CH. 1: Mind game

Tap. Tap. Tap.
The noise of steps rushing down the stairs, then across the corridor of the Yamanaka flower shop.
And then, as I see her appearing from behind the corner, her voice.

- Shikamaru!

Enthusiast as I'd never seen her, crystalline and musical.
She stops right before me, throws back the infinite pigtail of wheat-coloured hair and stares directly in my eyes. Between a sincere smile and her panting breath, she asks:

- We're doing it, right?

Between the moment she finishes the sentence and the one in which I realise how she could predict my arrival at the shop, I stare at her.
Then I understand: she knows everything. Ino always knows everything. If she doesn't, then she'll find a way to understand it.
The way she plays with the mind, reads people's mind, turns souls upside down, the exact same way she's able to understand what's behind the faint smile that I'm showing her now.
We know what we're going towards to. We know to what we'll be preparing as soon as the sun will set.
We don't know what consequences will it bear. It doesn't matter.
Tonight, Team 10…Team Asuma…is going to leave, to avenge their sensei. An S-rank mission.
Three Chuunin against two members of the most mysterious and powerful organization of the Five Ninja Lands.
I don't care about the mission's outcome. I don't care whether we'll win, lose or die in action. Chouji, Ino and me are perfectly conscious that there is the possibility we're not coming back to Konoha alive. We know.
And we know the Godaime Hokage will try to prevent us from leaving; that's why we are leaving by night. Only the three of us know, because only the three of us are involved.
Everything else is an irrelevant detail.

I raise my glance to Ino. She's twisting a lock of hair around her fingers, staring at me with an uncertain look on her face.
I know that loads of questions are spinning in her mind. I know she won't ask any, not because she's afraid of my answers, but simply because she doesn't want me to know she has some doubts.

- Ino…it's the right thing to do. – I sigh, taking my glance off her. Then, I add: - If you want, you can stay here. Chouji and me can deal with this.
- Shikamaru…
- Ino, I don't want to involve you in, if you don't feel up to doing it.
- Shikamaru, look at me.

A slap hits my face. She's enraged.
She manages to surprise me, though Asuma's death left me almost apathetic. Except the rage explosion behind closed doors I had last night, obviously.
With a hand on my cheek, I turn to her.
Her serious expression, her darkened eyes, her clenched lips make me understand I made a mistake, by saying those words to her. The only person who can stop Ino is Ino herself. The last person who can stop her, it's me. She wouldn't accept it, she doesn't care if I'm "the talented leader".
I think the sorrow for Asuma's death might have driven me to act a bit like Ino: doing whatever's on her mind is her speciality. Ino masters the art of "it's like this or nothing" almost as her Shintenshin no Jutsu.

- Ino, I have to tell you something…but don't tell anyone, okay?

Ino, surprised by my change in subject, nods silently.

- Kurenai-sensei is pregnant with Asuma's child.

Ino's cerulean eyes, those eyes I'd always adored, though I've never been able to actually love her, open even wider. She raises a hand to her mouth, repressing a gasp, and a single tear slides down her cheek; all this while I keep staring at her without batting an eyelid.
Inexpressive, while, deep inside me, I want to hug her, to tell her that, if it depended on me, I'd leave her here in Konoha, not risking her life. That I don't want to see another woman cry, because seeing Kurenai-sensei breaking down in front of me was enough. That war is a men thing. That she, Ino, deserves to live.
But I can't do any of that. Ino would come along anyway, with her stubbornness and sweetness. Ino is built like this. Take it or leave it.

- Ino, probably we won't come back here…we could…
- Shikamaru, I know that. I've been to the Academy too. – Her words sounded firm, as if she wasn't still drying her eyes, still sobbing.
- …so, you're sure?

Again, her look on me, her eyes staring at mine's. She's smiling.

- Asuma told me to take care of you, idiot.

Suddenly, it's like someone, behind me, is pushing me ahead. My hands grab Ino's face, while she stiffens. In a second, my lips crush into hers; I feel her suddenly breath out in surprise, and automatically my hands slide to reach her hips, pulling her even closer to me.
Something, inside me, is progressively melting, and I know it's her, who's making it melt; it's her who's making my hands move along the lines of her body, despite her being still motionless; it's her who's making me push her backwards. I force her to walk backwards, drowning her into my kisses, until we get to the shop's entrance, where Ino's arm stretches out, clinging on the door and closing it behind us.
I part my lips from hers, as soon as she was starting to respond to my kisses; we stare at each other, silently for a while; our breaths wheezing and our hearts running. At this point, I could just turn around, open the door and leave.

