripped away from my body.

I sat up and glared at the women trying to ruin my life. "Mom, my head is killing me and I had a long day yesterday, why can't dad watch the shop?"

She turned on her heel, not acknowledging my question. "You have five minutes Ino, and then I am coming up and dragging you down to the shop." With that, she turned the corner and walked down the hallway. I pushed off the mattress and started getting ready.

Five minutes later, I opened the cabinet in the kitchen and pulled out to painkillers for my pounding head. As I walked down the stairs, my mom walked out of the shop door, waving good-bye and shouting that she would be back in a few hours.

'Why does my head hurt so much today?' I questioned. I brought my fingers up to my hair and rubbed lightly, a bump was protruding from the back of my head. The memory flooded back into my brain.

"Maybe I met some super-hot guy and talked with him today. Maybe I hung out with Sasuke!"

As soon as the name left my lips, I knew I was wrong. Fingers wrapped around my arms and I was pushed to the wall behind us. My back hit the wall first, followed immediately by my head. My skull hit the tough brick and a headache started to form.

"What is it that all of you girls see in that guy. He is arrogant, self-centered, obsessive, cocky, and anti-social. He does not notice any of you!" His fingers dug deeper into my arm as anger radiated from him.

I locked eyes with him and pushed strength into my hands. Quickly, I lifted my arms up and shoved him away from me. As his fingers left my skin, I could feel bruises start to form.

"There is that temper that you hide so well. It has been so long since I last saw it. Well Shikamaru, as I said before, why does it matter? No, I was not with Sasuke, but if I decide to pursue him, that is my choice."

I brought my hand up to my upper arm, where light purple blotches started to form. 'I cannot believe it, Shikamaru does not hurt me. Why in the hell would he do this?'

As the first tear slid down my cheek, I said, "You can think of Sasuke how you want, but I also want you to remember this. Sasuke may not notice me, but at least he has never left bruises on me and he will never be half of the lazy, insensitive, jerk that you are being!"

I frowned, looking down at my arms and noticing the purple blotches that covered them. I turned and started for the stairs, but the sound of the bell on the door stopped me. I turned back ready to greet the customer.

Breath caught in my throat and a blanket of guilt covered my shoulders, weighing them down and making my upper body slump.

Shikamarus' eyes stared into mine; dark circles covered the bottom of his eyes. "Shikamaru." I said quietly, ashamed at the fact that I started the argument yesterday.

His eyes continued to stare into mine. When they finally did move, his gaze connected directly with the purple blotches that stained my arms. He flinched slightly; sadness covered his face.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but closed it and turned his head toward the door. Turning back to me, he started to speak.

"Your mom passed me on my way here; she is cooking with my mom for dinner tonight. Do you want to take a walk? You can put the 'be back in a few minutes' sign up, she will never notice."

I slipped the apron from around my neck and started walking towards the door. Once we moved into the busy street, I locked the door behind me and put the sign up. Shikamaru started walking towards the down the street. I walked with him, noticing he was very careful to keep his distance from me and my arms.

We walked into the park and sat on a bench under the big tree in the middle. I tilted my head and glanced at Shikamaru. He was staring at the ground and he appeared to be thinking about something. I inhale deeply and let the words flow from my lips, trying not to think about how bad I felt.

"Shika, I know that you are probably mad at me. I started the whole argument yesterday and pushed your temper. I know that you have an explosive temper and I still pushed you. I should not have said that you were a jerk, you aren't, and I should not of throw Sasuke in your face, I know how you feel about him. You're one of my best friends and I hate fighting with you. Now you won't even look me and every time you look at my arms, you flinch. You know the bruises are my fault. In addition, there is the fact that you look as if you got a total of five minutes of sleep last night. I am just so sorry, I feel horrible."

I exhale after finishing my apology, not feeling any better and a little stupid, considering Shikamaru was staring at me as if I was crazy.

