Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto.

The girls talked the rest of the way home, while Neji glared at Naruto, and Naruto looked back at Neji uncomfortably. Sasuke and Shikamaru text each other, placing bets on what Neji was going to do to Naruto. By the time they had reached Ino’s house, the car had a lot of tension in it, just from Naruto and Neji. Hinata looked a little uncomfortable, too. Ino and Shikamaru grabbed their stuff and quickly got out of the car.

“I’m so glad to be out of there!” Ino exclaimed as the limo pulled away and they walked up her front steps. “It was worse than when Sakura and I fight.”

“Troublesome.” was all Shikamaru had to add on the matter. “Where are we working on our project, then?”

“Oh, um.” Ino said as she thought of the best place to use a highly dangerous acid that could burn through furniture. “What about in the kitchen?”

“I guess that would work.” Shikamaru said with a sigh as he followed Ino there.

“I’ll be right back!” Ino exclaimed as she set her stuff down. “I don’t want to risk getting anything on my outfit, so I’m going to change. Oh, there should be some newspaper over in the corner by the door to the garage, if you could grab some and spread it over the counter so we don’t ruin it? Thanks!” Ino then rocketed up the stairs leaving Shikamaru to set up the experiment.

“Troublesome women.” Shikamaru mumbled as he grabbed some newspaper and spread it out over the counter. He then reached into his book bag and pulled out the bottle of acid and the box of rocks that they would be testing. The rocks ranged from a rock that had been picked up from outside, to an uncut ruby, to an uncut diamond. Depending on how much the acid bubbled, that would tell them the carbon level in the rocks.

By the time Ino came back downstairs, everything was set up, and Shikamaru was asleep on the counter. “Shikamaru!” Ino yelled into his ear. He bolted up looking rather annoyed.

“What?” he asked looking very, very annoyed.

“Oh, nothing. Now that you’re awake, we can start the experiment! So, how do we do this?” Ino asked innocently.

“Troublesome.” Shikamaru mumbled. “We’re just going to pour a little bit of the acid onto each rock, and see how much it bubbles. Ok?”

“Ok!” Ino said as she picked up the bottle of acid and went to pour some. Before she could, Shikamaru put his hand over top of hers on the bottle. Ino blushed and looked at him. “What?”

“I really don’t feel like having you pour too much on them and having to start over again.” Shikamaru said lazily, as he guided her hand so that the bottle poured just enough acid onto the rocks. They watched as the rock bubbled, but barely.

“What does that mean?” Ino asked.

“Well, since it bubbled, it has some carbon in it, but since it barely bubbled, there’s hardly any carbon at all in it.” Shikamaru said, answering her question.

“Oh.” Ino said as they moved on to the next rock. “Um, Shikamaru?”

“Yea?” He replied.

“You can take your hand off of mine now, I know how much to pour.” Ino said as they both blushed and Shikamaru took his hand off of hers.

“Oh, sorry.” He said.

“Don’t worry about it.” Ino said to him. There was an awkward silence for the next couple of minutes. Ino finally broke that silence. “So what exactly is this project supposed to prove?”

“Oh, just that rocks do contain carbon.” Shikamaru said.

“Oh, um, ok.” Ino said. “So, what kind of stuff do you like to do?”

“Hmm…Sleep, watch movies and…I guess play basketball with the guys…” Shikamaru said in reply.

“Oh, you like to play basketball? That’s so cool! You should try out for the school’s team!” Ino exclaimed.

“Hmm, I don’t know, it sounds like it would be a lot of work.” Shikamaru said. “That would be troublesome.”

“I’m trying out for cheerleading with my friends! You guys should all try out for basketball! That would be so cool! Then we’d be cheering for you guys, and we could all go to the games tomorrow!” Ino said rapidly.

“Slow down. You don’t even know if we’d make the basketball team.” Shikamaru said. “You’ve never even seen us play before.”

“So? I’m sure you’re good at it!” Ino exclaimed.

“Troublesome.” Shikamaru said as he wrote down the observations from the rock Ino had just poured acid on.

“Why do you think everything is troublesome? All I was saying was that you’re probably good at basketball, and it’s troublesome?” Ino asked, a little bit ticked off.

“Hmm…because it’s just troublesome…”Shikamaru explained.

“That’s your explanation for why everything is troublesome? ‘Because it’s troublesome’?” Ino exclaimed getting madder by the second. “I’m guessing that you think that I’m troublesome, too! You know what? You’re the one who’s troublesome!” Ino stormed out of the kitchen and Shikamaru could hear the door slam behind her.

