Ino watched from the flower shop window as Temari and Shikamaru walked down the road together, talking and smiling.

Her eyes followed them until they were out of sight, having walked around a corner. Both of her fists were clenched and her teeth ground together in a grimace.

"Excuse me" said a lady at the counter, holding up some blue flowers "Do you like these? I was looking for some flowers for my-"

"No I do not like him!" Ino shouted, scowling at the lady. She froze when she saw the stricken look on the lady's face, coming back to reality. "I mean...sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Yeah, those are lovely. They'd look good with these" She pointed to some other flowers that matched the ones in the lady's hand.

"Oh, you're right, they do!" They lady smiled, and picked up some of those too. Then she handed them to Ino "I'll take these. Would you cut them for me?"

"Sure" Ino said, taking the flowers and picking up the sheers from behind the counter. Her mind wandered again as she began to size up the flower stems with the wrapping the lady had picked out to go with them.

Stupid Temari she thought Coming here and just taking Shikamaru. He's my friend, not hers! She can't just spend all his time like that!

She began mumbling to herself, unaware of the stare she was getting from the woman across the counter. Then she started hacking at the flower stems, far more violently then necessary.

"Ahem" the woman cleared her throat, probably a little worried for Ino's sanity.

"Oh...uh" Ino said "Sorry...I..." She gave up on trying to make an explanation, and put the flowers in the paper, handing them to the woman. She paid and quickly left without another word. Ino put the sheers back behind the counter and then rested her forehead against the cool wood.

"Whoops" she said aloud to herself. That was the third costumer she had scared today. What was with her? It wasn't like she liked Shikamaru, so why was this making her so mad?

She sighed and lifted her head. No use moping around. She had to step up her game and show Temari that she was Shikamaru's best girl friend, not her.

And by girlfriend, she most certainly, definitely, meant friend that was a girl.

Shaking her head, she concentrated on watching the shop, trying to take her mind off things by thinking about what flowers would look nice with other ones, and which ones would be best for certain occasions.

For example, you wouldn't give your grandma a red rose, because they symbolize romantic love. And, you wouldn't give someone in the hospital a potted plant, because it's bad luck.

Maybe I should give him a flower, to remind him that I'm his friend, not her. Ino thought, staring around at the flowers in the shop But they have to mean something...

Ino came out from behind the counter and browsed around the shop, searching for a flower that she could give to Shikamaru.

"An ivy flower would be ideal, because it symbolizes friendship. But ivy usually goes with another flower..." she murmured to herself "Maybe a yellow rose. They sometimes symbolize..."

Ino broke off as she realized the meaning of the flower described what she had been feeling all along, without realizing it.

Jealousy.

She cut the flowers, and put them in a little vase, arranging them so that the ivy surrounded the rose. When she finished, she put the money for them in the cash register. Her dad usually told her to tell him if she wanted anything from the shop, but she figured it was best she didn't tell him. He might get the wrong idea and think she liked him. Which she didn't.

Right?

Ino held the vase tightly between her fingers as she walked to Shikamaru's house.

Hah...This'll show him who his best friend really is Ino thought, smiling slightly to herself. I'm probably just overreacting anyways...

She stopped on the front step of his house and knocked on the door with one hand, clutching the vase in the other. As soon as her fist made the first two knocks on the door, however, she started having second thoughts. What if he got the wrong idea? What if he figured out what the yellow rose meant? What if he thinks I like him or something? What if -

Shikamaru's mom, Yoshino Nara, opened the door then, and Ino quickly hid the vase behind her back.

"Ino?" she said "What a nice surprise! I guess you're looking for Shikamaru?"

"Uh...yeah" Ino said, unsure of what to say should Yoshino ask her what she was looking for him for.

"Oh, he isn't here right now" she said, oblivious to Ino's nervousness. "I think he's out on a date with that Temari girl from Suna" She looked past Ino thoughtfully.

But Ino's heart nearly dropped out of her chest.

A date? He was dating her?

This most definitely meant war.

"Date..." Ino said, then composed herself "Uh...right! Sure! Thanks! Maybe I'll come back later! Bye, Yoshino -san!"

"Bye, Ino" she said, and shut the door.

Ino looked down at the vase in her hands and frowned.

Looks like ivy wasn't quite good enough after all.

