Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Gambare Shikamaru ❯ Battle of Wits: Ino, Don’t Challenge The King Of Mind Games! ( Chapter 5 )

Errr…Hi people. Sorry for taking so long with my next chapter but I'm always really busy over summers. This chapter is a bit rushed but I hope it can provide some entertainment. (Yes I will edit all my chapters later so dun bother with telling me that this chapter is iffy)

To GentleWaterSoul: I was writing this chapter when I got ur review and it gave me the energy to finish it in one sitting LOL Hope ya like it! Thank you for reading this fic and reviewing and waiting so patiently. Oh, have you checked out my other fics? The dark shikaino fic is the polar opposite of this one so eh ehehe it's very entertaining to write.

Same goes for everybody else waiting on this fic! Thank you for reading! ~Sweatdrops nervously~

Oh and Naruto isn't mine. (I dunno why I have to say this since obviously everybody knows it's not mine. Anybody out there thinks I own Naruto? Cuz I'd be totally flattered)

Important Notice: There is a possibility that the next chapter or the chapter after that might contain some graphic sexual content. Errr….Shikamaru and Ino ARE married after all….(OMG I'm SO EMBARRESSED!!!!) Depending on the progress of the story (which I have no control over…it depends on shika and Ino) and whether or not I can overcome my debilitating embarrassment over writing a lemon, I might give it a try (*covers her face* soo embarrassed) Just warning those who don't wanna read a lemon. Btw, it's about time that this rated R fic actually SEEMS like a R fic :-)

Ch. 5 Battle of Wits: Ino, Don't Challenge The King Of Mind Games!

Leaves rustled and swayed with the spring wind as the melodies of the songbirds floated to the ears of anyone within hearing distance of the feathered creatures. The characteristic golden sunlight of this season, filtered by the leaves of the trees, created shattered beams that lit swaying spots of light on the lush green grass of the lawn in front of the home of Shikamaru and Ino. It was the light that brought comfort, warmth, and life to the planet with its gentle rays. Unfortunately, the very same sunlight that was coveted by all life forms on this planet was currently nothing but a source of irritation to Nara Shikamaru.

A bright beam of light that streamed in from the window had fixed itself mockingly on his face, bothering the sleeping man's eyes and undermining his quality of sleep. Shikamaru groaned as discomfort slowly forced him out of the relaxing state of slumber. True to his nature, he picked avoidance and rolled to his side to shield his eyes instead of tackling the root of the problem by getting up to pull the curtains shut. As his body relaxed in preparation for more sleep, it occurred to him that the bed felt different. There was a lack of pressure on the other side of the bed. He reached out his arms to feel among the rumpled sheets for his bedmate. The fact that she was an early riser, unlike him, was temporarily forgotten.

When his blind search yielded no supple form of Ino , his chest heaved with a lazy sigh and his body sank back down into the soft bed as the air expelled from his lungs. Gradually, his mind released its hold on the ability to think actively and lost itself to the unconscious psyche that dominated sleep. He was perfectly content now. The rigors of life and the responsibilities he was saddled with were no longer any of his concerns, not at the moment at least.

In the world of dreams, he was free to indulge himself with images of grassy landscape that were invitingly soft looking with floating cottony clouds swimming in the vastness that is the sky. And most importantly, he dreamed of laughing blue eyes gazing down at him, playing his heartstrings with the way the sparklingly clarity it held within were liquid pools that reflected nothing but love. He could even feel her golden tresses tickle his face as it swayed with each delicious breeze of the wind.

But Shikamaru's brain was more complicated than that. While a part of his cerebral structure entertained him with visions of paradise in his sleep, another part buried deeper from his awareness handled the business of cold, straightforward, facts. In this state of rest, he was receptive to these facts that were normally unobtainable information filed away in his subconscious.

Even as he slept, this other part of his mind was working, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from various data he didn't know he had unconsciously accumulated. It was a process he didn't deliberately initiate but always occurred in the back of his mind while his conscious brain took charge of what he willfully thought about. To him, this involuntary mental activity was about as controllable as the beating of his heart. That process was the true nature of Shikamaru's intuitiveness. It was an automatic type of thinking that was independent from his conscious mind. It was like a sixth sense, blessed upon him by his gift of unimaginable intelligence. It was this sixth sense that refused to let him continue sleeping, not when there was something with the importance of immense magnitude taking place while he obtained more rest than he needed.

