A/N: I'm bbbbbbbbbbbaaaaaaacccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!! LOL. I am sorry for the, yet again, late update. I'm trying hard! Promise! –cries-

Thanks for those who still support me! Love y'all! –hugs-

AND,

Actually, this update was suppose to be done earlier than now,

BUT,

Our stupid, rotten, blasted computer went nuts and well, things just blew up. –cries hard- I was nearly done when it told me it couldn't save the file and then BOOM! Everything was replaced with squares and such.

BELIEVE ME,

I've never felt so devastated...

AND...

I've never felt such urge to curse.

WAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Okay. Nuff drama and explanation and complains about computers.

Here's the story!

I changed my penname from "Kaze no Shoujou" to "Kaze no Shoujo". In short, I took off the "u". D

Summary: Shikamaru and Ino, Naruto and Hinata have been going out for almost 2 years but there are 2 couples that just won't confess their feelings. So it's up to Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Ino to hook this 4 people up. Who are those 4 people? Look at the pairing. Sasuke x Sakura and Neji x Tenten! No flames please.

Disclaimer: Yeah honeys. Cry a river coz I don't own Naruto. –cries- And we all know that if ever I did, all the pairings you are reading about right now would be married. D

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

(Author's Notes)

Match Makers to the Rescue

Chapter 3: Planning

Ino woke up to the soft tapping on her window. She closed her eyes tighter and pulled the cover up to her head, trying desperately to shut off the bothering sound. She had no idea what time it is but she knew it was too early for visitors. When the sound still continued its lazy, slow but consistent rhythm, Ino threw the covers with an angry grunt and stood up to punch who ever was intruding her peaceful sleep.

Just when she was about to yank open the window, she realized who was bothering her and immediately stopped her action. Instead, she gently opened the window and stared at her early visitor.

"Shika," Ino started in a groggy voice. "What the heck are you doing here at" —she took a glance at her nearby clock— "5:34 am?"

Shikamaru did not say anything and simply sat on her windowsill, staring at her face.

"What?" Ino asked, rubbing her eyes. Gosh, couldn't her lovable boyfriend see she was sleepy? For goodness sake! He's the one always sleepy and bored! He should be the one to understand her the best!

Finally, Shikamaru spoke up, "How about you change your clothes first, before we have a chat?"

Ino froze, cheeks reddening, realizing that she was still in her nightclothes. No wonder he was looking at her face; he was being the nice, polite boyfriend. Immediately, Ino dashed into the bathroom, grabbing a few garments on her way there.

With a sigh, Shikamaru entered her room and sat on her bed. There was not much to look at. He's been here a couple times before, even when they were still just teammates.

After some time of painful waiting, Ino came out of the bathroom, neatly dressed in her usual outfit although she let her blonde hair down. She stood near him awkwardly, embarrassed by what happened minutes ago. To ease her discomfiture, Shikamaru smiled at her and gently took hold of her wrists, pulling her closer.

"Good Morning hothead." he greeted her.

Ino smiled and slowly sat beside him before pecking him on the cheek and returning his greeting.

"What brought you here this early, lazy bum?" she asked, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Planning." Shikamaru answered. He nearly shrugged but remembered her head.

When Ino regarded him with a confused look, he continued.

"Well, as you know, we've missed a week and a half of...match making...—if that's how you call it— since the idiot got sick." Shikamaru explained.

By idiot, he meant Naruto, who got chickenpox right after they got home from their successful mission 1.

Ino nodded with a grin, remembering the annoyed look Shikamaru had that day when they found out about Naruto's chickenpox. Oh he wasn't very happy about it. Naruto, in return, seemed to enjoy having the disease since his dear Hinata was the one taking care of him day and night. (She stayed there until some time at night, making sure he's okay, before going home.)

"And," Shikamaru continued. "I thought that the quicker we get them together, the better for all of us."

"Mm" was all he got in reply as Ino, still resting her head on his shoulder, started playing with his hands that still held her wrists. For a while, he let her do so, enjoying the peaceful silence.

"Well," she finally spoke up. "Do you have a plan already?"

"Yeah." He replied. "As a matter of fact, I thought of one the minute we got home."

A smile crept up Ino's face as she mumbled, "That's my Shikamaru."

