The All or Nothing Girl
Title: Dinner Surprises Chapter II: The All or Nothing Girl
Artist/Author: hungytiger11
Rating: G
Characters/pairings: Shikamaru/Ino, Chouji/OC, Minor Sakura/Naruto, & Hinata/lots of people
Summary: Being a continued story of awkward introductions, awkward confessions,conversational gymnastics, and what happens when the girl you love won't let you get a word in edgewise.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor any related image, character, plot etc. No profit is being made.
A/N: I never really intended "Dinner Surprises" to be anything but a one-shot. However, after posting it, I realized the story wasn't actually done yet. So here it is as a two-shot now with chapter one, Dinner Surprises and chapter two The All or Nothing Girl."
Shikamaru leaned back and took stock of the situation so far. From where he was standing, the equation was just not adding up. At a festival? Check. Here with a beautiful girl? Check. True, Shikamaru liked to think that a girl’s looks didn’t matter much to him. He’d even actively wanted to marry a plain girl, any plain looking girl, at one point. But practically being raised from the cradle with one of the town’s prettiest girls probably made his ideas of average a little skewed. And, quite frankly, chuunin at age thirteen or not, he’d been sort of dumb about girls growing up. Still was, looking at all things objectively. So with good music, good atmosphere and the girl he was head over heels about as his “date,” shouldn’t he be happy?
Except Shikamaru wasn’t. As in, really, really wasn’t. Sure, they were together at a festival and going to have a great time with friends. But, while the girl he wanted was right there, and had (practically) confessed her love to him the night before, she seemed to have no interest in seeing if such feelings were reciprocated. Every time he opened his mouth to talk about it, Ino, sneaky, smart, pretty-as-a-perfect-sky-but-knows-it-too Ino, would use anything and everything in her arsenal to perform conversational gymnastics, and derail his mentioning it.
Like right now. Instead of going off to enjoy the festival, and maybe talk while they did so, she’d insisted they wait at this corner to try and search out any of their friends. Really, the only one Shikamaru was even remotely interested in seeing besides her, was their teammate Chouji, but then, he’d never been able to say no to Ino. She had, in fact, even gone so far as to order him to keep quiet till he’d spotted anyone. Shikamaru sighed, and slumped further down against the pole he’d propped himself up against, his fingers twitching. He’d mostly given up the habit, but he’d be willing to kill for cigarettes at this point. Trust Ino to be hard to pin down. She probably did it just for the stress it was causing him.
He glanced back at the girl in question, who was animatedly gesturing to a pink-haired girl in a purple yukata. Behind them both, and louder than either, was a blond man with whiskery face-markings and a toothy grin. Shikamaru was too far away to hear any conversation on the part of the two girls, but caught Naruto shouting, “Believe it!” while pumping his fist into the air. A punch in the gut from Sakura seemed to quickly calm him down again, though. Acting as if what she’d done was nothing out of the ordinary, Sakura waved good-bye to her friend, and walked off, Naruto bent over, but still in tow.
After a quick wave to back to the duo, Ino whipped around, and came running towards him. She looked oddly like a little girl when running in sandals and a yukata. Arms and legs were loose-limbed and swinging, but still graceful. Her face was laughing and her eyes seemed lit from within. Shikamaru jerked up, in one sudden, awkward movement, embarrassed at how she took his breath away. It didn’t seem fair someone could just be walking around, so… so free looking. Like a perfect summer sky, really. Damn her.
Ino’s grin widened as she neared him, and her breath was coming out in little puffs, as she laughed. “Guess who finally caved? It only took Naruto, what? Five or six years? But Sakura finally agreed to go out on a date with him!”
Well, Shikamaru reflected, really, it could be worse. Naruto could have not asked at all, but still have been waiting for seventeen or eighteen years. Not that he’d had any personal experience doing such.
“How’d the date seem to be going?” he asked. Really, he could care less. Naruto was his friend, but his love life was none of his concern. Ino wanted to talk about it though, so he asked.
She shrugged in reply. “Hard to tell. I mean, Sakura seems to be beating on him an awful lot, but that’s just Sakura and Naruto. He didn’t seem to mind, really.”
Wonder who Sakura picked up that habit from, Shikamaru thought, but he kept his comments to himself. Unlike Naruto, he’d learned how to mostly keep his tongue around girls who were ninjas. You lived longer that way. Ino continued on, unperturbed by his lack of response. “Did you see anyone else?”
He was about to respond negatively, when he caught some movement right over her shoulder. Clustered around a stand, Shikamaru could now make out a group of familiar people.