&&&&&

Shikamaru sat up the moment he awoke, even before he had managed to fully open his eyes. An intense feeling of alarm had gripped him in his sleep and refused to let go even in his state of wakefulness. He looked around the empty room and then he checked the empty space of the bed next to him. As usual, Ino was already up even though today was Saturday and neither of them had anything important scheduled. He decided that she was the one who opened the drapes, probably with the malicious intent to make his late rising habit unpleasant.

"Damn spring," He groaned in annoyance when his narrowed stinging eyes demanded more sleep. This time of the year always brought sunlight much too early in the day, he felt. Not yet ready to slid out of bed, he combed his fingers unhappily through his hair that was mussed by sleep. When his fingers were snagged by a stubborn knot, he let out an even louder groan of protest.

His body felt uncomfortable all over. It was an unnatural condition for a man who had just woken up from a full night's rest. The furious thudding of his heart was more characteristic of a Jounin who just survived a close brush with death instead of one who woke from a tranquil dream involving a curvy blond, Ino of course, partaking in his hobby of cloud watching with him. Every fiber of his body was tense, trapped in the fight or flight mode as if he was in some immediate danger. What was there to be so fearful of in his own home?

`What the hell is going on?' he thought. `Why do I feel so unsettled?'

He mumbled "This is a first," to himself as he rubbed his face tiredly. "Why couldn't I have woken up with your run-of-the-mill morning wood instead?" He scratched his side while his mind was preoccupied with the breakdown of information. Maybe he had a nightmare, he guessed, but couldn't remember it. Whatever the nightmare might have been, it must've been one incredible flight of nightmarish fancy to make him like this. He knew he shouldn't assign any meaning to one bad night of sleep but he couldn't help but feel it was something ominous that signaled something evil this way comes.

Eventually, he summoned the energy to slid out of bed. It was when he was moving to the bathroom with uncoordinated stumbles that his right eyelid decided to twitch with pulsating jumps. `What was that Chinese saying?' he wondered idly while he poked around the sink for his razor. `When the left eye jumps, wealth is coming, when the right eye jumps, it is the herald of disaster.' He remembered. Shikamaru grunted to himself. He didn't believe in silly superstitions. Not when he knew the physiological causes behind such omens.

He smirked when he found his razor among Ino's bottles and packages of female "stuff", for the lack of a better word. He wondered, in his defeatist mentality, if Ino had used his razor to shave her legs again. It was after a half-hearted debate waged against Ino that Shikamaru completely gave up on fighting for the right to the sole usage of his razor. He had tried to explain to her why man razors should be used by him alone, seeing that he was the man. Then, he cited hygienic reasons behind the faults of sharing intimate items like razors but She never listened. Things were easier when he resigned to his fate. It was a lot less stress for him.

Shikamaru snatched up the razor and began his shaving. He was without caution as he scraped his razor across his chin in careless easy strokes, so it was no surprise when he swore loudly when he accidentally nicked some skin. He became pissed at himself for not being able to keep his mind on the task shaving and allowing himself to be distracted by the thought of Ino as he usually did. This brief flash of self-directed anger disappeared as quickly as it came and immediately afterwards, he was his usual laid-back self again. He just didn't have it in his languorous personality to stay angry. But he did have his buttons that once pressed, could cause him to snap from his unruffled self to the shadowy demon only his enemies saw before taking their last breath. These buttons he craftily hid from others to maintain his persona of nonchalance in the face of anything and everything. It took too much energy to become ruffled over dealings he didn't want to care about.

Soon after shaving, he grabbed his toothbrush and brushed his teeth groggily while he was slumped against the bathroom wall like a boneless mass. He suppressed the urge to yawn by biting down on his toothbrush. The idea of swallowing a mouthful of toothpaste foam didn't exactly appeal to him.

After taking care of his hygienic duties and bodily functions, Shikamaru realized he couldn't find the strip he used to tie his hair, which was bizarre because he always knew where to find his stuff. He remembered that he had left it in the medicine cabinet behind the mirror the night before. But since it wasn't there, he decided there was nothing he could do but to search for it. That or walk around for the rest of the day with billowy long hair, a thought that horrified him beyond belief.

He wandered back into the bedroom in languid steps and looked through the cluttered items on Ino's table of more "stuff" where her large mirror sat. His eyes landed on a girlie box painted in cheerfully annoying colors. Shikamaru had never much paid attention to that box, but since he already used the energy to walk there, he might as well check it out. Out of ignorant male curiosity, he opened the box and was pleasantly surprised by the sweet scent that wafted to his nose. He pawed through the box until a gleam of light caught his attention. The reflective object was a small polished looking silver tube. He picked up the shiny tube and inspected it with critical eyes. The first thing he assumed was that the silver tube functioned as a container for miniature needle weapons. To investigate the accuracy of that assumption, he pulled the cap off and looked in. Instead of the scaled-down needle weapons he expected to see, he saw a smooth pink bar instead.

