Author's Note: This will be my first Fan Fiction dedicated to Shikamaru and Ino. I simply adore them. Anyway, school has been crazy lately. It might take me a while to update but hopefully I can squeeze some time out from school to work on this. To those of you who are waiting for an update from "I will be Waiting", please read this story of mine while you wait, okay? Last but not least, enjoy and happy reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Troublesome! Yamanaka in the Nara Residence!

© Aki-Child

Chapter 1: The Definition of Troublesome

Yesterday had been a rough day for Nara Shikamaru. Actually, to be exact, the past week had been a rough week for him. A week ago, the Hokage assigned Shikamaru to his first mission ever since he was promoted to a Jonin. Was it an A ranked mission? He didn't remember. Or rather, he was too lazy to recall the details. It was completed, anyway. There was no point in remembering any of the details in regards to a mission that happened in the past… until the night before the due date of the mission report.

Shikamaru groaned at the reminder of the mission report. He was exhausted. He was too tired to even drag himself to report to the Hokage personally that he had safely returned from the mission. Well, he did ask one of the front gate guards to report to Tsunade-sama on his behave. The guard refused at first, but Shikamaru claimed that he had to visit the hospital as soon as possible for an internal injury. But of course, Shikamaru did not suffer from an internal injury; thus, he went home straightaway.

To be honest, Shikamaru did not expect an A ranked mission to be so difficult and draining. If he had known, he would've never gone through the trouble of applying and taking the Jonin examination. But even if he had known, his father wouldn't allow him to waste his 'talent'. Yeah, so in conclusion, it was Shikaku who wanted Shikamaru to become a Jonin. Why? He wanted his son to get rid of his Chunin title (obviously). Why? Being a Jonin meant higher income and a higher ninja ranking. Why? Having a higher income and status meant more recognition and respect from people – regular citizens and fellow shinobi alike. So what? So, there would be a higher chance for Shikamaru to finally find a girlfriend and a daughter-in-law for them.

Ah-ha. Underlying intention surfaced.

But the main problem was not his position, his salary or ranking. The main problem was his view on women. To Shikamaru, almost all female species were branded as troublesome. Besides, no matter how many women he had teamed up with in the past, he did not dare to lay an eye on them. Why? Because if the mission failed because Shikamaru was eying one of his female partners, the Hokage would nag, yell, or even beat him up for the failure. He did not want any nagging, yelling or beating. But he would not blame the Hokage for her fury though, because she was born a woman first.

So, what's the conclusion?

"The conclusion is that women are troublesome, and girlfriends are unnecessary," Shikamaru mumbled in his sleep. "They whine. They nag. They boss. They scream. They do all the unimaginable things to torture you…" Suddenly, the flow of air changed, which meant a person had intruded his bedroom. But he did not care. He was too tired to care. He pulled the blanket over his face in hopes of blocking any noise made by the intruder.

"Hey," it was a woman's voice.

He rolled to his side, with his back facing the intruder. He refused to leave his bed even if his mom were to drag him out of it. He'd only returned last night – well, early this morning – and slept for only three or four hours. There was no way he would wake up early on a day off. There was just no way.

Few minutes of silence had passed by and Shikamaru hoped that the intruder had decided to leave him alone in peace. He sighed lowly and buried his face deeper into the pillow. But this peace and quiet did not last. The intruder had placed a hand on his shoulder and started shaking him. Damn it, Shikamaru cursed under his breath.

"Shikamaru, get up."

His patience was wearing out. Did she, a person who knew his name, not know that he was not a morning person and that he was especially grumpy in the morning?

"Shikamaru, get up!"

Okay, she really had no idea…

"Shikamaru!"

It all happened within a matter of seconds. Shikamaru snapped open his eyes, seized her arm, pulled her towards him, and rolled over until he was on top. By doing so, he did manage to shut her up. But something was off. The 'person' he'd pinned down on his bed was… not person.

It was a block of wood.

