-five-
Am I a rock or a rose or a fist? Or the breath at the end of a kiss?

Ino was rocking out to her iPod in the living room when two things happened at the same time. It was the morning of the next day and, again, she had expected that no one would be up during her time of day. But, she had again been wrong.

She had just swung around in her dancing when Shikamaru turned the corner and then stopped short when he saw her, his face changing to an amused look. Immediately, Ino straightened up and fixed her hair awkwardly. How embarrassing…

And then the doorbell rang. It was so loud that Ino could hear it over her not too loud music.

She reached into her jacket pocket, turning off the iPod and then pulling the ear buds out of her ears as she exchanged a questioning look with Shikamaru. He walked toward the door and after stuffing her ear buds and the white cord into her pocket, she followed him.

When she reached the entryway, he was already swinging open the door. Two Konoha policemen were waiting outside. They peered inside the house, blinking curiously. Ino could feel her muscles tense up.

She knew for a fact that she hadn't done anything wrong. Shikamaru hadn't done anything wrong either, unless he had snuck out at night and robbed a store, or something. Maybe her parents had done something wrong? She scowled in spite of herself. If her father had done anything stupid yesterday…oh, he was gonna get it…

"Is this where the Naras are temporarily residing?" one policeman inquired tentatively.

Shikamaru crossed his arms over his chest. Ino noticed that he was fully dressed, which was smart on his part. She was still in her pajamas and now she was regretting it. "Yeah," Shikamaru said, in answer to the policeman's question. "I'm one of them."

"Is your father and mother here as well?"

Ino flinched for Shikamaru. That was such a bad question to ask. She glanced quickly at Shikamaru's back, trying to gauge his reaction. He hadn't moved, hadn't flinched, didn't seem to change at all in attitude. "My father is asleep," he said carefully, "and I don't recommend waking him up. He sleeps like a log and if you wake him up before he's ready, he gets really angry."

"Ah, I see," the other policeman said, exchanging a glance with his partner. "Well, then, I guess it's all right if you just come with us."

"Why?" Shikamaru snapped at them. Ino could tell that he was suspicious even though his voice wasn't giving anything away. Ino studied the policemen carefully and realized the one that wasn't currently talking was looking at her inquisitively. She looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.

"We may have found the one responsible for burning your house down."

"Oh," Shikamaru commented, clearly surprised. No one had seen that coming. For the first time since the front door opened, he turned to look back at Ino. She was just as surprised at him and didn't know what exactly he was hoping to find by looking back at her. If it was advice or clarity, he wasn't going to get it from her at this moment. "Come on," he said to her, "let's go."

--

"I was trying to light a firecracker, okay?"

Ino and Shikamaru had followed the policemen into town (after Ino had raced into her room to throw on a robe to cover her slightly revealing sleep ware), and then to the station where they had met up with the suspected culprit. Which had ended up being Konoha's very own hyperactive ninja.

For some reason, Ino was not as surprised as she should have been.

"You were trying to light a firecracker?" Shikamaru repeated, both his fists clenched. Ino could tell that he was trying very hard not to give Naruto the hardest punch to the face he could muster.

Naruto's face was the perfect picture of embarrassment, and it served him right. He was flushing to the roots of his hair. After a few minutes of questioning Naruto's motives and Naruto fumbling around for some mumbled lies, he finally had cracked and told the truth. And what a truth that had turned out to be.

"Yeah…" Naruto replied quietly to the floor, staring at his feet.

"Why the hell were you trying to light a firecracker?" Ino could tell that Shikamaru was very, very angry. But he was better than most at hiding it and he was doing so now, although his clenching and unclenching fists seemed to give a little away.

"Umm…" Naruto deliberated, looking harder at his shoes.

"Naruto…" Shikamaru said in warning, hinting at unpleasant things he could do to the orange clad ninja if he didn't respond promptly.

"I wanted to throw it into Sasuke's apartment, okay? Ya happy now?" Naruto growled unhappily and pouted at the floor, as if he had been the one that was jipped out of a house to live in.

