This is essentially the headcannon that's been floating in my head for months since Naruto neared its end. I almost managed to convince myself to forget the last 150 chapters in favour of this.

As noted in the summary, it is from the cannon universe but semi-AU due to its ending - which is slightly different from the manga.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

There are moments when you just know. For Shikamaru and Ino, that moment transpired in a corner of the Nara fields.

It happens on a beautiful night, less clouds and more stars decorating the midnight sky. A Yamanaka lies next to a Nara; a blonde young woman gripes about her day at work in the intelligence department and a slightly bemused young man utters grunts to signify he is indeed listening.

Stargazing in Shikamaru's favourite spot was a relatively new habit Ino had developed. She had discovered it a year ago when Shikamaru had overslept and failed to show up on time to Tenten's birthday outing. Since then, she had taken to visiting whenever she found herself with too much energy after a long day at work. Interestingly, Ino usually only chose to visit when she knew Shikamaru was not away from Konoha on missions. Ino reminded herself that she only came here to unload her day's frustrations onto the poor Nara boy.

That is not to say that she didn't care about Shikamaru but she'd caught herself admiring Shikamaru more often than not lately, and Ino wasn't sure she wanted to think about why. They'd been family friends since they'd been born for goodness sake! The consequences of such an epiphany terrified Ino.

A chilling breeze brought Ino out of her complicated thoughts. She shivered and proceeded to wiggle closer to her teammate in order to leech of his body warmth. Her teammate flicked her a glance from the corner of his eyes before returning to watch the sky; Ino had finally stopped talking and he was determined to take full advantage of her silence.

A few minutes later, the silence was interrupted by rustling clothes as Ino began to inch closer still to Shikamaru. This time Shikamaru sighed loudly; he swiftly sat up and shrugged himself out of his flak jacket as Ino frowned at his loss of warmth, clearly displeased. He flopped unceremoniously back down on his back a moment later, dropping the warm jacket on top of the both of them.

Ino smiled gratefully, warmed by more than just his jacket. Caught up in the afterglow of his gesture, she pressed close to him and laid her head on Shikamaru's shoulder. Shikamaru's eyes darted instantly to watch her, Ino chose instead to intensely study the spread of twinkling stars above her.

And that is how it all began.

The day after a recent clan get together at the Akimichi house, the Nara patriarch stopped by the Yamanaka house in the afternoon. Inoichi arched an eyebrow when he answered the door, surprised to see his good friend so soon.

"Inoichi… Have you ever thought about my boy and your girl?"

Instead of the instantaneous, somewhat comical anger in response to the mere thought of a boy wanting to touch his precious baby girl that Shikaku had grown to expect, Inoichi stared at him silently for a moment, deeply perplexed. "Shikaku, they can't," he finally said.

Shikaku sighed tiredly. "But I think they want to."

He had seen the way his son had looked at Inoichi's daughter last night. He also hadn't failed to notice the way she had slipped her hand into his, late into the night when most of the party attendants had been piss drunk.

And then a fourth great shinobi war had creeped upon them, and the fathers never got around to having the conversation they had reluctantly practised with each other.

It would be Yoshino who would eventually have to sit them down in her kitchen to tell them.

It wasn't the first time Ino had been invited to the Nara household to have dinner, she had been over every couple of weeks since the end of the war. It would however, be the last time she would have an intimate dinner with Yoshino and Shikamaru.

Yoshino waits until they are all finished eating; she allows Ino to help her clear the dishes and bring them back to the kitchen before asking her to sit back down. Assuming Yoshino must have prepared dessert, Ino did so without any questions and proceeded to chew Shikamaru out for not having the decency to at least pretend to help them with the dishes.

Yoshino takes a moment to collect herself in her kitchen, as Ino complains at the table just outside and Shikamaru just grunts in amusement and goddammit because it sounds like they are truly happy – her children who have lost so much and deserve the world – and then she squares her shoulders and goes out to crush their hearts, their dreams and their worlds.

Ino refuses to break down in front of Yoshino. She doesn't cry even as Shikamaru walks her home, the both of them silent by each other's side.

When they reach her apartment door, Ino turns to look at him for the first time since Yoshino told them they could not be together. Blue eyes shining, she opens her mouth to say something, "Shika, I – you – I can't" and finding herself unable to say anything comprehensible, chooses instead to throw herself into his arms. And as his arms hold her so, so tight that she almost has trouble breathing, she begins to howl into his shoulder in earnest.

It takes them three days of crying to Sakura and Chouji, of denying their clan heir responsibilities, of declaring elopements, to accept that Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino won't have a happily ever after.

