Shikamaru looks up skyward and sees that clouds have begun to build in a blustery way. They are rumbling and increasingly dark and rolling and piling in at an alarming rate. He has been so busy cloud watching that he hasn't noticed that things are happening. Life is happening.

He doesn't have a place to be, however, so he doesn't mind that the sky opens up while he is meandering home. He trudges through the first summer rain with his sandals scraping along the slippery dirt path, staining his toes and lodging bits of dirt and grime in his toenails. He doesn't mind. He knows he'll clean it all when he gets home. The rain has soaked through his hair and is attempting to do so with his clothes. It's no big deal. Its just hair and its just clothes. It will all be clean again before too long.

He debates stopping in for a beer to wait for the rain to let up, and casually touches at his pocket.

He will not be stopping in for a beer. He forgot his wallet at home.

Shikaramu trudges on, the darkness growing around him. What was a bright afternoon has suddenly become as dark as evening. He can see the lights illuminated in homes, providing cozy comfort for everyone from the rain. He is the only person left outside.

But he's not.

There she is, under a white umbrella in her short dress with her long, pale legs and long, pale hair.

It looks like she was on her way to her new apartment from the flower shop.

She sees him shortly after he sees her.

Her smile is as pale and bright in the rain as her white umbrella and her creamy legs.

"Shikamaru" she says, her voice coming out like a croon. It must be the way her lips curl out that last syllable of his name. It always looks like she's asking for a kiss when she says his name.

"Ino," he replies, as casually as possible.

Her fingernails are painted a light lavender, he notes.

She tilts her umbrella back so she can look up at him.

Ino ended up very tall, but he ended up taller. And he probably still has growing to do. Men can keep growing up to age 24. He has two years left.

He hopes he keeps growing. The view of Ino looking up at him through her lashes with her lips in a shy smile is perhaps the most pleasant thing he'll ever experience.

They stand there for a moment, in the rain, just looking at each other.

She then gets nervous, and giggles, and looks away.

He is just as nervous, but can't stop staring.

All girls have a certain softness, a loveliness to them, but Ino is more than soft and lovely. She is captivating.

She starts to say something, but stops herself with a laugh. "Hi," is all that comes out.

"Hello," he says back. Ino is usually the one to lead conversations, so he is bit unsure of how to proceed.

"Ummm…" Ino hums, sucking on her bottom lip. It is a nervous habit she has had since she was young.

This is the first time he has seen her since they kissed. On accident.

No. Not on accident.

Not on his part anyway.

"How are you?" she asks, her lips curling in that alluring way again.

He shuffles his dirty feet. "Fine. And you?"

She notices his feet in the rain. "Oh, I'm good. I just finished at work and was heading home. To my new home, I mean. Its so weird that I don't live at home home anymore; that I have a new place that's all mine to go to. You know?" She laughs self consciously. "I mean, of course you know, you moved out of your parents' place long before I moved out of mine. And your place is really nice! Very homey. Which is weird. I wouldn't describe you as particularly homey, but your home is very much like a home. Weird. Also oh my god your feet are the dirtiest things I have seen in a long time like really when is the last time you had a bath?"

He blinks at her for a moment. Ino certainly had a way of stealing a conversation. Or starting something out of nothing. Like, holy shit.

"I took a shower this morning, Ino."

What else can he say? He tries to come up with something witty and sarcastic, the kind of remark that will make her laugh.

She is still staring at his feet. "Well, obviously you need to shower again; your feet are filthy. Look, what are you doing rightnowatthisveryminute?"

He is still at a loss of clever things to say. He has started to wonder if she would notice if he ran a hand through her long glossy hair. It looks almost platinum in this light.

"I'm not doing anything."

She places a hand on her hip and sighs in that very exasperated Ino way as if she were dealing with a petulant child, but he has only ever seen her do it to him.

"I'm not about to let you wander the streets like a hoodlum, looking like that. Come to my house and wait for the rain to stop. Okay? You can clean your feet while you wait."

She stops for a breath, and realizes what has come out of her mouth.

"I mean…" she adds, a little hesitantly. "If you want to."

Shikamaru eyes her nervously, the way one would eye a wild animal that happened upon you in the wilderness. "Are you sure? I would hate to track mud in your house."

"No, its fine. My apartment is just around the block. You live on the other side of town. Just stay until it stops raining, okay?"

His heart is beating much faster than it was when it started raining.

"Sure," he manages with a shrug.

Neither of them has mentioned them kissing each other the night before.

X

He is standing alone in her shower, scrubbing himself down. The remnants of the muck and grime are slowly sliding towards the drain of her very white, very clean bathtub/shower combo.

Her bottles of shampoo and soaps clutter the sides of the tub, but he doesn't mind. It is a very Ino thing, he thinks, to keep copious amounts of soap and smell-good things.