"So why didn't you light it at Sasuke's apartment and burn his building down?" Shikamaru questioned, his voice growing sarcastic. He didn't like Sasuke anyway, so it would have been an added bonus to watch his living quarters to go up in flames. Instead, Naruto here didn't think and missed his stupid target.

"Because lighting a firecracker makes too much noise and I was afraid of waking him up. I wanted it to be a complete surprise and since you lived near him, I happened to light it when passing by your house. So there!"

"Idiot, if you had been quicker, you could have just lighted it right there and thrown it into his apartment. Now wouldn't that be more effective?" Shikamaru pointed out, his voice edging toward a shout. He leaned in close to Naruto and narrowed his eyes at the ninja.

"Well, I wasn't quicker and that was what I decided to do, okay?" Naruto retorted, edging toward a shout himself.

"Well, that's your loss," Shikamaru shot back. "How did you ever become a genin, anyway? You're too incompetent…"

"HEY!" Naruto snapped, jumping to his feet. "Watch what you're saying, Shikamaru. Just because I burned your house down doesn't give you the right to judge my capabilities."

Shikamaru laughed sarcastically. "Oh yeah? Well, I think it does…"

"Well, all this bickering is lots of fun and everything," Ino interrupted both of them, giving Shikamaru a pointed glance to cut it out, "but maybe we should get things settled and try our best to move on with our lives, huh?"

"What is she doing here?" Naruto asked condescendingly, looking over at Ino with a distasteful look. Ino held back her rage and settled for shooting him a withering glare.

"Okay, so Shikamaru, what can Naruto do to make it up to you?"

Shikamaru snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't think he can."

Ino sighed. He could be so stubborn and annoying sometimes. "He can always try," she pointed out.

"Okay, then he should pay to rebuild my house."

"WHAT?" Naruto exclaimed, clearly not too thrilled with what Shikamaru had come up with. "I don't have that kind of money. What do you think I am? A money tree?" Ino had to agree with Naruto on this point. Shikamaru's demand was a little over the top.

"I have a better idea," Ino said before Shikamaru and Naruto could start yelling at each other again. "How about Naruto rebuilds your house?" she asked Shikamaru. Shikamaru's eyebrow immediately shot way up, but Naruto seemed to be mulling the question over.

"I don't think I trust him enough to have him build the structure that I will be living in, Ino," Shikamaru drawled. "What if the roof caves in or something?"

"Hey, I think it's a good idea," Naruto said, apparently done thinking it over. "Yeah, I think it's a great idea!" Naruto turned to Shikamaru with a big smile. "I'll rebuild your house!"

"No way. You are not going anywhere near my house."

"Well, what do you propose he do then?" Ino asked Shikamaru, challenging him to find a better solution. He thought it over and then sighed. Ino knew from that that he had accepted her suggestion, even if it was possibly only because he didn't want to put much effort into thinking up a new plan.

"Fine, you'll build my house, but don't think I won't be watching you. I'll know if you've played any tricks." Shikamaru scowled malevolently at Naruto, but Naruto only grinned his signature goofy grin.

"I'll do a good job. I promise I will, Shikamaru!" he said, saluting the Konoha chunin. Shikamaru sighed and shook his head slowly at Naruto's impish behavior.

"Come on, Ino, let's go," Shikamaru said wearily, walking past her for the door.

--

"So it was Naruto who burnt the house down," Choji said in between mouthfuls of chips. "Figured."

"Seriously. He always seems to get himself in some sort of trouble." Ino sighed and looked up into the sky. Clouds drifted lazily across her field of view. She could see how Shikamaru liked this activity, doing nothing and staring up at the clouds. It was relaxing and probably good for the mind too, sweeping away everything she needed to worry about temporarily. The grass by her ear whispered unintelligibly as she realized that one cluster of the clouds she was looking at looked like a boar. A very big one.

"He's a cool kid, though. But his eating habits aren't the most admirable. Honestly, what is with the ramen three meals a day, everyday? Doesn't he know that other foods exist?"

"Probably not," Ino said, watching as another cluster of clouds near the boar formed a leaping deer. This was so cool. Cloud animals. She'd have to do this more often.

Choji tsked his disapproval. "I feel sick just thinking about eating all that ramen." Crunch crunch crunch.