“Its Team Eight,” he gestured a little mindlessly to Ino. A second glance revealed someone else as well. “Neji-san too.”
Ino turned to look at where he pointed, and once again he was a little struck with how graceful she could be. There was something in the arch of the neck, or maybe the tilt of her head, but before he could figure out what it was, Ino was laughing, and his line of thought was shot. It had always been impossible to concentrate when hearing it.
“It almost looks like Hinata has little harem, doesn’t it?” she commented, nodding towards the four. And, he had to admit the scene was rather comical, to anyone who knew the men well enough to interpret their movements. Shino stood apart from the rest, almost not one of the group at all, but, even if he wasn’t talking much, his presence said it all. Stay back; she doesn’t want you. She has us. In front of the dark-haired girl, with arms full of food, Kiba was imitating someone or other he’d seen at the festival. Hinata covered her mouth as she laughed, and Kiba’s grin took on a more sincere sheen to it. The last man, Neji, stood ramrod straight by her side, maybe as far as half a step behind. Shikamaru had always found the white, Hyuuga eyes hard to read, but there was something in the way his jaw softened at the sound of her laughter, something in way his hand stayed pressed to the small of her back that told him there was something more there, something, if he just looked a little longer to puzzle it out.
“Which one do you think she’s in love with?”
Shikamaru turned, recognizing that tone from Ino. It was an all-too-familiar, dishing, gossipy tone. Nothing in Kohona happened that Ino didn’t have an opinion on, and, growing up, it had somehow always been him who was her listening ear. Annoying, yes, but the world seemed a whole lot… flatter without her opinion coloring everyone’s move.
“They’re all in love with her,” he announced blandly, leaning back against the stand’s side to see how she would take his pronouncement. If he’d been expecting any sort of reaction at all though, he was disappointed. Ino merely nodded her head and tilted it to the side. “Well, you didn’t really answer the question, but… Yes, that’s what I thought too. She’ll make a good leader.”
“What?” he blurted out blankly, confused by the sudden about-face the conversation had taken.
“She’ll make a good leader,” Ino repeated, turning her head to look at him. Seeing his still-blank face, she continued, “People say Hinata’s not very strong, and it is sorta true. She’s not that great of a ninja- a good one instead of a great one. But… something about her attracts, right? They’re all in love with her- at least a little. Mostly just a little, really. Probably always will be, and that inspires some serious loyalty. And that’s why she’ll be a good leader, because she wins people’s hearts.”
Shikamaru turned the idea over in his head for a moment, and pushed himself back off from where he’d been leaning. “Wow, Ino. That had some seriously deep thought right there.”
He saw her eyebrows knit together, and that was all the warning he had before she punched him in the arm. “Jerk. I may be blonde, but I’m not dumb.”
Rubbing at the bruise, he realized she’d hit hard, but not as hard as he knew she could. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and instead grumbled back a half-apology, “I didn’t say you were. Geez. Just that I’d never thought of that.”
“Oh,” she blushed, just a little, right across the bridge of her nose, and turned away. “Um, anyway, I don’t think I could do that.”
“Do what?” he questioned, watching her watch their friends across the row of stands.
“Well, I’m greedy, I guess,” and her voice turned very soft, as she turned around again in order to look at him. “I wouldn’t want someone to be just a little in love with me. I’m an all or nothing sorta girl. Either the person needs to love me, or get over it. Anything else in between feels like… unfinished business, you know?”
The air changed as she said that, and Shikamaru realized now was the moment. She’d been avoiding the subject all evening, and had avoided it yesterday evening too when he’d finally caught up with her. She’d let him walk her home, but had somehow steered the conversation away from an attempt he made to talk about her backwards little confession she’d made in the restaurant. But now she was standing there, right in front of him, ready to talk.
“Ino, about last night, I-“ and before he could get any further, a meaty hand clapped down on his shoulder.
“See,” boomed a familiar voice, “I told ya, we’d find them!”
Turning around, he came face to face with Chouji, who had his arm wrapped around a pretty, but unfamiliar girl. Well, he reasoned, not totally unfamiliar. She had a set of unusually wide-set eyes that maybe he’d seen before, if only he could place them. Chouji grinned in an not-unlike-Naruto way and, seeing neither of his friends make a move to reply, continued on, “Ino, Shikamaru, I don’t know if you’ve met Yumika-chan! She works at one of Dad’s restaurants as a waitress. Yumika-chan, these people are Shikamaru and Ino, my best friends!”