What the hell. It wasn't his first time seeing a block of wood before his eyes. He'd seen it over thousands of times whenever he or his opponents used the Body Replacement Jutsu, but it was definitely his first time seeing it in his room, on his bed. This was odd. He was sure that he'd heard someone talking, calling his name and shaking him madly on the shoulder in attempt to wake him up. What just happened? Was his body and mind exhausted up to a point that he started imaging things?

"What do you think you were doing, Shikamaru?" It was the same voice again. Slowly, Shikamaru turned his head toward the source of the voice and was greeted by the face of the person he would mess with the last. Her hands were placed on her hips and an annoyed expression was written all over her face. It was not a good sign.

"W-what are you doing here?" Shikamaru dared to ask.

"I believe I asked you a question first," she replied.

The block of wood disappeared into a puff of smoke. Shikamaru pushed himself up into a sitting position. God, he was so tired! His brown orbs looked into her blue ones. It'd been a long time since he had seen this pair of eyes. But damn it, now wasn't the time to mesmerize! He had made her angry, very angry…

"Just who in the world do you think you were pinning down, Shikamaru?!"

Yamanaka Ino. She had taught him to look at whom he was attacking the next time someone intruded his room. Just what did he get himself into? His body was already too drained to respond to her wrath. Yeah, he used the last bit of his strength to pin down… a block of wood. And now, even his eardrums had to suffer too. He thought today would've been a nice day off.

I guess I was wrong.

Terribly wrong.

Shikamaru shut his eyes, exhausted, or maybe it was out of boredom and irritation. "This is wonderful. I am running on three or four hours of sleep, and here I am, stuck in between two women who are lecturing me on how inappropriate I was behaving. I thought she was the one who was behaving inappropriately…"

"Excuse me!?"

Oops, did I say that out loud?

He opened his eyes and shut them again within a second. "Even women can be sweet and gentle at times. You just haven't seen that side of women yet, Shikamaru." Shikamaru recalled what his father had told him once. But, really? He hadn't experienced anything considered as a gentle and sweet gesture done by a woman yet. Was that something he'd only get if he was married? He reminded himself to ask his father the next time they brought up the topic again.

He yawned.

"Shikamaru!" His mother's eyes narrowed. She attacked the collar of his shirt and brought him close, "You are yawning as if this is none of your business. Did you even listen to what I have been going on and on about for the past twenty minutes?" Yoshino glared at her own son furiously, "and how many times did I tell you to not yawn when someone else is talking? It's disrespectful!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "and you are saying grabbing your son's collar and yelling at him isn't considered disrespectful, mom?"

"You little brat!"

"Yoshino-san!" Ino interrupted the two Nara's argument.

"Oh, I am sorry, Ino-chan," Yoshino gave up on the thought of strangling her son and smiled apologetically at Ino. "Since you are a part of us now, you will be encountering a lot of heated verbal battles between Shikamaru and I. I will try not to drag you into any of it."

"Excuse me?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean she's a part of us now?"

Yoshino took a deep breath and muttered dangerously, "You seriously didn't hear a thing I said, did you? Ino's parents are out on a 30-day long mission and they didn't want to leave Ino alone in the house since she'd feel lonely. That's why they asked us to keep an eye out for her until they return. I knew you weren't paying attention to what I was saying the whole time, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru sighed in defeat. His mom could've simply summed up her twenty-minute lecture to one simple sentence. It would've saved him a lot of trouble and time. There was one thing that he'd never understand about women. They always, always, had to take hours before getting to their point. How troublesome.

"Take those suitcases," Yoshino eyed the suitcases which were placed near the front door, "and bring those to her room."

Almost unwillingly, Shikamaru carried Ino's suitcases and slowly proceeded toward the staircase when a realization suddenly struck him. He halted and looked over his shoulder at his mother, "whose room is she using?" He didn't remember having a guest room upstairs. The only rooms upstairs were his parents' and his. No way. There was just no way…

"Whose room do you think, my son?" his mom glared at him dangerously.

