The Problem With Watching Clouds, a naruto fanfic

Notes: This is part of the 'High School Romances' series that I've been working on. This one is a sort-of sequel to the other one, which is a Suigetsu/Karin fic. You don't have to read that one to understand this one, but there are a few references that might be unclear if you haven't read the other one. It mostly happens during and then after 'The Symbolism of the Watermelon Flavored Lollipop'.

I would also like to note that any sexist remarks made in Shikamaru's p.o.v. are not a reflection of my own thoughts. Most of the time.

The Problem With Watching Clouds

Ino could tell when Shikamaru was genuinely listening to her and when he was only pretending. After a year of dating, she'd honed the skill of reading his expressions and mannerisms. She could usually tell what he was feeling and, more importantly, what he was thinking about. Specifically, if any of those thoughts included her.

Granted, she wasn't a mind reader. But it was so easy to tell that at this very moment, her boyfriend was too busy trying to count the bumps on the ceiling to listen to what she was saying.

"And it was so sweet of him. He was all nervous about what her favorite flowers were and whether she would even appreciate them," she rambled, narrowing her eyes when Shikamaru nodded and 'uh-huhed'. "And he told me afterwards that she was really happy about it and kissed him on the cheek (1)."

"Yeah, that's cool."

"And then they got married and bought a pig farm in Antarctica and had sixteen children."

"Mmmm, totally romantic," he mumbled. He stopped, furrowing his brow. "Wait, what?"

Ino kicked him lightly in the shin and he yelped. "You weren't listening to me! You are such a jackass!" She made to rise from the couch but was stopped when he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back down.

"All right, all right, I promise I'll stop zoning out on you. You can keep talking," he insisted, pulling her onto his lap and looking pointedly at her. She crossed her arms and stared at the wall. "Aw, come on, Ino. Something about Karin and…uh…Suigetsu and flowers." He then notices the bracelet around her wrist. It was a thin silver chain with tiny hearts and stars dangling from it. It hadn't been there the day before, and he didn't recall buying it for his girlfriend.

Ino stopped sulking when he hooked his pinky around the chain and pulled it gently to get a better look.

"What's this? I don't remember you having this before."

"This? This was a gift from Suigetsu," she said, unhooking it and showing it to him. "It was to thank me for helping him with the flowers. Isn't it pretty?"

Shikamaru scowled, displeased by the way she was beaming at the gift. "Why is Suigetsu giving you presents? Doesn't he realize it's rude to flirt with other people's girlfriends?"

"He's not flirting with me," Ino corrected. "He was just being nice to me for helping him. You know he likes Karin." She paused, then slipped into a familiar pouting expression. "Don't you think it's pathetic that Suigetsu is more romantic with Karin than you have ever been with me?" She felt him sigh irritably and shift underneath her.

"Tch. Suigetsu an idiot for letting himself be strung along by some girl. He's putting so much effort in this when he should seriously just give up."

Ino was silent for a moment, fiddling with the drawstring of his hoodie. Her voice was subdued when she spoke again.

"You really think relationships aren't worth the trouble?"

Her boyfriend groaned, rolling his eyes and looking exasperated with the conversation. He'd never been one to talk about romance and love and fluffy things – he thought it was boring and a waste of time. It was one of the things that made them different, and one of the reasons friends like Sakura were vital in her life. He shifted and she moved off him, sliding onto the floor and standing up when he vacated the couch, expression tight with irritation.

"Ahhh, damn it, Ino. Now you're just trying to pick a fight with me. You know I hate it when you do that," he grumbled. "You're always calling me lazy, and you know that's just who I am. So you shouldn't look for an excuse to argue, because I'm not going to fall for it." He turned and walked to the kitchen, scratching the back of his head and slouching.

Ino could hear him opening cupboards, searching for something to snack on before dinner. She sat back on the couch slowly, her head feeling slightly numb and her ears buzzing. Without realizing it, her hands were clenching and unclenching unconsciously and she could feel a shiver running up and down her spine. She didn't know why this was affecting her so much, why she was feeling so hurt about this, but all she knew was that this evening something had changed. And not for the better.

She wasn't worried about Shikamaru getting annoyed for her trying to pick a fight, but there was this strange nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her that this conversation was important, and that if she continued to think about it she wouldn't like the conclusion she'd reach.

She pushed that out of her mind when two arms encircled her and warm lips pressed against her neck. She leaned back instinctively into the embrace and ended up comfortably lying on Shikamaru, who was now kissing her shoulder.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you; I didn't mean it," he said apologetically. "You know I love you, right?" That rare second of insecurity was enough to make her relax and forget what had just been discussed.

"Mmm. I love you too."

He continued with his ministrations and she forgot about their problems, because that was the effect that Shikamaru had on her.

- 0 -

"Puh-lease. If Shikamaru had a choice he wouldn't even get up to eat or drink or go to the bathroom. He'd just sit and watch clouds all year long."

Ino immediately felt offended by this statement and opened her mouth to contradict Karin. Sadly, no comeback came to her mind and she had to settle for pouting and crossing her arms. As the others spoke she frowned, suddenly realizing how absolutely true this statement was.

The only thing that Shikamaru ever seemed to do (willingly, of course) was sleep or watch clouds. She tried to remember the last instance they had spent time together that hadn't begun with her pleading with him to leave the house or slapping him over the head and demanding he eat dinner with her.

As Hinata spoke up – something so rare it almost pulled her out of her own daydream – the other girls began giggling and nudging Karin. Ino didn't join in, still desperately trying to search for a point in her relationship when Shikamaru had been the one to make the first move. In fact, she couldn't even imagine one romantic thing that he'd done for her in the past few months.

Even when he'd asked her out in school it had only been during Math when they sat together and he'd leaned over and said:

"Want to come over tonight? We can order takeout."

And although she could admit that it had been a very enjoyable night that she would always look back on without regret, it was a tribute to his laziness that he hadn't even bothered taking her somewhere nice. Not only that, but she had been the one to go to his house. Not to mention she had been the one to order the food, pick the movie and get the drinks and pay the delivery boy and turn down the lights and find the remote and-

She was snapped out of her daze by someone clicking their fingers in front of her face. Blinking stupidly, she found herself face-to-face with Sakura, who was trying to get her attention.

