Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… or this idea, for that matter.

Ino was really starting to piss him off.

Oh, sure, it had all started innocently enough. His kunoichi teammate had been speculating about his relationship with Temari of the Sand (no matter how many times he told her that she was just an acquaintance of his and that he had no romantic feelings for her whatsoever, it all just seemed to go in one ear and out the other), when Chouji, in an attempt to get the blonde shinobi to stop, had said the very thing that had started this whole troublesome affair.

"Ino," the Akimichi had reasoned, "how can he like Temari-san if he already likes Sakura?"

And, despite the poor fa-… big-boned Chunin's good intentions, said big-boned Chunin really should have foreseen what that comment would do.

It set all hell loose, that's what.

Ino had, predictably, frozen, before squealing in joy loud enough to wake the dead, much to Shikamaru's- who had also frozen at his best friend's words- and Chouji's- who's hands had flown up to cover his mouth once he realized what, exactly, he had said- horror.

Needless to say, the Yamanaka had then started devising a 'plan of action' at speeds too quick for her teammates to follow.

"I am so sorry, Shikamaru!" Chouji apologized, panicking. "It just slipped out!"

The lazy Nara genius sighed. "It's alright, Chouji, I know." He replied.

During the distraction that was their short conversation, though, Ino had disappeared, much to their discernment.

Where had Ino disappeared to, might you wonder? Well, to round up the rest of the gang, of course.

…

Well, not the entire gang, of course- just the ones that she knew would help her to get two of her best friends together, which included Naruto, Tenten, Kiba, Lee, and Sai (Hinata had been too shy to help and the rest just didn't care).

Let Operation: Annoy Shikamaru Into Asking Sakura Out… begin.

Sakura was starting to get freaked out.

You see, every other day, her and Ino made it a point to hang out for at least a few hours- missions and village duties allowing, of course- but… but Ino hadn't stopped giggling insanely and at odd times for absolutely no reason since they had met up at the Yamanaka Flower Shop…

Regarding the blonde cautiously, Sakura questioned, "…Are you okay, Pig?" The rosette seemed to inch slightly away from the quite-possibly insane woman- but, then again, said quite-possibly insane woman was a shinobi, after all, and it was rare to find completely sane shinobi nowadays, as sad as it was.

…

Anyways.

Ino smiled slyly. "Of course I am, Forehead, of course I am." she half-cackled.

Predictably, Sakura wasn't buying it.

However, the Haruno just sighed and let it go. Whatever it was, it wasn't worth the headache it would cause her to pry it out of her fellow kunoichi.

A hopeless gossip the Yamanaka may be, but once she decided not to tell someone something, she didn't tell them. Simple as that. End of story.

Shikamaru was about ready to tear his own hair out. Either that or kill Chouji- either one was fine with him, at this point.

Though, luckily for both his hair and his Akimichi teammate, doing so would simply be too troublesome, and so he didn't.

Sure, he wasn't really angry at his big-boned best friend, but he was most certainly annoyed.

That little slip up had been the bane of the lazy genius' day, and that was the honest to God truth. All he wanted to do on his first Goddamn day off in a month was just lay there and watch the clouds, and maybe nap a bit, but no. he was interrupted every other minute, by one of Ino's little play thing- er, friends… yeah, friends…

…

…Anyways…

And each time he was interrupted, he could slowly feel his patience slipping away. If he was any normal person, he would've snapped after Kiba had 'reminded' him that if he didn't 'stake his claim' on the rosette soon, he might miss his chance- after all, humans could be just like dogs sometimes, and if he didn't 'mark' her soon, someone else might.

The Nara almost wanted to 'remind' his Inuzuka comrade that dogs also urinated on their territory to warn other animals away, but that didn't mean his was going to go ahead and piss on his front door step to warn off burglars, now, did it? It was only the knowledge that he would probably have the entire Inuzuka clan out for his head (they were pack animals, after all) that kept him from actually retorting in kind, really.

No, instead, he had shot the human canine an irritated glance before mumbling an annoyed, "Troublesome…" under his breath and stalking off, away from the amused Kiba.

Shikamaru sighed in exasperation, running a hand through his tied up hair.

He was beginning to wonder if he should just go into work to get away from all these crazy people, and that was a sure sign of his agitation. It was a well-known fact that Nara Shikamaru was the laziest shinobi in Konohagakure, and as such hated anything that required effort- except a good game of shogi, of course-, which most definitely included work.

The teenaged genius huffed in frustration as he saw both Naruto and Lee bounding towards him, waving like mad-men (which they most certainly were, in the Nara's opinion).

Figuring this was as bad as it could get, as there was no way he was going to be able to out-run the two walking-talking balls of energy, Shikamaru stopped (he had briefly contemplated simply ignoring them, but it would only make his life harder when they caught up to him) and waited for his two over-energetic comrades.

