I can't believe I let her talk me into this. Sakura stood in front of her door, nervously smoothing the front of the shirt Ino had loaned her. It was a blind date, and her suitor had just knocked and was waiting for her on the other side of the door. Sakura took one last moment to look at herself, her hands trembling with nervousness. Ino had styled her short hair in an up-do. It was sophisticated and older looking and frankly, it felt a little weird. The borrowed shirt was black and clingy and a little low cut. It did look great with her skirt, and she knew she looked sexy...but sexy was not something Sakura was accustomed to. She felt like she was someone else. But it was too late to change into something more comfortable. It is now or never. She took a deep breath, opened the door and looked at the boy Ino had described as "perfect" for getting over Sasuke...and for her first kiss. Hair pulled back, slight slouch, vest, hands shoved carelessly into pockets, bored look... "Shikamaru?" The chounin glanced lazily at her. Well, lazily until his eyes moved down to the low-cut part of her shirt. At that, it looked almost like Shikamaru stood a little straighter and Sakura could swear she saw a slight shade of pink in his cheeks. "Sakura. You look... very pretty." Though his new change in posture suggested differently, Shikamaru had mastered sounding uninterested, speaking in his typical bored drawl. Still, the compliment made Sakura blush. She inspected his clothing. It was his teaching outfit. He had not changed for their date, it appeared. "Shikamaru! I am not sure who I was expecting, but it wasn't you...you look...like you always do." Despite her best efforts, her disappointment was evident in her voice. The boy sighed, shifted his position and rolled his eyes. "Ino is so troublesome. She didn't tell you I was your date?" A lock of pink hair came loose as Sakura shook her head no. They stood, neither looking at the other. The silence was awkward and long. Finally, either from boredom or the weight of the silence, Shikamaru spoke. "Do you still want to go out with me?" He had tried to sound sincere, but his tone was apathetic at best. This was her chance and she knew it. Everything about the night was already wrong. Her clothes were wrong. The introductions were awkward. And her date was...Shikamaru? What had Ino been thinking? He did not even seem interested in taking her out, Ino had just forced him to, judging from his behavior. After all, he hadn't even put on clean clothing! 'No' was the obvious answer, and it made its way up her throat... "Yes, I would." Shikamaru sighed heavily and turned away, waiting for her to step out. But Sakura was glued in her place. This was the second time she said something she did not mean to! She remembered Sasuke's anger at her spontaneous outburst. She remembered Ino's words, her excitement about trying to help Sakura move on. This was not promising to help her move on from the Uchiha loner...but Sakura had, for whatever reason, said yes. Now he was waiting, tapping his foot a little, and even though she just wanted to shut her door and run to her room...she could hear Ino's voice telling her to just shut up and go. A hefty sigh brought her back to reality. "Girls are so troublesome. Are you coming or not?" "Hai." And just like that, she put one foot out, and then the other, and the two ninja's were on their way. - - - - - - - His taste in clothing and his previous manners had left much to be desired, but at least Shikamaru knew where to take a lady on a date. So used to accompanying Naruto after practice, Sakura had almost been sure Shikamaru would take her out for ramen or barbeque. But he surprised her by leading them to one of the nicer restaurants in the village. He had even made reservations, so they were sat immediately in a booth in a corner, away from the buzz of the other customers. Sakura had been to this restaurant with Sasuke before. When he had first returned, she offered to treat him (and the rest of the team, she didn't want to seem desperate) to dinner in order to celebrate. The dinner had been awful, with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei dominating the conversation. She had felt so nervous around the Uchiha heir, his serious eyes never once looking at her. She paid so much money for all of them to eat, and yet left hungry. After all, she had only ordered a salad, not wanting to come off as a pig in front of Sasuke. This time was different. She didn't feel like she needed to impress Shikamaru with dainty eating habits. In fact, now that her huge plate of food was in front of her, she realized that she was comfortable. The initial strangeness of the evening had worn off. And the largest surprise was how easily she could talk to Shikamaru. Apparently teaching children had taught him something as well, like how to be a little more social. Once she got him talking about his students, the "cool and uninterested" act he put on dropped. His eyes were lit up and he became animated. Shikamaru was so into his story about a new jutsu his students learned and watching them as they correctly completed it that he didn't notice the lights in the restaurant dim. Sakura noticed though. She also noticed that, in the dimmed light, she could see the masculine contours of Shikamaru's face. He has grown into a man, she realized. There was a hint of stubble along his jaw. She had dismissed it earlier, feeling a tad insulted he was too lazy to even shave for her. But now it was...sexy. His eyes were lit up with the excitement of his tale. His shoulders were straighter and his hands weren't shoved in pockets, they were moving to emphasize parts of his story. She didn't want to admit it, but at that moment, Sakura realized that her date was actually quite handsome. More important, however, was the sudden realization that other than the moment she recognized the restaurant, she had not thought about Sasuke once since they had sat down. Sakura had thought about her dark haired teammate every day, every hour and often every minute since they had first joined the academy together. And now, glancing at her watch... Three hours. Three hours without Sasuke. Three hours on a date. With another boy. A boy who, just realized, was hot by most standards. And she was actually having a good time. Judging by the laughs and easy conversation they had shared, Shikamaru was having a good time as well. If the night continued