"To be honest, I never understood what she saw in him. I never even liked the guy. But girls are girls, and they're troublesome."

"Shikama-"

"And who cares if he's in that clan anyways? Just because he's from some famous family, all eyes are on him. Besides, he was always a jerk."

"But-"

"Why do girls like jerks in the first place? All they do is break their sorry hearts into smithereens. It's a drag."

He gave one final sigh before quieting himself, his hands beneath his head as he lied on the bench with his best friend. They had spent the day together (as always) doing absolutely nothing. It was fine, and surprisingly, Shikamaru had no tasks from the Lady, nor did Choji have any missions for that day. So what better way to spend the day than with best friends?

Choji proceeded to eat from his bag of chips, his legs crossed as he looked up at the clear blue sky. Shikamaru was troubled, which scared Choji. Even smart guys, with that kind of intelligence they have in their noggin aren't perfect. And when Shikamaru, the smartest villager in the Leaf is troubled, you should be worried.

But this kind of troubled? No, no, no, no. Absolutely no. Choji, as his best friend of course, was worried. But this was one small situation that Shikamaru himself could handle. Even lazy guys can do it, and they should.

It was Ino.

In their time skip, they had grown to become more mature, more determined, more knowledgeable, and more…aware of their feelings. Asuma sensei had passed away, they retaliated by hitting the Akatsuki members harder, Kurenai sensei had given birth, and team 10 made frequent visits to her house. And in their time skip, Shikamaru had grown to become much more conscious of his emotions and feelings, attentive of what goes through his head. Which makes sense, after all, when you're IQ is well over 200, not to mention you're the smartest person in the village, you're the kind of person who thinks logically. You are ruled by your brain, not by your heart. And Shikamaru is a prime example. Analysing his feelings and calculating what he should do next, these are normal to him. But frankly, it was getting too complicated.

Shikamaru wished Asuma was still around. The man always knew what to say, unfortunately, much more than his own dad about girls.

"Say, Shikamaru, you're not jealous, are you?"

"Heck no, Choji, why would I be jealous?" the chubby kid said it so casually, it frightened Shikamaru a little. He went on digging his hand in the bag of chips, his eyes fixed at the sky. Everything was there. The only difference is that no one really had the guts to say it. And Choji knew everything.

Shikamaru closed his eyes and gave a smirk, his right end of his lip curled upwards as his hand tunnelled into his pocket, searching for that box of cigarettes. Ah, he grabbed one cancer stick, the end of his fingertip brushing the tip of the cigarette, the brown tobacco blend smudging into his finger. From another pocket, he grabbed his simple steel gray zippo lighter, and with one swift flick of the cover, he strained to lift his head to light up his much needed smoke. He puffed out clouds of smoke that made Choji gag and wheeze. How Choji hated that.

"Hey, Shikamaru,"

"Ngh?"

"Ino's gotten a lot prettier hasn't she?" Shikamaru couldn't see it, but he knew Choji smiled. Choji always saw Ino's progression. Shikamaru, on the other hand never truly noticed the extent of her beauty because he always figured she was gorgeous since they were kids.

He let out another, "Mm" and a cloud of smoke emerged from his lips.

"Shikamaru, I'm your best friend. I know you well. I'm going to tell you this right now, don't be so logical when it comes to emotions. They're troublesome, I know. But sometimes, you just gotta follow the way you feel, not sort out the possible risks and consequences. If you feel that it's there, it probably is. And one way or another, you're going to have to face those feelings, not avoid them." His best friend turned his head to look at him; a smile emerged from his face to see Shikamaru attentively listening to him.

Choji stood up and stretched his arms, swinging his backpack's shoulder strap around his arm. He gave his friend one last grin, a thumbs up, and jumped down the streets.

Shikamaru gulped, exhaling deeply before lying back down on the wide bench for a sleep.

"Women really are troublesome," he thought.

He noticed a while had passed when he woke up to someone kicking his feet, his eyes slowly opening to see the silhouette figure pick up his cigarette butt and throw it in the garbage. The figure sat beside him as he rubbed his eyes from the blurry vision of waking up. He sees the figure toss her blonde hair away from her shoulder, flicking it back.

"What are you doing here?" he forced himself up to sit, scratching the back of his head and gave out a yawn. She smirked at his question and looked at him; her deep blue eyes always a wonder to gaze at. She wiped off some dust on his right chest, her habit of always tidying his uniform.

"Just thought I'd come get you. We better get going," her eyes curled when she smiled made him frantic, and he returned the smile, watching her walk towards the stairs. He pulled out a piece of paper from one of his pockets, the note folded perfectly in half. He gave it a stare and watched Ino, then standing up to follow her.

"Hey, Ino." She spun her head to face him as they walked together. He looked away from her, that feeling in his stomach making him reluctant as ever.

"Here, y'a go." He found the courage to pull the piece of paper out to give to her, still refusing to even look her in the eyes. She raised her brow as she accepted his note.

"Read it alone."

"Got it, Shikamaru."

"…" he turned to stroll away when she opened the door to her house.

"Hey, Shikamaru."

He turned his head.

"You, Choji and I are really lucky to have each other. Asuma sensei would be proud of us," he grinned at her as she bit her bottom lip before waving bye to him and heading to her room. He shook his head and chuckled to himself, digging his hands in his pockets and gazed at the setting sun of Konoha.

"Ino,

I never had the courage to tell you. I wish I did sooner, but I didn't. It became troublesome when I kept it in for so long. I'm a fool and a coward for not telling you this face to face and maybe it is better that way. But I'm not brave enough. You know, every time I think of how old we've grown, it makes me smile to think of our relationship in the past. And I think about how I've changed as a person, and you, and Choji. But we're older now, we're mature, and it's time I deal with my feelings, the ones I've ignored for so long.

Ino, it's there. It always was. It was just never said between us.

Shikamaru