“Oh!” The girl squeaked out, “You’re a lot younger than I thought. I mean-“ she cut herself off, throwing a hand up over her mouth, “I mean. It’s just. It’s just that I’d…um, already heard a lot about you from Chouji. But he, um, said you liked Shougi, and watching the clouds, and you looked forward to retirement, and that you two were practically married! So, I, um, that is, I was just surprised.”
Shikamaru just stared at her, stunned by this little speech. With each sentence she’d managed to press her back further and further into Chouji’s chest, with the result that the already-short girl looked smaller than ever, almost comically so. When no answer seemed to be forth coming the girl dropped her eyes to the ground.
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I don’t really know where that came from. Its just, well, that is to say, I tend to say all the wrong things when meeting people. It’s a stupid thing, really, but everything’s always out of my mouth before I realize it and- I didn’t really think you were old- I mean you don’t look too old and, -oh dear. I’m stopping, shutting up. Chouji, why aren’t you stopping me from making a mess of things?”
The little thing was so red, Shikamaru would have liked to help her out, do something to change the situation, but he was still trying to figure out what to say. He and Ino acted like they were married? He acted like an old man? The silence continued on for a beat or two, till he felt Ino snap to attention behind him. “Yumika-chan, is it? It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Besides, Chouji’s right. Shika is like an old man.”
Shikamaru bristled at that. Wasn’t that juuuust great. Sure, it put a stop to the inner debate he’d had going, but how was he suppose to make move, and confess undying love and all that shit when the girl in question was going around calling him an old man? And, yeah, he did like Shougi and cloud watching and maybe he’d mentioned retirement once or twice, but … “ Its not like we’re practically married.”
Three sets of eyes snapped towards him, and something inside of Ino that had been open not two minutes before snapped shut. He only just caught himself to keep from slapping his own hand up over his mouth. Maybe whatever issues this Yumika girl had were catching?
“Sooooo, Chouji, this is the girl you were telling us about?” Ino continued, having obviously decided to ignore him. “I think it’s kinda cute you get nervous like that, Yumika-chan! Tell me, what did you say to Chouji when you first met?”
Chouji jumped to attention and threw his arms out awkwardly, as if to try and physically hold back the girls-bonding-over-his-humiliation situation that had suddenly arisen. All these years of being friends with Ino should have taught him better, Shikamaru thought bitterly. Some things just could not be stopped.
“Oh,” Yumika laughed a little, and took half a step forward, already more at ease. Ino had that effect on people. “That incident actually was kind of funny, really. He’d just gotten back from…from a mission, wasn’t it Chouji? Anyway, I was there, listening to him order just about everything on the menu, and, all the sudden, I realize I’d just blurted out, ‘Look, you’re obviously so hungry you could eat horse, but this restaurant doesn’t serve that, so don’t bother. I’m going to have enough trouble bringing out what you already got.’ And you know what he said? He said -“
“I said ‘ if the food is as good-looking as the waitress, you won’t be able to get rid of me,’” Chouji finished, stepping in between the girls, in an attempt to take back control of the situation. Ino giggled, and Chouji’s face fell as he realized his ploy hadn’t worked at all. “Oh, Chouji, you didn’t!”
The husky ninja’s face reddened. “Well, it worked, didn’t it?”
Yumika snorted at this, an action Shikamaru couldn’t have imagined the awkward girl of a few minutes ago doing. “Not right away, it didn’t! He’s been showing up everyday at the restaurant for two months straight, Ino-san. And except for that first day, he didn’t order a thing, except maybe a drink, and he’d just stare at me-“
“Not just stare. I talked to you too, you know.” Chouji interjected, a little put out.
Yumika smiled. “Yes, and he talked to me, and eventually convinced me to come here with him to meet some of his friends.”
By the end of this story, the two were smiling up at each other, a wiry half-grin twitching up on Chouji’s face and a flat-out brilliant one shining from Yumika’s. It made Shikamaru feel like, just for a moment, he and Ino and everyone at this festival, didn’t exist. Or at least, not to that pair. But then he looked over at Ino, and suddenly what everyone else at this festival was doing or thinking didn’t matter any more. And not in the so-sweet-your-teeth-ache way Yumika and Chouji were exhibiting either. Ino was smiling over at their teammate, looking both a little happy and a little sad. His heart constricted just a bit, knowing he was the one making her feel both. She said she was an all or nothing girl? Well, he was all-or-nothing too; he just had to tell her. If only she wasn’t making it so much trouble to say anything! Steeling himself, he reached out and grabbed Ino by her wrist. It was all-or-nothing, know-or-never time.
“It was nice to see you, Chouji. A pleasure to meet you, Yumika-san. We’ll let you get back to your date, all right?” he said, staring hard at Chouji to make sure he got the message.