"Uh-huh. I totally agree." Ino, actually, had no idea what her teammate was saying. She was watching the current clash of the boar/deer. The clouds had drifted into each other and now were merging together. But she, trying to entertain her bored mind, decided to think of it as an epic battle. Currently, the boar was totally ravaging the deer.

"Where's Shikamaru, anyway? I've already gone through three bags of chips and I've only got one more left. He'd better show up before I run out of snacks, or else I'll be pissed."

Oh yeah, that's what we're doing here. They were waiting to meet Shikamaru so they could all go train together. But the sun was currently setting and he still wasn't there, so Ino had opted to watch clouds instead. Which was actually very, very fun. Especially since now the sky was slowly turning pink and the clouds were slowly turning golden because of it. Ino was just contemplating how pretty a dress of those colors would be when a body plopped down next to her on the grass. She turned her head. Shikamaru.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Choji greeted enthusiastically. Good thing Choji hadn't run out of snacks yet, Ino remarked silently.

Shikamaru was far less enthusiastic. In fact, he was the opposite of enthusiastic. He grunted in response to Choji's greeting in a way which made Ino think they probably weren't going to train today. She turned her head the other way, craning it to look over at Choji. They made eye contact and both nodded slightly. They were both thinking the same thing. Shikamaru was not in a good mood right now.

"What's up?" Ino ventured casually, turning back to look at the clouds. The boar/deer combo had turned into a horse rearing. Quite majestic, actually.

"Nothing," Shikamaru mumbled. He folded his hands back behind his head and exhaled slowly. Choji's crunching of chips started again, although at a slower and more thoughtful pace.

"How interesting," Ino remarked. The three fell into silence, just keeping each other company and watching the clouds.

Oh, and eating.

--

"Ew. I hate spinach." Which is what Ino's mother had lovingly prepared for them that night for dinner. Ino scrunched up her nose as she said this, shuffling into her room (in her fuzzy piggy slippers) and making a disgusted face. "I can still taste it. Ew, it's gross."

Shikamaru was sitting on her bed, up against the wall again. This was almost a familiar place and position now, although he wasn't about to admit it. He had one earphone in his left ear. The other was hanging from the cord, the white very noticeable against his plain black shirt. He looked up at his teammate who had changed into pajamas and just come back from the bathroom. "I thought you just brushed your teeth."

"I did," she said.

"Well, you must not have done a very good job, then."

She scowled. "Thanks." She grabbed the nearest thing near her—a plushie of a green frog with a crown on top of his head—and chucked it at him. He blocked it with his arms, and after it fell to the bed, he scooped it up and examined it, turning it around in his hands. It was old and worn, frayed at the seams at sections. Most likely, Ino had clutched this many times in the course of her life while trying to drift off to sleep. It looked ragged, but loved. Rather be that than new and lonely, Shikamaru suddenly thought, still turning the frog over and over in his hands.

Then again, now the frog is being used as a long-range projectile. Shikamaru frowned slightly. Eh, oh well.

"That stuffed animal is really interesting, isn't it?" Ino asked with a touch of sarcasm in her voice. Shikamaru looked up and found Ino smiling down at him playfully. He realized that he had been looking at the frog with the crown for quite a while. How embarrassing.

"Not really," he said, placing it down beside him, trying to recover from his lapse of apathy. Ino climbed onto the bed and sat next to him, taking the frog up into her own hands to examine the soft edges and faded colors.

"This used to be my best friend, you know," she suddenly said. Shikamaru looked over at her and saw that a small, faint smile was still playing across her lips, although it looked almost like residue. It remained from an earlier smile; Ino had forgotten about it. "I used to play with it all day long."

"But I thought Sakura was your best friend."

Ino nodded, placing the frog against her drawn-up knees and running her fingers over the crown with golden stitching. "She was, for sure. But this frog was still my favorite. Probably because although it couldn't talk to me when I talked to it, I could pretend that it would protect me from everything in the whole wide world." The frog slid down toward Ino's stomach and she kept looking at it as she spoke. "Everyone thought that I didn't need protecting. I was so tough and confident, teaching Sakura to do the same, standing up to the bullies for her, all of that. But I guess, as a little girl, I still wanted someone to protect me. I still needed it."

