My Trip To... (ShikaIno)

Springfield USA

She watched as park goers walked past. They all looked the same like they were having the time of their lives and here she was having a mid-life crisis at the age of eighteen. It felt like her life had been turned upside down by this trip. The same trip she had half-planned as an excuse to get close to Sasuke. It seemed ridiculous now and terribly childish, Ino thought hopelessly. To think she had thought of Sasuke as her soulmate was silly now. Sasuke didn't seem to understand romance or love for goodness sake. So how could he ever love her?

How could anyone?

Why would anyone want to?

These questions plagued her, relentlessly. She had never felt so alone in her life. She wanted to cry, not for Sasuke but for herself. She took a gulping breath to stop herself from doing so. She didn't dare ruin her makeup and make a fool of herself in front of the theme park crowd. While everything else was crashing down, Ino could be left this last dignity.

It would be her last too. She knew the moment she rejoined her friends, they would know or quickly learn she didn't want to see the look of pity that she could already imagine...

Poor Ino...

She can't keep a guy...

She could hear it all and she wasn't prepared. Her mind wasn't able to wrap around that matter. Instead, she was stuck on a different topic... What had she done to deserve this?

She tried to be a good person. Obviously, she wasn't perfect but she tried. When her friends needed her, she dropped everything for them. When Shikamaru had spent a summer hurt, she had visited him everyday of it with movies. When her mother decided to go to night school to finish her degree, she had taken more hours at the Flower Shop without a complaint. If anything, she had only encourage her mother on. When Shikamaru was down the other night, she had dropped a chance to hang out with Sasuke to cheer him up. When Sakura's parents split up, she had prepared a weekend sleepover bag and was over there in a flash.

When Shikamaru... Ino frowned suddenly. A lot of these included Shikamaru. Too many, even.... But it was fine, right because Shikamaru was one of her closest friends? That was all they were too...

"Is this your new thing? Freaking everyone out?"

Ino gasped and turned to see Shikamaru lounging on the bench beside her. She had never seen him coming and for sure didn't notice him taking a seat beside her. She must have been too lost in her thoughts.

"I've never seen you freak out." And he still didn't look frazzled now. If anything, Ino may have seen that same pinch around his mouth but it could also be her imagination. "Our plane here could have taken a noise dive and you'd still look bored."

"Fair enough..." he nodded to her phone. "I see your phone is still alive though. Convenient that you just happened to miss all your messages."

"I needed to think... Alone," she looked at him pointedly but he didn't take the hint. He never did.

"About Sasuke?"

Ino huffed out a small noise of amusement as she considered her next words but she had never been great at that. "Well, I did just dump him."

"What?" Shikamaru's head spun around and she knew then she had his full attention. It was oddly invigorating. It felt like confirmation that she had done the right thing if it could surprise Shikamaru of all people.

"I dumped Sasuke," she repeated while flipping her phone over to see that in fact she did have a long list of text messages and phone calls waiting for her attention. She wasn't ready to deal with more than Shikamaru at this moment, though. "Though, it wasn't an official relationship or anything..."

"Why?"

"Why do you care?" She lifted one slim blonde eyebrow at him. Her eyes searched his.

Shikamaru seemed to notice this interrogation, though. "I thought he was your dream canoe or whatever..."

Ino laughed, expectedly but it felt good. Her worries from before were seeping away. "It's dream boat and you know it!" she gave him a light smack to the arm. "And if you happen to want to know, he's not."

"No...?"

"No," she confirmed with a determined nod. Talking to Shikamaru only made it all the more obvious. Maybe she could have done went on with that sham of a relationship with Sasuke like she had thought before but she didn't want to. "I need someone a bit more..."

"Alive?" Shikamaru snickered.

"Hey! He's still our friend."

Shikamaru relaxed back against the bench. "More like yours." He couldn't remember speaking more than two words to the guy. They just happened to run in the same circle of friends.

They sat in silence for a moment as the theme park supplied the noises they were incapable of making. Knowing Shikamaru had made her decision feel all the righter, scared her. Too much was about Shikamaru lately. When had he become such a focal point in her life? Best friend, yes. Reason behind her decisions? No.

And then there was that almost kiss that he had admitted to...

"I think I need something sweet..."

"Would a donut do?"

"Ooh like the big pink ones from Springfield?" 

- - - - - - -

Hope this was okay! I wrote it a bit late at night so who knows how my brain was working. Haha. Hell! I even forgot to write this note until the next night. Lol oops!

Oh! And please go check out my other ShikaIno story, 'It's Her Again.' I think you'll all enjoy it since you like this one! Please tell me what you think of it.

Please don't forget to leave a like and/or comment! Love you guys!