But Ino closed that door; she turned the sign on it, from "Open" to "Closed". Her simple gestures, her hair, ruffled by my hands, her pupils, dilated to merge with the iris' crystalline blue. Her hands, steadily clinging on my shirt. Her mouth slightly half-closed, as if she stopped in the exact moment in which the kiss could grow deeper, and she was still waiting for something following up.
I can't find, in the Ino who's standing right before me, a single reason to leave the shop. It's like the world is spinning reverse, and it's her, now, who's controlling my shadow. Damn.

I breath in deeply and stroke her cheek; Ino smiles feeling that contact, sweet yet spontaneous, coming from me.
She comes closer and leans her forehead against mine; her hand leaves my shirt, travels along my neck, making me shiver, and stops on my nape:

- Can I? – she asks, with the same tone of a purring cat.

As I nod, she pulls the band and unleashes my hair. She doesn't let me feel the ends caressing my neck, because this time it's her who's kissing me.
Delicately, barely pressing against my lips, stroking my neck with her knuckles. And then she makes the kiss more sensual, unclenching her mouth, letting my tongue play with her and doing as much. Now it's her turn to walk backwards, voluntarily this time, step by step, until her hips knock into the counter's edge.
And it's like we both realise that, once beyond this edge, there's no comeback. Again, I grab her hips in my arms and slightly pull her up the ground, pushing her back on the wooden surface of the counter. Ino instinctively gets up, regaining control on my lips, and slipping her hands under my shirt; then she lays again on her back, drawing me over her.

- Shikamaru… - my name escapes her lips in a long sigh, as soon as my tongue shifts from her mouth to her neck, leaving also some faint bites behind.
With a fluid motion, Ino manages to take off my shirt, then does the same with her orange top. Gazing at my eyes, a focused look on her face, she takes my hand and places it on her breast.
And, God, she's so perfect; her warm, fair, soft skin, smooth as melted butter. Her overheated face, her reddened cheeks, her eyes never leaving mine. Her hands smell like flower stalks, her hair, scattered on the counter, are the only thing that shines in the pitch dark shop. Her voice could be like music, if music panted, sighed and called out my name in such a throaty yet melodic sound, full of adrenalin. Her legs never seemed so long, wrapped around my hips, waiting for my next move.

It's always been like this. We passed on the command to each other, then she insisted to take hold of the situation, then it was my turn, then again it was hers; and yet now it's Ino who's trying to anticipate my intentions, because we're reaching a moment we've never thought we'd be sharing.

- Shika…maru…I'm a…
- I know.

I'd want to tell her not to be afraid. I'd want to tell her I'm a virgin too, that I won't hurt her; that if, during my sixteen years of life, they'd been asking me, each single day, "Who would you want your first time to be with?", my answer would have always been the same. Ino Yamanaka. I'd want to tell her that looking at her makes me feel lost, because I don't feel up to her expectation, because I'm not Sasuke nor Sai, because I'm scared of tomorrow; because I don't want her to risk anything, but I don't want her to be another Kurenai. Because, if I'm going to die, I want her by my side; I don't want someone else to reveal her about my death.
Because, if I'll ever understand what it means to love someone, I want to be in love with her. Ino Yamanaka.

- Ino, listen…

She shivers a bit, feeling that I'm preparing to slide inside her, yet she looks at me with a quizzical expression on her face, waiting for me to complete my sentence.

- …tonight, leave with Chouji and me…ok?

A smile widens up on her lips: - I'd come no matter what.

- I had no doubt…troublesome woman…

I position myself better and squeeze an arm behind around her back, then I enter her. Her chest is pressed so hard against mine that I can feel her heart beating at a frantic rhythm, like a vibration. Her mouth is pushed on my shoulder, to prevent her from screaming. I don't care, her heat is sufficient to recognize the way she's feeling. And when I feel we're bringing each other to fever pitch, and every muscle of our bodies is contracting, I can't help but think:

"Asuma…maybe I've found my King too…"

NOTES: Ok, another ShikaIno longfiction. Let's call it a request by my Sensei :D soooo I hope you'll enjoy this and the next chapters 3