Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters, Masashi Kishimoto does.

Shikamaru Nara found himself again walking the streets of Konoha with his son, Shikadai. The two-walking side by side, hands in their pockets, enjoying the comfortable silence in the evening glow.

It had been the third time this week his wife, Temari, had kicked them out of the house with no dinner. Granted, it had been his own fault. He and Shikadai had been wrapped up in a very intense game of shoji, and they hadn't heard her call them for dinner. While Temari loved them both, she had a fiery temper that was not to be messed with. With one forceful swoop of her fan, the two were out of the house, and before they could look back, they heard the door slam shut.

It could be worse, Shikamaru reasoned with himself; he enjoyed the time spent with Shikadai. They were so similar, and he didn't have to deal with anything too troublesome. So again, the father-son duo was headed down to Yakiniku-Q for dinner.

"Shikadai!" Both Nara's turned at the sound of a voice running to catch up with them. Inojin Yamanaka hurried towards the two, waving at his teammate and friend.

"Hey, Inojin!" Shikadai called out as the boy stopped before him.

"Hey, kid," Shikamaru lazily drawled out as he softly tufted the blonde's hair. "how've you been?" Team 10 had remained close during the years, especially since their children now formed the newest generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho members. Although, if he was honest with himself, he had fallen off a bit at checking up on his teammates the last few years. He was busier now with work, his family, and everything going on. But still, they remained close.

Shikamaru was just about to ask about Inojin's mother when he heard Ino's voice behind the group.

"Well, if it isn't the Nara boys," Ino said with a wide smile. Her hands were filled with bouquets of all sorts of flowers, and she had a straw basket hanging from her elbow. "What are you two up to?"

Before either of the Nara's could utter a word, the smell of the contents of her basket wafted their way into their nose. Both boys held their stomachs as two loud grumbles erupted from their empty bellies.

"We're on our way to get some dinner at Yakiniku-Q." Shikamaru said as he rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks tinged slightly red at the noise his stomach emitted. Ino could barely stifle her giggles at the pair of usually cool and collected men in front of her, crouching over in hunger.

"Where's Temari?" Ino looked around, expecting this to be a family dinner out.

"My mom kicked us out for playing shoji," Shikadai piped in before Shikamaru could interject. "Troublesome." he muttered under his breath.

Ino was a bit taken aback by this. But quickly regained her composure for the two youngest in the group. Instead, she chuckled when she noticed Shikadai staring at her basket. Ino dumped the bouquets she was holding into Shikamaru's unexpected hands without question. Turned to the two boys and opened the basket, revealing some warm, puffy manju cakes.

"I just picked these up from my mother's house. They're fresh! Usually, I don't let Inojin ruin his dinner, but I can make an exception this time." She handed both boys a rice cake before turning to Shikamaru. "Why don't you both come to my house for dinner tonight. I'm cooking!"

Before Shikamaru could decline the offer, Inojin shouted, "Yes! Let's go, Shikadai! I can show you the new game mom bought me for my birthday!" Shikadai nodded, mouth full of manju, and the two boys were already off to the Yamanaka compound.

Shikamaru sighed and slouched his shoulders as he followed his son and his best friend. The moment the boys were out of earshot, he knew he'd be interrogated by Ino. She was a part of the Interrogation and Torture division, after all.

"So," Ino began, "What happened with Temari?"

Shikamaru let out another heavy sigh. "Nothing. We didn't hear her call for dinner again…. Troublesome women."

"Again?" Nothing could get past Ino. She had spent years in the Interrogation unit, trained by Ibiki himself. Ibiki had been so proud of Ino when she completed her training. Taking after her father and being among the best in her unit, she felt proud of herself, too, and had built such a strong relationship with Ibiki. She felt like she owed him so much, she felt herself become a stronger kunoichi, and most of all felt she had a purpose. "How many times have you been kicked out?"

Shikamaru looked up to the sky. The sky was streaked with the colors of the sunset, reds, yellows, blues, and purples. He didn't look at Ino when he said, "Three times. This week."

Ino was shocked. She imagined Temari had a good reason for kicking them out. She wasn't a bad wife or mother, after all. Yet she still felt a pang of anger light up in her core. Temari had her whole family complete but pushed them out instead of enjoying them. Ino couldn't understand that. She'd kill to have her family complete…

Shikamaru noticed Ino staying unusually quiet. He turned to look at her. She was walking, deep in thought. He knew Ino better than anyone he'd bet. They've known each other their whole life. They were literally born just a day apart. He knew Ino so well that he knew this wasn't his teammate's usual attitude. She would probably be yelling at him, telling him he probably did something to Temari for her to react like that. She'd be lecturing him about how he should help Temari out more or make sure Shikadai eats more than just Yakiniku-Q every day.

But she was quiet.