"Ino? What's wrong? You totally zoned out for a second there," she said, looking concerned. The others were talking amongst themselves and hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. The blonde looked around, before motioning in such a way to show that she wanted to talk in private. Her friend nodded, knowing full well that this was going to be a 'girl-talk'. "Hey guys, we made plans for an early dinner so we're going to head off now. We'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

The other girls waved them off and as they walked past Sasuke and his group, both Ino and Sakura noticed that Suigetsu was discreetly glancing at Karin when she wasn't looking. The redhead hadn't noticed, too caught up in trying to ignore him and pretending that she didn't care about the girls draped over him.

When he pouted and glanced away, his eyes met with Ino's and the two of them waved at each other. As she walked down the street, she absent-mindedly fiddled with the bracelet he had given her. It had been meant for Karin, but when she'd thrown it in his face he'd offered it to Ino as a thank you for helping him.

"Since when have you two been on friendly terms?" Sakura asked, confused by their little exchange.

"Didn't I tell you? Suigetsu came to me to buy flowers for Karin a few days ago. It was during that time when he was doing all those romantic things, so he asked me if I could pick out something nice that she would like," she explained. The pink-haired girl sighed, looking dreamy.

"That's so romantic. I can't believe she hasn't fallen for him yet after everything he's done for her. I just hope it's not too late, what with him saying he's given up on her. "

"No way. Did you see him just now? He was totally checking her out. Not to mention it's totally obvious that she likes him back," Ino giggled. "She gets so mad whenever we tease her about him. It's classic denial."

They crossed the street, heading towards one of their favorite restaurants, Akatsuki. It was a Japanese restaurant with delicious food and, in Sakura's word, "delicious waiters". One of the waiters was Sasuke's older brother, Itachi Uchiha, who was working part-time whilst attending college. Most of the others were in the same situation and although they were a strange bunch, the majority of them were delightfully good-looking and this fact had prompted the two girls to eat there at least once a week.

They entered, immediately seating themselves in their usual spot and were greeted by Itachi, who silently handed them two menus. The restaurant was barely full, as it wasn't even close to dinnertime yet.

"Hello, Itachi. How's it going?" Sakura managed. She was about as verbal around him as she'd been with Sasuke back when she'd liked him. Itachi was like an older, even more intimidating Sasuke (if that was possible) and although he'd never been rude to them, they still tip toed around him as if he were going to melt them with his glare.

"Business is good. We've hired two more waiters and Pein is thinking of expanding the restaurant," he said. His voice was flat and quiet, but the girls had learnt that it didn't necessarily mean he was bored or being rude.

"New waiters? Where?"

"Over there. Their names are Hidan and Deidara, and I personally wouldn't recommend that you stare at them, especially Hidan. He tends to take things…a little too personally." As he said this the silver-haired waiter grabbed a customer by the collar and hauled him off his chair, swearing loudly. "I'll see to it that he doesn't serve you."

"Thank you," Sakura said hastily.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to straighten out the situation. I will call Sasori to your table when you are ready." He then left without waiting for them to speak. Sakura smiled, a light blush tinting her cheeks as she watched him go.

"I know that I'm dating Naruto, but I can't help myself whenever I'm around Sasuke or his brother. They're just so…handsome and mysterious," she said, opening the menu and scanning the pages. When Ino didn't answer, she looked up to see what was wrong. Ino never passed up a chance to giggle about how handsome Sasuke or Itachi were. Currently her eyes were locked onto a scene behind Sakura.

Ino was staring at the couple in the corner who had just been led to their table. As she watched, Kiba pulled a chair out for Hinata, who sat in it shyly and thanked him. It was sweet, in a way that made her want to slap her forehead. Hinata still had absolutely no idea that Kiba was head over heels for her. Their sudden, budding "friendship" was so completely one-sided it made her cringe. She almost wanted to shake Hinata and yell at her to open her eyes and see that she had a perfectly good boy falling in love with her.

"How cute," Sakura commented. "Do you think she realizes that they're dating?"

"Doubt it. But still, it's sweet, kind of like what Suigetsu was doing. The two of them…doing so much for the ones they like," Ino mumbled, flushing slightly. God, how obvious was she making herself? It was almost humiliating. It would've been, if it weren't for the fact that she was talking to Sakura.

Of course, her friend caught on immediately.

"Okay, this has something to do with Shikamaru, doesn't it?" she asked. "What did he do this time? Was he insensitive? Did he say something about your weight? Oh God, he called you fat, didn't he?" She straightened, obviously preparing herself for a 'confidence boosting rant'.

"What? No!" Ino laughed. "Even Shikamaru knows not to comment on my weight."

"Then what's up? Was it that thing Karin said? I noticed you got kind of quiet after that." Damn, she was perceptive.

"Well, it was a little bit about that. But it wasn't so much what she said, but what I thought about afterwards," she paused, unsure of how to continue. "Shikamaru and I have been dating for about a year and lately…every time we've gone out or done anything special, I was always the one putting the effort into making it happen."

"How so?"

"When we went out for dinner, I had to call and make the reservations. I had to drive the car to his house and pick him up. I had to order the food for him. And that's just a regular date!" she snapped, catching Sakura off guard. "When we went on that road trip – just the two of us – to attend the concert of his favorite band, I had to book the tickets, drive the whole six hours, check into the motel, check out of the motel and drive back the entire way. Not to mention he fell asleep both trips!" She was beginning to get hysterical and could feel her eyes watering at the corners.

"Ino…um…"

"He just doesn't care about our relationship anymore! He never makes an effort to make things work like he used to and all he wants to do is sleep or watch goddamn clouds all day long. He doesn't give a crap about my feelings at all and every time I try to talk to him seriously he falls asleep or calls me 'troublesome' or-"

"Ino, you're getting hysterical."

"And every time I want to go out, I have to practically beg him to leave the house. I always have to be the one to suggest a date, or call him up to talk or go to the movies. Even when it comes to sex, I have to be the one to initiate it!" she sobbed. "And now when I look back on it, I'm always on top!"

She was interrupted by a soft cough next to her and the two of them turned to see Sasori standing there, eyebrow raised. Ino flushed a bright red as she realized that the waiter had heard everything. Not only that, but she could feel tears streaming down her cheeks and the stares of the people around her. How humiliating. The thought only made her want to cry even more. To her utmost horror, she couldn't stop herself from choking up from the tears.