They spend their last night at the same spot where it all began. The sky is just as clear as it was all those years ago; it's warmer tonight however, and Ino doesn't have nor needs the excuse to press herself close to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru tries weakly, "We could still run away."

Ino swallows thickly even though she has cried so much these past few days, she's sure her body can't produce anymore salty tears, "You and I both don't have it in us to leave Konoha."

Because as much as they needed each other, they need their families, their clans, their Ino-Shika-Cho, their Konoha Twelve, their occupations, their work for the village just as much.

They spend their last night holding each other until duty calls in the morning.

They are still a mess in the weeks after their split.

Shikamaru returns to burning through a packet of cigarettes every day and no one close to him has the heart to tell him to stop.

Ino buries herself in work and when that runs out, in her bed in her apartment.

After two weeks, Chouji forces his two best friends to have dinner with him. It is an uncomfortable affair, riddled with pained silences. When Chouji stops eating to look down at his plate, clearly blaming himself for putting them through this ordeal, Ino clears her throat to tell them about the immature and frankly, unprofessional junior at work who felt the need to recite Naruto's life story to her today, as if she herself wasn't one of the most outstanding members of Konoha Twelve. Chouji is so taken aback, he lets out one of his rare booming laughs. Everyone in the restaurant turns to stare at them, but Ino pointedly stares at Shikamaru. The implication is clear: don't you dare make Chouji feel that way again. Shikamaru snorts in response, trust Ino to mentally beat some sense into him with just a look.

The regular Ino-Shika-Cho dinners help; their dynamic slowly mends itself. The pain is still there, always underlying everything they say but it begins to hurt less.

One weekend, as the boys walk their teammate back to her apartment, Ino breaks the comfortable silence. "So I hear Temari is due for another diplomatic visit next week."

Shikamaru's head swings comically fast to stare wide eyed at Ino. Rumours about Shikamaru and Temari are almost as old as their relationship was long; Naruto didn't stop cracking jokes about Temari until Sakura realised the boy had genuinely not noticed the budding relationship between Shikamaru and Ino (in his defense, they hadn't been a very publicly affectionate couple).

Chouji watches Ino unsurely. Ino's next comment although said lightly, makes Shikamaru stop walking completely, "Just ask her out already."

A beat passes between them as the two former lovers exchange pained looks, laced with sorrowful pleas.

Shikamaru mumbles in response, "Yeah, yeah, don't be troublesome."

Chouji goes home that night and curses the gods, because his best friends deserved each other, and the village they had sacrificed so much for could not even give them that.

Two weeks later, Shikamaru begins a long distance relationship with Temari. Two weeks after that, Ino asks Sai out on a date after running into him at the grocery store.

By the time winter arrives in Konoha again, Konoha Twelve can barely tell from their interactions that Shikamaru and Ino had once been lovers torn apart by ninja village politics.

Ino bosses around her boys, instructs them on how to properly fuss over their girlfriends; her boys only snort and eat more in response. The days pass and the pain no longer overwhelms them.

When Shikamaru tells his two best friends, he is as he expected, met by an uncomfortable silence. Chouji opens his mouth to congratulate him out of reflex just as his concern for his other best friend kicks in, and he ends up turning his head to worriedly stare at the blonde next to him.

Ino freezes.

She feels her entire body tense and simply stops moving, she thinks she probably also stopped breathing. Then her brain kicks back into gear and she starts chanting to herself, be happy, be happy, be happy for him. She sucks in a breath that all three of them hear, and opens her mouth to congratulate him and/or make a snarky comment. Then, she feels the pressure behind her eyes and she knows she's not going to make it.

She stumbles tearily, "I just need – ah – give me a minute."

And then she's clamping a hand over her mouth and breathing hard as she climbs the stairs on pure instinct in the dim light clouded by tears. In her haste to be alone for a moment, she leaves her door open behind her.

Chouji doesn't know what the fuck to do. He knows all Ino needs right now is space. And so, he watches, feeling entirely useless as his other best friend stands there looking forlornly at the open door.

Shikamaru knows that if he goes through that door, he'll never marry the girl he just proposed to. He'll spend the rest of his life in elopement far, far away from Konoha and all that they hold dear, but his heart reminds him, with the love of your life.

So the two young men stand there and wait. They are rewarded for their patience when a few minutes later, a blonde blur barrels out the door and down the steps, sliding to a stop before them.

She plants her feet apart in typical Ino fashion, points an obnoxious finger in their faces and demands, "WE ARE ALL PROMISING EACH OTHER TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE CHILD."

Neither of them comment on her choked stutter, they stare at her in stunned confusion instead.

She takes this as her cue to continue and explain herself, "Because this –" Her fingers vaguely gesture at the space between Shikamaru and herself, and her voice drops to a whisper, " – I'll damned if this happens to our children."

