Chapter 2 – Struggling Strategems
Shikamaru woke up with the worst headache imaginable. He felt like crap, and his eyes refused to open. Note to self –although I may be too lazy to commit it to long-term memory- do not let Chouji convince me to go drinking again –no matter how many pretty girls will be there.
He yawned, filling his lungs with much needed oxygen. His body felt out of place. He seriously considered skipping the shower –too troublesome to take off the clothes, bathe, and then put back on the clothes.
What in the hell was that smell? His nose sniffed, and his eyes opened blurrily.
"Okay, shower... good." He groaned and winced as he sat up in bed and staggered to the bathroom.
After a good long shower, he got out, still not feeling so refreshed, and considered making something like coffee or strong tea, but was too lazy to boil the water –too much effort.
He pulled on his pants and a mesh shirt and threw on his Ninja vest, not even bothering to zip it up or even put up his hair in its typical fashion. It was still wet anyway, he'd have to do it later.
Shuffling on his sandals, he slowly opened the door, growned at the sun, and went towards the school to meet his team again.
He was supposed to have planned some kind of initiation test or something –according to the other Jounins who had teams of their own. He figured he'd just wing it –writing it down in his mind was so much easier than actually writing.
When he got to the school, he felt a little disoriented, especially with his head throbbing still. Wait, where did he say he'd meet them?
He wandered the school grounds, looking a little out-of-place with his discheveled look and shoulder-length hair not combed or anything.
Someone obviously thought he was out of place, especially after an hour of wandering the school grounds looking like a ninja janitor or something.
The fiery blond teacher of the academy finally got fed up in her class and stormed across the paved court to the dark-haired man looking lost and confused.
"What are you doing, and who are you? Are you supposed to be a ninja? What's with the appearance, and the..." Ino Yamanaka trailed off when the man turned around and faced her.
He was slightly taller than her, but not by much, and even though he looked a little tousled, still managed to look attractive in a laid-back way; and why was that? She frowned as she noticed a weird look on the man's face. His small squinty black eyes seemed to glare incredulously at her.
He wore a ninja vest, so he had to be a Chuunin or a Jounin. Underneath the unkept vest was a mesh shirt that was pretty much exposing a slightly muscular build. At least his torso was pretty lean and flat, and his muscles seemed medium sized.
Who was he though? Why he was at the academy, she had no idea either. His shoulder-length hair blew stiffly in the light breeze, and she noticed he had earrings. Where did he get ones just like...
Her eyes went wide. Was that... it... Holy crap, it was... Shikamaru! She had just been ogling her former teammate.
Instead of a warm, friendly greeting, he received a smack on the back of the head. "Idiot!" Ino exclaimed, and watched as Shikamaru leaned back up and rubbed his head in pain.
"What in the hell was that for Ino?! I have a headache already! I- Gah!" He stopped complaining when the almost unknown woman gave his a big, tight hug.
Shikamaru was frozen temporarily. C'mon, work mind, wait, are you blushing? Why? It's just Ino... whom you haven't seen in probably five years. And she's completely grown now, and filled out in various places...
He placed his hands on her shoulders and she pulled back. Her warm smile seemed foreign, as did her face for a little while. But then he saw her for her again and smiled back, getting used to the expression all over again.
Before the moment could get better, he received another smack on the back of his head.
He groaned and gripped his head, feeling like his brain was bouncing off the walls of his skull. "Ino! My head." He whined.
"That's for not coming to see me in so long, dummy! The last time I saw you was when I was moving out from my parents house, and you were helping me move! That was five years ago! We live in the same village for crying out loud."
Shikamaru closed one eye and then fixed the other on her. "Same can be said of you." He replied.
She frowned, obviously realizing she was as much at fault as he about visitations and keeping in touch. "I guess we've both been really busy. You with becoming a Jounin, and me a teacher here." Then she folded her arms, defiantly. Admitting defeat was not big with the blond, young teacher. "But you could have written or called at least!"
"Eheh." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and fought the rolling of his eyes. "You knew about me becoming a Jounin, eh?" He asked.
"Yeah. Our fathers keep in touch better than we do." She said, almost sadly. Shika barely caught it, though. Then her blue eyes hardened. "But you made me forget the real reason for smacking you. Why are you wandering around the school grounds looking like some lost homeless ninja or something?"
"Oh, I was meeting my new team here... somewhere."
"Team?" Ino thought to herself. "Well I saw Chika, Ryo and Kenichi on the roof about 2 hours ago."
