A/N: Konnichiwa, Minna! :D

This is my first Naruto fanfiction and my first shot on writing a ShikaIno story. :3

I love this pairing something fierce and this, together with the horrifying lack of enough ShikaIno fics compared to ShikaTema's, is the reason why I wrote this.

I hope you guys find this good. *smiles sheepishly*

I was dwelling on Shikamaru and his habits and how much I am like him when the idea of comparing them to clouds crossed my mind. And I thought, 'why not?'

So, anyway, here you go.

Hope this came out good. :)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto does. If I do, then Shikamaru would have ended up with Ino now and sprouted some stubborn, good-looking, pineapple-headed genius kids.

The idea and the plot belong to me though.

It was yet another sunny morning when Nara Shikamaru found himself wandering off to the hills where he usually watched the clouds. It won't be long before his mother get into ordering him around again and he sneaked out for a few precious minutes. The delightful days passed by without any missions assigned to him – yet. Shikamaru knew it will not be long before the Hokage assigns him again to another mission, which meant no more cloud-watching and no more time for laziness. And to top it all off, Chouji won't be back from his mission until next week.

His slow, steady footsteps carried him to the hills he spent half his time with and he paused to look around. Nothing much has changed since Sasuke returned back to Konoha, except that in the end, Sakura got Sasuke and Naruto punched some sense into the Uchiha before going off to court Hinata, whose cousin Neji finally got Tenten. Nothing much? Yeah, what a joke.

Shikamaru finally lay down on the grass as he cushioned his head in his arm. Had it really been three years? It didn't seem like it. It seems only yesterday when they were still genins, when Asuma-sensei was still alive, when the three of them: Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji are always together as a team during missions, when Ino would scold and order him and Chouji around. Not that it stopped, anyway-

He heard footsteps coming his way and before Shikamaru could look up, he already knew who it was.

"Shikamaru!"

Speak of the devil.

The blonde kunoichi stopped beside him. "Ohayo, Shika-kun!"

"Eh . . . so troublesome."

Looks like he's not going to have a peaceful cloud-watching, huh?

Ino sighed as she sat down beside the lazy genius, putting her kunai and shuriken back into their pouches before collapsing on the ground. Shikamaru looked at his close friend, taking in her sweaty appearance and quite dirty clothes.

"What happened to you? Sparring practice?" he asked.

"Hai," Ino answered with her eyes closed, dragging the syllable for two beats, "Kiba and Akamaru became stronger. Heh, but I don't think Kiba can hold his own against me without Akamaru."

"Hmm," Shikamaru grunted, "three years sure did them a lot of good."

"Yeah. I can't believe so much has changed, ne. I better get Chouji a girlfriend," Ino giggled.

Shikamaru sighed. In three years, he and Ino had their own lovers. Ino finally got to ask Sai to ask her out while Temari asked Shikamaru out and the lazy genius gave the Sand Nin a chance. At first, he had been quite contented with Temari but as time went by, he noticed that there was still something missing. Something is . . . not quite right. And he's not entirely happy with his relationship.

"Eh, but I need to work on Chouji's gluttony first. Who knows, maybe all he'll do on their date is to eat and eat and eat," Ino sighed.

"Stop acting the matchmaker, Ino," Shikamaru groaned as he closed his eyes, "Chouji will be fine by himself. He'll get a girl someday."

Ino huffed. "Well, sorry for being concerned about my friend's love life."

Shikamaru just sighed. After all this years, nothing much has changed about her. Because she's . . . well . . . She's Ino.

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Ino cried out. Shikamaru immediately turned to her, eyes open.

"Nani?" Shikamaru asked. Who knows what might have happened during her sparring practice? She might have been hurt!

"Aw, crap," Ino muttered, rubbing her eyes, "I think I'm blinded by the sun!"

Shikamaru raised an inquisitive eyebrow before he finally put two and two together. He settled back down on the grass and sighed irritably.