Sakura cleared her throat, also looking slightly embarrassed by her friend's outburst. "Um…I'll have the salmon sushi, gyoza and water, please." Sasori nodded and took the menu from her.

"I'll just have the muh-mixed seafood salad and peeeeeepsi-hi-hi-hi," Ino bawled, not meeting his eye as she handed him the menu.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have any sugar," Sasori suggested flatly.

She simply wailed and let her head hit the table with a thunk.

- 0 –

- 0 -

"Dude, your girlfriend completely freaked out in Akatsuki yesterday."

Shikamaru lifted his head to stare at Kiba, who had just walked onto the field. He was currently watching the clouds with his best friend Choji, and the two of them were vaguely surprised by the interruption. He blinked blearily and frowned when Kiba flopped onto the grass.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I was in Akatsuki yesterday and Ino was having a major breakdown. She was crying her eyes out and complaining about…well, about you actually," Kiba admitted.

"What? What was she saying about me?" Shikamaru demanded, sitting up on his elbows. He went through his memory, trying to pinpoint when he'd last had a fight with Ino. Perhaps a few days ago, when he'd complained about her flirtations with Suigetsu, but it hadn't been anything to cry about. Maybe he'd been a little insensitive to her feelings without realizing it. She had been a little upset afterwards, but Ino often liked to overdramatize problems. Tch, just like a woman, he thought moodily.

Kiba scratched his head, thinking deeply. "Uhh…stuff about how you never make an effort to do anything with her and how all you ever do is sleep and watch clouds." He smirked widely. "Oh, and she also mentioned your sex life."

"She what? How many people heard her?"

"I'm pretty sure everyone in the restaurant knows that you just lie there and take it."

Choji started laughing as Shikamaru groaned, feeling a twinge of embarrassment. He didn't care what people thought of him, but it didn't mean that he wanted details on his sex life broadcasted to the entire population. People talked, and he preferred to keep the lewd winking and suggestive nudges in the school cafeteria to a bare minimum.

He knew that Ino loved to gossip and probably told Sakura even the most intimate details about their relationship, and he didn't have a problem with it. He'd accepted it as part of the 'dating-Ino-package' and had learned to live with it. But to start freaking out about him in public was extreme even for her. It occurred to him that maybe there was a real problem surfacing that he'd have to deal with soon.

"Looks like you've really stepped in it this time, Shikamaru," Choji chuckled, popping open a bag of chips. He hadn't noticed his friend's troubled silence yet, probably thinking this was another one of Ino's shallow rants. "What did you do to make her mad this time?"

"I…didn't do anything," Shikamaru said sullenly. The other two went silent, looking confused. "At least, nothing that would deserve such a strong reaction. What else did she say, Kiba?"

"Um…oh yeah! She also said you didn't give a crap about her feelings or your relationship." He looked thoughtful. "You know, this could actually be serious. I know Ino's a drama queen and I've seen her cry over stupid things plenty of times, but even I could tell that she was really upset over this. Looks like you have some damage control to do."

"I don't know how to deal with stuff like this," Shikamaru complained. "Women are always so troublesome, and Ino's always saying one thing and meaning something else. How am I supposed to fix this?"

"Dude, you're a genius. This should be a no-brainer."

"Being a genius isn't the same as being smart with women. Women are…complicated."

The three of them were silent as they each contemplated their own past with relationships. Choji was seeing a girl from another school, and their relationship had run smoothly for the past five weeks. He was currently doing better than Shikamaru apparently was.

Kiba, on the other hand, was currently dating Hinata. Or at least, it seemed like they were dating. The two of them were pretty much a couple, but Shikamaru had often caught hints that maybe Hinata had no idea that they were officially going out. She was a pretty oblivious person when it came to things like this. He wondered when the truth would finally come out, and hoped that when it happened things would end well. He didn't want to sit through Kiba's ranting about girls and their determination to ruin his life. He'd gotten enough of that from every other boy. People seemed to believe that him silently watching clouds was actually an invitation to rant about their problems and have him listen to every word.

"Well…" Choji began carefully. "The problem seems to be that she thinks you don't care enough to make an effort to show how much you love her. So maybe you should just show her."

"Show her how?"

"A romantic gesture? Just do something out of the ordinary, you know," he suggested. "Maybe you should ask Suigetsu. He seems to be knowledgeable in that stuff."

Shikamaru grimaced, not wanting to talk about Suigetsu. After all, his latest argument with Ino was about that asshole and his attempts to 'tame the shrew'. The last person he wanted to go to for romantic advice was Suigetsu. Actually, that wasn't true. Naruto was the last on his list. He may have a girlfriend, but he was still an idiot when it came to handling girls. Sakura was just a fluke.

"Yeah, right. Look how good that's turning out for him," Kiba snorted. "I'm pretty sure Karin's one step away from setting his house on fire."

"It seems like that from her attitude, but if you watch closely it's obvious that she wants him. Ever since he gave up she hasn't stopped looking at him and glaring at all the girls he hangs around. And she's barely spared Sasuke a glance in that time." Choji was, strangely enough, good at reading signs of romance between people – maybe because he wasn't driven by his hormones like Kiba or blatantly sexist like Shikamaru.

"So you think that…I should buy her flowers or something?"

"Just show her you love her."

Shikamaru tilted his head back, wishing for the millionth time that he were a cloud. He was sure that clouds didn't have to deal with their girlfriends breaking down in restaurants and revealing intimate, sexual secrets to the general public.

But if he were a cloud, then he wouldn't be dating Ino. And even though this was such a drag, he really loved Ino, and he wanted her to be happy.

He sat up, resigning himself to a long week.

"All right. I'll give it a try."

- 0 –

- 0 -

Shikamaru glanced at the list he had written up with Kiba and Choji last night, while the three of them were slightly tipsy and lying around in his room, blurting out suggestions that might save the relationship. Most of them were lewd and inappropriate – courtesy of Kiba – but they'd manage to write out a semi-decent lists of things he believe might show Ino that he cared.

He picked out the easiest, which was the third on the list. It was situated underneath '1. Buy her a puppy', which was Kiba's idea and '2. Public bathroom sex', also Kiba's idea. The first didn't take into consideration Ino's mother's severe dog allergy and the second didn't take into consideration Ino's inability to go within ten feet of a public bathroom. Even the really nice ones in ones in five-star hotels took a lot of convincing.