Maybe he should just be thankful and leave it be.

"What's wrong?" He looked at her, a face mixed with skepticism and concern.

Ino was shaken from her thoughts at Shikamaru's question. She looked at him, and he could see a hint of pain in her crystal blue eyes. He knew that look. He had seen it many times growing up.

Heartbreak.

He first saw it when she found out Sasuke had abandoned the village. Then again, when Asuma-Sensei died. In the war, when they witnessed the destruction of HQ. The day of their fathers' burials. But he hadn't seen it since. It had been years. Why now?

"Nothing," Ino smiled wide, turning to face forward. "You probably deserved Temari kicking you out. But Shikadai needs a proper meal."

She was faking. He knew that look. He hated that look.

"Troublesome…" He muttered both at her comment and at her faking.

They had reached Ino's house, and the boys were already in the living room playing video games.

Ino gently poked her head in, "dinner will be ready in 30 minutes, boys." Both boys just nodded, paying her no mind. Ino just chuckled and headed to the kitchen.

"What do I do with these?" Shikamaru was still holding the bouquets of flowers Ino had thrown at him.

"Oh, sorry, those are deliveries I need to do tomorrow morning. Could you place them on the desk in the living room?" Ino spoke as she filled a pot with water for dinner.

Shikamaru made his way to the living room. It had been a few years since he had been in the Yamanaka house. Gatherings among the three clans were usually held at the Akimichi's since it was the largest of the houses or at his childhood home. He made his way to the desk while looking around. The boys were sitting on the couch. The desk was on the side wall and littered with different colored strings and paper for bouquets and arrangements. Behind the desk was a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. There were hundreds of scrolls on mind-transfer jutsus, the history of the Yamanaka clan, known poisons, and more he couldn't see.

What really caught his eye were the photographs. There were many. There were photos of Ino and her dad. Her mom with baby Inojin. Their first team 10 photo with Asuma-Sensei. A picture of Kurenai, Mirai, Choji, and him smiling at the camera. Multiple of Ino with Inojin throughout the years. There was a picture of Shikamaru and Ino as small children. And one of them was taken at 16 before their father's passed.

He remembered that picture vividly. It was before the war. They were at a clan gathering at the Akimichi's the night before they were to be deployed. The night was tense, dark, and filled with unknowns. Many among them would not live to see the next gathering, Inoichi and Shikaku included.

The gathering had come to an end, most had left already, and only the past and present Ino-Shika-Cho members and their mothers had stayed. Yoshino and Sayo had sat together the whole night. Worried about their husbands and their children. Ino and Shikamaru had been silent, sitting together under a tree. One of the rare times he has ever sat in comfortable silence with Ino. They were waiting for Choji to come back with his pack of potato chips.

Sayo, Ino's mother, had come by to offer some tea. They both declined. Yoshino, troublesome as ever, had then insisted she let them take a photo. So that Sayo and herself would have something to hold them over until they came back from the war. Shikamaru didn't have the heart to decline his mother. After their photo, she took one of Shikaku and Inoichi. This photo hangs in his childhood home today.

Shikamaru smiled at the bittersweet memory. He placed the flowers down gently. He knew Ino would chew him out if the flowers were bruised.

He walked back to the kitchen, his nose empty of the sweet smell of the flowers he had been holding.

Ino had already prepped the stew. Had he really been gone that long?

"I thought you'd gotten lost." Ino smiled at him from the kitchen table.

"I was looking at the photographs on your bookshelf," Shikamaru said as he pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. "There's a lifetime of memories there."

Ino's smile faltered a little, "We've had a good life for shinobi."

Shikamaru nodded but kept looking at Ino's face. Trying to reread her eyes. It was his time to interrogate.

"How've you been?" He asked.

Ino chuckled. "I'm good! The flower shop is booming. Inojin is happy. My work at the Interrogation and Torture department is hard, but I love it. And between the barrier team and the hospital, I'm keeping active and busy."

"You're lying," Shikamaru replied, slouching back in his chair. "You're not good."

Ino shifted her gaze away from Shikamaru.

"I'm not lying."

"You are. I know you."

"What do you know!" Ino bit her tongue. She hadn't meant to come off so rude or bitter. She wasn't mad at Shikamaru. She didn't know what she was.

Shikamaru was unfazed. That remark confirmed what he knew. She wasn't ok.

"I know that you have the same look in your eyes from when Sasuke left the village all those years ago. From when our fathers died." He said, never taking his eyes off her but making sure to keep his voice down, so the boys in the other room didn't hear.

Ino turned to look at him. Eyes wide at his comment. That look? What look? She didn't have a look in her eyes… But instead, she got up, deciding just to ignore Shikamaru and focus on stirring the stew.

Shikamaru followed her with his eyes.

"Ino, talk to me." he whispered. She ignored him.

