A/N: Welcome to the second Interlude! I'm pretty excited to be starting this because that means I'm getting closer and closer to finally starting A Shadow in the Darkness! Now, just to warn you guys, this Interlude won't be as long and as intense as Neji and Tenten's Interlude. It is more of a light story, one in which there is only a resolution. It is meant to be funny, romantic, somewhat emotional, and, hopefully, a good read. The chapters won't be as long and the storyline won't be as developed. I'm hoping to stick to five chapters. I just don't have the time or energy to go on a deep emotional, intense journey like I did with Exceptions but I'd never planned to for that one, either. It'd just happened, but it was probably inevitable as Neji and Tenten are my second-favorite pairing. Ino and Shikamaru are probably fourth down the line, so therefore I don't care as much.

An another warning, or more like an apology (I make a lot of those), this fic will be not be updated regularly. I will be writing it when I have a spare moment, and maybe not even then. I am in the middle of my uni semester and am actually being kind of naughty by writing this at all because I'm meant to be doing an essay! I just thought I'd warn you in advance!

Anyway, I hope you like reading this all the same!

Enjoy!

Prologue

The Rulebook – The Infallible Guide to the Art of Seduction as According to Yamanaka Ino

Composed by Yamanaka Ino

Introduction: Seduction is an ancient art, explored by mankind since the beginning of existence, constructed into a lethal weapon by the founding fathers and mothers of shinobi. This Rulebook will allow the reader to understand and utilize this powerful art in accordance to his or her own noble pursuits by outlining a set of rules. Follow these rules, and your conquest will be made.

The Rulebook will begin by outlining the Infallible Plan of Action. The IPA forms the basis of a seduction, one that the remainder of The Rulebook will explore.

One: Motive – Determine your objective and the means to which this objective can be achieved.

Two: Assess– An understanding of the situation in which you are placing yourself will show you what action you must take to obtain your objective. This assessment of the situation must include a detailed assessment of your subject.

Three: Prepare – A prepared seduction is a successful seduction. An adequate assessment will provide you with the knowledge of what you need to accomplish. Preparation will include areas such as appearance.

Four: Execution – If you have prepared well, your execution will proceed smoothly, though one must possess the ability to adapt to any unforseen situations.

Five: Resolution – Once you have achieved your objective through the execution, get the hell out. Emotional attachment will get you nothing but a broken heart. Remain objective.

Follow these steps and success is guaranteed!

One: Motive

Determine your objective and the means to which this objective can be achieved.

Ino had a problem - one, big problem. This problem was bigger than any problem she had ever encountered before. That was saying something. She always encountered problems.

The problem was sitting right in front of her at that very moment. The problem was yawning. The problem had spiky hair, coal-black eyes and a smile that could stop her heart the rare occasions she witnessed it. The problem was Naru Shikamaru.

Even the fact that Shikamaru was the problem was a problem that just added to the whole problem of the problem being Shikamaru. Shikamaru was, well, he was Shikamaru. She'd known him since she was born, he only one day before her. Their fathers had been on the same genin team. Their mothers had been pregnant with them together. They'd bathed together as five-year-olds to preserve precious water (and their mothers thought it was just adorable). She'd groaned when she'd discovered they were on the same team (the fact that Forehead got to go with Sasuke didn't help) and, five years later, they were still on the same damn team. She'd been unable to escape his presence her whole life. He'd been the lazy, unmotivated, insufferably intelligent douche bag she'd just wanted to disappear and now he was the lazy, unmotivated, insufferably intelligent douche bag she was in love with.

Definitely a problem.

Not only would this love mean fulfilling a life-long dream her parents had (she hated pleasing her parents), it meant a life of misery because he didn't love her back.

