30 Days of Fandom Meme: Day 1
Day 01: What is your current favorite ship?
Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino
[Naruto]
I will always pull for this couple to become canon, because this is probably my favorite dynamic in ships, period. Something about the bossy, obnoxious blond girl bossing around/driving crazy the intellectual, nerdy, and often more competent boy amuses the hell out of me. Its why I love Sam and Freddie in iCarly, too, who ranked closely behind this couple, but Ino and Shikamaru are the best.
He's always complaining about loud, troublesome women and Ino is a loud, troublesome woman, but they work well as a team. They have a natural banter that displays their comfort with each other. And while Ino and Shikamaru's interaction shows how they both know he's the unofficial leader of Team Asuma, Ino still gets away with bossing him off and acting like she's in charge. They have some really sweet moments, but they have some really good ones, too.
Plus I'm a sucker for those 'Shikamaru taking care of Ino's body' moments. And how smug Shikamaru gets when they're put on the same team right after he's bitching about how he doesn't get why Ino likes Sasuke since he isn't that great. And I will always be with Ino in that scene during the Chunin exams when Shikamaru's got to fight Temari and Ino's screaming for him like a psycho.
I just love them. I really ought to write something.