"Ino, I don't know why you brought up Sasuke yesterday, but I am not even worried about that. I can't look at your arms because I am the reason for those bruises. I lost control of my temper and hurt you. I have also noticed that you keep rubbing your head. I am guessing that there is a bump there too. That is also my fault. I hate my temper, which is why I hide it. I spent all night lying in bed thinking about how much you would hate me, and you are sitting there apologizing to me. I am sorry for hurting your, there was no reason for it, no matter how mad I was."

I stared at him and he stared at me. Out of nowhere laughter bubble in my throat and I started to giggle uncontrollably. Shikamaru started laughing to and I was sure that we looked like total idiots, sitting on a park bench, practically falling on the ground.

Once I could breathe again, I said, "So in the last twenty-four hours, we have gone from blindingly mad at each other, to sad and guilty, to apologetic, and then we are laughing so hard that neither of us can breathe."

"Since we are both in this random good mood, can I ask you a question Ino?" Shikamaru said. I nodded. "What were you really doing yesterday?"

"Well Shikamaru, I will tell you when you tell me why you have such a problem with Sasuke." I challenged.

Shikamaru smiled at me. The smile dropped off his face when a loud echo could be heard through the town.

"INO!"

"Hello Ino."

"What are you doing here?" I retorted. My heart started to pound faster as he stepped closer to me. Accordingly, I took one-step back; my foot hit Karashis' leg and I moved quickly to balance myself. Jumping backward I landed just on the outside of the alley.

Locking eyes with the dark-eyed man, I turned and started to run, making my way into the hotel and getting to my room. Quickly, I opened the door and slipped inside. A hand stopped me from closing the door and I was pushed farther into the room. He slammed the door closed.

"Ino I just happen to be in the neighborhood. I stopped in a random bar, for a celebratory drink and what do I find?"

I glared at him, knowing he was going to answer for me.

"I find Ino Nara, in a skimpy outfit, carrying drink around the bar and batting your eyes at some random man."

Rage bubbled in my stomach. "Don't you dare make this sound worse than it is. I am doing my job. What the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"First off, what the hell are you talking about? This, pointing to my outfit, is not part of your job. Secondly, I am here to give someone a scroll. That is my job. The last thing I expected to see was you hanging on a stranger, wearing all but nothing."

The rage boiled over and I pushed him out of my face. "Shikamaru Nara, if I want to talk about in some skimpy outfit and hang all over random guys that is my business. However, this is actually a job. I turned and pulled the scroll out of my bag, practically throwing it at his head."

He quickly opened the scroll and scanned it, anger diminished and he lowered the scroll, looking at me. I could read every question that crossed his face, but I had no idea of how to answer them.

I gently grabbed his hand and sat on the side of the bed, pulling him to sit down beside me. Quietly, I waited for him to ask the first question.

"Why didn't you tell me about this mission?" He glanced at me and waited for an answer.

"I have known about these types of missions for years now, and for this entire time I have not told you about them. Once morning all of the girls from our old class had to get together and sit through a lecture on them. After the class, I tried to lie my way out of answering your question and caused a fight. Ever since then I have been avoiding the moment where I had to tell you. I hated learning about seduction mission almost as much as I hate preforming seduction missions."

I watch realization cover his face I stood up for the bed and slid a pair of pants over the bottom of my uniform.

I looked towards the door when I saw Shikamaru's head twist quickly away from me.

"Find the person responsible for killing Karashi! Search every room!" A voice yelled in the hallway. I jumped over to my bag and threw the remaining items into it. Shikamaru was already at the window, opening it and gesturing for me to jump out. He jumped after me and we ran, jumping into the forest.

Author's Note: So I know, Chapter 10 is excessively short. I wanted to make the 'present time' longer but ended up stopping it at the point of escape. I am actually going on vacation over the Christmas holiday and my laptop is, unfortunately, saying home. I wanted to submit a chapter before I left. If I did not submit this chapter not, all of you would have had to wait, to find out who the man was, until at least two weeks from now. I promise Chapter 11 will be longer! So PLEASE REVIEW and tell me what you thought! I LOVE reviews! Until next chapter…

Blondegirl09