Ino sighed as she pushed her food around her plate, seriously regretting the promise she'd made Sakura that short month ago. That conniving bitch had forced her into promising that she'd have Shikamaru by the time she returned from her mission. Of course if Forehead challenged her she had to accept, otherwise that meant defeat. Forfeiting meant defeat. Failing definitely meant defeat. Defeat was unacceptable. That meant she had just less than two months to achieve the impossible – make Shikamaru fall in love with her.

This was impossible because it was Shikamaru. It was only in the past six months that she herself had come to the realization that she was in love with him. The two years before that she'd been fighting the attraction and refusing to admit to herself that she loved him. The past six months had been spent lamenting her heart's unfortunate choice of a lover and coming to terms with that knowledge. If it had taken her that long to give into nature, how long would it take Shikamaru? He was the absolute laziest person she knew. He probably couldn't even be bothered falling in love. Love meant work. Shikamaru didn't do work. What accomplishments he did make were due to his incredible mind. Sure, once he had ample motivation to accomplish something, he'd almost obsess about it, but so far the only things she'd seen that had reduced him to that state were board games and strategist assignments. Love came under neither.

But Sakura hadn't actually said that Shikamaru had to be in love with her by the time she got back. She'd just said that she had to have him on a leash.

A slow smile made its way onto Ino's face as the wheels turn behind her bright, blue eyes.

Shikamaru didn't have to be in love with her, he just had to be attracted to her. She just had to have some form of sexual control over him. The only way to accomplish that was through seduction.

The smile grew.

She couldn't have been given a more challenging subject.

---

It was a peaceful day. Most days were in Konoha in the spring. That was nice. It meant lots of long, lazy afternoons avoiding assignments and cloud gazing – at the same time, if possible. It was the kind of day when you woke up no earlier than ten, the sun had warmed up your room for you, your shower didn't run out of hot water and, well, just the kind of day when nothing was supposed to go wrong.

It had.

Why? Ino – the bane of his existence – had walked into it, that's why. Why was Ino the bane of his existence? He was in love with her, that's why. Why was that a problem? She didn't love him back, that's why. She never would. It didn't take an IQ of over 200 to figure out that she was way out of his league. She was on a level so high above him that it hurt his eyes to try to look up that far.

How bothersome. It just figured that he would have to fall in love with the one girl who would never love him back. His mother (the other bane of his existence for entirely different reasons) always said that no one would ever love him if he didn't stop being such a lazy ass. He agreed wholeheartedly (it was wise to with her). If no one could love him, Ino was the biggest no one.

He sighed.

That didn't even make sense, but the point was there was no chance in hell that Ino would ever fall for him. She'd hated him when they were five and she'd hated him all the way up until they were eighteen. Sure, they were comrades now, friends even, but that made it even worse. If she just hated him there was a one in five hundred thousandth chance that she would succumb to his (lack of) charm, just like in one of those bothersome romance novels. He'd done the math. He was good at math. But friends? Friends falling in love was an even smaller chance. Why? Friends were friends because no sexual attraction existed between them whatsoever. With the absence of sexual attraction, people were their ugly selves, with all faults and irritations open for display. So when the worst happened and sexual attraction – and more – did develop, it was impossible to overcome the bad labels you had placed on yourself as their friend, the little annoying traits of your character that could have otherwise been overlooked and tolerated had you been in love with each other from the start. He and Ino were childhood friends. Amplify those poor odds by another thousand or so and that would be getting closer to the extent of his problem.

Sure, it was probably possible to overcome all those little character faults and start acting like someone somebody could fall in love with, but why bother when Ino already knew every little thing about him? All she'd do is laugh at him and ask him why on earth he was acting like a civilized human after eighteen years of being nothing but an undesirable bum. The chances of that happening were far greater than the chances of her suddenly falling head-over-heels for the new-and-improved Shikamaru…and the new-and-improved Shikamaru probably wouldn't be much better than the other one because he had a long way to go.

"Come to lunch, Shikamaru," She had said, like it wouldn't be torture for him to sit there and watch her, knowing the whole time that he could never have her.