Shikamaru smiled as well, happy that he impressed his girlfriend again.

The two discussed the plan, most of it about Neji and Tenten. Shikamaru explained that those two are harder to stick together than Sasuke and Sakura. When Ino asked about the other two (Sasuke and Sakura), Shikamaru said they would leave them for now. This, obvious by Ino's frown, was not acceptable for her. They debated about this for a while and at the end, Ino won by fire backing him with his words, "...the quicker we get them together, the better for all of us".

"Alright." Shikamaru said while rubbing his temples. "Call in Naruto and Hinata. It's meeting time at the café again."

Ino picked up her cellphone but stopped midway to ask her boyfriend, "Shika, are you mad at me?"

Shikamaru looked at her, surprised at the question.

"No, don't worry. I'm just sleepy and tired. It's not you, baby." He assured her, smiling slightly before pecking her on the cheek and collapsing on her bed.

Ino giggled softly and continued dialing Hinata's number.

Naruto and Hinata came to the café a few minutes later than Ino and Shikamaru. Naruto yawned and stretched, sleepiness etched on his face. Hinata was obviously tired too, although she covered her small yawn with her hand.

"OHAYO!" Naruto still greeted with a loud voice as Hinata said, "Ohayo Gozaimasu".

(For those who do not know, "Ohayo"/"Ohayo Gozaimasu" Good Morning.)

The other couple greeted them as well and apologized for waking them up this early.

"Ii tte ba yo!" (It's okay) Naruto answered with his fox grin, sitting beside Hinata. "It's for Neji and Tenten and Sakura and Sasuke darou?" (darou is what guy's say for "right?")

Ino nodded, a smile on her face. "Yes, for the—"

"—troublesome couple" Shikamaru interrupted, scowling slightly.

They all laughed and had to agree on that one. Before discussing anything, they ordered foods first, which Shikamaru offered to pay for, since they all haven't eaten breakfast yet. They waited for everyone to finish before starting the meeting, but immediately decided against that. Naruto already had 5 bowls of ramen and is still going on.

"Okay," Shikamaru started. "There really is nothing much to do or say. It's quite simple."

Everyone listened intently to Shikamaru, even Naruto, who was eating his 7th bowl of ramen.

Shikamaru said he went early in the morning yesterday to the hokage and asked for any missions she has in store. Luckily, Tsunade had one but it's very simple. She only needed some medical herbs that can only be found in the forest near Sand Village. Shikamaru did not care if it was a simple mission or not. He just needed a mission so he said he'd send Neji and Tenten for it. Tsunade agreed although she was wondering why Shikamaru was so eager to work.

"Uh. So there's nothing we have to do?" Hinata asked.

Shikamaru nodded, taking a sip of his coffee.

"But what if they don't do any—" Hinata's question was interrupted by Naruto's choking. Naruto, apparently, tried to eat more quickly, eating his 12th bowl of ramen. Hinata immediately passed him a glass of cold water and rubbed his back to ease his pain. After gulping the whole glass down, Naruto grinned, showing everyone he was okay. He hugged Hinata, who hugged him back.

The other couple sweatdropped animatedly, although they both thought Hinata was sweet.

To disrupt the two from their paradise, Shikamaru lightly cleared his throat. Immediately, Hinata looked at him with an embarrassed smile and slowly broke the hug, to Naruto's disappointment.

"You were saying...?" Ino started, smiling slightly.

"Uhm...where was I??" Hinata asked, completely lost.

"What if Neji and Tenten didn't do any..." Shikamaru offered.

"Oh. I mean, what if the two of them didn't do anything..." Hinata searched for the right word but found none so she used the closest she could think of, " 'romantic' with each other?"

Shikamaru frowned and crossed his arms, thinking. Somehow he knew why but couldn't put it into words. Seeing this, Ino smiled and lightly placed her hand on his arm, catching his attention.

Instead of answering his unspoken question, she looked at Hinata and answered her question, "It only mean, Hinata, that they really do not feel anything for each other."

Shikamaru smiled, "Exactly."

"What we are doing," he explained, uncrossing his arms and taking hold of Ino's hand. "is a little bit of 'pushing' for the two couples. It is not up to us to decide whether they should love each other or not."

