A/N: Well, the last chapter. (stares into distance) My second completed fic...
Thank you. Thank you everyone, who reviwed and a small thank you to everyone who read it without reviewing. And a big thank you to those who added my story to 'alerts' or 'favourites'.
Please, review this chapter as well. I'm quite sensitive at my endings...I want them to be special. (sighs) it never works though, I'm afarid.
Right now,I have my first, seriouswriter's block. Now I understand all those authors whoexplained why they couldn't update.I'm halfway through the next chapter of 'Shinobi's Life' andI can't seem to get it right. Something's still missing...
Oh well. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor the four last lines. They come from Hilary's Duff song 'The Math'.
Somehow, after some time, she managed to clear her vision. The force stopped pulling her up for a moment and she could look around the room again.
She saw herself again.
This time, it was her 18 year old. Lying in the hospital bed, with machines connected to her arm. She looked the same, only thinner, more pale and...calmer. And there was someone kneeling by her side, the person's head buried in her side, hands clutching her thin, pale hand.
It was Nara Shikamaru.
And in second, Ino was kneeling by him, one hand trying to caress his back and the other placed on top of their intertwined fingers.
"Shika...were you crying because of me?"
His already small eyes were even smaller, all swollen and red. Her bed sheets were wet and he seemed to be hiccupping and holding back sobs.
Ino saw Shikamaru crying only once before; after his first leadership mission.
But back then, it wasn't so serious. Was she really in that bad condition?
Forcing herself to look away, remembering his turned back and shaking shoulders, knowing that he wouldn't want anyone to see him like this. She looked around the room, noticing another, empty and messed bed, a desk full of papers, scrolls and books. She also saw two obento boxes; one, half empty, lying on his chair, chopsticks still in the rice. The other one, untouched, was lying on a small desk by her bed.
Flashbacks, when they were still in Team 10, when he would force her to eat some of his lunch, a few times even using his family jutsu.
"I don't want you to be weak and ill; I'd have to do twice more work on our missions. Troublesome."
She'd never admit it to anyone, but she enjoyed them, feeding each other.
And suddenly, everything came crushing on her. All the things she just saw...and she felt such regret for all those missed chances for them to become something more. If only she weren't so blind...if only she could express her feelings sooner...and now...now it was...
She never saw how much she meant to him. If she did, she would make sure to show him how special he was to her. He did so much for her...and she couldn't even say thank you! She couldn't even open eyes for him.
He will never know that she loves him...
He will never know how hard she trained to make him proud...
He will never know that for him...for him...
"I wish...I wish I could touch him again...I wish I could show him how much I love him."
Crying hardly, Ino clutched her heart as she felt a wave of pain going through it.
Meanwhile, Shikamaru felt a bursting ache in his chest, when he saw the pained expression on her sleeping face. If she had to die, couldn't she die in a calm and peaceful sleep...?
When the tears started to leak out, he bent down gently and kissed them away softly. As he kissed her cheeks, the corner of her mouth, her chin and twice, even her neck, a childhood poem, often sang by Ino and other girls in his class when they were little, came to his mind.
"Kiss on the hand-I adore you
Kiss on the cheek-I want to be friends
Kiss on the chin-You're cute
Kiss on the neck-I want you
Kiss on the lips-I love you
Kiss on the ear-Let's have some fun
Kiss anywhere else-You're the best"
He never could stand her tears. That's one of the things that hadn't changed...
Flashback
"Oi, Ino. You and Sakura were best friends, you remember?" Shikamaru asked, watching with concern the expression on his teammate's face.
"Why do you have to remind me of it?" She whispered, accusation clearly in her voice. He winced, not knowing how to reply.
As Sakura's beating got worse, he saw the change in her look. From disturbed, it developed into concerned, then regretful to finally a determined and angry one. Tears started to pool in her eyes.
Shikamaru could read her easily like a book. He knew what she was planning to do and he would stand by her, only to prevent the salty water from falling. Together, they emerged from the bushes, him grabbing Chouji's scarf in the last second. The tears disappeared and Shikamaru was ready to do something troublesome like fighting only to not seeing them again.
End Flashback
Her heartbeat changed. Now it was beating so fast that it was on a brick of exploding.
Desperate, Shikamaru pressed his lips to hers.
Just as desperate as him, Ino screamed like her soul was being torn from her body.
"Shikamaru!"
And her eyes snapped open, arms warped around his neck, as she broke the kiss to cradle his head in the crook of her neck.
It took a while for Shikamaru's usually sharp and quick thinking brain to register that the moment he waited for had just came.
All his earlier thoughts and confessions he prepared, forgotten. All he was able to do, was to warp his strong and lean arms around Ino's small frame and whisper in a broken voice:
"Thank you...Thank you..."
"I'm back, Shika...I'm back"
"Welcome back Ino...welcome back..."
Still clutching each other tightly, they didn't let go even when the medics came running. Fortunately, Sakura was with them and she managed to provide the two lovers more time with each other.
What happened behind those closed doors, we can only guess. Neither Ino nor Shikamaru revealed it to anyone
It shouldn't take forever to put it all together.
But when Ino finally came out from the hospital, everybody in Konoha could witness the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
You don't have to be a genius to figure what's between us...
A relationship based on love, trust and care. A bond that was created even though no one believed in it. A bond, that no one saw coming, not even the main heroes, when they waited for the other to make the first move. It didn't matter that fate had to bring them together, because they couldn't do it. Just like it didn't matter that they were complete opposites. They loved each other, they were together and that's what mattered to them. Why was it like that, no one knew.
Just like medics couldn't explain what happened that made Ino condition change so rapidly. Most important was that she was alive and well.
As for Ino, she slowly forgot about her dream as the time passed. She didn't care, she still had her actual memories and she was with Shikamaru. And she finally opened her eyes from the longest dream she ever had. How and why did it happened, no one knew.
Some things are better unknown.
Time passed. Shikamaru and Ino were now officially in a steady relationship, considering moving together to a bigger house, since they planned to have children and maybe, just maybe very soon life will be growing in Ino...
Everyone was happy for them, but no one was happier than the two newlyweds.
On their first anniversary, Ino made a bracelet especially for him. Once again, it had seven beads with letters, including a space.
His wristlet read: "In love."
After some mending, Shika connected his two armlets into one, using only the most important beads.
And now, two bracelets, connected with each other, hang in the window, together revealing one of the simpler truths about their relationship.
Because relationships are complex. And all we need t know about this one, is what is written on two simply made charms that hang in the window of their bedroom...
Friends in love forever.
And every time Ino glances to the window, a smile crepts on her face as her husband's arms encircle her frame, gently caressing her stomach while his lips are firmly pressed to her neck.
It shouldn't take forever
To put it all together
Don't have to be a genius
To figure what's between us
A/N: Please review! I need anspiration! I need your support! I need your reviews! (bows)