His first thought was that she was like his mother. Bossy. Loud. Annoying.
Troublesome. Just like other girls.
He didn't like that she smelled like flowers. His nose had wrinkled when she stood next to him. Ugh. It was just so girly.
And he didn't like the way she just went up to him, already acting like she knew him, just because their fathers were teammates, already telling him what to do. "Hi, Shikamaru!" she said with that wide-toothed grin and twinkling blue eyes of hers. "I'm Ino! Let's be friends, okay?"
"I dunno, Chouji," he had said when she had left them alone for a bit. "Can you imagine training with her for the rest of your life? I feel like I'll suffocate. She's pushy." He pinched the yellow rose between his fingers, looking at it with a hint of irritation. "Why did she give us this? I don't want flowers. I don't like flowers."
"Come on, Shikamaru," Chouji encouraged shyly. "She's not so bad. I think she's nice. She's pretty, too."
Shikamaru grunted skeptically.
But as spent more time with her, he learned more things about Ino than he ever wanted.
When she stood up to kids that were making fun of Chouji for being fat, he realized her fiery temper could be useful and that she loved her friends to the core. Once you were important to her, you were important to her for life.
When he wanted to relax on the grass and do nothing but stare at the clouds, the sound of her voice in the background was actually soothing when she wasn't telling him what to do.
When he was learning to be master of the shadows, it was she who brought golden sunshine with the bright blonde of her hair and her sky-blue eyes and the radiance of her smile.
And when he met other girls at the Academy who were bossier and even more loud and annoying (and far less tolerable), he found that maybe Ino wasn't so bad after all.
He told himself that it was only because he just preferred her over other girls.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!"
"Dammit," Shikamaru grunted, moving swiftly to catch his teammate and struggling to maintain his kage mane. With one hand forming the seal, he used his other arm to prop Ino up against him, away from the enemy. She fell on him like a limp doll, his arm around her waist and her head in the crook of his neck.
When he assessed that Chouji wasn't having a difficult time, he relaxed a little. His mind had already went through a thousand ways to defeat the enemy anyway.
It was then that he noticed that her waist seemed a little smaller than he remembered. He could feel the outline of her ribs against his arm. But, with his face burning a bit, he also realized her curves were pressing into him a little more noticeably than before.
Being a teenager was weird with all the hormones and stuff, he decided. I mean, this is Ino.
He shifted her so she wasn't so pressed up against him. Ino's head lolled backward, the weight of her long hair pulling it the opposite direction. Her bangs fell away from her face, revealing her pale, clear skin and leaving her neck exposed.
When did she start wearing makeup?
Were her lashes always that long?
And her lips always that full?
Was she always this pretty?
God, Shikamaru. Shut up. He cursed. For fuck's sake, his other teammate is fucking in the middle of battle, and all he was doing was ogling his second best friend.