His best friend merely threw up his arms placatingly. “All right, all right. See you later, Shika, Ino.”
Confusion flitted across Ino’s face, but, before she could protest any, he turned and yanked her down the walkway. When she nearly tripped from the unexpected movement, he pulled her up along side him. Still gripping her wrist with one hand, he moved other to the small of her back and steered her along, ignoring her steady stream of protests. Finally taking a turn off the main street the festival was centered on, he stopped and let her go. The light was dimmer with no lanterns near, but it was quite private.
“Geez,” he grumbled, turning towards her. “You’re so loud. Quit being so troublesome, Ino.”
The blonde’s eyes narrowed and Shikamaru guessed he was lucky there was no place for carrying kunai in a yukata. She grounded out “ I’m troublesome? I’m not the one who just dragged a person all through the festival when said person was in the middle of a damn conversation, Shika. But you sure know how to compliment a lady, don’t you?”
“Yes, you are being troublesome, Ino,” he growled back. “And I wouldn’t have had to drag you away from anything, if you ever just gave me a chance! But nooooo can’t do that! I swear for someone who claims to love romantic shit so much, you do things in the most ass-backwards way, you know? Just like last night, dancing around, hinting you love me, instead just coming right out and saying it. And that’s your problem, not mine.”
Ino paled at his words before flushing a dark, angry red. Her voice low and steely, she spat out, “I don’t have to stand here and take this. You don’t have any right to be saying this to me. You’re the one who dragged me here; I’m not the one who wants to be here! I can go back and find Chouji, or, better yet, go home, if you find my company so annoying!”
Ino turned on her heels, but before she could take a step a Shikamaru’s voice reached out from behind her. “That’s not why you’re really mad though, is it? You were angry earlier, before I dragged you over here.”
He said it as a bald statement, not a question, and, though he could tell it bugged her that he did, she didn’t deny that fact. Taking a deep breath he went on. “You were angry I didn’t think we acted like a married couple, right? We aren’t even going out. Why would I think that? Heck, I don’t think I act like an old man either. That’s something else that Yumika girl said too right? Or that Chouji said to her. Or whatever. The point is, I don’t think I act oddly; I just act like me. And you and me? I don’t think we act like we’re practically married or some shit. I think we act like Shikamaru and Ino, like always. But here’s the thing about that. I’ve always been in love with you, right from day one, before I even knew that was what you called it. So maybe we have been acting like they said, without knowing it. Because it’s always been there. Even when you were gushing about some other guy, or hitting me, or calling Chouji fat, I loved you. And not just a little either. I’m like you, all or nothing. I either do something or I don’t, so… We can date and stuff first, but, I guess what I’m trying to ask you is, will you marry me? Be my wife, Ino.”
The noise of the festival, the music, the voices, the yelling, came rushing up, pounding in his ears, filling the silence that followed his words. In front of him, he watched Ino’s back. Her shoulders seemed to shake ever so slightly, but who knew what that meant? He could read nothing from her body language. He needed her words to answer him.
Soft and low, her voice came drifting up into the night air. “Did you just ask me what I think you did?”
“Yes,” he whispered. “Say yes, Ino.”
“It took us a long time to get here, didn’t it, Shika?” and before he’d even really registered the words, she was closing the distance, burying her head in his chest, wrapping her arms around him. Wetness on his chest told him she was crying, and, as if it was the most natural thing, he was reaching for her face, brushing at tears, and his lips were searching for hers. Then it happened. It was a soft kiss really, just a brush against her lips, but it slowed both their breathing to the point of synchronicity, and Shikamaru felt a slow, steady smile he thought he might never be rid of, break out over his face.
“Such a lot of trouble to ask one simple question,” he whispered. “And I still don’t have an answer.”
Ino broke out into a soft laugh at that, and their faces were so close he could feel the breath of it on his face. “You know the answer, don’t you?”
“Yes, but I want to hear you say it.”
“You’re being such a lot of trouble, Shika!”
“Consider it pay back.”
“Then yes, Shika. I’ll be your wife. Yes, Shika, I love you. Yes, I always will.”
“I love you, Yamanaka Ino.”
“Nara Ino, soon,” she corrected him, and he grinned in return. It was going to be pain dealing with telling all their crazy friends, and talking to her dad was going to be not only troublesome, but just plain scary. But this? No matter how long it had taken, or what backwards way they took to get there, this answer was worth it. And this moment, in a back alley, not looking at the festival fireworks, and hearing only each other’s breath, this moment was for them alone.
