Author Note: Yay for fun times with the Konoha 12! :D I really didn't mean for them all to pop in the story, but that's how it happened. It was fun writing loud and obnoxious Ino, as opposed to the jaded one I created in From the Flames. Also, if you haven't heard, my other ShikaIno oneshot, Blithely They Stay, will be updated into a expanded longshot, so be on the lookout for that. Enjoy.

"Ino, keep your voice down!" Sakura pleaded. She looked over her shoulder to a couple behind them and gave an apologetic smile.

"No, I will not! Not until you take back your preposterous assertion that I like Shikamaru." Ino flicked her hair over her shoulder and sipped at her latte.

Sitting across from the pair, Tenten rolled her eyes and Hinata gave a shy, uneasy smile.

"Ano, Ino-san, are you sure?" Hinata's gentle voice was a great contrast to Ino's boisterous one.

"Ha! I've never been surer in my life!" Ino's loud voice carried through the small coffee shop they were presenting sitting in.

"Ino!" hissed Tenten, hands tightening around her cup of hot chocolate as she scanned the coffee shop wearily. "You're going to get us kicked out if you don't stop shouting. Geesh, you sound as if Temari's visiting."

Ino nearly choked on her latte. She slammed her drink down on the table and growled. "What did you say?"

Tenten placed her elbow on the table and leaned her head onto her open palm, eyes half-lidded at Ino's ignorance. "You're acting exactly like you do when Temari's in town. You know, the shouting, the denial, yada yada yada."

"I do not act like that when Temari's here!" insisted Ino.

Sakura rolled her eyes. At least she wasn't yelling anymore.

"But Ino-san," Hinata broke in after sipping at her green tea, "everyone thinks you like Shikamaru."

Ino paled at the lavender-eyed girl's words. Then she flicked her bangs out of her eyes and settled lower in her seat, throwing an arm over the back of her chair as she crossed her legs beneath the table. "Hmm, well, you're all wrong." Another sip of latte.

Staring at her friend, Sakura cocked her head, speaking, "So it means nothing that you pester him to eat properly and sleep at regular hours?"

"Ha! That lazy idiot would starve to death if I didn't force feed him. He's far too lazy to even lift a pan, let alone cook for himself. I don't know why he decided to live on his own. One of these days, he's going to die in his apartment and no one's going to find his dead body for three days."

"So," started Tenten, looking at the blonde skeptically, "that has nothing to do with liking him?"

"No," Ino asserted. "You people read far too much into things. I take care of him because no one else will. And I promised Asuma-sensei I would."

Sakura quieted. Maybe they were wrong?

"Besides," continued Ino, "he's hung up over Temari anyway. Geesh, I wish he'd hurry up and ask her out or something."

Ino was right, for once. Shikamaru had been hanging around Temari a lot when she visited. Sakura was about to give up on forcing Ino to admit her feelings when Tenten came to the rescue, a mischievous gleam in her eye.

"Oh, really?" the brunette said. "Do you give Chouji chakra-enhanced backrubs when he's shirtless too?"

A large gasp escaped the blue-eyed kunoichi, and she flushed. "I—I did no such thing!" she protested, her voice resuming its earsplitting volume.

Tenten leaned back, a satisfied look on her face.

"What?" cried Sakura and Hinata simultaneously.

"When did this happen?" inquired Sakura, glancing between blonde and brunette.

"It never did!" screamed Ino as Tenten measuredly spoke, "Last week."

Ino threw a murderous glare Tenten's way. The weapon mistress merely grinned cheekily.

"Neji and I were on our way to our training ground when we passed by a small clearing. Some weird sounds were coming from it, so we thought someone was hurt and needed help, but it was only Ino and Shikamaru. We heard some really strange conversation, and thought they were, well, you know."

Somehow Ino's blush deepened.

"But," Tenten continued, "she was just giving him a backrub. Without his shirt," she added.

Hinata and Sakura turned to Ino.

"Hmph," Ino grunted, waving her hand in nonchalance. "He was such a whiny baby. Couldn't even stand my massage. Complained the whole time."

"So, you did give him a backrub?" Hinana asked.

"She's not denying it!" Sakura voiced, tipping her iced coffee to her lips.

Ino screamed, "It doesn't mean anything!" Their table rattled by the force of her exclamation.

"Ow," moaned a voice. The girls looked up to see Naruto and Sasuke standing by their table, the blonde wiggling a finger in his ear. Sasuke, of course, was as stoic as ever. "Why are you yelling, Ino?" asked Naruto. "Is Temari in Konoha or something?"

"I don't care about Temari or Shikamaru!" Ino hollered again.

"Okay, sorry, sorry!" Naruto apologized, holding up his hands in surrender.

"Sakura-san!" rose another voice, and Lee popped out from behind Naruto. "Let me buy you a delicious treat!"

"Oh, no, thank you, Lee-san, I'm fine," replied Sakura, somewhat taken back by his sudden appearance and worried over the murderous glare Sasuke was throwing the jumpsuited man.

"Oh! Lee, can you get me a piece of strawberry cheesecake?" Tenten piped up.