"Before you open your eyes you should've at least raised a hand to block the sunlight momentarily from your eyes. Hn, so troublesome," Shikamaru said.

"Tch. Yeah, yeah," Ino grumbled then resumed her original position.

They were silent again for a few minutes before Ino spoke again.

"Shika?"

"Hn?"

"If I were a cloud, what kind do you think I would be?" Ino asked. Shikamaru glanced at her but the blonde kunoichi was busy tracing shapes on the clouds in the sky.

He grinned despite his irritation earlier and stared back up at the sky. "A troublesome one, no doubt."

Ino instantly turned to him and if she was standing instead of lying down, he would've sworn she has a hand on her hips right now.

"Eh, Shikamaru, answer me!" she pouted.

"I already did." Shikamaru retorted.

"That doesn't count."

"Why doesn't it?"

"That's not a proper answer," Ino snorted.

"An answer is something that was told in response to a question so no matter what, it's still an answer."

"There's no such thing as a troublesome cloud."

". . ."

"Shika!"

"Tch. Troublesome." Shikamaru smirked and kept silent for a moment. It was almost five minutes later when he finally spoke up.

"Thunderclouds."

Ino, who was busy aiming imaginary darts and kunai on Shikamaru's handsome profile, paused as she let his words sink in. "Eh?"

"Thunderclouds," Shikamaru repeated as he turned on his side so that he was facing the blonde kunoichi.

"It took you five minutes to think of that?" Ino asked incredulously.

"Actually, it only took me about a minute. It's just too troublesome to say it earlier," Shikamaru grunted.

Ino face faulted. Well, it didn't take that much of an effort since she's already lying down.

"Right, what do I expect? You're such a lazy ass, Shika," she muttered as she rubbed her face free of dirt from her contact with the ground, "Now, why did you compare me to a thundercloud out of all types of clouds out there?"

Shikamaru smirked slightly at seeing her dirty face then spoke up. "First off, because thunderclouds are so troublesome. Second, thunderclouds bring thunder so they're unbearably loud. Third, thunderclouds are really troublesome. And fourth, they are heavy."

Ino gaped at him, poking an accusing finger in his chest.

"Nara Shikamaru, are you saying that I'm fat?" Ino hissed, poking Shikamaru's chest with every word.

Shikamaru blinked at the finger poking him then at Ino's red, angry face. Right, nice choice of words, Shikamaru, he sighed inwardly, man, I must've really been losing sleep lately to say that. Tch, how troublesome.

"Eh . . . I'm simply saying that you have a heavy responsibility on your shoulders. You know, with being away on missions every now and then and then assisting in the flower shop and to top it all off, you're working at the pharmacy," he hastily added.

Ino blinked. She didn't think that there might be another meaning to his words. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously one last time before lowering her hand and her red face gradually receded to a pretty, embarrassed pink. She avoided his eyes and turned back to the sky.

Whew, Shikamaru thought, way to avoid another beating. You're the man, Shikamaru.

"Really, Shikamaru, you should know better than to blurt it out like that. Girls are sensitive about that topic, you know. It was a miracle Temari ever managed to put up with you," She grumbled, whispering the last part half-heartedly.

"But then," Shikamaru continued subconsciously, "After the storm subsides, you get to see how calm and warm and actually homely it is . . . "

Ino stiffened for a moment. Did Nara Shikamaru just describe her with an adjective other than 'troublesome'? She felt her face flushing again so she just laughed.

"Oi, Shika, what did you eat last night, huh? Did you just compliment me? Huh? Huh?" she asked slyly, grinning mischievously.

He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He thought Ino would get all riled up but thankfully, she took it all in stride. He didn't even realize he had spoken until he saw the taut stiffening of Ino's shoulders. But even if he subconsciously said it . . . he couldn't deny the fact that everything he said is true.

Shikamaru looked mildly annoyed but nonetheless had an affectionate look in his eyes. "You're so troublesome, Ino."