“I like the sound of that,” he said, and kissed her again.
Artist/Author: hungytiger11
Rating: G
Characters/pairings: Shikamaru/Ino, Chouji/OC, Minor Sakura/Naruto, & Hinata/lots of people
Summary: Being a continued story of awkward introductions, awkward confessions,conversational gymnastics, and what happens when the girl you love won't let you get a word in edgewise.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor any related image, character, plot etc. No profit is being made.
A/N: I never really intended "Dinner Surprises" to be anything but a one-shot. However, after posting it, I realized the story wasn't actually done yet. So here it is as a two-shot now with chapter one, Dinner Surprises and chapter two The All or Nothing Girl."
Shikamaru leaned back and took stock of the situation so far. From where he was standing, the equation was just not adding up. At a festival? Check. Here with a beautiful girl? Check. True, Shikamaru liked to think that a girl’s looks didn’t matter much to him. He’d even actively wanted to marry a plain girl, any plain looking girl, at one point. But practically being raised from the cradle with one of the town’s prettiest girls probably made his ideas of average a little skewed. And, quite frankly, chuunin at age thirteen or not, he’d been sort of dumb about girls growing up. Still was, looking at all things objectively. So with good music, good atmosphere and the girl he was head over heels about as his “date,” shouldn’t he be happy?
Except Shikamaru wasn’t. As in, really, really wasn’t. Sure, they were together at a festival and going to have a great time with friends. But, while the girl he wanted was right there, and had (practically) confessed her love to him the night before, she seemed to have no interest in seeing if such feelings were reciprocated. Every time he opened his mouth to talk about it, Ino, sneaky, smart, pretty-as-a-perfect-sky-but-knows-it-too Ino, would use anything and everything in her arsenal to perform conversational gymnastics, and derail his mentioning it.
Like right now. Instead of going off to enjoy the festival, and maybe talk while they did so, she’d insisted they wait at this corner to try and search out any of their friends. Really, the only one Shikamaru was even remotely interested in seeing besides her, was their teammate Chouji, but then, he’d never been able to say no to Ino. She had, in fact, even gone so far as to order him to keep quiet till he’d spotted anyone. Shikamaru sighed, and slumped further down against the pole he’d propped himself up against, his fingers twitching. He’d mostly given up the habit, but he’d be willing to kill for cigarettes at this point. Trust Ino to be hard to pin down. She probably did it just for the stress it was causing him.
He glanced back at the girl in question, who was animatedly gesturing to a pink-haired girl in a purple yukata. Behind them both, and louder than either, was a blond man with whiskery face-markings and a toothy grin. Shikamaru was too far away to hear any conversation on the part of the two girls, but caught Naruto shouting, “Believe it!” while pumping his fist into the air. A punch in the gut from Sakura seemed to quickly calm him down again, though. Acting as if what she’d done was nothing out of the ordinary, Sakura waved good-bye to her friend, and walked off, Naruto bent over, but still in tow.
After a quick wave to back to the duo, Ino whipped around, and came running towards him. She looked oddly like a little girl when running in sandals and a yukata. Arms and legs were loose-limbed and swinging, but still graceful. Her face was laughing and her eyes seemed lit from within. Shikamaru jerked up, in one sudden, awkward movement, embarrassed at how she took his breath away. It didn’t seem fair someone could just be walking around, so… so free looking. Like a perfect summer sky, really. Damn her.
Ino’s grin widened as she neared him, and her breath was coming out in little puffs, as she laughed. “Guess who finally caved? It only took Naruto, what? Five or six years? But Sakura finally agreed to go out on a date with him!”
Well, Shikamaru reflected, really, it could be worse. Naruto could have not asked at all, but still have been waiting for seventeen or eighteen years. Not that he’d had any personal experience doing such.
“How’d the date seem to be going?” he asked. Really, he could care less. Naruto was his friend, but his love life was none of his concern. Ino wanted to talk about it though, so he asked.
She shrugged in reply. “Hard to tell. I mean, Sakura seems to be beating on him an awful lot, but that’s just Sakura and Naruto. He didn’t seem to mind, really.”
Wonder who Sakura picked up that habit from, Shikamaru thought, but he kept his comments to himself. Unlike Naruto, he’d learned how to mostly keep his tongue around girls who were ninjas. You lived longer that way. Ino continued on, unperturbed by his lack of response. “Did you see anyone else?”
He was about to respond negatively, when he caught some movement right over her shoulder. Clustered around a stand, Shikamaru could now make out a group of familiar people.
“Its Team Eight,” he gestured a little mindlessly to Ino. A second glance revealed someone else as well. “Neji-san too.”