So instead he focused on '3. Nice, relaxing bubble bath' and decided that it was simple and sweet. He knew that Ino enjoyed doing anything to pamper herself and he had always complained that it was a waste of time, so this would be a pleasant surprise for her, right? Choji had been the one to suggest this and when he thought about it, he couldn't see anything wrong with it.

Which was why he was in Ino's bathroom, drawing her a bubble bath and sitting at the edge of it, completely bored. Her parents were out and he'd offered to come over so they could do homework together – make out – and maybe watch a movie – have sex.

He had asked her to go get them some snacks at the nearest mart and huffily she'd left, which gave him the opportunity to set up the bubble bath. He watched as the bubbles rose until they were at the edge of the tub, then turned off the tap and stared at it, not sure what to do.

"I don't get why girls like this so much," he muttered. "It's just a bubble bath. What's so special about a bubble bath?"

He dipped his fingers into the water, noting that the temperature was a few degrees below steaming. That did feel quite nice. Not to mention the scent of the lit candles was very soothing.

He turned on the stereo, which had Ino's favorite CD in it. It was pretty much a compilation of romantic songs that he'd heard her listen to over and over again. He rolled his eyes as 'My Heart Will Go On' immediately blared out – he hated this song so much.

He glanced at the glass of champagne on the other side of the bath and suddenly felt a twinge of longing. He had stolen it from his parents' alcohol stash and although he never usually drank champagne, it looked really good right now.

"And you're here in my heart

And my heart will go on and on…"

"Shikamaru? What the hell are you doing?"

He lifted his head, blinking dazedly as he realized that Ino was standing over him, plastic bag in one hand and a confused expression on her face. She looked torn between horror and amusement as she took in the scene before her.

Shikamaru cleared his throat, lifting his hand out of the water and scratching his cheek.

"I'm…taking a bath?"

She stared down at all of his clothes, which were strewn on the floor, speechless.

Okay, he had to admit, the plan hadn't worked out as well as he'd thought. He'd wanted to surprise Ino with the nice bath, but she had taken so long and the bubbles had looked so damn irresistible…

He was such an idiot.

"A bath…but you hate baths," she said, the corners of her lips twitching. Well, at least she wasn't mad. "And why are you using my lavender scented candles? And drinking champagne? Not to mention, I never realized you were a fan of Barbra Streisand's 'The Way We Were'."

"Uh…I had a tough day?" he said nervously.

She giggled, setting the bag down and sitting on the edge of the tub. "Oh yeah? And did this help?"

"I admit that I may have made a snap judgment concerning bubble baths," he muttered reluctantly. "But this-" he gestured to his surroundings "-never leaves the room. I refuse to have this mark on my reputation."

"Tch. What reputation? The only thing you're known for is being the laziest guy in school. And only your close friends know how smart you are."

"Yeah, but 'laziest guy in school' is better than 'lavender-candle-smelling, champagne-drinking, bubble-bath guy'. So like I said – this never happened."

"As you command, your majesty."

Okay…so '3. Nice, relaxing bubble bath' was off the list. But whatever. He still had other suggestions. He just needed to call Choji and Kiba and ask for their invaluable advice.

- 0 -

4. Make her dinner seemed simple enough. Sure, Shikamaru didn't really know how to cook but how difficult could it be? He was a genius after all, and even though women confused him most of the time, cooking was simply a matter of following instructions.

So he settled for making lasagna. He knew that it was Ino's guilty pleasure food – considering all she ever ate was low-fat food that made him nauseous – and although she might complain about calories, she would be really pleased if he surprised her with this. So he set up everything he needed and began his cooking.

The lasagna itself wasn't too difficult. He boiled the noodles, cooked the ground beef and made the layers relatively quickly. Then he placed the dish in the oven and set the timer, sitting at the table and waiting for it to be ready.

"What are you doing, Shikamaru?" Yoshino's sharp voice cut through the peace.

He glanced up when his mother entered the kitchen, looking annoyed. Her eyes landed on the oven and she scowled.

"Cooking? Since when do you cook? I hope you didn't make a mess. If you did you'll have to clean it up yourself."

"I don't cook," he yawned, feeling sleepy. "But it's a surprise for Ino. So don't say anything when she comes in." His mother slid onto the chair, with a disbelieving look on her face. "What? What's with that look?"

"Nothing. I just…can't imagine you wanting to do something like this for her. You always seemed as lazy as your father."

He said nothing, not wanting to reveal more about his personal life. As far as he was concerned, parents were supposed to know absolutely nothing about their children's social lives, and that way everyone was happy. He shuddered to think of how his mother would react if he told her some of the things he had done in the past.

"Does it look okay?" he eventually said, gesturing to the oven.

"Seems fine from what I can see." She stood up. "Your father and I are going to meet some friends. Don't get into any trouble."

For the next few minutes he sat there, completely bored and wondering why some people did this for a living. He tried to watch the clouds in the sky but the sun was already setting and the view wasn't as nice as if he were outside.

Instead he concentrated on the dim lights of the kitchen and after a while, noticed that his eyelids were feeling especially heavy. He could barely keep them open and now…

And now…

And now…

Beeeeeeeeep. Beeeeeeeeeeep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Something was making a shrill noise. A very shrill noise.

"Ungh…mom?" he mumbled, mouth feeling like sandpaper. His neck hurt like hell and his eyes felt like they were glued together. It took him a few blurry seconds to realize that he had fallen asleep. It took him a few more seconds to realize why that was a bad thing. "CRAP!"

The smoke had set off the fire alarm and it didn't take a genius to figure out that the lasagna was completely ruined. He opened the oven door to reveal the black, burnt mess with a grimace, choking as the smoke billowed out of the oven.

He pulled out the lasagna, brutally burning the skin off his fingers as he did so, and dropped it onto the counter. He waved away the smoke, looking desolately at what had once been Ino's surprise dinner. Now all he had to worry about was how he was going to save the tray he had used and what he and Ino were going to eat. Not to mention how he was going to hide this atrocity.

"I can't believe I fell asleep," he grumbled, poking at it. A bubble at the top layer swelled and then popped, releasing a nasty stench and he groaned, wondering why he was so hopeless at this.