Shikamaru sighed. He sat there at the table, his mind trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong with the troublesome blonde stirring the pot. He started to wonder how he had gotten kicked out by one troublesome blonde earlier and was picked up off the street by yet another troublesome blonde when it clicked.

"Sai." he muttered before he could stop himself. He saw Ino tense up immediately and stop stirring. He knew Sai was out on a mission; after all, he was the Hokage's right hand. He knew it was a long mission. He had even asked Sai himself if he was sure before he had left. Sai said he was and had left immediately. That was five months ago.

Shikamaru felt like the worst person in the world. He had been so occupied with his work and his own problems with Temari he had forgotten to check in with Ino. Ino was alone. Keeping herself so busy with her multiple jobs and responsibilities, she wouldn't have to deal with her loneliness. He suddenly felt a jolt of anger in him. How could he call himself her friend? How could Sai leave his family for an impossibly long mission without even a second thought? Why didn't she reach out?

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a sniffle. He looked at the blonde woman standing over the stove. Her shoulders were tense, but he could see a slight movement as she silently shed tears. He got up from his seat, stretched out his arms, and spun her around to face him. He brought her in close and rested his chin on her head. The same smell from the bouquets filled his nostrils once more.

"I'm sorry..." Ino tried to push him away and wipe at her tears, but Shikamaru wouldn't move.

"I'm the one who should be sorry, Ino. I should have never let Sai take that mission. I don't know what I was thinking." He shook his head, still angry at himself.

Ino pushed harder. Shikamaru stumbled backward a couple of steps but was still holding onto Ino's arms.

"It's not your fault! He would have taken any mission! He doesn't want to be here!" She yelled. More tears streamed down her face.

Shikamaru was stunned. What did she mean he didn't want to be here?

Ino tore herself away from Shikamaru's grasp and turned back to the pot.

"I thought I could change him years ago. I told myself that I could get him to feel again, to learn to love, care, and understand feelings. I thought I had done it. Especially when I had Inojin. But that's not Sai… He was too far gone." Ino was confessing her darkest secret to Shikamaru. He had opened the floodgates.

"He's good to Inojin, but he's distant. He doesn't know how to connect. He's good to me… like a neighbor would be. But he doesn't love me. He said he didn't think he could ever love me. That was the year Inojin was born."

Shikamaru listened to every word Ino was saying. Never having paid this much attention to his teammate in all the years he had known her. Shikamaru couldn't understand if he felt pity, anger, heartbreak, or what for Ino. So, he kept listening.

"He would rather go on yearlong missions. He feels useful there. I've learned to live with it. But Inojin is older now. When he goes on missions… I'm alone. I hate it…."

"Is that why you've been doing so much? Running the flower shop, the Interrogation and Torture unit, the Barrier Team, the hospital?" Shikamaru asked.

Ino nodded. "I don't want to be alone. I always dreamed of a fairytale life with a prince… I'd settle for a simple life with a simple man now." She let out an exasperated chuckle. "One kiss, I'd settle for one kiss…."

Shikamaru was lost for words. Could this really be happening to Ino? Had he been blind these past 12 years to not notice how unhappy she had been? Had the whole village been blind?

Ino, of all people, she deserved the fairytale life. If there was anyone who deserved the simple life, it was him. Not her. She deserved a life so well lived and loved that books and movies would be made about her. Why was he so angry at this? Why were his thoughts so uncontrolled right now? Why was she so calm? She should be screaming and throwing things at him and Sai…

"I didn't know…." He whispered so low he was surprised she heard him.

"No one knows…." She replied.

A moment of silence passed, and she spoke again, "I should confess, I was angry earlier at Temari."

"Angry? At Temari?" Shikamaru walked and stood next to Ino. Confusion laced his words.

"I was angry that she kicked out her family when there are others who wish more than anything to have their families whole." Ino felt her shoulders relax, "I'm sorry, it was stupid, and I should never have thought that about Temari."

Shikamaru placed his hand over Ino's, stopping her consistent stirring. Ino's cheeks burned at the contact and the realization that she had vented her deepest secret to Shikamaru.

"Let's have dinner," Shikamaru said firmly, "I am your family, Ino."

Ino's tears welled in her eyes, but she immediately wiped them away when she heard two voices asking from the doorway if dinner was ready.

Shikamaru turned the stove off and instructed the boys to take a seat as he served dinner.

AN: Hi, everyone! This is a little multi-chapter fic that popped into my head the other night and decided to type out! I'm thinking I can finish this story in 3 parts, but my brain tends to go wild and deviate from my original plans!

I'm a big ShikaIno fan, but I didn't want to write a story that pitted two women against each other. So, this story will hopefully have a happy ending for Temari as well!

Also this story is fiction, therefore I might take some things out of canon but will try to make it as canon as possible where it makes sense.