"Um," Lee began, but Tenten cut him off when she asked Hinata if she wanted anything. She declined.

"Would you like anything, Ino-san?" Lee asked, resigned to buying Tenten her treat.

"Hmm, that chocolate peanut butter cookie sounds delicious," Ino spoke, tapping her chin.

Lee saluted as he gave a "Yosh!" and headed to the bakery counter.

"What are you three doing here?" asked Tenten.

"Oh, I'm here to take Hinata to dinner," Naruto said easily. Hinata blushed, quiet. "I'm not sure why Bushy Brows or Sasuke are here. I guess they followed me to find you, Sakura-chan."

"Ah," said Sakura as the Uchiha huffed in indignance. She winked at him, and he turned away, suddenly finding a painting on the wall very interesting as the other girls giggled.

"What were you guys talking about?" asked Naruto.

"We were discussing the possibility that Ino-san likes Shikamaru-san," Hinata answered softly.

"I do not!" came Ino's screeching voice yet again. She had risen from her seat and slammed her fists on the table. An eerie quiet fell upon the small coffee shop as all the patrons turned Ino's way. She quietly sat down when the owner's disgruntled face caught her eye.

"I don't," she continued to insist.

"But it's so obvious she does," Sakura spoke. "So where are you taking Hinata to dinner, Naruto? Not Ichiraku, right?" she asked in a dangerous tone.

Naruto laughed uneasily as Hinata continued to blush, staring at her lap.

"No, no, of course not!"

"Oh! You should go to this restaurant Sasuke-kun took me to near Ino's flower shop."

Sasuke suddenly turned an angry glare at Sakura for letting out their secret. He couldn't have them thinking he was a softie.

"Well, there was this new restaurant I wanted to try out—"

"Here you go!" Lee chimed happily, depositing the sweets onto the girls' table.

Tenten squealed as she reached for her cheesecake, scooping it up quickly and stealing a fork from Lee's hand. "Thank you, Lee!"

"Yosh!"

Ino nibbled at her cookie, ignoring the group of people around her. Ha! Thinking she liked Shikamaru. Where they so blind to not see how often she yelled at and pestered him? She could hardly stand that idiot's laziness, let alone like him.

"Hinata-sama," said Neji, appearing in the coffee shop suddenly.

"Ah?" Hinata looked up. "Neji-niisan? What are you doing here?"

"Your father requests your presence," he said plainly. His eyes shifted to Tenten licking the remnants of her cheesecake off her fork. He raised a brow. "This is what you canceled training for?" he questioned.

She leveled her fork at him. "Yes," she said unabashedly. "It's important to spend quality time with your friends. Especially when you steal all my time."

Hinata laughed, and Neji had the grace to fluster.

"Aw," moaned Naruto. "Does that mean I can't take Hinata out to dinner?" Hinata would've thought his crestfallen face cute if not for the situation.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun, we can go another time," she spoke demurely. His eyes softened at her beautiful smile.

Naruto asked, "What does your father want to speak with you about, Hinata?"

"Ah, perhaps he wants to speak about Hanabi's coming-of-age celebration."

Neji and Hinata proceeded to explain the intricacies of a Hyuuga coming-of-age party, but Ino easily tuned them out. Frankly, she didn't care for Hyuuga affairs, but if it kept the subject off of her and Shikamaru, she was more than willing to sit through mindless chatter about the precariousness of seating arrangements so that Uncle Kizusa wouldn't end up near Cousin Shiro and cause a scene. She was happily sipping at her latte when Naruto had to break the calm.

"So, Ino, you and Shikamaru, eh?"

Ino could feel a vein pop in her forehead. "How many times do I have to explain this?" she ground out. "I do not like Shikamaru! He obviously likes that Sand kunoichi."

"Really?" said the daft blonde-haired man, scratching his head. "I could've sworn you and Shikamaru have this secret meeting place where you guys always run off to."

"That's right," said Sakura, blinking her eyes, "that small hill near the outskirts of Konoha? Haven't I seen you two there before?"

"What? No!" Ino claimed. "We do not have a secret meeting place!"

"Oh, I know what you're talking about!" Tenten chimed in. "It's got a great open view of the sky. Isn't that why the both of you go there? To cloud watch? Neji goes there when he gets nostalgic."

While Neji fumed at Tenten in the background, Hinata spoke, "I saw you two there once at night. You were sitting very close to Shikamaru-san."

"Oh," Naruto snickered, "so you guys meet at night too?"

Ino's mouth dropped open in astonishment. There was that one time when she had stumbled upon Shikamaru at his favorite cloud-watching hill at night. It was mere coincidence, and since she hadn't seen him in a while, she decided to stay and stargaze with him. "Shikamaru and I do not have secret midnight rendezvous!" she shrieked.

The bell on the door of the coffee shop rang, signaling new patrons.

"What's with all the loud yelling, Ino?" Kiba's voice sailed over to them as he and Shino entered the coffee shop. "We saw you guys through the window and wanted to join in the fun."

"We heard as well," Shino commented.