Hinata nodded in understanding, slightly glancing at her boyfriend, who was back to eating his ramen. Noticing her glance, Naruto looked up, noddles still in his mouth, and grinned at her.

"Anyway," Ino broke the two, before they return to their paradise. Immediately, Hinata returned her attention to the meeting as Naruto focused on trying to eat and listen at the same time.

"What about Sakura and Sasuke, Shika?" Ino asked Shikamaru. "I have an appointment with Sakura tomorrow, actually."

"Appointment?" Shikamaru asked. He didn't know about that one.

Ino nodded, "I promised to help her at the hospital. She has to arrange, and then sign, an awful lot of files or hospital-connected documents. I think she is also in charge of fixing some other materials there. I really don't know. I just offered to help, since she looked so stressed."

Shikamaru took this info in and sat back on the chair, letting go of Ino's hand to cross his arms again. This was good detail.

The others let him think, knowing he's probably up to something good. Hinata and Ino continued to sip on their drinks while talking "Girl Talk" with each other while Naruto continued eating, this time trying not to listen to what the girls were talking.

'I don't think I'm in the mood to listen to them talk about magazines, gossips, clothes, and those stuff' Naruto thought, making a face before drinking down the soup of his 15th ramen. "Hey! Another ramen here please!"

The waiter serving him since a while ago fainted as the cook immediately went back to the kitchen to make some more ramen for the young, obviously not normal, guy.

After a few more seconds, Naruto reaching his 17th ramen, Shikamaru smirked and announced, "I have an idea."

The girls immediately stopped talking while Naruto stopped eating to listen more intently. Before starting, Shikamaru glanced at him and said, "You're definitely paying for all that you're eating."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest. Shikamaru ignored him and returned to the topic.

"Ino," Shikamaru called his girlfriend. "How 'bout you ditch that and spend the day with me tomorrow instead?"

"Eh?" Ino asked, surprised. "I'd love to Shika, but I promised Sakura that I'd help..."

"Of course I won't leave Sakura doing all the work." Shikamaru smirked. "We'll make Uchiha help her."

"But..." Hinata fidgeted, slightly wondering if she was allowed to talk when the couple was talking to each other. "Sasuke-san will never help her."

"Not unless it's a mission." Shikamaru still smirked, plain amused with the thought of Sasuke being forced to help Sakura at the hospital.

Naruto suddenly grinned, "Sasuke-teme never resists missions."

Ino smiled, "That's wonderful Shika!"

"Of course it is." Shikamaru said. "So, here's what everyone is to do..."

"Naruto and Hinata", Shikamaru addressed the two. "You two tell Neji and Tenten about the mission and set the traps up. Can you do that? I know it's troublesome and all..."

"No problem, Shikamaru." Naruto said, suddenly sitting up, proud with himself to attain such job. "Right Hinata?"

Hinata smiled, "Of course."

"Good." Shikamaru exclaimed. "Thanks guys. I'm sorry to give you two the hard work, but I gotta talk to Tsunade about Sasuke helping out at the hospital and all. I don't think she'd agree if it came from one of you guys."

This was true. It is better if the news came from a jounin like Shikamaru. That way, Tsunade would consider the matter more.

"Ino," he turned to his girlfriend. "You go call Sakura and tell her I asked if you could stay with me tomorrow. Y'know Sakura. She understands even those simple reasons."

"Yup. She's too nice to say, 'no'." Ino smiled at the thought of her generous bestfriend.

"And I'll go talk to Tsunade and then call Sasuke." Shikamaru finished his explanation. "Are we all clear on what we have to do?"

"Yeah." Ino and Naruto answered, while Hinata replied with a timid, "yes".

"Alright." Shikamaru declared. "Then let's get to work people."

With Naruto and Hinata...

Hinata knocked softly on Neji's door and waited patiently for him to answer. After a few seconds, the door slowly opened.

"Neji-niisan." Hinata started in a soft voice.

"Hinata" Neji said, in his greeting way. "Weren't you away with Naruto?"

"Ah. Yes." Hinata replied. "We just ate outside and then decided to return home for a while."

Neji didn't asked why. His cousin's private matters didn't concern him.

"He is here?" Neji asked, wondering if by "home" she meant "each other's homes" or just hers.

Hinata nodded.

"Does Hiashi-sama know?"