"Yeah, I think that's them. Which roof?"
"I'll show you." She said, and then turned and blew a whistle. She shouted across the pavement "Do ten laps before I get back, and you all better not slack off!" there was a collective groan, but the kids began to start their run.
She led the way in front of Shikamaru, her bright hair swinging across her bare shoulders.
His thoughts wandered... damn, why does she look so good?Why hadn't I noticed before? Was I too lazy to even think about stuff like that when we were younger? Maybe it's because my hormones have been kicking in lately. Repressing them was not a good idea... how troublesome.
They began a trek up a flight of stairs. Her short skirt accentuated her long legs –especially from the back.
How very troublesome...
Chika groaned and rubbed her eyes as she sat against the railing on the roof of the gym. The long night had really taken a toll on her usual rest-cycles.
Ryo was actually still pretty much hyper, but subdued noticeably. He was still bouncing his leg, but he was also leaning against the railing, his eyes closed.
Ken stood next to them against the railing, looking ahead and thinking to himself, even though he was very tired too.
Then there was a cough from besides them, and their heads craned over to see that their sensei and their former health teacher standing there.The three had to do a double take to realize it was their sensei though, because he had his hair down.
Ino scoffed at the dumbfounded and obviously tired faces of the three kids. "Hey, what is wrong with you kids? Is this any way to greet your sensei! Or your former teacher!"
The three stood at attention, falling back to the normal routine with Miss Ino. She was a tough teacher and always demanded authority.
Ino turned to Shikamaru again, and saw his bewildered face. "You just have to yell at them a little."
"Yelling's not my thing. Strains the throat muscles." Shikamaru complained.
"Oh really, mister genius?" Ino asked sarcastically.
"Hm-mm." He grunted.
She punched him in the shoulder and gave a classic Ino-smirk. It was still the same –still confident and radiating. He never thought he'd see the day he actually would admit that Ino's cocky smiles were radiating.
"Come by and see me sometime. And you know where I work now, so no excuse there." She began to walk back to the stairway. When she reached it, she spun halfway.
Shikamaru then noticed he had watched her the entire time she left his side. He blinked several times as if to clear his head –it didn't work.
"Bye!" She waved and disappeared down the stairs.
He still was staring at the empty spot where she had been moments before.
He really had missed her all these years, and that was pretty amazing come to think of it. He had usually thought of her as an annoying, loud, Sasuke-chasing fangirl. Even five years ago when he had last been in her company, she had mentioned him a few times; it was obviously still burned into her mind. But now... it was different. She didn't even mention him once.
Ryo raised an eyebrow and coughed, "Aid-lay, aid-lay."
Ken and Chika smacked him to shut him up.
"What?" He hissed in hushed tones. "Do you see the way he's still staring? I think he has a thing for Miss Ino."
Chika rolled her eyes. "Well, they were on the same team, Ryo, maybe he's just being nostalgic, remembering the 'good ol days' or something."
"Whose old?" Shikamaru asked the three behind them, scaring them all.
"No one!" All three said in unison.
Shikamaru laid on his back enjoying the nice day. He had been laying in this field for an hour or so and felt a little tired. Maybe he'd catch a few hours of much-needed sleep. After the rough night last night, he deserved it.
And, he had thought up a plan to keep his subordinates busy for at least that long.
He yawned loudly, and shiftly slightly, hearing the three attached bells on his belt jingle a little.
Chika, Ryo and Ken all stood in the line of trees surrounding the grassy hill where their sensei appeared to be taking a nap. Chika growled in frustration.
"Why is he just laying there still! It's been an hour already and he hasn't even moved yet." She huffed and crouched on the tree's branch where they all were.
"It's a test, maybe he's better than we thought, making us think he is asleep and then when we go to attack, he'll be ready with a super awesome move or trap!" Ryo stated, sounding a little too excited about the prospect about a 'super awesome' tactic.
"I highly doubt it." Chika said, shaking her head.
"Let's set up a joint attack! Ken can be the bait. He's good at sneaking up anyway, appearing out of nowhere." Ryo suggested.
"Thanks." Ken replied dryly.
Ryo jumped and looked to the side. "Stop doing that! You scare me sometimes. Anyway, since Ken is good at stealth, he can go down and act like he's acting on his own and grabs for the bells. When Sensei starts the surprise attack, Ken will be the victim and then me and Chika will flank him and seize the bells."