"Shikamaru-san!" Lee shouted in his usual over-jovial voice, "Is it true that you have fallen forever in love with the beautiful Sakura-san?" The green-clad shinobi didn't wait for an answer. "Have no fear, my youthful friend! Naruto-san and I will aid you in your youthful quest to win the beautiful cherry blossom's heart!"

The Nara genius stared at the taijutsu specialist, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Had he really just screamed that out for the entire Goddamned village to hear?

Judging from all of the shocked looks they were getting, yes, yes, he had.

…

Correction. This was as bad as it could get.

Or so he hoped. If it got any worse, he had a feeling that he just might do something that would cause him a lot of trouble.

Sakura wasn't sure what to think. All she knew was that she was extremely confused.

After leaving (an insanely giggling) Ino, she had ran into Sai and Tenten. Now, she couldn't tell you why those two, in particular, were together (even if she had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with her crazy best friend- which she promptly ignored, as that was an extremely absurd- though true, unbeknownst to her- notion), because she was wondering the same thing, but she quickly brushed it off, instead choosing to greet her friends normally.

"Hey, Tenten, Sai. How's it going?" she asked, smiling.

"Good." Tenten said slyly, smirking, "Though, I suppose you're having a better day then us, huh?"

There rosette tilted her head, smiling in confusion now. "What do you mean?"

Sai fake smiled. "Well, we thought you'd be happy to finally get yourself a boyfriend. Though, why anyone would want to date someone as ugly as you, I have no idea."

Now, usually, Sakura would beat the shit out of her Root teammate for saying something like that, but, this time, she was just too confused to really care.

"Huh?" she questioned, stupefied.

"Oh, nothing!" Tenten replied, waving the emerald-eyed medic off, grinning widely.

The weapon's mistress grabbed Sai's hand and dragged him down the road, waving behing herself and calling, "See you later!" over her shoulder.

Completely mystified, the pinkette just stood there for a minute, open and closing her mouth as she continuously found something to say, but then though better of it, her brow furrowed.

Eventually, her expression relaxed into that of slight bemusement as she shook her head, perplexed.

As she continued on her way to the hospital to finish up the last four hours of her eight hour shift (she was on her lunch break), she simply decided that this day was just weird, and that was all there was to it.

He had been wrong, his hopes in vain. Because it had most certainly gotten worse then it already was.

How, might you ask?

Well, Ino had threatened to tell his mother (who had been on his ass about getting a girlfriend for months now, by the way) if he didn't make a move on Sakura soon, that's how.

And considering it was almost as well known that he was scared of his mom as it was that he was a lazy ass, it was just plain mean. And underhanded. And unfair.

So, basically, it was just plain cheating.

And it made his blood boil.

Why was it any of Ino's business in the first place? Oh, yeah, because her and Sakura were best friends.

Still, did his kunoichi teammate have to go so far as to actually tell his mother? Now, that was getting personal and playing dirty, all at once.

But, you know what?

…

Two could play at that game.

His blonde teammate was probably expecting him to do what he did best and plan out some intricate plan to get her Chunin medical-ninja friend to go out with him.

And so, that was exactly what he would not do.

In fact, the lazy genius was honestly too frustrated and just plain pissed off to really think straight at all right now.

And so, he was going to do something that he never did.

…

…

Yes. Yes, that's right.

Nara Shikamaru was going to do something spontaneous.

Sakura was about two seconds away from either punching someone in the face, or telling all of her friends to either fucking tell her what, exactly, they were alluding to or fuck off. The whole lot of them had been dancing around some subject or another all day, but they all seemed to be refusing to just tell her straight.

And it was seriously starting to irritate her.

Then, just as she was starting to worry for her own health (all of the blood vessels that had popped on her forehead couldn't be healthy), she spotted one of her friends that hadn't been showing up at odd times with cryptic statements all day walking towards her.

"Shikamaru!" she called, interrupting whatever Ino had been saying, only a little bit of her relief showing through in her voice.

"Hey!" she continued, oblivious to the Naruto genius' intent, "How are yo- humphm!" The rosette was abruptly cut off…

…by Shikamaru's mouth on hers.

For a minute, Sakura just stood there, emerald eyes both open and dazed, seemingly uncomprehending of the fact that Nara Shikamaru, the laziest- though smartest- shinobi currently in the Leaf Village, was kissing her, for no apparent reason that she could find, in public.

Slowly, though, she relaxed, closing her eyes and bringing her arms up and around his neck, and started responding. The second she began kissing him back, his arms snaked around her waist.

And yes, dear children, that was how Nara Shikamaru and Haruno Sakura ended up making out in broad daylight, in public, without a care in the world.

Everyone watching just gaped.

Including Ino.

Okay, I hope everyone enjoyed this attempt at ShikaSaku- especially Pookie Boo, considering she was the one who requested it- …and, so, yeah…

Review please!