"Shikamaru?"

Damn, it was Ino. She was at the door, which was unlocked. Panicking, he looked around for someplace to hide his failure. He could hear her turning the doorknob and he shoved the lasagna back into the oven, slamming it shut just as she walked into the hall. He turned as she walked in cautiously, frowning in confusion.

"Uh…hey, Ino, wanna sit?" he said weakly, gesturing to the chair. She did so, sniffing the air suspiciously.

"What's that smell? Was something on fire?"

"Oh, yeah, that. My…um…mom was cooking lasagna and I was…supposed to take it out a while ago, but I fell asleep," he said, opening the oven to show her. She laughed as she caught sight of it.

"Typical of you. She's going to be totally furious when she sees that."

"Unfortunately," he grumbled, thinking about how his tyrannical mother was going to freak when she saw what he'd done to her kitchen. He'd ruined her favorite serving dish and now the room smelled like he'd tried to cook their cat. "It also means we have nothing to eat for tonight. So, what are you hungry for?"

"Mmmmm. I'm really craving Japanese food right now. Do you want me to call them up?" She reached for the phone but he stopped her.

"No, I'll do it."

She fell back onto the chair, eyebrows raised. It was rare for him to ever volunteer to do anything, which was why his eagerness surprised her.

They ate Japanese food instead, and it tasted good. But the whole way through, Shikamaru couldn't help but feel disgruntled at his complete failure. He couldn't do anything right in this relationship and the more he thought about it, the more he wondered why Ino was even with him.

Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. They had a good relationship, it just needed some work. Inwardly he dreaded the thought at having to go back to consult the list of suggestions and attempt another stupid romantic gesture that was probably going to fail anyway.

- 0 –

- 0 -

If Ino could pick the last thing on Earth she wanted to currently suffer through, it would be sitting with Karin and Suigetsu in the common room and listening to them talk about how perfect their relationship was. Granted, at least they were with their friends, who were goofing off and being loud and annoying and distracting, but it was still difficult to see them across from her, flirting and laughing and acting like a goddamn couple.

Shikamaru was sitting next to her on the chair, looking out the window with a bored expression. Tenten and Neji were crowded on the other side of the long table and trying to do their homework. They would have been successful had Rock Lee not been shouting out encouraging statements to them every few seconds.

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto had invaded the chairs on another table right next to them and were bickering playfully, whereas Choji and Kiba were sitting at Ino's table, talking in low voices. Hinata was nowhere to be found, and it wasn't surprising considering Kiba was not being very responsive to her at the moment.

Considering what she'd heard Hinata say the other day, she wasn't surprised that they were no longer on very friendly terms. Ino had never seen Hinata so unhappy or Kiba so torn up, but when she tried to talk to her boyfriend about it he had said he was in the dark about what was happening with them.

Speaking of her boyfriend – she glanced over at his immobile form – he had been acting very strange lately. He had been bizarrely distant yet attentive at the same time. It was a confusing combination for her and she found herself struggling to keep up with his erratic behavior. He wasn't as lazy as usual – volunteering to drive to her place, going shopping with her every once in a while and actually listening to her when she talked.

But for everything nice he did, he made up for it by doing something completely peculiar or vague. Such as canceling their dates to go hang out with Choji and Kiba, or taking a bubble bath at her house (which was just plain disturbing), or being snappy whenever she talked about either Suigetsu or Sasuke. Every time she even mentioned their names he would get pissed off and sulk. He never liked them much before, but now she noticed that he was even more testy when their topic of conversation even approached them.

Facing Karin and Suigetsu right now, Ino could sense that both she and her boyfriend were equally miserable in their presence. It was obvious from the way his shoulders were hunched and the frown lines in his forehead and his tightly crossed arms.

"And then – it was so sweet – he grabbed the guy by the collar and started threatening to knock him unconscious if he kept trying to grope me," Karin finished, grinning widely.

"That is sweet," Ino said. "What happened next?"

"Tch, the guy backed off obviously. He knew enough not to mess with my boyfriend."

"I was there. The guy was at least as tall as Kisame," Sakura added, joining their table.

"Kisame? Who's that?"

"You know, that waiter in Akatsuki who's always with Sasuke's brother. The really big one with the blue-ish skin."

"Whoa! That big?" Ino's eyes widened. "You could have been killed. What were you thinking?"

"He wasn't."

"Yeah, well, he shouldn't have been hitting on Karin," Suigetsu growled, putting his arm possessively around his girlfriend. She reflexively shifted to be closer to him, letting her head fall onto his shoulder.

Ino's heart clenched when she saw the white-haired boy turn to beam at her with an expression of unparalleled affection. She noticed the small things, like how he was unconsciously stroking her hair and how he seemed to brighten whenever she spoke to him or looked at him or held his hand.

"Awww, they're so cute," Sakura whispered to her.

"I know. You can tell he's so totally crazy about her."

"And she's head over heels for him. Do you know, she hasn't looked at Sasuke once since they started dating? And the other day, when he asked her where Juugo was, she just told him instead of offering to walk with him in case he "got lost". It was insane."

"Wow, that does mean something," Ino acknowledged, her eyes locked onto the couple in front. Suigetsu was talking to his friend Juugo, while Karin was chatting to Tenten, but they were still latched onto each other.

Her eyes lingered to Shikamaru, who was trying to console a depressed Kiba. She couldn't remember the last time they had initiated an 'awww' moment from their friends. There had been several, most of them from when Shikamaru got off his lazy ass and did something sweet for her, like walk her to class which was on the other side of the building from his class. He would say it was to avoid the boredom that was class time, but she knew it was for her benefit. Or when he would walk all the way to the school shop and get her strawberry milk and cookies when she was feeling bummed and needed comfort food.

Then he got lazy and stopped doing little things to make her happy. Granted, she knew that she'd started getting sharp with him whenever he did something wrong and she would often overreact, as was her nature, but she only started getting impatient when he began to choose cloud-watching over doing anything with her.

She started getting the feeling that he wasn't enjoying spending time with her, or even being with her. She wondered if his strange behavior meant that he was getting ready to break up with her.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes and swallowed, trying to hold them back. She didn't want to make a scene.