The skin between his brows crinkled in confusion.

He raised the opened tube to his nose and sniffed. The candy-like scent was instantly recognizable and was the trigger that caused his mouth to water in a different kind of hunger.

`Ino really has me trained,' he thought somewhat mirthlessly. Being a literate man, he's often occupied his personal time with books other ninjas would never consider reading. There was one subject that interested him more than others and that was psychology. Psychology was useful in that it helped provides a bit of insight into the workings of the mind and this insight was a powerful tool for ninjas who made their living by "reading underneath the underneath". He remembered from one of the many books he's read, about an experiment where a psychologist proved the process of conditioning by training dogs to associate a stimulus with something completely unrelated. Shikamaru felt that he and those dogs were kindred spirits. The particular stimulus his trainer had him sensitized to was this scent. It was how Ino's lips always smelled.

This object was foreign to him but he would figure out its use soon enough. His genius mind immediately sorted through all the memories he's accrued in his short life until the specific memory that explained the purpose of the shiny stick was found. He remembered that mother had once told him this was a "lipstick"-Women put it on their lips to make themselves appealing.

`How troublesome for women to use this,' he thought. As a child, he had regarded the use of cosmetics as both pointless and troublesome. And now that he was a man, he found his low opinion of the use of cosmetics still hadn't changed. Natural beauty was far superior to any false coloring from chemical powders and creams-especially since they were harmful to the skin and hastened physical aging.

Shikamaru fiddled with the colored stick, feeling bored while his mind chased after other trains of thought. Ino didn't use lipstick, he knew. Or did she? Her lips, pouty with fullness, always had the hue of natural pink that made his own quiver in want to press itself against it-to feel her firm yet yielding texture against his thin colorless lips. The shiny glaze of the faded crimson always present on her lips reminded him that women separated what seemed to be the same thing into many categories, so, he went back to his memories to search for other ones that held pertinent information about the function of this "lipstick".

Almost immediately, he remembered the information he sought. Didn't the girls in his class from Ninja Academy from so many years ago call this a "lip gloss"? Wait, Ino also mentioned something about using "chap-stick" on her lips. So was this particular lip cosmetic "lipstick", "lip-gloss", or "chap-stick"? When all the brilliance he possessed couldn't give him an answer since he realized he didn't know what differentiated them, he quickly capped the…..lip thing….and stuck it back into the box he got it from.

Shikamaru slapped a hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it in annoyance as he cast a sweeping glance across the cluttered table. A frown forced itself on his face at the disorderly mess. How someone can own this many useless belongings was beyond his understanding. Without conscious thought, he started to sort the items reflexly in accordance to their sizes to create an appearance of tidiness. It wasn't until he was about to obtain a towel to wipe the mirror that he finally noticed he was cleaning the bedroom.

"What the hell am I doing?" Shikamaru asked himself when he looked at the freshly organized the items on the table. An index finger found itself to his jaw line and scratched while its owner was too embarrassed to notice his nervous tick. He was more whipped than his father ever was and yet somehow as a child, he remembered with quiet shame, he had the audacity to make snide comments when his father hurried home to be in time for dinner.

He quickly left the lotion bottles and so forth alone and moved to a new area to continue his search. Shikamaru knew that he should check Ino's walk-in closet because the strangest things always turned up there, but knowing the amount of belongings stored in the space that was large enough to be a miniature room, he just couldn't summon the enthusiasm to tackle such an endeavor. Instead, he turned his attention to the large bed he shared with Ino.

Shikamaru grabbed the comforter and flipped it clean into the air. Nope, nothing underneath, he checked. Rolling up the comforter into a makeshift ball, he shoved it to a corner of the bed to get a full view of what's underneath. Once again, his search left him empty handed of any result.

The last place left to check was the area under the pillows he and Ino cushioned under their heads each night. Without really expecting anything, he reached out to grab a pillow in each hand simply because he felt obligated to finish checking every part of the bed since he already got started. Shikamaru lifted the pillows cynically and looked away after a quick glance before snapping his head back to take a better look.