“What did I do?” Shikamaru asked the empty kitchen. “Well, I guess we won’t be working on this anymore. Man, what a drag.” Shikamaru started to clean up the kitchen, and when he was done, he wandered upstairs to try and find Ino’s room. He went upstairs knocking on every door, not receiving any reply. He finally came to a door and he heard crying from behind it. He knocked on it only to receive a quick reply.

“Go away!” Ino yelled from inside her room.

‘Great, just great.’ Shikamaru thought to himself. ‘Why do I get myself into these things?’ He opened up the door silently, and stepped into her room.

“Ino?” He asked.

“What do you want?” She responded, sounding agitated.

“Can I just ask what I did wrong?” Shikamaru asked her.

‘What did he do wrong?’ Ino thought. ‘What did he do wrong? Nothing, I guess.’
“You didn’t do anything really.” Ino said. “It’s just, I really liked you, and well…When I found out that you thought I was troublesome, I got really upset…”

“How troublesome…”Shikamaru sighed, which made Ino’s eyes go wide. “I never said that you were troublesome, you just assumed that I did because everything else was. Truthfully…I really like you to.” Ino looked up at him in shock.

‘Wait, he liked me? And he never said I was troublesome, I just assumed he did! I’m such an idiot! He probably thinks I’m troublesome now, since he didn’t before.’

“Great…I bet you think I’m troublesome now, don’t you?” Ino asked.

“No, I don’t actually, I was wondering…if maybe you wanted to do something with me tomorrow night? That is, if you’re not busy…” He asked.

Ino looked up at him, a little bit shocked. “Of course I’ll do something with you tomorrow!” She exclaimed as she threw her arms around him. “What did you have in mind?” she asked as she let go of him.

“Well, maybe dinner and a movie?” he asked.

“Sure! I can get ready with Hinata.” Ino said happily.

“Well, I need to go, I’m pretty sure that’s my driver outside. I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?” Shikamaru said.

“Yup! Bye!” Ino yelled after him as she watched him walk down the hall. He lazily lifted his hand over his shoulder as a wave goodbye. Ino quickly ran back into her room and signed onto the internet. When she got on, however, none of her friends were on. She put up an away message, and ran over to her phone. She quickly dialed Sakura’s number.

“Hello?”

“Oh my gosh, Sakura!” Ino exclaimed as soon as she heard her friend’s voice. “You have to connect Hinata, now! I’ll connect TenTen as soon as Hinata’s on! I have big news!”

“Ok! I’m connecting, I’m connecting!” Sakura said back to her friend as she switched lines in order to connect Hinata.

‘I wonder what could be so important that she’s making us wait for everyone to be connected before she’ll tell.’ Sakura thought.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Hinata. Ino has big news, I’m switching back over then she’s connecting TenTen, ‘k?” Sakura asked.

“Ok.” Hinata replied, wondering the same thing as Sakura.

“Ino?” Sakura questioned as soon as she switched back over.

“Yea, I’m connecting TenTen,” Ino said as she switched over. She switched back over quickly, with TenTen on the line.

“Ok, Ino,” Sakura started.

“What’s so important that you had to tell all of us,” TenTen said.

“At once.” Hinata finished.

“Ok, you guys are never going to believe this!” Ino exclaimed happily.

“Well?” Sakura questioned.

“Shikamaru asked me out!” Ino exclaimed. At that moment squeals could be heard coming from each of the girls houses.

“Oh my gosh!” Hinata exclaimed.

“When?” Sakura asked.

“Where?” TenTen questioned.

“Ok, he asked me out today, at my house. We’re going to dinner and then to a movie tomorrow night.” Ino explained.

“This is great!” Hinata exclaimed. “Now we can get ready together!”

“I know! And TenTen and Sakura can help us!” Ino exclaimed.

“Ino, you have to tell us all of the details!” Sakura demanded.

“I will, but not right now. How bout tomorrow in the limo? I have to go, my mom’s yelling for me. It’s time for dinner. Bye!” Ino said quickly as she hung up the phone.

‘Well, bye.” Sakura told Hinata.

“Bye Sakura!” Hinata exclaimed happily.

“Hello? Is anyone there? Ino?” TenTen shouted into the phone line. “I guess not.” And with that, all three of the girls hung up their phones.

A/N: ok, well, some of you were wondering what Shikamaru ahs been doing this whole time, and here he is in this chapter! I know I made Ino seem like a brat kind of, but I had to in order to get the ending that I wanted. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter, and reviews are very appreciated!