Okay, it's a new year, and a new pairing to try out. I Shikamaru/Chouji is my 2nd favorite Naruto pairing, and I'm finally getting around to writing one of my own. This pairing doesn't get nearly enough attention, which is really a shame because, if they weren't the same gender, everyone would have been pairing them up from here to kingdom come all ready. Also, as a warning, this isn't an oneshot, or even a twoshot. I already have the plot planned out, and this will be the longest story that I've ever written, even if the chapters are kind of short, so be prepared. Also, expect pretty much random and inconsistent update times, but don't worry, I guarantee that this story will eventually be finished, and won't be hung out to dry. Now, for what's necessary:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters that appear in the manga/anime series that holds the name. Also, this story focuses on homosexual relationships between male characters, so if this offends you in any way, feel free to return to the previous link and leave this story. I won't mind. Finally, this disclaimer will only be written once, so don't go looking for it at the beginning of every chapter. Author's notes, however, may or may not appear at the beginning and/or end of a chapter.

Now that that's taken care of, let the story begin:

"I wasn't really that bad, was I?"

Naruto honestly didn't know how to or even if he should answer Sakura's question. She had, in fact, been that bad, but telling her that was a good way to get hurt. Especially since his friend had undergone training from the old hag. Back when they were younger, her punches hurt like hell. Now, if he weren't careful, he'd end up with a concussion. Despite this fear, though, he couldn't help but chuckle a little.

Sakura paled when she heard Naruto's soft laugh, and noticed that the boy she was sitting next to was very purposefully not looking in her direction. That gave her all she needed to know what his answer was. Still, how could she have been that horrible? She turned once again to look at the very public spectacle going on in the street.

When Uchiha Sasuke abandoned Konohagakure and joined Orochimaru, he left some very large impacts on his home village. The most obvious had been on his former teammates, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura, who even three years after the fact still became utterly depressed at the mere mention of his name. The village as a whole had taken a blow as well. Sasuke had been one of their most promising young shinobi, and was one of the only two remaining members of his clan. To loose him to one of its greatest enemies was a great blow to both the village's military strength and morale.

However, there was another effect that it left on the village, one that no one wound have ever seen coming. Not only was Sasuke an exceptional ninja, he was also considered to be Konoha's most eligible bachelor. Despite his young age and cold attitude towards his peers, almost every girl around his age was head-over-heels for him. Not only was Sakura among those girls, but she was also one of, if not the worst smitten, if only because she had come to care for him during the time that they had spent together on Team 7. Unfortunately, with Sasuke gone, all that romantic energy was left without a target, and needed to find a new focus.

Naruto really had no idea why the village fangirls had chosen Nara Shikamaru as their new love interest. Sure, the boy was a certified genius, and he obviously wasn't hideous, but Naruto wouldn't think that most girls would be willing to put up with his lazy attitude. If he had to venture a guess, he would say that Shikamaru gave off a "boy next door" kind of vibe. He was attractive, but not unapproachable, and his family, while not exceedingly wealthy or famous, was very respectable.

Whatever the reason, though, Shikamaru was not taking it well. For someone like Shikamaru, who liked to do nothing more than quietly gave at the clouds all day, all the sudden and very noisy attention was pure terror. All those girls, trying left and right to get his attention and get him to take them out on dates, had to have been beyond troublesome for him. What's worse, Shikamaru was ill equipped to deal with it all. Unlike Sasuke, who had no problem leaving the girls and telling them where they could put all their pink hearts and chocolates, Shikamaru was much more passive, and preferred to ignore a problem until it went away, or just give in and get it over with so that he could go back to his clouds. Unfortunately, the former option had proven ineffective, and the latter would just lead to more unwanted affection. In short, Shikamaru was screwed.

Currently, he was standing in front of Ichiraku Ramen, being held by the arms by the two biggest competitors. Yamakana Ino, Shikamaru's teammate and Sakura's former rival for Sasuke, was clinging to his left arm, holding him in place while batting her eyelashes at him. Shikamaru was obviously appalled by his friend's actions, but years of experience from chasing after Sasuke had taught Ino how to persevere and how to keep a boy from escaping. On Shikamaru's right arm, Temari, a jonin kunoichi from the hidden sand village, now held what once was Sakura's perch. While she had not known the boy as long as Ino did, she made up for with her determination and vigor. In fact her vigor was currently trying to pull Shikamaru's arm out of its socket.

"Come on, Shikamaru," Temari spat between pulls, "Ditch the brat and let's get something to eat."

"Who are you calling a brat, pigtails?" Ino scowled at her new rival.

"Who do you think? Both Shikamaru and I have much better things to do than hang around and baby-sit some squirt all day."

"Why you…! Come on, Shikamaru, lets go get some training in before the day's over."

Shikamaru looked like he was almost relieved to hear that. While the resident slacker (now promoted to resident heartthrob) may not put much effort into getting his training done, spending time training with one of the girls was by far better than spending it being pulled apart by both of them.

Temari, however, wasn't letting go. She just smirked. "Training? You?"

Ino looked at her and growled. "Yeah, training. In case you've forgotten, Shikamaru is my teammate, and we need to go train."

Temari's smirk grew into a full force grin. "Oh, please. I don't know how you made it to chunnin, brat, because your so-called 'skills' are a joke. Quite frankly, any time wasted on you in training is just that: wasted."

Oh, boy… Both Naruto and Sakura had the same thought running through their heads. She never showed it, but Ino was particularly sensitive about her level of strength in comparison to her peers. Judging by the look on Temari's face, she knew that, too. Trust the fan ninja to exploit a weakness in the worst way possible.

Ino looked particularly pissed, but then a sly grin slowly formed over her face. If Temari thought that she could get away with attacking her insecurities, she clearly didn't know whom she was dealing with. And the older kunoichi was beginning to look a little nervous as Ino's smirk grew. Shikamaru just look terrified of what was coming next.

"I get by fine, thank you very much," she said slowly. "After all, if I spend too much time training, I might end up like you." Both the brunette Ino was holding and the blonde on the other side of him let out the breath they had been holding. For once, Ino hadn't been too biting. Just when they'd relaxed, though, Ino began speaking quickly and loudly, so that everyone on the street could hear. "And I'd probably die of embarrassment if anyone ever mistook me for a BOY!"

A vein in Temari's forehead instantly popped.

"Seriously, Naruto, I couldn't have been that bad, right?" Sakura asked her friend, trying to drown out the sound of the sudden rapid shouting match that Shikamaru was literally stuck in the middle of. "I mean, I'll admit that acted pretty crazy back then, but not like this." She motioned to the spectacle in front of them.

Naruto just chuckled again, and stood up from the bench that they had been sitting on. "Sorry, Sakura," he said casually, "but I've got to get going. I promised to be somewhere soon, and I don't want to be late. See ya!"

"Naruto—!" Sakura called after him, but he ignored his pink-haired friend and jumped onto the rooftops. He really didn't want to answer her question. There was already enough noise going on in the street, and he didn't particularly feel like being on the receiving end of one of Sakura's chakra-powered punches. Watching his brown-haired friend at the mercy of those two blondes was starting to get to him, too. Besides, he really did have somewhere to be right now, and he definitely didn't want to be late. So he ran, leaving Shikamaru and three of the most frightening women he had ever met behind.