Maybe I do like him she thought I mean, I feel so bad now. What does he see in her over me? But this isn't over. I'm not done...

She ran into the forest, holding the vase in her left hand as she picked up speed.

Gah, Shikamaru you idiot. Now look what I'm doing. Running into the forest full speed ahead, looking for a red rose bush.

"Pink roses...white roses...oh come on, it's gotta be here somewhere" she muttered to herself "Ah hah! There they are!"

She bent and stared at them for nearly five minutes before picking the one she liked best.

"This one bloomed the nicest." she said, then pulled out one of the extra kunai she liked to keep with her and cut the stem to fit the glass vase "I'll only choose one...now" She turned to the flowers already in the vase and pulled them out.

"What do I do with these?" she asked herself, looking at the flowers "Uh...er..." She looked in several directions before tossing them in the trees in frustration, slightly annoyed about wasting the yen.

Then she headed back to Shikamaru's house, a plan forming in her mind.

A secret admirer is so much more interesting than a pineapple leaf head.

This time, she skipped the front door, and jumped right into his bedroom window, which was luckily open. She stopped to listen, but couldn't hear anything except Shikamaru's mom walking around downstairs. There wasn't any other footsteps to be heard, so she relaxed and began looking for a place to put the flowers.

Ino hadn't been in Shikamaru's room since she was a kid. She still ate at his house with Choji and their dads for dinner sometimes, but they didn't play in here like they used to. The room was fairly untidy, which made sense. She pictured Shikamaru telling his mom it was too troublesome to tidy up and then taking nap instead. The mental picture her made her smile.

After pretending to walk into the room four times to see what your eyes would rest on first, she decided on the table by the window. Careful to arrange the flower so that it was facing whoever might be standing by the table, she stepped back, just about to leave.

Until she heard footsteps, right outside the room.

"Gak!" she said, panicking and running towards the window.

She stuck her head out first, preparing to jump, until she saw Shikamaru and Temari right underneath the window.

"GAK!" she said again, shouting this time. Waving her hands over her head in a panic, she dashed into the closet. The main door opened just as she had shut the closet door. Ino put one hand over her racing heart, panting.

"Hello?" came the voice of Shikamaru's mom "I thought I heard someone in here..."

Ino backed up to the very back of the closet and stayed as quiet as possible.

"Hmm...Guess not, then" she said to herself. Then, below, came the sound of the front door opening "...Oh, Shikamaru is home. I don't even have anything for dinner." She sighed in a sort of exasperated way, and walked back out of the room.

Ino let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. With a sharp shake of her head, she got a hold of herself, and dashed for the door. She slid it open half an inch and peeked out, ready to speed across the room and jump out the window before someone else came into the room.

Before she could, though, she saw Temari climbing in through the window. Ino ground her teeth together in frustration and anger. She had to ruin everything, didn't she? Ino watched as Temari looked around the room, raising an eyebrow at the mess. Then her eyes rested on the rose, and she smiled. Ino's eyebrows knit together as she watched Temari stare at it, looking transfixed.

Then the main door opened again, and Ino jumped back from the closet door.

"Mom's gone to the market, she should be back in half an hour or so" came Shikamaru's voice "Until then, the house is empty except for us"

"Okay" Temari answered "Hey, nice rose. You have good taste in flowers"

"Rose? I didn't put a rose in here"

"Well there's one there, see?"

"Oh, you're right. Wonder where that came from" Shikamaru yawned, unconcerned. Ino scowled. She had been hoping for something at least a little more excited.

"So" Temari said "I see you keep things in order."

"Yeah, I know, it's messy." Shikamaru said. Ino heard the sounds of him sitting down on the bed "But it's way too troublesome to clean"

"You should, you know" Temari said, sitting down as well "After all, you never know when a girl might come in here"

"No girls come in here" Shikamaru replied "So no worries"

"I'm in here now" Temari said, a little irritated "And I'm a girl"

"Oh...yeah...but..." he said uneasily "I...don't need to impress you, do I?"

"I think you do" Temari said and Ino could here the smile in her voice "I think I know of something you can do too..."

"...Subtle as a rhino" Shikamaru said, barely audible to Ino. Everything was fairly quiet then, and Ino peeked out through the crack between the door and the wall.

Then she blanched.