like this, she realized, it really might happen. Her first kiss. She tried to picture it. Shikamaru leaning over her. The slow movement of their faces coming together, his hands in her hair, cupping her face, as he gently brought his lips to hers... It was a fantasy she had used with Sasuke many times. In the fantasy, the kiss was always sweet in gentle. Losing herself in thought, Sakura closed her eyes in the fantasy, giving into the kiss, pressing her body against her male counterpart's. When her dream eyes opened, she was shocked to discover that Shikamaru was still in her mind, still the one stroking her hair. It felt....pleasant. Looking at the boy sitting across from her, who was still telling his story, unaware of her thoughts, Sakura smiled. I'll be damned, Ino knows what she is doing. His story had finished and Shikamaru had returned to eating. Feeling a new wave of courage, Sakura spoke, trying to keep the butterflies she felt in her stomach from coming out in her voice. "I'm having a...a very good time with you, Shika." As she spoke, Sakura knew from the tightness in her chest, the scared anticipation of how he was going to react to what she had said, that she was attracted to him. And she had used a nickname for him...was she being too familiar too fast? What if he thought they were just having fun as friends? In fractions of a second, her courage turned to panic and thousands of thoughts and doubts raced through her system. How is it medically possible to thing and feel so much in so little time? Her Inner Sakura began to scream at her for being so stupid. But just as quickly as her emotions flew of the hook, his small smile calmed her. "I agree, Sakura. This has been a pleasant surprise. A very pleasant surprise." Shikamaru's voice dropped on his last sentence. "When I first realized you were the boy Ino had set me up with, I thought she had lost her mind. But..." "Ino is full of surprises, but as her teammate, I've learned to trust her intuition. Her ninja abilities spill into her everyday empathy. Ino knows people better than most. She can see things other people wouldn't." "But knowing that, and assuming you are having as good a time as I am...why were you so uninterested when picking me up?" Shikamaru shifted uncomfortable in his seat and turned a little red. He cleared his voice and it was obvious he was trying to carefully phrase what was in his mind. "Ino told me about your...dilemna." It was Sakura's turn to blush. "She didn't! She didn't tell you...everything, did she?" He gently smiled, his eyes softening a bit. "Ino told me that you had never been kissed, that you were going to try to get over Sasuke, and that she thought that as a teacher, I might be able to...guide you a bit." Tears were beginning to form in Sakura's eyes. She was so, so completely embarrassed. How could Ino tell him all of that? Trying desperately not to cry, she spoke softly. "So this whole date...is a set up? You were just going out with me because Ino told you to kiss me? That is so...this is so...mortifying. And awful. And I can't believe you know that about me. And that you...you agreed." Damn it, she was going to cry. She couldn't let him see her cry. Quickly, she grabbed her purse and began to get out of the booth. But as she stood, she felt his hand gently grab her rest, stopping her flight. "Sakura, wait, please. Let me explain a bit more." She turned and looked at him through her tears. His eyes, filled with pleading, met hers. "Please, stay?" She sat back down, slowly, and looked at him, distrust covering her face. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, taking his time to formulate his explanation. She smirked a little. "What, is explaining this charade to me too troublesome?" Shikamaru winced at having his trademark phrase thrown back at him. "I'm not as good with people as Ino is, Sakura. I didn't agree, at least not initially. Not because I was opposed to going on a date with you, but because of what Ino was proposing. You are right to be angry, it was unfair and wrong. But Ino has a very...aggressive and violent persuasiveness. So yes, it was too troublesome to argue with her. Geez, this is troubl... " He paused and ran a hand though his hair, trying not to use the word. "I went on the date with you because I assumed you wouldn't be interested, it wouldn't go well and we would be through. No kissing, but also no Ino threatening my life." "Great. So you thought I'd suck on our date? Thanks for that. This is really helping, Shika." "You didn't listen. I assumed you would not like me. Not the other way around. I...geez...I'm not good at these things. I don't know much about dating." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly and slumped in his seat, shoving his hands into his pant pockets. "If you don't know much about dating, then what did Ino think you could teach me?" Sakura did not know people could blush as much as Shikamaru did in that instant, but he was pink in a heartbeat. No, crimson. He shrank even further into his seat. "She wasn't planning on me teaching you dating. I, uh...have lots of experience in the areas that, uh...you lack...experience. You know...in." Suddenly Sakura was very uncomfortable. Neither of them could look at each other. How did it get like this so quickly? In a few minutes time she had gone from having a pretty amazing time with the boy to not being able to look at him from embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Shikamaru. About assuming you had bad intentions. About everything. Could you just take me home?" It obviously wasn't the reply he had been hoping for, but Shikamaru seemed too lazy to protest. He put more than enough money down for the bill and tip, grabbed his things, and escorted her out. - - - - - - - It was dark outside as the two made their way home in silence. There was an almost tangible bubble between them. When they reached Sakura's apartment, they stood in silence, not quite sure how to end the evening. Finally, Shikamaru spoke. "I know this wasn't what you expected. I know that...I wasn't what you were hoping for. I apologize. Thanks anyway. I didn't mean to be so troublesome." He smirked a little, leaned in and pecked her on the cheek, and walked away. Not sure what to think or feel, Sakura went inside, determined to have a long talk with her "friend" Ino about conversations and confidentiality.
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