Ino turned to look at where he pointed, and once again he was a little struck with how graceful she could be. There was something in the arch of the neck, or maybe the tilt of her head, but before he could figure out what it was, Ino was laughing, and his line of thought was shot. It had always been impossible to concentrate when hearing it.
“It almost looks like Hinata has little harem, doesn’t it?” she commented, nodding towards the four. And, he had to admit the scene was rather comical, to anyone who knew the men well enough to interpret their movements. Shino stood apart from the rest, almost not one of the group at all, but, even if he wasn’t talking much, his presence said it all. Stay back; she doesn’t want you. She has us. In front of the dark-haired girl, with arms full of food, Kiba was imitating someone or other he’d seen at the festival. Hinata covered her mouth as she laughed, and Kiba’s grin took on a more sincere sheen to it. The last man, Neji, stood ramrod straight by her side, maybe as far as half a step behind. Shikamaru had always found the white, Hyuuga eyes hard to read, but there was something in the way his jaw softened at the sound of her laughter, something in way his hand stayed pressed to the small of her back that told him there was something more there, something, if he just looked a little longer to puzzle it out.
“Which one do you think she’s in love with?”
Shikamaru turned, recognizing that tone from Ino. It was an all-too-familiar, dishing, gossipy tone. Nothing in Kohona happened that Ino didn’t have an opinion on, and, growing up, it had somehow always been him who was her listening ear. Annoying, yes, but the world seemed a whole lot… flatter without her opinion coloring everyone’s move.
“They’re all in love with her,” he announced blandly, leaning back against the stand’s side to see how she would take his pronouncement. If he’d been expecting any sort of reaction at all though, he was disappointed. Ino merely nodded her head and tilted it to the side. “Well, you didn’t really answer the question, but… Yes, that’s what I thought too. She’ll make a good leader.”
“What?” he blurted out blankly, confused by the sudden about-face the conversation had taken.
“She’ll make a good leader,” Ino repeated, turning her head to look at him. Seeing his still-blank face, she continued, “People say Hinata’s not very strong, and it is sorta true. She’s not that great of a ninja- a good one instead of a great one. But… something about her attracts, right? They’re all in love with her- at least a little. Mostly just a little, really. Probably always will be, and that inspires some serious loyalty. And that’s why she’ll be a good leader, because she wins people’s hearts.”
Shikamaru turned the idea over in his head for a moment, and pushed himself back off from where he’d been leaning. “Wow, Ino. That had some seriously deep thought right there.”
He saw her eyebrows knit together, and that was all the warning he had before she punched him in the arm. “Jerk. I may be blonde, but I’m not dumb.”
Rubbing at the bruise, he realized she’d hit hard, but not as hard as he knew she could. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and instead grumbled back a half-apology, “I didn’t say you were. Geez. Just that I’d never thought of that.”
“Oh,” she blushed, just a little, right across the bridge of her nose, and turned away. “Um, anyway, I don’t think I could do that.”
“Do what?” he questioned, watching her watch their friends across the row of stands.
“Well, I’m greedy, I guess,” and her voice turned very soft, as she turned around again in order to look at him. “I wouldn’t want someone to be just a little in love with me. I’m an all or nothing sorta girl. Either the person needs to love me, or get over it. Anything else in between feels like… unfinished business, you know?”
The air changed as she said that, and Shikamaru realized now was the moment. She’d been avoiding the subject all evening, and had avoided it yesterday evening too when he’d finally caught up with her. She’d let him walk her home, but had somehow steered the conversation away from an attempt he made to talk about her backwards little confession she’d made in the restaurant. But now she was standing there, right in front of him, ready to talk.
“Ino, about last night, I-“ and before he could get any further, a meaty hand clapped down on his shoulder.
“See,” boomed a familiar voice, “I told ya, we’d find them!”
Turning around, he came face to face with Chouji, who had his arm wrapped around a pretty, but unfamiliar girl. Well, he reasoned, not totally unfamiliar. She had a set of unusually wide-set eyes that maybe he’d seen before, if only he could place them. Chouji grinned in an not-unlike-Naruto way and, seeing neither of his friends make a move to reply, continued on, “Ino, Shikamaru, I don’t know if you’ve met Yumika-chan! She works at one of Dad’s restaurants as a waitress. Yumika-chan, these people are Shikamaru and Ino, my best friends!”