They were kissing.

Her heart pounded with a pain stronger then any pain that had ever been inflicted on her by a boy before. It was worse than when she found out that Sakura was on the same team as Sasuke. Much worse. Most people would assume that meant "more tears" or "more suffering," but to Ino, it was different.

To Ino, it meant more determination.

She was going to win him. And that was it. Pineapple Head had no right...she had no-

Before Ino could think anything else, she was hit by a wave of anger which tackled her like a football player, and was stronger than an ox.

Trying to stay silent, Ino threw a massive fit of rage, mouthing silent words -some rather colorful- and waving her fists around in silence. As the silence from Shikamaru and Temari stretched on, Ino's rage grew, and soon the movements of her arms became more violent. They evolved into strangling, stabbing, shaking and punching movements.

If we were in battle, I'd clobber her so hard! If we were in battle, I'd show her who really belongs with Shikamaru. If we were in battle, I'd take over her mind and make her-

Ino cut herself off mid thought, freezing with her arms raised in the air, stopping in the middle of her chopping motion. An idea was forming in her head.

"Your kissing is not too bad...but..." Temari said. Ino snapped out of her thoughts and lowered her arms, listening again.

"Heh, Thanks, Ino"

Everything froze.

Ino froze all over again, this time in a normal pose. The silence from the main part of the room was becoming deadly. However, Ino couldn't help put feel her lips curl inward, suppressing a smile and smothering a laugh.

"My name is Temari" Temari said slowly, her words coated in ice.

"I-I know! I just...I'm sorry, I mixed up the name! She's my teammate, it's understandable, isn't it? I mean, I work with her every day!" Shikamaru sounded almost scared.

Another silence followed, and Ino found herself pressing both palms over her mouth to keep from laughing.

"I'll let it slide" Temari said finally "This time"

"Uh...okay" Shikamaru said "Sorry about that..."

"Let's just never mention it again, all right?"

Ino peered through the crack in time to see Shikamaru nodding. She looked away, not wanting to see in case they kissed again. Instead, she controlled herself, and crouched down on the floor, trying to find a position where she could just see Temari, without being too close to the door and wouldn't make much noise after being rendered unconscious. After a few minutes of rooting around, she found a good position and began to initiate her jutsu.

Take this, Pineapple Head! ShintenShin no jutsu!

As always, there was a brief, strange sensation of being nowhere, which lasted less than a second before her consciousness entered Temari's body. Her back arched and she felt a look of surprise on her face before she composed her features again.

"Temari? Are you okay?" Shikamaru asked, looking at her strangely, full of suspicion.

"I'm fine, I just..." damn it, damn, what am I supposed to say?! "Had a strange pain...in my...foot..."

"...Ahh..." Shikamaru glanced down at her foot, his eyebrows knitting together.

"But it's fine now! It's okay!"

Shikamaru frowned, then leaned forward. Ino leaned forward too, then a thought crossed her mind that really should have come up before.

Did she really wanna have her first kiss in Pineapple Head's body?

Moving without thinking, she jerked away, arching her back like before.

"OW!" she shouted "There's that odd pain again. Gosh, that's weird."

"Isn't it?" Shikamaru said, sarcasm filling his voice. He moved even further forward, and Ino backed up nervously. But he withdrew a moment later, holding the rose in his hand. "Wonder where this came from..." he wondered out loud.

"Someone real pretty and special, I bet" Ino said, then remembered to concentrate on the task at hand - getting Temari out of here "OW!" she shouted again.

"What the heck, Temari?" Shikamaru said, frowning again and looking at her foot.

"I should leave...I mean...to take care of my strange foot, and all."

"It was your idea to come back here" Shikamaru pointed out "You should know by now I'm not stupid. What the heck is going on?"

"Sorry, I'm just not feeling well" Ino said, making a bad excuse "I think...I should just...well, actually..."

"Oh! My mom is back!" Shikamaru said suddenly, jumping up from the bed "You really should get going, after all. So, I'll see you later?"

"No" Ino said, far too quickly, "I mean...you could...you might...but I don't know. With my...ankle and all"

"Uh huh. I thought it was your foot?"

"Oh my gosh! It's spreading! I really better leave now, huh?" With that, Ino turned to jump out the window, only to stop upon sticking her head out the window for the second time that day. Shikaku, Shikamaru's dad, was outside in the yard, looking tired after returning from a mission.