"Is Temari in town or something?" Kiba asked innocently.

"NO, SHE'S NOT!" Ino screamed.

"Geesh, Ino, calm down!" Sakura said, trying to placate her friend. "Okay, fine, you don't like Shikamaru, we get it."

"What? Ino doesn't like Shikamaru?" came Kiba's confused voice. "I'm sure I saw you two holding hands the other day."

"Really?" said Tenten, very curious. "Do tell."

Ino hung her head in defeat. She knew what he was referring to, and it was very incriminating.

"Well," started Kiba, "there's not much to say. I was just walking past Yakiniku Q, and I saw them holding hands. Ino looked kind of upset, and it seemed like Shikamaru was comforting her."

Across from Ino, Tenten wagged a brow. "He was comforting you, awwwww," she crooned. "What were you upset about?"

The blonde girl shifted her head to the side to hide her creeping blush and hmmphed. "Nothing. He was just being a jerk and apologized."

In truth, the Ino-Shika-Chou trio had been dining on barbequed beef when Shikamaru made an off-handed comment about her figure thoughtlessly. He hadn't meant to insult her, but she felt slighted anyway and ran out of the restaurant, intent on eating salads for the rest of the week. Shikamaru followed her, not without muttering his trademark "Troublesome," and grabbed her hand before she could fully run off. He didn't let go the entire time he stuttered through his apology, and Kiba must've seen them while they were preoccupied.

"How can you deny your love for Shikamaru-san, Ino-san?" Lee wondered enthusiastically. "Your youthful affections are quite obvious to all those around you!"

"L-love?" The aforementioned blonde stammered. "I thought we were talking about me liking Shikamaru, not loving him!"

"So you admit you like him?" Sakura piped in slyly.

"I don't!" she shrieked. "He likes Temari!"

"Che, Ino, keep your voice down."

Ino froze. The lazy drawl had come from behind the wall of boys standing around their table, but Ino knew that voice anywhere. Everyone looked to see Chouji and Shikamaru walking up to their group, Chouji eagerly eyeing the counter of baked goods, and Shikamaru with hands nonchalantly shoved into his pants pockets.

"You're shouting as if Temari were here," Shikamaru spoke languidly. To her right, Sakura muffled a guffaw. Ino thumped her head down upon the table.

"Ah, speak of the devil!" cried Naruto, slapping the lazy shinobi on the back. "We were just talking about you."

"Eh?" Shikamaru raised a lethargic brow. "Why?"

"Well, Ino here—"

"Shut your mouth, Naruto, or I will shut it for you!" Ino had lifted her head off the table and was glaring daggers at the other blonde.

"Ino insists that you like Temari and therefore she doesn't like you," Kiba deadpanned, ignoring the anger radiating off of Ino in waves.

Shikamaru mumbled, "Troublesome," and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling as Ino stood from her chair and lunged for Kiba. He grabbed her arm just as she passed him, saving Kiba from a cruel and unsympathetic death, and hauled her towards the back of the coffee shop to stand behind a wall, hiding them from the prying eyes of the others.

"Shikamaru, let go of me! Let me go, you ungrateful miscreant! I make sure you eat properly and this is how you treat me?! Unhand me, you jerk!" screamed Ino the entire way.

Everyone in their group leaned forward, trying to catch bits of the conversation. It wasn't hard, given that Ino was yelling, but Shikamaru's voice was low enough that they couldn't catch anything he said.

"No, I am not being troublesome, Shika! Because they are insinuating that I like you, and I will not stand for such lies! Just because I make you dinner every day and make sure you don't fall asleep on your favorite hill each night doesn't mean I like you! Of course not! What? This has nothing to do with Temari! I am not jealous! I am not, Shika! Please, what's there to be jealous about? She can keep her horrible sense of fashion and tacky hairsty—"

The end of Ino's ranting came abruptly, sending worry over everyone eavesdropping.

"Should we go check up on them?" Hinata asked quietly.

"I…vote Chouji to go," Tenten answered.

"Huh?" spoke up Chouji, munching on a scone he had just bought. "Oh, I wouldn't worry. It's just Shikamaru and Ino," he said, taking a large bite out of his pastry.

"But what if something bad happened?" Concern laced Sakura's voice.

"Eh, this actually happens a lot," Chouji stated.

Shikamaru reappeared from behind the wall, dragging a very flushed Ino behind him. She had a hand raised to her lips, and wouldn't meet anyone's eyes.

"How'd you get her to shut up, Shikamaru?" asked a dense Naruto.

Shikamaru gave a smirk, but didn't comment. "Ino and I are going to have a long discussion. Catch you guys later."

"Have fun, Ino!" called Tenten, waving as the pair left the coffee shop. Ino flashed her a death glare, but not before she blushed even harder. The shop door closed after the two of them, and Sakura spoke, "Well, I guess that cleared up any confusion."

"Huh?" said Naruto. "What? What did I miss? What happened?"

Sakura reached over to sock Naruto a good one, but Sasuke saved her the trouble. Hinata merely giggled as Tenten groaned in frustration.