"He's just so attentive and sweet to me. We still fight, but it's nothing serious," Karin was saying. At some point, Suigetsu had walked off with his friend Juugo, as well as Naruto and Sasuke. "I never realized how determined he was until he started doing all those nice things to get my attention. And I was such a bitch to him, but he still persisted. He should…get a medal for that or something."

"Has he said he loves you yet? Because it's obvious he does."

"What? It's barely even been a few weeks."

"So he hasn't yet? I bet he's going to say it soon. Ino, when did Shikamaru first say he loved you?"

She blinked, trying to remember the exact time. "Um…A few months into our relationship. But we pretty much started going out the moment he began liking me. Not like Naruto and you, who waited at least ten years to get together. But I agree with Sakura. Suigetsu's definitely in love with you."

"Really?" Karin almost-squealed. Her cheeks flushed with pleasure and she looked like she was fighting back a smile.

"Of course he is. He's always happy when you're near him, and he does all these little things for you like pulls out your chair, or carries your stuff or goes to watch a movie that he obviously would hate but that you really want to see," she continued, her voice cracking. "And it's just so wonderful how he really cares about what you feel and how he really tries…" She could feel the tears brimming again and was grateful that her back was turned to the others.

Oh great, another breakdown. How pathetic.

Sakura and Karin both looked concerned at the sudden change in her mood. The pink-haired girl grabbed her bag and Ino's and stood up.

"We're going to go to the school shop. You guys want anything?" she said loudly. The others shook their heads and turned back to their conversations. "Let's go, Ino."

Ino made sure to keep her back turned and her face down as she left, not wanting the others to notice her tears. Nobody saw or commented, but she was unaware of Shikamaru's worried eyes following her on the way out. And she wasn't there when he despairingly turned to his two friends and they shrugged, unsure of what to say or do.

- 0 -

Suggestions 5, 6 and 7 were disgusting. He would have wondered why they were on the list if not for the fact that the handwriting was clearly not his. Two were written by Kiba and one was, surprisingly, written by Choji. Then again, they had been drunk when they'd done the list, but still. He refused to dwell on them and instead moved on.

The next few romantic gestures were absolutely useless. Suggestion '8. Draw her in the nude' had been blatantly stolen from Titanic, thanks to Choji. Not to mention Shikamaru was an absolutely terrible artist and even if he did somehow manage to convince Ino to do this, he would probably end up drawing some deformed stick figure that would make her cry.

He also lacked the talent for '9. Sing her a love song'. He knew that if he tried to sing for her she would probably die of laughter.

"Well, at least you'd be making her happy," Kiba said, head buried in his pillow, still in a bad mood. They were currently sitting around in the Inuzuka household, playing with recently born Alsatian puppies. Choji had picked out his favorite and was rocking it in his arms, whereas Kiba was messing around with three of them and Shikamaru was currently keeping one of the eager puppies at a distance. He didn't like animals very much.

"I want to show her I love her, not give her a heart attack." He looked down at the next suggestion. "10. Dick in a Box? What the hell is this?"

"I'm sorry!" Kiba wailed. "I can't stop watching that music video!" (2)

"Wait, so the bubble bath thing and cooking her dinner didn't work?" Choji interjected. "Did she not like it?"

"Next suggestion," Shikamaru said firmly, continuing his current task. "11. Jump in front of a bullet to save her life. You know, Kiba, maybe you should stop making suggestions." Kiba uttered a muffled grunt of agreement, petting one of the puppies absent-mindedly. "How the hell did you even see this one happening in the first place?"

Choji grabbed the paper. "How about this one? 12. Make her a scrapbook of your relationship. I suggested this."

"Huh…I guess that could work. Kiba, mind if I use your printer?"

"Sure. Go ahead." The boy rolled over and curled up on his bed against the wall.

The next few hours consisted of them printing out various pictures from Facebook and trying to stick them together in a scrapbook they got from the nearest store. It worked to an extent – their art left something to be admired. Shikamaru made a comment about how girls' photo albums always seemed to have 'pretty, useless crap' drawn around the photos and Kiba had taken this as a sign to doodle all over the pages in various colors, seeming slightly more cheerful. Naturally, the other two had done the same and had made it a competition to see who could put the dumbest, girly shit in the book.

Choji won.

When they finally finished, Shikamaru couldn't help but feel like hours of his life had been completely wasted.

"This thing is hideous," he said. He held the book up with two fingers, watching the brightly colored pages with disgust. The photographs were already bent at the edges. They had used up the glue and tape, and he had a small suspicion that Kiba had used his gum to try to stick the rest of them down. He would have asked, but some things were best left unanswered. "We've just used up all of Kiba's paper and color pencils and the only thing we've managed to create is this…abomination."

"I don't think it's so bad," Choji mused.

"You drew a freaking unicorn on the cover."

"Girls like that, don't they? Unicorns and rainbows and flowers…"

"I don't know what girls like! They're so confusing and say things they don't mean and expect you to read their minds and get mad at you when you don't know what they're thinking!" Shikamaru yelled. "And they complain about you to their friends and cry in restaurants and make you feel like complete shit by pretending nothing's wrong and suffering in silence!" He threw the book to the ground, breathing heavily.

One of the puppies crawled over and began to pee on it as they watched.

"Um…" His two friends were obviously completely taken aback by his outburst. He was a hundred percent sure neither of them had ever seen him freak out before and immediately he felt completely idiotic. Freaking out was something womendid, or guys like Naruto who overreacted at everything. Shikamaru never yelled. And especially not over a girl.

Immediately he felt ashamed and stupid, letting his clenched fists drop to his sides and relax, staring at the scrapbook. A wave of despair overcame him and he dropped onto the bed, burying his head in his hands.

"Fuck…I can't…this isn't me. I can't do romantic." His voice was muffled by his hands. "I mean, you saw how upset she was after talking to Karin and Suigetsu in school. She was almost crying and I felt like shit, and she didn't even tell me why. I know why, but that's not the point!"

He was silent for a few long minutes. The other two seemed unsure of how to respond.

"She's going to leave me, isn't she? She's actually going to leave me." The words nearly caught in his throat and just saying them made him feel physically nauseous.

His friends quickly rushed to comfort him and deny what was the obvious truth.

"No, Shikamaru. She's not going to leave you!"