And Shikamaru breaks.

He lunges at her, sweeping her into a tight and wet embrace. And Ino visibly wobbles, her natural coping mechanism a la bossy Ino completely vanishing. When Shikamaru sobs, Ino shakes and before long, her own waterworks begin. She throws Chouji an expectant look despite the tears clogging up her big blue eyes, and Chouji steps forward to envelop his two most important people in a group hug.

Shikamaru being the most reliable one of the group, fulfils his side of the promise the earliest. When Temari gives birth to a baby girl with the Nara hair, he tells everyone that that's it, he only ever wanted two children to which his faithful best friend, Chouji confirms.

The Akimichis and Yamanakas end up becoming families of five, much to the consternation of Shikamaru who becomes the butt of constant jokes about not losing in the baby count.

Years later, when the Konoha Twelve spend their days babysitting grandchildren and complaining about aching bones, the Yamanaka matriarch comes down with a cold. What once wouldn't have stopped the kunoichi from departing on a mission all the same, now lands her in a hospital bed surrounded by flowers and worried children and grandchildren.

Sakura frowned as she exited Room 602, "A simple cold shouldn't have her down like this. Even with your set of lungs Shikamaru, you wouldn't be bedridden in a hospital like this."

Shikamaru paused mid-scratch, dropping his hand from his beard, "What are you saying Sakura?"

The former medic-nin turned and watched Ino pat a blonde grandson on the cheek. "She's not fighting it. She's tired."

Shikamaru and Chouji didn't – couldn't reply. When neither signalled they were leaving any time soon, Sakura shook her head and tugged on Sasuke's sleeve to leave.

Hours after Chouji had gone home to his wife and Ino's brood of descendants had returned to their own abodes, Shikamaru settled himself into the chair beside her bed.

Ino arched an eyebrow at her returning companion, "You'll get yourself into trouble again. Even the Hokage isn't allowed to waltz in outside of visitation hours."

Shikamaru harrumphed. He watched her for a few heartbeats, contemplating. She stared right back, defiant as always. He chuckled, despite their age her eyes were as bright and as blue as the day he had first met his father's best friend's daughter.

"Is my hospital entrapment funny to you, Shikamaru?" She asked sharply, although they both knew she was joking.

Shikamaru's face softened and Ino knew she wasn't going to like the conversation that was to follow. She hadn't been in a position to witness that vulnerability for a long time now.

"Why aren't you fighting it, Ino?"

Ino doesn't ask him how he knows. She sighs tiredly. Because that's what she was after all these years – old and immensely tired.

"I'm tired Shikamaru. My children are grown and have their hands full raising their own. Inoichi's living with Chouko now. I'm content. And I'm tired."

Shikamaru eyes flash at the mention of the relationship between the younger generation of Yamanaka and Akimichi. In the end, their losses, their sacrifices and their compromises had saved something.

Shikamaru groaned involuntarily as he suddenly stood up too quickly. He braced himself against the bedrails as he climbed onto her bed. When Ino realised what he was trying to do, she immediately tried to shuffle herself over, coughing once from the effort. After he had settled himself down to lie next to her, he searched for her hand.

Ino refrained from warning him about being caught by the nurses and instead, watched him curiously. Shikamaru wriggled their wrinkly joined hands this way and that – it had been a long, long time since they had last held hands – before looking back up into the familiar blue eyes.

"I'll stay until you stop being tired."

Ino's eyes burn at the implications behind his words with tears that she didn't know she still had in her. I'll always be beside you until death do us part.

She says softly then, "I'm tired and I just want to be born again. I just want to be with you in the next life."

Shikamaru bites back a choked sob and leans down to kiss her forehead, for the first time in over fifty years.

They stay awake long into the night, remembering who they were in times long past. A girl and a boy with eyes just as blue and just as dark filled with much more hope and no less love for each other.

In the morning, as Chouji argues with the reception to be let in despite visitation hours being due to begin in two hours, the nurse enters to escort Ino to her morning bathroom visit only to find Ino's sleeping form nestled into a sleeping Shikamaru. Some thirty minutes later, the current Yamanaka heir, Inojin and Nara heir, Shikadai receive news via phone that their parents had passed from this life.

I had to pull a 'The Notebook' ending; I had made myself so upset writing this that I couldn't bear to have Ino leaving Shikamaru behind to pass earlier.

As you can probably tell, one of my biggest resentments about Kishi's Naruto was the underdevelopment of Ino. She had so much potential as a character, and I am a bitter old lady so it still upsets me after all these years.

Hope you enjoyed my headcannon; let me know what you think!