“Oh!” The girl squeaked out, “You’re a lot younger than I thought. I mean-“ she cut herself off, throwing a hand up over her mouth, “I mean. It’s just. It’s just that I’d…um, already heard a lot about you from Chouji. But he, um, said you liked Shougi, and watching the clouds, and you looked forward to retirement, and that you two were practically married! So, I, um, that is, I was just surprised.”
Shikamaru just stared at her, stunned by this little speech. With each sentence she’d managed to press her back further and further into Chouji’s chest, with the result that the already-short girl looked smaller than ever, almost comically so. When no answer seemed to be forth coming the girl dropped her eyes to the ground.
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I don’t really know where that came from. Its just, well, that is to say, I tend to say all the wrong things when meeting people. It’s a stupid thing, really, but everything’s always out of my mouth before I realize it and- I didn’t really think you were old- I mean you don’t look too old and, -oh dear. I’m stopping, shutting up. Chouji, why aren’t you stopping me from making a mess of things?”
The little thing was so red, Shikamaru would have liked to help her out, do something to change the situation, but he was still trying to figure out what to say. He and Ino acted like they were married? He acted like an old man? The silence continued on for a beat or two, till he felt Ino snap to attention behind him. “Yumika-chan, is it? It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Besides, Chouji’s right. Shika is like an old man.”
Shikamaru bristled at that. Wasn’t that juuuust great. Sure, it put a stop to the inner debate he’d had going, but how was he suppose to make move, and confess undying love and all that shit when the girl in question was going around calling him an old man? And, yeah, he did like Shougi and cloud watching and maybe he’d mentioned retirement once or twice, but … “ Its not like we’re practically married.”
Three sets of eyes snapped towards him, and something inside of Ino that had been open not two minutes before snapped shut. He only just caught himself to keep from slapping his own hand up over his mouth. Maybe whatever issues this Yumika girl had were catching?
“Sooooo, Chouji, this is the girl you were telling us about?” Ino continued, having obviously decided to ignore him. “I think it’s kinda cute you get nervous like that, Yumika-chan! Tell me, what did you say to Chouji when you first met?”
Chouji jumped to attention and threw his arms out awkwardly, as if to try and physically hold back the girls-bonding-over-his-humiliation situation that had suddenly arisen. All these years of being friends with Ino should have taught him better, Shikamaru thought bitterly. Some things just could not be stopped.
“Oh,” Yumika laughed a little, and took half a step forward, already more at ease. Ino had that effect on people. “That incident actually was kind of funny, really. He’d just gotten back from…from a mission, wasn’t it Chouji? Anyway, I was there, listening to him order just about everything on the menu, and, all the sudden, I realize I’d just blurted out, ‘Look, you’re obviously so hungry you could eat horse, but this restaurant doesn’t serve that, so don’t bother. I’m going to have enough trouble bringing out what you already got.’ And you know what he said? He said -“
“I said ‘ if the food is as good-looking as the waitress, you won’t be able to get rid of me,’” Chouji finished, stepping in between the girls, in an attempt to take back control of the situation. Ino giggled, and Chouji’s face fell as he realized his ploy hadn’t worked at all. “Oh, Chouji, you didn’t!”
The husky ninja’s face reddened. “Well, it worked, didn’t it?”
Yumika snorted at this, an action Shikamaru couldn’t have imagined the awkward girl of a few minutes ago doing. “Not right away, it didn’t! He’s been showing up everyday at the restaurant for two months straight, Ino-san. And except for that first day, he didn’t order a thing, except maybe a drink, and he’d just stare at me-“
“Not just stare. I talked to you too, you know.” Chouji interjected, a little put out.
Yumika smiled. “Yes, and he talked to me, and eventually convinced me to come here with him to meet some of his friends.”
By the end of this story, the two were smiling up at each other, a wiry half-grin twitching up on Chouji’s face and a flat-out brilliant one shining from Yumika’s. It made Shikamaru feel like, just for a moment, he and Ino and everyone at this festival, didn’t exist. Or at least, not to that pair. But then he looked over at Ino, and suddenly what everyone else at this festival was doing or thinking didn’t matter any more. And not in the so-sweet-your-teeth-ache way Yumika and Chouji were exhibiting either. Ino was smiling over at their teammate, looking both a little happy and a little sad. His heart constricted just a bit, knowing he was the one making her feel both. She said she was an all or nothing girl? Well, he was all-or-nothing too; he just had to tell her. If only she wasn’t making it so much trouble to say anything! Steeling himself, he reached out and grabbed Ino by her wrist. It was all-or-nothing, know-or-never time.
“It was nice to see you, Chouji. A pleasure to meet you, Yumika-san. We’ll let you get back to your date, all right?” he said, staring hard at Chouji to make sure he got the message.