Hiashi never liked the fact of Naruto dating Hinata. The only reason why he agreed to their relationship was because 1) Naruto properly and bravely talked to him about his asking out of Hinata. 2) He proved himself strong enough to be able to protect Hinata from danger. Still, Hiashi did not like Naruto that much.

"Yes." Hinata replied. Neji nodded. After a few more seconds, Hinata finally spoke up to tell him about the mission.

"To the forest near the Sand Village?" Neji asked. Hinata nodded in reply.

"When?" he asked.

"Tomorrow, oniisan." (oniisan brother) she answered. "With Tenten-san. I already told her about it."

That was enough details. Neji didn't need to ask more. He nodded to show his understanding as Hinata made a small bow to excuse herself.

--

When Hinata got back to her room, Naruto was comfortably lying down on her bed, fiddling with something. As Hinata walked closer towards him, he realized that they were clothes.

She raised her eyebrow as she saw a skimpy looking dress, and she knew that her voice was in a dangerous tone as she addressed her boyfriend.

Naruto, who didn't notice her presence since he was too busy, immediately sat up. As he did so, he also now noticed her deadly aura. He gulped, knowing he was in big trouble.

"What is this about, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, bending down to pick up the black pants and gray button down shirt in one hand and the brown mini dress in the other.

Naruto stood up and raised his hand to his forehead in a saluting way.

"Well, I watched the news today, Ma'am!" he announced, as if he was reporting from a mission.

"And the cute newscaster"—a glare from Hinata and a sweat from Naruto— "I mean, the fat and very ugly newscaster said there is a 99 percent chance of raining tomorrow..."

"And so," Naruto continued, not moving an inch from his place and posing. "I thought that it would be funny to make Neji and Tenten bring these clothes with them and perhaps they would change into them in case they get soaked."

Content with his honest confession, he was about to put his hand down when he realized that the bad aura was still surrounding Hinata.

"Where did you get this skimpy dress, Naruto-kun?" she asked, each word laced with that deadly tone as she sat down on her bed.

He stood up even straighter, before answering, "Ero-sennin has a variety of these kind of clothes, Hinata-chan, and I sneaked into his room and grabbed the first dress, the very unskimpy one, that I saw." Naruto made sure to emphasize the "very unskimpy one" and to emphasize the word "unskimpy" even more.

Hinata considered his answers before slowly losing her deadly aura and returning her bright but shy smile towards her boyfriend. Naruto sweatdropped. It was as if the sun suddenly broke through the thunderclouds to shine its glory once again.

Easing his posing, he slumped down on her bed, grabbing Hinata in the process. The young girl let out a yelp and blushed as she fell down in his embrace, her head resting on his chest.

"Hinata-chan," Naruto said, as the two of them lied down comfortably on the bed. They've been dating for two years, soon reaching two and a half, and it was normal for the two of them to come rest in each other's rooms. "You get jealous too much."

Hinata blushed. She knew Naruto wasn't exasperated or anything. Maybe it was because they've been together for so long, but she knew he was grinning and was teasing her.

She smiled and moved so that she was hugging him back before saying, "Only because I love you..."

Naruto grinned more, if possible. "I love you too, Hinata."

The couple stayed in that position for a few more minutes before leaving the Hyuuga mansion to set up the traps.

With Shikamaru...

"What?" Tsunade asked in a very confused and annoyed voice.

She was sleeping when Shikamaru knocked on her door, waking her up. Oh she wasn't very happy about that, especially after finding out Shizune wasn't there to look for her sake. Then here comes Shikamaru in his shining jounin vest, telling her things she couldn't comprehend. Yup. Tsunade was not at all happy.

"I was asking you," Shikamaru returned in an annoyed voice, scratching his head.

This was the —without exaggeration— 15th time he was repeating himself. For the love of anyone! Can't this woman just wake up completely and at least try to understand what he was saying?! For the past 45 minutes he's been in the room, Tsunade has been walking all around, looking for her sake.

"If I can appoint Sasuke to help Sakura in the hospital." he finished, crossing his arms across his chest, staring at their hokage.

Finally getting that question in her brain, Tsunade straightened up and asked, "And why would you do that?"