"Don't think that way, man. Don't give up-"

"You just have to try harder, maybe tackle this from a different angle-"

"Every relationship has problems, doesn't mean you can't get through this-"

"Guys!"

They both stopped, shoulders slumping in defeat. At the moment, they all seemed very similar in their desolation. Choji was obviously upset about Shikamaru's plight, considering Ino was his friend too and he worried that if they broke up, it meant he wouldn't be able to speak to her for a while. It wouldn't be forbidden on Shikamaru's part, but it would just be awkward considering he would be Ino's ex-boyfriend's best friend.

Kiba, on the other hand, had problems of his own with Hinata. Something bad had happened and now there was nothing but awkwardness between them. He gave her the cold shoulder when she tried to talk to him and although he acted angry, he was mostly just upset and depressed. Neither of them had spoken about what happened, but Shikamaru had a feeling that Hinata had figured out that Kiba had been searching for more than just friendship and rejected him.

He felt bad for dragging them into this stupid problem he was having, when they themselves had their own girlfriends and worries.

"Ugh, I'm sorry about this. You shouldn't have to be dealing with this, it's my problem and I should figure it out on my own." He put up a hand to stop their automatic protests. "You have your own troubles. This isn't something I should be bothering you with, and don't try to deny it."

"We're your friends, Shikamaru. We want to help you," Choji said slowly, Kiba nodding enthusiastically next to him despite his astonishment at his friend's behavior. "But maybe…maybe you're just going about this all wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said that none of this is really you. So maybe you should do something that is you."

"I don't get what you're-"

"Just think about it. You're smart, Shikamaru. You'll figure it out."

They spent the rest of the night chilling out and doing guy stuff, with no more talk about girlfriends and romance. And it was a nice night.

- 0 -

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. I'm at your house. Could you come outside?"

He waved at Ino through the window, watching as she frowned in confusion. As she left, she called out to her mom that she was going and then climbed into the car. He began to drive to the 'surprise' destination at a steady pace. Shikamaru never drove very fast – he preferred to take things nice and slowly.

"Are you going to tell me what I'm doing here? You're never usually this spontaneous," she said, putting on her seatbelt. She glanced up at him, then drew in a shocked breath, eyes bright with concern. "Oh my God, are you okay? You look absolutely terrible!"

"Thanks," he said gruffly. "I know."

"Is there something wrong? Did something bad happen?" She reached up to touch his cheek but he stopped her, clasping her hand midway. She stared as he stroked her hand fondly, smiling at her.

"Nah. Just had a long night. Trouble sleeping."

He knew that he looked really exhausted; he had not been sleeping well for the past few weeks since he'd found out about the incident at the restaurant. It bothered him more than he ever cared to admit, and his worrying had prevented him from getting a proper night's sleep. The last time he'd checked a mirror he had had dark circles under his eyes and scarily pale skin.

"Are you sure? You almost never have any problems sleeping," she didn't look convinced at all.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Now stop worrying about me, I'm fine," he insisted. She shrugged and began to look out her window, strangely content. He wasn't sure why, but she seemed quite happy at the moment, and excited. He wondered what she was expecting out of this.

They began to have a meaningless, casual conversation, like they had always done before the strain in their relationship had reared its ugly head. Shikamaru mentioned to his girlfriend that Kiba was acting strangely nowadays – not depressed and yet not happy – and she immediately filled him in on Hinata's side of the story.

"He apologized for being rude and told her he wanted to be friends. So now they're friends…kind of, but it's obvious he's still crazy in love with her and I think she's confused about what she feels for him," she said.

"Pfft, you girls. You never just know what you want – always so complicated with your feelings. When a guy likes a girl, he likes her. That's it, end of story."

"Oh, but there's so much more than that, not that I'd expect you to understand. Hinata just doesn't know how to react when the guy who she's considered a friend for all these years suddenly smiles at her and makes her feel like her face is on fire. She says it's even worse than when she used to like Naruto-"

He interrupted her. "Wait, is that why she won't go out with him? Because she still likes Naruto?"

"Of course not!" she laughed. "That was so last year. Once she realized he was never going to leave Sakura, her feelings kind of faded. Which Sakura and I are so happy about. It was totally uncomfortable talking about Naruto in front of poor Hinata, who was always trying to pretend she wasn't in love with him. Plus, now we can support her dating Kiba!"

"So you think she definitely likes him?"

"I hope so; they're so cute together. He's so sweet to her – she has no idea that the reason he's been getting so many lunch detentions is because he's always late to history class after walking her all the way to physics. Choji told me when we caught him getting yelled at by Mrs. Stratford."

"I hate Mrs. Stratford. She's always yelling at me for being lazy and not doing my homework. And for the results I got on that latest test. What did you get?"

"Top marks, of course. You?"

"I got more than Naruto…"

"Oh, what an accomplishment," she laughed. "Thank God Mr. Sarutobi tricked you into exposing yourself as a genius, because if not everyone would still think you were dumb as a brick."

"Yeah, I'm still mad at him for that. Now all the teachers expect me to try harder, whereas with Naruto at least they've lost hope and stopped bothering. I miss when that used to happen to me."

He drove outside of the city and continued driving, ignoring her insistence on knowing where they were going. He drove for a few hours until the skyscrapers disappeared and there was nothing but rising and falling hills all around them, covered in deep green grass and a few stray trees. Finally, he stopped at the bottom of one of the hills and he led Ino up to the top, all the while silently cursing the walk to the highest point. He hated walking.

Ino seemed surprise by his willingness to do any form of exercise and silently followed until they were at the top, under a tall, twisting tree.

She waited until they reached the tree before looking around expectantly. There was nothing on the hill, or around the hill, or in the sky except for a few drifting clouds. Her excitement seemed to diminish and she frowned, not exactly sure what they were doing there. All the while, Shikamaru watched her closely. Finally, Ino spoke.

"So, are you going to tell me why we're here?" she asked, crossing her arms. Shikamaru lay down on the grass and put his arms behind his head. It was a familiar position, and he spent most of his spare time lying down like this.

"The clouds are nicer outside the city; less pollution and all that," he explained.

There was a short, dangerous pause.

Ino's face was scarily blank and she was too still to give away what emotion she was feeling. When she spoke, it was soft and stern with a hint of – not anger, but resignation:

"Oh God, Shikamaru, drive me home. Please just…drive me home right now."