Chika blinked a few times. "Dammit." She cursed, looking pissed.
"What?" Ken asked.
"Ryo actually came up with a good plan." She said, and it only fueled Ryo's confidence –she did not mean to do it.
"Oh yeah, that's right!" He put his hands on his hips and smiled. "Alright, part one, commencing. Ken, do it."
Ken only sighed and obediently transferred as stealthily as he could to the tree nearest their Sensei. He crept as silently as he could, the other two waiting at either side, ready for the attack to begin.
Ken reached his sensei's side, and heard the fake snoring, and bent down, reaching for the bells.
With one quick swipe, he attempted to seize the bells.
And he succeeded.
He waited for the traps and the super awesome attack from below. A loud snore was his answer.
He frowned and then just simply began to walk back towards the tree line where they had originally formulated the plan. He hadn't even been in a battle, and he felt defeated. Had he really won?
Ken simply held out his hand and showed the other two the bells on his palm.
They stared at the silver, metal globes incredulously.
"Uhh..." Ken started, and both Chika and Ryo grinded their teeth. "...I don't think he was pretending to sleep. I think he is asleep."
Chika and Ryo fell to the ground, exasperated.
Shikamaru awoke to a slight pain in his side. He tried to ignore it, but is was followed by more pains, and on both sides of his torso. He cracked his eyes and were met by three more sets of eyes above him.
"Sensei's sleeping." He groaned and tried to close his eyes again.
This time he heard three sets of hands rustle in their weapons pack.
Transferring quickly, he looked down from the tree branch and saw where he used to be laying there were some kunais stuck in the ground and three very pissed off looking genins. He jumped down and landed next to them. All three turned to him, their eyes dark.
"Sensei! You were sleeping for five hours!" Chika exclaimed.
"Yeah! And what do you have to say about these!" Ryo held out the bells on his open palm.
"Hm?" Shikamaru looked at the bells in Ryo's hand. He smirked. "Those things?"
"Yes! These-" Ryo was cut off as there was an explosion and his lungs were filled with foul tasting smoke. He began to cough and faintly heard Ken and Chika coughing too.
When the smoke cleared, his eyes still stinging, he felt like his whole body was wet, and his hand burned where there used to be three bells. He turned around and blearily saw Chika and Ken covered in a black ink all down their fronts. Ryo looked down and saw he was covered as well, but worse.
There was a small chuckle and the three kids looked up to their clean Sensei. "Lesson one... it's never as easy as you think it is. And... check your back pockets." He said, and all three reached in their pockets and to their shocked horror, they each fingered a round, metal bell. "Lesson two... sometimes the answer is right there in front of you, you just have to search for it."
All three stared up at their sensei, the actual words of wisdom beginning to sink in.
Ryo shook his head. "But wait, when did you get the bells in our pockets?"
Shikamaru folded his arms. "Back on the roof of the gym, you guys were talking to eachother after Ino left. I slipped in behind you without you even noticing. It was easy to slip them in while you were conversing. I had it planned from the beginning, you see. You all should have realized that I would not have left the bells out in plain view to be snatched so easily."
Ken frowned. "But, sensei, I'm pretty sure you were asleep when I got the fake ones."
"Of course I was asleep. I was tired."
"What!" Chika yelled. "So, why have the fake bells go off five hours later?"
"I was really tired?"
"Ahh!" Chika exclaimed and got up, still dripping black ink, and put her hands on her hips. "Sensei... you are the best-worst sensei ever!" She screamed, still torn. That was the only logical way to describe what she was feeling. He was good, she had to admit, and had tricked them all, but... he was too much to take! "I'm going home!"
"She's right. We'll see you tomorrow Sensei. Argh." Ryo turned and followed Chika, who was already half-way down the grassy hill.
That left Ken and Shikamaru alone on the hill. Ken turned to his sensei and blinked up at him. "Thanks for practice. I think I learned something today." He then walked down, following the rest of the group.
Shikamaru watched them go, and then noticed it was late in the afternoon, and his stomach growled. Hungry. All that hard ninja-training was really a toll on his body.
He followed the black stains of grass where his students had created a path down. He couldn't help but smirk. Maybe this teaching thing wasn't so bad after all.
The next few days and weeks were spent training and completing small missions that mostly involved cleaning or finding missing pets –or in one case, a missing shoe... how thrilling.