His best friend merely threw up his arms placatingly. “All right, all right. See you later, Shika, Ino.”
Confusion flitted across Ino’s face, but, before she could protest any, he turned and yanked her down the walkway. When she nearly tripped from the unexpected movement, he pulled her up along side him. Still gripping her wrist with one hand, he moved other to the small of her back and steered her along, ignoring her steady stream of protests. Finally taking a turn off the main street the festival was centered on, he stopped and let her go. The light was dimmer with no lanterns near, but it was quite private.
“Geez,” he grumbled, turning towards her. “You’re so loud. Quit being so troublesome, Ino.”
The blonde’s eyes narrowed and Shikamaru guessed he was lucky there was no place for carrying kunai in a yukata. She grounded out “ I’m troublesome? I’m not the one who just dragged a person all through the festival when said person was in the middle of a damn conversation, Shika. But you sure know how to compliment a lady, don’t you?”
“Yes, you are being troublesome, Ino,” he growled back. “And I wouldn’t have had to drag you away from anything, if you ever just gave me a chance! But nooooo can’t do that! I swear for someone who claims to love romantic shit so much, you do things in the most ass-backwards way, you know? Just like last night, dancing around, hinting you love me, instead just coming right out and saying it. And that’s your problem, not mine.”
Ino paled at his words before flushing a dark, angry red. Her voice low and steely, she spat out, “I don’t have to stand here and take this. You don’t have any right to be saying this to me. You’re the one who dragged me here; I’m not the one who wants to be here! I can go back and find Chouji, or, better yet, go home, if you find my company so annoying!”
Ino turned on her heels, but before she could take a step a Shikamaru’s voice reached out from behind her. “That’s not why you’re really mad though, is it? You were angry earlier, before I dragged you over here.”
He said it as a bald statement, not a question, and, though he could tell it bugged her that he did, she didn’t deny that fact. Taking a deep breath he went on. “You were angry I didn’t think we acted like a married couple, right? We aren’t even going out. Why would I think that? Heck, I don’t think I act like an old man either. That’s something else that Yumika girl said too right? Or that Chouji said to her. Or whatever. The point is, I don’t think I act oddly; I just act like me. And you and me? I don’t think we act like we’re practically married or some shit. I think we act like Shikamaru and Ino, like always. But here’s the thing about that. I’ve always been in love with you, right from day one, before I even knew that was what you called it. So maybe we have been acting like they said, without knowing it. Because it’s always been there. Even when you were gushing about some other guy, or hitting me, or calling Chouji fat, I loved you. And not just a little either. I’m like you, all or nothing. I either do something or I don’t, so… We can date and stuff first, but, I guess what I’m trying to ask you is, will you marry me? Be my wife, Ino.”
The noise of the festival, the music, the voices, the yelling, came rushing up, pounding in his ears, filling the silence that followed his words. In front of him, he watched Ino’s back. Her shoulders seemed to shake ever so slightly, but who knew what that meant? He could read nothing from her body language. He needed her words to answer him.
Soft and low, her voice came drifting up into the night air. “Did you just ask me what I think you did?”
“Yes,” he whispered. “Say yes, Ino.”
“It took us a long time to get here, didn’t it, Shika?” and before he’d even really registered the words, she was closing the distance, burying her head in his chest, wrapping her arms around him. Wetness on his chest told him she was crying, and, as if it was the most natural thing, he was reaching for her face, brushing at tears, and his lips were searching for hers. Then it happened. It was a soft kiss really, just a brush against her lips, but it slowed both their breathing to the point of synchronicity, and Shikamaru felt a slow, steady smile he thought he might never be rid of, break out over his face.
“Such a lot of trouble to ask one simple question,” he whispered. “And I still don’t have an answer.”
Ino broke out into a soft laugh at that, and their faces were so close he could feel the breath of it on his face. “You know the answer, don’t you?”
“Yes, but I want to hear you say it.”
“You’re being such a lot of trouble, Shika!”
“Consider it pay back.”
“Then yes, Shika. I’ll be your wife. Yes, Shika, I love you. Yes, I always will.”
“I love you, Yamanaka Ino.”
“Nara Ino, soon,” she corrected him, and he grinned in return. It was going to be pain dealing with telling all their crazy friends, and talking to her dad was going to be not only troublesome, but just plain scary. But this? No matter how long it had taken, or what backwards way they took to get there, this answer was worth it. And this moment, in a back alley, not looking at the festival fireworks, and hearing only each other’s breath, this moment was for them alone.
“I like the sound of that,” he said, and kissed her again.