She had ushered him in to her apartment shyly. The darkness of her apartment was rather romantic, he thought. There was the soft, grey glow and the gentle hiss of rain from outside that cast a pleasant gloom over her small place, and there they were, wet in the entryway, dripping on the wood floors and staring at each other expectantly, before she turned away, calling out that she had to fetch him some towels and light some candles. "The power might be out," she had said.

The power wasn't out, but that didn't stop her from lighting candles.

So he had dripped his way to her bathroom with her blessing that he could take as much time as he needed while she made some hot water for tea. He is currently in the troublesome process of choosing between which of her smelly goops he should put in his hair when he hears the bathroom door open from beyond the shower curtain. He freezes.

He hears a nervous intake of breath.

"Ummm…" she starts. She is probably sucking on her lower lip. "I brought you some clothes. Some dry ones, I mean. Until yours dry off. Its just a pair of lounge pants and a big t-shirt. The pants might be pretty short on you, but they're the only ones I have with a drawstring that might fit you, so I figured you might not mind. And the shirt might fit too, I think."

Shikamaru can't help the grin on his face. "Thanks, Ino. That's really…" What is a good word? "…thoughtful of you." Fuck.

"Oh, you know, its nothing. I couldn't very well let you get cleaned up only to make you sit in wet clothes, could I?" There is some lingering nervousness on her tongue.

Silence settles into the room along with the running water. Steam is slowly beginning to billow.

"Shikamaru?" she asks, in a small voice.

"Ino?"

…

"Why did you kiss me last night?"

There it is. The question that has been lingering since they first saw each other that day.

He shuffles his feet in the stream of water.

They had been at a bar, just the two of them. Just as friends. They had gone to talk about their aging parents and Choji's new marriage and how things were changing as they were growing and he had just finished his third beer and she was still nursing her second glass of wine and he had caught sight of her lips as she turned away for a quick glance at something and the impulse had overcome him.

Which was odd. Of all the things Shikamaru is, impulsive is not one of them.

"I dunno," he manages. "I felt like it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Your, um… your lips looked really nice, so I just… I dunno, I thought… What are you asking me this for, huh? What a troublesome thing to bring up." He is brash as he becomes more nervous. He is naked and wet and feels more vulnerable than ever, even though they are separated by a flimsy piece of hanging plastic. The thought of her lips touching his again is flustering him and he wants for her to leave the steamy bathroom and he desperately wants her to join him in the running water.

"Yeah," she murmurs, a bit sadly. "I'll just…leave you to it."

The bathroom door opens and closes quietly, and Shikamaru wishes he hadn't been so brash. He forgets sometimes that beneath her loud exterior, Ino is a very sensitive woman. She takes things far too personally far too often. Shit.

He finishes his shower as quickly as possible and dries off as quickly as possible. There, next to the sink, are the clothes she has promised. As she predicted, the simple black sweatpants are rather short, but they manage to fit. He is a little embarrassed, as she left him no undergarments. It could be very easy to see everything. The shirt fits tightly around his arms and remains snug around his chest, but it is soft and warm and smells like her. He exits the bathroom in search of her.

She is in her kitchen, a cup of tea in her hand. There is another cup next to her, waiting for him. He just sees the back of her blonde head, but knows he must make it up to her.

"Ino," he says quietly.

She looks at him. She has not been crying, but it is obvious that she is rather upset. Her mouth seems wavery.

He can't help but notice that her eyes rake up and down his long, wirey frame as he approaches her. It is rather exciting to be noticed by Ino Yamanaka.

Shikamaru gets the impression that he is looming over her as he makes her face him, his hands on her shoulders. Her arms are crossed over her chest protectively and in one hand rests her mug.

"Ino, I'm not very good with words. They're troublesome, and I like to avoid troublesome things. But, I just… Last night, I kissed you because I wanted to. You looked really pretty last night, and I wanted to know what it was like. To kiss you, I mean. Your hair was really shiny and your lips were just sort of out there and…yeah."

A tremulous smile begins to crack on Ino's wounded little face.

"You really aren't good with words," she says. She glances away with a chuckle. "I made you some tea. And the clothes fit, that's good."

"Yeah", he says. His hands are still on her shoulders. She sets down her tea mug.

Her eyes meet his. The rain is still glancing off of her roof and her windows and her walls.

"Come here," she murmurs. "I have a secret for you."

He leans in closer to her.

"Say my name," she practically whispers.

"Ino." His voice is much lower than hers, even in a whisper.

She smiles that secret, shy smile that made him want to kiss her in the first place. "Whenever you say my name, the way you round your mouth at the end makes it look like you want me to kiss you."

He meets her eyes, startled, but hers are already closed and she has claimed his mouth with hers.