Underneath his pillow, he saw, laid a scaled-down doll version of him that was composed of bunched up tissue paper-complete with real hair that probably came from his head, and dressed in a cut-out outfit made of construction paper. The doll even had a scowling face drawn onto its round, Q-tip looking head. And the strip of cloth he used to tie his hair and had spent an entire morning searching for was finally found. It was on the tissue paper doll, used to bind the delicate cloth-like paper fabric together to maintain the shape of a person.

Shikamaru calmly placed the pillows back down on the bed and stared at his mini-self. I suppose I should be more surprised, he thought dispassionately. And yet he wasn't. Apparently there was no limit to the eccentricities of his wife.

He knew before marrying her that she was a strange woman. Knowing her his entire life had forced him into many situations he would rather avoid. When they were children, he was constantly bossed into helping her out with absurd plots that she seemingly hatched one after another.

There was the time that she told him to capture Sasuke with his Kagemane so she could give him a kiss, believing that first kisses between two people forged a bond that would eventually blossom into true love. He had told her that it was a silly notion-Sharing a first kiss may have sentimental value in the future but it had no more magical powers than crossing one's fingers or passing under a ladder. Besides, the bastard Uchiha and Naruto already kissed each other. But Ino, being Ino, didn't hear a word he said since it was contrary to her point of view. She had a knack for selective hearing and chose to filter out unpleasant information.

In hindsight, Shikamaru realized that he must have been in love with her since they were kids because in spite of knowing that she had every intention of continuing with that crazy scheme of hers-which had a 100% chance of failure-he still did his best to dissuade her since he knew it would produce some severe repercussions. He had put up an admirable amount of protest but they were futile because as usual, he ended up bending backwards for the force of nature known as Ino.

So that day, he had "agreed" to carry out his role in her plan after she delivered some poorly veiled threats. Obeying what she asked him to do, he had waited on the road that she knew Sasuke had to walk on his way home. When that annoyingly troublesome guy appeared, he tried Kagemane no Jutsu, which Sasuke easily avoided it. Then, taking his use of jutsu as a direct challenge, Sasuke attacked back with vigor.

That night, he limped home pitifully with a visible black eye and other bruises concealed beneath his torn clothes. What made him even more pathetic was that Ino didn't even say "thanks".

Shikamaru sighed at the less than happy memory then picked up the doll, rotating the small thing in his massive hands to inspect its details. There was a thoughtful expression on his face as he slowly chewed his thoughts.

Then again, he considered his contemplations carefully, maybe Ino's newly acquired hobby of doll-making was a byproduct of boredom. If it indeed was caused by boredom, he might have to start regretting his choice to ask Tsunade to keep Ino mission-free.

Yes, he was the reason why Ino hasn't gotten a well-paying (a.k.a dangerous) assignment for some time. About a month ago, he had struck up a deal with Tsunade behind Ino's back. The deal he had with the 5th Hokage was that he'll willingly take on a heavier workload if in exchange, she stopped assigning Ino risky missions. For Tsunade, agreeing to this deal was tantamount to losing a Jounin, which was a level of ninjas already scarce in supply, but, he could be a skillful salesman when the need arose. He was forced to wheedle such a bargain out of Tsunade because of his desperate circumstances.

Admittedly, he made this arrangement out of selfishness. He always found himself spending too much time worrying about Ino whenever she was away-wondering if her male teammates ever hit on her, or if her role in her missions required her to place herself in precarious situations. When the worrying started to take a toll on him-in that he was unable to concentrate on his own work or sleep in a lonely bed at night without her by his side-he started requesting for the job of planning for missions she was to embark on.

With him in charge of `strategy and preparation', he would arrange it so that she had the least significant task, or have her placed in the most protected part of the formation. He had done everything within the boundary of his power and beyond to make her missions as safe as possible.

Inevitably, the other ninjas started complaining of nepotism.

So what if he was playing favorites? Was he supposed to just let his wife charge out into danger without trying to make it safer for her? But Shikamaru knew that he couldn't continue handling things the way he did for much longer so he went to Tsunade. Tsunade of course, laughed in his face since Ino was also a Jounin and very capable in her profession. She even went so far to accuse him of being traditional-minded in the way that he wanted to keep his wife at home.

Shikamaru couldn't help but feel a little insulted by her good-humored goading. He didn't mind workingwomen. His mother was a workingwoman. And Ino as a career woman was great because it meant he could do less at his job-giving him more time to say……admire clouds. So it wasn't that he was sexiest and wanted to be the sole provider of the family, a concept that sounded too troublesome and tiring for him. It was that Ino's job, unlike that of other women with professions, required her to solicit death. What if one day she danced too intimately with the Shinigami (1) and…… ..