'Finally!' Shikamaru thought with a sigh. He explained everything about their plan of putting Sasuke and Sakura together, but left Neji and Tenten out of it. When he finished explaining, Tsunade just stood there, leaning on her table, thinking.

Patiently, Shikamaru waited for her to arrange her thoughts. While waiting, he walked around the room and then bended down to pick up something from a pile of files. Tsunade glanced at him but did not pay attention to what he was doing. When Shikamaru straightened up, he was holding a bottle of sake in his hand.

With a shrug, he walked back to the hokage and handed it to her. Tsunade glanced at it, but, too taken up in her thoughts, did not recognize it as what it was. When she didn't accept it, Shikamaru shrugged again and simply held on to the bottle.

After a few more seconds, Tsunade finally spoke up.

"Alright." Tsunade announced. "You may tell that Uchiha brat to help Sakura in the hospital."

She walked around her desk to sit on her chair, sighing, "To be honest, I do not want Sakura getting close to that Uchiha again. He will only hurt her, or so I think, but Sakura's happiness lies with that kid...so..."

Shikamaru gave that a thought for a while before speaking up, "Yes, he brings her pain...but that is because Sakura loves him. Sasuke, in return, loves her too...but his pride always gets in the way."

"Here," he added, handing the bottle of sake to her once again.

Tsunade glanced at it again but this time, with attention. Her eyes opened wide in joy before immediately grabbing it away from Shikamaru without saying thanks.

"I'll take my leave" Shikamaru announced after shaking his head at the hokage's love for sake. "Please keep our plan a secret, especially to your apprentice."

Tsunade nodded as an answer. Shikamaru turned around and started walking towards the door, when she suddenly spoke up, "I care about Sakura like I would care about my daughter, Nara Shikamaru. You better make sure she becomes happy with your plan."

Shikamaru only stopped walking for a second. He turned his head towards the hokage, a slight smirk on his face, "We all care about Sakura."

With that, he exited the room. Tsunade smiled, assured. She knew that Shikamaru's answer meant they —him, Ino, Naruto, and Hinata, as he informed her— care about Sakura and will make sure she doesn't cry in the end.

"Brat" Tsunade muttered with a smile, before pouring sake in a glass to enjoy herself.

With Ino...

"...what?" Sakura asked in a stupefied tone from the other end of the telephone.

"uhm. Sakura," Ino said, a bit awkward with the situation. "Well, Shikamaru wanted me to stay with him tomorrow...so...I really can't help you with your stuff at the hospital..."

For a few seconds, there was only silence and that was slowly breaking Ino's heart for her best friend.

'What a great best friend I am!' Ino thought with sarcasm. 'my best friend needs help, and here I am, saying I can't help her because I'm choosing my boyfriend over her!'

"Oh...well," Sakura finally spoke up. "No problem, Ino."

Ino could imagine her friend smiling weakly at her, just to assure her everything's okay.

"I'm sure Shikamaru misses you a lot..."

Just then, Shikamaru entered her room. Ino only glanced at him from her position on her bed, before focusing back on the telephone. Shikamaru sat beside her, asking her how it was by mouthing the words.

"Uhm...yeah." Ino agreed weakly. "Can you...hang on for a minute, Sakura...? I think I dropped something under my bed so I have to pick it up..."

"Oh. Sure, Ino." Sakura said, ready to wait patiently and glad to have a moment to think about her situation now.

Ino removed the phone from her ears and covered the mic, so Sakura would not hear anything.

"I feel soooo bad for ditching her!" Ino whispered emotionally.

Shikamaru sighed, "You're not leaving her helpless, Ino."

"I know...but..." Ino trailed off. She was starting to doubt stuff. What if Sasuke didn't help Sakura? What if Sakura wasn't happy having Sasuke around? She's been avoiding the person ever since the incident at the training ground.

"Ino," Shikamaru said in a soft voice. "It will be okay."

"Here," he added. "Let me talk to her."

Ino obliged, giving him the phone.

"Sakura?" Shikamaru asked, wondering if the pink-haired girl was still there.

"Uhm...Shikamaru?" he heard her say.

"Yeah." Shikamaru answered. "I just want to apologize for stealing Ino for tomorrow, and today too, obviously."

"Oh." Sakura said. "Don't worry about it. You're a couple and it's only right you spend a lot of time together."

