Artheph's Note: Oh my gaw. It's my FIRST Shikamaru/Ino only story. And considering it's my favorite couple…it's a big achievement. It greatly surprised me when Crysthur and I were talking about her Shikamaru/Ino chapter she's been trying to crank out for the past like four months that I hadn't written a story about them yet!! And what better place to put one than in a compendium of love stories? Anyway, hope you enjoy!

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Shikamaru/Ino

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Ino was pissed off…again. There was just no pleasing the woman. Shikamaru swore half the relationship consisted of him begging her forgiveness for who knows what. A simple "I'm REALLY SORRY" just didn't cut it anymore. Ino demanded more and more each time. So now Shikamaru had to, as Ino had so kindly shouted in his face, "THINK OF A GRANDMOTHER OF AN APOLOGY!!"

Shikamaru slapped his forehead, and the line "This is so troublesome" ran around in his head.

"Why did I get myself into this?" he whined to the clouds.

Wait a second…were the clouds…laughing at him? What was this? Was mother nature mocking his predicament? Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. No, it wasn't the clouds. It was …his dad.

"Hey boy," Shikato said, as he sat down next to his son on the grass.

"Hn."

"Heard about what you did to Ino."

Shikamaru sighed. No doubt Ino had told EVERYONE what a horrid, disgusting, cruel bastard her boyfriend was.

"What're you gonna do about it?"

"Dunno. I'm thinking maybe I'll never apologize. This relationship is just too troublesome." Let's see how Dad will respond to that. Would he be AGHAST that I dare hurt her best friend's daughter? Would he be AGHAST that I, his son, am not as whipped as he? Or would he just…chuckle it off? Yeah, probably that last one.

Shikato chuckled. "You wouldn't back out of something after you put so much effort into it already. It'd just be a waste. You can't lie to your old man."

"Hmmph."

"So? What're you going to pull off?"

Shikamaru shrugged.

Shikato looked at his son, whose brow was furrowed in deep concentration. He knew Shikamaru's little thinking hand pose would be coming up soon. So, to prevent too much of a headache for his boy, Shikato decided to offer up some fatherly advice.

"You know, flowers aren't just for giving."

"What?"

"You're the genius. Think about it." Shikato stood up and instantly vanished.

Shikamaru muttered under breath about how his dad was no help at all as he flopped back down onto the grass. He resumed his cloud watching in hopes of inspiration. The fluffy cloud right above him took the shape of a flower. Slowly, a bit of the white mass drifted off, leaving a partial flower-shaped cloud intact.

Shikamaru grinned. "Flowers, eh?"

He watched the clouds a little longer before picking himself up to find Ino.

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"Ino," a familiar voice drawled.

"Hmmp." Ino ignored the man behind her.

"Inooo…"

She continued to ignore him.

"I'm really, really sorry."

"Go burn in hell."

"Ino, please."

She angrily turned around. "You know what, you little…"

Her eyes saw the flower Shikamaru was holding in front of him.

"You think ONE PUNY FLOWER will be enough? Look around you! We're surrounded by flowers thousands of times more beautiful than THAT one!! It's not even a whole flower! What are you thinking?!"

Shikamaru held a finger to Ino's lips to quiet her.

"Shush."

Ino furiously glared back.

He cleared his throat, and in the deepest, sexiest voice he could produce, Shikamaru crooned, "Ino, you know I can't live without you. And let me show you why."

He once again held up the flower, which was missing a petal.

"This is me, without you. I'm not whole or complete. I'm missing something, like this flower is missing its petal."

Ino's eyes softened from the angry glare.

Shikamaru produced the missing petal from his pocket. Using his chakra, he reattached the petal, and the flower was made whole. It even seemed to beam in its completeness.

"And now, this is me, with you."

Shikamaru looked at Ino, his eyes full of hope that she had forgiven him after his little demonstration.

Ino became teary and flung herself upon Shikamaru.

"Ohhh!! THAT WAS SOO CUTE!!"

Shikamaru smirked. He had sufficiently melted Ino's heart, and it wasn't really that strenuous this time.

But then…Ino slapped his face.

"Wipe that damn smirk off your face! I'm still mad at you."

"WHAT?" Shikamaru was flabbergasted. His genius plan did not work? How could this be?

Ino grinned when she saw Shikamaru's shocked expression.

"Kiddin'." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and winked. "I'll see you later tonight."

And the smirk again found its way up onto Shikamaru's face.