"Gak!" Ino said, jumping back inside the room and backing up.

"I guess you could just wait around here till he moves" Shikamaru said "My mom probably won't come up here anyways"

"Shikamaru?" came Yoshino's voice from outside in the hall "Are you talking to yourself in there?"

Ino jumped violently, and fled into the closet, careful not to let Shikamaru see her real body near the back, and slid the door shut.

"No, Mom, I just...uh...found this flower in here" he said, looking at the flower in his hand as Yoshino came into the room "Do you know where it came from?"

"No, I haven't seen it before" she answered "It's nice though. Is it from that Temari girl?"

"No...Course not."

"Well, maybe you have a secret admirer" she said, laughing slightly, then she turned serious "Now will you clean up this room?!"

"Geez, you even nag me when you're joking around" Shikamaru complained as she left the room again. Ino slid open the door carefully, inching out so that you couldn't see into the closet.

"Gosh, that was close" she said, shutting the door again, but being careful to leave a tiny crack open like before "I really better leave now"

"Yeah" Shikamaru agreed lazily "Later"

Ino then jumped out the window and ran into the woods, panting. That was close. But at least she got Temari away from Shikamaru. But the problems weren't over yet... Once she was deep enough into the forest, she leaned against a tree, and then finished her jutsu.

Kai! Release!

Again, there was a strange sensation of being nowhere for a moment, a little longer than before, until she returned to her own body. She woke up with a pain in her neck, having slightly miscalculated the way she would fall, but ignored it. There were bigger problems now.

Like, say, getting out of Shikamaru's freaking closet.

As quietly as she could, she stood up, peeking out the door. Shikamaru was lying on his bed with his eyes shut, but Ino didn't dare move yet, knowing that he was a master at pretending to sleep, especially if he didn't want to do something or was suspicious about something.

Which, he had to be now, since Temari had seemed to have a mood swing so fast she could've had multiple personality disorder.

So Ino stayed silent, peeking out through the closet door, watching Shikamaru. A good time later, Yoshino finally called him for dinner, and Shikamaru sighed and left the room.

Ino let out a sigh of relief and slid open the closet door, glancing from side to side and then closing it the way she had it before. Hurrying, before anything else happened, she rushed to the window and jumped out, sticking to the side of the house with chakra. She walked down the side, concentrating so that she wouldn't slip; and she didn't...until she remembered something.

Shikamaru's room was right over the dining room, where the family was currently eating dinner.

"Shoot!" Ino said out loud, and then nearly fell off the side of the house. With a tough concentration, she narrowly avoided panic and found herself upside down...

...looking right into the dining room window.

Shikaku and Shikamaru were sitting on either side of the table, facing each other, sideways to her. Ino flinched, hoping against hope that they wouldn't see her.

In fact, she was so worried that either of them would see her, she almost didn't notice that Yoshino was staring right at her, from the far end of the table where she sat. Her mouth was slightly agape in surprise, but the other two didn't seem to notice.

Desperate now, Ino shot her a pleading look and mouthed the word "help". Yoshino gave her a strange look, and Ino bit her lip, wondering what she was about to do.

BANG! Ino slapped her hands over her mouth as Yoshino toppled backwards off her chair. Her son and husband jumped up, shouting things like 'are you okay?!' and 'what just happened!?'

Thank you, thank you, Yoshino-san! I'll explain all this later!

With that, Ino flipped over, landing a little ungracefully on the ground with a thud. Then she stood up and didn't stop running until she was far into the forest. Then she paused to pant, sinking down and sitting on the ground in front of a tree.

Then she burst out laughing.

"Ah ha, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" She laughed "I have a pain in my foot! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha...poor Yoshino-san, I wonder if she's okay? Ah, ha, ha, ha...Oh...hah...I'm never giving anyone flowers secretly again...ah, ha, ha...hoo..."

She finally sobered, and then decided to head home.

"Ino?" her father said when she walked through the door "Where were you?"

"I was...on an adventure..."

"Uh...oh" Inoichi said, looking at the floor and frowning in confusion. But Ino left quickly and went upstairs, not wanting him to ask any more questions. Besides, she had some more planning to do.

This wasn't over yet.