A ninja was supposed to be a tool whose life is secondary to that of the client and knowing Ino, she would place herself in jeopardy to protect someone he didn't give a damn about. He didn't want to end up a widower. He would…..miss……her…too much….. and…and that would be troublesome.

Anyways. So he explained his position to Tsunade, with some embellishment and rationalization to sway her to his cause. And he was a damn good orator, despite his usual taciturnity. He managed to enlighten her on how the arrangement would beneficial to the both of them-more so for Tsunade of course. In exchange for keeping one competent Jounin out of commission, she would get an once-in-a-lifetime genius to mastermind all significant operations, plus, a few extra ones at the side. And with Ino safe at home, he wouldn't be distracted from his job, thereby provide nothing but excellent work from his usually unmotivated self. True, this compromise cost him a heavy price in that it was nothing but troublesome for him but it gave him peace of mind, which was something he desperately needed to function.

Tsunade had gushed on and on about how adorable it was that he was so caring and protective, rambling about how so few men were this loving to their wife as he. Shikamaru scowled at the recollection. He wasn't being sappy. He just didn't want to have to worry about her, that's all.

But for all his calculations, he forgot to take into account that having too much free time would cause a woman like Ino to lose her mind. Unlike him, she didn't understand the joy of having nothing to do. She must have picked up this disturbing hobby of doll making after one too many hours of staring at the clock. Shikamaru poked at the doll and shuddered. It really DID have real hair on it. He was sure that if he checked his hairbrush, he would find it mysteriously cleaned out of hair that were shed from the act of brushing.

Turning his attention back to the doll, he continued to carefully scrutinize it, taking in every detail with photographic accuracy. `Hnnnnn okay…' he thought. This doll was made out of tissue paper, which meant that it wasn't made to last long. It had real human hair, his hair, which was just plain disturbing….

He sat down on the bed and enjoyed the feeling of sinking into the soft mattress before tossing the doll aside carelessly.

"Hnnnn……….."

Shikamaru was in the progress of changing gears-switching from his casual self to his pensive mode by creating a familiar shape with his hands. By keeping the tips of his fingers and thumbs in contact with the identical twin on the other hand, he formed a well rehearsed circle-a position he liked to have his hands maintain when he needed to deliberate over complex mental tasks. His eyelids slipped down in a manner that could best be described as drowsy while his face was a controlled mask of serenity.

"………………"

"…& #8230;………..."

"……………..."

"……………..oh I see."

The peaceful expression he had on his face broke into a cocky smirk as his eyes opened, revealing the dark orbs that held the glint of immeasurable brilliance. "Oh Ino…" He tsked. "You're too silly for your own good sometimes." It all made sense now.

Tsunade was just the type to meddle artlessly and Ino just might believe her by virtue of Tsunade's position as the Hokage. The old woman had been dropping childishly obvious hints that she planned to have a hand in solving his relationship problem, so, he had been waiting patiently for her to make her move even though he would rather her butt out. Now that she's initiated the first move on the shougi board that is his married life, he knew how to end her game.

It was no secret-in fact, the entire village knew-that Ino was dissatisfied with his way of showing affection-More accurately, the lack of a show of affection. He really wished that Ino was perceptive enough to realize from his little understated gestures that he loved her to pieces but his wishful thinking did nothing to increase the perceptiveness of the oblivious woman. Because of her own forthright nature, she expects everyone else to be candid about his or her thoughts and feelings.

For the sake of her happiness, he wished he could be more outspoken but it took too much conscience effort on his part to open up. Out of laziness, he decided to leave things as it is because he was disinclined to do anything to change himself. His laziness would be the cause of his tragic end if he didn't find a way for him and Ino to establish an understanding.

This voodoo doll that Ino made must be a part of a set of love charms meant to inspire his romantic side through supernatural means. He knew Ino wasn't the one who came up with the idea since it was too bizarre even for her taste, therefore, he was confident that the mastermind behind it was the Hokage.

Fine, he would humor Ino and let her think her spells were actually working. Maybe he can use this opportunity to make her realize that she fell in love with him for the man he is, not for the man she wanted him to be, by turning her own scheme against her. It would be troublesome but it had to be done unless he wanted to risk losing the only woman he could ever be in love with.

He could pretend to be under the effects of a spell by acting outrageously charming and romantic-lavish her with constant attention until she feels suffocated by his adoration. He planned to continue his onslaught of love and affection until she begged to have the modest Shikamaru back. Maybe after being smothered by an over-affectionate and exceptionally eager version of himself, she would understand the charisma of his laid-back personality.