Of course he refused to go. Why bother putting himself through torture when it was avoidable? He was put through enough torture just be being on the same team.

But then she'd put her hands on her hips in that way and tilted her head in that way and pouted her lips in that way, distinctive only to her, and how could he still say no? Besides, those were the physical signs that preceded a verbal beating and God only knew he got enough of that from his mother.

So there he was eating lunch with Ino and Chouji, suffering needlessly, all because of Ino.

He looked across the table at her. She was resting her chin on her palm, her elbow on the table, eyes set on something beyond the window. The index finger of her other hand twirled a long strand of her blonde hair at the end of her ponytail. His heart jumped at the sight of her. It was amazing. He'd viewed this scene too many time to count and yet it still impacted him in this way. His chest couldn't help but contract when she smiled, it never grew old.

Yes, she was the bane of his existence, but she was also the light of it. Though seeing her constantly and knowing even more constantly that he would never have her, it was better than not being around her at all – not seeing her at all.

It was absolutely pathetic. He couldn't believe he'd sunk so low.

How bothersome.

Then he noticed the small, almost inscrutable smile that played on the edge of the lips that taunted him so. He knew that smile.

Damn.

She was scheming again. Hell, she was always scheming, but that smile meant she was scheming. That meant she wanted something and she would stop at nothing to get it. That meant it was about a guy, because guys were the only things that could get her to put that much single-minded effort into anything other than her appearance. That meant more torture for him.

He sighed in resignation, ignoring the knowing look Chouji gave him. Chouji was his best friend and they knew everything about each other. Everything. He hadn't even had to tell Chouji he was in love with Ino - he'd guessed with one look. So bothersome. Usually he was completely inscrutable – he'd perfected his bored expression through years of being bored – and it was annoying that there was someone who could read him.

"She's scheming again, huh?" Chouji commented unnecessarily. He knew Shikamaru knew that Ino was scheming – he just wanted to rub salt in the wound.

What a great mate.

He sighed again, "Guess so."

Chouji shoved another mouthful of food in his mouth and talked through it, "How long has it been since the last major scheme?"

This question made him pause. How long had it been? For a while there, maybe two or three years ago, it was a never-ending stream of schemes resulting in a never-ending stream of losers, but now that he thought about it, it'd been uncharacteristically quiet lately. There were no hangers-on bugging Ino for a date, no bozos ordering her to their house, no drunk bastards trying to feel her up. No conquests.

"It's been a while," he replied.

Chouji swallowed, "You're right, man. 'Bout six months at least. Wonder why."

Shikamaru shrugged nonchalantly, "Dunno. Maybe Konoha's run out of men."

Chouji grinned, "She'll have to start on the next generation, I suppose."

Then Shikamaru grinned, "Younger or older?"

Chouji considered this, "Well…the older will have more experience under their belts – literally – and they'd be sure to give her a good time, but they may be more of a challenge to catch."

Shikamaru considered this as well, "She has always like a challenge…"

"True," Chouji countered, "but then she may want a little confidence-booster. It has been a while. Maybe she's out of her game a little. Maybe she needs a quick pick-me-up. You know, someone young and inexperienced who is sure to think she's some kind of goddess, gracing them with her attention and prolific experience. Someone impressionable. Someone who'll let her be the top dog."

Shikamaru considered this too, "She does like to be the top dog."

"Literally."

Then they burst out laughing. This was why Chouji was his best friend. He could make him laugh about something that would otherwise be absolutely killing him to witness. The humour helped alleviate the pain. If it weren't for Chouji, he never would have survived this long. He would've been long gone – another team, hell…another damn city.

Ino glared at them, "You do realize I am right here."

Shikamaru smiled ruefully, "It would be impossible for me not to."

Of course she didn't understand the implication of his words. She never did; never would.

---

Ino decided to ignore the two idiots sitting across from her. Let them joke; let them laugh. It wasn't like she wasn't used to it already. She didn't care.

