Disclaimer: Never ever in my life will I own Naruto.
A/N: Hmm took me a while to write this one. I kind of enjoyed it, though.
Into the Right Hands
Ino began to panic in her room when she found out her diary was missing. Ahh shit, where did I put it? She started to tug on chunks of her hair. If anyone read a single word from her diary, she would erupt like a volcano. Her deepest, darkest secrets were written within those pages.
The damsel in distress began to think about her most recent entry, which she wrote the day before. It was a secret letter to crush. A letter that she would never send out and wished no one would ever read, not even the boy himself.
Hey Shikamaru,
Right now I don't know why I'm writing to you. I've just been thinking about it.. You'll never like me will you? You probably think I actually like you or something now that I say this, that this journal entry is about you. And I hate you. I hate you because you're right.. Or so I think. I really don't know. And I know you might also think this is ironic because I write craploads of stuff about you behind your back.. Bad stuff. I just wish my mind was clear enough for me to understand so I could say it to your face. The fact that I think I really like you, not that I hate you at the same time.
Lost and confused,
Ino
The more Ino thought about her secret letter, the more she felt like erupting. No, she wouldn't just erupt now, she would madly and violently explode and cause disaster like Mount Vesuvius to Pompeii. Except, instead of thousands of people, she would probably beat up who ever found it. Or maybe she would beat up Shikamaru so there was no way of him finding out. She sighed and tried to relax. No hope. She was paranoid. Not only was the letter for Shikamaru in there, but other details. She had written several letters to Sasuke, too. However they were more depressing letters rather than love letters, asking him why she's so invisible to him.
She kept thinking of what would happen if her diary fell into the wrong hands. If anyone found it, she would be ruined. She only trusted a few people, two to be exact, and thought someone might spread the contents of her diary.
If Chouji found it, he would find remarks and doodles of him regarding the way he eats. If Sasuke found it, he would find old and sickly romantic dreams she had of him a long time ago. And worst of all? If Shikamaru found it, he would find the real truth of what Ino thinks of him. He's not just a lazy bum, he's a smart, caring guy who she happens to have feelings for. And those feelings were all written down in her own words.
Ino paced around her room. She paused to look at herself in the reflection of her mirror. She brought her hands to her cheeks and dragged them downwards to make her look like a sick dog.
"What. Am. I. Going. To. Do." She said almost robotically to herself.
A knock at the door disturbed her flustering. She flew to the door and the first thing her eyes laid on was the pink notebook, her diary. When she looked up to the person's face, she discovered it was in the hands of Shikamaru. Rudely, she grabbed it out of his hands.
"Your welcome," Shikamaru reminded in a rather sarcastic fashion.
"Thank you!" Ino cried. She quickly flipped and skimmed through the pages of her diary. No damages, no signs of being read, no problem. But to make sure she asked sardonically, "You didn't.. Read anything did you?"
"It wasn't any of my damned business," Shikamaru shoved his hands in his front pockets.
"But you knew it was a diary?"
"Now that I see you're so insecure about it, yes." Shikamaru concluded, "Well, that's all I came here for. I'll be going home now."
He almost sounded like he was in a hurry to go home.
"Thanks, Shika. I mean it," Ino added before he could leave.
Shikamaru smiled slightly, nodded back, and departed. Ino made her way back to her room thinking, thank goodness he didn't read it. It fell into the right hands. Or did it?
Ino sat herself down to continue writing. She would write about how paranoid she was, and that Shikamaru had her diary for some reason. Maybe she would laugh about it some day. She opened her diary to the blank page next to her last entry. Only, the page wasn't blank.
Hey Ino. She read. The handwriting was recognizable. It was Shikamaru's. Ino stood up, dropped the diary on her bed, and balled her hands into fists. Shikamaru! She wanted to burn the book. But instead, she continued reading.
Don't worry, I didn't read everything. I'm sorry I lied. I knew you would ask if I would've read anything, and I was prepared to lie to you. But I wish to never do it again, I swear.
Ino hesitated to think. Shikamaru never wanted to lie to her again, that was touching. She picked up the diary so it was in her hands again.
You know, you really are a pain. You're very opinionated and dream too much. But is this really what you think? I don't like you? As troublesome as it is, the truth is.. That isn't the truth. Just thought you should know. But hey, those doodles of Chouji were a good laugh.
See you soon,
Shikamaru
Ino's eyes widened. She was acting like she was panicking, only instead of being paranoid, she felt so happy she basically broke into song. She didn't care if Shikamaru thought she was a pain. She pranced around her room, dancing with an imaginary prince, singing and smiling.
"Ino?" Inoshi poked into the crack of Ino's door. Ino kept dancing. Inoshi opened the door wider and echoed, "Ino."
Ino froze. But she smiled and said, "Go away, daddy."
Inoshi rose an eyebrow. After staring at her weirdly, he left his daughter alone. He was going to ask why Shikamaru had stopped by, but it turns out that it wasn't necessary.
A/N: Hope you liked. I kind of put Ino into my character for a bit, since I write secret letters to people in my diary. And I would be paranoid if I found out it could be in the hands of someone other than me.