Shikamaru had just received a pretty decent mission for them to attend to, and he was looking for his group at the academy. They had said meet at the Library, but he couldn't find it for the life of him. He didn't even know the academy had a library. Maybe it was new.
After searching for a half hour, Shikamaru went to the first place he thought of to get a little help. He looked at the names on a placard near the teacher offices. He went to the name of the only teacher –other than Naruto- that he knew.
He knocked on the door, and heard commotion inside. There was a faint answer and he let himself in.
She looked up, and he noticed –much to his aversion- that her new, usual attire showed off all her curves too well. She wore a form fitting, blue tank top with her white, arm covers. Her blue short skirt had a thick, white belt in which her forehead protector was attached. He noticed her green chuunin vest hanging on her chair.
She frowned at his appearance, even though inside she was actually glad to see him.
She stood and crossed her arms. "A little late, don't you think? When I say come and visit me sometime, you're not supposed to show up a month later." She growled and averted her eyes from him.
"Sorry." He said simply. There was a silence.
Ino twitched and then spun her head to look at him, her hair swinging. "You never change do you?"
He scoffed. "Same can be said for you Ino. Still the pouting type." He replied walking closer to her and sitting on the edge of her desk, next to her.
She narrowed her eyes. "Some things never change." She huffed and tapped her fingers on her crossed arms. "And I'm not pouting." She still had her eyes away from him.
"Yes you are." He retorted. "I remember, you'd do it when we were younger too. That and your fits of anger... who could forget you when you were mad –especially with Sakura and Sasuke."
He received a punch in the shoulder. It wasn't a playful one either, it was rather strong.
"I was young and innocent and didn't know any better." She defended and smirked as he rubbed at his shoulder in pain.
"Innocent..." He repeated.
"Yes, innocent. All young girls that age are innocent and delicate."
"Delicate..." He repeated her words again and she growled.
"If you don't stop repeating me, I'm gonna have to really beat you." She threatened, but noticed a small grin on his face, and one on her own.
This was different from five years ago when they last were in eachother's company. He was still the same old Shikamaru, but now he was slightly different. Maybe it was just his appearance. He was definitely filled in, but still a lanky guy compared to other men his age.
For a moment, she caught herself checking him out... she almost shuddered. It felt a little wrong on so many levels –and yet right on some very subterranean ones. But this was Shikamaru for crying out loud... he was still the lazy, annoying genius-ninja that he was when they were younger. But for still being a lazy genius... he was kinda cute.
Shikamaru noticed the weird silence between them and looked into Ino's dark blue eyes, the lock between them stirring something unknown in him. He didn't know what it was, and was in the midst of analyzing it in his mind when she broke eye contact and looked outside.
She turned back and frowned slightly. "What was the real reason you came here?"
"Oh, uh. I needed help finding the library." He replied, and saw a slightly hurt look in her eyes. She nodded and forced a smile, although it was hard to tell it was fake.
"I'll help you find it." She said, her voice steady.
She brushed past him in the close quarters and he held back a startled gasp as her hand landed on his knee as she stepped around him. He practically fell off the desk he was leaning against, and followed behind her, trying to desperately forget the tingling in his leg.
Ryo tapped his hand on the table in the studying section of the library, where they had told their sensei they would meet. So far, the first month had been very boring with very easy missions and other 'lazy' training where they basically studied by themselves or with eachother on occasion. He thought the sensei was supposed to teach them special and powerful moves that only he knew and wished to pass on.
Frustrated, Ryo threw down his hand and growled, causing Chika to look up angrily and throw a scroll at his head.
"Quiet idiot! This is a library!" Chika exclaimed and watched for a moment as Ryo rubbed his head. "I may not be happy about our sensei's constant tardiness either, but you don't see me slamming things around."
"Yes you did! You threw that scroll at my head!"
"Shut up! This is a library!" She hissed.
"You already said that. Besides, I hate libraries. It involves studying or reading." He grumbled but then suddenly noticed that Ken was sitting besides him. "When did you get back? I thought you went to the bathroom."
Ken sighed and shook his head slightly. "That was an hour ago, Ryo."
"Oh." Ryo scratched his head and then saw what Ken was reading himself. "What's that?"
Ken looked over at Ryo. "I was reading about inherited techniques and stuff. Here, take a look at our Sensei's." He passed the book to Ryo. Chika couldn't help her hunger for knowledge and leaned across the table to look too.
"Shadow Imitation... sounds super awesome." Ryo said, getting excited. "I'm gonna ask him to teach us that!"