She held up the frog to the light and then placed it on top of her own head, smiling brightly. "I guess I was hoping it'd become my prince charming one day. Every little girl wants one of those. Gosh, we were all so foolish." She shook her head slightly, reaching up a hand to steady the wobbling frog prince.

She's weak, Shikamaru realized. Not weak in the sense that it was always used around them. Weak would usually stand for a lack in ninja abilities, a lack of skill, a lack of physical or mental strength. When he thought of Ino, he never really did think of those. But he never thought about the other weak either, the vulnerability that everyone had. Even he had. He had never cared to think about it, certainly not about Ino. She was always the foul-mouthed, loud and obnoxious but cheerful teammate. She was never quiet, never weak, never unprotected.

Except for the fact that she was.

"Great, awkward silence," Ino said, with a small smile. "Means I talked too much. Again." She sighed and leaned back, the frog still balanced on her blonde head. Shikamaru turned his head, looking at her profile. Her skin was a warm, healthy shade, almost glowing in the light of her bedroom. Her blonde hair was recently combed back into her regular ponytail. Her bright blue eyes shifted until they were looking directly at him.

"What?" she said, her smile fading, uncertainty changing her expression. "What's wrong?"

They were staring at each other, Shikamaru realized. At a closer range than they had ever been before. And she was simply beautiful.

Without thinking, Shikamaru leaned toward her and kissed her.

He had expected it to be short, a spontaneous action of his infatuation that actually wasn't supposed to happen. She would have pushed him back hastily, wiping her mouth and demanding an explanation, the familiar fire in her eyes coming back in full force. He would have hurriedly explained that it was nothing, that he wasn't thinking, that he was tired, or some other equally useless excuse. She would have shot back an insult, probably ending with a derogatory term and a venomous glare, maybe a punch if she was really angry. And then Shikamaru would have gotten up and left her room, feeling confused, angry at himself, and maybe even a little bit satisfied with his unusual display of courage if he allowed it.

But all of this that should have happened didn't. So, as a result of having planned two hundred steps ahead, when the situation changed, Shikamaru was struck dumb.

First of all, the kiss lasted for longer than he had planned for. And then, just as he was starting to think that maybe he should end it before it got out of his control, she started kissing him back. Which created a whole other dilemma. But the warmth spreading all through his body was too good to try and curb. Although he should have stopped, he didn't. He felt her cool hands slide up around his neck, counteracting the tingling warmth in his body and sending a shiver up his spine. She pulled him closer and he obeyed, arms slowly wrapping around her small waist.

Ino was the one that finally broke the kiss, leaving them both breathing a little quicker than before. She didn't really know what had just happened, or what it meant. For the moment, all she knew was that she liked it. She liked him. A lot.

She didn't look at his eyes while they both tried to force their breathing rates back to normal, trying to pretend like they weren't out of breath even though they obviously were. She loosed her grip on him, which was actually pretty tight, she realized with embarrassment. She kept her arms where they were, though, and his were still around her waist. Finally she built up her courage and looked into his eyes.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, not saying anything. Ino could see that his cheeks were slightly pinker than usual, and he looked very confused. And that made her smile. As soon as she smiled, the tension was relieved. "Hello," she whispered softly.

"Hi," he said back, smiling a little as well. Then, half-joking, half-serious, he added, "I'm not Sasuke."

That took Ino by surprise. She could tell that he actually meant what he said. His eyes were earnest and searching. So she smiled, and spoke the truth, something that came right from her unprotected heart. "I know. That's a good thing."

Thanks to all my avid reviewers! I love you all. I hope you liked this new one.

Until next time!

(Oh...silly NARUTO. c: )

P.S. The chapter title from last time was from "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. LOVE THAT SONG.

P.P.S. I'm feeling like writing a bunch of drabbles for ShikaIno (I don't know why, I just am), so I'd like you all to give me ideas! Go to my profile/bio thing and read the little edit part. There'll be more info there. Happy thinking and sending of ideas! c: