Prologue: The Troublesome Threesome…

Temari. Ino. Shiho. That was the order in which they kissed me. Twice. At first, it was merely consequential, and now…they had planned it. I know it.

I don't know how they all met, considering Temari only comes to Konoha on annual visits, Ino's been kept busy by Ibiki Morino in the I&T ANBU Unit, and Shiho was a decoder who worked in a special department, one that had limited contact with shinobis, especially kunoichi. Blond kunoichi. Troublesome blond kunoichi.

It started before this, but the recent incident was when Chouji and I happened to be discussing these very same women. Chouji looked at me in disbelief and nearly choked on his barbeque chips.

…I didn't blame him…

All I knew was that we were walking to Yakiniku Q, when one-by-one, Temari, Ino, and Shiho walked out and came steadily towards us. Chouji halted eating his potato chips and I felt the blood drain from my face. Before I could even consider walking the opposite way and running all the way to Hokage Mountain, Ino called out to me, stopping my thoughts.

"Shikamaru!" She had a causal smile on her face and her eyes held a mischievous amusement.

"Hey Lazy…" The kunoichi with sandy blond hair, more troublesome than my mother, smirked good-naturedly.

Out of the whole trio, Shiho was the one who was the most reasonable and less troublesome. She pushed her glasses back to the crook of her nose and waved gently. "Good afternoon, Shikamaru."

Was I scared?

No…

I was petrified. Beyond belief. Because standing in front of me, were the three women who kissed me. It took everything in me not to collapse on my knees, beg for mercy shamelessly, and pray to Kami Lord, even if I wasn't sure I fully believed in him.

"Shikamaru, what's wrong? You looked like you've just seen a ghost." Ino leaned in closer like she was inspecting me.

"Yeah, quit gaping at us like a fool and say something." Temari crossed her arms below her chest and raised a finely shaped eyebrow in disapproval.

"Yes, it is impolite to not say anything when someone has greeted you." Shiho stated as she adjusted her glasses again.

Even Shiho, who, thankfully, was not like the mass majority of girls who were troublesome, chose to take Temari and Ino's side. Unfortunately, if they had talked about certain subjects involving us, then maybe they influenced her.

I heard a sound beside me and turned to see Chouji hiding his mouth with one hand with his eyes closed. Even though he couldn't see it, I glared at him for laughing at this very unfunny situation and not taking my side for this as well.

I turned back to the blond trio, whom were also known as the Bane of my Existence. Because if there really was a Kami Lord he detested me and sent demons in angelic forms, just to torture me. One even happened to be training to become a professional torturer.

"Well? Aren't you going to say anything Shikamaru?" My torturous blond teammate said impatiently as I stared at her in shock.

"H-Hi, Ino, Temari, Shiho."I stumbled out like the fool Temari claimed I was. And probably am.

Ino stood pleased as she crossed her arms, "That's better."

"Yeah," Temari said, as she got closer, the look in her eyes bordering on the lust from that night returning, "But not good enough."

Before I could even think to ask on how to improve it, she grabbed me Chunnin vest firmly and kissed me. Hard. Right there in front of Chouji, in front of Ino and Shiho, in front of all of Konoha to see.

Her lips moved over mine expertly and she tiled her head, delving into the kiss more as her lithe tongue slipped into my mouth. Before I could process what was happening and react back, the kiss was done. She still held her smug smirk as she walked past me. "Bye Lazy."

I focused in front of me just in time to see Ino roll her eyes.

"I thought you did just fine." Ino said with half lidded eyes as she pressed her body to mine, leaving no room for escape.

Slowly wrapping her arms around my neck, she kissed me lightly at first and increased the passion of it as flicked her tongue on my lips. As it entered my mouth, I gave in to the intoxicating sensation and just as quick as it began, Ino pulled away slowly and I almost wanted to pull her back. She giggled, "See ya Shikamaru…"And walked past me in the same fashion Temari did.

Shiho was the only one left standing in front of me as my eyes refocused again. She sighed, "Of course, Ino-san failed to say was that there is always room for improvement…"

Just like our first kiss, Shiho started gently and continued that way the whole time. She held both hands up to my face softly as she enclosed me in. She didn't attempt to use her tongue; she just simply kissed me.

Then the enjoyable feeling of her lips moving softly on mine stopped before I even knew it and she was standing in front of me again like we were just talking. I'm not sure if I was imagining this or not, but her cheeks seemed flushed and she averted her eyes. "Have a good evening, Shikamaru-san." Then she left following Temari and Ino.

I turned to my side again to see Chouji gaping at me, his potato chip bag on the ground, the last chip sliding out.

What could I possibly say to justify this situation?

"Come on Chouji, didn't you say you were hungry?"

Okay, before people ask if Shiho is an OC, Original Character, she's not. If you've been keeping up with the manga, you've realized this girl has a 'thing' for Shikamaru. If you haven't, Shiho has glasses, her bangs swept to her right side, kinda like Ino's, except they don't cover her face, and a down ponytail like Tsunade's, except she just has one, not two.

Second…this story does NOT, I repeat, does NOT have a set couple yet. Could be ShikaIno, maybe ShikaTema, or possibly ShikaShiho, I DON'T KNOW.

So I'll say this from now: If you have a couple you want to see at the end, you MUST review AND you MUST state it. Even though I like ShikaIno, I WILL BE COMPLETELY UNBIASED when it comes to this.

And third, if you want to keep up with this story, Story Alert it, because I will be changing the Main Character slots for this story time and again, depending on which couple I display during a chapter. This story's INTERACTIVE, so show support.

You like ShikaIno? VOTE!

You like ShikaTema? VOTE!!

And this may be rare, but if you happen to like ShikaShiho, VOTE!!

Three cheers for troublesome fears!

DAC