Chika closed her eyes and hit him in the head again. "Idiot, didn't you read the title of the book? It's Inherited Techniques. He can only pass it on to his future generations... to his kids or something, his clan."
"Oh." Ryo said again. So far he was being very disappointed in his Sensei. "Then we need to do something about it!" He exclaimed, voicing his own thoughts.
"Do something about what Ryo?" Chika asked confused.
"We have to get Sensei to teach us other stuff, cool moves and stuff. We need to make him... not lazy." He said simply, and Chika just stared at him, and then brushed a few dark pink strands of hair out of her face.
"You're really an idiot sometimes Ryo. Change Sensei? If you haven't noticed over the past month, but Sensei is very lazy. I don't think we can change him if we tried. He doesn't seem the type to put too much effort into things unless absolutely necessary. I mean we know he's a good ninja –heck he's a Jounin- but that doesn't mean he's not lazy with other things. Cousin Sakura's always complaining that he never does his paperwork. Even Hokage-sama even said something about it when we went in for that last mission scroll."
"So, that just proves my point that Sensei is too lazy and we need to fix it." Ryo stated.
"Say we go along with your plan Ryo... I'll indulge you... how would we go about it?" Chika asked.
"Simple. Aid-lay. We need to get Sensei laid." Ryo said matter-o-factly.
Chika covered her ears. "I didn't just hear that, stop talking Ryo!" She started to hum a little song while having her ears still covered.
"Why do you think that, Ryo?" Ken asked the dark-haired boy.
"I always hear dad saying it. He says that's the solution to all men's problems." Ryo replied. "He also says -There's nothing that a woman's charms can't do; they can fix anything."
"We're 13, we shouldn't be talking about this!" Chika said, her hands still covering her ears.
Ken blinked, thinking to himself. "So, really all we need to do is find Sensei a girlfriend and he won't be lazy?"
"Yeah." Ryo replied.
"Idiots! That's not how things work. Simply having a girlfriend won't solve someone's laziness. You can't change a personality trait like that! It's impossible!" Chika exclaimed at the two boys in front of her.
"I thought you weren't listening." Ryo sneered. She frowned and finally dropped her hands. "I want to try and see what happens. We have to do something."
Chika just sat there, thinking. This was a bad idea, she could already tell.
"So who are we gonna find to be his girlfriend?" Ken asked.
"Anyone. Let's make up some strategies." Ryo and Ken hunched together, and eventually Chika was too. She couldn't be left out of the group.
Shikamaru and Ino sneezed at the same time. They shared a curious glance at eachother. Ino waved her hands.
"Must be allergies." She said.
"Yeah." Shikamaru replied. He kept following Ino to the library, an uncomfortable silence passing by after the sneeze. Were things always so awkward between them? He didn't remember it being this way before.
When they arrived at the library Shikamaru noted how big it was. It must have been a new addition. It was two stories and the outside was nice and neat. The double doors were heavy wood and he watched as Ino pushed one easily and they went inside.
It smelled of wood and paper inside, and the initial foyer soon branched out to a larger interior with several sections all labeled accordingly. The opened area in the center was small with few tables and work stations and a statue of probably the one who built the library itself.
"When did they build this?" Shikamaru asked and he heard Ino make a frustrated noise.
"Where have you been for the last four years? That's when they built it, dummy. For someone who's supposed to be a genius, you sure don't do a lot of scholarly work." She grumbled as she turned to him in the middle of the dark library.
He was scratching the back of his head while looking around the large library-complex, a strange expression of uncertainty and calmness on his face. Only someone like Shikamaru could pull off such a look, Ino mused.
Her eyes softened a bit for her former teammate. He really hadn't changed. She noticed it before, but for some reason he kept surprising her. He hadn't changed and yet had at the same time too. She knew all about his loss with her and ever since then he hadn't been the same. She knew that was his first love, and it was hard for someone so young to lose that to something so tragic.
She tried to think of not such sad times and started to admire him a little.
He was older and definitely filled in. He obviously had gotten better skill-wise and intelligence-wise because he was a Jounin now. But even though he had become a better Ninja, he was still a little short handed when it came to current events and anything that resembled a life outside of the profession.
She wondered for a moment if he still cloud-gazed.
The way his neck was craned to look at the large ceiling of the library confirmed her suspicion. Of course he did. He was Shikamaru after all.
"Did they say where in the library, Shikamaru?" Ino asked him.
