Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.
Summary: Shikamaru is gonna buy flowers for a girl from Ino's flower shop. Ino wants to know what she's like. Little does she know… Short One shot. ShikaxIno.
You Know Them Well Enough
Ino looked up from the magazine she was reading behind the counter as the bell rang in the shop; signaling a customer had entered. She nearly fell out of her chair when she saw that it was Shikamaru. He never came into the flower shop, not even to get his mom a Valentine's day present or anything. He was too lazy.
"Shika? What are you doing here?" Ino asked, closing her magazine and setting it on the counter. She walked around until she was right next to him.
He shrugged, staring up at the ceiling, "Why else would I come to a flower shop, Ino?"
She glared, putting her hand on her hip. Well it's not like he was gonna buy anything for somebody. Apparently it was 'too troublesome', "A straight answer would be nice."
"Eh, I have to buy flowers for someone," Shikamaru said, a small blush forming on his face. Ino raised an eyebrow. Who was he buying flowers for? He wouldn't be taking initiative if the person weren't special…
"You're kidding… right?"
Shikamaru shrugged again, looking at all the different flowers around. There were all different ones to pick from. Red, purple, pink, yellow, orange… he didn't where to start. There were even little wreaths full of assorted flowers, and some were shaped like hearts. What the heck was he supposed to pick?
"For who?" Ino asked, watching as his eyes scanned over the different flowers. She still couldn't believe he was actually going to buy some.
Shikamaru stopped looking at the flowers and glanced at Ino. It's not like he was gonna tell her who he was buying flowers for, "A girl."
"Which girl?" Ino grit her teeth. Did he have to be difficult? All he had to do was tell her whom he was getting the flowers for! Then she could give him something she wouldn't like… 'Cause it's not like she was jealous or anything. Oh, no. Definitely not.
"You know her well enough," Was his blunt reply.
Ino smacked her forehead. Typical Shikamaru, "I do?"
Shikamaru shrugged and went back to figuring out what the hell kind of flower he should get, "Pretty sure."
A moment of silence passed through them with Ino staring at Shikamaru and Shikamaru staring at the flowers. Finally Shikamaru turned back to her and sighed, "Hey, Ino. What flower should I get?"
Ino grinned and flipped her hair over her shoulder, "Well, tell me about this girl then and I can try and match a flower to her personality."
Perfect. Now I can figure out who it is…"She's bossy and troublesome," Shikamaru drawled out, "And I kinda wanna shoot her half the time…"
Ino laughed. And he was going to buy her a flower? She thought he wanted a normal wife and all of that other crap he said…, "Okay. So you want to shoot her but you're getting her a gift?"
"Yeah."
"You make sense, Nara. So what about the other half of the time?" She asked curiously, leaning against the counter and playing with one of the flowers next to her.
Shikamaru lazily leaned back against the counter too and stared out the window at all of the passing people on the street, "I don't know. So what flower should I buy?"
Ino bit her lip and thought about it, but couldn't come up with anything. She had basically nothing to go off of, "How should I know? You weren't exactly descriptive, you know."
"Well then what's your favorite flower? I'll just get her that."
"My favorite is the Iris… but only the purple ones. I don't like the pink or white ones," She told him, pointing to a corner in the shop where some Iris' were arranged. He looked over and wrinkled his nose. Those were the ugliest things he'd ever seen. He really hated flowers. He should've just gone with chocolate or something.
Shikamaru sighed and walked over to the corner to get one of those flowers. Really, how troublesome. Now that he was there and told Ino he was going to get a flower, she probably wouldn't let him leave until he got one instead of going and getting chocolates.
Great.
Just as he was about to grab a random purple flower from the corner, the shop bell rang again. Shikamaru looked up and saw another guy around their age walk in, going straight over to Ino. He was tall, had dark, short hair and eyes to match, and from the way Ino's eyes lit up he guessed he was good looking. His eye twitched as the guy leaned against the counter like she was and started flirting with her. And just like Ino, she never missed the chance to flirt with a cute guy. He pretended to be picking a flower while eavesdropping in on their conversation.
How troublesome.
Ino giggled relentlessly as the boy told her some joke she didn't even find all that funny. He may have been cute, but he was kind of an ass. All he did was talk about himself.
"Yeah, and then this one time, I purposely tripped this kid and-" Ino stopped paying attention after a while, wondering what the hell was taking Shikamaru so long to pick his flower.
That'll teach me to flirt with every cute guy I see.
She stopped zoning out when she felt a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, Ino, you gonna answer me?"
"What?" She asked, blinking and looking back up at the guy. He ran a hand through his silky hair and grinned, "I asked if you wanted to do something on Friday."
Shikamaru's eye twitched a second time and he accidentally crushed the flower in his hand. He looked at it and shrugged, throwing it behind him. This was all too troublesome. He shouldn't be going and crushing flowers over some guy asking Ino out. It took too much energy.
Ino smiled awkwardly at the guy (she didn't catch his name) and shook her head, "Um, actually I think I'm busy on Friday."
Yeah, busy doing nothing.
"Okay, what about Saturday?" The boy relented, leaning even closer to her on the counter. He was pretty damn persistent in Ino's opinion. Too persistent.
Ino stepped away from the counter and pretended to be fixing a few of the flower wreaths up, "Uh… I'll be busy for a while."
Finally taking the hint the guy scowled, getting off of the counter. He pushed his hands into his pockets and mumbled, "Why? Is there somebody else?"
"Yeah, actually," Ino told him and shrugged, putting the wreath back where it originally hung on the wall. The guy grumbled about how all the good-looking girls were taken and nearly stomped out of the shop. Ino scratched the back of her head and looked back at Shikamaru who finally pulled one of the flowers out and walked over to her.
"So, who's this guy?" Shikamaru asked, looking pretty uninterested. He spun the flower in his hand tiredly and gazed up at the ceiling, pretending it was the sky he enjoyed looking up at to do some cloud watching.
Ino shrugged with a smirk, "Just some boy."
"Which boy?" Shikamaru responded, already seeing where this was headed. She was going to be problematic about it just to get back at him for not telling her what girl he was getting the flower for.
"You know him pretty well," She grinned evilly and moved behind the counter again, pushing her magazine over near the register, "I'll be right back. I have something I have to do in the back. Just ring your flower up and I'll be out."
Shikamaru nodded as she walked into a door that led to the rear of the shop. Glaring down at the purple Iris in his hand, he shrugged and walked over to the register, throwing a dollar in.
From the back Ino heard the bell ring again, meaning Shika probably left. Walking out with a vase she looked around and didn't see Shikamaru, so she walked to the window and set the vase on the sill and put a few assorted flowers in it. She finished with a bored sigh and walked back behind the counter and sat on her stool. Leaning on her elbow she was about to pick up her magazine and start reading where she left off, but there was something in her way.
With a small smile Ino picked up the purple flower.
The End. XD.