"Yeah, yeah. Heh, it's my turn now! Yosh!" Ino shouted then began looking up at the clouds with scrutinizing eyes. Shikamaru let her continue whatever she was doing and stared back at the clouds drifting across the sky.

"Hmm, if you were a cloud . . . . Ha, then you'd definitely be those cirrus clouds over there!" Ino triumphantly said, grinning at him. Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow, silently asking her to continue.

"Well, let's see. Like those clouds, you're also carefree and very lazy, like how the cloud lets itself be carried off by the wind. You go with the flow since you're so lazy to do anything different. It's high up in the atmosphere just like your IQ. Those clouds are also common just like how you describe yourself as ordinary. But those clouds are pretty in their own way. They may not be noticed as often as those fluffy cumulus clouds since they are easier to recognize but you're still there. Just like a shadow . . . like your jutsu," she said, a thoughtful and nostalgic smile gracing her features.

Shikamaru blinked (yeah, he wondered how many times he did that) as he looked at her. Ino is not stupid to come up with that comparison, he knows, but her explanation really revealed how much she knew him. And he couldn't help but feel a warm, fuzzy feeling upon hearing it.

He was about to reply when Ino turned to him with a dazzling smile that could rival Maito Gai's.

"And besides," Ino said, delivering the final blow, "just like those clouds, you're also ultra-thin!"

Shikamaru sweatdropped and his eye twitched. "I-Ino, you mood killer . . . "

Ino laughed as she sat up, pointing at Shikamaru. "Gotcha, Shika!"

The lazy genius immediately recovered and sat up, smirking mischievously, turning his lazy, half-drooped eyes to her. "Oi Ino, what do you mean 'ultra-thin'? Is it the time of the month already so you're talking about your girl stuff?"

Ino stopped laughing, her face red from embarrassment. "S-SHIKA!"

"Gotcha, Ino," Shikamaru shot back as he lay back down.

"Shikamaru, you're so perverted!" Ino cried out.

"What, just knowing about your girl stuff makes me a pervert? Tch, so troublesome."

"Well, what do you think, you dumbass?!"

"I think it's troublesome."

"Argh, NARA SHIKAMARU! I think you're even worse than Sai-kun!"

"No I'm not. Now stop hovering above me, you're blocking my view of the clouds."

"Che. What I meant is that you're really sexy," Ino grumbled, crossing her arms.

Shikamaru turned to her. "What?"

Ino seemed to remember what she said and her face heated up yet again. Really, this is becoming so cute for Shikamaru.

"I meant skinny! You're really skinny like t-those clouds, baka!" She exclaimed.

Shikamaru found himself smiling amusedly at her reaction. "Troublesome," he muttered before closing his eyes.

He heard Ino mutter something incoherent under her breath and he felt her slump down on the ground next to him. He revelled in the silence for ten minutes before he finally spoke up again.

"So . . . that's the kind you use?"

"SHIKAMARU!"

"Geez, stop yelling in my ear. I was just kidding."

"Stupid perverted, moronic, idiotic, lazy, hot, dumbass . . ." Ino continued to mutter.

Well, Shikamaru mused as he watched the feathery cirrus clouds above, glancing at the Yamanaka at the corner of his eye every now and then, maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

Author's Notes:

Ohohohoho~ It's finished at last! :D

Don't worry about the Temari thing here guys, 'cause I'm planning a sequel oneshot and in that story, I will crush the ShikaTema fans' dreams. [HINT: I already wrote above what Shikamaru feels about the Sand Nin . . . ]

Yes, I'm evil that way. *evil laugh*

For those of you who might've already guessed what I'm gonna do with Shikamaru's relationship with Temari, KUDOS! To those of you who did not . . . I'm just gonna write a sequel or I'm gonna tell you guys. I'm not yet sure I'll be able to finish the sequel since school's coming up but I'll try my best. :)

Please read and review! Tell me guys what you think. ;)

Flames can affect me negatively but I can accept constructive criticism. *smiles sheepishly and flashes peace sign*

Thanks for reading!