He looked over to her and sighed. "No. I don't think so..." He continued his gaze around his surroundings.
She felt the edge of her mouth twitch. Was she smiling at his also unchanged lazy drawl? Although his voice was slightly deeper, it still had that whining, languid twang that poked at her nerves. But the real question was –had she missed the way it poked at her nerves?
Trying to get rid of the odd things going through her, she grabbed ahold of his arm and tugged him along. "Then let's look!" She exclaimed, trying to sound exasperated.
He let her pull his arm along until they reached the aisles and she let go as they searched for his team. Why was she helping anyway? And he wished she'd stop touching him –it made him feel weird. He didn't know what it was, but it was uncomfortable in a way –foreign on his usually steady to low nerves.
They had come into physical contact when they were younger –simple little things back then- and it had no effect on him. Why was it effecting him now? He was older now, so those types of feelings should be dwindling down. Then again, he had somewhat avoided them when he was younger, and perhaps now they were coming back to bite him in the ass.
He wasn't paying attention to the woman of his current thoughts to try and rid his mind of them, so in turn he didn't notice her stop in her trek through the aisles of books and scrolls in the narrow walkways between rows.
He bumped into her from behind and automatically grabbed out to steady himself, one hand somehow finding its way to her hip, and the other on a bookcase to the left. The sudden close proximity stained both with blushes unseen by the other.
He inhaled a quick breath and smelled the sweet fragrance of her hair. His mind went blank for a moment and he could feel the heat in his cheeks and the rest of his body flare up.
Trying to avoid the heated contact, he stepped back and noticed as she cocked her head slightly.
"Sorry." He said, his voice a little unsteady. "Why'd you stop?"
"I-I thought I saw them, but it wasn't... them." She said softly. She really had thought she saw them, but her mind went on lock-down the moment she felt him come up to her from behind and place a strong grip on her hip.
At first she thought he was serious in his actions –something she hadn't expected and was shocked to see such boldness come from him. Then she realized he was being typical Shikamaru and not watching where he was going and had ran into her.
"Watch where you're going next time!" She jabbed her elbow back and it landed on one of his arms. He grunted from the impact but said nothing else. "Really Shikamaru, it's a miracle you've survived being a ninja all this time."
He gave a small snort as they continued on. "And I suppose it's because I'm not a part of the old team huh? I don't have you to watch over us, oh glorious leader?"
"Hmff!" She tossed her hair and because he was walking so close it hit him in the face. "You know I was a terrific leader, you just don't want to admit it. I never remember you complaining about it before."
"I complained, just not around you." He replied and couldn't help but think something strange; am I doing this to mask the other feelings I'm starting to feel? Am I bickering with her for just that reason? It feels forced now, unlike before when we were younger. "Troublesome," he mumbled.
Then she chuckled. He frowned as they both stopped at the end of one of the aisles. "It feels weird... arguing again." She turned her head slightly and he caught a glimpse of one of her bright blue eyes, which were half closed in a seemingly nostalgic trance.
"A little." He replied in response and she turned halfway around to face him, her eyes landing on his own. He groaned internally. Not again; they were locked in an awkward silence and they were unable to turn away from eachother.
"Sensei, we've been waiting for like 2 hours." The voice of the annoyed Ryo shattered both Shikamaru and Ino's trance.
The two turned and saw Ryo and Chika standing, cross-armed, staring at them.
"I got lost." Shikamaru replied, sticking his hands in his pockets leisurely.
"Sure." Chika said dryly, raising an eyebrow.
"Where's Ken?" Shikamaru asked, but then a voice cleared behind them, and he turned and saw Ken standing there to the side. "There you are... anyway, I've got a mission for us. We'd better get there, to the Hokage's main building, pretty soon I guess." He turned to Ino and half-smiled. "See ya... Ino."
Her heart skipped a beat for some reason at that small twitch of his lips. She couldn't help but smile back. "Bye." She held up a hand as the four turned and left the library.
After they were out of sight, she literally slapped her face with both hands on either side. "Stop acting like this! You're being an over-reacting teenager again!" She stopped and sighed to herself.
She knew she probably didn't even have a chance since he had lost the one he truly loved. How could she compete with a dead girl? Sure it had happened years ago, but could his heart really have healed since then? Plus it was Shikamaru for crying out loud!
She turned and left towards the entrance again. She had to get her mind off Nara Shikamaru... she had to... or else.
Or else what? She asked herself chidingly.