"Not yet. I want you to sit with me." He patted the ground next to him.

"No, you have to drive me home now."

"I'll drive you back later. Please just sit with me."

"I DON'T-" she began, then quickly stopped herself. He watched with trepidation as she clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut, breathing heavily until finally she seemed to calm. "I want to leave right now." She whirled around and began to walk off, back down to where the car was parked.

Shikamaru jumped up, running in front of her to stop her and blurted:

"I know I'm a bad boyfriend."

She stared at him. "What?"

"I'm a bad boyfriend," he repeated. "Maybe I wasn't in the beginning, but I am now. You should have so much more than some loser who spends all of his time sleeping or watching clouds or chilling with his friends, and I know that I haven't been attentive lately or caring or…or anything that I should be doing. So if you walk away now I won't blame you, because you've given me more chances than I even deserve. And I've screwed up every step of the way trying to make it up to you, even though you don't know it."

Ino looked to shocked to even say anything, but he ploughed on, determined to finish:

"I love you so much, Ino. I can't imagine how much my life would suck without you in it. I don't want you to ever leave me, because I wouldn't be able to handle losing you. So please…please just sit with me and wait for a bit. I promise that it'll be worth it."

He couldn't remember if his heart had ever been beating so hard like this before, if he'd ever heard the blood rushing through his head so loudly or felt that cold sweat of fear trickling down his neck. He wanted, no, needed to hear Ino say something because this anticipation was killing him. Every second felt like an hour when he watched her slowly process what he had just said.

When she spoke, he jumped; he was so tense from waiting.

"You're not…a loser," she said softly.

He couldn't stop the smile of relief from crossing his face. "So that means you'll stay?"

"I'll stay…"

He led her back to the spot under the tree and they sat together, him leaning against the tree and her comfortably on his lap. She seemed to be lost in thought, even when they had a small, stilted conversation.

The sunset was beautiful, and they watched as the rays disappeared into the horizon and the stars began to appear one by one until the entire sky was crowded with twinkling lights. It was a dazzling sight, and even Shikamaru was stunned by its beauty.

"Oh wow," Ino whispered in awe, her eyes lingering on the sky. "I've never seen so many stars in my life! There's too much pollution in the city to ever see more than just a handful."

"I know. It's beautiful, isn't it?" He eyes were locked onto her face, which was filled with wonder. She stood up, and he did the same, his hand grasped onto hers tightly. He glanced at his watch. Any minute now…

"It's…amazing…it's just…oh my god!"

"Hmm?"

"Is that a meteor shower?" she pointed excitedly at the sky, jaw dropping in surprise. "Oh my god! I completely forgot…oh wow, it's so much more beautiful than I've ever seen it! Even those times we went on the roof weren't as…" She stopped, frowning.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Did you…know about this? Is that why you drove all the way here?" she asked, squeezing his hand tightly. He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I did some research. Stumbled across an article telling me the dates of the next meteor shower and found out it was pretty close, so I figured that instead of going on the roof like we used to, I could drive us out here where the sky is clearer," he explained.

Ino's eyes were watering and she reached up to wipe away the tears, but he stopped her, swiping his thumb over the tear trails. Then he leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her lips, gentle and sweet, taking her by surprise.

"I…have something to confess," she mumbled.

"What?"

"I know about what you've been doing for the past few weeks. I know about all the things you've been trying to do to make me happy."

"Huh?" He was confused. How had she found out? The only people who knew were Kiba and Choji…

Those bastards.

Ino was still talking – he quickly snapped back into focus.

"…your mom told me how you tried to make me dinner. She saw the lasagna in the oven and said something about how she expected you to be a failure in cooking but you had somehow surpassed her expectations," she was saying.

Gee, thanks for the support, Mom.

"And Kiba told Hinata about the scrapbook thing, you know, now that they're 'friends' again. And Hinata told me when she saw me looking all depressed afterschool."

Kiba, you asshole. I knew you couldn't keep a secret.

"I think it's sweet how you tried to do something like that for me – even though it's not something I would have thought you'd ever do in a million years."

"Um…well, it was for you, so…"

"But I think the funniest was the bubble bath. I mean, it was so obvious you did that for me and just ended up giving in to temptation. I told you that bubble baths were good, but you just never listened-"

"Wait, wait, wait," he said, interrupting her rant. "So you knew all this time and you never mentioned anything? You're not mad at me?" She shook her head. "Then what was with that…storming off in the beginning when we got here?"

She sighed, crossing her arms. "I figured that you were bringing me here for another romantic gesture of some sort. I was…still mad at you then, but I wasn't going to even consider leaving you until you said…you said that you brought me out here for your stupid cloud watching. I thought that you'd just stopped trying and wanted things to go back to how they were. It's not like you even realized that I knew about this stuff. As far as you were concerned, I had no idea what you'd been doing these past weeks."

"And are…things okay now between us?" he asked tentatively. The confirmation that she might leave him was making his heart slam through his chest painfully. He'd talked about it with his friends, but suspecting was completely different than being told that she wanted to break up.

She wrapped her arms around him and leaned in to move her lips against his, so he could feel the heat of her body against his and the softness of her lips. When he responded enthusiastically, he could taste the slightest hint of cherries and feel the electricity run through his body.

He had missed this so much. And even though things hadn't been perfect and there would always be problems in the future, even though he liked to spend his time watching clouds or daydreaming, and she liked shopping or watching sappy romantic movies, it was all okay.

Actually, it was more than okay. It was awesome.

- 0 -

(1) If you read my other story, this isn't exactly how Karin reacted to the flowers. Then again, Suigetsu isn't going to want to tell her the truth, is he?

(2) Dick in a Box. Youtube it. Seriously.

Sometime after this, I will be writing the next (and maybe last) part in the 'High School Romances' Series, which will be Kiba and Hinata's part of the story. It will include SuiKa and ShikaIno, since it's during the same timeline and the characters are intertwined. It might take a while to write, but it will definitely be up, since this is one of my favorite pairings in Naruto! I hope you enjoyed this installment and if you like SuiKa, check out the first in the 'High School Romances' Series, 'The Symbolism of the Watermelon Flavored Lollipop'.

I'm sorry for any stupid mistakes I've made, I'm only human!

Don't forget to review!