Okay, well maybe she did.

She knew what people thought of her. She was Ino, the Slut. Capital S for big. Subtle implication. Some people were even nice enough to call her the Seduction Mistress. It almost made her sound classy. It would be classy were it not followed by illicit grins and snickers behind hands.

Obviously she had no one to blame but herself for this. She'd cultivated her image and she'd cultivated it well. After all, it was better to be labelled something derogatory than nothing at all.

The label she didn't mind from people who didn't know a damn thing about her – random people that were jealous of her success and infamy. They all wanted to be sluts too, they just didn't have the courage - the balls - to live with the title and everything that came with it. Why shouldn't she do what she pleased? She was a free woman (no pun intended) and she'd be damned if she lived her life according to what people dictated she should be – the stereotypical kunoichi, strong, courageous, fierce, but lovely, graceful and honourable. Big yawn. Sure, it was great that gals like that existed, but she just wasn't cut out for that kind of life. Expectation, expectation. Please. She could do without it. Sure, people expected her to be a slut, but if no one can escape expectation then better to live under an expectation of your own making – making people think what you wanted them to.

That was her secret. She made people think what she wanted them to. The truth…well, the truth was an entirely different story.

The truth was annoying because she had no control over it. The truth simply was and nothing she could do could change it. So the truth had been her dirty little secret for years and she was suffering under the weight of it.

It was all good and well when people who didn't even know her thought she was a slut, but it began to sting when the people who she thought knew her did too. What stung the most was that this was all her own doing. She was Ino – independent, impenetrable – and suddenly she was feeling a little vulnerable, a little exposed, and she didn't like it.

She was vulnerable because suddenly she wanted her friends to be able to see her – the real her – which was an impossible thing to ask because she had never shown them the real her. How the hell were they supposed to know what was and what wasn't?

But after years of pretending to be something she was not, or at least exaggerating existing characteristics, she was falling under the strain of oppression. Her own oppression, yes, but oppression nonetheless and she was a free woman. She wanted to be, anyway.

Maybe this was what had made her fall for Shikamaru. When she tried to define 'free' she thought of Shikamaru. He lived under no one's standards or expectations. He'd always done what he wanted. Even when he was labelled a genius and everyone expected that he'd do wonderful things for Konoha, he didn't bend under it and did nothing – a subtle protest.

Some, no, many considered that kind of behaviour irresponsible and dishonourable and immature. The given shinobi philosophy was use what you've been given for the benefit of the village. If you've been given it that means you have to use it, no arguments, damnit. Give all of yourself in the service of the village and if you die, you will die an honourable death. Sacrifice, honour, sacrifice, honour. It was all the same.

Kudos to all the shinobi who managed to thrive under that stifling weight, but Shikamaru wasn't one of them. His philosophy was it is meaningless to do something that holds no significance for you. It is one thing to be honourable to your village, but what about being honourable to yourself? Is that not more important? Why sacrifice yourself for something you don't even know you believe in? He'd always been a smart boy.

So when people rolled their eyes at his laziness and unwillingness to work hard like a good little shinobi, Ino felt like smashing their faces in. In her eyes, it took a man to be able to be true to themselves. He'd never been anything but and she envied and loved him for it.

And honestly, she wouldn't care if everyone else in existence thought she was the single biggest slut in existence as long as Shikamaru knew who she was. But she was afraid he wouldn't like who she really was. She didn't know if she liked herself.

Ino rolled her eyes at herself. Since when had she become so bloody emotional and vulnerable and downright philosophical? It didn't suit her at all. She preferred the practical things, she preferred doing something.

She rolled her eyes again. No wonder everyone thought she was a massive slut. Well, she hadn't gotten that reputation for nothing. As Chouji and Shikamaru had so tactfully been saying, she was a man-eater. She was Konoha's biggest man-eater. She was a goddamn machine.

She could do this.

A/N: Please let me know what you think of the first chapter and give me suggestions!