Like Ino, he had an image of Sakura smiling weakly at him and understood why Ino felt so bad. It was because they both knew how nice Sakura was. Ever since he hooked up with Ino, he's been spending some time with Sakura as well, whenever Ino visits her.

"Uhm. Yeah." Shikamaru said, nearly faltering. "Uhm. Don't worry. I asked another person to go and help you with your stuff there."

"You didn't have to, Shikamaru." Sakura answered. "I can manage on my own."

"No, it's fine, really." Shikamaru insisted. "I already called the person anyway."

That was lie. He hasn't called Sasuke yet.

"Uhm." Sakura fidgeted. "Who is it?"

"Uh..." Shikamaru trailed off. He knew he shouldn't have told her there was someone else! It was just so hard to hear her try to act as if everything was fine when she's so sad and disappointed. "Well, it's— oops. Sorry, Sakura. I have to give the phone back to Ino. Someone's calling on my cellphone."

"Oh. That's okay. Thanks, Shikamaru."

"Yeah. No problem." Shikamaru quickly answered before pushing the telephone towards the confused Ino.

When Ino tilted her head in confusion, he mouthed, "Sorry. Pass."

Ino sweatdropped. And she thought everything would be fine now.

"Uh. Hi Sakura." She said, talking to her friend.

"Hey Ino. Listen, I won't bother you two anymore, since Shikamaru seems to be with you right now. It's fine you can't come. Don't worry about it. Tell Shikamaru that too, alright?" Sakura said cheerfully, or at least, an attempt to be cheerful.

Ino's heart completely broke.

"O-okay." Ino stuttered. "Thanks Sakura...and really, sorry."

"No problem." Sakura returned. "See ya around."

Ino put the telephone back to its place with a sigh.

"She didn't press on the matter any further?" Shikamaru asked, slightly surprised.

Ino nodded, "Shika!"

"What?" Shikamaru asked, lying down on her bed.

"That's one thing I hate about Sakura. She's too nice!" Ino exclaimed, collapsing beside her boyfriend.

"I agree..." Shikamaru sighed.

He sat up on the bed and grabbed the phone, "Next is Uchiha."

Ino just nodded and stayed on her position. She didn't have anything to do with Sasuke anyway. That's Shikamaru's job, although Shikamaru also helped with her job.

Shikamaru dialed Sasuke's number and waited for someone to pick it up. After a few seconds, it seemed like somebody picked the phone up, but nobody spoke.

Awkwardly, Shikamaru said, "...Sasuke...?"

"Nara" was the answer that came.

Shikamaru sweatdropped, 'You're suppose to say something when you pick up the phone, idiot!'

"Uh. Hey. I'll make it quick, since I'm sure you're busy." Shikamaru started, wanting to end the phone call immediately. "I have a mission for you."

Sasuke didn't say anything for a few seconds, "Another mission?"

Shikamaru frowned in confusion before remembering that he gave Sasuke one just a few days ago (The one he used on Chapter 2).

"Uh. Yeah. We're kind of busy these days, but this one's really easy."

"Hn."

Shikamaru shook his head. This dude was really hard to talk to.

"Well, this came from the hokage and she wants someone to help Sakura at the hospital."

"..."

"Tomorrow Morning." Shikamaru added, when Sasuke didn't reply.

"Fine." Sasuke finally answered gruffly before hanging up on him.

Shikamaru sighed. This was one thing he liked about Uchiha Sasuke. The guy doesn't ask too much questions.

He placed the phone back to its place and gave his girlfriend a thumbs up sign to show it was clear.

Ino smiled, "Nice job, Shika."

"Yup." Shikamaru answered with a slight smirk, lying down beside her. "Tomorrow would sure be fun."

Ino grinned in agreement before moving to rest her head on his chest and sleep.

A/N: There's your update! I know, it was only planning and mostly about ShikaIno and NaruHina but next chapter would be the actual SasuSaku and NejiTen stuff so...I hope you read the next one as well.

Thanks, for those who patiently wait for my updates. I know I'm not the best authoress who updates her stories immediately, but I try.

I have a lot of time to write stories now, well, for at least two months or so, and I'll try to update most of my stories.

Again, Thanks y'all.

Lots of Love,

.:-Kaze no Shoujo-:.