The long shadow cast in front of him from his back against the sunlight rippled mutely as the only indication of his impatience. Shikamaru reached a hand over his shoulder and patted his own back comfortingly.

"Gambare Shikamaru." He told himself. There is no room for failure on the mission for their future together.

(T-T) this chapter isn't so great but you guys forgive me ne?

Shinigami: God of Death

Gambare: command form for what can be roughly translated as "try hard" or "good luck"

(T-T) (Blurb alert! Read at ur own discretion ) I'm so sad that so little attention is paid to my dark angst fic because I really think it's a very interesting change from the average shikaino fics you get. I'm also sort of sending a message with that fic but I think the message isn't obvious yet, not till later chapters. The cute fluffy fics are pretty popular and that's obvious but personally, I like to try out totally wild ideas when it comes to fics. And no, Shikamaru is NOT a "bad guy" in the fic. (maybe in another fic OH HOHOHO)

To Gooberific : All ur guesses about the progression of "We Must All Grow Up Someday" have been totally wrong EH HEHE, which is good! If you managed to guess it then I have to reconsider the worthiness of that fic to be written. It's a suuurrrpriiiiise (wink)

MY FAV SHIKAMARU QUOTE! (thus far)

Shikamaru: mendokusee kedo shouganee darou? Ino ga detteiku no ni otoko no orera ga nigerareru ka?

Okies I promise I won't babble so much next time. (zips mouth)

To Archeeka: I didn't read all of your response and only skimmed it because it's really long. I'll just address whatever part of your comments that I remember.

You don't like that I sometimes state the obvious. Well it's because that's my style of writing. Sometimes I try to create an effect by stating the obvious with short sentences. (See spot run.) The effect is supposed to be emphasized by the structure of the fic but for some reason, fanfic.net shuffles everything when you post chapters. If you don't like the way I write, I……..I don't know what to say. I just write this way. And I'm NOT a professional writer since this is my first real fic. I'm merely a hobbyist who decided there weren't enough shikaino fics on the net. I DO plan on fixing up chapters later on. AFTER I finish the entire story, which is most important to me.

Yes, I know my tenses go all over the place from chapter to chapter (first 2 chapters especially I think). That's because when I first started writing, I wasn't sure which tense I liked it better in so I wrote in both tenses. My plan was to decide which tense I like better later on and then go back and change it. (I think past tense feels more comfortable)

You don't like that I have Ino call Shikamaru "Shika" sometimes because it means deer. Yes, "Shika" sounds the same as "deer" in Japanese but there's nothing wrong with using nicknames. Just because other fics use "Shika" also doesn't mean it's overused. Your name is your name. He has to be called by SOMETHING. Do you want her to call him Mr. Nara? It doesn't matter that "Shika" has the same pronunciation as "deer" in Japanese because all of the names used in Naruto have puns.

Which reminds me. You also don't like that I sometimes have Ino address shika as "shika-chan". You think its better to use "kun" instead. Well let me tell you, NOBODY addresses her husband with "-kun". It's just plain weird. Does your mom address your dad by "Mr." On a daily basis? Although I have to point out, some of the more traditional married couples address each other with "san". Older people (grandparents), sometimes address their own grandkids with "-san". But someone of Ino's age and generation wouldn't do something like that. Plenty of young women call their loved ones by "chan".
It's not demeaning for men when girlfriends use "chan" affectionately. The only people who would be bothered by that are little boys trying to prove their manhood. And in case you haven't noticed, Ino in the anime calls Shikamaru by his name, without any honorifics. It's my assumption that after getting married, she'd be a lot more affectionate towards him.

You also think its strange that Shakespeare's work was alluded in a fic that was supposed to take place in Japan. First of all, technically Naruto takes place in a make-believe world. Second of all, you don't find it strange that they're all using English when they're Japanese? They're speaking English in the fic because I wrote this fanfic for the English speaking audience, therefore, I must also make references that the average reader can understand. If I start quoting things from Genji Monogatari, how many people do you think would've gotten the point? If you're going to nitpick at things like that, then anime fanfics should only be written in Japanese. But even Japanese writers sometimes make illusions to world-renown works such as that of Shakespeare.

(btw, just because Ino has had sexual relations with Shika, it doesn't mean being ogled at won't bother her. I'm sure you'd be bothered too when people you know stare at you for long periods of time, especially you happened to be naked because I know I would be. )