"No way! She can't possibly use my –" Shikamaru protested but was interrupted by their guest.

"Nothing is impossible. I am sure Shikamaru was just joking," Ino smacked him so hard on the arm that it shut him up. She leaned in closer to his ear and whispered, "Come on, you don't want Yoshino-san to lecture you again for another twenty minutes, right? Just take them to your room already."

"My room? You're not using–" his gaze moved away from the blonde hair girl to his mother's irritated face. He cleared his throat and grinned forcefully, "O-of course, where else would I be going with Ino's things. Of course she is using my room!"

Quickly taking everything and retreating from the kitchen area to his room, Shikamaru settled Ino's suitcases by the foot of his bed. He lay back down onto the mattress and sighed, "Was it necessary to wake me up to carry your stuff? Couldn't you have done it yourself, Ino?"

Ino ignored his comment and started to unpack her belongings. She took her neatly folded clothes out and opened Shikamaru's closet. "Your closet is a mess, Shikamaru." She pushed his clothes aside and mode room for her own.

Shikamaru popped his head up to see what she was doing in his room, "What are you doing to my closet, Ino?"

Without looking up, she continued to take her clothes out, "Isn't it obvious? I am putting my things together with your things. I am sure you don't want my suitcases to lie in the middle of your room, right?" She took a quick glance at him and added, "Besides, since we are sharing this room now, I should have the right to own half of your closet too."

Shikamaru pushed himself up into a sitting position, "But, I thought you... No, I mean it's not very appropriate for us to share a room. Why don't you sleep in my parents' room with my mom and I sleep in this room with my dad?"

Ino stared at him in disbelief, as if he'd just given the stupidest suggestion ever. Well, Shikamaru knew it was sort of stupid since his bed probably wouldn't fit both himself and his father. And, it must be awkward for Ino too to share a room with an adult whom she didn't know very well.

"It's alright, Shikamrau. It doesn't matter. I will be taking your bed and you'll be taking the couch. I don't see how it is considered inappropriate." She walked next to his bed and placed one of her dolls next to the pillow. "Don't you think so?"

"I- I am what?!" He looked at her, dumbfounded, "Why do I have to take the couch?"

"Well, we can share the bed too, if you think it is fine," she walked toward the desk and placed a tiny mirror on the desk. Shikamaru looked at the young lady, dumbfounded. Did she just say they could share a bed? No way. Just when he was about to protest, Ino spun around to face him, "But I doubt that you would, Shikamaru. I mean, you are a guy and I am a girl after all. You wouldn't let a lady sleep on the couch, right?"

"Well," he cleared his throat, "We had always slept in the same tent during our Genin days. Sharing a bed now shouldn't be a huge problem, would it, Ino?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't be a huge problem," Unexpectedly, Ino climbed onto the bed and moved closer to him until their shoulders were touching. She was too close…

"W-what are you doing?" Shikamaru jerked away almost instantly.

Ino crossed her arms over her chest and smirked, "It could've been alright if we were still Genins, but we are seventeen years old now, Shikamaru. We are not children anymore. We are young adults. Do you really think it isn't a problem if we were to sleep on the same bed, Shikamaru-kun?"

"U-uh–" He lost, like he'd always would in a verbal battle against Ino, "No."

Ino grinned victoriously. "Then it is settled." She took a set of clothes and a bathing towel in her arms, "I am going to take a shower. Make sure you'd have the bed sheet and pillow case changed before I finish, okay?" It was more of a command than a request. She tip-toed into the bathroom and quietly closed the door behind her.

Shikamaru sighed in defeat and lay back onto the mattress again. "This is going to a long month." His eyelids suddenly felt very heavy. Despite having been awake for almost forty minutes by now, both his mind and body were still very exhausted. Slowly, he closed his eyes and was gradually drifting back to sleep, but…

…a loud thud coming from the bathroom woke him up, again.

End of Chapter 1

How was it? Please do let me know. Reviews will be appreciated.